Evening Star Newspaper, April 27, 1930, Page 29

EDITORIAL SECTION he Swundwy St Part 2—10 Pages FARM POPULATION DROPS AS CITIES GROW BIGGER Rural Sections Expected to Lose 23 Representatives ment Under BY MARK SULLIVAN. N early inference from the census now being taken led the other day to a conclusion—that the old-time American village may be, as the Associated Press dis- patch put it, “following the road to ( oblivion already traveled by the ‘little | red schoolhouse’ and the country | church.” In the very heart of America, along the Wabash River and the rest of the boundary line between Indiana | and Illinois, and in eight States 5ur-i rounding that center, 92 out of 161 small towns counted showed a_reduc- tion of population. In Indiana, Illinois, | Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, the decline in the popu lation of small towns ran from about | 30 to about 80 per cent—although t,he‘ total population of each State had in- | creased greatly. The increases had | taken place in the big cities and in | the larger towns—at the expense of the | villages and farms. This inference from early tentative | census figures led in turn to wide- spread comment, most of it regretful. “These microcosms of America,” said the New York Herald Tribune, “ba- sically typical of her civilization for more than a century, are fading from the scene, are being sucked out of existence by the machine.” And Will Rogers was so stirred as to be serious: “We not only ought to regret it,” he sald, “we ought to do something to remedy it." Leave It to Statesmen. Yes, Will, but just what is that “something” which you would do? The world is full of folks who think that “something” ought to be “done” about one matter or another, but most of them leave it to the statesmen and other leaders to write a concrete law or other form of cure in the place of the vaguely recommended “something.” Will Rogers should really qualify as a leader, capable of recommending a specific corrective, in the place of the generalized “remedy” he yearns for. Rogers is a humorist but like every really good humorist, he is more than that; he is a philosopher and a lover of the America that he has known dur- ing the 51 years since he was born in the village of Oolagah, then Indian ‘Territory, and the 40 years or so since he was a lad at school at Neosho, Mo., and Boonville, Mo. | Suppose Will Rogers were in the po- sition of that character played by | Sothern, who was vastly interested in the | America of a generation ago, in a drama entitled “If I Were King.” What would he do to restore the villages of yester- year? “Echo, calling afar, in vain Over the rivers and marshes wan. But where are the snows of last year gone?” ‘The thing could be done—that is, the concentration of American life in cities could be arrested. Population could be diffused into smaller towns and villages. Even so, of course, the villages would not be quite the same that America knew 20 to 40 years ago. To & measura- ble degree we could bring about an America of villages—but they would be modern villages. Inevitably they would have garages instead of blacksmith shops, filling stations instead of livery stables, electric lights instead of coal oil street lamps, parking places instead of hitching posts, busses instead of stage coaches or the “Toonerville trol- ley,” soda fountains—and, possibly, speakeasies—instead of taverns. Old-Time Village No More. ‘The old-time American village in the Nteral sense is no more to be recreated than the snows of yesteryear. Whoever in future years wishes to look upon one will need to travel to Dearborn, Mich., and will have to thank Henry Ford, who has had the happy inspiration to set up, in a museum sense, a genuine old-time village in the form that was familiar at the time of Ford's boyhood. From various parts of America, wher- ever he could find well preserved speci- mens, Mr. Ford has assembled an old- time country store, an old-time cobbler shop, an old-time grist mill, old-time hitching racks, the old-time wooden Indian that stood in front of the cigar store, the barber pole, the pyramid of glass globes filled with colored liquids that was the sign of the drug store, and all the other features of an Ameri- can village of the 80s. For a comparatively few years, for about as long as Henry Ford is likely to live, Americans will visit his old- | time village to enjoy memories of the America that once they knew. Pres-| ently, all who ever knew an old Ameri- | can village as a personal experience will have gone. Thereafter, for genera- tions to come, the visitors to Mr. Ford's museum village will be conspicuously the future novelists and painters and writers of plays and historians who wish to achieve accurate background | for books and pictures dealing with the | America of 1890 or thereabouts. America could be rediffused to a measurable degree. But the process would be so drastic, would work such havoc with property values cities, that we are unlikely ever to take the step. During the Great War, when Wwilliam G. McAdoo was Secretary of | the Treasury and had czarlike control over the railroads, there came one day to the office of the writer of this ar- ticle one of those characters whom the world labels as a crank—and passes by This particular odd genius wanted a letter of introduction to Mr. McAdoo. ‘The business he wished to propose to| the director general of railroads was a | matter of reducing the size of New | York and of other cities. He had the | notion that Thomas Jefferson had about | cities, which was, In effect, that cities are to e body politic about what cancers are to the body human His Method Intelligent. This crank was a crank only in the sense that his convictions were unusual. | In the method he had for making cities smaller he was perfectly intelligent— indeed, terrifyingly intelligent. He would simply make the freight rate on all goods shipped to or from cities higher | than the rate on the same goods shipped | to or from smaller towns or villages That would have done it, and in the war-time power over all freight rates that Mr. McAdoo had he could have put 1t in effect with a comparatively | few strokes of his pen. Property own- ers in New York and other large cities | would have concluded that war really| is hell. Mr. McAdoo had the courage to do a revolutionary thing—it it ap- pealed to him—but 50 far as the writer of this article is concerned the crank who wanted to redistribute the popula- | tion of the United States never got his| letter of introduction to the director| general of rafiroads | The thing could be done without too| great a detriment to the owners of city| property. 1t could be accomplished gradually in an orderly way. If Con- gress should really resolve to check the decline of villages and give authority o President Hoover to do it. the latter, in his charactertistic way, could call a conference of 50 or 100 of the country's industrial leaders. If they should agree with the purpose, they could | the | Twenty-three members of Congress simply | in Reapportion- 1930 Census. enough spread the country's factories and industries out over the Nation, in- stead of keeping them concentrated in large cities. Some thoughtful persons think this is the real answer to the farm problem—to see to it that every village has its factory, to make farming a part- time job, and to absorb the farmer's surplus labor in the local factory in the nearby village. The Western insurgents in the recent fight they made over the tariff had in mind exactly this objective—to check the growth of cities and restore the population of farms and villages. Not all of them quite understood just what they were about, but their reasoning ran thus: Question—Why do farmers’ sons go to cities? Answer—Because city occupa- tions pay better. Question—Why do city occupations pay better? Answer—Partly because of tariff—protection for industries. ! Therefore, take the tariff off all in dustries and make the tariff very high| on farm crops. Marked Changes Coming. All this is speculation. The hard fact, which the census figures will clearly show when they are assembled, is that farm and village population has decreased, while cities have grown bigger. This is going to have an effect beyond the stage of sentimental regret. It is going to bring about marked changes in politics and government. Among other effects, it is going to weaken the drys in politics and to strengthen the wets. As soon as this census is completed there will be a reapportionment of seats in Congress. The new apportion- ment cannot be estimated in detail until the census figures are fully known. But enough of the census figures are already known to make it certain that the farms and villages are going to have fewer representatives in Congress, while the cities are going to have more. Congress members from rural districts are prevailingly dry; those from city districts prevailingly wet. One can grasp the effect of the change in prohi- bition strength in Congress. A common estimate, made in ad- vance knowledge of the census figures, is that the rural parts of the country will lose about 23 representatives, while the cities will gain the same number. ' who now speak for farming com- muaities will in future speak for city constituencies. The aggregate shift in Congressional roll calls will be, of course, twice 23, or 46. And many an important roll call is decided my much less than 46 votes. (The total mem- bership of the lower house is 435). But the consequences will go much farther. They will affect presidential elections in a most important way. In presidential elections each State has as many electorial voes as its mem- bers the two branches of Congress. Consequently, in future presidential elections there will be 23 fewer elec- torial votes from mainly rural States, and 23 more from States having large and growing citles. Presidential elections have been won and lost with smaller margins than 23 electors. The election of 1916 between ‘Woodrow Wilson and Charles E. Hughes was decided by 23 electoral votes, Wil- son having 277 and Hughes 254. A change of only 12 electoral votes would have reversed the outcome. And Still More Consequences. And still that is not the end of the consequences. Presidential nominating conventions are made up, roughly, on the basis of two delegates for each member of Congress. Consequently, after reapportionment in 1932 and thereafter there will be 46 fewer dele- gates from rural States and 46 more from mainly city districts. This applies to both the parties, Republican and Democratic. It will mean something. Particularly will it mean something as between the strength of cities, which are mainly wet, and the strength of rural districts, which are mainly dry. To paraphrase one of the most fa- miliar sayings in American history, “Cityward the course of empire takes its way.” It is not merely that States having big and growing cities will gain 23 Congressmen at the expense of farming States. The condition goes deeper and farther. Within each State cities will gain_at the expense of rural districts. As F.epresentau\'e Lozier of Missouri put it: “Under the present apportionment in Missouri, four of the sixteen Congress- men represent industrial and commer- cial communities; 12 of them represent agricultural communities. In each census the population of these com- mercial and industrial centers is going to increase and ultimately outrun the population of the agricultural com- munities. It is only a question of a comparatively few years until the great cities will practically monopolize the State's Representatives in Congress. The State will be carved into districts to which perhaps a string of rural counties will be added, but the popula- tion of the city will be largely in ex- cess of the country population, which means that the cities will control the nomination and election of Representa- tives. This means that the rural sec- tions will be shorn of their influence and serve as only a ballast or as a tail to the kite of the predominating city population. * ¢ * ‘The agricul- tural classes in the shoestring district would have about as much chance to dominate the industrial classes as the tail of the dog has to wag the dog. 1 am looking forward into the future and visualizing the ultimate and inevitable resul It is, as Representative Lozie “ultimate and inevitable resul Will Shift Center of Power. The net of it is that as a result of this census the center of power in na- tional government is going to be shifted cityward, drastically. First of all, there will be a national reapportionment of Congress members to the States. In that national reapportionment 23 Con- gress members now representing mainly rural States, such as Iowa and Kansas, will be shifted to States that have large and growing cities, such as Michigan with its Detroit and Ohlo with its Cleveland. But that is only the beginning. Within each State there will be a Stal reapportionment of districts. In these State reapportionments, yet more Con- gress members now representing villages and farms will be shifted to represent cities. The aggregate cannot be ac- curately told in advance, but it will be much more than 23. After the process is complete, after all the States have completeed their State reapportionment, by about 1932 or 1934, it may be—indeed, it probably will be—that a majority of the Lower House will represent city populations reflect the city point of view about all sorts of questions—including prohibition. What philosophy will provide us with an adequate statement of the funda- mental difference between the city type of mind and, on the other hand, the farm and village type of mind? Bc; (Continued on Fourth Page.) id, an & WASHINGTON oy SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 27, 1930. Children of Uncle Sam Secretary Wilbur Outlines Hopes of Committee and Conference on Child Health and Protection i BY DR. RAY LYMAN WILBUR Becretary of the Interior of the United States. HE family and the better organi- zation of our modern civilization are becoming increasingly neces- sary because of the longer time now required for the human being to attain social maturity. The artificial standard of 21 years for males and 18 years for females, determined on the basis of biology and past experi- ence, has become embedded in the llw,I To provide food, protection and train- FROM AN UNPUBLISHED PASTEL ing for a period of 20 to 25 years for youth demands reasonable stability of conditions in the home and in soclety. With the great advances that have been made through discovery, invention and research, we are developing all of the time a more intricate and complicated civilization. With this there is a grad- ual lengthening of the preparatory period of life, Through the capture of the power of the machine we have taken much of the world off the backs of human beings and draft animals. Through this use of DRAWING BY LEONOBEL JACOBS. power we have more wealth and more leisure. Alongside of this, though, is the increasing difficulty of operating the enormous enterprises science has given us and which are often world wide in scope. Much that we have done to advance civilization has brought about a multiplication of our difficulties. The old days when the child was one of the principal sources of the wealth of the family have largely gone by in our present era in America. Large families were requisite two or three or four gen- erations ago in order to do the manifold work of the farm and the household. The possibilities of a family upon a piece of land depended largely upon the number of human and animal workers that could be provided. The day of the bound-out child has gone by, but he was an important source of labor during much of our country’s development. In general, in- stead of the apprentice system and the bound-out method of dealing with sur- plus children in the home, we have now a_most widespread, costly and impor- " (Continued on Fourth Page.) Science Creates Problems More Brainy Men Needed to Carry on Work in Lifting Burdens From Humanity BY GEORGE W. GRAY. ECENTLY an eminent American economist compiled a memoran- dum of 20 needed inventions and published the list—as a challenge, I suppose, to the technicians to get busy. His ideas ranged from a new type of automobile, as suggestion No. 1, to a new type of tooth powder as suggestion No. 20—a marvelous revelation of the intuitions of the economic mind! The British Institute of Patentees is- sues annually a “What's Wanted” di- rectory which catalogues hundreds of proposed ideas—practical pointers for the ploneering dreamers of the labora- torfes. Here, too, the suggestions are of unimaginative obviousness—new fuels, new engines, synthetic foods, synthetic weather. The Machine Age, which is so deplored by the philosophers, is admit- tedly not perfect even in the rating of its own priests and acolytes. But what is the great need? The twentleth century has just stepped out of its hectic twentles into the maturer calm of the thirties. What may we expect of its balanced middle age? Where is the opportunity for a revolutionary discovery? Who can point out the crucial weak spot in our pre- sumed mastery of the forces of nature? Which, of all the unsolved mysteries, is the key problem that when found will | unlock the door to the golden future? Dr. Straton Answers. “If T knew I'd busy myself in a labo- ratory and give all my thought and time toward finding it,” answered Dr. Samuel W. Straton, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, smiling indulgently at the ambitious question, I went to him with this inquiry be- cause Massachusetts “Tech” is a watch tower of American science, itself a many-laboratoried center of experiment and discovery as well as a place of | learning. Here, where the laws of | nature are explored and applied as well | as expounded-—here, of all places, there must surely be some clear vision of the scientific prospect. “The next crucial discovery may be some seemingly trifiing detail, hardly dreamed of now,” continued Dr. Straton. “It may be that an accidental stum- bling upon the truth will revolutionize our century as Becquerel’s chance dis- covery of radio-activity overturned the | nineteenth-century theories of the na- ture of matter and gave us the micro- cosmos within the atom. “The chances are, though,” added the sclentist carefully, “that no one experi- menter will win this distinction. Doubt- less many will have part in opening the door for our next great step forward in knowledge, Our surest progress lies in encouraging the greatest possible num- ber of trained workers to go into sci- entific research “For it is by the patient, painstaking, seemingly repetitious and plodding proc- DR. SAMUEL W. STRATTO —~A SEARCHER FOR RESEARCHERS. —Drawn for The Sunday Star by S. J. Woolf. ess of search and re-search that we have come to our present stage in civ- ilization. Electric wires and wireless, afrplanes and motor ships and swift ratlroad trains, radium and X-rays, im- munization against germ diseases and all the other science gifts of our age are the fruits of collaboration. The big thing immediately at hand is to en- courage and facilitate this sort of co- operation. “And so when you ask what is| science’s greatest need, it is not (he‘ gaps in our knowledge that I think of—though they are many—but the gaps in our ranks of research workers. | ~ “The greatest need right now is not any particular discovery, invention, ma- chine or process, but brains—more men trained in the methods and habits of exact science and inculcated with its spirit of persistent truth-seeking. We need more Pasteurs and Darwins, more Faradays and Clerk Maxwells, more Eddingtons and George Ellery Hales. “Find the boys and girls who have the instinct for getting at the bottom of things—who are inquisitively minded, have a passion for investigating, a bent for experiment—and give them oppor- tunity and encouragement to develop. Then you won't have to worry about the wanted discoveries and improve- ments. Such results will undoubtedly come. “Here at the institute we are con- tinually receiving requests for trained workers. One man and several assist- ants are keot busy answering this de- mand from industrial companies and research institutions for physicists, chemists, biologists, geologists, mathe- maticians and engineers. The demand is so great that we feel a strong com- pulsion to go out and find students, instead of merely waiting for those who chance to come our way. We are looking for the most brilllant boys and girls in America as future recruits for sclence—searching for them, literally. Seek Promising Scholars. “I have read in the newspapers that in some educational institutions it is the practice of athletic authorities to send scouts to visit other schools in the search for promising athletes. We have never gone in for that sort of thing here, but we do seek for promis- ing scholars.” It has been said in criticism that a technological school should devote it- self to teaching and leave research to specialized laboratories. “I came into education from the Bureau of Standards, precisely because more research workers were wanted,” answered Dr. Stratton to this sugges- tion. “We know that such workers can be trained and seasoned only through the practice of research. Many of the engineering students are by nature inclined toward research. They have the strict integrity of thought, the impelling curiosity, the tireless applica- tion and self-immolation that seem to g0 with the research type of mind. To turn them aside would be to sacri- fice our most brilliant material—for one good research mind is worth many ordinary plodding routine students. “Last year we could have placed a great many more research workers than were graduated from our laboratories.” “But a laboratory education will not necessarily produce a discoverer, or even an inventor?” I asked. Edison Had the Instinct. “Of course not,” answered the sci- entist emphatically. “Edison had the instinct for research—and that is something which no amount of train- ing can supply or substitute for, if it is missing. Some of our Colonial artisans, with their limited tools, made beautiful furniture and other woodwork, which our modern craftsmen, with their great array of tools and machines, imitate. So it is in scles lc research. Galvani discovered the principle of the | electric battery in his wife's kitchen; the Curies discovered radium with the ald of the crudest and most meager | laboratory equipment—-always it is the human element that counts most. | Education gives a man more tools to | work with, but unless he has the in- | stinet for research all the trainis d |~ (Continued on Fourtn Page.) »” DOMESTIC TROUBLES KEEP EUROPEAN LEADERS BUSY Franco-German Relations and Berlin- Warsaw Feeling Improve During Year. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. ATURALLY enough the progress of the London Conference has served to obscure for the mass of the American people certain very important developments which have been taking place con- comitantly in Europe. To be sure, the development of Franco-Italian bad feel- ing, a by-product of the peace negotia- tions at St. James' Palace, has attracted attention, but by contrast little or no compensating progress has been noted in Franco-German and Polo-German relations. Yet it is not too much to say that on the whole the current year has seen a gain in the basic conditions of the relations between the nations on both sides of the Rhine, the consequences of which may be difficult to exaggerate. And, of course, improvement in rela- tions between Warsaw and Berlin have their part in Franco-German relations. The ratification of the Young plan accords, both by the French and Ger- man Parliaments, was not only in it- self a circumstance which may well mark the final stage in the liquidation of the World War, but the language of Tardieu in defending the agreements has produced something little short of a sensation, not only in Germany, but all over Europe. ‘Tardieu Relinquishes Coercion. For, in fact, Tardieu, under pressure from the Left, from Herriot the Radical and Blum the Socialist, with surprising frankness conceded that, whether Ger- many fulfilled her obligations in the matter of reparations or not, France was no longer in a position to under- take that system of coercion described as sanctions and in its extreme form illustrated by the occupation of the Ruhr. . Between now and the end of June the last French troops will be on the move out of the occupied area of the Rhineland, which amounts to a reduc- tion by four years and a half of the period fixed by the Treaty of Versailles. To be sure, the question of the Sarre Basin remains open, but on both sides of the Rhine it is accepted that this is a matter of trade, not territory, that France will make no further effort to prevent the return to Germany of this valuable coal region. Tardieu and France have, then, had a press in Germany and the great experiment in Franco-German ecgnomic co-operation has been forwarded by an enormous reduction of the causes for political friction. The policy of Strese- mann has borne fruit, even if its author has unhappily not been spared to see the realization. In but a few weeks Germany will have recovered her free- dom, and her soil will be no longer held to ransom by foreign armies, the sym- bol alike of her defeat and her weak- ness. As between Poland and Germany the Hague settlements were hardly less im- portant. By mutual agreement a mass of claims and counter-claims have been swept out of the way. All the intricate and troublesome reparations and dam- age litigations have been removed from the slate, and in place tentative com- mercial agreements have been reached, which promise to end the tariff war | ha that has lasted for five years to the very real disaster of both countries. Polish agriculture and German Industry are now to profit by new tariff schedules. Italian Offer Rumored Rejected. ‘This Franco-German appeasement is of utmost importance at the moment because the events at Londin have un- mistakably moved the Italians to turn once more toward Berlin, as they have turned frequently in the post-war years, seeking an alliance which would put a term to French influence on the Con- tinent. In Europe the statement has been made in quarters which deserve attention that direct proffer passed from Rome to Berlin and was rejected; this may be an exaggeration but it must have some basis of fact. Having to choose between Italy and France, there is no reason to believe that Germany would prefer the former, rovided no issue such as that of de- layed evacuation divided Paris from Berlin, The German resentment over the alleged desertion of their Italian ally during the World War remains one of the most vital of post-war mem- orles. I was told, the last time I was in Berlin, that this proposal of a German- Italian alliance was regarded in politi- cal circles as little more than an at- tempt to blackmail France into African concessions and that in the end Ger- many would pay the costs. At all events, Germany is not em- barking upon a new system of alliances designed to enable Italy to replace France as the dominant Continental power. And the chief grievance which might win support for such a policy disappears with the application of the Young plan and the completion of the evacuation of German soil. While Ger- many is equally unlikely to make any new political alliance with France, the extension of economic combinations, which has already gone very far, will doubtless be pushed still further. As to the Polish settlement it is easy to exaggerate and to underestimate its value. More than one generation will pass before the German people accept as definitive the eastern frontlers of Versallles or cease to plan for the sup- pression of the Polish Corridor. But modification of these boundaries today would be possible only as the result of a general and colossal European con- flict. But if Germany cannot hope now to recover the Polish marches, then she must face the fact of having a neighbor whose market may easily prove one of the most profitable for German ex- ploitation. An industrial Germany and an agricultural Poland are in na- ture of things complementary and Ger- man industry and Polish _griculture hate both paid high prices for political strife. Polish Policy Fails. ‘The original German notion that by shutting Polish exports out of the Ger- man market Poland could be ruined, has proved fallacious. Poland has not col: lapsed but, on the whole, has gone for- ward. She has found other markets for her coal, she been successful both in New York and in London in interest- ing capital. If her domestic politics have been turbulent, her business and finance have both made striking pro- gress and internal development is going forward steadily. In the face of this fact the attempts of the Junkers—and particularly of the East Prussian and Eastelblan agricul- turists, whose politics and pockets are equally concerned—to bar all Polish products have in the end failed. Normal economic relations are now assured. One more irrational political wall is destined to disappear. I am warned both by Ger= man and Polish friends that there may be new difficulties and that delays are inevitable. Yet all agree that in the "’fl t?“slme“ conditions will prevail over political. Over against this improvement of international relations one has, how= ever, to set the fact that in Germany and in Poland the domestic conditions are both chaotic and disturbing. While Hindenburg lves political disturbance in Germany is ikely, but when he dies—and he is very old—all sorts of trouble is possible, if not certain. Par- liamentary democracy has not proved an unmixed blessing for Germany, a dictatorship was at least a matter of discussion while I was in Europe. Significantly, a discussion of a die- tatorship did not involve forecast of & restoration of the monarchy. Germans lament the disappearance of a method which produced efficiency, but few be- moan the disappearance of a man or clamor for the restoratica of a dynasty. And there is common t&timony to the fact that any move for a dictator com- ing from the Right, from the reaction- aries, would certainly provoke an in- llb:‘lat and resistan the Plisudski Losing Ground. As to Polish domestic politics, they remain beyond t.hed-eem is hardly gaining. Poland, too, is suffering from the failure both of the dictatorship and the democracy which have been its post- war portion. Indeed, if you except Prance, where prosperity precludes political upheaval, and Britain, where political institutions are established to be affected by economic depression or governmental ineptitude, all Europe seems suffering alike from political and economic malaise. Four considerable countries, Germany, Po- land, Italy and Spain, face a situation where the death of one man might be “llowed by chaos. And, if you leave out of account the Franco-Italian rivalry, which is cer- tainly the most serious post-war devele opment in international affairs in Eu- rope, domestic rather than foreign troubles dominate national interests and national attention. Europe, after a considerable period of rapid economic recovery, is having a period of bad times. People are worried about bread and butter rather than prestige and foreign politics. They are more dis- gusted with their own governments than angry with their neighbors. Starting with Ireland, which recently had an upheaval in its Cabinet, there is not really one stable ministry dis- coverable in any of the larger countries save Russia and Italy. Minority gov- ernments prevail in Britain, France, Germany, and many smaller stal Polish and Spanish dictatorships have more or less broken down. The Social- ist_Government in London has proved a flat failure, but the Nationalist bloc in France, despite French prosperity, is hanging on to power precariously. After, as before, London, no one is really talking of war in Europe. But if international situations are on the whole better the main explanation must be found in the fact that everyone has an adequate supply of trouble at home. (Copyright, 1930.) May Day Fete Gayest Save Yule Among Engl The first day of May is second only to Christmas in the song and story of English-speaking nations. In medieval times, and up to the reign of the Puri- tans in England, not even Christmas occasioned such merrymaking. The joy of Spring’s return in Northern climates makes it easily understood that May day should be celebrated as the “mad- dest, merriest day” of the year. Cromwell prohibited May day cele- brations, as he prohibited nearly every- thing connected with the joy of life, and, though they were revived at the restoration, the spell was broken. There was never again such widespread, naive indulgence in the May day rites. The celebration of the day goes back to the old Roman Floralia, festivals in honor of Flora, the goddess of flowers, and to the Druldic Feasts of Bel. Both of these festivals came in turn from the phallic festivals of India and Egypt, rites of nature-worship to cele- brate the renewed fertility of the soil. It is interesting to note how the old pagan customs, tuc\nfi] back to their common source in the remote past, were echoed in May day rites in England, Scotland and Ireland for cen- turies after pagans were anathema. Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, true to their Celtic strain, were chiefly influenced by the religion of the Druids. ‘The grewsome feature of human sacri- fice by fire had its echo in customs which still linger in remote Celtic re- glons of the British Isles. The Druid god Bel was the Baal or Moloch of the Bible, to whom children were burned ive. Out of the unconscious memory of this grew the May day custom of lighting great bonfires through which men leaped with little children Jn their arms. Or sometimes lots were h-Speaking Peoples of the time when the allotted victim actually burned alive in Bel's honor. In England the May day celebrations were free from this strain. Flora was the deity whose worship lingered there, in music and dancing and all sorts of sports, and in the gathering of wild flowers, particularly hawthorn, to deck th; nxtnktfels fi{fl;he hAouses. n lle Ages everybody took part in the May day remvmu" Even the mayor and aldermen of London sal- lied to the woods on May day eve to gather boughs and blossoms. The cus- tom seems to have been to go out night and return at sunrise on May day with flowers to adorn the doorways. Or troops of boys and girls would g0 to the woods at dawn “with plplnf and song,” as the old chronicles have it, and get armfuls of hawthorn or “May,” “lyke ‘greate heapes of fragrant snowe.” When the lintels had .been flower trimmed. and baskets filled with flowers had been left on favored doorsteps, the merrymakers were ready for the day's active pleasures, the Maypole festivities. Bringing in the Maypole and setting it up ‘was as famous a ceremony as bringing in the Yule log at Christmas, The " villages and parishes vie with each other as to which should have the tallest pole. So ardent was the en- thusiasm over the pole and its attendant pastimes that Stubbes, the Puritan, ‘his “Anatomy of Abuses,” called the gdnworl:o “a tu;l.ym:klnz Igolll which le ring from the woods, follow great dev;):lon." e The pole was generally a birch 3 sometimes painted in gay colnn.'n;t was twined with garlands of flowers and herbs, and decorated besides with gay handkerchiefs and pennants, and with the long ribbon streamers that the dancers took hold of ol of for their weaving cast among the young men, and_ the fated one had to run three times | through the fire—a very distinct echo Sometimes the pole was drawn by 20 (Continued on Fourth Page.)