Evening Star Newspaper, October 5, 1930, Page 38

= THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. EUNDAY........October 5, 1930 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor ¥he Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: Lith 8t and Pennsylvants Ave P New York Ofce: 110 East 42nd (A icago & Lake Michigan Bullding. ropean ce: 14 R?em St., London. Englan Rate by Carrier Within the City. R- Frenine Btar. . gia;ic or month 9 Svening and Bunday ‘Star (when 4 Sundays) .. ... 60cper month The Evening and Sunday’ Siar jen 5 Sundays) . % nday Collection m ders may be fAtional 5000. 65¢ per month 2ass sosns s 5C DIF £OBY at the end of each month t in by mail or (eiephone Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. aily snd Sunday iy Jonly jundsy only All Other States and Canada. fly and Sund: 1y Fuy sy Sundar A7 nday” only yr. 36.00 1 mo., 80c * 3400: 1 mo.. 40c 12.00: 1 mo.. $8.00° 1mo.. jhc §5.00. 1 mo’. S0c Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Assoclated Press is exclusively entitled to *he use for republication of il new: redited to it Budget Bureau and D. C. Funds. A series of articles in The Star, the first of which appears today, discusses the control over District affairs that nine years of Mudget practice have vested in the Fea¢r2! Bureau of the Budget. The practical results involve questions of extra-rdinary importance | to the taxpayers of this city, cspecially in their connection with congressional disregard of substantive law in appro- | priating for the District. While the substantive law, never repealed, was followed by Congress when the budget act was framed and passed, it has been regularly evaded since 1924, three years after the Budget Bureau came into existence. When the lump sum practice was begun it was promised that as a result of this method of appropriatior. the District taxpayers would have greater control over their own taxes and over the expenditure of these taxes. The| intervention of the Budget Bureau in connection with the lump sum appro- | priation has caused a directly opposite result. The District taxpayers are still further removed from control on Amer- ican principles of their taxes. Since the adoption tentatively of the lump| sum appropriation practice Congress has shown no tendency whatever to give greater consideration to this desire of the local taxpayers concerning the amount and the methods of expenditure of their taxes. The Budget Bureau merely becomes an additional dictator | in the District's fiscal affairs. | When the definite proportionate con- | tribution system prevailed in actual practice the local taxpaying community, though it did not participate in dis- cussions concerning its fiscal affairs, ‘was measureably protected by the fact that its national partner, who did all the deciding in respect to local affairs, could not tax the local community without also proportionately taxing | itself. Under the proportionate contri- bution system, if the Nation through Congress compelled the local community to pay more for Capital maintenance it ‘was itself compelled to pay more. Under the Jump sum practice, the more that the Nation through Congress exacted from the local taxpayers, the less it ‘was itself compelled to pay. ‘When the Jump sum practice was begun, it was estimated that as an ©offset to the protection under the pro- portionate contribution system which the local taxpayers had lost, the latter ‘would be permitted greater participation in their local fiscal decisions. Indeed, it was intimated that in respect to the local taxpaying community’s contribu- tion to the Capital maintenance fund— as distinguished from the National lump sum contribution—the District's views and wishes would be paramount. ©Of course, no such result has been moted. Congress in apprcpriation prac- tice repudiated its own obligation of proportionate contribution, self-imposed by law, but did not increase by a particle the District’s control or con- sideration of its wishes in respect to its own exclusive contribution in taxes, licenses, water rents, etc. Indeed, with the intervention of the Budget Bureau ts control was by one stage further Temoved. ‘With Congress in exclusive, undivided eontrol of District fiscal affairs, and with power in the Commissioners to | initiate estimates, the local uxplym” community—which on American prin- | ciples would have exclusive control of its own purely local taxes—had first to petition the estimate-framing Commis- sloners for consideration of its views| and wishes in respect to its exclusively local taxes; and finally had to petition Congress for consideration of its views in making appropriations. With the| intervention of the Budget Bureau a| third dictator is added, to whom the | District taxpayers must petition. Congress is not bound to appropriate as the Commissioners and Budget Buresu recommend, but it can and ‘when it pleases does refuse even to con- | sider any appropriation which does not | meet the approval of the Budget Bureau and Commissionew. Even the civilian Commissioners become less and less recognized as representatives of the local community, and their Federal character is constantly more strongly emphasized. ‘When Congress, under the law of 1878, appropriated in advance one-half of what it decided to be adequate Capi- tal munieipal expenditures, and then collected the other half from District taxpayers, the spirit of the American principle that taxation and representa- tion are inseparable, and that those who put up the money should control it, was practically observec. On the theory that the civilian Commissioners represent primarily the local com- .munity, and that broadly the estimates ‘which they submit represent, to a cer- tain degree, the local community's needs and wishes, the exercise by Con- gress, representing the Nation, of the power of fiscal enactment concerning the collection and disbursement of the Joint municipal fund is not inconsistent with the American doctrine that those who pay should control, since with the Nation contributing one-half of the i joint fund, the assent by a single local | Maryland State Roads Commission for THE . SUNDAY . STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 5, j jority support of contributors to the ! fund which American principles re- quire. But when the Nation contributes only forty per cent of this joint fund its claim to a majority support of the de- cisions of Congress is shaken, and when, under the lump sum provision, the Nation contributes only a shifting, uncertain and steadily decreasing per- centage of the joint fund and continues to exercise over that funé exclusive, absolute power, American principles are thrown to the wind. Assuming that Congress and the Bud- get Bureau should have some say con- cerning the expenditure of any lump sum appropriation for Capital main- tenance, which the Nation, through Congress, may make, there is no reason | whatever why Congress and the Budget Bureau should have absolute and des- potic control of the collection and ex- penditure of between thirty and forty millions of collars which the local com- water rents, licenses and other forms of locally derived revenue. The District taxpayers are not so much interested in the question whether they shall have one or two Federal agencies to decide all questions concern- ing their taxes as in the question whether they should not have on Amer- jean principles some of that power themselves. ———— The Plan for Metered Cabs. The proposal that some order be brought out of the chaotic taxicab sit- uation in Washington by -ordering the installation of meters on all cabs, there- by effectually abolishing the zone sys- tem that has brought scores of free- lance machines on the streets, would not strike at the real root of the evil and from the public’s point of view would premise little if anything. The proposal, which no doubt is favored by the long-established com- panies and by the taxi drivers them- selves, as these would profit thereby, would merely amount to a higher tax on taxicabs, for the price of a meter is understood to be somewhere between $80 and $100, with additional expense for maintenance. But the installation of a meter, while possibly resulting in the abandonment ofs some cabs whose owners could not afford the device, would mean nothing unless accom- panied by law requiring the remaining cabs to show the financial responsi- bility demanded of other public car- riers. It might be helpful to reduce the number of cabs by taxing them out of existence, but, as the situation now stands, any Tom, Dick or Harry who could afford a meter would still be per- mitted to drive a cab. When one takes into consideration the foibles of meters and the irresponsibility of drivers, it is not certain that the public would not lose rather than benefit by the change. If taxicab rates are too low, that is a matter for the laws of eco- nomics to demonstrate, and in the meantime the public ought to enjoy the cheap zone service while it lasts, which may be indefinitely. Every one admits that the Public Utilities Commission, which is under- stood to have the meter proposal under study, is up a tree when it comes to regulating taxicabs in the District, and it is also true that the conditions re- sulting are unsatisfactory, dangerous, and cannot be allowed to continue. But the chief remedy needed is au- thority to demand that taxicab oper- ators be financially - responsible - for damage to-person -and property and | that some attention be patd to fixing ! maximum rates. After that is done! the minimum rates will be decided on| the basis of fair competition, which | is as it should be. The meters would| mean little to the passenger, who could | still ride as safely and probably more | cheaply under the zone system. ——— George W. Baird. George W. Baird, rear admiral of the | munity annually contributes in taxes,{ “never too late to mend,” despite the fact that the Baltimore boulevard work is almost completed, the Highway Com- mission bulletins the fact that Berwyn, which has been reached in the widening process, can now be entered by motor- ists through Edmonston road—which is a left turn off the Defense Highway just beyond the Peace Monument in Bla- densburg—and Central avenue. This route is reported by the Highway Com- mission to be in good shape and ade- i quately marked and policed. It is one and one-half miles longer than the Bal- timore boulevard to Berwyn. When completed the regular Wash- ington-Baltimore road will be one of the finest stretches in the country and no one begrudges the inconvenience that has been caused in the process of construction. It is possible that a little more foresightedness on the part of Maryland authorities might have made things a good deal easier for drivers of utomobiles. If the detour to Berwyn, where the main road is encountered, had been announced sooner and if the “back road” to Laurel had not been worked on at the same time as the Baltimore boulevard, for instance, little, if any, inconvenience would have been felt. However, “All's well that ends well,” and with a good detour covering the small amount of construction yet to be done motorists will soon be speed- ing over a fine wide stretch of highway, forgetful of the fact that there was ever any trouble in yeaching Baltimore. Chinese Urns in Mexico. An archeological discovery just re- ported from the State of Jalisco, Mex- ico, will doubtless revive discussion among scientiste as to the origin of the American races. In the course of ex- cavations on the site of a buried city, a number of earthen funeral urns have been found in tombs beneath an ancient city at the Hacadera Los Copales. They FOUNDATIONS BY THE RIGHT REV.JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D,, LL. D, | ishop of Tezt: “A wise man which built his house upon a rock.”—St. Matthew, vii.24. Foundatipns may not be interesting, ibut they are supremely important. Probably more consideration was given by architects and engineers to the foundations _of the great cathedral building on Mount St. Alban, Washing- ton, than to the refinements of archi- tecture in the superstructure. It would be of little worth to build this or any other substantial building, however symmetrieal and beautiful it might be, without laying firm and strong the bed whereon it rests. Last Summer I was studying with | deep interest the beautiful cathedral at Winchester, England. Presently the bishop, who was explaining to me its attractive features, said: “We only dis- covered within recent years that this great structure. which has stood for centuries, was literally built in a swamp and upon heavy piling. It continued unimpaired through the long ages un- til presently it was discovered that there was an incication of settlement in cer- ttain parts of the vast building. Im- mediately engineers were employed, and by underpinning the cathedral with re- inforced concrete the great structure was saved.” Our age is not overconcerned about that which is not evident and visible. We are so_much occupied in building our comestic, social, political and re- liglous fabrics that we give larger heed to that which constitutes the super- structure. The Master in the parable from which the above text is taken is speaking of that which is designed to ive security and permanence to life. fke most of His parables, it deals with an intensely practical question. He de- scribes two types of building—the one that is_rendered secure and stable by being built upon the rock, in fair weather and foul, withstands all pres- sure; the other is built upon the sand and when the elements beat against it, lacking adequate foundation, it is de- stroyed. It is a parable of life, and it has an important bearing upon our are believed to date back to at least 2500 B.C, being so old, indeed, that| the now ruined city had keen built above them. Thesé urns, which stand from two to four feet in height, are pronounced to be of a type in form and in decoration directly linking them with the Chinese and éven with the Egyptians. Many of the faces on the urns, it is reported, are pure Chinese in character, and others strongly resemble ancient Egyptian sculptures and pot- tery. The hypothesis of a land link between Asia and America is strongly enter- tained by many archeologists. Indeed, such a probability is indicated by the chain of islands across Bering Strait which might very readily have been a continuous land bridge at an earlier period. Some geologists aver that such a bridge unquestionably existed in an- cient times. Resemblances between the inhabitants of Northern Asia and those of Alaska are obvious. Those resem- lances continue in a diminishing de- present world situation. More and more in recent months it has become evident that governments, communities and individuals must give more con- sideration to those things that consti- tute the foundations, the footings. We Washington. in recent years. Our growth along many lines has been nothing short of phenomenal. We have had a growing sense of security, but latterly we have been compelled to reckon with new | conditions and new forces that have | given us deep concern. There is noth- ing local about this situation, it is uni- versal. Great Britain and the nations on the Continent of Europe, China, In- dia and the South American republics are all passing through a great tran- sition period in which economic, social, litical and religious standards are be- ng tested and tried to the utmost. In this time of testing the world at large is compelled to think more definitely of those secure footings whereon sound and stable government is bullded. It is conceivable that a nation economi- cally sound might be morally rotten. More and more statesmen are being compelled to reckon with the place that things moral and spiritual occupy in the scheme of things. Increased luxu- ries, new inventions that lend ease and comfort to living conditions, all these are important, but they will prove of little worth to us unless we see to it that the moral conditions of life are sound and definitely inculcated. Ap- plying all this to our individual family life, we find an increasing need for a fresh emphasis on that which secures those principles that contribute to the making and upbuilding of character. The present generation may witness to rogress along intellectual and cultural ines, and modern education may be for in advance of anything that has gone before, but it has been repeatedly demonstrated (Important as these things arej that they must be supple- mented by definite moral and spiritual teaching. It were well that the church directed its whole thought today to things that are essential and funda- mental. If we have piped to the people and they have not danced, then it is time we were through with our piping. Christian teaching has its large and indispensable place in the life of the Nation, state and home. Mr. lidge recognized this in a recent serious arti- cle: Let us bulld our house firmly and securely, but let us look to it that it is so bullt upon sure foundations that it cannot be shaken or shattered by the chnnglnx winds of public opinion, or by the floods that malevolent and un- have builded in a fast and furious way disciplined forces hurl against us. Problem to the U. BY WILLIAM HARD. The State Department at this week | end confronts in Cuba a revolutionary | condition which in these columns has | been frequently forecast and which offi- cially has been as frequently denied. President Machado now has arrayed | against him nof only Col. Carlos Men-| dieta, leader of the “Natioualist| Union,” but also former President | Menocal and former President Zayas, | his only two living predecessors in the| Cuban presidential office. The martial law which President Machado has sum- moned the Cuban Congress to proclaim is but a formal recognition of a state gree down the North American coast. The suggestion made by this latest dis- covery that the “Asiatic influence” made contact with America as far south as in Mexico adds to the strength of the hypothesis maintained by some that the basis of the entire American popu- lation was Asiatic. The hope is that this find in Mexico is sufficiently extensive and distinctive to furnish specific evidence that will advance knowledge of the sources of the pre-Columbian civilization in America. —aon—s. The fact that many unkind com- ments on America are heard abroad does not prevent hrlepumben of Euro- pean citizens from being disappointed at not being invited to establish resi- dences over here. JE—A, New York admits that a judge should have great knowledge of human na- ture, but is inclined ¢o object to ob- servations of the underworld acquired by personal contact. TEmLem United States Navy, retired, died yes- | terday at his home in this city at the | age of eighty-seven years, one of the most, esteemed citizens of the Capital, | and 1n his various activities outside of | his professional work, one of the most | valuable. He was a native Washing- | tonian and loved his city. In the course | of his naval assignments in earlier years he had occasional opportunity to devote himself to the material advancement and betterment of the city. Upon his retirement he continued his active service as a Washingtonian. When the | present organic law creating the Board | of Education was enacted, entailing a | change in organization, he was one of the first selections for that civic duty and it was appropriate that he should have been chosen president of the board, in which capacity he served for | several years. He was dean of the| Masonic Order in the District, being the | oldest past grand master of the Grand Lodge. He was an active member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. His contacts with the active | life of the community wers numerous and his services and counsel in all of | its organization work were highly rated. | For a number of years he has been compelled through the advance of age and falling strength to retire from active civic duty, but he continued to the end to be interested in and con- cerned for the welfare of his native city. He was a good friend, a most capable officer and a loyal Washingtonian, and he is now mourned sincerely and deeply. ———— A Baltimore Detour. Washington motorists who have jounced and jolted, been held up and suffered on many occasions a complete loss of temper in trying to use the Bal- timore boulevard during the construc- tion work still in progress will be relieved to learn that a detour to Berwyn and Laurel is now available, from which point the Baltimore boulevard is in fine shape all the way to the Monumental City. When workmen reached the stretch be- widening of the boulevard local motor- ists did not feel that they would be par- ticularly inconvenienced. They had, especially when the races were on at Laure], ured what is known as the “back road” which runs through Silver Spring, Sligo, Bumnt Mills and thence to Laurel. Imagine their dismay, how- ever, when on their first trip over the substitute route they found it in the pro¢- ess of being shouldered and in far worse shape than any workmen or group of workmen could possibly put the Balti- more boulevard. And many were the ex- pressions of dissatisfaction with the tween Laurel and Washington in the Luxurious living is not to be looked for in a penitentiary, but it is unfair and inhuman to make overcrowding a feature of especial punishment. Attt o oty Street car companies fee] that they could not be happy without a ten-cent fare and are now doubtful whether taxicabs will let them Be happy with it. — ] SHOOTING STAES. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Anticipating a Saint. Like to think of Santa Claus— Can't just understand the cause For his loiterin’ on ‘the way Till a dark December day. Santy, why not come along, While the birds give out a song And the goldenrod is bright ‘With the sun’s reflected light? Santy Clause, neglected Saint, With your customs, old and quaint, ‘Why not make an earlier call And be happier, after all? Remaining on Earth. “Have you ever been up in an air- plane?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “An airplane is no good for politics. The pllot takes all the publicity.” Jud Tunkins says we talk about hard times and go on hopin’ for a job with an easy mark. Personal Test. What would you do, ‘When history you review, In some great leader's place ‘Who had the world to face? It's easy to talk wise By now, and criticize. But honestly, come through, What would you do? Shifted Responsibility. “Didn't I tell you not to wake the children?” “Yes,” answered Mr. Meekton. “All I did was to turn on the radio. Don't blame me, write to your station | announcer.” » “Passing years,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “convey an impression of knowledge. It is a wise man who knows how to capitalize his gray hairs.” Interesting Variety, My Radio! My Radio! You cheer me by the hour. of things which has long existed and which long has obliged the Cuban gov- ernment to maintain its power through the daily application of the practical equivalent of martial law. Formal martial law will merely regularize for the so-called “elections” of November 1 next the general disfranchisement of the Cuban people which long ago was in substance effected. % . & ‘The studies of the State Department now are in part directed toward the “constitutionality” or *unconstitution- ality” of the Machado regime. The pol- | icles of President Woodrow Wilson and | the policies subsequently of Secretary | of State Charles Evans Hughes planted | in the State Department a tendency, toward favoring supposed “constitu< tional” governments in nearby Latin American countries against “subver- sion” by the “lawless forces” of “revo- | lution.” The puzzle for the State De-| partment in Cuba is the allegation by Cubans of the highest legal eminence | that it is the incipient revolutionists in Cuba who represent “constitutional- | ism"” and it is President Machado who | represents “lawlessness” and ‘“uncon- stitutionality.” Our consclentiously law-minded Sec- | retary of State, Mr. Henry L. Stimson, is thereupon caught between the blades | of a pair of scissors. He comes from | New York. His Undersecretary of State, Joseph P. Cotton, comes from New York. His Ambassador to Cuba, Harry F. Guggenheim, comes from New York. | New Yorkers have bought Cuban sugar plantations profuscly. They have pro- fusely lent money to the Cuban Ma- chado administration. They have en- tered into large undertakings in Cuba with possibilities of ultimate large profits on the assumption that the au- thorizing acts of the Machado admin- istration have been legally valid. They now are faced with the declaration of numerous Cuban scholars and states- men to the effect that every act of the Machado administration since May 20, 1929, when President Machado took office for the second time, has been | conistitutionally “null and vold.” * ok ox % That opinion is held and has been expressed by Enrique Jose Varona, Do- mingo Mendez Capote, Juan Gualberto Gomez, Pedro Betancourt, Aurelio Al- varez, Aurelio Hevia, Roberto Mendez Penate, Jose Marti, Manuel Piedra and Cosme de la Torriente, most of whom bore arms for Cuba in the revolution against Spain, all of whom have held high office in Cuban party life and in Cuban governmental life, and some of whom, as, for instance, Cosme de la Torriente, who has represented Cuba diplomatically in both hemispheres and who has presided over the Assembly of the League of Nations, command the attentive ear of the whole world. Such testimony obviously is not lightly disregarded by so careful a legal- ist as Mr. Stimson. On the one hand, for him, is the natural New York theory, almost universally there enter- tained, that Machado represents Cuban orderliness and Cuban sound economic development. On_that hand, too, is the clause i the so-called “Platt amendment” and in our fundamental treaty with Cuba empowering the United States to intervene in Cuba for the protection of “property.” On the other hand is the contention of the Cuban Nationalists, backed now by ex- President Menocal and ex-President Zayas, who are Cuba's outstanding “elder statesmen,” that Machado repre- sents a denial of “constitutional” free- dom. On that other hand, additionally, is the clause in the so-called “Platt amendment” and in our fundamental treaty with Cuba empowering _the United States to intervene in for the protection of “liberty.” How to combine in Cuba the protection of prop- erty with the protection of liberty is Mr. Stimson's problem. h ‘The Cuban Nationalists have sug- gested that Mr. Stimson could solve this problem by offering American supervision to a Cuban general election. They profess themselves perfectly will- ing that Machado should run for Presi- dent in such an election. They are sure they would overwhelmingly beat him. They point out that Mr. Stimson in Nicaragua arranged a supervised election which was fair and which resulted in the acknowledged peaceful success of the Nicaraguan political party which had been conducting an armed revolt. They want Mr. Stimson to install-a similar policy in Cuba and assert that it d have a similar Some of your notes great sweetness show And some of them are sour. taxpayer to the Nation's decisions con- ! practically shutting off two of the routes cerning the disposition of the joint fund commonly used to reach Laurel. o -Hdnhfimafl?lmu But evidently on the theory that it is mpmuagflxuum & oL 5 . “Hoss racin’,” said Uncle Eben, “is de sport of kings; an’ some of dese here dictators says dey's gineter git rid of de L consequence. The essence of their grievance in Cuba’s Troubles Present a Serious S. Secretary of State| consummated coulé convey instruction to the cleverest politicians in the United States and are represented in the docu- ments brought here by the Cuban Ni tionalists to have been as follows: * & * ‘The Cuban Congress, in compliance with the will of Machado, enacted a law suppressing primary elections for the choosing of the members of the Executive Committees of the existing political parties. The existing Execu- tive Committees were, nevertheless, per- petuated in existence. They were clothed with the power to nominate all candidates for office. No other nomi- nations were permitted on the ballot. Nominations by new parties were ex- cluded¢. Nominations by the existing parties could be made only through the Executive Committees, consisting, in fact, of persons already in office. ‘These officeholders thus gained a monopoly of nominating their succes- sors or of renominating themselves without competition for re-election. In 1928 they proceeded to nominate the members of a constitutional con- vention. The persons whom they nomi- nated were the only persons on the ballot and were necessarily elected. Un- der the Cuban constitution, constitu- tional convention can only say “yes” or “no” to constitutional amendments sug- gested by the Cuban Congress. The constitutional convention of 1928, in violation of this constitutional rule, it is charged, went beyond all amend- ments suggested by the Cuban Congress and adopted an amendment whereby Machado could immediately thereafter run for re-election to the Cuban pre dency for a term of six years. - ne He did thereupon run as the eandi- date of the existing and surviving party Executive Committees, whose parties | hac been suppressed. and without rival- ry from any candidate of any new party, since no new party could leap the legal hurdles that barred it from the ballot. The proposed election of November 1 next is scheduled to be similarly conducted, with nominations to seats in the Congress only by the party Executive Committees, comprising some 64 men, and with the “Nationalist Union” (which wishes to be a party which, rightly or wrongly, proclaims it- self as representing 90 per cent of the Cuban. people) prevented by congres- sional orcer from placing any candi- date whatsoever on the election lists. Such are the allegations of the Cuban Nationalists as disclosed in Washing. ton and as also published in Cuban newspapers by audacious editors till, as in the case of Senor Zaydin of El P: just last night, they flee from Cuba the United States in fear of the sudden death which, in numerous instances, that audacity has in Cuba earned. (Copyright, 1830.) o American Investors Still Terror-Stricken BY HARDEN COLFAX. One of the troubles with the United States a year afo was t] its inhabit- ants took nearly every “tip” that was offered. One of the major troubles today is the disinclination of many Americans to take any “tip.” Business and financial leaders, men of acumen and foresight, who them- selves have bullt up big fortunes, say without equivocation at conditions show every evidence of becoming bet- ter. The fact remains, however, as shown by current reports coming to governmental business and financial agencies, that many people decline abso- lutely to accept this viewpoint and still are shivering in terror, as though in the grip of a bad dream. * oK Kk Business men in many instances place the blame for this attitude di- rectly upon the bankers. They declare that while the banks are full of money it is harder to borrow, even on good security, than it has been for years. They add that this is substantiated by the action of the New York City sav- ings banks last week in reducing in- terest rates. That naturally would have the effect of checking additions to de- posits, and it is charged that the banks are 50 loath to lend that they are piled ba f up With money which is not earning the interest charges they are paying out. It is admitted by the bankers them- selves that their strong boxes are full of cash, but they defend their attitude on loans by saying they are determined not to one step beyond “good bank- ing policy.” The attitude was shown definitely by the bankers who came here at the request of President Hoover to consult upon loans to relieve farmers in the drought-stricken States. The vate bankers announced definitely that they would make loans, but only on the best of security. * k% % Nearly every one in the country, in- cluding the bankers, would like to see the stock market strengthen and ad- vance. But when it comes to action toward helping the market to advance, there is a wide difference of opinion. It is known that at least one member of the Federal Reserve Board is de- termined that no action shall be taken Cuba today is that some 64 men, as ,they claim, have usurped the total po- litical electoral power of the whole Cuban people. The {s;: in the chain of e cal cral anship throug! xe‘;' finmmmwz outcome Was which by any remote possibility might lead to any stock market inflation. On the other hand, one of the execu- tives of the Treasury Department is understood to be of the opinion that 1930—PART. TWO. Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. In these days when so much busi-| ness is done on credit and where the loaning of money has become one of | the biggest branches of big business, it | is interesting to note the fact that in, southern border of South Dakota, have | INDIANS WHO HIBERNATE BY FREDERIC The Sioux Indians who occupy the Pine Ridge Reservation, located on the J. HASKIN. | hibernating Indians, but in the cases | where it has been accomplished, ex- traordinary conditions have been found. The fire in the stove only smolders. earlier days the charging of interest on | mastered the secret of hibernation. | The air is fetid, for there is no ventila~ such loans was considered a crime. This was emphasized here at the re- cent convention of the bankers’ associa- tion and the meeting of the American Association of Personal Finance Com- | panles, or small loan associations. In | welcoming the latter organization to the | Capital City, Robert V. Fleming, presi- dent of the' Riggs National Bank and nationally known in financial circles, | sal "At_the most_recent convention, of | ihe District of Columbia Bankers' As- sociation a distinguished banker and former president of the American Bank- | ers’ Assoclation, Oscar Wells, called at- tention to the problems attached to and the prejudices that existed against interest charges for loans during the early centurles of our era. Mr. Wells told us that two of the early popes of Rome issued decrees forbidding the charging _of interest. One of them, Gregory X, denled Christian burial to those who were held to be guilty of what was regarded as the crime of tak- ing interest, Alfred the Great also lssued & proclamation confiscating the estates of money lenders, and ordered that they should be denied burial in consecrated ground. “This prejudice, in greater or less de- gree, and in many countries, continued for centuries, and Mr. Wells advised us that it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that the collec- tion of interest became recognized as a legitimate charge for the hiring of cre o * kK X ‘The cotton crop and textile manufac- turing, so much in public print these days on account of the drought and in- dustrial depression. are taken as a text by the War Department in its Manual of Citizenship training. It points out how the history of development of the country is linked in with the invention of the cotton gin by a New England school teacher, as follows: “Frevious to the Invention of the cot- ton gin cotton yarns were spun and woven into cloth by hand in private homes. Necessarily, by this slow method of manufacture, but small quantities of cotton were used.” In describing the development of the cotton industry, this War Depart- ment text book says: “So rapid was the development of the industry, stimulated by this new ‘gin,’ that within the next 20 years exports of cotton to Liverpool increased tenfold. “As a result of this invention a cot- ton factory was erected in Massachu- setts to produce cloth like that made in England. Here was constructed the first loom operated by water power in Amer- ica. In 1814 there was built at Wal- tham, Mass., the first cotton mill in the world, in which the raw material direct from a Whitney cotton gin was spun into thread, woven into cloth and printed with colors, all under one roof.” Explaining the influence on the country of this invention, the text book on citizenship says: “The production of cotton was stimulated and made one of the leading industries of the country. Cotton exports enormously increased, allied industries developed, communities grew rapidly into cities. “The invention of the cotton gin cre- ated unforeseen social, economic and political conditions; it largely put a stop to the discussion of slavery: the Southern planters and Northern manu- facturers of cotton found it to their mutual interest to keei) the Negro in bondage, since by his labor they were rapidly growing rich. “Due to climatic conditions, the man- ufacture of cotton goods was carried to New England, thus opening a channel of employment, causing in following years a radical change in the national- ity of the citizens of these Northern States.’ Pointing out the subsequent improve- ments through interchangeability of mechanical parts, the treatise on citi- zenship ~calls attention that “while Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin, because of the theft of his model and tools from the shed in which he conducted his experiments he was not enabled to perfect his invention. ‘He instituted the interchangeability of parts, which has greatly influenced modern industry. In 1798 he secured a contract from the government for the manufacture of firearms, being ‘the first to effect the division of labor by which each part was made separately.” It was from this invention that he made his fortun | -aon—s. New Rule About Debt Prom the Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman. Under the Australian sun, at least, there is something new. The govern- ment and all its units have resolved not to spend any more money until all their outstanding debts are paid. Fast One Might Help. From the Detroit Free Press. King Alfonso is talking about selling his fast horses and fast automobiles. And will he use the proceeds to buy a fast yacht that will get him out of the country quickly, if necessary? ———— Freshmen Settle Down. Prom the Terre Haute Sta After being told they were the finest specimens that ever came to college, freshmen have now learned to get the mail and answer the telephone. — e Fence Sitters Increase. Prom the Oakland Tribune. Among the fence sitters now are a lot of foot ball experts. — of the bankers is now, and that they can best aid themselves and others by following a policy which will conform to the tenets of good banking, but which will yet permit the use in busi- ness and investment of the huge sums now piled up. In view of the official position of this financier, he is unlikely to express this publicly. * Kk K x The banks of New York are inclined to look with favor on any move by the Federal Reserve Board which would aid in a rise in stock prices, but it is 0 asserted that the other Federal Reserve banks are not anxious to have the New York district dominant in the sit- uation. This is likely to cause some complications when the heads of the foreign banking systems arrive here for a conference on the general world finan- cial and business situation. The new head of the Reserve Board, Eugene Meyer, is not likely to take active part in the conferences, accord- ing to impressions here, owing to the fact that cenfirmation of his appoint- ment must come up before the Senate at the next session of Congress. This would naturally throw the burden of American representation on the head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Borrowings of member banks from the Federal Reserve banks have almost ceased. At least they are at the low- est level of any period since the war. ‘Those banks which are borrowing from the reserve banks are mostly rural institutions moving crops. The others are not lending, and consequently have little need to borrow. Without food, they spend from two to three months in a state of at least partial hibernation quite similar to that Of the bear. This fact has recently been demonstrated by investigations of the office of the Secretary of the In- terior. ‘While the Sjoux have been successful is weathering the Winters in the past, there is grave concern felt this year. The drought bas diminished the normal- ly short supply of food available and, unless special rellef is provided, the period of hibernation will begin earlier this Winter. In late April or early May the In- dians emerge from their huts, gaunt and hollow-eyed, many dise: , to start again the round of the year and accumulate food to restore their bodies. Some 8,000 Sioux live on the Pine Ridge Reservation. It is near the Black Hills, where President Coolidge spent, famous holiday. The land is practically sterile. A few beans and potatoes are raised, and some corn. These crops are stored along with dried horse meat from slaughtered plains ponies. No cattle survive on the Teservation. The Winter begins at the Pine Ridge Reservation in October. Winds of tre- mendous velocity sweep over the hag- gard land, whistling round the log cabins in which the Sioux take up their Winter residence. Then the snows come and the thermometer drops below zero —often 40 degrees below. Once a year the Bioux are able to make a little money. Over the border of the reservation and the State, the Nebraska farmers raise potatoes. The late crop maturing in the Autumn fur- | nishes employment to the Slouz—me: women and children. Each day they 0 into the felds, following the potato- igging machines. They pick up the roots and put them in sacks or baskets Each evening, the farmers come into the fields pay the workers in silver money. ‘With these meager funds, the Indians lay in supplies of flour, sugar and coffee. These stores, with their corn, beans and potatoes, constitute the larder. Shelters Are Crude. ‘The cabins are rudely built of cot- tonwaod logs, the chinks stopped with mud. 1In each cabin is sn iron stove, and for fuel cottonwood scrub and logs are picked up along the streamsides during the short Summer. They are stored in the cabin and a slow fire kept burning. The cabins usually have two rooms, but some only one. Each cabin sheiters from six to a dozen In- dians. Usually such a household con- sists of two Indians, grandparents. Then there will be an Indian and his squaw and a varying number of little on es. As the cold settles down over the tree- less reservation and the winds begin to howl, snatching at the crazy stove- pipe chimney, the door and the win- dows are packed with old rags. No one leaves the house for weeks at a time. Indian agents have noticed that for weeks after a snowfall not a track has been made to or from the door of an Indian hut. The food normally lasts until about the middle of February. Then the true hibernation begins. Indian agents have made investigations to determine pre- cisely what conditions obtained within the cabins. It is difficult to arousé the | tion save what creeps through the chinks, and every effort is made to ex- | clude this. Men, women and children |are curled under blankets and mani buffalo robes. They sleep practically | all of the time, 20 to 22 hours a day. When it is necessary for them to move, the utmost economy in motion is ob- | served. * Experience and training and instinct have taught them how to con= serve every ounce of strength they pos- sese, for they know that their vitality | must carry them through until Spring. They almost never speak; too great an expenditure of strength 15 involved. Emergencies have been noted in & |few cases. A family which has stored less food than usual for some reason will find starvation approaching too | near. Then, before his strength is ut- | terly exhausted, the buck of the fam- ily will emerge into _the cold, find & pony and kill it. The meat will be dragged into the house, and as the Indian is naturally hospitable and neighborly, some will be taken to the nearer cabins. This is the exception; normally there is no emergence what- ever for at least two months. Conditions Are Pitiful. The ponies, obviously, are themselves more than half starved by Midwinter. They survive on what dry grass or moss they can find by nosing under the snow blanket. The meat they provide is not of the highest quality. Years ago there were cattle on this reservation, but they have long been gone. The pasture, for one thing, is insufficleni. No hogs are kept; none wanted. The Sioux of Pine Ridge, however. keep an amazing number of dogs. How they survive the Winter is one of the deep mysteries of the Indian Service. Many of them are killed by the Indians for food, but there are 0 many left in the Spring that the per- centage of such slaughter cannot be high. Government agents have suggested that the Indians keep hogs instead of dogs. The Indians have demurred, with the explanation that pigs cannot run fast enough or long enough to keep up | with their wagons when they trek over the plains The Indian always wants to be escorted wherever he goes. Dogs are ideal for this service. Serving the Indian’s pomp well enough, it is diffi- cult to find their economic purpose in the scheme .of reservation life. Pre- sumably there is none. Obviously there is a great deal of disease engendered by such an ex- istence. A survey made, for example, revealed that 35 out of 50 cabins visited showed one or more inmates suffering from tuberculosis. This was due to & combination of bad air and malnutri- tion. It was found that children threatened with tuberculosis threw off |the disease when fed properly. Sani- tation in the cabins during the hiberna- |tion period is wholly unknown, It is a subject which does not interest the |Indian. Rheumatism afflicts the older members of the tribe, taking the most terrible forms. An old Indian will be |found bent into the mosy grotesque |shapes and stoically sufferfng. Under 'm stress some take leave of their | wits. ‘These are descendants of the Sioux braves, who, under Sitting Bull, wiped Custer and his entire command off the face of the earth at the Little Bighomn not so very long ago. England Has High Hopes Of Imperial Conference BY A. G. GARDINER, England's Greatest Liberal Editor. LONDON, October 4.—The Imperial Conference opened here Wednesday and during the present month London will be in a special sense the heart of the empire. Prom New Zealand to Can- ada, all of the premiers of the overseas their official staffs. zog of South Africa, all of the premiers are making their first personal appear- ances on the stage in England and the conference has a special significance from the fact that it is the first held under the auspices of a Labor govern- ment in England. The last conference, in 1926, was a memorable one for its ratification of the complete independence of the do- minjons, including the right of seces- sion, and in view of that fact the chief interest of the present conference turns upon the development of the empire upon & new and entirely voluntary basis. Political issues have become secondary and the dominant subject for consideration will be the question of economic organization of the empire on co-operative lines. * ok ok % Had the Conservatives been in power in the present mood of the country, undoubtedly the conference would ha been exploited for the purpose of cre- ating something in the nature of a cus- toms union aiming at the maximum measure of free trade within the em- pire and tariffs against the foreigner. The difficulties of establishing such a system are immense in view of the fact that it involves taxes on food for the British consumer and that dominions like Canada and Austral are unwili- ing to admit British manufactures on a free trade basis. Labor being still predominantly free trade and definitely hostile to food taxes, the question of the empire be- ing inclosed within tariff walls will for- mally arise, though schemes for exten- sion of the preferential system in fi vor of interimperial trade will be dis- cussed. * ok Kok ‘While opposed to the policy of pro- tection, Labor is much enamored of the idea of establishing import boards for bulk purchases of wheat, wool and meat on a colossal scale. The view is that this policy would stabilize prices for the home producer and is necessary to this country in order to combat huge selling combinations in other countries, such as the Federal Farm Board of the United States, wheat pools in Canada, Australia, France and Germany, and the Russian state monopoly. But op- ponents of the idea stress the fact of the failure of these pools to control prices and the danger of setting up im- port boards with the power to make the consumer suffer calamitously for the miscalculation of officials. A Moreover, even assuming the wisdom of import boards, it is argued that bulk purchases could not be restricted to dominions whose crops might fail and | throw the whole calculation out of gear. A much more promising, though less spectacular, proposal, urged upon the conference for economic consolidation of the empire, is the establishment of a permanent imperial development board representing all parts of the empire and sitting continuously for the discus- !lfl:tof economic relations of the empire. co-ordination between parts of the em- pire and it is obvious that in the swiftly changing world the meeting of the Imperial Conference once in four years * ok x X ‘The banks are not to be held account- able for the whole situation, bankers declare. They point out that business men are neither anxious nor willing to borrow, and that reduced activity in business has made them disinclined to take any steps® toward expansion of operations. ‘While many persons are determined not to “take a tip” on the betterment of conditions, some far-sighted inves- tors now are laying the foundations of huge fortunes. This was done by men of similar icacity during the de- pressions of 1873, 1893, 1906 and 1922. Return to prosperity found them with tremendous hols of sound properties which they had bought for s song. (Copyright, 1930.) Pl is useless except for thk discussion of general policies and the keeping alive of imperial sentiment. The conference needs to be supplemented, like the League of Natlons, with a permanent secretariat which will keep the whole system in nic association, prepare schemes for development of .’}1'. Te- sources of the empire and stimulate economic contacts. * Kk ko The dominions still are largely virgin lands, thinly populated and d{flnt‘ a dominions have come, accompanied by | With the exception of Premier Hert- | resent there is an entire lack of |’ Fifty Years Ago In The Star Fifty years ago the word “communist” was not heard in Russia, but there was b4 an even more sinister title Russian in use, that of “nihilist.” Nihilists. It designated a radical enemy of the czarist gov- crnment who practiced murder in ag effort to destroy the Romanoff regime In The Star of September 29, 1880, i the following: “The organ of the Russian nihilists, called the ‘Will of the People,’ has sud- denly made its reappearance in St. Petersburg, and neither the police nor any of the authorities can tell whence it came. The paper announces in the plainest terms that its mission is not yet accomplished. It pronounces the reforms introduced by Count Melikoff & sham, and says the government has | made no progress in the direction of liberality; that it shows that it only knows ‘how to lie and play the fool | with the credulous.” This organ of that mysterious but powerful and determined element of the Russian. population, de~ nominated nihilists, intimates, in its re- | appearance, that the plots, designs and | attacks upon the head of the govern- ment are to be resumed. It says the | government promised to adopt a liberal | policy if the dagger and dynamite would permit it; that the dagger and dynamite were withdrawn, or, in other words, the | nihilists suspended operations and re- | mained quiet, to see the promise of a liberal policy fulfilled; that it has not been fulfilled, the government is as bad as ever, and consequently those who would reform it ‘as by fire’ must resume their work. This declaration of the nihilist organ shows that Count Melikoff has been awarded credit and praise Where he did not deserve it. The cessa~ tion of nihilist plots and the appearance of peace and order have been supposed to be due to Melikoff's administration, But if the ‘Will of the People’ be correct, the orderly state of affairs is owing to an armistice determined upon by the nihilists to test the sincerity of the gove ernment's promises of reform.” * * % Half a century ago the bicycle was® coming into use in Washington. That o . the riders had their trou~ Bicyclist ;11;15 1fn indicated by the Protests, following communication " to The Star printed issue of September 30, IBDO':! . “I would like to call the attention of the police to the annoyance and peril bicycle riders undergo through the cussedness of the rabble that seem to live in the streets. They attempt to throw brooms or any convenient article through the wheels, and if they are not successful they either make you run over it or they run behind and throw the back wheel up, thereby throwing gau ?v;r the l;rom ax’ui causing you seri~ s injury. merely wish you to put this in so to warn those gfl!l. llpwt intend to see tha 4 T t we are fully pro. * * % At last there is a prospect,” says The Star of chkmr l'1‘..188(1, 'P:eh.u tmy;uhne B ve an opportunity to Electric find out just how much the Light. talked-of * electric light is worth for practical purposes. Edison has recently been taking steps to lay wires and introduce his lamps in a closely settled district in the lower or business part of New York, and meas- ures have been quietly adopted lately to give the Brush invention a thorough test the same city. The headquarters chosen for this interest are in the neigh- borhood of Madison Square, which is quite a center for hotels, club houses and elegant private residences. The Brush light has been used with great success, it is claimed, in a number of Western towns, and in some places in the Eastern States also, but as a rule ‘t,l;e x?“buc “rt ]"l'te h:: lll yet had little 0 opportuni learn anything about its real merl);a. d ex- periments in New York will, if made, soon demanstrate which of the two in- ventions is the better, or whether either of them is worth anything or not. It is high time for such a showing. Until now we have had little but experiments, vast field of large scale enterprises in irrigation, canalization of rivers and electrical development. England has money and the necessary sur opulation for these tasks and all -egepton 1o bt e ey Snvs descriptions and promises of at an early day " siaoe and ship. ence in idle hands into effective partner- Much is o hcm from the confer- (Copyright, 19300