Evening Star Newspaper, November 23, 1930, Page 33

e ¢ X Editorial Page EDITORIAL SECLION he Sundiwy Star, WASHINGTO VEMBER 23, 1930. Special Articles SPLIT CONTROL FORECAST IN NEXT U . S. CONGRESS Democrats Likely to Have Majority in| Senate, But Doubt Expressed if They Will Organize Chamber. BY MARK SULLIVAN | O the clarification of the new phase of politics arising out of the recent election, there is one awkward impediment. For the | sake of simplicity let us get that out of the way at once. ‘The impedment arises out of the over- lapping of two Congresses. This over- lapping is made inevitable by the Con- stitution and is widely complained of. Laying aside the merits of all that, the fact is that the new Congress elected this month does not come into exist- ence for a considerable time. Mean- time the old Congress continues to have life until March 4 next. 'To state the situation chronologically, the old Congress will meet in its final session on the first of next month; and | it will sit for three months, until noon | of March 4, when it will expire auto- | matically and permanently. Thereafter | there will be no Congress in session for nine months, until December 7 next year, 1931. On that date the new Con- gress (elected this month) comes to- gether for its first regular sitting. (What is here stated is the normal | order of things. A variation could arise h the calling of a special session of the new Congress some time next or early Summer. As this is written, such an extra session does not #seem probable.) The present article, ignoring the old Congress, alms to deal solely with the new Congress, with the consequences of the election this month, and some de- ductions from it. A few of the deduc- tions are quite entertaining. Result Yet Uncertain. In the election the Democrats won ‘within one of a majority of the Senate and within one or two of a majority of the House. Whether the Democrats have in either branch a little more than a majority or a little less cannot be n until December 7 next year, 1931, when this new Congress will hold its first regular sitting. In the mean- time the prospect of a majority for the Democrats will shift backward and for- ward over the line time after time. A Republican Senator may die and it may 'n that his successor will be ap- g ted by a Democratic Governor—for tic Governors became pretty numerous in this month’s election. The the cases in which this can happen are rather few since the casual- ties among Republican Governors in this election. Similarly, in the House, there will be several contested elections, the winner the majority from ocratic or vice versa, House there will than in the Senate; the vacancies number caused ‘Geath ¥l a year averages upward of w‘g As consequence of deaths, as well ‘contests, no one will know until the new Congress sits whether the Demo- crats have one or two more than a ma- mty,ormamtwlm. ‘The writer of article, arriving at a very loose and inexact te, thinks that as fate will work out, the Democrats will have & majority of one or two in the new Senate while in the new House the Re- Publicans will have a majority of two or Substantially, that amounts to saying the Democrats will have a majority in tical purposes, control of the ) legis: , cont of = lve arm of the Government. Control Is Valuable. The reader must now understand that possession of a majority in Con- freu. possession of control, expresses itself in two separate ways. To begin with, posession of a majority is im- mmm for the purpose of “orgmlzin’ le House” or “organizing the Senate.” It is n{lw "xk:npomm, sense, for the purpose of passing or de- r the first of ese pul es, for organizing the House or Lhne”csamte, the Democrats must have a true ma- Jorlty, made up of Democrats—because for that purpose they will receive no help from Progressive Republicans. For the purpose of passing or defeating legislation, however, the Democrats do not need a true majority, they do not :;;d nb!mn)orlty made up uof Pemocrnu ly—because, as respec legislation, :2‘:’!: ngl}‘:l\:hhelp l‘xl;nt.mh la'n: 14 In- ent publicans e Senate, and 8 large number in the House. Key Positions at Stake. Let us consider, first, control of Con- e for the purpose of organizing the ouse and Senate. “‘Organizing the House” means "electing the Spéaker and naming the membership of the committees. In the Senate, there is no equivalent of the Speaker—his function in tke Senate is filled by the Vice President. Ability to organize the Benate is nevertheless, extremely im- portant, for it involves naming the members of the committees, some of which, in the Senate, are very power- ful. For example, if the Democrats organize the Senate, they would name their Pat Harrison of Mississippl as head of the tariff-making Committee on Finance, instead of the present head, Republican Reed Smoot of Utah. “Organizing the Senate” (or the House or both) is a process lasting only an hour or «o at the beginning of each session. During that hour (and, one might add, during that hour alone) the Democrats will have no help from the Progressive Republicans. After the hour is past, after the Senate is or- ganized, the Democrats will again gef their accustomed help from L¥m Pro- fmuive Republicans; on matters of lation, the Progressive Republicans will march side by side with the Demo- in a separate L the reas If the reader asks why, just for one hour in two years, the essive Republicans withhold help from the Democrats, the answer consists of one of the commonest explanations of human conduct. The answer is, self- interest. Progressives May Lose. ‘The Progressive Republicans won%t help the Democrats Congress, because Progressive Republicans possess _desirable committee seats— ‘which they would and will lose if the Democrats organize the body. The Progressive as Republicans; and as such have be | to Republicans rank nominal- | o by seniority within each party, the | Progressive Republicans, since some of them have been in the Senate a long time, have very good committee seats | and chairmanships. —Progressive Re- | gubllun Borah of Idaho, for example, aving been in the Senate for 23| years, has come to be chairman (when the Republicans are in power) of one| of the two most important Senate Committees, the one on Foreign Rel: tions. When and if the Democrats or- ganize the Senate, that chairmanship will go to Democrat Claude Swansor of Virginia. Insurgent Republican George W. Norris of Nabraska has come to be chairman of the powerful Com- mittee on Judiciary, which passes upon the qualifications of appointees selected by the President for federal judgeships. When and if the Democrats Drfinnr; the Senate, that chairmanship will be taken by them for Democrat Lee S. Overman of North Carolina. The Progressive Republicans, in short, stand to lose much of their power, much that makes their experi- ence in the Senate agreeable, when and if the Democrats organize the Senate. Democrats Stand Alone. From this follows one of several cu- rious conditions that are destined to the public will need to watch closely if it is to understand. Of all those who do not desf the Democrats to all who hope the Repul ganize it, the one group holding that hope most strongly is the Progressive Republicans. Practically every news- paper reader knows that the Progres- sive Republicans, in matters of legis- lation, and in the Senate generally, have as a rule been helping the Demo- crats. From that the reader has in- ferred that the conditions most ar- dently desired by the Progressive Re- publicans was. Democratic victory. But the fact is the Insurgent Rkvrubliwu do not desire Democratic victory—if Democratic victory reaches the point of actual control. Most emphatically the Progressive Republicans do not “want ot see the Democrats ol ize Congress. The Insurgent Republicans, indeed, it is safe to say, are a state close to sweating blood in their secret hearts lest the Democrats organize Congress. Of all who will hope that Democratic deaths will be in larger quantity than Republican deaths, the Insurgent Republicans are the ones who will hold that hope most steadily. Must Plan Ahead. The next and even stranger paradox is that the Democrats do not really want to organize Congress. One can- mnot say this of all Democrats; there | m‘eugmm it is flfitl%fl i say ly, the - ts do not desire to Con- Probably the Democratic state of . They are pleased the credit and the ryeho- cal advantage of hav! e great t the Republicans. They are pleased, for the present, when those ins are described in newspaper head- es as “a majority.” They will con- tinue to be pleased during the year to come when newspaper headlines from time to time will say that the decision of a contested election, or the death of 8 Senator, assures a Democratic ma- Jority. But beneath this pleasure, and growing stronger all the time, will be & sense of uneasy apprehension. Hopes Center on 1932. If we inguire the reason why the Democrats do not want a true majority and do not want to organize Congress, we shall find the beginning of the answer in some words from Frank Kent in the Democratic Balitmore Sun: “The fact is that the Democrats, having achieved great success at the recent election, are naturally looking toward the next with the hope of capturing the Presidency; from now on every move the party managers make will be with that idea in view.” And from the point of view of win- ning the Presidential election of 1932, 1t is not beneficial to the Democrats to organize Congress, to have control of Congress, ‘to have—here we introduce a different and portentous word—respon- sibility for what Congress does. If the Democrats have power to or- ganize Congress, then, as soon as they exercise their power and effect organi- zation—at that moment the agreeable word “power” is displaced by the less agreeable word ‘“responsibility.” The Democrats, in their present state of mind, would like to have their cake and also throw it away, or at least put it in the closet and not eat it for two years. They like to have, as they do have, the prestige of having won control or near-control of Congress. Having received that benefit and pleasure, they would much prefer to postpone making use of their control until after, as they hope, they shall have elected a Presi- dent in 1932 and have control over all the branches of the Government. Game Is Complicated. For the next year the public will see what seems to be a desperate effort by the Democrats to take each point in the game, to win each contested election, or to name each successor to a de- ceased Senator. Ug‘to a certain point that picture will accurate enough. But along with that, and less obvious to the public, will go & game in which the essential art lies not in taking the cards but in forcing undesired cards upon your adversary. ‘To understand why it is less desirable to the Democrats to organize Congress, consider the altrnative. If the Repub- licans organize Congress, then the Re- publicans are responsible. To a degree President Hoover, as head of the party, will be responsible. In that situation the Democrats will be extremely com- fortable. They will have, of their own Democrats, within one or two of a ma- {;l:ty. In ld;mlon mt'hey ::‘tl };‘u::' u!or DUIDORS o€ pesing o¢ defen 8- islation, the aid of the Progressive Re- publicans. The two groups combined will be a clear majority, and will be able to thwart the Republicans without limit. ‘The Republicans will have the respon- sibility in the eyes of the public; the Democrats with their Insurgent Repub- lican allies will have the real majority and the real power. That picture, with the Republicans in nominal control of ongress, is far more attractive to Democratic leaders who understand po- ical tactics share of committee seats and |jiy committee chairmanships. For just one hour, at the befimn( of each two- year the Insurgent Republicans are not Insurgent Republicans—they are Republicans without qualification, and as such they get their committee ents. (That is, when the Re- control, as they have for 12 past) Once the hour is ‘Dast. m-nnlntlianmu 8 fi.::wlgud. Insurgent pul ins are their committee seats, they their way, and on legislation please—more often with the Democrats than with the Repub- Because committee assignments go Common Interest Seen. This philosophy, this natural desire and shrewd strategy was expressed two days after the election by a wise and experienced Democratic member of the House who was T:‘M by & newspa~ said, accord- orgal by the mmocnh even if the should give the Democrats a majority.” ‘The { day the interview was denied or modified; but Efl must ho‘:h.w“m Conmls official result of the national elections | having Col Much Work Awaits Congress Coalition Likely to Determine Fate of Many Issues. BY JOHN SNURE. HE Seventy - second elected November 4, due to take office in March, will find itself burdened with 8 staggering load of legislative problems. Not simply a few but scores of serious problems in legislation and policy will | confront the mew Congress. In the event present economic conditions con- | tinue through the next year or so, the demands on the legislative branch of the Government will be added to amd will undoubtedly be more numerous, more pressing and more serious than those which now can be discerned. The Congresses which sat in the ‘Word War period and in the Tecon- struction period were forced to work! | BY BEN ROBERTSON, JR. ‘WHITE-HAIRED, vigorous man in his middle sixties, who has never gone to college in his life, will be formally inaugurated | early in the new year as the president of the University of Mis- souri, almost the first seat of learning set_up beyond the Mississippi. ‘Thus Walter Williams, who ended his formal education half a century ago in the eighth grade of a tiny Missouri country school, has broken another tradition. Twenty-two years ago he founded and became dean of the now well known School of Journalism of the Univer- sity of Missouri. That was the first coflen tradition he shattered. For a man without a degree to be named dean of a school of an important university was an unheard of thing. Now, in his election to the presidency, he has broken two other traditions. He is still without a diploma—that's one —and, so far as available records have disclosed, he is the first newspaper man ever to be elected president of a great- er American university. And Walter Willilams has been a newspaper man since the day he left the crossroads school and got a job as printer's devil. Tradition Is Ignored. ‘The nine curators of the university, in announcing the election of Dean Williams, sensed this trait of his for disregarding tradition. They had met at noon one day in the university at Columbia and had sat, closeted, until the sun died over the prairie. Then an elderly man, opening a paneled door, gave newspaper men waiting in the corridor the news of the decision. “We have chosen Walter Williams,” he told them. And, after a moment's pause with which to emphasize words, he added: ‘“He never went to college in his life, In other aspects, though, the career of Dean Williams had shown the tide marks of merit. He had been president of the Missouri Press Association at the age of 23. Before he was 50 he had presided over the Press Congress of the World. He was the first editor ever to conceive and carry into practice the American notion that journalism could and should be made a formal &n of a college curriculum. He was e founder, therefore, and had been dean for 22 years of the School of Journalism of the University of Mis- sourl. He was a power in this fleld of American education. He was an influence on the national press. And, more than all that, he was one of the Nation's greatest teachers—college fe or not, he was one of those ew persons able to convince the younger generation as well as give it advice. State Proud of Record. The people of Missourl realize the importance of the tradition that has been shattered; for even the settlers of the first territories, willing enough —_— would be the Republican hope if the situation were reversed. Let the reader ask himself this ques- tion: ~ Buppose the new Congress forced by public opinion to do some- thing about prohibition—in that ‘case, Would the Democrats prefer to have the Tesponsibility? short, the Democrats and the In- surgent Republicans have & common interest (stronger with the lmgfl in nized not the the mpubl{nm. ows. that ust by Out of this sits follow, in- ult.lon‘wl.ll A 1s | through the eight grades of o?u c THE CAPITOL, VICE PRESIDENT CURTIS (LEFT INSET) at high pressure. The emergency re- quired it. It imposed heavy tasks on | the responsible men in the House and | nal In some respects the condi- tions of business and industry, with large quotas of the unemployed, con- stitute another national emergency, and Congress inevitably will feel the effects. Emergency Seen in Unemployment. At such times the pressure for legis- lation on all sorts of subjects becomes intensified. All manner of proposals and schemes are advanced, some of Congress, or the men who really domi- nate its programs and policies, finds as much difficulty in blocking unwise to put up with circuit riders and quasi- quack doctors, early formed the habit of sending back to Boston and Phila- delphia for graduated headmasters for thelr schools. But Missourians look upon Dean Willlams' election with proud satisfaction, ‘The remarks of a St. Louis attor- ney, a graduate of Missouri, with whom we talked soon after the election, may be taken as an indication of that. “What if the dean didn't go to col- lege?” he asked. “What of that? ‘That's one of the troubles with Ameri- can education today—its insistence that & person is not learned unless he &u- sesses some formal hatrack on which to hang a cap and gown. ‘ee Or no degree, we know Dean Williams in Mis- | sourl. He is one of our learned men, |and into his care we will gladly com- mit our children.” Has World Reputation. ‘The men and women of Missouri feel that Dean Willlams is a part of r State. He was born there, and he went ounf school of the dusty village Boonville, then little more than a gathering place from which men rode off to Oregon with banjos on their knees. And though now he is known around the world, he still remains first of all a Missourian. ‘The dean’s ancestors were holders of slaves, were Democrats of Jefferson and Jackson, were Presbyterians of the tygs who would not bake bread on the Sal bath, yet who thought nothing of mak- creasingly, curious political moves gestures, moves that will have what is called in billiards, “reverse English.’ the from Virginia L SR Tt AND SPEAKER LONGWORTH ! legislation as in passing that which is wise and essential. Unless there is a marked change in conditions this Winter and throughout 1931, Washington will be a focal point for all manner of plans and propositions whereby the Government can brought to wave the wand of prosperity. If it could discharge its duties in an | atmosphere not impregnated with poli- tics, that would tend much to simplify matters. But the Capital of the United States is naturally the habitat of poli- ties. Especially is this so in the months preceding a presidential election, and | them sound, some unwise and fantastic. | by the time the new Congress gets down | to business the next presidential cam- :!l‘lm; will be only & short distan ’ ead. He Never Went to College But Walter Williams Soon Will Be Formally Inaugurated as President of the University of Missouri. DEAN WALTER WILLIAMS, center of Missouri Territory, near the river, where they and the others like them so stamped the landscape with their ways of thinking that to this day there are houses with columns and piazzas that carry definite memories of the ante-bellum South. ‘The Willlamses supported Gov. Jack- son in his declaration that Missouri had seceded from the Union, and, undrafted, the men of the family marched away to devote themselves to the cause of President Jefferson Davis. Impover- is) 1, but, like any other American fam. ily under such circumstances, still proud and personally unbeaten, they | welcomed their son Walter into the | world at the war's close with little else | save love and the Williams tradition. Life Formed Character. - boy rambled the woods about ‘The Boonville, learned the tricky ways of a limestone country, and watched the ebb history He saw the riv \;g:nd down the muddy river. churning steamboats, knew treacherous snags for miles the sun in the flat beyond, over the rim of the prairie in the West. Then, as did Eugene Field, he saw magnificence in Missouri—something Dean Willlams has not forgot. The red schoolhouse Dean Williams went to in Boonville has changed as materially since 1870 as has the Ameri. can drug store. He was there at 8 am. in those days, and stayed until 4 o'clock d the Winter and Summer when the could be spared from the De | ize the Senate if an extra session of the and flow of floods and of mid-American | th afout, and often watched the setting of | ing Harris & Ewing and Underwood Photos. (RIGHT INSET). Much is being said about the fact that some Democratic leaders shrink | from the responsibility of organizing ne or both branches of Congress. And some of the foremost Republican lead- ers of the Senate have indicated they would gladly see the Democrats organ- new Congress were forced. Such talk is dismissed as political hokum in some quarters. And it probably is, in the sense that when the test comes the party which can muster the most votes will take the control. Nevertheless, it is difficult to see how any_responsible leader of either party in House or Senate can make & compre- hensive survey of the tasks of (Continued on Fifth Page.) dean learned spelling from the famous blue-backed book and Ilittle history and counting and geog- | | raphy—that and little else save that! one essential thing which above all else is of lasting importance: he caught the' desiré to learn. His character and man- | ners were attended to by the folks at home, where he chopped wood, hoed corn, brought in the cows of an evening, | and later in a room by the lamplight often was told by a good lady that he must grow up to be an honest man, a credit to the Willlams family. Learned of Newspapers. Just out of the eighth grade, he had to quit school when he was 17 years old, and then proceeded to learn the printing trade. Three years ago, in one of those bamboo-hung pavilions of the Royal Hawallan Hotel at Hono- lulu he told us a little of those first days of his now distinguished career. While he talked of Boonville, a village 5,000 miles away, and of times 40 years gone by, an old Chinaman moved about in green pants and a pink coat, picking up scraps of paper and hummi an atrocious tune. “I walked into the office of the Boon- ville Topic” he sald, “and asked the editor for a job. ‘What sort of a job do you want?’ he asked. ‘A devil’ said I. ‘All right,’ he bargained, T will teach you. You are hired at 70 cents a week.’ " The dean mused awhile. The old Chinaman poked seeds into_the cage of the scarlet parrot. ‘The bird squawked, then was quiet. “I earned that money,” he said sim- ply. “My work was that which fell to all devils in that day. I washed roll- ers, swept floors, built fires, sawed and split wood, fed the country Campbell press and pulled the Washington hand press. Life Desire Kindled. “How did I become interested in be- ing a devil and printer? Well, like all boys of my time in Boonville, I spent hours about the village.© We would watch the smith putting new shoes on | the mules’ hoofs and listen to the sound | of his anvil; sometimes we assisted the hurried grocer of a Saturday night when the Negroes came in for ‘fat back'—their name for bacon. We learned odds and ends of the trades of the saddler, the wheelwright and even the church sexton. But the most pleas- ant place for me from the time I could first remember was the two-room wood- en bullding, smelling of black ink, where the Boonvile Topic was printed. “From those early days in the Sum- mer when, barefooted, I would sit in the doorway and watch the journeyman bits of letters from here jecing them so patiently together that from chaos he established reason—from those early days I knew that the ‘art preservative of all arts’ must become my calling. “In those early days the editors of many papers in rural Missouri could ir sheets well as write n the com- room and the odnm-’lm chair o“fnn was s0 slight as to many in- stances nonexistent. In fact, the print- trade could become an open road to news writing for any -boy with the will to work and the courage. Mastered Printer’s Trade. e r I had mastered the devil's work I became the editor’s job printer, and I soon learned the importance of such & man in_the contem) of Missouri. &We often re! the speeches of Senators of the time and of tatives in Work fo BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. \ F, after the municipal elections, any further evidence of the approaching fall of the MacDonald cabinet in England were needed, it has now been supplizd by the figures of the Yorkshire by-election. In this final testimony it was an industrial district, which Labor carried a year ago by nearly 5,000, that changed sides and returned a Tory vote by nearly 2,000 majority. But the odd thing about the British political situation is that while every one can see that Labor’s days are numbered, the split in both the Tory and Liberal parties makes the future seem excessively obscure. That the Tories will win the next election, and that by a decisive majority, no one much doubts. But when they do come to power, will Baldwin remain leader or will he follow the newspaper com- bination, which has been forcing his laggard pace toward tariff? For the moment the hope of victory, or more exactly the expectation triumph, is tending to silence the Bea: erbrook-Baldwin controversy. The for- mer premier has come a long way on toward agreeing to a tariff, even on ‘The failure of the Imperial has, on the one hand, demonstrated that empire tariff—that is, free trade within the empire—is impossible, but on the other hand it has_similarly proved that new favors for British exports in dominion markets can only be purchased by a tariff on raw materials and foodstuffs in Britain, thus permitting preference to the dominions. May Agre. to Truce. Beaverbrook and Baldwin may, then, agree to a truce during the election and Baldwin may permit his hand to finally forced as a result of a new Im- Conference in Ottawa next Spring. Nevertheless the unity of the Tory Frty is little more than nominal. The fundamental difficulty with Bald- win lies in the fact that he is the sort of public man all Englishmen would like to follow, if only he could lead, but this is beyond him. He has charm, honesty, integrity of character, he con- forms to the best British tradition of a gentleman, but force is left out and political is missing. If Labor is in for a terrific drubbing, it is hard to see any means by whic! the historic Liberal party can escape ractical extinction. Its membership dwindled to & scant 50 in the House of Commons. This small delegation is sharply divided, one fraction voting with the Torles to turn Labor out, an- other with the Labor cabinet to keep it in, and a third not voting at all. And in and out of the House the split over Lloyd George continues to extend. On the issue of tariff the Liberals will have to line up with Labor, but it will be Labor that will lead the fight, or rather it will be the Labor chancel- to _make con but Snowden stood firm against it. ModeTates and Radicals Split. Again there is a sh: split between the moderate and radical Laborites and the latter are just now lashing out at the government’s handling of the un- employment situation. all La- bor finds itself under fire in the coun: try not only because it has failed to cure the unemployment evil, but be- cause on the one hand to the minds of the business community it has spent too much in relief, while on the other it seems to the poor to have been nig- ardly. Britain has made the Labor experi- ment. It made it largely because of its t with Tory handling of for- eign affairs, in particular, the American naval question. Labor has reached a settlement with the United States on be | Socialists are propos! LABOR PARTY MAY PASS WITH FALL OF MACDONALD Tories Seem Likely to Regain Power. Baldwin May Keep Control or r Tariff. the naval question, but it has been helpless to stem the tide of unemploy- ment incident to world depression. Eighteen months after it took office un- employment has doubled, and on all sides the prospect of early improve- ment within the empire is slight. Yet it would be idle to mistake the fact that while a majority in Britain feel that Labor has failed dismally, there is no real confidence that the Torles will succeed. Because there doesn't seem any other thing possible, Britain is going to experiment with a tariff, but what every practical man knows is that, whether in the end a tariff might help or not, in the beginning it will certainly increase unemployment and depression, and, with the prospect that unemployment will touch 3,000,000 before the Winter is out, further in- creases next Autumn are far from pleas- ant to think of. Must Feed Quarter of Population. This Winter the British will have to feed and support upward of a quarter of the population of the islands, made up of the unemgloyed and their de- pendents. The budget is already in the red, and to all questions of trade there is added the problem of India, which must make a grave turn if the round-table conference fails, as seems now inevitable. In this situation, the Tories are not looking forward to office with unlimited enthusiasm. In many ways they would refer to let Labor hang on until the inter strain is over. And in the end this may happen. Nevertheless public pressure upon the Torles to take office is becoming well nigh irresistible. The country is getting thoroughly alarmed over the domestic conditions which it confronts and the expedients which the ing. And, when the ‘Tories do come in, they will have a rea- sonably sure promise of five years of power. ‘What is really interesting in the Brit- ish situation is that just as in the United States the prohibition issue has cut across party lines, so the tariff has destroyed the solidarity of the Tories and the Laborites and even invaded Liberal ranks. Now circumstances are forcing the Tories to face the issue squarely and become the party of tariff, but no political party ever pussyfooted more cautiously than have the Tories and no leader has ever endeavored to follow more completely than Baldwin during all the decisive phase of the dis- cussion, Tariff Experiment Seen. ‘Whether a tariff on food will lead to prosperity or to ruin remains an ‘open question in many minds. Industry and a.:l:nce .are as divided as politics, but lini, Hitler and Stalin will' count n . ‘The Nnkxn'l}iafi drums _will not be beaten. There no Tory promise of “heads rolling lnbfhz sand. Instead there will be just another election calculated to turn out the party in power. But it is far from - sible that the event may. prove of his- toric importance, since it may see on the one hand the g:lcuul ppear- ance of the old Liberal party and on the other the rise of a transformed Tory party upon a newly annexed issue. Less likely, too, but far from impossible is the disruption of the Labor party after defeat, the moderate element joining with the Liberals, the extreme fraction getting control of the party machin and committing Labor to more ideas. (Copyright. 1930.) PARIS.—Although the Paris public is used to considering the Autumn salon as the chief artistic event of the year, seldom has this exhibition attracted as much interest and comment as this Fall. To art critics and connoisseurs who, as a rule, visit the salon merely to fulfill a tiresome duty—for it is a tedious task to inspect some 4,000 pic- tures hooked to the walls of the Grand Palais—the present exhibition has marked a new era in the history of Parisian art. It is too early to speak of a renais- sance in painting and make tic conclusions. But this first show of the year has given hopeful indications of the fact that the letter—too much knowledge and skill—has not yet quite killed the spirit in art. There are at the Autumn salon some works which could be considered as real master- pleces and, in general, the level of painting is much higher than for many Yyears. Recent Work More Serious. Many believe that the economic crisis which has depressed the art market has like a whip for some artists. Unablé' to find purchasers for their paintings as easily as before, they seem to have gone to work more seriously. They have made this year a visible ef- fort to improve their productions and many of them have brought real works of art to Paris. Of course, not all the pictures ex- hibited are of the highest quality. Masterpieces could easily be swamped under the mass of dull, if well painted, works if the names of many producing the superior paintings were not already well known to the critics and the pub- lis. Bonnard, Laprade, Charles Guerin, Duffrency, Charlot, Flandrin and Kiss: ling have sent to this year’s salon per- haps the best works of their lives. The exhibition gives evidence of a distinct return to classicism — but classicism taken in the widest sense of the word. The vogue for freaks seems to be over and there is a desire on the part of the artists to penetrate deeper into their subjects and into their own internal world. They have thought more about their compositions, they have studied more deeply the things before their eyes, and at least for the real artists, this new tendency has resulted in great progress. Impressionist Influence Felt. ‘The influence of the it impres- sionist movement is sf strong on many exhibitors. It is perhaps even stronger this year than for a long time before. The feeling of atmosphere and sunlight which Monet and Manet re- yealed 50 yeats ago throws life int and many of the Pictures of bowers, brightly ly are abundant. But there &rmfi a deeper insight ;nled -ufifleflum had word Been so clumsily misused. Thus Charles Guerin has su also ap- « on Fourth Page. H hich he s hfl,mnuw called “Th ar the Clarinet,” in Artists Return to Classicism at Annual Paris Salon, With Marked Improvement the atmosphere as strongly as it is felt before the picture of Whistler's mother. Guerin’s portrait is perhaps the best and the most powerful in the salon. Some critics have compared it with the best works of Dutch masters. But with the realism of the Dutch it also has that touch of refinement characteristic of the French school. Internal Light Employed. Life is apparent also in two small landscapes exhibited by Laprade. They are illuminated by some mysterious in- ternal light which makes them shine like the surface of a pearl. And the subjects are simple. There is the sea, a boat, branches of a tree, but through them breathes the harmony of the universe. Bonnard and Dufrenoy have bril- liantly proved that the art of nature morte painting did not die with Cezanne and Van Gogh. The former has made a lovely composition of a coffee mill, coffee pot and a jar, colored in a scale of tinges going from yellow to brown. The latter has thrown a dead bird on a sheet of newspaper and has played like a master with black, white and Tay. ¥ Ig is strange to note that portrait painting is almost non-existant at the Autumn Salon. Except for a woman's portrait by Van Dongen—typical, as usual, of this painter’s tendency toward facile modernism—and a few minor things, portraiture has been entirely monopolized by sculptors. Every room of the salon contains several heads of women and men that doubtless are por- traits. Many among them are human and simple and characteristic of the models. Handicap in Decorative Trend. It would be difficult to say why people seem to prefer nowadays to have theit faces represented in marble, plaster or wood and in three dimensions rather than on a flat canvas. Perhaps it is because sculpture is an art which fits in better with present tendencles in in- terior decoration. It is striking to see at the salon, where all branches of art are repre- sented, what a serious blow modernistic architecture and interior decoration have dealt to painting. Not much place has been left in the quiet, straight-lined, sober monotony of modernist apart- ments for colorful landscapes or pic- tures of human faces. Panels made for the setting of the rooms are perhaps the only works that could be pl on the walls. Carved heads and figures of animals seem’ quite in place in new drawing rooms. Sixty American artists, men and women, have contributed to the Autumn Salon. Among them are painters, sculp- tors, engravers and book illustrators Some of their work is excellent, especially in sculpture. Much attention has been drawn to a bust of Clemenceau by Barbara Herbert, to two birds by Malcolm Arbuthnot and to s_torso by Ralph Jester.,