Evening Star Newspaper, October 5, 1930, Page 39

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 5, 1930—PART' TWO 3 fl TAGORE TO PAY AMERICA VISIT AT CRUCIAL TIME| Foe of Nationalism Stands Firm While India and U. S. Lean Strongly Toward It. BY MONTROSE J. MOSES. NCE more Rabindranath Tagore, wise man of the East, comes to America. He is _in his seventieth year now, his hair whiter, his” beard longer; but Bis eyes are still undimmed to the vision he has seen and has followed un- swervingly since he first began to oreach his gospel of creative unity. I fememiber in 1916 standing with him by a window in Chicago, overlooking the noise and energy of its bustle. The horizon was punctuated by tall build- Ings, the sky was wreathed in smoke. “It is that which is crushing me,” he said. “It is that which makes me long or the contemplative spaces of my ome. Maybe,” he added, a benign 20rTow in his eyes, “mayhe I am selling my soul for the sake of creating sym- pathy for my school.” I saw him often in New' York later on, when he was lecturing before groups more eager to see him in his clinging robes than to hear his songs that he read in soft, gentle voice. I remember that he cut short his stay fn America because he felt that his enterprise was becoming too commer- cial. “And ever since he has fought shy of visiting the West save under aus- pices more nearly in accord with his spiritual desires and his international sympathies. Has Traveled Widely. He has traveled the world over since that year of 1916; he has widened his contacts with world conditions; he has | been honored in all countries by lead- ers of philosophy, science, literature and government. Yet still he sees no reason to change his original plea for interracial understanding, for the re- linquishment of national seifishness in the interest of world peace. ‘Though some may see in the writ- ings of Rabindranath Tagore a de- tachment from political and social and economic fact, there nonetheless is a surprisingly common sense and simple way he has of criticizing world con- ditions today. He diagnoses the fact in relation to what it contributes to the spiritual life of people, and if it chokes the free expansion of man's soul he excoriates it with a force that has no bitterness, but shows how piti- able it is in the eternal scheme of things. ‘Tagore is a sage, belonging to a large family of wise men, of whom his own father, though dead, is still the dom- inant force in India today. There is a marble shrine in Bolpur where the revered, the “God-intoxicated” Dev- endranath Tagore used to go for con- templation. It is in this neighborhood that his son built the school which was to embody his ideas of development in accord with the laws of nature. “We would make you a maharaja,” sald the followers of Devandranath. But the old sage refused the decoration of princes. “Make me rather a mahar- shi, if T deserve the title,” he said sim- SIY. And so he was crowned the Great jage. There is a saying in India that “the maharajas die, but the maharshis live forever in the hearts of unborn generations.” With such a background of nobility anc nobleness came Rabindranath ‘Tagore. The Tagores have been lead- ers in all the activities of modern India; they have helped to ripen the renais- sance which has come to India through art and living. They have always been reformers. Hence, Rabindranath Tagore may be regarded as a world leader. He is s0 met by all countries save, perhaps, America, where in some quarters he is #tlll looked upon as an unpractical Oriental dreamer. In 1926 Tagore mace a tour of Europe on the invitation of leaders of European thought. Sixteen countries were visited and everywheré he lectured on themes which converged always toward his one vital doctrine of the salvation of the world by the development of inter- racial sympathy and exchange of ideas. Mussolini received him as an official personage; the King of Italy gave him audience. He spent hours with Rolland in Bwitzerland, with Benedetto Croce in Rome, with Georg Brandes in Den- mark, with Hindenburg and Einstein in Berlin. He was hailed, as far as his health would permit at the time, by all the literary and art leaders of mid- dle Europe. This brought him stimula- tion, but never once aid he trim his sails politically. He rejoiced in the cul- tural contacts, but he was not dazzled, and never has been dazzled, by official recognition. Free in His Criticizm. ‘Though he might appreciate the gift of a whole library made by Mussolini to his school at Santiniketan, he could not stand for those things which the ¢ dictator set as tae ideal for the ly of the immediate future. He had critical things to say of the Fascisti, and expressed openly his cisappoint- ment that all anti-Fascisti were kept from him. In like manner, though the hospitality of Japan was showered upon him, he did not desist from criticizing Japan's nationalism, as he has ever criticized the encroaching selfish political policies of other nations. Though he might be regarded as the prophet of his own country, he does not even relent in eriti- cisms of the effort toward national con- sciousness which has been seen there during recent decaces. It is not In- dian nationalistic movements which in- terest him, but the regeneration of India’s culture as an expression of India’s individual soul which concerns Hence, though he might be in sym- pathy with the non-violent policy of Mahatma Gandhi, he parts from Gandhi in one fundamental respect. The latter believes that the salvation of India will come through the spin- ning wheel; Tagore believes that spir- itual regeneration of India is by far more important. And that conviction he strives to inculcate in his young puplls and the research students of his recently established International (or interracial) University. Three Chairs Established. Tt is in the latter institution that| there have been established three | chairs of learning; one by His Exalted Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad— the Islamic chair—for the study of Mahometan culture: a second by the Prince of Siam—a Buddhistic chair— | and a third by the Gaekwar of Baroda ~for the glory of Hindu culture. i Who, may we ask, will come forward | and endow a chair for the study of Christian culture and modern civiliza- tion? land, Tagore was warmly greeted by the Quakers; in them he saw a close affinity with his own ideals; it was they who paid the salaries of two professors for Santiniketan. Hence it is not surprising to find the present visit to America of Rabindranath Tagore being sponsored by the American Friends Service Com- mittee of Philadelphia. This time the great poet and philosopher will have a welcome commensurate with the dis- tinguished greeting other countries have sccorded him. It is fresh in our memory that Ta- no one thinks of calling him Sir dranath, though he was knighted by King George V—a little over a year ago approached the United States by way to California. He had been to Van- couver to attend an educational confer- ence and was on his way to deliver lec- tures at the University of Berkeley. But unfortunately no arrangements ha been made to welcome him—as Hinden- burg and Mussolini had made, or even 88 the Soviet government made during his visit to them last Summer. In con- B bt bt v me Recently, when he was in Eng-| a grilling that he turned his face toward Japan instead. But now the Prophet of the East will arrive in New York at an opportune time, when we seem about to enter a period of Indian rebirth, as in the days | when Bakst and Diagilefl and Stanis- |lavsky visited New York, our theater |and our art threatened to become en- tirely Slavic. For during this Fall and the early Winter months we are to see a theater company from Calcutta, headed | by Bhaduri, the John Barrymore of the East, so they say, and there are to be exhibited Hindu paintings which are the product of a school of painting un- der the direction of Abanindranath Ta- gore, the nephew of the poet. If rumor is to be believed, Rabindra- nath himself will exhibit some of his own workmanship with the brush. One |of ‘the principles of his educational theory is that the soul finds expansive | development in the presence of art. | From his early childhood this world- famed poet of India has given free rein {to the creative impulses within him. | Since he was 6 years old he has written verse. Since he was younger still he has | sung with the very joy of self-expres- sion. There are songs that have ema- nated from him on the lips of desert travelers. They are composed in a music scale that sounds strange to | Western ears, but they have become some of the folk songs of the land. To_ the finger tips of his long and | slim hands Tagore is the artist; he has grace of gesture, grace of movement— silent for the want of shoes, soft tread- ing movements in his sandals. Some- where he has likened government to the wearing of shoes, where ease of develop- ment is restricted to a certain law and order of mechanical action. Will Lead Cultural Phase, ‘Which recalls the Persian proverb that “he who wears shoes, it is as though the whole world were covered with leather.” Tagore might add that this is one of the ills of the world; it is too politically shod. Under the auspices of the Indian Society of New York, therefore, presided over by the enthusiastic direction of Hari Govil, who was the founder of India Center in New York, which seeks to promote cultural relations between India and America and which moves in the spirit Rabindranath Tagore has so much to heart, this season will wit- ness a flowering of the art of India in our midst. And its spokesman undoubt- edly will be the poet, who is still the poet, even though he might talk on the nationalism of the West, of Japan, of India. ‘The word nation is anathema to him; it symbolizes a dehumanizing process, & bartering of the higher aspirations of life for the sake of developing commerce :lnd m?un.ry'hg, g;:)drefprm;u spiritual avery for of profit and power. He had declared in h& ook onp?'N - tionalism” that “mere administration is unproductive.” It is a steam roller, but “it does not help the soil to become fertile.” We have reached that moment in his- tory, so he burningly believes, when the moral man, which to him is the com- plete man, is making room for the po- litical and commercial man, who is a being of limited purpose. Tagore is fair to the nation where he can be; he sees its practical purposes. In 1916, when the bureaucracy of England in India was not making life comfortable for him, he nevertheless recognized that as far as nations went there were reasons to believe that the British Empire was among the best. Sees Spiritual Awakening. But nevertheless he saw and still sees that the West can never understand what the East has to give as long as the national ideal limits policy and stunts natural growth for sels ends. Tagore, through his spectacles, which give to his face an even wiser expression through its placid beauty, sees no diminution of these barriers, though he welcomes evidences of spiritual awakening and understanding. It were well if we took heed amid the busy routine of our lives to his insistent cry that the living bonds of society are giving way to mechanical organization. Hence harmony in all re- lationships is becoming more and more difficult to maintain. We have broken life up into fragments and no longer realize that there is a whole. The Man of the East has always held to his faith in the eternal, to his con- viction that growth is a movement of the whole, not merely an addition _to this or that department among the many departments into which we have divided life. Modern society suffers from this loss of sense of wholeness; it is unhappy because it is blind to this unity. Labor is one force, capital an- other, government & third, and so on. But where is the unity existing between them? As Tagore says in his essays, “Creative Unity”: “Goodness is the miracle which turns the tumult of chaos into a dance of beauty.” These words of Tagore are given us in our own tongue, for he is a master of English, having studied it since his early years. He may write in Ben- galese, but he also speaks our own speech, even with the aptness of col- loquial ease. Note it in this passage about the ideals of education which he desires to have fulfilled in his Eastern University: Speaks in Familiar Tone. “The Western education which we have chanced to know is impersonal. Its complexion is also white, but it is the whiteness of the whitewashed class room walls. It dwells in the cold- storage compartments of lessons and the ice-packed minds of the school- masters. The effects which it had on my mind when as a boy I was com- pelled To go to school I have described elsewhere (In a graphic sheet of ‘Reminiscences’). My feeling was very much the same as a tree might have which was not allowed to live its full life, but was cut down to be made into packing cases.” Here is an idiom which does not sound artificlal. Of course, it may be argued that since Tagore went to Eng- lish schools and was a student at Ox- ford University, it is not unnatural that he should write English well. Ta- gore is Oriental, but he speaks to the West in a tone which cannot fail to be unders as piercing to the root of us. He visits no country in the spirit of antagonism; he is a student of specific life as well as a prophet of life eternal. I had the pleasure of doing some writ- | ing with him during his visit to Amer- {ica in 1916. We then had long talks on India's problems, which in some re- spects he likened to our own. To him then, with the noise of war re- sounding in his ears, civilization could Ion]y exist where there could be found a basis for social co-operation and a willingness to hasten the relinquish- Kmen! of national exploitation. | Mad Rush for Gain. ! Where can there be beauty and truth, | he then questioned, when th:re is such a mad rush for gain? As long as this condition lasts, he told me, the message of the East will remain an unfathomed mystery for the West. What is needed is moral adjustment. Europe, he declared then, is not fight- ing for that end, but for the extension of national boundaries. The hope for America in those days was that habit and tradition had not clutched the root of her heart; we were free from habits of mind that cloyed. We faced, how- ever, the blight of organization. So spoke this teacher, whose students ave nicknamed him “Gurudev,” mean- |ing the Divine Master or Spiritual Teacher. They do not call him either IBYRD’S MEDICAL OFFIGER TELLS HOW MEN KEPT FIT Balanced Rations Preserved Health of Britain’s Trade Cure-All Caught in Economic Blizzard, England Is Proposing Plan That Would Affect World Business. BY C. PATRICK THOMPSON. HE pow-wow of the chiefs of the British imperial tribe, gathered for their imperial conference in the capital of the old home country, is this time charged with large significance for the rest of the trading communities of the world. England, the old man of the tribe, has a new nostrum which he thinks should cure the economic ills from which all the members of the family are suffering (the epidemic is, indeed, world-wide). But it depends for its efficacy upon the co-operation of all— and the early stages of the cure may be painful. The nostrum is known, in its most potent state, as empire free trade. But it can be had in diluted forms. If the younger members decisively re- ject the nostrum there seems nothing 1o prevent America, with her gold power, her energy, her youth, her enormous plants, her branch production units and sales organizations planted right in the heart of the European continent and the B)I",‘:Bh Emplrewhn(;l’s,“h‘;o‘:\ continuing her progress toward undis- puted predominance in the trade of the whole earth. But if the younger members decide to line up as a family and érink deep of the magic potion a new orientation must soon be given to world trade, and detached students of human affairs will be able to note with interest, for the information of future generations, the appearance of a new and sclentifically directed economic force, of infinite po- tentialities, upon the planet. Political Aspects Chief Concern. The last time they foregathered—the British leaders, the premiers of the self- governing dominions, the representa- tives of Incdia and the home directorate of the non-self-governing tropical col- onies and protectorates—the political aspect of interimperial relations ab- sorbed thelr minds and dominated dis- cussion. They talked earnestly of the position of governors general, the title of the King, the procedure for signing treaties President Cosgrave, from the Free State, consented to drop Gaelic and talk Eng- lish, but joined the Canadian premier, Mackenzie King, in insisting upon separate diplomatic representation at Washington. Gen. Hertzog, the South African Nationalst, deeply burned, spare, eyes sharp behind metal-rimmed spectacles, legs bowed from the saddle, put on knee breeches to dine with the King at Buckingham Palace, but held out for the right of a dominion to se- cede from the empire If it wishes, and secure¢: the admission of that right. The high light of the whole confer- ence that time was the decision of the family that it had entered upon its third phase, and that thenceforward it would drop the term “empire,” since it had re- cast itself as a new political entity to be known as the British Commonwealth —Drawn for The Sunday Btar by Robert A. Grief. of Nations. (However, although a few academic persons began to talk about the B. C. N., the rest of the world, and the family itself on unofficial occasions, went on using the word “empire"—anc will.) But times were pretty good then. India was calm. Trade was fine. Even better times were glimpsed ahead. The | big stock market boom was beginning | to get up. Thanks largely to the aid c¢f American bankers, the diversion of | French energy from Germany to her own financial rehabilitation, Strese- mann and the pre-occupation of Musso- lini with domestic affairs, the situation | in Europe, England's best market, had immensely improved. And England, having rid herself of the foreign body of & general strike, was feeling in the D! Dramatic Change Depicted. Flash three years. A dramatic change | of scene, Where are Baldwin, the Eng- lish Tory; Bruce, the Australian Tory premier; Mackenzie King, the Canadian Democrat? Gone. Swept away by the world-wide economic tornado. New- tribal leaders on the scene now. Canada sends Mr. Bennett, a hard clipped Conservative, fresh from & par- liamentary rush to get an emergency tariff through before crossing the ocean to the tribal meeting; convinced that the population and developed wealth of his land are likely to increase faster than that of England—a ‘“Canada First” man, openly declaring that tariff preferences must be on a basis of busi- ness and bargaining—and cut out the “hands across the sea” stuff! From Australia comes a dour labor man, Scullin, still dazed from the shock administered by the discovery that if Australia is to escape bankruptcy his government will have to put into opera- tion a drastic retrenchment program which will double unemployment (the jobless will have to be looked after), allenate the trade unions and split his party. England now talks through Ramsay MacDonald, Socialist, pacifist and poli- tician, completely in the power of the veteran witch doctor, Lloyd George (he couldn't last a day if the little Welsh- man withdrew the parliamentary sup- rt of his little group), but trying to ook independent and defiant, and acutely consclous that, what with India and unemployment, falling revenue and rising_expenditure and the spell cast over the island people by the Beaver- brook empire free-trade crusade, he is done unless he can bring down the manna of work and wages from the economic skies, Labor Makes Discovery. Since, early last month, the trades unions discovered that they cannot pro- tect their hours and wages without pro- tecting the products of those hours and v d_voted for tariffs and im- (Continued on Fourth Page.) The Story the Week Has Told BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief sum- mary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended October 4: BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS.—The Imperial Conference opened in London on October 1. All the sessions are closed to press and public. It is proposed to set up in place of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council a new tribunal in which all the commonwealths should be equally rep- resented, to pass upon all legal or con- stitutional questions which may arise between commonwealths. The great dirigible R-101 started from Clrd;lniwn on a flight for India Friday night. The Earl of Birkenhead, who began lifc as Frederick Edwin Smith, is dead at fifty-eight. He was peculiarly the architect of his own fortunes and ap- propriately adopted for his crést a Latin sentence of which the translation is “The Smith of My Own Forturte.” Of middle class extraction, irked by the strictness of his home, at the age of 17 he enlisted, seeing some sctive service on the northwest frontler of India and rising to sergeant major. Back in England in 1890, he entered Oxford, where he remained nine years, proceeding & barrister, and whence he emerged to enter Parliament and em- bark on a colorful and distinguished po- litical and legal career. He held the offices of solicitor general, attorney gen- eral, secretary of state for India and Joré chancellor, and was one of the most successful advocates and one of the most effective parliamentary debaters of his time. He was a legal pundit and, indeed, & motable authority on interna- tional law. His outline of international Jaw, which first appeared in the “Tem- ple Classics” serles, is a gem in its kind and testifies to & neglected gift. He was personable and had s fine voice. His sobriquet of “galloper” was felic- itous. No doubt he was chargeable with habitual excess of aggressiveness, run- ning now and then to violence and even insolence. But one suspects that such manifestations were less due to Dan- tonesque temperament than to & tech- nique of manhandling rather amusing in the retrospect and not ineffective. He noted, not too imcorrectly, that Homunculus likes to be bullied, espe- clally if wit and humor accompany the process. He was gloriously companion- able and was rich in warm friendships. He did not sing, and was nothing quite of the first order, but he was certainly one of the most salient personalities of his time. His energy and gusto smacked somewhat of the spacious days of Hal and Bess. EE GERMANY.—In 1926 Herr Hitler, leader of the German ists, pub- lished a book entitled “The Fight” whereof a revised edition has beén pub- lished this year. I believe that his fol- lowers call it “the German Fascist Bible.” Therein he declares that the “Third Reich” envisaged by him will aim at the conquest of Russia, that vast territory of bourftiless wealth demor- alized by Bolshevism l;d s:’;‘l:::: competent organization and goves g In effect, he says of Germany what Mussolini once said of Ihly“ "‘l':ler- many must expand or explode.’ ‘The land which means life for our people must be acquired by the right of our victorious sword.” He follows Bismarck in eschewing colonies and sea power. Of course, sooner or later there must be a final settlement with France, “the natural enemy.” Nice chap, this Hitler It is reported that the Economic What will he find, now that he comes on visit? He e T Ty Rabindranath or Tagore, but Ourudev.. party has notified the chancellor of the Reich that immediately on the as- revision of the Young plan. It is of interest that the total of the members in the new Reichstag of the parties which voted against the Young plan last March will somewhat exceed that of the parties which voted for it. No doubt the rumors of German-Rus- sian understanding which have made such & resound since the German elec- tions are nonsense, but that Russo-Ger- man relations are no longer character- ized by the distinct chilliness of last Winter would seem to be indicated among other things by the renewal in the Spring of German credits to Russia on a considerable scale and by the “conciliation conference” of the Sum- mer in Moscow, whereof the atmosphere was cordial if the definite results were meager. On October 1 President Von Hinden- burg celebrated his eighty-third birth- day anniversary. * * % x AUSTRIA.—An Austrian cabinet of very reactionary bouquet has been formed by Dr. Carl Vaugoin, leader of Christian Socialists. Austrian general elections are scheculed for November 9. ‘The Heimwehr, the Fascist organiza- tion which already has made so much trouble, now calls itself a political party, and it s represented in the new government. Its chief, Prince Ernst von Starhemberg, minister of the interior, issues an astonishing com- munique, in part as follows: “The Heimwehr has not laid its hands on the rudder of government to help the Christian Socialist party, but to hold that rudder firmly for the Heimwehr itself with the iron resolve not to release it even under a Soclalist majority. ““The events of the last few days must have convinced the last Heimwehr man that the parliamentary front is in- capable of repelling the attacks of bol- shevism and lifting the people out of their economic misery. “We are convinced today that it is not enough to guard the fatherland against Moscow's attacks. We know there is only one way out—to capture the fatherland for our ideas. We must go from defense to the attack. “Today we stand in the government, tomorrow we must conquer Parliament: not to rest at ease in an armchair, but to bulld up a new state, a Heimwehr state, on the ruins of the old Parlia- ment of parties. Comrades, close your ranks for the Heimwehr attack.” This the Hitler style, only more so. ‘The prince is an old crony of Hitler’s, participated in the Kapp putsch of 1920, and, of course, was vastly en- couraged by the results of the recent German elections. The new cabinet flouted the consti- tution by its first act. It dissolved Parliament without having first presented itself thereto and asked for & vote of confidence. It knew that the latter would not be forthcoming. s e UNITED STATES.—The Foreign of Commerce has just issued an an- alysis of our foreign trade over the |first half of 1930." Here are some interesting detalls: ‘The export to Russia totaled $73,- 232,000 in value, as against only $30,- 875,000 for the corresponding period of 1929. The only other countries our export to which exceeded that of the corresponding period of 1920 are the following, &nd by the following percentages Panama, 4; Mexico, 7; the Canary Islands, 11; the Bermudas, 15; the Irish Free State, 23; Mozambique, 26, and Persia, 34. The total value of our export to Canada was only $371,000,000, as against $503,000,000 in the corresponding period of 1929, The following are the per- centages of decline, in the comparison with 1929, in the export to some other or our more 3 Commerce Department of our Chamber | 26; France, 10; Japan, 23; Argentina, 34; Italy, 30; Cuba, 19; China, 2 Brazil, 49; Chile, 16; Venezuela, 2’ Colombia, 54, and Uruguay, 24. ‘The value of our cotton export was 31 per cent below that of the cor- responding period of 1929, and 41 per cent below the average for the cor- responding periods of the five years 1925-29. Automobile export declined dismally, being 46 per cent below that of the corresponding period of 1929, and 19 per cent below the average for the corresponding periods of the five years 1925-29. Cotton is our leading export, automo- biles coming second. Export of gasoline and naphtha (third in rank of our exports) advanced 18 per cent above that of 1929 and nearly 49 per cent above the five-year average. Export of machinery showed substan- tial gains as to many items (in par- ticular, agricultural machinery and im- plements; electrical machinery and apparatus; power-driven metal-working machinery; construction machinery, ofl-well machinery, mining anc quarry- ing machinery). The export of agricultural machinery and implements (fourth in rank of our exports and comprising 4 per cent of our total exports) topped that of 1929 by 10 per cent and the five-year average by 57 per cent, Russia accounting for most of the gain. These figures for machinery are of peculiar significance. With only a few exceptions, agricul- tural export declined. One exception is wheat, export of which was 9 per cent in value above that of 1929, though 31 per cent below the five-year average. Export of wheat flour, however, declined by 9 per cent in comparison with 1929. Here is something to perpend. In 1927 the United States shipped about twice as much wheat to Great Britain as Argentina did. In 1928 Argentina and the United States shipped about equal quantities of wheat to Great Britain. In 1920 the Argentine ship- ment to Great Britain was about twice ours. Joshua Reuben Clark, jr., of Salt Lake City, formerly Undersecretary of State, has been appointed our Ambassador to Mexico, in succession to Mr. Morrow, ‘This month the School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania will celebrate the 165th anniversary of its foundation. It is the oldest medical school in the country. In manner of speaking, it is the lusty offspring of the University of Edinburgh. The best re- membered of the original faculty is the famous Benjamin Rush. Everett Colson, now assistant to the American financial adviser of the Haitlan government, is to be financial adviser to the Emperor of AbySsinia, who_is said to cherish for his country a program of economic development along American lines. On September 27, Robert Tyre Jones, jr., of Atlanta, won the national ama- teur golf championship, thus achieving the feat unparalleled in Wlfln? ‘history, and likely to remain unique, of winning within the same year the British ama- teur and open championships and the American amateur and open champion- ships. This is the fifth time Mr. Jones has won the American amateur title. He is 28 years old. ‘The annual series for the base ball champlonship adelphia on October 1, being the Philadelphia Athletic pions of the American League, and the “world” cabinet of the work of Foreign Minister Briand at the Geneva assembly. The Berenger government of Spain is show- ing the greatest nervousness. Serious unrest in Barcelona is reported. ‘The bethrothal is announced of Princess Giovanna, third daughter of King Victor Emmanuel and Queen Elena of Italy, King Boris of Bulgaria. ‘The princess is twenty-three years ol¢ and the K thirty-six. She is a Roman Cat ic, he & member of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Apparently about 5,000,000 acres of Italy are In process of reclamation. The end of 15 years should see the mighty project completed. The agri- cultural improvement in Sicily through government saction of this and that nature has been truly revolutionary. A Balkan conference opens today at Athens, attended by delegates Greece, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Turkey and Albania. Its announced object is creation of a close m of Baltic states which should obviate the pos- sibility of war and should promote economic collaboration. The delegates, however, are not government appointees. On October 1 Great Britain formally returned to China the leased territory of Weihaiwei, a Mukden official re- ceiving the instrument and announcing that the port would be used as & nav; base for the Manchurian navy, which already is established at Tsingtao. The date for abolition of Mkin (the Chinese tax) announced for october 10, has been postponed to January 1, 1931; | the reasons assigned being the con- tinuance of warfare and the acute need of money. Emperor of Japan has signed the London Naval Treaty. ‘We momentarily expect lmportant news from Cuba. — Rail Experts Study Methods In Germany At least 755 rail experts from dif- ferent countries have visited Germany during the first six months of this year for the purpose of studying Ger- man rallway operating methods, ac- cording to Deutsche Verkehrblatter, Nine countries were esented, Eng- land alone sending 125. There were 97 from Hungary, 77 from Russia, 71 from France and 57 from Switzerland. Other countries who sent representa- tives were Japan and Persia. At pres- ent there are two Chinese and one Si- amese who are being trained in operat- ing methods by the German Rallroad Co. Electrical operation, .switching methods, the so-called *psychotechni- cal” stations for the purpose of testing the fithess of employes, were among the different phases of railroad work studied by the foreign experts, besides studying the new types or models of German locomotives. Find Marble Statue of “Venus Pudica” Divers engaged in exploring the old harbor of Rhodes, Italian island in the Agean Sea, found lying at its ocean bed & marble statue of Venus. The statue has now been St. Louis Cardinals, champlons of the ' drape! National League. President Hoover at- tended the opening game, which the Athletics won, 5 to 2. They also won the second, 6 to 1. * K ok x NOTES.—The League of Nafions has acopted the important convention pro- V}dlnz for financial assistance to victims of ag n. h century B. C. Al- though armless, it is evident that one hand rested on her breast while the other was busy holding up her flowing skirts. The statue, which displays ex- treme delicacy and anatomical detail, shows that work came from the chisel of an apt Piroiste Antarctic Party Were Result of Careful Dietary Preparations. Note—A hitherto unreported aspect of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition is discussed in the followinf article., How was the health and well-being of the 42 men at Little America safequarded? What food did they have to eat, and what medical at- tention did they require? These questions are answered, with a wealth of interesting personal incident, by the medical director of the expedi- tion. BY DANA COMAN, M. D. \HE Byrd expedition arrived at its home port with its personnel intact and every man well. ‘When one considers the hazards that had to be surmounted and the size and widely scattered distribu- tion of its contingents, one begins to appreciate that such a record is extraordinary. No former expedition ever had such good fortune, It would even be difficult to find a similar group of men who in ordinary life would all be well at the end of two years. Pure chance cannot account for the uniformly good fortune that seems to follow Byrd. Our well-being in the Antarctic was the natural sequence of the influence exerted by Admiral Byrd, Bernt Balchen and Lawrence Gould, who from the start, having given proper consideration to the records of former expeditions, worked incessantly on safety factors and efficiency. Citing a single instance, it is perhaps | not often realized that we owe to the | late Fridtjof Nansen not only the first | actual use of skis and of dog teams and light sledges in polar exploration | but also the practical means of pre- paring hot food on long sledge trips, and even less is it realized that any one of these items might be specifically lite-saving. ‘The medicinal program, while largely concerned with definite preventive and precautionary measures, almed first of all toward building up the resistance of the individual to the unusual demands of the environment. On other similar expeditions the least scratch toward the end of the season was likely to lead to ulceration and grave illness. Keeping Men Mentally Fit. We early realized the necessity of fostering a healthy mental equilibrium among men some of whom were liable to have difficulty in adjusting them- selves to a social situation from which there was no escape. Accordingly, from the very first a definite yet reasonably elastic policy was adopted toward each specific individual type. Our general freedom from sickness speaks well enough for this program. Words of advice were dispensed more liberally than pills, ¥ Extended advice as to proper foods once given was thereafter never re- quired on the ships or at Little Amer- ica. The proper foods were there and well prepared and varied daily menus were provided by Tennant and Reich- ert, each of whom was a good combina- tlon of steward and chef. The men found little difficulty in becoming ac- customed to the necessarily coarse dlet and there was never any serious dissat- isfaction with the food. All of us grew to think of caribou hair and occasional other equipment as really part of the soup. Health is so largely & matter of nutrition that once proper food is assured with reasonable periods of work and rest, sickness is practically confined to the accidental. When one appregiates that careful planning was the largest factor in the safe return of the ex- pedition, that due to hard work done in the early days -of preparation we had none of the common ills of dietary or other indiscretions, and that we were able to throw off such other ills as arose from the unusual environment, no further words of praise need be glven to the stewards, Greason, Tennant and Reichart, on whom this work fell. Home Life at Little America, Little America was a health resort. Previous expeditions had reported life in the Antarctic a picnic once one was settled there, and true enough, we found the only hazards or real discomforts were on the trail away from the camp. At Little America were warmth, dry beds, food in variety, and congenial diversions. We lived, as one would in an Alpine chalet on a high mountain pass, an active and vigorous existence, free from temptation or the enervating demands of a feminine society. Byrd kept himself fit by walking out every day whatever the weather. In addition he was one of the few con- sistent users of the gymnasium. Here he practiced weight-lifting and went through a series of exercises he had developed for every muscle of the body. Here, also, Bernt gave boxing instruc- tion and sparred dally with several of the boys. Some of the rest of us went out occasionally, but found that after the regular daily duties the non- productive gymnasium work demanded Just too much moral tenacity for our weak wills, Occaslonally in the afternoon we did our laundering. This involved carrying three times as much snow as the water needed, robbed the hut of just the amount of heat required to melt the snow, took several hours, and could much easier be put off until some other time. Hence, when we changed our shirts we generally wore the new one until it was definitely grayer than the old one, and then putting on the first one, which was thus comparatively clean, we found we could go on almost indefinitely, always having “another” shirt in reserve for special occasions. A Place Without Germs. At the outset we realized that we were going to a practically germ-free place, where we ourselves would bring the only disease. It was essential that men, dogs and ships be kept clean and as free from disease carriers as possible. This was by no means a simple pro- gram. Although the ships were repeat- edly fumigated and rid of pests of all kinds, it was found impossible to carry fresh provisions in the tropics and keep free from insect pests, and when in New Zealand the dogs were taken aboard we saw the last of the scrupulously clean decks. ‘The condition of the men could be controlled to a certain extent and im- munization programs carred ou Wi had one mild epidemic of “fiu lasted three or four days after we had touched at one tropic port where the disease was prevalent at the time, but when we left our last con‘act with civi- lization we were remarkably free from the common respiratory and other minor affections. As there was no significant disease us and as a long incubation had passed without event be- re we had settled at our destination, we felt assured that at Little America a host of possible {lls had been elimi- nated. We had the dogs, of course, or we would have reached the Antarctic practically free of any pathogenic or- ganisms. However, we had no fear of sore throat, bronchial or pulmonary complaint, The ability of the men to shake off various slight affections before they were well started was hr(e&dne to the prelimi- nary treatments men had received before the expedition left New York. With the amateur crew we had, heaven knows why we never had any serlous accidents. We became accus- tomed to freezing the face so that those of us who were out in cold weather paid little attention to it, and our friends were the ones mostly concerned It was not the same, however, frozen hand or foot; we became sware part we found was very bad treatment, especially rubbing with snow, for the tissue was apt to be torn or such methods and an extensive crusted “burn” would result instead of a quick | and complete return to normal. Care of Frost Bites. At it was only necessary to bring the frost-bitten part back to body tempera~ ture one held the hand gently over the part until circulation was re-established, or if & hand were frozen it was held next to the skin in the armpit or be- tween the thighs. We had several bad freezings, such as when Dean Smith lost his fur gloves while on top of one of the steel radio towers and had to climb down bare-handed, but in every case by calm and sensible treatment not a blister remained where a few min- utes previously the part had been as Whltte and stiff and lifeless as a plaster cast. Bruises and muscle strains seemed to heal very slowly. A sledge runner fell on Larry Gould, giving him a black and blue arm that instead of healing ir"a few days was sore for several weeks; and Paul Siple, who seemed to pick out the hardest work to do, strained a shoulder muscle in chopping up dog food and as a result of the delayed tis- sue repair carried his arm in a sling for a couple of months. With protective eveglasses that would not fog we suf- fered very little from snow glare. The provisioning of our expedition followed a dietary basis worked out largely on the advice of Prof. E. V. Mc=- Collum, the nutrition authority, and our | statistical computations made by the heads of the diet schol at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Misses Lewis and Rowe. Not only did this elimination of guesswork save considerable expense, but with an economical larder it pro- vided & balanced ration furnishing the necessary calories, the essential food factors, minerals and roughage, with an opportunity for varlety sufficlent to eliminate many of the diseases former large expeditions have suffered in polar regions. The Fight Against Scurvy. Scurvy, of course, was especially kept in mind. And to combat it we had citrus fruits in every conceivable form. We had such fruit preserved in sirup or partially dehydrated under carbon- dioxide; we had vacuum-packed sterile fresh juice and the powdered whole fruit; and, most satisfactory of all, we had the actual frozen grape fruit and lemons, which experimentally proved & brilliant success, for until the end of our stay when thawed out they were to all appearance, taste and reaction the fresh fruit. Various forms of yeast, wheat germ, cod liver oll, etc, were provided, and powdered whole milk, malted milk, evaporated and condensed milk, tinned sweet butter, whole wheat and white flour, as well as cake flour and potato flour, frozen eggs led eggs, canned tomatoes, spinach, string beans, peas and unbleached green asparagus, and a large variety of carefully selected canned fruits, including cranberry sauce and applesauce, green gage and damson plums, etc,, until we felt that even the most evasive vitamin must be present. We anticipated the lack of mineral salt in the only water available, the melted neve or granular snow being tically distilled water, by providing , specially treated table salt and large quantities of dehydrated foods rich in potash, iron, etc. The dehy- drated potatoes, for instance, had been scrubbed but not peeled, a..d the rice was unpolished. Paying attention to such items was a complicating detall, but without question was a large fac- tor in our unusually: satisfactory bealth record, - Meat Supply. Besides frozen carcass beef, mutton, fresh pork, etc., which we carried, and for which extensive refrigeration was necessary across the tropies, the region itself provided a great abundance of whale meat, seal meat, penguin and skua gull. The whale meat was like very coarse beef, but slightly fishy; we preferred the crabeater seal as less gamy than the Wedell variety; the penguin seemed like not overtender beef liver flavored with fish oil, and the skua gull, according to Jack Bursey, was not quite as good as the common seaggll here. But all these were sources of fresh meat, potentially at least, and Byrd by his own example tried more than any one else to get the men accustomed to this somewhat distatsteful fare, for he realized the everpresent possibility of disaster, of the ships not being able to get through the ice pack, or of the iso= lation of one or the other contingent. Yet the best that most of us could do was to eat very small portions of these curiosa. The emergency food for use on the trail and on the airplane flights proved exceptionally satisfactory. The pem- mican, consisting of compressed blocks of a mixture of beef, suet and cereal, depends for its palatability and quality almost entirely upon the care’ used in its preparation. One of the last serve ices Amundsen did for Byrd was to supervise the preparation of this prod- uct in Denmark. We found that we could depend quite freely upon the pemmican as our principal emergency food, many of us liking it so well that we know we will miss it on our first frosty morning. ‘The Eskimo biscuit, a hard bread rich in bran and containing finely shredded beef, formed a perfect balance for the pemmicAn. It contained a large amount of roughage and became a popular bedtime snack throughout the Winter. Like the pemmican, it had been made with great care, Floyd Ben- net and Bernt Balchen supervising its Ppreparation in Canada. (Copyright, —.— “Mussolini Is Right,” And Press Must Obey “Our fourth edition of yesterday has been sequestrated by order of the pre- fect.” This little item, printed on page one of a leading Fascist daily in Rome, apparently is designed to let the whole reading public know that the publica- tion in question has been guilty of & misdemeanor, although the exact na- ture of the article objected to by the authorities naturally is not described. This is something new in the annals of modern Itallan journalism and has ap- parently been imposed by the authori- ties as an added punishment to those editors who don’t toe the mark. The first instance of this “self-abasement” before the discipline of the Fascist press was noted in a recent edition of Kmé)ero d'Italia, one of the most fiery and outspoken of the Fascist sheets. Above the confession that the paper had been consigned to the wastepaper basket on the preceding day was the regular slogan of the paper, “Musso= lini 1s always right.” Before any news= paper in Italy may be put on sale, one copy must be given to the prefect for his approval, If some item s objected to, it must be changed before the paper may go to press. If the paper has gone to press before the objectionable mat- ter is nailed, the whole paper is natu- rally held up. To spare editors the sometimes touchy task of commenting upon government measures, the press office, directly supervised by Mussolini and his press chief, Lando Ferretti, generally sends out communiques which every paper is obliged to print. “You are a big orchestra and I am the direc- tor,” Mussolini said to a Emm‘ i ) 4 1030.)