Evening Star Newspaper, November 24, 1929, Page 33

Edito rial Page EDITORIAL SECTION he Swunday Sha, Dart 2—-8 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 24, 1929, PHRASES SURE TO COUNT LARGELY IN TARIFF WAR f‘Public Not Familiar With Terms of Bill and Draws It s Ideas From Leaders’ Arguments. BY MARK SULLIVAN. @ HIS tariff fight, which has occu- pied the extra session of Con- gress and now will be renewed in the regular session, is going to be decided, so far as the pub- lic mind is concerned, partly—though, of course, not wholly—by phrases and symbols. With that as an opening sentence, the reader will expct this article to g0 on to show that the tariff fight is something different from what th: phrascs suggest. But this| article won't do ouite that, The phras in this case, really run parallel to the situation as’ it is. | All that is here said, for the moment, is that the public is unlikely to un- derstand the details of this or any othcr | arifi bill; that the public oft-n gets | s ideas about public affairs sometimes comes to § as a resuit of emotions aroused by particular words, phrases | d—as the New York term for somei phrases goes—"wise cracks.” If any one doubts that minds are not ordinarily made up on the details of a tariff, let the best informed reader | ask himself just how much he knows' about the details of this tariff bill. As to Debenture Plan. Can he say just what the debenture | lan is? Can he say just what are he alternative provisions about the | flexible tariff provision—which is the point probably on which the climatic controversy between House and Senate will turn? Can the reader say whether the Senate bill puts or does not put a tariff on manganese—that was one of the important points in the Senate de- bate? Can the reader say whether the House bill or Senate bill puts a tariff on shingles? On lumber? On hides and leather? Yet the fact is. the public in vary- ing ratio, depending on Ilocalities, has | made up its mind about this tariff bill | as a whole. Public opinion is regarded by every politiclan as naving crystal- lized. That is what most of the poli- ticians have been waiting for. The whole battle has been to get a verdict from the people. In the beginning, during May and June, and even July and August, the people were not much interested: that was the report brought back to Washington by observers—tak- ing “soundings” of this sort is part of every politician's routine. At that time reports used to say that the news- pers didn't take much interest and at the public took Recently, however, the universal assumption of politicians is that the public mind is made up. The verdict varies somewhat in different parts of the country, but it s made up. East Versus West. ‘The controversy is pictured in the blic mind as East versus West peaking roughly, that Is accurate: the public picture in this case does not de- Eln materially from the way the fight changed. - The fight is symboiized as certain Western communities and ‘Western leaders versus cerfain Eastern communities and Eastern leaders. It is/ symbolized larg-ly as, on one side, Borah and Idaho; the other side will bs sym- bolized as Connecticut and Senator Bingham, New Hampshire and Senator Moses, Pennsylvania and Senator David Reed—with Grundy and Vare as addi- tional symbols of Pennsylvania. In this rough symbolizing of the fight there is, as always, some incidental in- accuracy, leading often to failure of complete justice. For example, the Re- publican leader of the Lower House, John S. Tilson, happens to come from Connecticut. Because of that accident of geography Tilson is going to be as- sociated in the public mind with Bing- ham and the Republican majority in the Lower House is going to be thought of as a part of the general Eastern effort to do something the West does not want done. . The fact is that in Connecticut politics Tilson does not be- long in the same school as Senator Bingham. The incidental inaccuracy and injustice involved are unavoidable, con- sidering the public habit of thinking in terms of broad symbols. ‘While the controversy is symbolized geographically, it by no means follows that the public verdict on the bill runs along the same lines. According to the judgment of competent observers, much of the adverse verdict on the bill, much of the sympathy for the West is found in the East, especially in rural sections. Similarly, in some parts of the ‘West, notably California, much of the vf;;dlcb on the bill is sald to be favor- | able. In this tariff fight the all gone against the Easi. Not that the {hrues were invented in the West nor hrown from the West. What happened ‘was that phrases and epithets invented in the East and thrown at the West turned out to have, unintentionally, what is known in the game of billiards phrases have as “reverse English.” The phrases proved | boomerangs. ‘The series began with Senator Fess, who, coming from Ohio, is not exactly an Eastener, but in one conspicuous episode was pictured in a role which ‘Western Republican Senators resented. Some months ago Senator Fess spoke of the Western Republican Senators as “pseudo Republicans.” Whereupon the Western Senators prompily picked up the phrase, turned it to their own ad- ‘vantage and made it conspicuous. Later, very recently, Grundy of Phil- adelphia, principal arguer in the world of business for a high tariff, spoke of the communities represented by sev- eral of the Western Progressives and Southern Democrats as “backward States.” To the Senators supposed to be thus reflected upon the phrase was 8 gift from the mouth of the enemy. ‘With hardly a doubt in the worid every Senator from any one of the States thus designated by Grundy felt a little more secure in his seat, a little more certain to win the next election Campaign Material. Without any doubt at all Grundy's remarks will be reprinted in the Con- gressional Record and widely circulated as_campaign material—by and in be- half of the very Senators whom Grundy thought he was rating downward. Parenthetically, one would like to know just what is the test by which Mr. Grundy is able to determine the diffefence between a “backward” State and a “forward” one; how he deter- mines that Idaho, for example, is back- ‘ward, while his own State of Pennsyl- vania is forward. Does the test co sist of the number of factory chimneys: Then Senator David Reed of Penn- sylvania gave rise to a phrase. The Senator was writing a letter to a Minnesota publisher, F E. Murphy of the Minneapolis Tribune, as an in- cident in a vigorous campaign the Minneapolis paper has conducted to have a tariff written with what it re- gards as fairness to farming. The Penn- sylvania Senator, in his letter, wound wp with a sting, sayin; “.iy best suggestion is that you sena us a few Senators who will look at this problem as Americans and not as fac- tionalists, sectionalists and populists. This is not an indictment of Senators Schall and Shipstead, but rather of some of their colleagues whose atti- tude with respect to present taritf to our economic security than all ot | the Communists combined.” | That again was to the Westerners | ammunition from_the mouth of the | enemy. Senator Wheeler of Montana read the letter in the Senate. Im- | pishly he asked of the Pennsylvania | Senator, “which Senators from the West | he thinks are far more dangerous to | our economic system than Communists. {. . . Does he mean my good friends from Idaho, Senator Borah and Sena- tor Thema: Senator Reed said that his remark was general. Senator Wheeler pressea his_obvious advantage. The Pennsyi- vania Senator was in a difficult posi- | tion—though he had the resourcefuiness | to do as well for himself as, unde the circumstances, he could. I wil leave that,” he said. “to the consciences of the several Senators themselves . . . and to the observation of the coun- try. . . . My denunciation is not going to make anybody feel uneasy.” The Pennsylvania Senator got out of it as ingeniously as anybody could. But he spoke more truth than he thought when he sald that his denunciation would not “make anybody feel uneasy.” On the contrary, his phrase and his whole letter were good campaign ma- terial for the Western Senators. 1It, like Grundy's testimony, will be re- printed and broadcast through the West. There were several other contribu- tions to the curious battle of boom- erang phrases. The final one that maae Senator Moses of New Hampshire when phrace d'd not irritate the Western Senators at all. They grinned abouc it. But they promptly made use of 1. That phrase really precipitated the latest development of the fight, when a large body of, so to speak, neutrai Republican Senators determined no longer to follow the misadventurous leadership of the Eastern Senators. Political Potency. Without any doubt, phrases have litical potency. Often and often they E:ve won political battles. Almost as often they have lost political battles. Any one familiar with politics accepts the condition, and comes, as part of the game, rather imire the expert use of this kind of munition. Of course, one may have neutral reservations as to whether the results of emotions stirrea by phrases constitute necessarily the best possible conclusion to anything se intricate as a tariff bill. Phrases had equal we'ght in the tariff fight of 1909. At that time the now venerable Senator Warren of Wyoming was active, and had an interest in th: tariff on wool. He had an interess on behalf of h's State, which was & wool-raising State, and he had also— or was accused of having—a personai interést as a sheep raiser ~himsen. Under these conditions the late Senator Dolliver of Iowa (who was the Boran of that day), invented a phrase. Re called Senator Warren the ‘“greatest shepherd since Abraham.” That ¢! in 1909, has the same kind and of reverberation and effect as Mr. Grundy’s “backward States” in tne present fight. In the 1909 fight the wool schedule was made an outstanding bone of con- troversy. In the formal classification of tariff schedules it was called “Sched- ule K.” Hardly any one today, who does not personally remember, can im- agine the political potency that cryptic phrass had. 1 sound of it ws made to seem sinister, evil, = Million Repetition. It was repeated, in debate and in print, literally millions of times. It, with.some other phrases, measurably crystallized public opinion in the tariff the Republican party, who lost the en- suing congressional election of 1910. It was the same Dolliver, in the same 1909 tariff fight, who characterized President William H. Taft (now Chief Justice), as “an amiable man closely surrounded by persons who know ex- damaging both to Mr. Taft and to the tariff with which he, to his misfortune, became identified. up, was used over and over as an epi- thetic boomerang, and became prived Mr. Taft of a second t-rm. What _has been sald so far may— indeed doss—overemphasize the rela- tive welght of phrases in a political fight. More than by phrases, the pub- lic comes to most of its conclusions faith in individuals, leaders. Details Not Understood. ‘The bulk of the public, not under- standing the details of a tariff bill, will take one side or the other, because one public man or another is identified with that side. ‘We have not as many just now, as we have had in some periods past, of the type of man who becomes a leader in. this sense, who is taken on faith by a large number of people, whose position on a public question is ac- cepted more or less automatically by his followers. In the present Senate we have very few such leaders. The most conspicu- ous of them is Borah. That Borah has a larger public following; that there is a-larger number of voters who will take a stand because they see Borah take it, than in the case of any other Senator—that goes almost without say- ing. Borah's role in public life is pretty ungomn . The other side in this tariff fight has no equivalent of him. | Treasury of France Dangerously Filled It can be as dangerous for a state to be too rich as to be penniless. At least this is the opinion of certain French newspapers, which advance fearless minister of the urgent necessity of re- ducing taxes. The French treasury, in- deed, appears now to be very rich. Its balance in the Bank of France and its various immediately available assets amount to more than $1,000,000,000. Such a lot of money, papers, “could attract revolutionary party. Whar is most urgently needed for a triumphant revolution is money. If revolutionaries of any kind—Right or Left—upset the present Republican apple cart they would find all they could want in the vaults of the republic And money is the backbone of revolu- tion as of war ..." These papers recall that when Napo- leon 3d made his coup d'etat in 1852, he found only $2,000.000 in the second republic’s coffers. Of course, it would seem more remunerative to suj e the third republic. But there are no more Napoleons in France, and popu- larity is nerhnu more necessary to aspiring rulers than money. The French, with a long national experience of revo- lution, worry little about the tempting bill is,to my mind, far more dangerous ) opulence of their treasury, 4 the Western Senators happy came from | Something in the very: bill of 1909—to the great detriment of | actly what they want.” The phrase was | And when Mr. Taft, after the bill was | enacted, described it as “the best tariff | in our history,” that phrase was picked | an | agency in the chain of events that de-| about public affairs through placing | | of the premier of France. There was in- arguments to convince the finance | says these | BY WILLIAM BUTTERWORTH, President of the Chamber of Commerce of tne United States. | HILE the stock market was having its most prominent position on_the front pages of metropolitan newspapers | I was traveling in the Cen-| tral West. On all sides 1 found unim- | vaired the spirit which has pervaded American industry during recent yelrs‘ and which has made possible the period | of sound business development which | we have enjoyed. This spirit is Ch"'i acterized by a confidence that is based | upon knowledge and actual facts, In-; cluding a knowledge of the strength which has been built into the typical | American business by hard work. 1 There has been no change in this| spirit. In my recent travels, meeting in- | dividual business leaders in their home towns and at the operating headquar- ters of their businesses. I have found | them calmly proceeding with produc- tion and sales plans. There can be no question that there is widespread dis- counting of news stories about losses in market values, becaus> of a general be- lief that the losses which have been suffered by the public have been largely paper losses, and so just as lacking in significance to business executives as the paper profits which many people saw in the prices of stocks of the con- cerns managed by these executives, when the executives confessed them- selves at a loss to account for the height the quotations reached. So far as the fall in security prices affected more than paper quotations and caused individual losses in the most substantial form, it destroyed no fac- tory, it slowed down no productive proe= ess, it did not affect the harvest of the agricultural South. As an observer abroad has remarked, a blister burst on the American skin, causing a mo- mentary sensation of acute pain, but indicative of nothing deep seated or serious. The feeling in the industrial world is of relief. The way has been cleared for steady progress without the men who do the day's work in factory and field having to keep an eye out for a speculative situation which might be- come a menace to them. New Era in French Politics The senti- By LELAND STOWE. F FRENCHMEN would deal with 66 | America they must first borrow, not American dollars, but Ameri- | can optimism and American love | of achievement. Before influenc- ing America one must be capable of ac- tion. In order to deal with her the| prestige of success is essential.” These words were written in the Spring of 1926 at a moment when French cabinets were tobogganing to disaster. They were written by a man who within the space of a few months | was to return from political retirement and assume an important place beside Poincare in the National Union min- istry—a ministry which later won back whole-hearted respect of the United States by the very methods he had recommended—achievement. On the 7th of this month this same man with the calm voice, confi- dent carriage and what the French call h sportif,” mounted the rostrum in the Palais Bourbon as the new pre- mier of France. He attracted and held the attention of the 600 Deputies there assembled, first by what he wore and later by what he said. What Andre Tardleu, impeccably neat, always well talored, wore, was a dark blue business suit. For the first time in the history of the Third Re- public a premier was making his min- isterial declaration without the coutrements of swallowtail coat or for- mal afternoon jacket. Tardieu, “en veston,” shattered a tradition 58| years old, thereby astonishing staid par- liamentarians and crowded galleries alike. “Turned Toward Future” ‘What Tardieu said was equally shorn of adornment: “It is toward the future that we are turned. Our government proposes to guide France in this for- ward march. * * * In brief, we intend to affirm and, if you will permit, to in- augurate in France a policy of pros- | perity. Gentlemen, this is our goal. | Will it be yours? We hope so. Decide | the matter; the nation will judge us.” | Here, both in speech and manner, was | the inauguration of a new era in. Prench politics. _Here, for the first | time, was a wholly modern business | man—a man so precise, 50 energetic in his methods as sometimes to be derided by his fellow countrymen for being too “American” — assuming responsibilities deed something symbolical in Andre Tardieu shattering precedent by pre- senting his brilliant ministerial declara- tion in a business suit without benefit of swallowtails. Nor was it surprising that the man to do so should be the same man who more than three years ago warned his countrymen to “first borrow, not American dollars, but Amer- ican optimism, American love of achievement.” Andre Tardieu's credit in America should be ge, for he has borrowed both these qualities. Beyond dispute he is the first modern business man to be premier of France; just as, curiously enough, he is the first French premier who plays golf. Beyond dispute, like- wise, he knows Americans and Ameri- can psychology as no other premier of the present republic has known them, not even excepting Clemenceau, the man who first brought Tardieu into a posi- tion of governmental responsibility. It is highly important, then, for an Amer- jcan who would understand Tardieu to remember that he knows us at first hand and in the light of a clear, logical perception which is one of his distin- guishing attributes. “New Political Language.” But before touching upon the upward march of Tardieu, there is a new and vid picture of the man foremost uj my mind. Just before midnight on No- ~D: ment among the responsible business leaders of the country is that the Pres- ident of the United States was speak- ing out of the richness of his experi- ence as Secretary of Commerc> when he stated publicly that “th> fundamen- tal business of the country is on a sound and prosperous basis.”” They be- leve that statement is based upon facts which exist for every one to sce. One of the foundations of th> Na- tion’s business structure is agricultural production. The farm population fur- nishes a large share of the “home mar- ket” for many important industries. ‘Without a sustained demand from the the fate of his cabinet, Tardieu again mounted the Chamber rostrum. Earlfer, | Briand had made what has been ac- | claimed as the greatest Chamber spzech | in his long career. What could this| voung premier, 14 years his junior, say | that Briand had not already better said? ‘Tardieu stood there—confident, good- humored, smiling. He spoke, his words flying to th: mark like bullets. First to the Deputies of the Right and then to the Left he directed his fire, but always without malice, always without recrim- ination. It was, as one French observer said, a new political language. It was young realism, common sense. “Let us keep up ‘our doctrines,” said Tardieu In closing. “Let us keep our parties, but let us work together, be- cause France must go on.” Right, Center and Left alike leaped to their feet in.a tumult of applause as Tardieu ended. Five hours later the Chamber put to shame ail political prophets by giving the Tardieu ministry & majority of 79 votes (a majority of 15 previously had been considered a dubious matter). It was a tremendous Victory, and a victory quite as much due to dieu’s sure, energetic leader- ship and emphatic speech as to Briand's more eloquent address. The Chamber had at last found a man who could fill Poincare’s shoes. Tardieu had seized vember 8, at the crucial point in a two- day bitter debate mhflfl'“ to decide the secret by ruling with firm, energetic but friendly hands. France had foun ‘what it has most needed for 11 long .: wn for The Sunday Star by Robert Graef. | farm, resting on the purchasing power | of those who till the sofl, there will be | lack of employment in factories and | lack of business in city department | stores. These facts are as apparent | and true as the statement that two and | two make four. But they are far more important than the “technical position | of the market” discussed o voluminous- ly in the metropolitan district. What, theny is the condition of agri- | culture? "I might make a brief, and perhaps an effective, answer by saying | that I do not know of a single farmer — | and I know many thousands—who can- celed an order for a plow for Spring MAN PREMIER he Sunday Star by Eric Pape. years—the voice of the new generation. Who is this Andre Tardieu? one may ask. With what authority does he speak so authoritatively? Knows Own Strength. The answer is that Tardieu speaks with the authority of a man who knows his own strength, who has subjected himself with rare sternness to prepara- | tion for the role he is now called on to assume, who speaks, last of all, with the authority of a man who has bided his time, That perhaps is of the greatest significance of all—he has been strong enough to bide his time. For three years Tardieu has been known in Paris as “the coming man of Prance.” He has known, just as his as- sociates in the Chamber have known, that it was a question of time when he would be called to the premiership. But ‘Tardieu has never sought the position nor forced the issue. In the quiet man- ne~ of a man who knows his strength he has let nature and events take their course. Perhaps one cannot better pic- ture him, taking due note of his pene- trating eye, his sharp aquiline nose, his firm, determined mouth beneath closely cropped mustache, than in the derisive words of a Soclalist opponent: “I know nothing more standardized, more tailorized, than our minister of the interior,” this man wrote a few weeks ago. “His coat is precise, his trousers are precisely pressed, his cig- | d | arette holder is precise, his ch , is precise, his style is precise. American Business Sound Recent Stock Market Drop Cannot Injure Prosperity as Nation Steadily Pushes Ahead | plenting when he heard that “blue chip” stocks had crashed. Neither do | I know of a farmer who gave up his | plans to buy an au‘omobile, necessary to take him to market or to take his | children to new and better schools, and | necessary for the pleasure in life which | he feels he earns and is entitled to. If a more specific practical answer is de- sired, the reader can find it in the re- ports of the Department of Agriculture, reflecting actual farm conditions. They show that crop production in 1929 is near the 10-year average, while the | prices the farmer receives have risen | materially since the first of the year. The experts of the PFederal Reserve formation available in October, “that the cash income of farmers from crops | for the present reason would be slightly higher than last year.” If there has been any change, as compared with last year, in the farmers' purchasin power, it has been a change for the better. in mind that the new Federal Farm Board, with its broad powers, ample funds and intelligent personnel, now is well organized and beginning to function in a way that should materially benefit farmers, as a class. In September, a year ago, the aver- age price paid the cotton grower was 17.6 cents a pound. In September, this year, the average price was 18.2 cents. The average wheat price paid the farmer in September, 1928, was 94.4 cents. This year the price was $1.12 Potatoes and oats also brought the | farmer more money this year than last. Employment Gain Shown. ‘There is no reason at all, therefore, in basic farm conditions for stock | market crashes. There still is much | room for improvement in the economic | room at all for industrial depression | based on farm conditions of the pres- ent day. ‘What, then, of the condition of labor in the cities? Is there widespread un- employment, are wages being cut, 15 work “slack”? to any of these questions might justify (Continued on Sixth Page.) France’s Premier Is a Modern Business Man—Has Wide Knowledge of America | tempt for the verbose and the superflu- |ous! This man, I say, is precise like a | machine gunner.” | This is Tardieu as his political | enemies portray him. But is there not | in this picture something strikingly new, almost startlingly different, in a country | where precision and direct action are ,among the rarest of virtues? Is there | not, indeed, something commanding | and invigorating in the spectacle of the | coming to power in France of a man | who epitomizes these positive qualities | which too long have been missing | French political life? But 53 Years Old. How is it, one is prompted to ask, that Tardieu today presents such a! forceful, arresting personality which | | commands respect ever to those who | dislike him? I am brought back, as every observer must be brought back, Board reported, on the basis of in-| Furthermore, it should be borne | | position of agriculture—but there is no | An affirmative answer | the prediction that stock market de- | EUROPE NOW o.. Food Ships BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. S was inevitable, the propocsal of President Hoover that in future wars food ships should be im- mune from interference—should in fact enjoy the privileges now accorded to hospital craft—has aroused of opinion in Eurcpe as in the United States. Of the many lines of opposition two at least invite attention. Thus it is argued, in the light of the experience of the World War, that to permit the free flow of foodstuffs might result in a very material prol:ngation | of the conflict. In the case of Germany it was the hunger blockade more than 2ny o'her single factor that in the last year of the struggle broke the morale alike of the German army and the Ger- man public. As early as the great break-through of March, 1918, Luden- dorff complained that his victorious trcops turned aside from pursuit to plunder the food supplies of the British. It was the civilian population, how- ever, and not the army, that suffered most acutely and it was the tales of the misery of their families and parents at home that fatally undermined the de- termination of the soldiers at the front. That there was enormous exaggeration as to the condition of German food sup- ply in the first two years of the strugglc is certain, but with the third year pri- vation became universal. In the same way the German subma- rine blockade very nearly achieved a de- cision. In the first months, after the unlimited undersea warfare-began, the British government and the informed amongst the British people were brought face to face with the fact that if the sinkings continued at the current. rate, Britain would be starved into submis- sion. For a lcng time the British were literally within six weeks of disaster. Navy Employed to Starve Fighters. 1f seapower cannot employ the block- ade to starve the enemy population, 1t has little real value in the wars of the future. Now that wars have become the struggle not of small professional armies, but of the whole populations of countries, and. millions are under arms, the chance of immediately decisive vic- tories is slight. We have passed, seem- ingly forever, the day of quick decision such as Waterloo and Sedan, Koniggratz and Jena. Certain_countries, too, notably Ger- many and Italy, must be regarded—in of numbers and industrial sirength on the German side and in view of numbers and strength of the natural frontiers on the ltalian—as im- pregnable to invasion. Yet both are bound to fall easy victims to any sys- tem of blockade that can cut off food imports, for both are utterly incapable of feeding themselves. Today Great Britain exercis>s an un- mistakable control over Italy, thanks to her naval domination at the Straits of Gibraltar and at the Suez Canal. Now that Russia is, for long years, elimi- nated as a source of food, Italy must draw upon the Americas and Australia, But the gat>way to either world can be shut at will by Bri‘tllln. lNol"m.lll lh‘e present German _position less impossi- ble. Once the British fieet loses the right to hold up food supplies, however, Germany and Italy, the former tem- porarily disarmed, the latter steadily re- inforeing its army, will escape from all real threat of British coercion. More- over, this question is not limited to the personal and private interests of the British. On the contrary, the whole policy of the League of Nations is called into question. For it is the present theory of the { Leagu> that, in case of aggression by any nation, action by the League pow- ers will be largely confined to naval operations. The League has always j counted upon the British fleet as the | chief force behind the covenant. The in | fact that Italy and Germany, to say nothing of smaller states, would be vul- nerable in th: extreme were they to enter upon an aggressive war, vulnera- ble through the use of sca power to interrupt their importation of food sup- plies, has becn taken as one of the few real guarantees of peace on the mate- rial side. British thought, and League opinion as well, has moved in quite the oppo- to Tardieu's own words: “Capable of action—Ilove of achievement.” Toda; Tardieu is but 53, an extremely youth: ful age for a premier of France, a country where premiers for two decades | have ranged between the ages of 60/ and 75. It is_true, perhaps, that Tardieu's record has not been that scintillating kind which focuses world-wide atten- tion. Rather it has been one of per- sistent, quiet brilliance. As a student ‘Tardieu broke all records in France for | competitive scholarship, winning 11 consecutive prizes. At 18 he entered the Ecole Normale Superieure, that mest difficult of all French colleges, which has given France many of her most erudite scholars. Tardieu stood at the head of his class, was graduated with honors. At 20 Tardieu was first in an exami- nation for the diplomatic service, and in 1897 was appointed secretary of the embassy at Berlin, where his powers of observation was turned upon the grow- ing ambitions of William II. Twenty- two years later this same young man, as an important aide to Clemenceau at the | peace conference. was to write the ma- | jor portion of the peace treaty which marked the final humbling of this Em- | peror’s pride. < | From Berlin Tardieu became inspector ‘q"nrral in the department of the inte- rior, that same building into which he | went in November, 1928, as the first | minister of the interior in 30 years who | was not a member of the Radical So- | clalist partv. Even in spite of his ha- | bitually phlegmatic dispositiun there was the flush of achievement in Tar- | dieu’s face as he re-entered the minis- | try of the interior that day. Today he | remains minister of the interior in ad- | dition to his duties as premier, having | maintained that office through two fall- | on cabinets regardless of the bitter op: position from powerful Left parties. Begins Newspaper Series. In 1904 Tardieu began a series of uewspaper articles which soon attracted national attention, and in January, 1905, he accepted the distinguished post of chief political editor of Le Temps at a youthful age probably never pre- viously recorded in the history of that august journal of official opinion. The power of Tardieu's pen won him renown in France; his dynamic force, clarity and sense of reality, as well as his dra- matic quality, are unsurpassed in the present generation except by Clemenceau. In 10 years Tardieu won fame as the most outstanding journalist in France. ‘The power of his words may well be ap- Eruetllbed by the tribute of Prince von low, the Kaiser's famous chancellor, who once sald: “There are six great wers and a seventh, which is Andre ice those early days Tardieu has written half a dozen i!.swrlul books Anldy ’252.‘;& cnadol the most remark- lete and perceptive books on Franco - American relmopns — “France (Continued on Fourth Page.) sit> direction from Mr. Hoover. Both have sought some understanding with he United States by which, in case of aggressive war, the United States would tand aside and waive its rights as a neutral to trade with thes aggressor na- | general discussion and sharp divergence | IS STRIVING TO MAKE WAR LESS LIKELY Hoover Proposal to Remove Embargo Arouses Inter- national Comment. tion, thus recognizing the legal t of the League blockade, which wo be chiefly conducted by the British t. Again and again, too, the British press ana public opinion have sought to get from us some such interpretation of the principle of the freedom of the seas. Say U. S. Cosld Make Fortune. There is still » third consideration which enters into the case. European observers Have nol been slow to point out that if food supplies were put be- yond the reach of attack then, without the smallest chance of being drawn intc war, the United States could becom: again, as in 1914-1916, the purveyor ol food. Our wheat and our beef could bs sent to both belligerents, our profity would be enormous and the risk would be nil. No one will accuse Mr. Hoover of making his sensational proposal with any thought of the material advantages that would accrue to his own country in case it were accepted. But the fact is still unmistakable that all American material interests would be served by such. acceptance. The blow we should deai to British naval power would be far more staggering than that incident to our assertion of the doctrine of parity, the disaster to League 0~ grams to punish ssion would be equally heavy, and at the end the profit to ourselves would be patently in- calculable. Britain Likely to Favor Plan. It is true that a considerable section of the British public is coming round to the view that the developments of modern war have made ‘Britain peculiarly vulnerable and that so far from resting upon the right to enforce the old-fashioned blockade, British se- curity in war must henceforth depend upon the elimination of the right to interrupt food supplies. This, for many Britons, is the lessan of the terrible months of 1917. But such champions of the Hoover idea remain in a small minority as yet. . France, too, would doubtless reject any such policy, for France is both unaffected by blockades, in so far ag her food supplies are concerned, since she raises enough to feed herself, and so placed that her submarines and aircraft could not impossibly su Where Germany failed, and actually starve Britain into surrender. Nor is she less well placed to attack Italy from Toulon, Corsica and Bizerta. Moreover, in the case of Germany or Ttaly, France is bound to conside' the fact that both are terribly vulne‘able to starvation, whereas both, with Itrger populations than Prance, can harély be conquered by T:rench military torce. True, Germany is today disarmed, but no sensible European believes this con- dition of weakness will last indefiniteiy. In the last war all combatant nations were obliged to keep a considerable part of their manpower at work in the fields. The numbers of the combatants were thus reduced. Under Mr. Hoover's plan, as long as any country could find the meney or obtain the credit for for- eign food purchases, it could concen- trate its manpower at the front. Hunger Uséd ab War Witiner, All in all T do not think the Presi- dent’s proposal has much chance of obtaining even a serious hearing at the present time, and I suspect his opinion is the same. Europe is engaged at the moment, through the League ma- chinery, in trying to make war less likely, not less terrible. Mr. Hoover's proposal deals a deadly blow to the only method the League has yet hit upon of exercising severe coercion with- out engaging in tremendous military campaigns. Moreover, the nations which were victorious in the last war remain convinced that their victory was due mainly to the hunger blockade, and in any future war the same factor mmld be equally advantageous for em. Germany, in her esent disarm state and in view of lp!'lre exposed chl:? acter of all her lines of communication with the outside world, would probably accept the Hoover idea~ Italy might with certain limitations. Probably Rus- sia would also agree. But Britain on her own, and the League powers gen. erally, would be bound to reject it. They would, in fact, counter by inviting the United States to respect blockades im- posed b{l the League and in particular those which sought to starve into sur- render nations guilty of aggression. (Copyright. 1929.) | | “Civil war and other internal strife | will continue in China so long as the | Nationalist government prohibits the | study of the Confucian classics in the schdols and universities,” according to | Dr. Chen Huan-chang, president af | the Confucian University and the Con- | fucian Association of Peiping. The scholar deplored the neglect of | the classics in his country. He said | Japan’s greatness was due in large part to the many generations of encourage- {nent of the study of Confucian doc- rines. Dr. Chen said: |, “In China there is a national re- | ligion, namely, Confucianism. For over 12,000 years = Confucianism | made the state religion of China, and | since Confucianism has had no objec- | tion to other religions, China has given freedom of belief to all faiths. “‘Historical facts tell us that Confuci- anism is the foundation of Chinese n: tional life, “Whenever Confucianism was pro- moted by the government the national life flourished. Whenever Confucian- ism was neglected by the government the national life decayed. Because the people who possess good nature given by God, are nearly the same characters in different ages, they have always be- lieved in Confucianism without changes at any time. The responaibility for the troubles of the nation fai's upon those who control the government. “For instance, during the best times of the Han, the Tang, the Sung, the Wing and the Ching dynasties, when Confucianism was encouraged, the Chi- nese nation was very prosperous. Dur- ing the Southern and Northern dynas- ties and the Five dynasties when Con- fucianism was not observed, China was torn by civil wars. In fact, Chinese national life_depends absolutely on Con- fucianism. If you do not know whaf will be the political condition of chlné you can judge from the attitude of the government toward Confucianism. “For more than 20 centuries the Chinese studied Confucian books in school, from their childhood. It was this that made China so great in the past. Now, since the death of Yuan Shih-kai, the government, against the will of the great majority of the people, prohibited the reading of Confucian books in all the primary, secondary and high schools. China’s Internal Troubles Blamed | On Neglect of Confucian Instruction nese classics. You can imagine what a great calamity this will oring to the g:’-klsn;se nntinl:-n. Nothing so bad as as ever happened in the Chinese hlsfol‘y.ppe Geo B’. “It is a life and death ble: the Chinese. If the schg;?beylm l’l?: | permanently not allowed to read Con- fucian books not only will China ceass to be a natlon, but the Chinese will cease to be a people. Civil wars will never come to an end; friendly rela- tions of the Pan-Pacific will never be settled, and world peace can never be perman ::’uy maintained. “Now Japan is one of the nations situated on the Pacific Ocean. Why Japan so great? What has made it so great? It is simply that Japan has Elb- moted Confucianism in her political and social life, as has been shown hy the imperial edict on education, China is not far from Japan, but as rds Confucianism China has many advan- tages over Japan. 2 “And yet China does not imitate the good example of her nearest neighbor, but adopts a suicidal policy. How fool- ish it is. How dangerous it is. I have made numerous appeals before our peo- ple and I now appeal to you as our nearest neighbor. T hope you will advo- cate our movements, so that not only will China receive the benefit but alto the whole world be made permaunently peaceful.” B Food Bad, Chinese Take Extreme Measures Because they did not like the food served to them for their meals on a Chinese ship plying between ports on the Yangtze River and because the ship's compradore or general business manager refused to g@ve them any money, a group of Natlonalist soldiers held an impromptu meeting and adopt- ed a resolution to toss the compradore overboard. The resolution was carried and its terms were carried out. When the captain and his chief officer saw the compradore struggling in the water they attempted to turn the vessel about to pick him “fiy But the soldiers saw “Even in the so-called universities there is practically no teaching of Chl. T, things differently and beat tH b When the vessel docked lt“gun:oer“ft was boarded military plice, whn arrested ten men in uniform.