Evening Star Newspaper, December 15, 1929, Page 43

Edito rial Page EDITORIAL SECTION he Sundiy Star, Reviews of | Books | Part 2—12 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBE ELEXIBLE TARIFF CLAUSE f Would Be Revised IS HELD KEY TO BATTLE Defeat of Provision Would Mean Rales‘ Downward if Left to Congress, Expert Holds. BY MARK SULLIVAN. HE aim of this article is to ex- plain the curious ending of this tariff revision. To explain the| ending depends on explaining the beginning. That in turn #epends on understanding a principle, or at least a law of psychology, that vRccompanies all tariff making. The law of psychology is: Every gen- eral tariff revision tends to be a revi- slon upward. Every partial tariff revi- sion involving more than one commod- ity tends to be a revision upward. ' Every general tariff revision will be a revision upward unless a powerful and determined effort to the contrary is made. This is true because, so to #peak, of the nature of human nature. Flexible Provision Is Example. This principle can best be made clear by a digression which will deal with an mspect of the tariff immediately ahead ©f us, namely, the flexible provision. The flexible provision is designed to | bring about a condition in which the | tariff will be revised one commodity or one item at a time. And this article Ventures to go on record with a pre- diction, namely, if Congress adopts a system of revising the tariff one sched- | ule at a time, the result will be that practically no schedule will ever be re- vised upward. Revision upward will be over for all time. That is & daring prediction, but jt seems safe to the present writer. The tariffl can only be revised upward when it is revised generally—that is, when geveral schedules are revised simulta- neously. First Adopted in 18 et us complete the digression about the flexible provision. The flexible pro- wision was first adopted in.1922. Under 4t the Tariff Commission reports that one schedule of the tariff, standing alone, ought to be revised. The Tarifl ission sends this repert to the President. Thereupon the President makes the recommended revision or he does not, as he sees fit. Under this system, as practiced under President Coolidge, he revised, for example, the tariff on flaxseed, and revised it up- ward. ‘That is the mechanism by which the fexible provision is now operated. That 45 the way the House wants to con- tinue to have it operated. The Senate thinks differently. The Senate thinks this way gives the President, whoever 1t is, a good deal of power—and it does give him much power. The Senate wants to take the operation away from the President. As one_ Senator put it, “We want to get the President out of the picture.” The Senate wants the reports of the Tariff Commission to go, not to the President, but to Con- gress. The Senate wants Congress, and only Congress, to have the power of acting or not acting on the report, of revising or not revising the schedule in «question. Fundamental Point in Fight. That is the fight just ahead of us. That is the most fundamental point in dispute between Senate and House. On the flexible provision the real tug-of- war between Senate and House will arise. On the winning of this fight hangs the future of the tariff. If the Senate wins, and if all future revision is done one schedule at a time, and is done by Congress, then practically no schedule ever will be revised upward. Let the reader ask himself what Con- gress would have done about flaxseed if Congress and not President Coolidge had had the power. Would Congress iff on flaxseed, when hat commodity was standing alone? Congress would not. About two Sen- ators, or at most four, coming from States where flaxseed is grown in quan- tity, would be interested in raising the tariff. Every other Senator would look upon himself as representing not the grower but the consumer of flaxseed, or of paint into which flaxseed goes, or whainot. Flaxseed would not have had a Chinaman's chance to get an in- creased tariff. When the tariff is re- vised by Congress one commodity at a time, the bulk of Congress will always think of themselves as representing tonsumers. Makes Tarift “Local Issue.” 1f the coming fight on the flexible provision goes in favor of the Senate— That is. in favor of Congress having the power—thereafter it will be real- ized, sure enough, that “the tariff i a local issue” It will be realized in a sense in which it was not when Gen. Hancock helped to lose the presidency by making that statement. It will be realized in a sense in which it was never realized before, Nearly every industry is local. Ex- eepting farming, hardly any industry exists in more than half a dozen States. ‘The Senators from those States will be all the friends a tariff increase on anj one industry will have. And with re: vision done one schedule at a time, they will have no chance to log-roll. As to any one industry, the Senators and f Representatives from all the other States not engaged in that industry will think of themselves as doing best tc wvote for the consumer. Ship Subsidy Pleas Cited. This principle, inherent in what has been said, can be illustrated by the his- tory of attempts at a subsidy for ship- ping. These attempts have always failed, essentially. Why has Congress alvays denied a subsidy to shipping— when it has always been willing to give & subsidy to any other industry, through the tariff? Answer: The other indus- tries always made their requests for | tariff subsidies in groups, and thereby | made room for log-rolling. I the request for & subsidy for ship- ping had been united with requests for | # subsidy for farming, for the steel in- dustry, for cotton and for other indus- tries—in that case would shipping have got_the subsidy? Answer: It would, | end so would all the other industries. | If what is said here is correct. then, | #peaking roughly, certain princip! pear. One is: Revision of the tariff by | Congress, one commodity at a time, | will always result in revison down- ward, never upward. . The other principle is: Revision of ithe staff by Congress, acting on sev-| eral schedules simultaneously (i. e., gen- | eral re will always result in re- wision u . unless a conscious and @=termined affort is made to resist. The | @ualification last mentioned takes care | of the cases, quite a few, in which the | ¥ omocrats, when in power, have con- | ¥iucted revisiens downward. Fight Over Industrial Rates. With that digression, long but des- ¥ned to be extremely tim:ly oretuy | let us turn to what happened | it the present tariff revision. | “or simplicity’s sake we can dismiss | 1 agreuitural rates. It was about 4 ‘usirial rates that the row arose. 2 industrial retes Presid=at Hoover, | ' Aoril. made a very definite recom- | iation. His recommendation was * there <he he “some limited and het theze “limited + 3 ! ¥ tries in which “there has been a sub- stantial slackening of activity” and a “consequent decrease of employment due to insurmountable competition” from abroad. Incidentally. while it is largely for- gotten now, it is actually important to remember that Speaker Longworth stood, and still stands, with President Hoover. Speaker Longworth's recom- | mendation was in much the same term as Mr. Hoover's. Speaker Longworth’s words were "a modification of certain tariff ratés as few in numbers as pos- sible. . . . I can see no reason why any elaborate revision of our present tariff law ought to be undertaken at this extra session.” Now, how did it happen that the Lower House departed from this recom- | mendation of its own Speaker and of | the President? And how did it hap- pen that the Lower House, after having caused the tariff bill to wander seven months in the wilderness, is now com- | ing back to the position of President | Hoover and Speaker Longworth? | Business Workers Hoot At Pair. To begin with, the representatives of | several manufacturing industries (the representatives: that is, in business and not in politics) hooted at President Hoover. These representatives were cf the type of Grundy. They demanded that the tariff revision should be not limited at all, but general. They ex- pressed doubts of the President’s ortho- doxy as a Republican and as a_protec- tionist. They put their lobbying forces to work. They were, et that time, very local and very self-confident. That ac- | tion of some industries was the begin- ning of the trouble. The next step out of the path oc- | curred in the ways and means commit- tee of the Lower House. That is the committee which has the initial writing of a tariff bill. The ways and means committee consists of 15 Republicans | and 10 Democrats. The Republicans | (when that party is in power) write the bill. That is according to the rul whichever party is in power, its mem- bers write the bill. ‘What goes on within the ways and means committee is not made public and no one can say with confidence or with completeness just what hap- pened. Some who, after the difficulty arose, tried to analyze the beginning of it. said that part of the cause lay in the appointment of the subcommit- tees within the committee. As chair- men of the subcommittees, men were chosen who in several cases represented districts desiring upward revision. “Home Staters” Chairmen. The chairman of the subcommittee on sugar was a sugar man from Colo- rado; the chairman of the committee n metals was from the metal manu- facturing State of Pennsylvania: the chairman of the committee on logs and shingles was_from the shingle-making State of hingtor ‘That, of course, Then, of course, rolling began, uCCm'din; ciple described above. It is not neces- sarily an odious process; it is inherent in the nature of a revision of the tarift when the revision is done on several commodities simultaneously. Within the committee the members reflecting the various industries log- rolled with each other, naturally. Then —and more important—having written high rates for their industries, they had to log-roll with the whole body of 435 Representatives, They had to get a minimum of 218 Representatives to vote for their high rates. When they approached individual Representatives to vote for the rates written in the ways and means committee room, natu- rally the individual Representative thus approached for his support inquired what had been done about some indus- try in which his district was particu- larly interested, such, for example, as cement, or bricks, or manganese, or what not. “Qutsiders” Exact Price. Especially when Representatives out- side the committee found that those inside the committee had looked after their own commodities, it followed that those outside exacted a price. It was reasonable that they should. A Rep- resentative could not go home with the spectacle of other industries favored and his own local industry not favored. That is the very essence of log-rolling. 1t is not wicked. It is merely human nature, and it is inevitable. That really tells most of the story. The spirit that is inseparable from re- vising the tariff several schedules at a time, operated in the Lower House from the very first moment to bring about a tariff revision broader than the “limited” one President Hoover had recommended. The result was a tariff which the West and the South could attack as giving much to industry. Incidentally, there is a curious irony in the geographical character this fight has taken. It is pictured as a fight, mainly, of the West against East. Yet, in the judgment of some who followed the beginning most closely, it was the West that was most responsible for the broadening of the revision from the “limited” one President Hoover recommended. Western Interesis Are Blamed. It was the Rocky Mountain region that wanted a higher tariff on sugar, and it was the Pacific Coast that wanted tariff on logs and shingles. In the judgment of persons very close to the situation, it was the desire for higher protection for these commodities that led to giving higher rates on many other commodities, through the process described above. Thus the controversy began. It should be added that not all the 15 Republican members of the ways and means committee favored the broaden- ing of the revision, or the increased rates. The committee frequently di- vided in roughly the ration of 9 to 6, or 8 to 7. Among those who tried to keep the revision limited, and comparatively low, three came from the extreme East. All that is over the dam, however. The fight in its later stages became visualized to the public as the West for low industrial rates, and the East for high industrial rates. In that rough picture, as often, there is some inac- curacy and some injustice to individuals. n. made a difference. the inevitable log- to the prin- Italy Plans Forcing In future expectant mothers in Italy may be compelled to inform authorities of ‘their condition in order that they may be given good medical attention during the period of pregnancy, and the infant mortality rate may thus be diminished. In 1925, 1,133 Italian mothers died of puerperal fever and 1,977 met death through pregnancy and childbirth. In addition 10,000 mothers are i1l each year because they are not properly cared for during the period of maternity. Italy needs every child it may possibly have, according to Il Duce, |and the obligatory declaration to ex- | pectant mothers may be expected to result in several thousand healthy ad- “'tians to the census list every year. ‘. Pre-Natal Betterment | Speculation—Construction Governmental Responsibility to Economic Structure Is Issue in President’s Intervention in Recent Crisis BY WILLIAM HARD. HE intervention of the President to check the consequences of the recent stock market collapse carries with it a great many considerations which go far beyond the occasion of the immediate incident. The whole problem of gov- ernmental _responsibility toward the economic structure is involved. How far should the Govarnment go toward trying to keep that structure intact and “balanced”? ,How far should it go toward warning the national com- munity against apparent deflations from “balance"—as, for instance, when construction 15 seen to be unduly shrinking and speculative loans ‘are seen to be unduly expanding, relatively to the “balance’” and harmony of the industrial whole? How far, again, should the Government go, after a speculative decline, in trying to “stimu- late” irdustrial activities which will BY HENRY KITTREDGE NORTON. AITI is one of the beauty spots of the world. With its blue skies, limpid waters and pic- turesque mountains, it has all the outward appearance of a tropical, paradise. In the eyes of a tourist_agent it should be one of the most_attractive places in the American Mediterranean, possessing all the qual- ities which appeal to the sunshine- seeking Winter tourist. Yet few tourists go to Haitl, and still fewer remain more than the few hours that the boat stops. Most of the Amer- icans who have gone to Haiti are Marines. They are the symbol of the recurring troubles which Uncle Sam has found in this beautiful neighboring island. A dozen or more times Marines or bluejackets have landed at Haitian towns fo restore peace and quiet. These incidents suggest the pictur- esque history of the island. It was one of the first places where Columbus landed in the New World. He called it Hispaniola. 1Its fertility early attracted Spanish_colonists, who tried to garner its wealth by the forced labor of its Indian inhabitants. The Indians re- sisted and in time were practically ex- terminated. while Negro slaves were imported from Africa to do the work on the plantations, French Made Colony Wealthy. As a result of the wars between Spain and France the western third of the island, now known as Haiti, became a French colony, while the eastern two- thirds, now the Dominican Republic, remained Spanish. The French made of their colony one of the most produe- tive and wealthiest in the West Indies. But its wealth was based upon slavery, and when the French Revolu- tion deprived the colonists of the pro- tection of the French crown, the slaves rose in revolt. Through a horrible decade inadequate French forces fought. against armed Negroes and tropical disease, The whites were finally driven from Haiti and the Negro republic pro- | claimed in 1804. For 111 years this so-called republic pursued its fantastic course. One mili- | tary dictator after another, some bet- ter and some worse, some calling them- | selves “king” and some “emperor.” some | with the ability of Nord Alexis and some with the grotesque absurdity of a soulouque, ruled the natives. The ot of the Jatter was anything but an| improvement over the days of slavery. Jungle Reclaimed Plantations. Roads, bridges, aqueducts, built by | the Prench, rotted to ruin. The jungle | reclaimed the broad planiations.” And | the hunted Haitians, now to escape the | insatiable tax collectors of the ruling| chieftain and now to avoid the press| gangs of some rival who was organizing ' a revolution, scurried into the forests, built their miserable huts and eked out a precarious existence, a prey to human oppression in_this world and to savage | voodo superstition in regard to the next. A century of this kind of “self-gov- ernment” relegated the country to much the same condition in which Columbus found it and the mass of its people to a primitive savagery comparable to that | in Africa from which their ancestors | had been forcibly removed. Govern- ment was to all but a few a thing of | evil in its every aspect. To those who could participate in it it was a justifi- % o e A I g s prevent the market from being followed in some degree by a deflation of all business? These considerations go to the very nature of Government. It is an off chance that they have come to a peak in the administration of our first busi- ness-man-President. It is not too much to say that the recent conferences be- tween President Hoover and American industrial and agricultural leaders in the White House have marked an im- portant epoch in the gradual growth of recognized governmental concern, not with the management of any one business, but with the management cf the balanced steadiness of our whole national economic life, considered as a totality. The clear assumption of such a responsibility, without at the same time any assumption whatsoever of any responsibility for the operation of in- dividual businesses, brings us into a state of things for which old words like “individualism” or “socfalism” Haiti’s Gains by Roads Built, Foreign Trade Expanded, Health Guarded, Finances Stabilized by U. S. Intervention cation for every form of extortion. It could be changed only by revolution, and by revolution it was changed. Uprising in 1915 Recalled. In 1911 the wheel of revolutior. be- gan to spin with increased velocity. In the following four years, six self-elected presidents strutted their ostentatious persons upon the Haitian stage. The last of these was Guillaume Sam, who assumed office by revolution in March, 1915. As a measure of caution he clapped into jail nearly 200 of the lead- ing citizens whom he deemed possible rivals for the presidency. Revolution was already afoot in the north, however, and on the evening of July 26 it reached the presidential palace, Early the next morning Sam's forces fled, and the president himself, with a bullet in his leg, escaped to the French legation. During the night, although there was no attack upon the jail, a general massacre of the political prisoners took Place. There is no documentary proof deflation of the stock |seem wholly inadequate. —Drawn for The Sunday Star by Edward Trumbull, ‘The state reached is not socialism at all; nor, on the other hand, is it at all what our ancestors meant when they identified individualism with & situation in which a Government would do little more than to provide the Nation with se- curity from external violence and from internal disorder. What we now see is a situation in which the Governmen:i, without be. coming the operator of business, be- comes in an increasing degree a mech- anism necessary to business for its guidance and for its successful main- tenance of its prosperity. In default of a better word, and in defiance of the techincal meaning often given to the word ‘“co-operation,” we might call a soclety in which such a relationship between private life and public life has been consummated a “co-overative so- ciety.” Let us now examine it in the light of the President's present endeavors, CcCu that President Sam ordered this, but there is little doubt that he was re- sponsible for it. At any rate, 167 of the most prominent men of the country were slaughtered with revoiting savagery. When the news reached the crowds in the streets of Port-au-Prince a frenzied mob started for the French legation. Without regard for the ame- nites of international law they overran the premises. Sam was found behind a dresser in the attic. He was carried down and flung to instant death at the hands of his infuriated countrymen. Caperton Landed Marines. It was at this point that Uncle Sam entered the picture for a prolonged stay. Admiral Caperton, who had been stand- ing by with his ships watching develop- ments, landed Marines, restored order and took control of affairs. The Government at Washington was in the midst of the vexatious issues of the war in Europe. There had been Too Much Pity BY BRUCE BARTON. MAN who has won high distinction in his chosen field of laber came into my office not long ago. He walks with a limp, for one of his leas is shorter than the other. He told me that for years he went around on crutch: “| finally threw them away,” he “and I'll tell you why. | got infernally tired of having people stop to ask me what had happened. | didn’t want sym- pathy. It did me no good and slowed up my operations. I'm lame. I'll never be any better. But | can stand the lamen better than can stand be pitied.” * ok k There is a great waste of pity in the world. I know, for example, a couple who seem to be curiously m mated. The woman 10 years older than the man. She is ar- gumentative. She is not a very good housekeeper. At t a hundred times have heard somebody say sorry for Joe. He might have picked out a lovely young girl and see what he went and did Now, the simple fact is that the man and woman are exceed- ingly happy. | personally can’t see what he finds attractive in her, nor why she should have chosen him. But it is none of (Copyrisht, d | certainly am my busine sympathy on not going to wi two folks who other and to be perfectly sat | live part of every year in the middle of Manhattan d and the rest of the time in a New England village. My Man- : “What a ter- rible hore it must be to live i little town. No theaters, no art galleries, no excitement. pity country people.” My village friends to go to New York for a visit, but what a frightful place to live! Noise, and crime, and rush and expense! The poor folks who are crowded together in those big apartments just don't know what real living is. How I pity them.” What an absurd situation. What an emotional waste! This seems to me to be a pretty good i don’t weaken your emotiona ture by pour- ing out pity unless you intend to do something about it. Pity the sick and rel Pity the poor and divide with them. Sympathize with the struggles of youth and lend a helping hand. But don't get into the foolish habit of being sorry for anybody who happens to be different from yourself. The chances are that pendi an equal amount of his time being sorry for you. 1929.) e them. Let us note first that those endeavors have been received with almost unani- mous business acclaim. Only a few vears ago a great many business men were filled with profound distrust of Mr. Hoover's public interest in private business problems and developments. He was once described by an eminent railroad president (who did not see why the statistics of his rallroad should be drawn from him by a Secretary of around in a bucket.” Few railroad executives, in truth, in this whole coun- try were entirely free of the conviction that Mr. Hoover was a dangerous inter- vener and interloper and interrupter. PFrom them, as from the most dis- tinguished practitioners of the banking art in our most famous banking street, Mr. Hoover got little support for his presidential aspirations. Over and over again in such quarters the remark was made about him: _He 15 a business man. Yes. He has (Continued on Sixt o some nervousness over the prospect that either France or Germany might land its own marines. There had also been rumors of a German attempt to secure a Haitian naval base at Mole St. Nicholas. Rightly or wrongly, Wash- ington decided against temporizing in Haiti and determined to assume control of Haitian affairs. The upshot was a treatly, ratified in 1916, which provided that for 10 years the principal Haitian ministers should have American “advisers” and that the finances of the country should be con- trolled by an American financial ad- viser and receiver general. There was naturally much opposi- tion to this treaty among the Haitian leaders. They may be given a certain measure of credit for sincerity in their Insistance upon the rights of Haiti as & sovereign state, though the recent history of the country gave little sup- port along this line. Over and above this, however, there was ample evidence that one cause of serious concern among them was that the treaty would deprive them of their greatest source of revenue—political office with control of public funds. Middle Course Adopted. Had Uncle Sam been an old-fash- ioned imperialist—had Uncle Sam been half ' the acquisitive imperialist the chief critics of the Haitian occupation say he is—he would have saved him- self a lot of trouble by taking over the government entirely, sending down a efficient administration kngwn”(:o‘llunl}:l models. T, e had been the doc legalist that his critics would uflnx.ulxgn: to be, he could have avoided immediate responsibility by withdrawing alto- gether and allowing the Haitian poli- ticlans to resume their wonted ways. Instead he followed neither of these courses. He aflopted a middle policy of re-establishing a Haitian government and arranging to control it under the ;;vr;?.sfl?l hw.“ Th;rr was much to justi- a policy, but it has als the way to endless cmlclsm..l e Bandits Hunted by Marines. ‘The final justification of the lie} must be found in the successful eg?:cl}: tion of the Haitian people to resume control of their own affairs and to con- s:;c;' lf'he}n wfi‘h & reasonable degree of t for the sf mq‘l#m“n. tandards of modern e first pressing obligation was the restoration—or - rather the. establishe ment—of peace and order. This meant changing the Habits of a century. In the north were numerous bandit gangs, | known as Cacos, from which were re- cruited the endless succession of revo- | lutionary armies. Incited by disgruntled politicians, these cacos set out to oppose the Amer- ican occupation as they had each suc- cessive Haitian administration. The Marines were ordered to disarm them and reduce them to submission. This meant guerrilla warfare in a jungle country. As the caccs were indistinguishable rom peaceful peasants the moment they secreted their arms, it was inevita- ble that some innocent persons would be killed. Only a distorted sentimen- tality, however, can look upon the cacos as_struggling for national independ- (Continued e Nilta Page) [ after Commerce) as “a cannon ball rolling | governor general and establishing an | well | |American Attitude and Contine BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. S the United States prepared to join Great Britain in a political partner- ship which shall have as its pri- mary purpose the forcible mainte- nance of the peace of the world? | This is the question which overshadows ‘all others for Europe, and, indeed, for the whole world i respect of the forth- coming London conference. It is perfectly true that there have come from London and Washington alike official denials of any secret un- derstanding born of the conferences of President Hoover and Mr. Macdonald beside the Rapidan, ancient boundary of strife between the armies of the Blue and Gray. It is true, similarly, that French and Italian newspaper comment solemnly repeats the burden of this denial. Nevertheless, it is equally true that Mr. Macdonald’s sensational and un- precedented excursion to American shores has awakened not only curiosity but suspicion all over the European Continent. From the close of the World War to the present hour Europe has, turn and turn about, speculated upon the possibilities of alliance or rivalry between the two English-speaking coun- tries. ‘The Washington conference seemed to forecast partnership; the Geneva conference appeared the pre- lude to collision. Today the pendulum has swung back, and Europe is once more considering the prospects of com- bination. In this situation two things appear clear. The first is that the United States has no intention of entering upon any formal alliance with the British. ‘The second is that, while the British perceive the impossibility of formal alliance, they have not in the least renounced the idea of a co-operation so close and so effective that formal and official contract would be unnecessary. The British perceive, for example, that what we desire at the London con- ference is not obtainable save as we are prepared to adopt one of two courses: We may join the League of Nations, adding our resources to those of the member powers to impose peace and to punish any aggressor. ‘would amount to a guarantee of all powers against any disturbance of the situa- tion which exists. France would then cease to have any real apprehension as to German aggression. Germany quite nightmare of French interference. It We Side With British. By contrast we may throw our lot in with the British. We may agree to stand with them in any future ciisls; not only to permit them to use fleet in ‘accordance with their needs case of war and without regard to our neutral rights, but also to join them. If we promise this, then we are in a position to ask the British to agree to a reduction of their naval program be- low their traditional two-pewer stand- ard. They will no longer have to keep their fleet equal to that of France and Italy combined, because they will be assured of the support of our fleet in any time of crisis. What we cainnot successfully under- take to do i3 to persuade the French and the Italians on the one hand, and the British on the other, to reduce their naval progrems beyond ‘their own con- ceptions of national security, while we are not prepared to insure them against the consaquences of such weakening. The question of parity would ot enter into the discussion were it not that to this demand the United States has added that of reduction. Great Britain has assented to equality be- tween the British and American fleets, and this parity could be arrived at simply by the carrying out of the JA',m"mm ':av;’l program. But when comes the matter of reduct the problem gets difficult. i All Working at Odds. It get difficult because the basis British sea policy in Europe is the po?;{ session of strength equal to the two nearest powers, which today are France and Italy. And in the matter of cruis- ers, which are the defensive arm alike against submarine and cruiser attack upon commerce, Britain is resolved to be at least the double of France. France, on the other hand, is resolved to have :(::‘ll;::lr‘rtfih Pqulhtg gmt of Italy in the nean and Germany under Treaty of Versailles. o s When, then, France fixes her program for cruisers at above 200,000 tons and Italy announces that she means to duplicate jt, the Hoover - Macdonald agreement, which fixes 339.000 tons for the British cruiser allotment and some- thing between 285,000 and 305,000 for the American, falls to the ground. Not 339,000 but 400,000 tons become the minimum of British requirement 0 maintain the two-power standard. And for us parity is attainable not merely by completing the 15-cruiser program, but by expanding to a 20 or 25 cruiser limit, In this erisis the British must say to us: “This price of parity by reduction must be your success in dealing with the French. We can only agree to fix our as_completely would be freed of the| olr in ! 'U. S. INFLUENCE ON PEACE OF EUROPE IS SEEN VITAL Held Determining Factor in Rivalry Between Britain ntal Powers. | cruiser tonnage at just twice the French, | ‘unless you will agree to stand by us in | case we become involved with the French and Italians in the future.” When, however, we address. the French, they will see us asking them forever to accept a position of helpful- ness in the face of the British. “Why, they will say, “must we consent to be. come a third-class naval power forever in order to let you get parity with the British inexpensively?” Then is Mr. Stimson going to seek to support the French thesis—and the Italian—at the expense of che British or the British at the expense of the Italian? If he does the former, then we are mixed up in the present European tangle on one side: if he does the latter, we are in on the other. To bring about a reduction of naval expenditures, we are then faced with the well-nigh in: escapable necessity to take sides in a European controversy. For there is, today, a controversy %oinl on in Europe. France and Great ritain are again at odds. The truce which lasted from 1924 to last Summer was ruptured violently at The Hague. The Labor government now in power in Britain has broken off the Anglo- French entente, French and British policies are in collision all over Europe and so, for that matter, are British and Italian and Italian and Prench. For the next few years the only real ehance the British have of prevailing over France in Europe is that they shall have American backing. . France Is Better Off. Today France is financially and eco- nomically incomparably better off than Britain. She has in addition the su- preme army on the continent and the support of all the other considerable military powers save Italy. Germany is disarmed _and still occupied by French troops. Finally France has the diplo- matic support of her continental allies, Poland and the nations of the little entente. Through her situation at Ge- neva she has heen using the League of Nations' ‘as an instrument of French policy for.four years. Now at The Hague Labor, through Snowden, challenged the French po- sition. He inflicted a serious wound upon French prestige. His supporters, in fact nearly all of the British press, proclaimed after The Hague that Britain meant now to follow a new policy, to abandon Tory subservience to Franee, to put an end in Europe to & French hegzmony contrary to British Interest and injurious to British pres- t n the morrow of this Anglo-Prench break Macdonald hastened: across sea and for days the press of the world was filled with the news and the. pic- tures of the American President and the British premier in close commun- fon. Did that mean that Macdonald had undertaken, not without success, to enlist American support for Britain against France? It may be recalled tnat even American newspaper eorre- spondents, notably David Lawrence, an- nounced that it had been.agreed that the two navies would henceforth act to= gether. To be sure this Apnouncerent was officially and emphatically denied — but in France the announcement found more credence than the denial. London is not going to be primarily a question of peace but of power. And for all the European states, for Britain as much as France, the real issue is going to be whether Mr. Hoover is pre- pared to commit the decisive strength of the United States to the support of the British thesis in Europe in return for British agreement to re ize American equality and accept American demands for the reduction of naval tonnage. Not Really at Peace. Today Europe is at peace only in the - military sense. Diplomatically it is at war. A labor government in Britain has undertaken to abolish that French hegemony on the continent which was established by the disarmament of Ger- many and the retirement of the United States from Europe. This hegemony was disputed by Lloyd George in ihe long duel that ended in the occupation of the Ruhr, but was of necessity ac- cepted by the Tory government as the necessary price of European economic reconstruction. But as long as Germany is disarmed and occupied end France is armed. prosperous and backed by most of the other military states of the continent, Britain cannot alone end this French supremacy. A balance of power in Eu- Tope under existing circumstances is possible only when the United States is prepared to play a great power role in Furope either in exclusive association with Britain or as a member of the League. Not militarily but in all other ways Europe is today in full combat. The conference at London is going to be dominated by the issues of that war and the major purpose of all contest- ants represented at that meeting is ;c- ing to be to persuade us to take sides, for with our aid either side can win de- cisively, but not without it. (Copyright. 1929.) A history of the work of the Field Museum-Oxford University joint ex- pedition to Kish. Mesopotamia, which has been in operation since 1923, has unearthed traces of what is believed to be the world’s earliest civilization and has found evidence to support some of the Biblical stories of events in ancient Babylonia, was published in leaflet form recently by Field Museum of Natural History. Henry Field, assistant curator of physical anthropology at the museum, who was one of the principal members of the expedition during two seasons of excavations, is the author. The pam- phlet contains 14 photogravure illus- trations of scenes on sites of excava- tions and of some of the principal ob- jects of archeological interest brought to light, and also a map of the British mandate of I in which Kish is lo- cated, and a map of the buried city which is slowly being uncovered by the excavators’ picks and shovels. ‘The historical sketch by Mr. Field shows that to date the expedition, which is still in operation, has revealed the culture and the artistic attainments of the inhabitants of Kish and its neighboring city, Jemdet Nasr, from the earliest occupation, about 6,000 years ago, down to the Arabs of yes- ter-year. Temples, palaces and other buildings in which Sargon, Nebuchad- nezzar, Hammurabi and other famous ancients once enacted part of their “hour upon the stage,” have been bared by_the expedition. While excavating one of the At palaces the members of the expedition were rewarded, Mr. Field relates, with an intimate glimpse into the boudoir of a woman of Kish, finding copper mirrors and hatirpins npfled with lapis- 1azuli knobs, copper toilet cases con taining manicure sets of pincers, tongs and nail files and paint dishes and Biblical Stories Are Given Support’ By Recent Excavations in Mesopotamia brushes once used for coloring lips, cheeks and eyebrows. Thousands of museum objects have been unearthed. inc'uding the oldest wheeled vehicle in the world, many im- g:rtunt tablets containing records now ing deciphered, unique examples of painted ware, remarkable art objects of various kinds, jewelry, intimate 'per- sonal belongings of the ancients and numerous other antiquities. Ancient cemeteries of Kish have yielded to the excavators' spades hu- man skeletons and various objects bur- led with the dead. In the lower strata of the excavations have been .found traces of the flood which engulfed Babylonia in Noah's time, and indica- tions of a similar deluge at an earlier period. Much data has concerning the history of the Sameri- ans, the principal settlers of Kish. “Occult” Experts Find Riches in Paris Field There are approximately 34,500 dif- ferent establishments in Paris devoted 1o astrology, card-reading, palmistry and other forms of the prophetic or occult arts. Some 200,000 francs per day ($8,000) is supposed to be spent by Parisians or visitors patronizing them. Almost every concelvable type of mystic hocus-pocus is avallable, from fluroscope photographs of the eclient's intestines to lofty experiments in ce- lestial star-gazing. The client comes to “consult” and reu-uuy“imnroved." And business is brisk. the most ‘headed of ecapitals.