Evening Star Newspaper, October 19, 1930, Page 39

RUTH PRATT REAL FIGURE IN POLITICS IS PROVING Race With Tammany Tiger and News- paper Humorist Furnishing Dramatic Contest. BY JAMES R. CROWELL. ITIZENS who have Representa- tives named Ruth are rly blessed. Ruths are unforget- table. If you have one working for you in Wi ton, you can always give a quick, intelligent and ac- curate answer to anybody who asks you Who your Representative is. Living out- side . the districts where the various Ruths hold forth, I have never enjoyed the privilege of knowing the exact iden- tity of the person waging my battles for me on the floor of the House. n I Yote for John or George, Harry or Wil- liam, that is the end of it. My candi- date and I invariably part company on election day, and it passes entirely out of my mind that he is down there on the banks of the Potomac holding the bag. For all I know, the invisible pow- ers that be might be subjecting me to that early American torture, taxation Wwithout representation. I take it on faith that they aren’t. Ruthian _constituents have no such gmblem. Not only do they know posi- vely that they are being represented in Washington, but they can tell you the full name of by the person who is doing The other day I conducted an ex- riment to see if this is not so. At ourteenth street and Sixth avenue, just within the southern boundary of the seventeenth congressional ~district, I asked a newsboy if he could tell me the name of his Con an. “Sure,” he sald, “Ruth Pratt.” At Ninety-sixth street and Central Park ‘West, the ex- treme northwestern boundary, I tried the question out on an elde:r ‘woman, and she, too, scored a bull's-eye. So did 10 other persons at different points. One Political Set-to Has IT. In a similar vein there is a 100 per eent awareness throughout the seven- teenth that 'a spectacular battle now wages to take the toga of statecraft away from the woman who was the first of her sex to be elected to Congress from this State, just as she was the first 'oman member of the city Board of thing | sideration some project which might not alderman the | honors her district i £ § ges I - et irg g P i H ] Es ; g ] 3 i i B | o § gs and | anev by the exposure of delightfully can say to mmm'md‘:l ( of o sa; lends and foes es- terday that she worked for both. 5 Has Advantage of Being Incumbent, ‘Though Mrs. Pratt has the advantage of being the holder of -the office at issue, with a record of things already achieved as an argument to weigh against her opponents’ promises of what they would do, she has never . | ernment was not besmirched Tammany had—there was alwi one at hand to tell the world a different story. So Mrs. Pratt felt well repaid for the wearisome journeys she had made day after day up long flights of stairs and for the hours she had spent in the kitchens and dining rooms of her women constituents, threshing the whole subject out with them in a friendly way. New York’s experiment with its first woman alderman turned out to be an exceedingly annoying escapade for the! Tammany Tiger. So prep nderantly are the Democrats intrenched in the City Hall that the forlorn little group of duly elected Republicans has never found it possible to do much else than twiddle its thumbs. But Mrs. Pratt had other ideas, and it was not because she was & stranger in a strange land that she had them, either. If it was not pessible, she reasoned, for the voice of the mi- nority to be heard amid the roar of negations from the other side, there was at least nothing to prevent a lone- some and grossly ignored Republican from wandering here and there about the Tiger's lair to see what she could see. It was mainly upon the Board of Estimate and Apportionment that she trained her scrutiny. Father Knicker- bocker’s purse strings are in the keep- | ing of this board, and Mrs. Pratt had a strong suspicion that on numerous| occasions they were pulled more in the interest of the wigwam than in the in- | terest of taxpayers. Perhaps the board's | members would be a little more circum- spect about the handling of public funds if some one were constantly checking and double checking their disburse- ments. At any rate, she determined to make the test, and it is quite a notori- ous, if not painful, fact in the annals of City Hall that for three years or so there were exceedingly few meetings of the board which did not find Ruth Pratt among those present. Had to Anticipate Her Reactions. Political secrets are hard to keep. To any one even remotely in touch with municipal affairs it has long since ceased to be a hidden piece of knowl- edge that the Board of Estimate be- came so concerned about this tireless vigil maintained by the lone woman alderman that it rarely acted, if at all, without trying to anticipate what her reaction would be. “What will Ruth Pratt have to say about that?” was the question invariably asked by Tammany chieftains when they had under con- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 19, 193:-PART TWO. 100 Yemrs of Keeping Time Naval Observatory in Washington, While Regulating Clocks, Makes Notable Sky Discoveries. impress the lady as being strictly ac- cording to Hoyle. I have always suspected that Tam- many shed no bitter tears when she was called away from her second term as to accept the higher political had bestowed on her. It seems to me also that it is more than a coincidence that while she kept up her watch-dog tactics the city gov- with such scan as those which have recently beset it. I talked with Mrs. Pratt the other day. She told me that the issue is the ganization which has now embroiled its & major scandal has not been in the two years she has spent away from the observation she Alderman. s 38 more brightly than ever, fanned the magistrate racket and the sordid trail of “It is not personal ambition to hold office which 'ps me in the thick of this endless struggle for ballots,” she said. “True, I have a genuine relish for the work, but that could be sacri- ficed readily enough. The real reason I have gone before the voters of .. district and asked them to elect me another term is that I do not wish blicans—Maj. La Guardia and my- self. “Certainly it does not require exten- sive reasoning to realize it is that Tammany and its sinister in- bl fluences be checked “rom further en- croachments. Do you remember the wonderful cry of battle the French had in the World War—'They shall not pass’? That has now become our cry. We are determined that Tammany shall not pass our frontiers of self-respect and decency.” 1 gathered from this that Mrs. Pratt did not regard the candidacy of Hey- wood Broun on the Socialist ticket as a serious threat to her chances for re- :'lecmn. It was an accurate supposi- jon. Not Disturbed by Broun Race. “I respect Mr. Broun's abilities as a columnist,” she said, “but the likelthood of his going to Congress can scarcely be construed as a disturbing element. ‘The Socialist vote in the previous con- gressional election in the seventeenth was only 1,600 out of & total of 73,148 I doubt, too, whether Mr. Broun would be happy on the floor of the House. You can’t laugh things off in Wash- Seventeenth, she is doing it. Her ex-| periences of previous years have proved the effectiveness of the direct canvass. When she went before the voters in 1925 as a candidate for alderman the ' opposition pilloried her as a fine lady from Fifth avenue who could by no| in To take the word of the soap- | box orators, one would have been ready to believe that if somebody had told Mrs. Pratt the poor people were without bread she would have recommended that they eat cake in good Marie An- toinette style. Here was an impression which had| to be corrected, and Ruth Pratt used her own methods to gain that en”. She went straight to the voters, not merely as & public speaker uttering the usual| cut. and dried platitudes, but right into | their homes, where conversation could | be carried on without restraint. She| #voided the old familiar tricks of cam- paigning. It was not through currying favor with Mrs. Murphy or Mr.. Cohen, led of chil- Murphy and Mrs. Cohen had a much clearer understanding of political issues than they were given it for having, and she wanted to hear what they had to say. Results Proved Startling. ‘The results were startling to every one, hl;ludln[ mle‘d Beforedtht l:,l‘lnA ad many days Mrs ‘l‘!? dtlcuvm-l these frank dis- cussions with women voters in the pri- vacy of their hcmes had started a tre- mendous wave of good will in her favor. ‘The barrier of aloofness which the flery soap-box orators were trying to build around the “fin~ " refused to take root. ition simply could not get away with the idea that the district would be high-hatted off the it it a‘ o be the only point of ' % attack | has neve: gone well, | bid for support on the basis of what ‘th!h" candidate has accomplished as the | lation of Mr. Phelps to the cause of the ington. Men have tried it before Mr. Broun ever thought of the idea, but it 1 am glad he has a well developed sense of humor. It may come in handy when the Socialist vote is counted.” It is the active workers for Ruth Pratt who supplement the issue of ‘Tammany dominance with a ringing seventeenth’s Representative. These helpers come from every corner of the district, and are as earnest and ener- getic a group of persons as one will find engaged in political campaigning cny- where. Phelps Phelps, who opposed her for the Republican nomination two years ago, is one of them. The capitu- woman against whom he once waged so furious a battle has its practical as well as its picturesque side. The prac- tical side is that Mr. Phelps hapoens to be & young man with a strong fo'lowing on his own account, and can make him- self exceedingly useful in bringing out the vote. The nrlc!u!elqu! relates to Mrs. Pratt’s genlus in smoothing out factional differences and establishing party harmony at the moment when it is needed. Took Stand in Poor Man’s Cause. One of the telling points raised Mrs. Pratt’s supporters is that she not inst the tariff bill, but in opposed to any increase in the duties on commodities. It was all rather mysterious to Wash- ington why the Representative from tie | district which embraces the country’s greatest cent:r of wealth should be ‘so deeply concerned about a possible ad- vance in the prico of sugar. Thal gave Mrs. Proit the chaner to set her col- seventeenth riches, the how necessary | ™ by | name was placed on the roll for $44.80 BY GEORGE W. GRAY. ! NE hundred years ago, in 1830 & young lieutenant of the United States Navy set up a | small telescope in Washington, nut far from the White House. | And last week, in 1930, a group of | scientists and Navy men, after a pil- | grimage of more than 8,000 miles by | land and sea, completed the erection of | an immense photographic telescope of | 65 feet focal length on the volcanic islet of Niaufou of the Tonga archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean. Now every one who follows the news knows that a total eclipse of the sun is scheduled for next Tuesday, October 21. ‘This spectacular event, which will be visible only from a small region of the | South Pacific, is the reason for the present importance of Niaufou as a base for the Americans. They have gone there to see the eclipse, to photograph it, to study its varied phenomena—and, above all, to time its occurrence to a split second. But why should the Navy be inter- ested in these astronomical mysteries? ‘Why should it assign a vessel and send a corps of trained specialists with tons of delicate instruments, nds of feet of lumber for towers and shelters and boxes and bales of other equipment half way around the world in order that for a few seconds the glory of the oc- culted sun with its ruby red promi- nences and its pearly green coronal halo may be recorded? A similar expedition last year took Navy astronomers to the Philippines. THE NAVAL OBSERVATORY, OLD AND NEW—FROM ITS EARLY DAYS THE OBSERVATORY HAS KEPT CAREFUL CHECK ON CELESTIAL PHE- NOMENA. And time after time, as eclipses occur, the Navy has sent its experts with powerful telescopes and sensitive cam- eras to the points most advantageous for observation. Some years ago when the planet Venus made one of its rare trips in front of the sun the Navy dis- patched an observing party to South Africa, the expenditure for the project and its necessary preparations totaling $300,000. And again the laymen asks why? Well, the answer goes back to that young lieutenant of & century ago who set up his diminutive astronomical in- strument in the Capital. He started the Navy in the actronomical business —though he probably never gave a thought to himself as founder or ploneer. It was all in the day’'s work. He had been assigned the duty of test- ing and rating the ships’ chronometers as they were turned in at headquarters by the naval vessels returning from cruises. This rating task is a delicate ne which requires an accurate standard of time. Exact time can be determined only by watching the transit of stars across the meridian. And so, needing Tiounted his_telcscope and begus his moun lescope an nightly observations. His instrument was small—not much larger than a spyglass—but out of that 30-inch long telescope has grown the Naval Observatory of today, with its million-dollar equipment, on & great circular, park-like reservation in North- west Washington, with its corps of emi- nent astronomers and mathematicians, and with its observing expeditions to the far places of the earth. Thus the need for exact time drew the Navy into astronomy—and it is the need for exact time that sends it on eclipse expeditions. That branch of the sclence known as position astron- omy—on which time and longitudinal determination directly depends—gets some of its most precious data at the moment of a solar eclipse. And the Naval Observatory, alone among the astronomical institutions of the United States, specializes on practical, matter- of-fact “positional” astronomy. That young lieutenant in 1830—his name was L. M. Goldsborough—did not realize that he was establishing a sclence center that would develop into the National Observatory. Apparently no one else realized this, either. Cer- tainly, if the news had reached Con- that an astronomical observatory ad been set up under naval auspices, the founder would have been haled be- fore the bar of august lawmakers and doubtless would have been made to walk the plank or toe the chalk line, or do whatever it was that offenders were required to perform as penance for official misdeeds. The very words, “astronomical ob- servatory,” were a red rag to the Con- gress of 1830. The idea was anathema to the influential bloc which dominated ‘the Government of that day. The pow- erful post-war group which American participation in the League of Nations was called the “irreconcilo- bles,” but they were not more utterly set in their opposition to the League than were these irreconciliables of 1830 (Continued on Fourth Page.) The Story the Week Has Told BY HENRY W. BUNN.- HE following is a brief summary of tae most important news of the world for the seven days ended October 18. * % % BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF | NATIONS.—The proce:dings of the Imperial Conference 2t London surpass in interest and importance all other current matters, even the German de- velopments, but I postpone summary and comment unto the adjournment. It is, of course, lamentable that the R-101 was inflated with hydrogen in- stead of the non-explosive and non- inflammable helium gas which our dirigibles use. The only important source of this gas yet discovered is in Texas. Owing to the fact that this source was suppos:d to be limited, the Sixty-ninth Congress passed a helium conservation act whereof one section eads: “Hereafter no helium gas shall be exported from the United States or from its possessions until after author- ity for such exportation has been obtained from the President of the United States on the joint resolution of the Secretary of War, the Secretary of | the Navy, and the Secretary of Com- merce.” It has since developed that the Texan source is practically unlimited. Our now listed as a vigorous defender of the peor man's cause. ‘Though prohibition is scarcely an is- sue in this campaign, since all three of the candidates are wet, Mrs. Pratt's supporters have not neglected to make capital out of the fact that she came out for repeal of the eighteenth amend- ment two years ago. Stress is also laid on the honor which Congress conferred on her when she was named as a mem- ber of the Committee on Banking and Currency, one of the 10 major commit- tees of the House. That appointment came by way of a shock to many of the cld-line politicians. It was inconceiv- able to them that a woman couldi know enough about finance to warrant placing her on the committee which is | called upon to deal with the most intri- cate problems of banking. They were | unaware that Mrs. Pratt is an excep- tionally keen student of finance and has repeatedly given evidence of her mas- tery of the subject. | would be safer to say “for India.” Government has its own plant, but there are. private companies, and President Hoover is quoted as saying: “For the last two years the private companies have not only been issucd licenses to eXport every ounce of helium they could produce, but they have been urged to dev:icp a foreign market.” Apparently they have tried, but entirely without success. The cost of heliym is said to be four times that of hydrogen and it has about 10 per cent less lifting power. A considerable helium find is just reported from Alberta. It seems probable that for some time ahead British aerial enterprise will con- centrate on heavier-than-air craft. The flying boats operating on the Mediter- ranean section of the England-India airplane route are a great success. “Flying ships” of the same general type, only larger (with Pullman accommoda- ticns for 40 passengers), are abuilding. They will not be as large as the Dornier D-Xs, but it is claimed that they will be safer on the take-off and more sea- worthy. ‘We are told that the R-100 is to be flown to India; perhaps, though, h“ She is to have a new fabric covering and it is thought that she will be inflated with helium. Lord Amuiree has been appointcd air minister in succession to Lord Thom- who was killed in the R-101 disaster. Not only is British industry in the doldrums, but agriculture is said to be depressed beyond all precedent. The redoubtable Kingsford-Smith has broken another record by flying from London to Allahabad, India, in 5!¢ days, en route to Australia. He expects to beat by several hours the record of 15% days from London to Australia, made over three years ago by Hinkler. His itin- erary calls for landings at Rangoon, Singapore, Surabaya (Java) and on the Island of Timor (Dutch East Indies), en route to Port Darwin, Australia, * K K X SPAIN.—Strikes continue in Spain. ‘The Berengurer government is display- ing originality and vigor by making arrests on a considerable scale, espe- clally in Madrid, Seville and Barcelona, most especlally in Barcelona—radical labor “agitators,” so-called Communists, champions cf the Catalan separatist movement. The strikes involve clashes on a small scale, with some spilth of An incident of the campaign which | blood. has been especially gratifying to Mrs. Pratt came about & few weeks ago. Among the day's callers at her head- quarters in the Hotel Roosevelt was James McIntyre, & veteran of the World War, who had spent the greater part of his 12 months’ service in France in the front-line trenches. Mclntyre wanted to know if there wasn't some- thing he could do to help Mrs. Pratt. Declared Friend of Veterans. “She helped me when I needed it, and I'd like to do my bit now,” he said. “Some time ago I went to her and ex-| plained I had been trying for months | to get the compensation due me from the Government. Mrs. Pratt took it up at once with the officials. In short or- der I obtained a check for $358.40, rep- resenting back compensation, and my & month, which I am receiving. But there’s a still more important reason why I should like to see her return to Congress. It's because her record shows her to be one of the best friends the veterans have.” Thereupon MclIntyre sat down and arcte a letter for Jistribution among is comrades, telling of his own experi- ence and c liing attention to the fact that the first bill which Mrs. Pratt in- troduced after becoming a member of Congress was a measure which provided more liberally for veterans and their dependents than any other which had ted. The best features of were in | the Reichstag his On October 16 the peseta dropped to its lowest ever, namely, 10.50 to the dollar, par being 5.15. Referring to the epidemic of strikes, the minister of Justice remarks rather happily: “We are smoking a cigarette over a keg of powder and must take care with our ashes or a spark will make the whole thing explode It is officially announced that elec- tions to a new Cortes will be held on January 4. A GERMANY.—The new Reichstag was opened on October 14. The 107 Fas- cists (Hitlerites) wore their uniform of brown shirt (with a swastika on the sleeve) and tan riding breeches. At every lull in the pre ings they shouted in unison “Hail” Meantime, their young friends outside were smash- ing the windows of Jewish stores and cafes, yelling, “Germany, Awake.” The Communists also did a little cavorting. Paul Loebe, Socialist, _sometimes called “the German Tom Reed,” has been re-electéd President of the Reichs- tag. On the 16th Chancellor Bruening made a notable speech commending to program, &already published, of economic (chiefly fiscal) reforms. He made no direct reference to the widely voiced demand for a rep- arations moratorium or drastic revision downward of the Young plan schedules, or both, but in a veiled statement of pe- | emphatically rejects every policy in- | volving foreign adventures.” | * X ok % 1 ITALY.—On October 15 all Italy celebrated the 2,000th anniversary of | the birth of Vergil, the most important celebrations, naturally, being those at Mantua, in the near vicinity of which | the poet was born; Naples, his favorite | place of residence and work; Rome, and | Brindisi, where he died. The center of the Brindisi ceremonies was the con- siderable remnant of the house in which | the bard died. Near Mantua there was | dedicated a plantation on either side | the charming Mincio, said to contain specimens of practically all the flora mentioned in the works; delightful | idea. * x % % CHINA.—Gen. Chang Kai-Shek pro- poses immediate drafting of a perma- nent constitution for China and sum- moning of a people’s conference to adopt it. Such adoption would terminate the Kuomintang dictatorship, the which termination he considers safe. T. V. Soong has resigned his post of foreign munister of the Nanking gov- ernment, on the ground that his authority is too limited. Apparently he is supported by Chang Kai-Shek, and the action on his resignation by the council will be highly significant. He is undoubtodly one of the ablest and most respectable men in the govern- ment. He is brother of Mme. Sun Yat Sen and brother-in-law of Chang Kai- Shek, and is less than 40 years old. Among the reforms on which he insists are institution of an adequate budget system, the so-long promised abolition of likin, increase of import duties, and gradual adoption of the gold standard. * K ok % JAPAN.—We are told that Japan is about to embark on an aviation program involving an expenditure of $100,000,000 jointly framed by the staff and air board, which calls for expansion of the naval air force from 16 to 32 squadrons, for improvements in aircraft carriers, and an addition of 100 to the total of planes carried by those vessels for improvement in the system of instruction for aviators, and for establishment of a general aircra industry. The saying is cabled hitherto: “The London treaty has made this program a necessity.” * ® X % LATIN ICA—On October 14 Haiti voted for a Legislature, the first enjoyed by that republic since 1918. The new Legislature is, pursuant to the con. stitution, to elect a President for a four- s investigating _commission headed by W. Cameron Forbes. It will be recalled that_the last Legisiature was dissolved by President Dartiguenave and was replaced by a. Council of State whose members were appointed by that gen- tleman. In 1922, at the expiration of Dartiguenave's term, the Council of State elected M. Louis Borno as his successor. In 1926 the council elected Borno to succeed himself but as the end of his second term approached, in 1930, the opposition raised its head. Result: “The Forbers Commission, and the turn- ing over by President Borno of his office, at the expiration of his term to a pro- vhmnm!dent selected by the oppo- sition, should hold office p.nafl‘.’. election of a Legislature and election by it of a ccnstitutional President. The temporary President is Eugene T. Roy, a Port au Prince banker without polit- ical ambitions, who appears to have performed his difficult task with digni- fied efliciency. The new Legislature is vaguely re- ported to be “decidedly radical and anti- American.” Economic conditions in Peru seem to be getting worse. Anti-American senti- ment continues to flourish. Dom Pedro II lost his crown by a bloodless revolution, the Conservative party has dominated the republic. ‘The revolutionists claim that Wash- ington Luiz, the President of Brazil, is responsible for the assassination of Joao Pessoa, President of the State of | Parahyda and Liberal vice presidential | candidate in the elections of last | March; that he fomented revolution in | Parahyba, sending thither who murdered Pessoa. “The Liberal candi- date for President was Getulio Vargas, and he polled 700,000 in a total of 2,000,000 votes cast. Of course, the Liberals charge election frauds. the best possible dispositicns for de ing with the economic difficulties, but the opposition claims that he concen- trated almost exclusively on velief to the coffee industry, that he did nothing for the distressed packing industry of Rio Grande do Sul, for the iron and steel and manganese industries cf Minas Geraes, for the cotton, sugar, cocoa {and rubber industries of the North. | And they charge that the stabilization | of the milreis works exclusively in favor | of Sao Paulo. But one is told that | there is plenty of money in the country, cnly it is being coffered against a change. ‘The generalissimo of the revolution- ary forces is Gen. Jose Antonio Flores da Cunha. Do not forget in estimating the Br: zilian military situation that the states have their own militas, and that in many instances the police forces of the cities are semi-military. The State of Sao Paulo, the chief seat of the coffee ‘culture, is sald tc pay over 60 per cent of the Brazilian taxes. ‘The history of the State of Rio do Sul is redolent of romance, for which one may well consult the historical sketches cf Cunningham Grahem. Of course, Brazilian securities have fallen sadly on the New York and Lon- don markets. A temporary breakdown in the regular service of the Brazilian | foreign debt is a reasonable fear; not, one hopes, to be realized. ‘There has always been a mystery | about Chile's quasi revolution of 1925. A respectable authority states: “Chile’s revolution of 1925 had as its primary | purpose the democratization of an in- strument of ~government which had |given the landed aristocracy control over the Senate.” * K % NOTES.—Levitating, one notes as among the chief perturbing features of the European scene: The infinitely complicated difficulties of Great Britain, both domestic and in relation to the empire and the British commonwealth of nations; the depression, complica- tions and uncertainties of Germany, both political and economic, not forget- ting the recent heavy sacrifice of gold and foreign exchange to defend the mark; the extraordinary concentration of gold in France and the natural PFrench reactions to the reactionary de- velopments in Germany; the enigmatic developments in Spain; fantasticalities in Poland; and the nasty kick-up in Austria. Prom Poland we hear of numerous political clashes on a small scale, in- volving some spilth of blood. ‘The second race for the speed cham- pionship of North Atlantic fishing craft, between the American Thebaud and the Nova Scotian Bluenose, was called off by the Race Committee when the race was about half run, under the impression that the racers could not find the mark in the dense fog that had suddenly closed down. Conditions, ex- cept for the fog, were glorious, a 35 knot nor'easter. It would appear that the Bluenose made far the better show- h!i‘lu infant mortality rate (i. e., num- in thelr Willlam Luiz claims to have made! MACDONALD KEEPS POWER BY DODGING REAL ISSUES Tories Allowing Impotent Labor Gov- ernment to Remain on Job Until Thoroughly BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. HE recent meeting of the British Lal in Llandudno was teresting as it disclosed the spectacle of a party which was not merely politically bank- rupt in the face of its pre-election but divided on every con- siderable issue now before the British nation. Rarely in recent political his- has a party in a public stock- taking presented a spectacle at once more pitiable and more hopeless. Something more than a year ago when Labor came to power it had two clear programs, one domestic and the other foreign. At home it was going to end the economic crisis by a vigorous handling of the unemployment issue. Abroad it was going to restore British prestige in Europe by breaking the alleged servitude of Chamberlain to Briand and giving a German -ather than a PFrench flavor to its licy. Finally it was going to liquidate the Anglo-American naval dispute. Despair Replaces Hope. After a year what are the facts? Unemployment has increased from 1,200,000 to 2,200,000, is still mounting by leaps and bounds and is ~ertain to reach 2,500,000 and possibly 3,000.000 before the Winter is over. _omewhere between a fifth and a quarter of ihe people of the United Kingdom are row supported out of the public treasury at a cost which exceeds $500,000.000 an- nually. And in England desp~it has replaced hope. In foreign affairs Snowden did areak with France at The Hague, promptiy and brusquely, but while as a consc- quence Britain repudiated the original Young plan agreement and obtained a little better share, the PFranco-British financial quarrel has been followed by & steady draining of the gold supply of the Bank of England to the Bank of France, which has not yet ended and has been fraught with very unpleasant mnuqc‘ juences in the London City dis- ‘The Anglo-French entente main- tained by Chamberlain and Briand has ended, but if on the one hand this break has blocked the Briand program for European unity, on the other it has demolished Labor’s pet project of dis- armament. Lacking Anglo-French co- operation, the recent sesslon of the Assembly of the League of Nations has been the leanest in achievement in many years. German Policy Proving Unhappy. Moreover, the attempt to draw closer to Germany has not produced happy results. Evacuation of the Rhineland, which was Labor’s most urgent demand, has been followed by the triumph of Hitler, and the disclosure of German Nationalist purpose to press for treaty revision and, above all, to repudiate the Young plan and the reparations obli- gation, And repudiation of the repara- tions obligation means leaving the British treasury saddled with an annual payment of almost $200,000,000 to ‘Washington, with nothing coming in from Germany for war reparations or from France and Italy for war debts. And, as things stand, there is a huge and growing deficit in the year's account. The London Naval Conference was momentarily counted as a success, but if Anglo-American relations have ‘economy - achieved, has been the worsening of Franco-Italian rela- tions to the point where they have be- come & standing menace to European tranquillity. The earnest but futile ef- forts of Henderson to effect an adjust- ment between the two rival nations has falled lamentably and discussions have been broken off. Not at any time since the days of Crispi and the occupation of Tunis have the two Latin peoples been s0 angry at each other. Moreever, Labor, which is at bottom an’i-Prench, and would like to stan with Germany and even with Italy, is hard put to it to justify any Elannzr- ship with the Italy of Mussolini, who talks little but force and machine guns and preaches a nationalism of the most intransigeant sort. Nor is it easier to be photographed with German fascism, ‘which not only preaches general violence but makes a particular .reference to anti-Semitic activity. d | Tory tactics are to il it Discredited. After all, Briand potent liberal and pac g in the denunciation of Cham- berlain for dancing to the tunes which Briand piped, risk a) g to suc- cumb to the same mellifiuous note? ‘There, after all, is the trouble. Labor was going to take the domestic eco- nomic situation firmly in hand and abol- ish existing evils. It promised this. It was going to restore British prestige in the world by striking out on a new policy which should put leadership in the hands of MacDonald and Hender- son, leadership in the European cause of . But such leadership as exists still belongs to Briand, while European md"hnal alism is almost everywhere in the saddle. And In the domestic fleld there is the rising issue of free trade and protection, of empire free trade, which is protec- ton. st this issue stands Snowden solidly, ked by the majority of the Labor party. But MacDonald and “Jim” Thomas, who are politicians, would like to ride the storm and borrow itical capital from Beaverbrook by at least a little empire free trade with the old, authentic Manchester brand. Would Like to Dodge Issue. Above all, MacDonald and Thomas would like to dodge the issue. They would like wsv. e Imperial Confer- ence over with nothing more sensa- tional than the good o‘d resort to commission to mvut?‘m exhaustively, debate extensively and report at a more convenient time, at least a year hence. But there are awkwardly practical peo- ple, like Bennett of Canada, Scullin of Australia, Herzog of South Africa, who press for some kind of definite bargain, dominion raw materials and foodstufts to get a preference in Britain, British manufacturers to get even more con- siderable preference than at present in dominion markets. And there is Snow= den saying “No” and meaning it. What MacDonald and his immediate followers want to do is to stay in power. It is a pleasant occupation, not without attractive perquisites in prestige and pay, although pay is not the detall which weighs with the Prime Minister. But what a very large body of the Labor party desires is to do something, to take & stand, to grapple with the difficult issues, even at the risk of defeat and exile from power. ‘The price of Labor’s continuation in power, however, is to dodge the issues, carry on innocuously. Once Labor should attempt to be itself—that is, to be what the mass of its foliowers de- sire it to be, not revolutionary but radical—the Tories and the Liberals would_inevitably combine to throw it out. But the longer it stays in er, dodging the issues, failing alike the foreign and domestic fields, the more complete is eventual bankruptcy and the smaller its chance of coming to office with a majority of its own. Impotence Joined to Expediency. ‘The domestic economic crisis be cl t the Labor ment. It is & world phmammm.m'l':. bettered by it and & measure of | cums the price the cleverest Ml has t{:‘rlubc: 1o 1 i office un utterly and for a time aum&md itself. Let Labor h:l‘s the baby until the shrieks of the un- happy infant make sleep impossible anywhere between Land’s End and John o’ Groats—that is the Baldwin game. And that is what is happening. The end would seem not too far distant now. (Copyright. 1930.) (Continued From First Page.) wet Democrat opposing a dry Repub- lican.) A third State important to watch for the bearing of the outcome on prohi- bition is Massachusetts. In that State the Republican candidate, William M. Butler, is dry. The Democratic can- didate, Marcus A. Coolidge, is wet. The issue is clear, though not quite so sim- ple as the other contests already men- tioned. While other issues and modi- fying circumstances color the Massa- chusetts fight, probably a larger num- ber of voters in that State will go to the polls with prohibition in mind than with any other issue or condition. the Democrats should elect their wet senatorial candidate, Marcus Coolidge, that would be an addition of one to the strength of the wets in the Senate. As respects issues other than prohibition, it would be remarkable, would be a historic landmark. Massa- chusetts has had only one Democratic Senator since the 1850's, since the word “Democratic” began to mean what it now does. That lone Democrat from the Bay State is one of the present Senators, David I. Walsh. If the Demo- crats should now elect Marcus A Cool- idge, the ensuing spectacle, two Demo- crats from Massachusetts in the Senate, would be arresting and very significant. It would reflect the waning of the old- time ublicanism that has really, in effect, dominated Massachusetts since the Civil War; would reflect in part the increasing power of newer elements in ithe population who, among other new points of view, do not like prohibition. Lewis Victory Would Be Decisive. ‘The other senatorial contest worth watching from the point of view of hibition is the one in Illinois. There the Democratic candidate, J. Hamilton Lewis, is wet. The Republican candi- date, Mrs. Ruth McCormick, is a dry who has modified her dryness to the point of saying that if Illinois by refer- endum should go wet she would obey that mandate. With that qualification, f the Democrats should elect the wet Lewis, he would be'an addition of one to the wets’ strength in the Senate. He would at the same time represent a loss of one to the drys, for the present Republican Senator, Deneen, whose seat is now to be filled, is a dry. Mrs. McCormick, in running as a dry, or to the degree to which she is g has a handicap. There is a third candi- date (likewise a woman), Mrs. Lottie O'Neill, who is a hundred per cent dry, who, indeed, entered the race upon the ground, partly, that Mrs. McCormick in gmlslnl to abide by the referendum ad ceased to be sufficiently dry to sat- isty the thoroughgoing drys. This third candidate, Mrs. O'Nefll, will not win. She will, however, absorb a consider- able number of ‘“bone-dry” votes which otherwise would go to Mrs. Mc- Cormick. At the same time Mrs. Mc~ Cormick’ Elections in 4 States Expected to Have Important Bearing on Prol_libition have done something for the wet cause without voting Democratic. In this complexity of the Illinois set- up the interpretation of the outcome will be less clear than in other States. If Mrs. McCormick is successful, not much will have happened as respects prohibition. But if the outcome is the other way something decisive will have occurred. Election of Democratic wet J. Ham Lewis would mean the addition of one to the wets’ strength in the Sen- ate. Nationally, it would mean more; would mean the addition of Illinois to New York and New Jersey as States that have gone wet. Interpretation of the senatorial elece tion in Ilinois in its bearing on pro- hibition will be accompanied by and | qualified by the outcome of the refer- | endum on prohibition to be held on the A, | same election day. Other State Contests Less Clear. There are other States in which the senatorial election is to one degree or another wet versus dry. In no other State, however, is the senatorial elec- tion £o important and the prohibition issue so clear as in the four mentioned above. In one other State is an election (not a senatorial one, however) of which the outcome, if it should go the Democratic and wet way, will be regarded as a na- tional sensation. In the newspaper headlines announcing the results on November 5 it is possible the word “Pennsylvania” may command _the largest type. In Pennsylvania Gifford Pinchot is running for Governor. He is running on the Republican ticket— though the two principal official Repub- licans in the State has proclaimed he is not a Republican, and scores of thousands of Republican voters feel the same way about him. Pinchot is run- ning also as a dry, and about his dry- ness there is no question whatever, Because of the skepticism about Pin- chot’s Republicanism scores of thou- sands of hundred per cent Republicans will vote against him. Because of Pin- chot’s dryness, other tens of thousands the Illinois fight is squarely wet versus by the political | dry. I e wet opponent, John M. Hi 1, may And if a Democrat is el not before for 40 years, not since 1890. it happens now, many politicians it happened before cast a Democratic President in 1932. Among other things, defeat of Pin- chot will be hailed (if it happens) as one of the greatest of wet victories. It said that lnnll..“m