Evening Star Newspaper, June 9, 1929, Page 31

ECONOMIC DI THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 9, 1929—PART 2. SRUPTION STIRS INDIA DISCONTENT Tagore, Poet and Mystic, Tells of Basic Troubles—Great Changes in Caste System. BY WILBUR FORREST. OKOHAMA —When Sir Rabin- dranath Tagore, the Indian poet and mystic, visited the United States in April, the questions asked him by immi- | gration officials and the regulations ' which they sought to impose upon his | visit so upset him that he forthwith canceled his proposed American tour and took the next ship back to the , Orient. The ship was the Taiyo Maru, of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line, upon which I also sailed. During the voyage to Yokohama I obtained an interview with him, in which he gave his views | upon education in India, the effects of | 1 British rule, economic_conditions and, last and most emphatically, upe Katherine Mayo's book, “Mother India, The interview, with Sir Rabindra- nath’s answers as they were taken down by his secretary, follows: Education Flourished in Past. “How is the education of the masses Pprogressing in India?” “Formerly education in India, as in China, was given through the villages. It was never centralized in the towns as today. Each vilage had its own elementary school, called ‘Pathasala’ *and every group of 10 or 12 villages had an institute for higher studies in | Sanskrit_classics, philosophy and reli- | i glon. The Indian scholar fully owned | * the responsibility of his learning, and | no student who came to him asking for | , the gift of learning could be denied. “The student had not only free tu-| ition, but also free board and lodging. ‘The elementary school was usually in the house of some rich man of the vil- lage, who supported the teacher and those who came to him for teaching, no matter from what caste or social rank | they came. | “But with coming of the British all these were stopped and schools gradu- ally died out. You are probably aware that only 5 per cent of the population in India is literate. But as people who can just read a little and sign their | names are classed as literate the real percentage of educated people would not exceed 2 per cent of the population, or it might be even lower. But this was not in the past. Classical educa- tion—the best available education of days—was given everywhere, and from the distant parts of the country students would come, drawn by the reputation of some scholar famous for his learning in rhetoric, grammar, phi- losophy or logic. And the student him- self was free to choose the subject of afl: study according to his own inclina- n. Village Life Disrupted. “But today no such provision exists, | ‘Village life has been drawn away to the towns. Almost all the rich people have left the village to seek the towns, where there are colleges for their young, medi- cal help and other facilities. But for- merly even those whe were employed in the towns in government service or in business houses used to send to the villages what money they earned to be jspent in building houses or temples or in excavating wells, and thougl might have been in the towns they never really deserted their villages. ‘There was never the same centralization of conveniences in the towns.” “Has the British government done much for the education of the masses?” “Very little, I am afraid; practically nothing. One of the reasons may be that very little money is available for | education after the extraordinarily heavy cost of the administration has been paid for.” Gandhi's Appeal Analysed. “How has -the Gandhi movement against western civilization progressed among the masses?” ““The people as a whole are most in- different. They have no antagonism or antipathy toward western culture or civilization. The appeal which Gandhi's movement has for the masses is not cultural in character. It is more per- sonal. It is their trust in him that is creating & mental attitude not based upon reason. His movement is directed more toward the educated classes, in- tensifying their patriotic fervor.” “How are the Indian classes making up their differences?” “There are innumerable sects among the Hindus, but they have never fought for sectarianism. They felt that as one might call the same thing differently in different languages, so the various sects might worship God in their di- verse ways. But the Mohammedans are more aggressive about their faith, as their religion is a proselytizing one. Of late the difference between the Hindus and the Moslems has become 'very pronounced, but when I was young there was never any conflict between the believers. It is a very curious fact that in the Indian states we do not hear of any conflict between the Hindus and the Mohammedans, except very, very rarely.” 2 there any Buddhism in Indis Buddhist Doctrines Assimilated. “I may say that among the liberal Hindus Buddhism is respected, but Buddhism does not flourish as a living creed. Hindus have assimilated a great deal of Buddhist doctrines. Later Pau- ranic Hinduism owes a great deal to Buddhism. This absorption of Buddhism is what really killed Buddhism as a 1iving religion in India, for it ceased to have a raison d'etre; its theories and sentiments were already absorbed by Hinduism.” “We_ hear of Bolshevism coming through Afghanistan to India. To what extent is this true?” “I find that in every country now ‘whenever you dislike a thing you dub it Bolshevism, just as during the war or shortly after it everything that you disliked you called pro-German. So Bolshevism is the latest cry. I do not know of it in.Bengal, but it may be concealed, and people’ who are better | able to speak about it may have found traces of Bolshevism in Bengal. i “It is not unlikely, however, that, pome people who were clever and wanted ‘f money got it from the Soviets, and thus there might be some circulation of Soviet money in India. The country # poor and people are poor. The temp- tion is great and some may fall, but! feel to many the money is more | waluable than the doctrine.” Caste System Modified. *“Has there been much change in the gaste system?” \ “Yes, very great changes, especially | among the educated people. In my | youth there was very little inter-dining among the various castes. Now in Ben- | gal especially it is almost universal. In my school students of all castes dine together. old-fashioned orthodox Brahmin fami- lies might feel some slight hesitation at first in inter-dining, but though we have Mohammedans and Christians and Furopeans in my school we all dine to- gether and even the guardians do not protest. There is a deal of inter- between the various castes, especially in Bengal, and the number of such marriages is increasing.” “How many students are there in ur school?” “About 250—all that T can accommo- date with our present resources.” School Helps Villages. “Isn't the education of the masses a great problem? What is the solu- tion?” 'r_novemem toward “It is a great problem and uphill of the British: Boys who come from very | | villages to survive by teaching the vil- | lagers up-to-date methods in agricul- | ture, in industries and by spreading | | sound ideas on sanitation and provid- ing medical assistance.” “Are the British hindering?"” “No. At one time I must say they | were suspicious, but that was a critical period and they were suspicious of | | everything, but lately successive gov- | | ernors of the province have visited my institution and the viceroy too has been | there and they were favorably im- | iprrswd by the work that was being done there. “Talking about suspicions, Mr. Gour- |ley, who was the private secretary to the government of Bengal, told me | that he saw in the Japanese papers reports from America that I was re- ceiving German money and was carry- ing on an anti-allied propaganda in | the guise of idealism. | "It was during the war that I also received & number of letters from |America in which I was accused of | presuming upon the generosity of | Americans and of misusing their ho: | pitality. I sent a long cable to Pre: dent Wilson, but I had no acknowl- | edgment of it.” Finds Widespread Misery. | _ “Do you think that the poverty of | India 1s due to a lack of organization or to obsolete methods of production or to overproduction?” “I think overpopulation is greatly re- sponsible for the poverty, but it seems to me that the fundamental cause of | poverty is the dislocation of ancient | resources, which were the villages. A spontaneous adjustment is essential, but it must be a living and not a mechanical thing. The people have lost their center of balance, due to the break-up of the old system. There is unbelievable misery in the villages. Boys of my institution have reported to me some of the things they have seen In their excursions—ruined vil- | lages, ravages of malaria and the in-| describable poverty of the people. “They have lost their zest for life, | and thus fall easy victims to anything that comes along—famine, cholera, malaria, influenza. They passively allow themselves to die. Of late the government has begun to realize the truth of what I have said. The Royal | Commission of Agriculture and such like movements are only visible signs of their awakening. In my opinion the only problem before us is to find again the ancient life stream of the lages. I have started to try and find a solution to the problem in my own | small way at my institution.” “Is the dislocation due to the coming 2" Discontent Spreading. “The dissolution of the village system | is coincidental with the coming of the | Westerners, The change in the eco- | nomic system dislocated the whole structure. At first this was not so apparent, but every day the sign of decay is becoming more and more evi- dent and discontent is spreading. The present discontent in India has an economic basis, and it is due to the dislocation of the ancient system.” “Do you foresee India as an inde- pendent nation?” “It is a truism to say that we want independence. We should all want it. But the real problem is how to have it. I do not quite understand what the Indian National Congress meant by the resolution it passed this year de- manding independence within the year. Unfortunately independence cannot be had by a unanimous vote of the Con- gress. I sometimes think that when they were about it they were too modest. They might have demanded the subjection of England. You cannot have independence immediately unless things change. “India has a unique problem, which is really the world problem of today in miniature. No other country has such a varlety of peoples, cultures and languages as India. Europe had the class problem, but never the race prob- lem. They have got over the class problem through revolutions, but the race problem is the problem of the world today. We have to think deeply how to find a solution to it. For un- less we solve it we shall be miserable faflures. In India all great minds have been thinking on this problem through the centuries. “The history of Western nations is merely political history, while the his- tory of India with all its problems is ‘mainly social. A chain of great thinkers through the ages from Nanak, Dadu, Kavir, Rommohan Roy, Ranade have all tackled this problem of race, but it has only lately been interpreted by achoolboys training in European schools who would copy the history of other countries. But our own history is totally different. and the really great man tries to bring about reconciliation of the divergent races.” Foreign Music Hard to Understand. “What do you think of Western music?” “It seems to me very strange that the language of music is not universal. It is always very difficult to appreciate foreign music. You yourselves, though you may have some particular favorites among the composers, understand Western music. But Oriental music has no real appeal for you. The same is true about Western music to most of us. When I first went to Europe in the *70s I heard a prima donna sing at Brighton. I think it was Mme. Nilsson. I felt that the music had some great| quality, otherwise it could not move deeply so many intelligent people, 50 I kept my mind absolutely neutral, but I could not understand it. “Mme. Nilsson’s songs had something to do with the nightingale, and there was mimicry of the nightingale's notes in it. It seemed to me funny that you should show your appreciation of bird song by trying to imitate it. But by hearing more of European music I came to appreciate it, though my apprecia- tion may not always be correct, accord- ing to European standards. When 1 was in Europe some time ago & young Hungarian girl, who is now giving re- citals in New York, I am told, played the violin for me. I was very deeply | moved. It was great music, with great power and beauty. I cannot understand Chinese music. It seems beyond me.” Terms Civilization Cannibalistic. “Is not the drift from the village to the cities found all over the world. We have it in the States, especially in the Southern States?” “But aren’t vou afraid of it. I think civilization is cannibalistic. ~ Villages are being eaten up by the cities. That is what happened in Greece and Rome. Towns are too extortionate. ~—The enormous resources of the earth are being utterly wasted by a spendthrift way of living. I fear some day the earth will be like the moon—barren and lifeless. I sometimes think that the moon was inhabited by a race of very intelligent people who dug deep into the soil, cut down the forest and exploited recklessly the resources until it became a mere hulk, unable to sup- port any life.” “Mother India” Criticized. “What do you think of ‘Mother India’?” “I was not surprised the book was written, It is a conglomeration of de- tached and fragmentary facts. It pos- sibly exhibits a sound business instinct in the authoress, but what surprised me was the great sale of the book in America. I cannot belleve, that the multitude of the readers of ‘that book 1 work. It is not in the power of any individual to undertake it. But we | should all do what we can. I have ;ukenuponmyul!mmotmm something in_that direction. My in- | setitution helping the neighboring were genuinely interested in India. T Curbing Crime in Nation Speedy and Sure Punishment of Evil-Doers Urged—Brains Behind Laws Held Essential BY WILLIAM J. DONOVAN, Former Assistant Attornev General of the United States. HE crook, if he were honest even in his thought, would admit that he “gets the breaks.” The ad- vantage lles with him because he attends to his job personally, while the law-enforcement power of the mass of law-abiding citizens has been delegated to that impersonal and intri- cate mechanism known as the law, upon which generation after generation of {law-abiding citizens have imposed what- ever gadgets that seemed best adapted at the time to act as brakes or governors in restraining the law from invading the rights of the individual. “In the popular view,” says Baron Raffacle Garofalo, in the preface to the American edition of his “Criminology “the substantive law procedure and the judicial power itself too often seem to work in combination for the protec- GOVERNMENT. terms the mechanism of the law—to put teeth in the law, as the saying goes. [4 Tt ill becomes a citizen to stand upon he sidelines jeering and railing at the Severity of legislation is characteristic | clumsiness of the law in dealing with of thoughtless panic. What the Law Needs. teeth, but brains; not the mental activ- | alert, well organized crooks. It is not | the law at which he is railing and jee | ing: it is himself, for he is not a spec- ‘What the criminal law needs is not | tator, but actually is nmimself the law. No citizen of the United States can ity of a specially appointed commission | stand upon the sidelines in such a con- of lawyers as transcribed in cautious ! test. Either he is a crook or he is, in phrases, but the concentration of the |part, the law. public brains—your brains and my brains, such brains as the crook con- | centrates upon his job, but backed by | responsibility as & Brasol in the preface of his “The Ele- consciousness of ‘member of a communi Criminality Progressing. “It may seem a paradox,” says Boris | ments of Crime,” and yet it is true that If the law is not human, vital, it is no line of human ‘endeavor’ is pro- no longer the law. To be vigorous the |gressing as rapidly as criminality. ‘The law must be nourished by the thought | modern criminal, especially of the ha- of the community. It may be a mecha- | { nism, a device, but it is not a machine. It will not run itself. Yet that is the | consequently, bitual class, is fully equipped with all the latest devices of technique, and, criminal activities view which many take of it, and they |assumed a highly proficient become petulant because it fails to run | times strictly scientific character. itself. The only occasions upon which ‘The criminal is an alien only men- tion of the criminal against society many of them exercise their brains to tally and morally. He is not a denizen rather than soclety against the erim- ! inal.” any extent whatever concerning the law | of some remote island. are those when they desire to escape Popular though this view of the situa- | jury duty. tion may be, it is superficial. It is in- spired by a certain feeling of resent- | of the community makes it ment that this mechanism of the law, bl up through centuries by the best thought ef each generwiion, is failing to function efficient] by an emergency. to the subject the honest amount of Kby previous generationa. thought which would reveal the super- | which was capable in the past of deal- | citizen. The law is exactly what the thought If it falls to rise to a crisis it is not the law, but the community, which is lacking. The |scientific advance of the Nation. He is living among us, a part of the community in |a physical sense. He may be_sitting next to you in the subway or he may live across the street or across the hall. He shares equally with you in the He community has failed to sustain the has access to the automobile, to the ly when confronted | law with its brains, has come to regard | airplane, and, in New York State at Instead of giving i &s an &xoellent device handed down |least, far readier access to the auto- 6o ths Iaw, | matic pistol than has the law-abiding These things cannot be kept ficiality of its first view, the public, in & | ing with_situations as they arose be- | from him. rnnlc at thought that the forces of law- | cause it had the active co-operation of e ssness are defying the forces of law, | those past_generations, hastens to affix new gadgets to what it | And law which is stati BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief summary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended June 8: % GREAT BRITAIN.—The King's con- ditlon is much improved. Returns to date of the general elections show the distribution of seats in the new House of Commons as follows: Laborites, 288; Conservatives, 258; Liberals, 58; Na- tionalists (North Ireland), 3; Independ- ents, 3; Prohibitionists, 1; doubtful, 4. It therefore appears that the Laborites have a handsome plurality of seats in the new Lower House, but lack of a certain majority (308) probably by 20, at least by 16. However, it seems falrly certain that the three Irish Nationalists will back Labor on all important issues; 50 let us say that Labor, in effect, lacks of a certain majority, probably by 17, at least by 13. On June 4 Mr. Baldwin resigned, and the next day Ramsay MacDonald was invited to form a La- bor government. He accepted and took office yesterday. But analysis tends to reassure those who regard the Labor party with fear and suspicion., The popular vote did not correspond at all closely to the par- liamentary results. Of that vote the Conservatives won 39 per cent, the La- borites 37 and the Liberals 23. More- over, throughout the election campaign the Liberal spokesmen were incessantly emphatic in denunciation of Socialism. The Conservative falling-off in respect of the popular vote in comparison with the party’s showing in the 1924 elections was dreadful (though it must be re- membered that the 1924 election was an abnormal one), but the Liberal gain was proportionately as 3 to 2 in com- parison with the Laborite gain. The popular vote was, roughly, as fol- lows: Conservatives, 8.656,000; Laborites, 8,383,000; Liberals, 5,217,000; scatter- ing, 146,000. I think we may fairly say that, roughly, of 22,500,000 Britons who went to the polls 14,000,000 expresse themselves against Socialism and 8,500,- 000 for it (though with multitudinous differences in this latter group as to the amount and as to the kind of Socialism desired). It is, of course, impossible precisely to determine the significance of a popu- lar vote, but it would seem a safe statement that on May 30, whatever else the popular vote might mean, a substantial majority of the British electorate declared for a less cautious attitude than that maintained by the Conservative government toward the League and toward international ac- tion aimed at armament reductions, that it demanded more vigorous wrestling with the unemployment prob- lem. It is scarcely possible to deduce the majority sentiment upon the Con- servative policy of safeguarding of in- dustry (a limited protection), and this for the reason that, while many Labor- ites are known to lean in favor of that olicy, no one may say how many nor jow far. ‘The best opinion seems to be that the new government will institute a_*“gen- erous” policy respecting the League and disarmament efforts; that it will move for bolder measures toward re- ducing unemployment (probably to in- volve state productive undertakings on an important scale); that it will pro- pose legislation for the coal mining in- dustry at the least not less liberal than that recommended in the Samuel re- port:_that it _will propose resumption and cruelty was dished up before you it was_ devoured with tremendous gusto. I am sorry for your readers. “Of course, it has hurt India, but it has hurt your country even more. For the author has catered to something which is wrong in the psychological makeup of your readers. “Do you think I could not collect enough facts as damaging or even more so_about America? Do you mnot your- They voraciously swallowed all the statements, belleved them and really enjoyed them. India neyer muined your attention even whdp she fully warranted it, but directly & tale of vice self think that the raking of the gut- ters of your country would lup{l] ample data for such a book? But I could not %enenllu from these facts, even though they were documentary. remains static. is fmpotent. of diplomatic relations with Russia, and that it will have enough support from the Liberal Left to make good on the above. But it seems most unlikely that it will attempt out-and-out Socialistic legislation, except, possibly, nationaliza- tion of the miner. (But that is an- other story.) The indication is that it will move warily in the field of do- mestic legislation, remembering that only by good luck of distribution did it achieve a plurality in the Commons and that it lacks much of a majority of the popular suffrages, conciliating confidence, having an eye to_the goal of a majority in the next House of Commons; in which event, an out-and- out rip-snorting Socialist program or not—probably not. I must invite particular attention to the Liberal showing. To be sure, it fell considerably short of the hopes of Lloyd George and Sir Herbert Samuel, but Lord Birkenhead's merry gibe was far wide of the mark, namely, that “never was a political party so talkative at its own funeral CHINA—On June 1 the body of Sun Yat Sen (wonderfully embalmed; 'is said decay need not be feared inside monjal pomp from Peiping along the magnificent new memorial highway eight miles to its mausoleum on Purple Mountain, overlooking the Yangtsze. The great powers were all numerously represented, especially Japan, 19 distin- guished Japanese attending, dressed to the_hilt. On June 1 Feng Yu Hsiang sent a telegram to Nanking making the singu- lar proposal that, to avert civil strife, he himself, Gen. Hsi-Shan, governor of Shansi (the “‘model governor) and the entire “Soong dynasty relinquish all their posts and dignities and go into voluntary exile from @hina, pledging themselves to remain in exile for an agreed term of years. By the “Soong dynasty” he meant T. V. Soong, finance minister in the Nanking government; Chang Kai-Shek, head of the Nanking government, married to a sister of Soong, and H. H. Kung, minister of commerce in the Nanking government, married to a sister of Soong. ~Another sister of Soong is Mme. Sun Yat Sen, widow of the hero. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.— On June 6 the House passed, 271 to 104 | (with only slight changes from the form in which it passed the Senate), the combination bill providing for a cen- sus in 1930 and for reapportionment of the House. The bill is now in confer- ence. There had been danger of its defeat in the House because of two pro- posed amendments of opposite bouquet, one to exclude aliens from the census count on which representation should be based, the other to exclude persons legally entitled to the vote, but prac- tically disfranchised (i. e, Southern Ne- groes), from such count. After bitter d('kglte both amendments were thrown out. The conferees of House and Senate reached agreement on the Farm Board bill after eliminating the debenture plan, which the Senate voted into it. The House has ratified the agreement. Brig. Gen. Herbert M. Lord, U.S. A., retired, has retired as director of the budget, an office he had held with conspicuous success since 1922 Dr. Hubert Work has resigned as chairman of the Republican national committee. ‘THE EXPERTS COMMITTEE.—On June 4 the last obstacle to completion of an agreement which all members of the experts committee (dealing with the German reparations problem) would sign fell with acceptance by the Belgian members, on behalf of their govern- ment, of a_proposal from the German government” of a Belgio-German nego- tiation, to begin immediately, looking to settlement of the vexed question in the German marks foisted on Belgium by the German invaders (in which Ger- man marks were destined to become worthless). The committee's report recommends that its goropo all not become effective y’?or to_success: 21000 ‘yeass) was conveyed with cere. | 200,000 marks yearly), and finally, pay- I No prohibition will keep him from such inventions in ordinary use as are helpful in his profession. ~Severity of man government professes to be act- ing in a warmly concillatory spirit; if 8o, a settlement should be quickly forthcoming. The plan evolved by the experts has been made plan (after the American chairman, otrvin D. Young), and the name will stick. Its chief features are as follows: 1. A schedule of annuities payable by Germany to date, as from April 1, 1929, and to run for 58 years. (The Dawes plan machinery to continue operative until August 31, 1929, and collections thereunder to be credited to the first Young plan annuity.) These | annuities to be in two groups: The| first of 37 years, the second of 21. The | average annuity of the first group to be | 2,050,000,000 marks (about $488,000,000) and these annuities to cover the debt installments payable by the allies of the United States over those 37 years, the service of the Dawes loan (about 61,000,000 marks yearly), payments to | the United States upon the account of the costs of our army of occupation and to liquidate the awards of the Mixed Claims Commission (about 69,- | ments to the allies toward reimburse- | ment of sums expended to repair war | damage, whereof France will receive the | bulk. ~ Of each of these annuities, 6t 000,000 marks will be “unconditional’ that is, will have no benefit of mor: torium and, therefore, can be commer- clalized. My understanding is that this unconditional block will take care of service of the Dawes loan and the di- rect American charges and will provide a flat 500,000,000 marks for France against reconstruction, the remainder to go to other allies for like purpose. It is estimated that through these pay- ments the French internal debt will be reduced by about the equivalent of two billion dollars (about a quarter of the total cost of French reconstruction). ‘The second section of annuities covers 21 years and comprises 20 annuities of 1,700,000,000 marks each, and a final annuity of 900,000 marks (the mark at gold par is worth about 4.2 cents.) ‘These annuities are to cover the debt installments payable by the allies to the United States over those 21 years; “only that and nothing more.” 2. An international bank of payments is substituted for the reparations com- mission and the Dawes plan machinery | ol( collection, supervision and distribu- tion, 3. From any reduction in the debts of the allles to the United States, Germany shall benefit to the extent of two-thirds. 4. Should at any time prior to April 1, 1966, the condition of the reich re- quire it, a complete moratorium of German payments over two years will be granted as to the “protected” part of | the annuities. (We have yet to learn what authority shall decide whether or no conditions necessitate such moratorium). As regards suspension of transfers, the authorities of the bank of payment will perform the functions of the old transfer committee. 5. Those prominent features of the Dawes plan—the railway bonds, the in- | dustrial debentures and the transport | tax—go to discard, but the rail- way corporation is called on to pay into | the bank of payments sums correspond- | ing precisely to the interest and sink- : ing fund payments on the discarded bonds (that is, 660,000,000 marks yearly, corresponding’ to "the “unconditional” lock; very resting and ingenious). ‘The allies cannot bring it to book; but the German government must make good any defaults. 6. The capital of the bank of pay- ments is fixed at $100,000,000. Its profits will be applied to Germany’s! benefit, and it is hoped that they will liquidate a large part of the second sec- | tion annuities. According to the latest computation the total of the annuities (over 58 years) corresponds to a present value of 36,885,000,000 marks (about $8,782,000,- 000). The experts formally recognized by the world the Young | | performance, on June 3 Vesuvius began i clare that the busses are half empty in From a mural by Vedder. penalty, if the law is enforced, may drive him from one community to an- other where the punishment is less | drastic, but it will not drive him out | of criminality. Carried to the extreme and enforced throughout the country, such penalties merely would intensify | the bonds of the confederacy of crime {and render the criminal more desper- ate when confronted with the perils of | arrest, Chance to Escape. Through all the hue and cry and the | harrying that he gets here and there, the criminal counts instinctively upon the “breaks.” Without that hope to sustain him, the aspect of misfortune when it overtook him would be too ter- rifying to contemplate, He counts first upon delay, upon getting out on bail |and not coming to trial until the enor- | mity of his offense has been somewhat dulled in public memory. After that it is up to his “mouthpiece”—his attor- | ney, versed in the byways of the law. |1t " worst comes to worst, there fre- | quently is an opportunity to escape the | full penalty by pleading to some lesser | degree of the crime, such co-operation on the part of the defendant in clear- ing congested calendars often’ receiving | substantial recognition by the court. If the law were prompt, decisive, cer- |tain in its enforcement,’ the criminal | could not count on getting the “breaks” | and the inattention of the citizenry, the | atrophy of whose sense of responsibility ix responsible for the impotence of the aw. The sense of individual responsibility (Continued on Fifth Page.) 000 marks (about $12,000,000,000.) So the expert assessment of the total of German debt turns out not much less than that of the reparations commis- sion (the issue of the C bonds was the merest formality and service on them was never expected), and it ap- pears that, after all, the reparations commissioners were not such nincom- poops or cruel monsters, it being recog- nized that the Young plan is very gen- erous to Germany, fixing the German burden wel below Germany's “commen-~ surate” share of the total taxation im- | posed by the war upon the participant peoples. ‘The report was signed on June 7. * X ok NOTES.—Emulating Etna's recent to erupt. Streams of incandescent lava poured down the slopes, crops are sub- merged, houses are swallowed up, the peasantry are sent flying, stopping only for breath and for prayers. Efficient Tescue measures are taken by the gov- ernment. At last report eruption con- tinues, but dwindlingly. sand sufferers from desperate under- feeding, not to call it famine, in the district of Vilna, Poland. For the last four years the crops have been very poor. . Organized Criminals Seen as Barbarians | When we read of the hordes of bar- barians who swept down upon and | sometimes destroyed ancient civilization | we are likely to congratulate ourselves | that_we live when and where we do. But we have scant justification for that feeling of smugness. Our barbarians | today are the organized criminals. And these, with modern weapons in their hands, are as dangerous to our civiliza- tion as were the barbarians in other days, perhaps more so. We may at any time be rubbing elbows with them in subways. We do not have the advan- tage of recognizing our enemies. Prank J. Loesch, president of the Chi- cago Crime Commission, to whom goes credit for this idea, says: “It cannot be repeated too strongly | that we are in the hands of arch- criminals, country-wide in their law- defying activities and almost free to do their will upon those whom they mark for vengeance with scarcely any pros- pect of bringing them to judgment.” That a thorough scientific study of | the criminal and methods of control is essential cannot be said too often. A| public bureau, Nation-wide in its opera- | tions, eventually must be established. London Business Bans Bond Street Busses Bond street of London is making this time with the support of the Wes! minster council subcommittee, which recommends requesting the minister of transport to prohibit the motor busses by order. Bond street merchants are now bound together in an association, and have put forward a strong case. Bond is like the winding street of an overgrown village. At its southern end it narrows to a width of 25 feet and at the northern end to 29 feet. When the big modern motor bus passes another, motor cars are crowded out and hardly have time for stopping to allow one to alight or enter, while parking places are distant. The leisurely, pleasant Bond street, famous the world over as| the center of the world's most luxurious shopping, has almost passed away, and | one can sympathize with the shopkeep- | ers’ movement to preserve what they, can of the former conditions. They de- H There are said to be a hundred thou- | LINKED BY GASTON NERVAL, Authority on Latin American Affairs. AVANA—On arriving in Havana for the first time the traveler can hardly decide what to ad- mire most—that aspect of the city which still bears the impress of Spain, rich in history and architectural beauty, or the side that | shows_the marvelous process of evolu- tion that is.bringing her into the van- guard of progress. In Cuba we have before us an inter- esting phenomenon, the meeting, the mixing, the amalgamation, of the two distinct _civilizations, of two distinct types of mind and spirit, seemingly impossible of fusion—the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon, Cuba is the laboratory {in which these two great forces of civilization are combining for the first time as in a chemical process. This process is seen most plainly by a Latin American newly arrived in | Cuba, and still more plainly if he hap- pens to have just come by way of the United States, for then he is able to understand better both aspects of this transition__state, this _intermediate | ground, where Cuba stands between two | different worlds—the Latin and the | saxon. | "To the citizen of the United States who comes to Cuba for the first time | the surprise doubtless is greater. The | American usually expects to find the streets of Havana full of “chulos” and ‘manolas,” gay embroidered shawls, ull fighters in gala dress, typical fig- ures of the old Spain that discovered and conquered the island. Instead he finds the same short skirts of the American flapper, the same flapping. Oxford bags of the American college boys. And instead of the tangos, “jotas,” and Spanish sohgs, the Ameri- can tourist hears everywhere the same jazz, the same ‘“blues” the same Charlestons, as in Uncle Sam’s own land. Havana is Americanized! American Commerce Methods. Commerce is carried on much ac- cording to American methods. The shops are run on the same systems as the stores of New York. Mercantile transactions are in American dollars. The newspapers are set up just like the big American dailies, divided into the same sections, their matter supplied by the great news agencies and syndicates of the United States, and they have copied the advertising and publicity systems of the American papers down to the last details. The social clubs and places of amusement have all the latest features invented in the United States. Havana sporis are the last word in base ball, tennis, foot ball, swimming, polo, boxing, etc. One de- tail shows how far Americanization has gone in Cuba; base ball is practically as much the national sport of Cuba as it 1s of the United States. portation, the methods of work, all are completely Americanized. The moving plctures are almost_exclusively Ameri- news stands are found all the popular American magazines and publications. How surprised the American tourist must be when he is offered in Havana, at almost every step, some article “made in the U. S. A"! And when, district of the city, he runs across soda fountains, “five and ten” stores, and even hot dogs! There is no doubt about it; Havana is Americanized! ‘To this Americanization there have contributed, not only the several hun- dred thousand tourists who come every year from the United States to spend the Winter on the beaches and in the casinos of Havana, but also many other factors, geographic, hisforical, economic and commercial, which for many years have been aiding to form an influence that fosters this Saxon | side of life, which means, anywhere in | the world, prosperity and progress. | k Spiritual Experiment. Strategically placed between North and South America, and between the Americas and Europe, the Island of | Cuba is the logical place for this great | experiment in the spiritual fusion of two races of differing origin. Geography alone, however, does not make Cuba this point of contact; her history was | a deciding factor, for although it was Spain, the most powerful Latin nation of the XV century, that discovered and conquerel the island, it was the United States, the outstanding Saxon nation of | our day, that aided her to win liberty |and independence. Cuba is, therefore, | intimately linked to the one civiliza- tion as well as to the other. Although from the beginning of the XIX century Cuba made some efforts to free herseli from Spain, it was not until the United States began to take an interest in her cause that Cuban aspirations for independence assumed importance. In 1895 a campaign for freedom was begun on the island, in which the moving spirit was Jose Marti, a Cuban lawyer who had long lived in the United States. The military head of the insurrection was Gen. Maximo Gomez. Having no regular army, insurgents carried on a guerrilla w: fare against the forces of the Spanish crown, To repress this movement Spain | sent Gen. Weyler, who followed a policy | of primitive cruelty, destroying the | rebels by starvation and killing the| innocent and _defenseless. ~All_this | aroused great indignation in the United | States, and movements in many places favored demanding that the ~Federal | Government stop such atrocities. Just | then, when American sentiment in| favor of Cuban independence was very strong, the American battleship Maine | was sunk in Havana harbor. This act | was sufficlent in the agitated state of | public opinion then prevailing to make the United States take sides openly ! with the Cuban revolutionists, proclaim its independence from Spain and de- mand the withdrawal of the royal forces { from the island. From that time it| took but a short while to defeat the| Spanish fleet, and soon afterward the | island was in the possession of Ameri- | can troops. | U. S. Provides Independence. By the Treaty of Paris Spain ceded | Cuba to the United States, but the latter refused to accept sovereignty over | the island, and demanded that she be given independence and guarantees of | her existence as a sovereign republic. | In order to pave the way for independ- ence, and to establish the bases of a national organization, the American | troops remained three years in Cuba. | In this period much was done for the ! sanitation of the country, the estab- lishment of public schools, the regula- tion of taxes, in short, the preparation of the Cubans for self-government. This mission having been completed, the United States in 1902, to the aston- ishment of many skeptical Europeans, who accused the United States of hav ing imperialistic designs, withdrew from the island and turned the government | over to the Cubans, with a promise to guarantee their independence. In ex- change for this guarantee, and for the aid given in the liberation of Cuba, the latter agreed to comply with the pro- visions of certain clauses known as the “Platt amendment.” Cuba promised not to grant territory to any foreign country; not to contract more loans than could be paid from her income; to cede to the United States rights to establish naval stations at certain points on the island, and also acknowledged the right of the United States to inter- vene politically when necessary to pro- tect the life and property of its citi- | zens resident in Cuba, and to preserve order. All these facts would be sufficient in | that Germany had already paid the equivalent of $2,000,000,000. Now note the A and B bonds Bond street, anyway, except during the rush hours, and that they are of little of the London convenience to the people along the of the Cuba oughtafe, 1l ful issue of this negotiation. The Ger- PLgram of 1931 aggregated 50,000,000, thor themselves to make Cuba feel bound to the United States by very special The traffic rules, the means of trans- | can films, and in the book stores and | right in the center of the commercial | 'CUBA’S ECONOMIC STRIDE _ WITH AMERICA’S Modern Architecture and Business Meth- ods Contrast Oddly With Lingering Traces of Spanish Regime. more_influence than the historical and moral factors mentioned are the eco- nomic elements. which serve to strengthen that which geography and history had _already accomplished: that is, to identify the interests of Cuba with those of the United States. Sugar Great Industry. The economic system of the island is in reality very closely bound to that of the United States. Cuba, like some | other Latin American countries, has one |great industry. Nature has especially | encowed the ‘island with soil and sun best fitted: for producing sugar cane. to such an extent that as a sugar pro- ducer she has no competitor anywhere |in the world. All Cuba is given over |to the sugar indusry; the national | treasury depends upon 'it, the private fortunes of her planters depend upon lit; in short, the general prosperity of the island varies with the ups and |downs of the sugar industry. And al- | most all of this enormous amount of | sugar is shipped to the ports of Uncle | Sam. Hence it is easy to understand | wne importance to Cuba of her com- | mercial relations with the United States. As a result of this sugar trade, Cuba | buys her manufactured articles in the United States, and is the best cus- | tomer of that country in Latin Ameri- |ca, for she alone buys more than all | the other Latin American nations put | together, excepting only Mexico, Hence | the United States has a special inter- est in the prosperity of the island, be- | cause Cuba is her best customer; Lastly, | American capital is interested in Cuba in enormous amounts that reach fabu- ,lous totals. Cuba’s own greatest source | of wealth, her sugar industry, is largely |in the hands of American capital. All | this goes to make the economic life of Cuba depend, almost entirely, upon the United States. ‘World War Prosperity. ‘This has been even too well proven oy the recent experiences with sugar. |On account of the World War the | United States bought immense quanti- ties of Cuban sugar, which produced sudden and extraordinary prosperity in the island. Great fortunes were made in a few weeks, and the progress of the country made great stridefl. ‘When this war demand ceased and the price of sugar went down there was a serious crisis. When Cuba had begun to recover from it, and her commerce with the United States had reached new peaks, the United States Congress de- | cided to raise the tariff on sugar, and from that moment the economic depres- sion in the island has continued to increase. Proof of this is seen in the trade index of commerce with the United States, which has been lower each year. _Since the increase in the sugar tariff commercial interchange has decreased 35 per cent, to the injury of the American exporter. Now another increase in the sugar tariff is proposed, and an unfavorable economic reaction has been felt in the island. It is plain that such an increase, if approved, will bring about an eco- nomic crisis in Cuba of such propor- tions as to be almost impossible of solution. The Cubans declare that in the solution of this problem, and on account of the importance of the com- mercial ties between the two countries, the United States should take just as deep an interest in solving it as do the Cubans themselves. This is what one hears constantly in these days from the planters of the island, who seem more preoc | with the sugar problem and the pro- posed tariff increase than they were even with the presidential inaugura- tion of Gen. Machado, for which the | whole country has been in gala attire. Japan to Bait Tourists i With Golf and Dancing | | By increasing facilities for dancing !and golf, Japanese tourist officials ex- | pect the ever-growing number of vis- |itors to lengthen their stays when vis- |iting that country. There has been a | tendency, as in Europe, for tourists to | remain for only short periods and inci- | dentally spend less money than they | could, it is pointed out by the managing | director of the Japan tourist bureau. ‘!amrgest single agency for handling vis- itors. | Last year more than 30,000 tourists, the largest number in several years, visited Japan, the bureau has estimated, spending approximately $26,000,000, an increase over the year before of $1,000,~ 000. This trade would have been consid- erably better had they remained on longer sojourns, and hence the induce- ment plan. There are many golf courses in Japan. but all are outside big cities. It is |planned to permit hotel guests to use | the links, while efforts will also be made | to ease the regulations against dancing | In Tokio 11 p.m. is the closing time for | public dancing, ‘and hotels, except on | the sly, cannot give the number of | | dances desired to cater to the tourists Sugar Cane Use Sought * By Hawaiian Grower- Inquiries which recently have reache: Hawali concerning the use of “bagasse” for paper and wall-board manufacturc indicate a lively interest in the possible use of by-products of sugar cane. Bagasse is the residue of the cane after the long stalks have passed be- tween the gigantic mill-rollers and all the sugar cantent extracted. There re- mains a mass of fibrous material. Already there are several projects un- der way here for the use of bagasse. From it is made much of the coarse paperlike sheets which are used as “mulching paper” between rows of pineapple plants. But the experiments in wall-board manufacture are as yet embryonic, though hopeful. Since manufacture of paper from cornstalks began in the United States attention has been attracted to the pos- ibilities of making news print or come mercial sheet paper from sugar cane. One recently launched Hawaiian com- pany hopes to sell its bagasse product on the mainland for building material. Free Sl;te Coins Show Little Profit The Irish Free State's new coinage is much admired by numismatic ex= perts. But the profit which the gove ernment will derive will be much léss than was anticipated by the minister of finance, who had expected the British government to take back at face value all the silver coins of Britain heretofore circulating in the Free State as an obligation of honor. The British, however, do not take this view. There are British silver coins to the extent of over $7,500,000 in use here, and the British chancellor of the exchequer was unwilling to face the loss involved. He agreed, however, to take them back at face value up to $3,750,000 worth | over a period of 10 years, thus assum- ing a loss of about $3,750,000. Mean- while both the British and the Irish coins will circulate in Ireland. As most State banks have branches in northern Ireland and also in Great Britain, a way may be found for shov- ties, and would explain the inclination ‘'ubans to favor the Saxon civ- lization, But that is not all. Of even ing off the British coins apart from and supplementary to the transfer ar- rangement,