Evening Star Newspaper, April 20, 1930, Page 25

PROBLEM OF MACHINERY ( AND MAN FACES SCIENCEE Engineers of World Are Told They Must! Save Mechanized Age From Self-Destruction. BY RCBERT W. POTTER. HE miracle men of the age, the engineers, met last week to take stock of the mechanical wonders by which they have trans- formed society, and found that all they have done has not been wholly By their own leaders, they were told that their mechanization of civilization is tending to destroy the self-reliance of people, that the nervés of man are breaking down under the modern pace, and that the higher standard of living has not brought a commensurate in- crease in the happiness and welfare of humanity. ‘Their duty now, they were told, must be to master the problem of man and machinery. They must save this mechanized age from self-destruction. Rather than strive to perfect the robot, the engineers must seek to reawaken in man a love of work and to develop a more spiritual culture. They must te the excessive wear and tear of man's machinery on man. These warnings were given by dis- tinguished engineers who came from 16 different countries to receive medals and to address the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the American Soclety of Mechanical Engineers. Hundreds of the engineering fraternity attended the sessions and thousands more gathered at local celebrations throughout the country. Humanitarian Note Dominant. “What is not yet may be” was the slogan of this great convocation of engineers, who sought not only a rev- erent evaluation of achievements, but also a wise formulation of principles for increasing the influence of engineers upon the well-being of mankind and the enrichment of life. ‘The humanitarian note dominated the | spirit of the convention. It found | highest expression in the awarding to | President Hoover, “engineer and hu- manitarian,” of the first Hoover Gold Medal, which the society has insti- tuted to commemorate his services to mankind and to award from time to time to engineers for distinguished public service. Dr. Conrad Matschoss, director of the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, who described engineering progress in Ger- many, was one of those who urged the engineers to aid in the development of & more spiritual culture. “Engineering and natural science have | created a new age into which we, with | our short s} of life, have been trans- planted,” Dr. Matschoss suid. Human Existence Remodeled. “In the last few centuries the engi- | peer, more than any other, has con- | tributed to the remodeling of the whole | of human existence. It is therefore | readily understandable that, having such a powerfu} influence on his fellows, he lays himself and his work open to eriticism. “We, who in our own lives feel more and more ctly the far-reaching effects of the great technical revolu- tion, which began with the invention of tha cteam engine, are also greatly ex- © puscw L this criticism today. During the last two centuries enormous quan- tities of printer's ink have been used and whole libraries have been written to damn ring from top to bot- enginee: tom and to make it responsible for all the unhappiness of life, or else to praise it as the deliverer and savior from all evil. “But engineering, o't‘m its most char- acteristic symbol the , the engine, is far above good and ‘e'veu and its development over praise and blame without leaving a trace. En- gineering is like some gigantic force of 2:“1‘:“ wh)chh,. ':nmwefl lhy buman love g bumsn Rehage, goes its own prede. Need for Definite Attitude. ml;o:}n'fih:h for u 'lhumwell-h't n us merely to point out these two opposite poles of opinion as Jacts, and to make a note of . We must adopt a definite attitude. Philo- sophical considerations and intellectual reflections are not enough to remold the world and to guide our confused civilization into the right paths. Here ‘Wwe need the will to decide and to act. ‘We must recognize —to use the language of science—that there is no question llel‘bee of a reversible process. can no _gol back to any 1aginary good old u‘;: g ‘'We must strive to master the prob- lem of man and machinery. We need 8 belief in a civilization of the future. It is not sufficient to be satisfied with improving machinery. Is ‘the increas- ing deterioration of human character,’ ;‘mnon.h";dIOz’b the Prench philosopher, asas “.]T{:fl? ign of the times, a “The nerves of man cannot stand the pace of modern civilization, the new achievements have not been digested, salvation can only come by adapting ourselves to the new world around us, We must try to reawaken in mankind the love of work for its own sake, and ::,e Eun realize that work in itself unts as one of the grea Torces m the world. S Outlines the “Only Road.” “We must learn to appreciate ethical value of our work: with «m sincerity we must learn to play a re- sponsible part in the spiritual culture of our age. We must strive after an ethical synthesis. This is the only 0ad, which leads to a new culture com- plete in itself, which, by training and employing our mental and moral pow- ers, raises us above our natural level. ‘A great French thinker divides men into optimists and pessimists, the opti- mists being the actors and the pessi- mists being the onlookers. We engi- neers—and this attitude is based on our work and on our love for our pro- fession—will rank ourselves among the ef that there : ter, future for mankind. Sl “We refuse to believe in t of the world, we beliove rather o the t future which is in store for man- d. We want to form a single cre- | stive will, uniting with all the peoples of the earth who are of the same mind, and with the members of all profes- slons, in order to bring about an ethical co-ordination of all civilizing forces.” Sees Independence Menaced. The ease with which factory- fflodn are obtainable, as a ruul!yorfn:g: ngenuity of engineers, is destroying the independence of the peoples of all na- tions, Loughnan St. L. Pendred, editor .lr:gnll,n‘l"dént mol the ‘lnstnutlon of Me- | chanical Engineers in Gre “u!l'.'hr:dl’:n hl‘;lddm&', RREDpA, - appiness of a nation is to be sought in its homes, and with the ces- sation of household duties, with their anxieties and pleasures, the attachment the home diminishes. The life of the home has its repercussions upon public life, and the loss of self-reliance ‘which has been engendered in the fam- 1y may account for the ever-increasing tendency to invoke the aid of the state in matters for which, at one time, the individual would have been proud to essert his own responsibility. “We l'!eorn ze and applaud the man; great services of incalculable vllu{ Which the engineer In all branches has ccnferred upon mankind, but at the same time it is folly to be blind or in- different to sociole al effects. “Since it is the duty and function “ of the engineer to increase man’s com- fort and well-being, every collateral de- fect which may accompany - provements which he effects by his skill and knowledge must be regarded as a diminution of the total benefit ‘which would be secured. 4Thus, while factory and the power Bouse may increase comfort add to the amenities, they do not reach their full sociological efficiency as long as they poison the atmosphere or load it with dust. Or again, the thousand | mechanisms which are employed for transportation and other useful pur- poses are wanting in perfection as long as they produce excessive and injurious noises. “These considerations bring us to the conclesion that the duty of the engineer in the immediate future is the removal | of all the objectionable features which | accompany his works. And man | should be blessed with the untold bene- fits which engineers can confer without losing a single one of the amenities which were enjoyed in a less mechani- cal age.” Sees Man Dominated by Machines. Another engineer who expressed the opinion that man’s machines have got the better of him, at least temporarily, was Vilhelm Nordstrom, eminent in- dustrial engineer of Sweden. In an- swering the question, “What has en- m&eflns contributed to humanity?” he “Briefly, the contribution can be | summarized by the words, ‘a higher standard of living,’ and if the happi- ness and welfare of humanity have not increased on the scale that might have | been® expected, perhaps this may be due to the fact that the technical and | industrial evolution has been so swift that the human mind has not been able to follow and grasp the essential advantages that might have been ob- | tained. It is to be hoped that our children and grandchildren will suc- | ceed where we have fallen short, and ! that they will benefit greatly by our ploneering efforts.” Austria Looks to Engineers. Austria is looking to its engineers to save the country from one of the dark- est periods of its history, Dr. Ludwig Erhard, director of the Technical Mu: seum of Vienna, stated. The economic | restoration of Austria is one of the most serious problems of European culture, he said, and engineers are grappling valiantly with it. They have already done much to promote the cul- tural progress of the now independent countries which formerly united in the Austrian empire. For Belgium, too, the great war was a “calamity,” according to the mono- graph prapared by six eminent engi- neers and presented by Baron Gaston de Bethune, but without the interfer- ence of another such catastrophe the future will be bright and marked by much technical and industrial progress. A higher standard of living among Belgian workmen is due entirely to technical and economic progress made by _the country’s en h Engineering developed in Japan al- most entirely during the past 50 years d has been of incalculable benefit to the nation, said Masawo Kamo, president of the Soclety of Mechanical Engineers in Japan, in his review. Since science as known in the West was practically unknown in Japan a half century ago, it is reasonable to assume that its effects upon the Jap- anese people have been more profound than upon any other naton, he as- serted. Its introduction brought about a sweeping revolution of daily life; it created the idea of national defense and inspired the Japanese empire to look to the broader horizons of inter- national affairs. The progress of Japan in the past five decades has been the progress of engineering in the country. Spread of Industry in Japan. ‘Today 92 per cent of the dwellings throughout Japan are wired for elec- tricity; is now mined and used for heat and power and in the manu- facture of dystuffs and other chemical products; railroads and airplanes, tele- hones and the telegraph and radio ve revolutionized communication; modern refrigeration methods have im- roved the silk industry tremendously permitting the preservation of the eggs of the silkworm until there is a iuflldent supply of mulberry leaves to worms. In Canada, with its natural resources ' largely undevel , the outstanding probability in the engineering field for | the near future, according to Brig. C. H. Mitchell of the University of Toronto, is a greatly increased development of water power on the St. Lawrence, where | the combination of power with deep | ocean connection will form a very large factor in the development of Canada’s contiguous material resources. “So, looking to the future, a young country such as Canada, with its huge natural resources as yet only partially ascertained, will still more and more de- mand the fullest assistance and contri- butions from its engineers to secure the best for its economic and social develop- ment,” Gen. Mitchell said. “When that is obtained economically and so- cially in the upbuilding of such a coun- try, then the best political and cultural results will follow and national pros- perity will be assured.” France and South America. All Frenchmen have a right to be proud of the French contribution to the evolution of the art of engineering, Georges Claude declared in reading the report on France, prepared by many engineers. The report refers to the achievements of Ferdinand de Lesseps in constructing the Suez Canal, of Mme. Curie in chemistry, of Breguet in avia- tion, of Gen. Ferrie, developer of the first important radio transmitting sta- tion in the Eiffel Tower and of d’Arson- val in physics. In South America, Prof. Donato Gam- | inara of Uruguay reported the chief | mission of engineering is to improve the | means of communication and thus to bring producer and consumer closer spiritually as well as materially, to pro- mote closer contacts between citizens and between nations, and so bring about that full co-operation in aims and methods which is essential for the pros- perity of the whole continent. | Peace and engineering will really | make this world a worthy place in| which to live, declared Senator Luigi Luiggi, in reporting on engineering in Italv. 'The highest engineering achieve- ment in that country is the develop- ment of hydroelectric energy to a point where Italy now produces about a tenth of the total of the world’s production. | This has been necessary because the | country is without coal mines and oil | fields. ~ Italian engineers are now em- barked on the building of 20,000 kilo- meters of road improvements in 10 years, and already they have built sev- | eral “autostrade,” or express highways | for automobiles, where no speed limit is set. | Work for Economic Peace. ! Engineers in Czechoslovakia _were | pledged to “work with all their might to insure political, social and economic peace and to create co-operation in rationalized production and distribu- tion,” by Dr. Stanley Spacek of Prague Their record includes the creation in Prague in 1717 of the first engineering school; the first mining school in Cen- tra’ Europe, established in Bohemin in 1733; the placing of breweries on a sci- entific basis by establishing the first school 1 Europe, and the organization of the Masaryk Academy of Work with American help at Prague, with its Hoo- ver Library of 2300 technical books The civilizing ififluence of technical science in Switzerland is evident from the fact that notwithstanding unfavor- able natural resources and difficult con- ditions of commerce, that country has become one of the most pi ous na- tions of Europe with a rapidly increas- ing tion, Dr. Aurel Stodola stated in his paper. At SN The ostrich, the biggest bird in the ;vorlrL has proportionately thc’ smallest THE SUNDAY ST WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL 20, 1930—PART TWO Then Along Came Ruth! “No Woman Can Do It,” They Said When Mrs. McCormick Sought Illinois Senatorial Nomination Ruth SMILE OF VICTORY. BY ANNE HARD. HEN the news that \/ -\/ the Republican nomination for Senator in Illinois hur- ried across the world by telegraph and telephone and cable and radio, even many of those who had known her for years were startled into asking themselves: What manner of woman is this who seems well on the road to smashing the comfortable tra- dition, the accepted platitude, that “it is too soon for a woman to occupy & senatorial seat”? Many of her colleagues in the House in Washington, many professed polit- fcal admirers of hers in that body and in the Senate and among political ob- | servers in Washington were accustomed to say: “If she were a man there would be no doubt of the result. But —she is a woman and her opponent has had a long success in politics in his State and hers, and besides he holds that unseen power of the political patrcnage he has owned for years. She might do it—if she were a man.” That she was nominated in spite of being & woman has caused every one, everywhere, has caused even her inti- mate friends, her fellow workers, most of all it has caused the professional politician to restate that inquiry—to wonder whether, after all, they really knew her—to look upon her with newly inquiring eyes. For this reason this article does not profess to be a biographical sketch, a sort of expanded “Who's Who.” It is Hanna McCormick had won | AT HER intended only to go as far into the| direction of describing one of the most | amazing women—one of the most | amazing human beings—of our day as | it is possible to go within the limits of | | these pages. It is an attempt to say | | what Ruth McCormick is like. | | Mrs. McCormick’s Career Sketched. | I may approach saying what she is | like, but I cannot say whom she is like, | for she is like nobody else. Her gifts, her tastes, her mannerisms are her own. They are so singularly, so st ingly her own that her greatest central characteristic seems to be a sort of coherent simplicity and clarity. From that central singleness and clarity proceed her greatest virtues, and | proceeds also what to many minds is | her only apparent limitation—a limita- tion which I shall mention later on. Born with a being singularly free of cluttering smallnesses, her childhood | was one which developed in her those | natural tendencies toward cool ap- praisements and love of straight, swift action which characterize her today. | “Por, from the first, she was her father's companion—learning to ride and know horses and to love them as only those who know them may—going with him to listen to his conversations with the employes of his street car lines and coal companies in Cleveland—sit- | ting perched in a window ledge above the crowded theater where he made a speech—leaving her play to understand the matters of his Ohio farm, sitting with him at breakfast in the old house (“the Little White House” as they called it in McKinley's day) during the daily conference with important politi- | clans—working daily in her father's office in the Senate when she was 18, and other girls of her age and position in Washington were “coming out.” | misused the latest highbrow success, DESK, It was a strange life for a girl, for the | daughter of wealth and power and social position, but it was the life she preferred. Early Training Basis of Success. | For then, as now, she prefers human | beings above all other interests—human beings, that is, and horses and farms. And the life she preferred as a girl gave her the necessary training for all that was to follow after. In it she learned | to judge people, to fit the right person | to “the right task, to separate the pleasant from the true, to mingle with all sorts of common 'humanity with sympathy for their rights and their de- sires without ylelding one iota of the principles which for herself remained | eternally true. | People are her literature. People are | her art and people are her music. And | in this fact lies the “limitation” I men- | tioned before. Some one once asked “educated.” “I never | she replied with a laugh. | And in the sense of an education out | of books and seminaries and colleges | the statement is true. | The only books she genuinely cares | about are books of history and Moxrlphy" —the books of real human beings. She | has never collected anything, nor | studied piano, nor gone to symphony | concerts, nor written bad verse, nor | nor read philcsophy. The only art she | is interested in is the stage. More human beings. The only sclence that has attracted a moment of her time is psychology. Again the sclence humian beings. Granted this spells w limitation Theoretically your great man or woman can pick the flowers of all the meadows | while traveling the straight road of al ADDRESSING VOTERS. single purpose. Practically, in this woman, it spells a unity of character which it is inspiring to see. Not a touch of anything more than this. A unity of heart and mind and soul which shines with a clear white light. Intelligence Needed in Politics. Colored lights, prismatic characters, are frequently fascinating, lovable, in- teresting to write novels about and to receive the dedication of a volume of verse. When it comes to politics, how- ever, to the application of intelligence to public questions, a clear light is more useful. Yet we are 5o accustomed to demand- ing the other thing from women that it becomes difficult to understand a woman of this sort. Even today, with women at the high- tide of their “emancipation,” how many of us, whether men or women, expect a woman to_direct her life by her in- telligence? It is, isn’t it, still the thing to expect her to appeal us through her little failings, to adofe her for her faults? Perhaps one reason why Ruth Mec- | cormick smashed a political tradition | tiye: was because she had first broken this | one. | For her whole life has been, and con- | the tou, conduct Quite consclously, she weighs all action by it. ‘It makes the standards high by (Continued on Fourth Page.) Watching Campaign Costs Senatorial Committee Warns of Danger for All Those Who Violate Corrupt Practices Act BY WARREN W. WHEATON. HE man or woman who flouts the corrupt practices act in the com- ing senatorial campaigns will be a person of more gambling spirit than brains. For the, Senate itself has hung up the warning of danger, and has provided in advance of the campaigns themselves the machinery for investig#ting them. "Already, one of the most colorful fig- ures in recent American politics is cer- tain to undergo senatorial scrutiny She is Ruth Hanna McCormick, who in winning the Republican primary in Tllinois took a long step toward a seat in that body of which both her leer‘ and her husband were members. Mrs, McCormick must have suspecte that when she defeated Senator Dene thus interrupting a career whose bright- ness may be estimated from the fact that the man had attained the gover- norship at 39, she would be under fire. And when a few days ago it was re- ported that she had admitted spend- ing “too much money,” though ‘“only what was necessary,” this politically- minded daughter of that super-poli- tician, Mark Hanna, must have known that investigation was a certainty. She Won't Be Alone. But when her turn comes to face the spotlight she will not be alone. “Qld Joe” Grundy will be there, too, together with many another, victor and vanquished, against whom an eager opposition will have uttered charges in plenteous variety. It will be a mere youth of 37 who will conduct the inquiry. He is Gerald P. Nye, the North Dakota insurgent and one time newspaper men, a man who possesses that keen, analytical mind which, it is piously said, characterizes a good newspaper Teporter. At his seat at the inquisitor’s table Senator Nye will in reality be writing another scene in a century-old drama of American life—the old thriller: “What Price Politics?” which has been revived again and again in the last two decades with telling effect on those who still believe that public office be- longs to the highest bidder. Examples of Folly. Those gamblers who believe they can buy their way into office and get away with it will have as examples of such folly Lorimer, Newberry, Frank L. Smith and William S. Vare, among others, a procession of men who took the chance and lost. They will face, too, a growing demand that present restrictions placed about excessive use of money for political preferment be tightened. The Senate is_really determined to lessen corrupt office seeking. Already, through the four outstanding cases just mentioned, it has taken huge strides in the proper direction. But there is more to be done, and a Senate that realizes it has lost a bit of its once unchal- lenged dignity and integrity is now avid to do a “clean-up” job. S This is what the new “slush fund committee, headed by Nye, and com- prising men of the “digging”’ type, Wag- ner of New York, Dill of Washington Patterson of Missourl and Dale of Vermont, hopes to do. They will not deal in humor, in the political d scandal mongering that no campaign is | free of, They will want facts with the hope that from them can be derived remedial legislation to drive dollars as far out of politics as is possible. Make-up in Sharp Contrast. The committee is entirely of the younger men of the Senate, men young- er in years as well as in service, a fact which is in sharp contrast to the make- up of similar committees in the last decade. Perhaps Nye and hjs confreres will make up in erlergy what they lack in experience when compared to the { i | | “elder” La Follette, to former Senator | Pomerene, to Borah and to the indom- itable Jim Reed of Missouri. It was the severe, searching Reed, he of the whiplash, scorching, sarcastic tongue, who headed the last famous in- quiry which mined the “dirt” that kept Frank Smith and “Bill” Vare out of the Senate. Jim Reed is nearly twice | the age of Nye. Reed the lawyer, the successful prosecutor, tangled a witness and wound him about his little finger. Now it is Nye, youthful newspaper man who was graduated to the Senate, not a lawyer, but a keen, shrewd investi- gator Despite his few years in the Senate Nye has back of him the repu- tation earned by heading the inquiry committee which turned up the naval oil leasing scandal with such spectacu. lar results to Harry F. Sinclair, Secre- tary Fall and Edward L. Doheny. Wagner Is Judicial Mind. Just as Nye persisted in getting “at the bottom” of those scandals so he| promises to dig deep into the Illinois and Pennsylvania primaries. In this he will be ably supported by Senator Wag- ner, who scorns the sensational, but never ceases probing for facts. Wagner has the judicial mind and is fresh from New York's Supreme Court bench with an enviable reputation for fairness. He will lend that legalistic calm to the committee’s deliberations which may spell success in framing remedial legsi- lation. Dill, like the chairman of the com- mittee, is a former reporter. He became a Jawyer and was a very successful prosecuting attorney in Spokane County, Wash., before being elected go the House. SENATOR NYE. ‘When Jim Reed elected to retire from the Senate, Roscoe Conkling Patterson, | Republican, took his place. Patterson also is a lawyer and was prosecuting attorney for “two terms in Greene County, Mo., and a United States attor- ney before coming to the Senate. He is young in years and in senatorial ex- perience. And the last member of the commit- tee, Dale of Vermont, is another lawyer, a former judge, a man rich in political lore. These are the men who will re- enact this latest scene in the “What Price Politics' 'drama. Much Work Ahead. ‘They will have much to do. Illinois, |toward which the Senate's searchlight has pointed often in recent years, again claims immediate attention. Pennsyl- vania, with picturesque “Old Joe” Grundy and the equally intriguing Welshman, “Jim” Davis, battling hard for the Republican nomination, fur- nishes another source of inquiry be- cause of charges made by Grundy in- volving both W. W. Atterbury, head of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the old Vare machine of Philadelphia. Grundy, who came here as Senator only a few months ago, succeeding to the seat which the Senate refused ‘Bill” Vare, seems intent on breaking up the Vare machine at which he hurls heated charges of corruption. ‘The Vare case was one of the most spectacular of its kind. It ived Pennsylvania of a Senator for well over three years. It revealed that un- dreamed-of sums are being expended these days for a Senate seat, the total for three candidates in the pi alone having been $2.793,583, of which | Vare accounted for $785934. In Pennsylvania at present it is not so much a question of money expended |as it is of political alignments, at least |in the view of Senator Grundy. He | would like to see the committee prove | what he charges—that the Pennsyl- vania Railroad with Atterbury its pres- ident also a Republican national com- mitteeman, is financially supporting the Vare machine. Scope of Probe Outlined. | This sort of inquiry might seem to be | out of the jurisdiction of the Nye com- | mittee, but the fact is that nothing | even remotely connected with an elec- tion is beyond the committee's scope. The wily Norris of Nebraska, himself a candidate for re-election this year, saw |to that. He sponsored the inquiry | resolution and provided for investiga- | tion of promises of patronage “and all other facts in relation thereto which would not only be of public interest, but which would aid the Senate in en- acting any remedial legislation or in deciding any contest which might be instituted involving the right to a seat in_the United States Senate.” Norris_also provided that the com- mittee should inquire into primaries. The Senate, ratifying this provision, thus took @ step which many claim is unconstitutional. But unwarranted or not, the decision shows that the Senate is determined to get at the real sore spot in elections. The Senate was not always ready to delve into primary expenditures. It declined to inquire into anything back of the general election in the fa- mous case involving Willlam A. Clark of Montana, back in 1899. In those days_when the State Legislature chose the United States Senator the Senate privileges and elections committee be- gan a spectacular investigation. It found that Clark had bought the votes of some 14 or 15 State Senators for from $10,000 to $30,000 apiece. Clark beat the committee, however, by resign- | ing_the seat to which the Legislature | had elected him. He was then reap- | pointed by the governor, and at once began a campaign to elect a Legislature which would rename him. And he ac- complished just that and came back to Washington, where the Senate said it could do nothing further. ‘The Lorimer Case. Then came the famous Lorimer case. William Lorimer, a Republican, was elected by the Illinois Legislature on | May 26, 1909, on the ninety-fifth ballot after a three-month deadlock. Lorimer had hardly settled himself in his seat when his right to it was challeng the principal charge against him being bribery. Again the Senate privileges and elections committee investigated, reporting a year later, however, that his right to a seat had not been invalidated by _corrupt methcds or practices. This brought about bitter and pro- longed debate in the Senate, which finally rejected a resolution offered by the late Senator Beveridge, declaring Lorimer not legally elected, 46 to 40. But Lorimer’s troubles were not over. An investigation conducted in the Illi- nois State Senate divulged a story of a $100,000 jackpot which, it was charged, had been employed by Chicago business interests to procure Lorimer’s election. When Congress reconvened La Fol- lette reopened the case and finally, in July, 1912, Lorimer was unseated. This brought about another change in elec- tion methods. Prior to the Lorimer case the House had repeatedly approved resolutic for the submission of a con- stitutional amendment for direct elec- tion of United States Senators to the State Legislatures, but the Senate had spurned it. Now both houses finally ap- proved the amendment and it was rati- fled by the States in May, 1913. Next in im nce was the equally "(Continued og Fourth Page.) | | i 3 DISPELLED BY JOSEPH COOKMAN. LATIN AMERICAN who has just delivered a terrible blow at the fearsome bogey of Yankee imperialism in South American politics arrives in New York today for a visit of several weeks in this country. He is Dr. Enrique Olaya Herrera, newly elected President of Co- lombia. Dr. Olaya Herrera is a warm friend of ours, and warm friends of the United States among the really powerful men of Latin America are not as common as many suppose. There are several ex- planations. Perhaps we are too rich to be loved, as Owen D. Young has phrased it. Perhaps it Is the propaganda of some of our European competitors for the enormous trade. But whatever the reason, the terms “colossus of the North” and ‘“Yankee imperialism” are potent standbys for the politicians of our sister republics. However, Dr. Olaya Herrera has had | plenty of opportunity to learn to know {us. "He has been a student of the United States all his life and for the |last seven years Colombian Minister to Washington. He has frankly told his countrymen that his admiration for the American way of doing things has grown and that he likes Americans. Election Came as Surprise. ‘This wasn't regarded as good prac- tical politics either by students of Latin-American affairs or by his friends here when he suddenly determined last January to return to Colombia to enter the race for the presidency. In fact, many of his proposed issues seemed to the experts to be calculated to bring about his defeat and subsequent retirement to private life. His election by an overwhelming majority surprised no one so much as these experts. That Dr. Olaya Herrera is lar here is reflected by the elaborate ar- rangements made for his reception and entertainment, apart from the official welcome due a President-elect. In winning the election Dr. Olaya Herrera made a hash of many tradi- tions. He literally flew into the presi- de using land and seaplanes in his to reach the widely scattered cities and towns of his native land. which is about the size of the section of the United States north of the Mason- Dixon line and east of the Mississippi. Two Weeks in Which to Win. Acting on an invitation to run as a coalition candidate after he had re- fused to run strictly as a candidate of the Liberal party, he entered the cam- paign at the last possible moment. attack of pneumonia shortly after return to Colombia further cut the time at his disposal. He had only two weeks in which to win against a party that had been in power continu- ously for 50 years. His dash'ng campaign on the wing and the enthusiastic response of the votors to his energetic methods effec- )y demonstrated the fallacy of the trac'tion that all the countries to the sovii of us is the “land of manana.” Another tradition which received stantly is, directed by her intelligence. | il o] | & | “Intelligence” is a word she likes. It & | “Wrrmeae. phace s I the hoa " e chstone by which she guides her | yradit'on is still exceedingly strong in | all Latin countries and the doctrine of equal rights for women is still political dynamite. Colombia was considered to be notably conservative in this respect. The issue was not expected to win votes. But it d'd. The manner in which women made thelr interest effective, despite thei: lack of votes, was a grievous surpris» to the diehards. The women formed clubs, made speeches and in general ihlped & lot. Dr. Olaya Herrera | emerges from the campaign as prob- ably the leading champion of feminism in Latn America. Lacked Church Indorsement. A third notable feature of Dr. Olaya | Herrera's_victory was that it came | without the indors-ment of the church. | Since the days of the Conquistadores ' prelates of the Roman Catholic Church | have wielded deci-ive power in Co- | !lombia. The President-elect, however, | has made it clear that he is not in any | sense an anti-clerical and that he wi'l | work in harmony with the ecclesiastical | authorities. Dr. Olaya Herrera will affairs as Minister b-fore returning | Colombia for his inauguration to on Faultless Copies of FLORENCE, Italy—Some time ago a | prominent Chicago merchant who was furnishing his home asked a prominent and teputable antioue dealer in Flor- ence to obtain, if possible, two small paintings for his dining room. The paintings, he stipulated, were to be mod- ern ones, done after the manner of Prancesco Guardi, the eighteenth cen- tury Venetian. The Florence dealer immediately placed an order with a local artist who specialized in reproducing old masters, and in two months had the paintini both of which were masterfully executed. Being an honest dealer, and having no motive for deceiving any one in regard to the two pieces, he declared them to be modern and proceeded to send them to his client. Several days later he was called by the local customs people and charged with having tried to deceive them by sending antiques without pay- ing the 20 per cent export tax charged on all old pleces. He protested, but the government experts were so confident of their decision that eventually he was forced to pay the export tax. On another occasion, the same dealer told me, American customs officials were so confident of their ability to spot fakes that they charged duty on a genuine antique painting of the fifteenth century while they let pass, duty free, a repro- duction on which no antique tax had been paid in Italy. ‘The experiences of this dealer and dozens of other episodes which have occurred in Italy during recent months all go to indicate that few, if any, peo- ple can always tell an antique from a reproduction. This applies not only to paintings but to pleces of sculpture, old furniture, pottery, drapery and other odds and ends. A good expert, if he confines himself to his specialty, may work for years without making a mis- take in judgment, but even the best of them generally trip up—and generally when errors are likely to be most costly. Florence, Stena, Venice, Bologna, | Naples and Rome are studded with | shops and studios in which experts go about the business of making re- productions. In one of them an ar- tisan takes a plece of walnut which has been buried in the back yard for several months, bores a few worm- holes in it, and, using it for material, “restores” a single slab which has been rescued from a real antique table until it emerges as a Bolognese desk of the sixteenth century. In another a skilled artist chisels at a plece of chemically-treated mar- ble until it becomes a Donatello, after which another chemical immersion ages marble still more. In a third a painter, who has studied the museums carefully, smears special varnish on an antique canvas, blotting out what remains of an inferior paint- With a beau canvas all : tifully cracked to work with he executes what is to urposes a Madonna by Sassoferrato painted no intents and pi Sassoferrato. one knows how many Madonnas and an who on e ]I wind up his | IU. S. IMPERIALISM BOGEY BY HERRERA Newly Elected President of Colombia“ Defends “Colossus of North” as Friend of Latin America. | August 7. A larger part of his time, however, will be devoted to confer- ences with American business men and bankers in accordance with his plan of inviting close American participa- tion in the future development of Co- lombia. importance of smooth commercial relations is indicated by the size of the present American stake in Colombia. American_investors hold about $350,000,000 in Colombian gov- ernment, " State and bank securities alone. Has Had Colorful Career. Dr. Olaya Herrera has had a colorful life. He is a member of a distinguished family, descended from the outstand- ing Colombian national hero. While | still a youth, however, he ran afoul of | the government of that time because of his flery attack on what he con- sidered its tyranny. His speeches and writings finally landed him in a dun- geon in old Cartagena, the city linked inevitably with tales of pirates, gal leons and gold doubloons of the Spai ish Main. His stay in that glamorous, but high- 1y uncomfortable, jail of the tropic low- lands failed to change his convictions. And after his release he continued to hold principles for which he had suf- fered. Moreover, h's opinions even- tually triumphed and triumphed peace- fully. For, mclder;u‘ld)y, Colombia did not in for_revolutions. Dl’.‘oollyl Herrera has served with distinction in the Colombian Congress and the diplomatic service in Argentina and Chile, as well as in the United States. Before his appointment to Washington he led the bitter fight in Congress which resulted in the rati- fication of the treaty with the United States in 1921 which settled the Pan- ama Canal incident and which had been & source of contention and ill- feeling between the United States and Colombia. Although allied with the Liberal party during virtually all of his public Olaya Herrera's prestige gained for him the most important diplomatic post in the service, and he has represented three successive Con- servative administrations here. The newly elected President is a man of fine physique and distinguished ap- pearance. While his features are typ- ical of Latin aristocracy, his hair is un- usually light and his eyes are blue. Educated in the National University at Bogota and in Belgium and France, he is known as one of the leading orators and thinkers in Latin America. A reception committee consisting of more than 100 prominent bankers, busi- ness executives and scholars has ranged a crowded program for his first week in New York. Tomorrow night he will be the guest of Carl Bickel, head of the United Press, at a dinner given in connection with the annual conven- tion of the American Newspaper Pub- lishers' Association. On Thursday night he will speak over station WJZ on the occasion of a din- ner in his honor to be given by the Pan-American Soclety at the Hotel Plaza. Among other functions to which he has accepted invitations during the last few weeks, during which he has | been the guest of the governments of )Fanlml and Cuba while en route to | the United States, is a luncheon given by the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce. Country Rich in Gems. The country whose destiny Dr. Olaya Herrera will shape during the next four rs has been called the land of piat- |inum and emefalds,” for the excellent | reascn that it is the leading producer ior these precious commodities in the world. Its most valuable product and chiet | export, however, is coffee of the in- | ereasingly popular mild variety. In oil resources it is one of the richest coun- tries in_the world, according to oil men | here. Much of the gold found by the | Spaniards in South America came | Colombian mines. which are still pro- | ducing abundantly. Because of the mountainous character of the country—it is divided by three | towering ranges of the Andes—aviation has been developed to a high degree. ‘The development of Colombia’s nat- | ural wealth is expected by American business men to proceed rapidly under | the administration of its cosmopolitan | and ultra-modern President. Priceless Pictures | | Are Taxed as Old Masters by Italians a conversation on the subject with Gilovanni B. Giorgini, a veteran con- noisseur who acts as the Italian agent for Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. and ‘Watson & Boaler of Chicago, as well as | for i!lmes McCutcheon & Co. of New York. Visiting him at the-same time was Robert Pirie, head of the foreign offices of Carson, Pirie, Scott. “Any mistakes which customs of- ficials and experts may make be attributed to the skillfulness of the ‘artigian’ rather than to any lack of on the part of the critics,” he said. “These craftsmen of ours are so cunning in their reproductions that they often embarrass even a competent connoisseur. “On the other hand, the competent and reputable dealer here in Italy knows his business well and kngws the ‘fakers’ equally well. We are so ac- customed to their methods that we can generally spot a reproduction after a brief examinaticn and before we take any chances we always call in experts ‘who specialize in the type of piece which we are considering buying. The reason why many people are deceived when they buy antiques is that they are look- ing for bargains—trying to get some- thing for nothing. There are always bargains to be had, but the only people who make bargains consistently are the specialists. Any other person may be fooled three times for every one time he succeeds in buying something | genulnely fine for less than it is worth.” T Pope | Appro\;es ];c;oks Of Fascisti Origin At a recent meeting of the sacred congregation of the holy office a de- cision was reached to have two books issued by the Pascist “Littorio” press placed on the index. The first book, “Date a Cesare,” is an ex the religious policy of uwmwema? bo; Signor Mario Missaroli, and the sec- d Fascist State, Church and in Romano, Vatican organ, and the decision to have them placed on the index was approved by the Pope on the same day. According to the decree published In the church newspaper am by the Roman press, the books were !mmd‘m contain “the gravest errors against Catholic mmm,ug;cmum regard to the laws of the divine church . Fortunately “way for the person who is willing to ta precautions. Several days age out” ke we had | be carried a crif some nges it, Pplaced on the index, it'is ‘indicated.