Evening Star Newspaper, October 6, 1929, Page 53

OLD U. S. EMPLOYES SUFFER| FROM RETIREMENT POLICY Ousted for Age, Other Doors td Service | Seen Barred by Conflicting Law Interpretations. BY FRANK B. WALKER, A Retired Government Employe. DOZEN or more years ago there went up an appeal for the pas- sage of a law for the relief of the aged and enfeebled Govern- ment clerk. Many of these clerks had had long years of service and had become broken in health. The ex- isting law required each year a certifi- cate by the departments to Congress of the names of those unfit for service. ‘The rendering of such a certificate in any particular case meant usually the separation from the service of the per- son concerned and the cutting off of his income, and privation perhaps for the remainder of his days. Most of the superior officers were loath to interpret this law strictly, be- cause of the hardship mentioned. It was believed that the passage of a re- tirement law with provision of an an- nuity to the clerk would improve the service by getting rid of the inefficient. ‘Then there were persons who advocated the law because it was believed- that sooner or later a number of the older clerks, who had risen in grades and occupied high places, would be retired and the younger element benefited by promotions. On May 22, 1920 (41 Stat, 614), Congress passed an act which provided for the automatic retirement of Gov- ernment clerks on arriving at the age of 70 years, unless his service was ex- tended, and that he should, if his serv- | salary he had been receiving in previ- ous years, but not exceeding $1,000 per annum. Law Construed Differently. This law was not construed the same by the different executive _officers. Some, as in the War Department, re- tained its efficient employes without re- gard to age. tion and retired the employe who had reached the retirement age. regardless of the value ot the clerk. This was the policy usually adopted by Controller General McCarl of the General Ac- counting Office, and similarly applied by Dr. Hubert Work, Secretary of the Interior. Under this policy the Interior De- partment lost employes both capable and valuable. The rule applied equally to those in high and low places. I re- member a messenger, active and strong, who received notice of retirement. He is reported to have seen the Secretary personally, who looked at him and ex- pressed surprise, as the man did not appear to be 70 years old. Yet he had to go. The action fell heavily on the persons who had not served the Gov- ernment for 15 years and therefore were not_qualified to receive any annuity. The law had not worked out as Con- gress intended, and a new bill was drafted, which eventually became the act of July 3, 1926 (44 Stat., 904), mod- ified in certain particulars by the act of March 3, 1927 (44 Stat, 1381), the present retirement law. In presenting it the committee on the civil service of the House of Representatives, in its re- port which accompanied the bill, stated: In various branches of the Gov- ernment, at various times, there was apparent a purpose to compel retirement upon the arrival at the age limit by withholding efficiency certificates, regardless of the ability of the applicant to continue his work. The bill purposes to remedy this situation by compelling the re- tention after retirement age of will- ing employes when their complete efficiency has been demonstrated by a prescribed procedure, * Intended to Remedy Defect. Paragraph 2 of section 2 of the act of 1926 contained the new provisions which were intended to remedy the de- fects found to exist in the act of 1920. It provided for the filing of an applica- tion by the employe who desired to continue in the civil service, accom- panied by acceptable proof of his pres- ent physical fitness to perform his work. It is then made the duty of the head of the department to obtain from the immediate superior of the applicant the efficiency ratings and other informatieg respecting the character of the work of the applicant and a written opinion with respect to the efficlency with which the work has been performed. ‘The law then provides specifically that if such information “should show that the applicant has been efficient and competent during the two years next preceding his application for continu- ance in the civil service, the head of the department, branch or independent office of the Government concerned shall as of course certify to the United States Civil Service Commission that, by reason of the efficiency and willing- ness of such applicant to remain in the civil service of the United States, the continuance of such service would be advantageous to the public service.” Four Years Limit of Extension. Paragraph 1 of section 2 provides shat “at the end of two years, he may, by similar approval and certification, be continued for an additional term not exceeding two years, and so on,” and “that after August 20, 1930, no employe shall be continued in the civil service of the United States be- yond the age of retirement for more than four years.” The term “as of course” has a posi- tive, definite meaning when_construed by the courts. Black's Law Dictiopary, second edition, defines this term as fol- lows: “Any action or step taken in the course of judicial proceedings which will be allowed by the court upon mere application, without any inquiry or contest, or which may be effectively taken without even applying to the court for leave, is said to be ‘of course’” (Stoddard vs. Treadwell, 29 Calif. 281; Merchant's Bank vs. Crysler, 67 Fed. 390, 14 C. C. A. 444). To the same effect is the decision in the case of Petit vs. Petit, 91, N. Y. Supp. 979. On December 16, 1926 (35 Opin. Atty. Gen’l, 159) Attorney General Sargent rendered an opinion on several gques- tions submitted by Secretary Work relative to the provisions of section 2 of the act of July 3, 1926. In this opinion the Attorney General held that the retirement act does not require that the efficiency of an employe of retirement age be determined by the efficiency rating system established by the personnel classification act of 1923 (42 stat. 1488), but that it provides its own method for the determination of that question, namely, the efficiency ratings and other information respect- ing the character of the work T formed and the immediate superior's opinion.~ He further gave the opinion that the degree of efficiency which an employe of retirement age must pos- sess as a condition of his continuance in the civil service is left in case to the sound discretion of depart- ment heads, and that in they will, of course, keep mind the evident FW of the act and the good of the service. 2 Work Granted Continuances. Following this ion Secretary Work granted several continuances in the service where the applicant had reached the age of 70 years ‘Under Mr. Wilbur's administration as Secretary of the Interior applications have been filed for second extensions of two years. The requirements of the act of July 3, 1926, had been met, and all that was needed was the required certificate of the secretary to the Civil Service Commission. Yet the Secre- tary turned down the application, ad- vising that “careful consideration has been given to all the facts in your case, and the secrefl has found it im- practicable to make the certificate re- quired by the act referred to ta your.continuance in the Others made no distinc- | Inquiry at various quarters led to the conclusion that the action was in ac- cordance with a policy adopted by Sec- | retary Wilbur. (Editor’s Note—The author is entitled to the opinion he expresses here. The Star is informed by the Interior De- | partment, however, that Mr. Wilbur has | not adopted any fixed policy, and that ! cach case is decided according to the | various factors that must be taken into consideration.) In a recent article Henry Ford de- ‘fclares that he would prefer to have his!| ‘cmploy('s between 35 and 60 years of i 2ge, but that he “would not care how is not to be expected that a man of 70 | Will have as much endurance as one of (25. It is not at all necessary that he i:hould have, for by the time a man has reached 70 he ought to have something a great deal more valuable than physi- | cal strength.” I do not find anything in the act of July 3, 1926, nor in the opinion of the Attorney General of December 16, 1926, ]which Jjustifies the fixing of the age of | the applicant as the test or standard | of his efciency. It seems to be clearly | contrary to the intent of the legislators and to the provisions of the law. { Annuity Not Sufficient. | The maximum annuity of $1.000 the Government service. plentiful. The courts were suggested. This meant expense and delay, and perhaps a court decision of non-inter- ference with what might be considered an administrative question. Congres- sional influence was suggested, but a clerk who has resided in Washington for a number of years, even if retaining | his voting privilege in the States, is out {of touch with such influence. An effort was made to effect a trans- | fer to another branch of the Govern- | ment service. Immediately the neces- | sity for the certificate required by the | retirement ne(} B upihsegl;‘el;ar;e m:‘.‘ { bur appear e e | qualified to furnish it, and he had de- { clined to do so. ‘At the Civil Service Commission there was turnished a one-page circular con- taining a “list of establishments outside the competitive classified service.” There were 19 establishments on the list, and it was the understanding that this list comprised places where the re- tired clerk might find employment, pro- vided there was an interim between his retirement and his new service. In this list are the Federal Reserve Bank, Fed- eral Farm Loan Bureau, the District of Columbia municipal government (ex- cept the police and fire department), | and others, which the circular on the retirement act issued by the Civil Serv- ice Commission in 1927 shows not to be included in the classified service, but to be included in agencies to Which ap- pointments may be made without re- gard to the civil service laws and rules. Eligibility Questioned. Several of these establishments were visited. At one place the question was raised as to the eligibility of the re- tired clerk for appointment in one of the executive offices. °This started a new inquirv and a search for the per- son with the desired information. This extended through branches of the Civil Service Commission and of the Interior Department. It developed that there is a doubt whether a retired Government clerk can legally be appointed to a po- sition in one of the executive estab- lishments of the Government even if the law provides for the appoint- ments of ts personnel without re- |gard to the civil service law. This | doubt is caused by the wording of para- | graph 3 of section 2 of the retirement 6, which reads: “No the service who act of July 3, 392’ rson separated from Efierecelvmg an annuity under the pro=- visions of this act shall be employed again in any position within the pur- view of this act.” 2 ‘The question hinges on what positions are within the purview of the act. Sec- tion 3 of the act, paragraph 1, particu- larizes the employes and groups of em- ployes to which the retirement acg shall apply. Among these employes and groups are persons who have been theretofore 5r may thereafter be given a competitive status in the classified civil service, with or without competitive examination by legislative enactment, or under _civil service rules promulgated by the Presi- service. - dent, or by executive orders covering into the competitive classified service groups of employes with their positions, or authorizing the apopintment of in- dividuals to tions within such As any of the groups within the un- classified civil service may be covered into the classified service by legislative enactment or by the President or Ex- ecutive orders, it follows that any of these positions may be within the per- view of the retirement law. However, no definite ruling is available now (ex- cept as to Government corporations, the stock of which is held by the United States, in which case it is held that such re-employment is permissible), and probably will not be until an actual case arises, Then the matter might be submitted to the Controller General for a decision as to whether the retired clerk is entitled to draw his retirement annuity as well as his pay for services in an unclassified position. District Employes in Group. Another group of employes mentioned in paragraph 1, said section 3, to which the retirement act applies and, there- fore, re-employment by the retired clerk is not permissible, is “all regular annual employes of the municipal government of the District of Columbia, appointed directly by the Commissioners or by other competent authority, including those employes receiving per diem com- pensation paid out of general appro- priations and including public school employes, excepting school officers and teachers.” Thus i6_appears that a law which was intended as & benefit to the aged clerk has been construed to his detri- ment. He cannot be appointed to po- sitions in establishments or agencies ‘which may be brought within the clas- sified service, and he is shut out from service under most of the District gov- ernment. In the newspapers dated August 22, 1929, there was published an .article stating that the Civil Service Commis- sion has drawn up an amendment to the retirement law with reference to the feature which provides that “After August 20, 1930, no employe shall be continued in the civil service of the United States beyond the retirement age for more than four years.” ~Ac- cording to the published article, the Civil Service Commission has intespret- ed the quotation mentioned as mean- ing that “those empl who are eli- ible for retirement at 62 would have wm:l: out at 66; those eligible at 65 be f¢ to retire at 69, and GMIG_, eligible at 70 would have to leave at 74" ‘The original retirement act of May 22, 1920, Sec. 6, tontained a similar provision, though differently expressed. Views Did Not Harmonize. My opinion on this legislation, formed when it was enacted, did not harmonize with the published views of the Civil Bervice on; so I sought a copy of the report of the Committee on civil service, contained in House of Representatives Report No. 1099, 69th Congress, 1st session, accompanying H. R. No, 7, which afterward e the act of July 3, 1 I find the fol “The law BY ARTHUR CAPPER, United States Senatbr From Kansas lisher of Many Farm Periodicals. Muscle Shoals is the only remaining major legislative prog The solution o feature of the farmers’ initiated elght years ago. Muscle Shoals™ problem is a duty cannot escape. Time and again during the last decade Con- gress had grappled with the problem, and on several occasions it seemed that a solution was near, yet this huge $100,000,000 Government investment on the Tennessee River, in Northern Alabama, still stands virtually idle. Worse than idle, since at least 100,000 potential horsepower of electricity is flowing to waste each year. Muscle Shoals has become a challenge to the d a reproach. To let this matter rest much longer in its present Government, even a taunt a status is inconcelvable, particularly we have an engineer in the White House. Nitrate Plant Idle. During the last year while power at Muscle Sh pable of fixing 50,000 tons of nitroj was lying idle we imported from long tons of nitrate of soda. this at wholesale prices $36,261,894. time the farmer got it in the form of the fer- tilizers which he actually used on it cost him probably twice that rate a ton. Even the export duty on this nitrate of soda government— amounted to $12,757,833 last year, which brings —a plain bounty of the Chilean BY HENRY W. BUNN. ‘The following is a brief summary of | the most important news of the world | for the seven days ended October 5: | The British Commonwealth of Na-| tions: On Friday morning, October 4, | J. Ramsay MacDonald, prime minister of Great Britain, landed at New York City. After receiving the freedom of the metropolis, he proceeded by train | to Washington for those conversations with President Hoover which con- ceivably will prove epochal. It is under- stood that the more important part of the conversations will take place at Mr. | Hoover's camp on the Rapidan in Vir-| ginia. Our gallant country will be for- given for finding an interest in Miss Ishbel MacDonald, who accompanies her father, scarcely inferior to that roused by the redoubtable Scotchman himself. The population of England and Wales at the end of 1928 was about 39,500,000, the females outnumbering the males by about 1,700,000. ‘The popu- lation tends to become stationary, both the birth and the death rate decreasing. The world awaits with eager curiosity the trial flights, soon to take place, of the great British airship, R—101. Her gas bags have a capacity of 5,000,000 cubic feet, as against 4,700,000 for the Graf Zeppelin. She has accommodatiors for a crew of 50 and 100 passengers. Sir Francis Humphreys has been ap- pointed British high commissioner for Iraq in succession to Sir Gilbert Clay- ton, lately deceased. Sir Francis re- cently won great kudos as British minister to Afghanistan in the trou- bleous days connected with the change of dynasty in that country. He super- intended the transportation from Kabul to India by British airplanes of all foreign residents in Kabul who wished to go, himself leaving with the last load. * K Kk K Germany.—Gustay Stresemann, for- eign minister of Germany since No- vember, 1923, is dead of apoplexy at 52. He was incomparably the greatest statesman of republican Germany, and perhaps it is not too much to say that his services to Europe since the early part of 1924, by way of persuading his country to adopt a policy of rapproche- ment with its former_enemfes, surpassed in importance t! rendered by any other statesman since the war. This is the more remarkable, since during the war he was notorjously a champion of ruthlessness, and thereafter, until he assumed the foreign portfolio, he appeared as a monarchist, a reactionary, an_enemy of conciliation. Apparently it was during his brief apply for retention in the service for a term of two years should he be certified efficient by the head of the department concerned. Thereafter similar exten- sions for two-year periods under like circumstances may granted. It is provided, however, that after the act hes been in force for 10 years, only two such two-year extension periods shall be granted.” That statement agrees with my pre- vious understanding of the law. It must be remembered that the provision under consideration occurs in the second proviso to Sec. 2 of the act. The main body of the section provides for the automatic separation of the em- ploye on reaching the retirement 5& This is modified in the first provi thereto, permitting extensions of time of service for two-year periods. Then follows the limitatien of the service after August 20, 1980. In accordance with the rules for the construction of statutes, the second proviso modified the first proviso, and ‘the age of retirement proviso, must mentioned in the second be understood as’ the age of retirement expressed in the body of the section, as modified by any extensions of service under the first proviso.- In other words, where before Aug. 20, 1930, there could be an unlimited number of two-year extensions, after that date there could, as stated’ by the Civil Service com- mittee, be but two 2-year extensions. According to the mmreum:: given the law by the Civil Commission, if on Aug. 20, 1930, an employe has this valuable s was running to waste and while the huge nitrogen fixation plant ca- gel ¥ Chile 1,018,183 ‘We paid out for Challenge of Muscle Shoals.' THE MAMMOTH WILSON DAM AT MUSCLE SHOALS. the total our consumers have thus paid the Chilean government (since 1879) up to $265,- 565,658. While we are searching for means of farm relief we should certainly do everything ble to reduce the cost of fertilizer, which as become a necessity for efficient farming in a large portion of the country. are just as much interested in legislation which will have the effect of removing this Chilean export tax of $12.53 a ton as they are in keeping fertilizers on the tariff free list. Last year the American farmer used 7,935,000 [tons of fertilizer, costing about $250,000,000. Delay Due_To Technicalities. Much of the delay in Congress in dealing with this really important problem is due to and Pub- am the Congress differences -in opis is contended by some now that Undoubtedly larger n a By the his crops chancellorship, from August to Novem- ber, 1923, at the height of the Ruhr occupation, that he saw a light. He divined that the salvation of Germany lay in & policy of conciliation, and ap- parently what was at first & pure motive of policy, became an ideal. One may scarcely doubt that from Locarno on he impassioned himself as genuinely as Briand for Franco-German amity and for general pacification. He created the German People's party out of the wreck of the old National Liberal party, plant- ed it in the middle way, dominated it, gave it (at first monarchistically in- clined) the set of his own new republi- can convictions. He piloted German in- terests at the London conference which framed the Dawes plan, and (perhaps his greatest victory) persuaded the re- luctant Nationalists to accept that plan; he procured German admittance to the League on terms suitable to German dignity, and in the League council and from his office on the Wilhelmstrasse he gradually restored the essential Ger- man prestige well nigh to the pre-war altitude; gradually and with recent culy mination at The Hague he procured the removal of the post-war disabilities and harassments. We are told that on the day of his death he had been engaged in a bitter, but successful struggle to obtain agree- ment of the party leaders of the pres- ent German coalition to postpone a showdown on domestic questions until the Young plan should be consum- mated and instituted. It is devoutly to be wished that, now that he is gone, the agreement will hold. Stresemann was the embodiment of common sense, but (if Milton will allow us) common sense with “trembling ears.” Moreover, he had a pretty humor, rarest and most deflirable of gifts in a statesman. And he was a_man of considerable literary culture. Probably he has no more sin- We Can’t Fight Change BY BRUCE BARTON. HEN | wa small boy in the country we had a good old neighbor named Daniel R Who owned a cranberry m He brought the water for flood. ing his meadow through a deep ditch from a lake about a quar- ter of a mile away. Half of every Summer of his life he spent digging out the dirt and stones which had fallen into that ditch. ‘We kids used to.go over and watch him dig. Th was big stone by the side of the ditch which was shaped roughly an armchair. There he t his lunch at neon and We called the stone Mr. Roe's chair. In fullness of time he died. son sold the mpadow, and it was abandoned. My father bought the ditch, most of which r through our woods, and y Summer we fill tle piece of it up with junkand garbage and cover it over with dirt. Last SuMmmer | walked through the woods and stopped at Mr. Roe’s ch Already the ditch troyed. In five years of his lifework left! In a New York club | talked h an eminent architect, who that the glorious days had hed an age four years beyond the retirement age prescribed by 3 that date, even previously vanished from his profession. T Rome left monuments that are pinion as termed the technicalities of the situation. machinery and electric furnaces are used toda: than in a plant constructed a dozen years ago. But, on the other hand, advocates of the cy- anamid process (for which the Muscle Shoals plant was constructed by the government) point to the fact that private interests have practi- cally doubled the already Jargs capacity and output of their cyanamid plant at Niagara Falls within the last two years, They support their contention that the cyanamid process is thor- oughly practical and a commercial success with the statement that the great bulk of the cy- anamid-fixed nitrogen produced at Niagara goes Our farmers as to the solve Con, and quicl gress from to what might be It for instance, delay in Senators, that the Muscle Shoals plant is “obsolete,” as far as fertilizer production is concerned, be- cause it utilizes the cyanamid process. and heavier types of y Manufacture of Nitrates Held Problem Congress Must Solve. into high-grade fertilizers, much of the output being shipped to distant points in Japan, the Philippine Islands and Java, where it meets the competition offered by German synghetic nitro- gen and Chilean nitrate of soda. ‘The mere fact, however, that ex] perts disagree best plan for utilization of the re- sources available at Muscle Shoals does not ab- . dent Ccolidge falled to sign the Norris bill for use of the Muscle S8hoals resources release Con- from the duty of acting definitely . Neither does the fact that Presi- dealing with the subject again. Because there are strongly conflicting views as to whether private or government develop- ment and operation will be best, there has been prolonged—and, in my opinion, inexcusable— putting at the service of agriculture and industry the great natural resources of Muscle Shoals. Cite Commission Report. Those who advocate private development and operation contend that fertilizers suitable for use by the average farmer can be and_distributed from Muscle Shoal much below the present levels—and without any govetnment subsidy. They point to the report of President Coolidge's Muscle Shoals Inquiry Commission, submitted in November, 1925, as indicating that concentrated fertilizers could be manufactured at the Muscle Shoals plant and shipped to the central point in each of the twenty-three large fertilizer-using states at an average saving of 43.4 per cent compared with prices paid by farmers at that time. roduced at at prices Fertilizer cere & mourner than Briand. It was peculiarly appropriate that his last great service toward European pacifica- | tion should be by way of a speech to the late League Assembly (the bst speech of the tenth Assembly) in sup- | port of Briand's project of an economic united states of Europe, a sensible, | magnanimous, humorous speech, with- out any millennial flubdub. _A curious | thing—you could really see Stresemann | growing in wisdom, in tact, in all states- manlike qualities. Few deaths have been more widely or sincerely mourned. * * x % Russia.—The conversations between | Novgalesky, Russian representative, and | Arthur Henderson, the British foreign | minister, looking to resumption of | Russo-British diplomatic relations, ended on October 1, the result being set forth in very loose language in the following British official communique: “An agreement was reached in re- gard to the procedure to be followed on | the resumption of full diplomatic re- | lations, including the exchange of am- bassadors, for settling the questions between the two governments, as well as with regard to propaganda. “The outstanding questions include: Firstly, definition of the attitude of both governments toward the treaties of 1924; secondly, the commercial treaty and allied questions; thirdly, claims and counter-claims, intergovernmental and private debts arising out of interven- tion and otherwise, and financial ques- tions connected with such claims and counter - claims; fourthly, fisheries; fifthly, application of previous treaties and conventions. “It recognized that before the agreement can become operative it must be submitted to and approved by the British Pulhmen:.“‘ i * Afghanistan.—It is not true, as was The modern architect He himself ned three houses in New York so magnificent that he expected them to carry his to future generations. All e been torn down to make way for spartment build- ings. 1 talked with a clergyman who had recently visited a city par- " ish, re he ored succe fully thirty rs ago. TI portion of the city has now come a slum. The old famil have scattered to the suburbs. The church is closed. “What .is left,” he exclaimed “to show for all- my 1 told him that people left—the sons. and daughters of the men and women to whom his sermons were preached. “Your hearers trained their children - in righteousness,” | t said, “and they their children.” We can't fight change, and it is: well that we can’t. How dull life would be if everythi permanent. Hew wonderful that each new generation has the fun of taking the world apart and putting it tog The church may be closed, the house tarn down, the ditch filled up. But Mr. Roe and the archi- tect and the preacher each built himself a monument in the lives of the people whom he served. We ean:do-as much; and it is all that we can do. (Copyrisht, 1920.) (Continued on Fourth Page.) reported, that ex-Ameer Amanullah of Afghanistan, now an exile in Italy, been converted to Roman Catholicism. Rumor to that effect has “pained him deeply” though his feelings toward Christians are brotherly, even tender. How could it be otherwise, since Christ was an authentic prophet, though only procursing and secondary tc Mahomet? Misfortune has not soured his majesty: it has mellowed him. He will not urg his return to the throne; but if his people summon him back he will for their good, not his own happiness, “gladly return.” * * x k% China.—The American Red Cross, through its central committee, has de- cided not to embark on famine relief in China, this decision being based upon the report rendered by a special g:d Cross commission, which within recent months made a close personal investi- ation of the famine area. ‘The central committee finds that, as the result of abundant rainfall, normal climatic conditions are returning to the chief famine areas; that the destitu- tion prevailing in those areas is “the cumulative result of chronic conditions of disorder, of.the crushing exactions of the war lords, of the depredations of bandits, of the enforced payment of confiscatory taxation, and of the crip- pling of the rallroads”—a severe drought merely capping the climax, so speak; and that “these conditions do not present a situation which can adequately be dealt with by a foreign emergency relief agency, and do not warrant an appeal by the Red Cross to the generosity of the American people.” The American Red Cross “is con- vinced that only a wise, strong, stable, central government can command the power and resources and the continuity of policy necessary to lead China out of ‘conditions of disorder,” continuance of which must involve continuous suf- fering with hideous crises. “To extend foreign relief to China in the absence of conditions plainly (in main part) due to an act of God could not but re- tard her ul#tmate recovery.” The investigating commission pointed out that enough food existed in China as a whole to have prevented starva- tion in 1928 and 1929 had it been properly distributed; that, however, perhaps as many as 65,000,000 persons did_critically suffer from lack of food. ‘The decision is undoubtedly correct. T reserve comment on the political and military develogmenu. 5 * * Japan.—Baron Tanaka, president of the Seiyukai party and only the other day premier, is dead. He rendered dis- tinguished service as a staff officer in the Russo-Japanese War and rose the rank of full general. He was minis- ter of war in three cabinets. But as premier he was not successful. Especially in his Chinese policy he dis- played that lack of imagination which, despite the examples of Caesar, Crom well and Napoleon, the world is apt to associate with the soldier-statesman. Some resemblance is seen between him and Gen. Gn;\lt. bel-m dpersor':‘zln lnh- tegrity, apparently beyond question, he wg.‘ it seems, too susceptible to the im- portunity of corrupt, intriguing per- sonal friends, and he left his party un- der a cloud of scandal. Its vice presi- dent, who was minister of rallways in the Tanaka government, was recently clapped in quod, charged with mm{fl; tion in the conduct of his portfol and it is rumored that this is but & be- ginning, & preliminary whiff from & cloud of mephitic exhalations about to stun the national olfactories. Let us hope that rumor exaggerates. At any rate, whatever the deficiencies of the statesman, even his enemies admit the virtues and graces of Tanaka the man; his geniality, frankness, ‘magnanimity -::d‘lo:ll:y. Egypt—The Egyptian cabinet headed by Mahmoud Pasha resigned on Octo- ber 1. Adly Pasha, a moderatc and hitherto premier for three terms, has formed s new ministry, which is to over general elections which certain] carry on almost ly will be held ere long; o . or Nationalist T, ¢ it bega: 3 {WU FACES CRITICAL ISSUES ON RETURN FROM GENEVA BY WILLIAM RUFUS SCOTT. INISTER C. C. WU returns to ‘Washington, after a partial victory at the League of Na- tions meeting on the issue of “unequal treaties,” to face what may develop into the most critical relations between the United States and China since the two countries have had diplomatic intercourse. ‘The Geneva victory consisted in in- ducing the assembly to agree, under article 19 of the League covenant, that any member may bring to the attention of the League any treaty it considers to have become inapplicable to present conditions and the continuance of which might endanger the peace of the world. Mr. Wu did not succeed in get- ting action at this session, but cleared the ground for action next year, if China shall not in the meantime have precipitated a crisis by herself abrogat- ing the disliked treaties. U. S. Not Concerned. ‘Thé United States, not being & mem- ber of the League, is not directly con- cerned by the assembly’s recent de- cision, but England, the most widely in- trenched power in China, is a member, and so are “rance and some other powers with extraterritorial privileges in that coun‘ry; so that indirectly the League action may create a condition which the ' United States necessarily its own policy. As the situation now -stands. the United States still has under consider: tion the last note from China reques ing the Washington Government to name “immediately” its representatives to discuss with China the question of revising, or abrogating, the treaty with the United States, which does not ex- pire until 1934. This treaty gives Americans in China the right to be tried by American consuls if our eiti- zens are accused of crime or otherwise become involved in litigation. China asserts that her progress now justifies trials.in Chinese courts. The United States up to this writing has main- tained that proof of the capacity of Chinese courts and of the growth of Chinese jurisprudence, has not been complete abolition of the American courts. In China's last note, and in authori- nese Natlonalist government at Nan- king, it has been intimated or declared outright that China will abrogate the treaty in less than three months. or on January 1, 1930, if agreement about the treaty has not been reached by negotia- tions in the meantime. Thus Mr. Wu | returns to the legation here with the next move of the United States unde- fined, and facing the problem of main- taining the “traditional friendship” of ship which China has leaned upon and | boasted of through many turbulent years, Friendship One Sided. To this date the friendship has been one sided. China admittedly has been rule, and therefore unable to make moves of vital importance in the inter- est of the United States. Now, however, China is considered by observers here to have a big opportunity to show just how real is her appreciation of past American_exertions in her behalf and to show the value China places on that traditional friendship by the course China will follow on the treaty dispute. |~ Arbitrary abrogation of the treaty on | January 1. assuming no agreement has been reached by then. would not be | construed as the manifestation of a friendly disposition toward the United | States, however much China may chafe | under the so-called unequal treaties. The United States, as all students of Far Eastern politics know, was the real influence that prevented the dismem- berment of China. 1922 naval conference in Washington, the United States sponsored the Pacific | powers’ agreement further strengthen- | ing the liberty and integrity of China, i | a vital kind to China would be too long to be chronicled here. The conclusion found even among friendly observers is that China could not tear up the treaty in the face of the United States without loss of some- { thing much more valuable to China | than would be gained by the immedi- | ate abolition of extraterritoriality, while | among observers who cannot be classed | as friendly to China the opinion ranges to more drastic condemnation of the intimated intention. ‘Mr. Wu returns soon after the report | issued by the special investigating com- mission of the American Red Cross which went to China to see if famine relief measures on & large scale should be undertaken. The report gives, from | a distinterested body of experts, a strik- ing reinforcement of the official atti- tude of the United States toward pres- ent internal conditions in China as re- gards governmental reform. In brief, the Red Cross commission reported that the famine was due pri- actual physical disaster in the form of drought, crop failures and other agri- cultural deficiencies. The report said in the famine areas is the cumulative re- sult of the chronic conditions of dis- order, the crushing exactions of the war lords, the depredations of bandits, the enforced payment of confiscatory taxation and the crippling and conse- quent inability of the railroads to func- tion beyond a fraction of their normal capacity; to these was added a severe drought which brought the whole to a tragic climax.” Acting upon this report, the Ameri- can Red Cross central committee, meet- ing with Judge John Barton Payne as | chairman, in the last 10 days decided against an appeal to the American peo- ple for millions of dollars With which to relieve famine in China, believing, it was stated, that it would be a make- shift effort until China puts her own political house in order. Nevertheless, to |of course, there is relief work going on under American pices, since the proposed treaty; but a Missourian at- titude toward ‘th:t report is natural. ey Notes.—There _was excess of births over deaths in France during the first quarter of this year amounting to 9,416, as against a similar excess of 22,000 in the first quarter of 1928. Mar- riages in France decline, divorces in- crease. Boa Vista on the Tapajoz, head- quarters of Mr. Ford's great rubber enterprise, is a thriving community. Wil r& a ypar over 700 acres of the concession ane been cleared, and over 400 have been planted with rubber seedlings. Some 1,500 men are em- ployed, 90 per cent of them Brazilians. Boa Vista has sewer, light and water systems, and a well equipped hospital. Roads are being constructed, buildings going up. The population of Bogota, capital of Colombla, increased between 1918 and 1929 from 144,000 to 236,000. Our total output of automobiles in the first seven months of this year was 3,723,728, a record figure, exe = ing by 1,130,116 the figure for the cor- responding period of 1928. The Cana- dian production during the same per- jod was 206,000, a record figure for Canada. French-Canadians constitute almost one-seventh of the population of the New England States. 2 The committee appointed the ‘Young plan conferees at The Hague, for the purpose of drawing up a plan of organization of the Bank of In - tional t.kz.nl at would take into account in formulating | given in sufficient degree to warrant | tative utterances of officials of the Chi- | the United States for China. a friend- | struggling toward autonomy and self- | As recently as the The detailed story of American help of | marily to political chaos rather than to | part: “The destitution which prevails in | U. S. Reply to Latest Chinese Note on Treaties Delayed Despite Request for Action. tragedy to the common people of China remains, regardless ot Chinese policies which have failed to bring a remedy. ‘There is no.disposition in official or unofficial quarters in Washington to blame China. On the contrary, a policy of helpfulness continues unabated, private- ly and officially, but the fact seems to be substantiated that China would be well advised to proceed with its claims to absolute sovereignty in a manner that will avoid the perils of hasty and defiant actions involving the treaty | rights of the United States and other | powers. Speculation to Forecast Policy. In advance of an overt repudiation |of the treaty on January 1, or at any | other date, by China, it is purely specu- | lation to forecast the policy of the United States. The next move will be the reply by Washington to the last Chinese note. Already it is apparent that the United States is not comply- ing with the somewhat peremptory re- quest of China that it “immediately” | name plenipotentiaries to discuss treaty revision. It has been noted that China in the note stated that she sought “mutually satisfactory” solutions of the outstanding issues, and this, it is hoped, may mean in the final analysis a less intransigeant attitude on China's part than some other sections of the note | and utterances in China suggested. Aside from the American reply to China’s note, the next scene in the pub- |lic discussion of extraterritoriality will |take place at Kyoto, Japan, the last week in this month, during the session of the Conference on Pacific Relations, an unofficial organization. Here the Chinese delegates are expected to press their claims for immediate revocation of the treaties. Such Americans as at- tend the conference in a private ca- !pnclly may, or may not, support this lh;;ls. Wu succeeded at Geneva in get- |ting before the world, through the forum provided by the Assembly of the League, the Chinese side of the con- trove He was quoted at Geneva, when the Assembly only partially met his views, as being satisfied that this publicity was a decided gain for China. The Kyoto conference thus will give China another opportunity to broad- | cast her views and perhaps to give & more positive indication of the action likely on January 1, the date hitherto fixed as decisive in_the controversy. At the time Mr. Wu left Washington, early in September, it was expected that | his work at Geneva also would be ac- tively connected with the dispute with I'Soivet Russia over the Manchurian Railroad. He did in his opening ad- | dress to the Assembly review and de- fend China’s course in seizing the rail- road, but as war did not break out dur- ing the session of the Assembly there was no further occasion to bring up the | issue. Under the covenant of the Teague Mr. Wu could have appealed | for aid if Russia had invaded Chinese | territory in a warlike moverent. The conference in Kyoto will have Russian | delegates present and the Manchurian crisis will be aired from all angles. Mr. Wu undoubtedly added to his prestige by his work for China 2t ‘Genev-. China paid up $112,000 in | back dues to the League and Mr. Wu | was_elected one of the six vice presi- | dents for that session of the Assembly. | Next year, if China decides to proceed !on the path of peaceful negotiation in- | stead of abrogating treaties regardless | of the wishes of other nations. China's | role at the League likely will be re- | newed, taking up where this Asseinbly {left off in the item of the right of a | nation to ask League advice ou treaty revision. Hardly any other issue stirred th~ | big powers at the Assembly as much as | China’s proposal, made through Mr. | Wu. It China succeeds in getting the | League to consider its treaties de- (Continued on Fourth Page.) | Closed Cars Increase * On English Highways Almost as remarkable as the tremen= dous increase in the number of cars /upon the English roads has been the complete victory of the closed car over |the open type. According to the | ministry of transport among the | new cars licensed during March, April | and May there was noted a four-to- one unfavorable ratio for the open car. | _Since at that time of the year the ap. proach of the fine weather might stimu- \late the buying of open cars, these | figures are significant. In the Winter months the touring cars are bound to |be even more in the minority. Yet |less than 8 or 10 years ago most able- | bodied persons were inclined to think |of a shut car as only suitable for the | elderly or for evening work in towns, | and nearly all young men and women | had open cars. N | . ‘The reason is probably not entirely | due to a greater love of comfort; the | second-hand value of open cars has | graduslly fallen. Many people who | really prefer an open car buy a sedan | nowadays because they know that while it may cost a little more originally they will lose far less in proportion if they want to sell it agan. Yelping Beggar Tries Trick Too Many Times He just lay in the corridor of an office building in Shanghai and yelled his lungs out. This was his profession, his means of livelihood. Industriously plying his trade, this particular man made 'as much as $5 a day, most of his clients being foreigners. Finally business men took to com- paring notes, and it was discovered that the same beggar had been doing the same tricks in a number of office buildings. His usual method was to lie on the floor and shriek. ‘When questioned he declared he had no money, no relatives to support wim, and since he had not eaten for a few days he had only one desire—he wanted to die. Rather than' let him do that the dollars poured in. The man left the premises, and tried the next bufld- ing with a like effect. But there is a limit, and this came in the fourth building. Here he was kicked out and given the chance either to try some other form of begging or else to change his venire to some other and more credulous end of town. Italian Museum Fees Abolished by Decree For centuries Italy has been profit- ing from its tourist trade and has come to rely upen it for a considerable portion of its national income, For that reason any little decrease in the number pf tourists visiting the country due to inclement weather or high prices is viewed with alarm by the authorities. In their latest effort to maintain the influx of visitors on a level with that in the past the government now has ordered all museums and galleries under its supervision to abolish en- trance fees. This innovatign will prove very costly to many institutions, but whatever they lose, it is thought, will be returned ten- fold to shopkeepers and hotel owners. It is to be expected that the govern- ment will be forced to increase the sub- sidies which it provides for these ine stitutions as the result of its sudden decision. v