Evening Star Newspaper, January 18, 1931, Page 31

THE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C. JANUARY 18 -1931—PART TWO. BRITAIN FIGHTS TO HOLD TRADE OF SOUTH AMERICA United States and Germany Making Com- petition Keener and Prince of Wales’ TR 'NATION'S WOMEN STRIVING TO ABOLISH WAR MACHINE Conference on Cause and Cure of War Here This Week—Careful, Humble Ap- New Life in Old Iron Horse Combination of Eastern Railroads Would Mean Much to Average Man Also, It Is Asserted Visit Is One Bid for Favor of People. HE United States, Great Britain and Germany are engaged in a keen struggle for South Ameri- can trade. Great Britain is to hold a trade exposition at Buenos Aires, and is sending Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, to capture customers with his disarming smile The method is not_original. Other European royalties—Belgium's Albert and Italy's Crown Prince Hubert—have visited South America, made flattering speeches, withstood innumerable ban- quets. The United States sent Herbert Hoover, then Presid-nt-elect. “This is the Prince of Wales' second visit, and it is frankly comwmercial. For the British saw with chagrin the downfall last ycar of old President Trigoyen of Argentina and ‘the collapse of the plan negotiated with him for increased Argentine purchases in Eng- land. They had hoped also for more trade with Brazil after the success of the last revolution, in which the United the New World for the first time to ! legitimate foreign—which meant then, | British—commerce, and an ecnormous | | trade grew up within a few years, com- | pensating English merchants for the loss of their European customers, ruined by the Napoleonic wars. | Attacked Buenos Aires. | The foundations for British trade in | the River Platte countries were laid by |a British attack on Buenos Aires, then |a Spanish colony, in 1807. The citizens | of Buenos Aires repelled the British, pouring boiling lead on them from the | roofs as they marched through the | streets. | “'The expedition, undaunted, crossed the river and stayed in Montevideo long enough for the people to learn how to play polo and to take up shoot- ing—or ‘“gunning”—in the English| | fashion. and for the cowboys to teach their horses the long, sweeping gallop | of the English turf instead of the short | plication by Members of 11 Bodies. BY CONTANCE DREXEL. ‘o! American Ethical Unjon and Na- tional Women's Trade Union ague. ILL women succeed in break- | "EaL WAMERS TrRCE G EION omen. may ing down the war machine|se:) more encouraged in their efforts by and substituting a peace|ine closing speech of this Government machine instead? Judging representative at the Preparatory Dis: from the fact that thelr| grmament Commission meeting in Ge- sixth annual “Conference on Cause and |neva on December 9. Hugh S. Gibson, Cure of War” is about to meet in|ynjted States Ambassador to Belgium, Washington (January 19-22). with 11|told the world that he did not think of the largest Nation-wide women's or- | much of the results, and called for the ganizations participating, it 100ks s if | pqucation of public opinoin-“to edu- women are going about the task Very | cate public opinion and to prepare sys- carefully and very humbly. | tematically for the work of future con- Even now they are again coming to- | ferences as successive miilestones in the gether for the purpose of discussion | continuing process of disarmament.” and study rather than with any fixed |~ A5 for the world armaments confer- ideas “as to cause and cure of WAL”|ence which is envisaged in about a year, They have asked experts to come before | Mr Gibson said: -“The technical prep- them. Among other speakers on this| aration for that conference is in all week’s program are two leading ldml-ltm‘,nca great enough, but a more rals of our Navy -Admiral Pratt and|responsible task lies ahead of all our Admiral Bristol—Senator David Reed, | geve i os 4 informing public opin- delegate to the London Naval Confer-|{Cn as to the facts, as to the difficul- ence; Joseph P. Cotton, Under Secre-|ties and as to the possible measures tary of State; Charles P. Warner, Sec-| which may with mutual concession help 3 burst of speed of the typical gaucho States helped the defeated faction. but retary for Aviation in the Department| . toward the goal we all desire to : horse race the expected diversion of trade did not | caoe. " e occur. All these unfulfilled hopes now | Many British =—merchants — chiefly i Scotsmen—ostablished themselves in are transferred to the exposition and the prince's visit. Buenos Aires and Montevideo at this S A with this “wonder. | fime and, with others who came later, ” built up an import trade which eontinent of the world” is an important part of British prosperity, just as 300 | 1822 amounted to more than half the vears ago the endless cargoes of gold *mg;’“"fih"‘“‘.‘afle Egg:&';»"“i R o e e e itadons | Britishers swarmed to South Ameriea, i it 3 (and in some towns—notably Valparaiso were content to stuff their pockets and they composed as much as 10 per ships with gold and VT, 2nd ¥°%e | cent of the population. An ¥nglishman, Ty O ants wire simited t | Oreen, superintended” the coinage of |the new Peruvian mint. One of the wealth easy to acquire. They believed | g in the existence of what met the eye or | firss, eoncessions granted by New Gra nada now Colombia) went to Messrs. o Rundell, Bridge & Rundell of London, for the ‘pearl fisheries. A British mercantile community was soon established at Rio de Janeiro. By | development of undeveloped wealth, to | treaty it had its own “juiz conscrva- | reap that natural wealth in exchange dor” whose sole duty was to sce that| for the finished products of the ma- |justice was done the England and Scots chine. The supply of precious metals, | traders. Despite clerical opposition, gathered in those early days from the | the British were even allowed to build beds of tropic rivers and the remote |their own church, though it was or- Andes valleys, is not exhausted. The |dered that the interior must resemble Amazon forests are packed with thou- & private dwelling. and no bells must sands of varieties of rare trees of cen- |peal from it. And, as a wise old turies' growth, and inestimable mineral | Brazilian churchman had proppesied. For Potential Treasures. But now the desire is for potential treasures, for the chance to hid i the treasures and chemical deposits enrich the subsoil of the north and west. In the east are fertile farm lands and pastures teeming with cattle. The Prince of Wales after his first visit to the region in 1925 saw limitless possi- bilities for trade and advis>d young Englishmen to study Spanish. Adventurous Britishers of the teenth century had the same John Whithall found Santos, decidedly attractive in the 5 through a delicate interweaving of business and pleasure. In a letter to a friend dated July 26, 1578, he described his_experiences: “It is in this country offered me to marry, and to take my choice of three | or four, so that I am about three days ago consorted with an Italian gentle- | man to marry with his daughter within | these four days.” | Told of Trade Possibilities. Mr. Whithall then continued to brag about the sugar business owned by his father-in-law and to which his mar- riage gave him title. He urged his friend to see the future possibilities of his business marriage with his eyes, and to send out ships laden with clothes. gowns, axes, soap, nails, fishhooks, wine and leather. The proceeds of the cargo he suggested might profitably be in- vested to local sugar to freight the ves- sel back. His advice was acted on by many an English sailor-merchant of those early days. Spain’s and Portugal's edicts against foreign trade with their col- | onies. ltke_most_prohibitions, did not | prohibit. Smuggling was a business as highly esteemed in the Spanish and Portugese colonies as in Colonial New England. But English merchants clamored for freer trade. 1In 1713, at the close of the War- of the Spanish Succession. Spain and England signed the famous “Asi- ento” treaty, by which England was nermitted tc send one ship a _year| loaded with goods for the fairs at Porto Bello and Vera Cruz. The South Sea Co. received the privilege of sending this annual ship. Fantastic rumors of the profits to be obtained from the con- tinent of limitless wealth were origi- | neted by promoters and promulgated | by believers. Great Britain became the scene of an orgy of speculation till the | “hubble” burst. scattering panic. bank- | ruptcy and ruin all over the kingdom British Traded Tllegally. Jt' was obvious that the sending of oae ship a year could not make Croe- suses of a nation, even though the ¢ pacity of that vessel was tiplied the addition of half-a-dozen tenders. So the British continued to trade illeg- ally, after the fashion of pirates. Fights with Spanish revenue agents gained in violence and frequency. Then came Jenkins, English sea captain. back to London from the Spanish Main. with tales of having been maltreated by the Spaniards and bearing in a wooden box one of his ears, supposedly cut off by them seven vears before. Jenkins said he had been instructed by the Spanish officer connected with the ear affair to show it to his King. Asked what he did next. brave Jenkins answers, “I| commended my soul to God and my| cause to my country!” Whereupon fol- Jowed the War of Jenkins' Ear The right was not all on gid2. The Spaniards had plenty provocation. Besides the annual fair- £aip. the English had obtained the right to sell a limited number of slaves to Spanish America—a right that was as flagrantly abused as tne other To remove the purely technical im- pediments to her South American trade, Great Britain got Spain to buy back the Asiento privileges for a mil- lion pounds sterling. Smuggling con: tinued thereunder unhampered by any pretext of legality. But these ecarly efforts, compared with the present trade with South America, may be classed as sporting Yentures, the gains of which were ex- tremely important to the men imme- diately engaged. though not vital to the prosperity of the self-sufficient Europe of thos> davs. Powers Study Market. Nowadays, Great Britain's prosperity 15 vitally affected by her Latin Ameri- can commerce. Germany's chances of recovering her old rank among the na- tions depends very largely om' how much of her chemicals and her cheap hardware she can sell the Southern Tepublics. Even the United States, though less dependent on her foreign trade, is beginning to study Latin America’s buying whims _carefully. France, Belgium, Japan—all the smaller manufacturing countries are crowding eagerly to pick up what business they | idea Brazil, can. | Por the South American is still busy getting wealth from his fertile lands, from his rich mines and forests. He ras little time leit to spare to shape that raw wealth into tools, furniture, cloihin luxuries. It will be decades befoie uth America’s manufactures begin to compete, except in a few lines, with th~ goods sent by the European or the North American. Nevertheless, the South American is rich and pays well for these goods. Argentina’s per capita wealth is one of the largest in the world. Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Chile are among 1 the internatiowal trader’s best custom- That is why the manufacturers| | monopolized at first once the church was permitted and built, few Englishmen ever attended it. | British Established by 1844. The commercial treaty lapsed in 1844, but by that time the British were | firmly established. Twenty years later half of Brazil's forcign debt was in British hands, and nearly half its im- ports, with Briti capital invested heavily in the agricultural, mining and commercial enterprises of the country. | Swiftly as their trade was built up in Brazil, the pace was matched in all the other important countries. It was British capital, and—with one notable exception—British engineers who built almost all the railways and developed the mineral wealth. | | T EVERY BY SENATOR SIMEON D. FESS, Member of the Interstate Commerce Com- mittee, United States Benate. HE average American—or at least a great many average Ameri- | cans—reading in the newspapers on the last day of 1930 President Hoover’s announcement regard- | ing railroad consolidation, probably re- | marked, audibly, or inaudibly, “Well, | that’s none of my concern.” The fact is, however, that nearly | Cornish miners blasted and delved among the wild Chilean valleys. Scots ! shepherds penetrated the bleak south | jems involved in railroad consolidation, were legal as investments for savings of the Argentine to build up a wool | industry. “Younger sons” or aristo- | cratic families pioneered as ranchers, | fighting back the savage raids of the | Pampas Indians. Even isolated Para- | guay finally opened its doors wide to | foreigners, in 1845, when a commercial treaty permitted Britishers to settle in any part of the country and to marry Paraguayan women. In the growing seaports merchants | from Glasgow and Liverpool and Lon- don directed the increasing stream of commerce. France and Germany were beginning to get their share of the business which the British had so easily But even up to 60 years ago the British shipped more 20ods to and bought more raw ma- terials trom South America than all the rest of the world together. Neglected Customers’ Preferences. Her South American trade was Eng- | land's pride. But the Englishman at home did little to keep or extend it The steel manufacturer invested in Ar- | gentine railways, and the railway com- | panies bought locomotives and rails | from him. The British-owned mines imported their mining equipment from home. But if the native buyer of textiles had a liking for some pattern of fabric that the Lancashire factories were un- accustomed to making, he could go whistle for it, for Lancashire knew there was small chance of his buying clsewhere. If he could not read Eng- lish, he could get some one to trans- late the catalogues and price lists he | received. Over and over again British consular reports reiterated the disre- gard of the manufacturers at home for local wishes and convenience. But soon others were to learn the Open Sesame.” which had - unlocked the South American treasure cave. Ger- many, after 1570, had united Lorraine’s iron deposits with her Westphalian coal and had taken great leaps forward as | a manufacturing nation. Her mann- facturers had to find foreign markets, and soon German merchants began to cut seriously into the British South American dominance. Unlike the British government. Bis- marck and his successors seconded thair trades vigorously. Both exports and shipping were subsidized, and the Ger- man diplomatic as weil as consular service spared no energy to further the trade of the fatherland The largs and influential British col- onics in Rio de Janeiro, in Bucn Ayres and Santiago, found setting ide them increasing numbers of Ge mans Menufacturers in the Rh; land and Saxony lured customer after | customer from the British with their | catalogues in Portuguese and Spanish. their prices in native currencies and | their careful packing. Germany Filled the Order. | local tastes and individual whims were cared for meticulously. There is a tale of one chinaware jmporter who bore no love for the Germans, but was importuned so untiringly by a bland Prussian salesman that finally, to get rid of him, he gavg him what he con- sidered an impossible order. Punctually a few weeks later he received a ship- ment of mustard pots in the form ct pigs’ heads surmounted by the Prus-| 1 exactly in keeping with | largely due to these German | s that the British and other | fz Ameri- | ¢ h are | s) merchants began giving South cans the long-term credits whi characteristic of the trade today. All | over South America, as in all agricul- tural or primitive countries, currency is scarce and payments slow. The Ger- man sold on terms of six and nine months, and i{ the customer could not pay at the end of the time—well, there was no hurry; he would wait. Thousands of Germans emigrated to the southern continent. Southern every one of our citizens of adult years | has some real concern with the prob- | whether he knows it or not. 7 Most of us own railroad sccurities— whether we know it or not. We may! BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is & brief summary | of the most important news of | the world for the seven days ended January 17, 1931: GREAT BRITAIN.—On January 15, after four cdays of brisk nego-' tiation in which representatives of the government,: of the eoal mine owners, and of the coal miners participated, agreement between the latter groups was reached, ratification whereof by the South Wales Miners’ Federation would end the strike or about 150,000 South Wales miners which began with the new year; better yet, would hold| out good promise of peace in the South | Wales coal district over several years. | British exports in 1930 totaled less| in value than those of 1929 by nearly the equivalent of $800,000,000 and im- ports by nearly the equivalent of $900,- 000,000. The foreign trade since and including August has been quite desper- ately depressed, and the December show ing was positively ghastly. However, | the hideousness of the showing is & good deal softened upon consideration of the fall in wholesale prices. So it would appear that total import fell little if at all in volume and that price-fall{ would account for about two-thirds of the export fall in value. The slump hit cotton textiles far hardest of all; iron and steel coming next after a considerable interval; silk and other textiles, machinery, chemicals and dy and coal trailing after in the sad story. The only export improvement was in respect of ships and aircraft; and that but_slight. The new London building ordinance reduces to 80 feet the maximum al- lowance height of London buildings, 90 | having been the previous maximum.| The authorities had chiefly in view the | trafic difficulties caused by sky- | scrapers. | This is the 200th year since the building of the first Covent Garden Theater in London by John Rich, the famous harlequin. It was opened with Congreve’s immortal comedy, “The Way of. the World.” Qf the long line of managers perhaps George Colman the clder and the Kembles are best known | to fame. | * X ¥ * GERMANY.—Owing to the general | depression, airplane construction and | development in Germany slumped | seriously in 1930. Important research, however, continued under the handi- caps, and all is prepared for vigorous resumption of full activity upon return of prosperity. The Lufthansa was five | years old on January 5. It had pro- posed in the course of 1930 establish- | mant of a regular Berlin-Baghdad air | service and of airmail service between Berlin and the Cana: preparatory to Berlin-South America service. The lat- ter is prejudiced by refusal of fying s on the Cape Verde Islands to those of tie Franco-Portuguese ounicement is made that on Jan- the DO-X, the great German | Hying boat, her repairs completed, will | hop off from Lisbon for the Canarles.i thence to proceed via the Cape Verde | Islands and the Island of Fernando de | Noronha to the Brazilian Coast at Natal and thence on to Rio de Janerio. * ok CHINA —The Chinese government Brazil, which had welcomed German has asked the League of Nations to AMERICAN IS VITALLY CON |pends the security of institutions in | rially. | which practically all of us have a tan- |earnings up to the legal requirement |respect; practically all the big insurance a bond, yet we are railroad security | were “up to the mark” or not, but the | holders if we have a 10-cents-a-week | laws governing bank investments are insurance policy or a Christmas fund | rigid, and wholesale disposal of -bonds | in a savings bank. Upon the stability | would have been necessary if the rail- and safety of railroad investments de- |road’s net income had slumped mate- Good management kept the despite a heavy falling off in traffic | during the year. | As another instance of the average | American’s interest—indirect but vital— | in railroad operations, consider the | holdings of just one insurance company. It is one of the larger national and mu- tual companies, but not the larges People all over the country—poor, rich | and “middle class"—have built up its gible interest. The officers of hundreds of savings banks, for instance, recently awaited | with lively interest for the announce- ment of the earnings of a large Middle | Western railroad, the bonds of which bank funds as long as the road earned 6 per cent or more on its capital. The railrcad and the banks were safe and as memorably of old for Austria, Hun- gary, etc. that she spoke fluently seven dialects sk ol ‘U ieaisulbenliesns of vher subjects. To be sure her be: cerning . rallways, highways, shipping |Davior at Actium left something to be (especially on the rivers, the Yangtsze | desired, but that she could be brave in _chief), and aviation. He has done | was seen in the manner of her death. a lot of work for the League on Euro- | The story of the asp has been sufficient- pean river problems. |1y exploded by Rawlinson, but she did The Chinese government has in oper- | in some way. poison herszlf to avoid ation a Shanghai-Nanking air service appearing in Rome at the triumph of and plans for the near future similar|Qctavian (30 B. C.). Possibly chagrin Shanghai-Peiping and Shanghai-Can- at being unable to engage the affec- ton services. One hears that it has|tions of Octavian was an equally im- signed a contract with a German com- | pelling motive. 'Injuria spretae formae, pany contemplating an airmail line be- |as they probably said in the Roman tween Germany and Shanghal, but that clubs. = Cleopatra has inspired three consummation of the project waits upon | masterpieces—Shakespease’s play, Dry- settlement of the controversy with Rus-|den’s “All for Love” and Bernard sia over the Chinese Eastern Railway.|Shaw's “Caesar and Cleopatra.” Such BARTON think I could help or harm my own business.” v One thing which makes this depression seem more dis- couraging than others is the fact that all countries have been so closely knit together. In other periods of slow busi- ness we the United States did not worry because the coffee market was bad in Brazil or the corn plaster in- dustry had collapsed in Tim- buctoo. We had our own troubles to fight. This year our newspapers, through' their truly wonderful news-gathering forces, have brcught us all the bad tidings from everywhere. The result is that the average American business man is going around trying to carry the troubles of the whole big world. I may be wrong, but my idea about the other coun- tries is that they are all hav- The imagination is, indeed, intrigued | Milton's portrait. From our viewpoint EGYPT.—This is the two-thousandth | With her on’ the throne. but such dyn- Queen of Egypt. She was undoubted- | days, and even down to quite recent| Setting the World Ri g the World Right ARLE CONWAY, an in- C setts who makes cran- was thinking that the world manufacturer and found him after dinner the talk turned have eliminated prohibition in favor of depression at “During the war I was mak- except at an exorbitant price. business, because we had to ing serious difficulties, just as CERNED IN EFFICIENT RAILROAD MANAGEMENT. | never have bought a share of stock or |solvent, whether the carrier's earnings |assets until they exceed a thousand | asty of the Ptolemies, Egypt becomin; settlers as early as 1824, was especially | g to Nanking S.r Arthur Salter, di- favored. One traveler called it an out- | yector of the economic and financial | post of the Reich. Argentina, too, took | section of the League's secretariat, and | a large share of this migration. British- | Ropcrt Haas, director of its transit sec- | |ers in Buenos Aires observed with in- | yio“ ¢ accict that government in its | | dignation that Englich ale in the cafes | oy ot reconstruction. Dr. Louis | was_displaced by German light beer, | paychman, director of the heaith sec- more suitable to the climate. Chile be- | jon of the League's secretariat, is al- | came strongly Teutonic; Prussian offi- |, .ady in China by invitation, advising | cers trained their armies, and the|.q to reorganization of the Chinese | Chileans themselves were not displeased | Health Service. Should Sir Arthur and | to be referred to as the “Prussians of | mr. Haas go, the heads of the three | the South.’ chief technical sections of the League’s | Great Britain was aroused to fight | earetariat would all be engaged | for the trad> she had mcnopolized for | China's scrvice; perhaps the most im- nearly a century 1 commis- | Sortant of the League’s undertakings. the proposed route, of course, being Over | inspiration must procure forgiveness Russia. for her fgults as Satan is justified by by the above considerations. her most atrocious deed was the poison- e ing of her younger brother, associated | astic murders were differently regard- jear since the birth of Cleopatra, last | oq in Egypt and. the Ofent in. ihose v a lady of extraordinary intellectual | times. She had three children by An- as well as physical charms, and 'tis said | tony and it is or is not true that she BY BRU dustrialist, has a cus- tomer in Massachu- berry sauce. One day when Wall Street was going to the dogs Carle dropped in on this Yankee very serene. ‘They dined together, and to world business conditions, which, says Carle, “seem to from conversation, so that there is that much to be said least.” The cranberry man said: ing cranberry sauce and we were not able to get sugar Every one in the industry said we had better go out of have sugar to make cranberry sauce, and sugar at 30 cents a pound would stop sales. “I went into a huddle with myself that night and came to the conclusion that I would let the customers decide whether they would buy cran- berry saute made with 30- cent sugar; that I had just one job in the world, and that was to run my business, and I was going to let the world take care of itself, and eve one else take care of himself, and I was going to figure how I could take care of my busi- we are, but in every one of them there is a solid back- bone of people just like: you and me-—hard-working, sen- sible men and women who have their homes and fami- lies, who do not want to see the social order overthrown, and who are doing their in- dividual best to solve their own problems. Ultimately, I believe, this silent majority will win. In the meantime, when any- body comes into my office to discuss world condiitons I courteously ask to be excused. millions of dollars. And of that billion- dollar fund, for the protection of moth- ers and children and other dependents, more than $200,000,000 is invested in railroad bonds. ‘The company is not unusual in that companies and other sound financial institutions hold the securities of our railroads and consider them a good investment. ‘There’s an even more direct interest on the part of the public in our rail- roads—and that is the interest of em- of Commerce, and Jane Addams. After | every address delegates are given time to ask questions that have been rum- | bling around in their minds during the | past year. For not only these delegates but the | members of their organizations back | home in clubs and meetings are sup-| posed to have been studying up on the | program. _Announced months ago by | the “Steering Committee,” comprising representatives of all the affiliated or-| ganizations, disarmament is the gen-| eral topic decided upon for this con- ference. And now the preliminary pro- gram calls it “demobilizing the war machine, especially in relation to the developments of the London Naval Con- ference.” The Women Back Home. It is a question how much of these conferences and discussions get back to the homes and individual woman voters. Perhaps times have changed, however, since the first conference in 1925, when Mrs. Keyes was able to re- proach the women for “blaming it on the Senate” because the United States| had not joined the World Court. Mrs. Keyes, wife of Senator Henry Keyes, Republican, of New Hampshire, and well known as the writer Prances Park- | inson Keyes, was a delegate for the Y. W.C. A. Interventions from the floor are in| order. Often they are {lluminating| ccmments and questions hitting the nail on the head. Mrs. Franklin D. Roose- velt, delegate of the General Federa- tion of Women's Clybs, had just asked a pertinent question of the speakers, former Attorney General Wickersham and Judge Florence Allen, regarding the outlawry of war. Mrs. Keyes fol- lowed. “I have been in Washington six years and I have never had a letter from a constituent saying she wished I woul |use such influence as I had, if I had ployment. The railroads _directly employ more (Continued on Fourth Page.) had by Julius Caesar a son named Cae- sarlan, whom Octavian put to death. With Cleopatra ended the august dyn- a Roman province. * ok ok ok ARGENTINA.—The Prince of Wales | is on his way to Buenos Aires to open a British trad> exhibition for which ritish business has laid itself out be- yond all precedent. The prince is to spend a considerable time in Argentina, Chile and other South American countries, as Bagman extraor- dinary of Great Britain, for which job he has undergone intensive training. The Argentine foreign trade is certainly worth a grand British effort. The per capita foreign trade turnover of Argentina is the biggest in the world. For the year prior to the slump it was about a billion and three-quarter dol- lars for a country of about eleven mil- lion_population. British Argentine trade accounted for more than a quarter of this turn- over, trade between Argentina and the United States for about one-sixth. It will be recalled that toward the end of 1929 Lord D'Abernon negotiated a British-Argentinian trade treaty very favorable to Great Britain, thanks to Argentinian resentment against our tariff barriers. There wad however, much fear in Great Britian lest the bouleversement involing the fall of President Irigoyen might mean a new general orientation unfavorable to Great Britain, favorable to the United States. But this fear seems to have given place to a fresh optimism. Argentina has been Great Britain's third best “customer” following the United States and India, a little ahead of Australia, much ahead of Canada. But, British visible exports to Argentina are not mors important than the ‘_‘xn\'isiblc" exports. British investments in Argentina are estimated to_total about the equivalent of two billion | dollars, against about half a billion for th> United States. Some four-fifths of the privately owned railroads (which constitute about 65 per cent of the total railway mileage) of the country are British owned. Argentine industry is coming on, but Argentina is presminently agricultural and likely to continue so indefinitely. The British and Argentine economies are peculiarly complemental to each other. The ap- parent British resolve to play up this opportunity to the utmost would hardly seem to consist with an extension of the system of imperial preferences which should favor dominion foodstuffs (cspecially wheat and meats) at the expense of Argentina and other foreign (extra-commonwealth) countrics. ks LEAGUE OF NATIONS.—The League Council met at Geneva on Friday, the 16th. Apparently, its chief business is the critical question of the treatment by Poland of the German minoritv in Upper Silesia, Dr. Julius Curtius, Ger- man foreign minister, and August Za- leski, Polish foreign minister, figuring as_protagonjsts. ‘The League of Nations Commissions, including representatives of 27 European nations, appointed to consider M. Bri- and’s project of European federation, opened its second session (it first met on September 23 last, and at once ad- journed) at Geneva, on January 16. M. Briand is president of the com- mission, and Sir Eric Drummond, sec- retary general of the League, its sec- ratary. ey NOTES.—The French Parliament as- sembled on Tuesday, the 13th, in an atmosphere of extreme political un- certainty. The budget and the “na- tional equipment” bill are main con- cerns. The new premier, M. Steeg, is a man of great ability and poise, Indeed, it is said that the late Earl Balfour, no mean judge, once referred to him as the most lucid contemporary mind of France. He does us and him- self the honor of greatly admiring two g about the World Court in the same any, to call the attention of my hus- band to the fact that it would be a good thing to go into the World Court. I have had hundreds and hundreds of letters from constituents giving their opinion on prohibition and the bonus, and when the question of the bonus came up last Spring telegrams and let- ters and messages of every sort poured | Je.| into the Senate Office Building so ra) idly that they had to break a rul which never had been broken before, that no telegrams should be signed for, for there was not time. “I would like to ask Mr. Wickersham if he does not feel that possibly if the | constituents gave voice to their feelings proportion that they have particularly to the bonus and to prohibition, that the result might be something dif- | ferent.” { Up on the Hill Last year on the program a whole morning was left blank. It was de- voted to an invasion of Capitol Hill Armed with good intentions, hopes and resolutions, the delegates went to call on their respective Senators. But they came back a discouraged lot. “Tariff, tariff, was all we heard,” wailed those who were not too proud to admit rebuff. Many Senators could not see them: others were too busy to hear anything about “that World Court.” “The tariff is on our minds,” was the plea. Perhaps frus- trated by this experience, this year's program does not seem to allow any time for an_ invasion of Capitol Hill. Or perhaps the women think they have done enough in joining up with the World Court Committee, organized as an SOS, which has sent a resolution to the Senate urging immediate action in this or a special session, in spite of the adverse vote of the Foreign Rela- tions Committee. President Coolidge gave the women & great send-off at the first conference He and Mrs. Coolidge received them— all of them, meaning several hundred— at the White House on Saturday after the week’s discussions had been re- ported in the press. He thought the occasion of sufficient importance to ad- dress the women in a 15-minute speech. He commended their efforts, stressing the. responsibility of this generation, which lived through the greatest of all wars, in “formulating programs to pre- vent its repetition.” And he said: “I am convinced that if our civiliza- tion is worthy of its name, then %hy;l- cal force is not the only authority which may enforce an anti<war policy. I feel strongly that public opinion, | based on proper information, working | through agencies that the common man may see and understand, may be made the ultimate authority among the na- tions.” Yet in spite of these words of encour- agement from the head of our Govern- ment, duly elected by a majority of the votes of our people, the women were called all sorts of names, and at the second_conference it was necessary for Mrs. Catt, hardened to that sort of thing in the suffrage cause, to say to the women on the opening day, like a teacher to her children: “There, there, little girl, don’t cry: don’t mind if they call you names; it will all come out right in the end” (or words to that effect). No Peace Societies. In this connection attention might be directed to the fact that these delegates do not represent any of the peace or- ganizations. They were not invited to co-operate. ‘The 11 organizations in- volved are American Association of Uni- versity Women, Council of Women for Home Missions, Federation of Women's Boards of Foreign Missions of North America, Geneva Federation of Wom- en’s Clubs, National Board of the Y. W. C. A, National Council of Jewish ‘Women, National Federation of Busi- ness and Professional Women’s Clubs, National League of Women Voters, Na- tional Women’s Christian Temperaance Union, National Woman’s Conference East and on the lives of huge popula- tions. 1t is estimated by a British author- ity that there are now idle in the world about 1,100 vessels aggregating a gross tonnage of nearly 5,000,000, being over 7 per cent of the deep-see com- mercial uupgm of the world. The idle British ships are estimated to total 1,000,000 tons, including many ships built only last year. Moreover, the cargo vessels in commission have to lament much idle space. Ships are reach.” Ambassador Gibson's Hint. The program for this week's meet- ings revolves around the results and developments of the London Naval Con- ference. Necessarily these programs have to be announced months ahead, for you have women back home in the local organizations and delegates them- selves who complain if anything comes up that they did not know about. In other words, they don't want anything “put over” on them. Nevertheless, sometimes events move fast and cannot wait for the women. If the leaders are alive to Ambassador Gibson's hints and admonitions, they | may look in the direction of the “draft convention,” which is the little chicken still rubbing its eyes which the hen has brought forth in Geneva after many sittings on the egg of the pre- paratory commission. To change the simile, it is just a framework to be knocked down at will and rebuilt all over again at the proposed world con- ference. At the State Department. Curious to know whether this docu- ment had even reached Washington, I propelled myself over to the grim, gray pile housing the State, War and Navy Departments, all under one roof. Turn= ing to the modest section devoted to the affairs of state, after an absence of several years, like Rip Van Winkle, I rubbed my eyes when almost the first word that struck my vision was “international.” And, will wonders never cease, the word was coupled with conference—in- ternational conferences and protocol! It was a lovely new sign, spick and span, black, with gold letters, over a door leading to a suite of offices. Push- ing it open hesitatingly, I saw a young woman at a desk who did not look upon me as a traitor or spy when I asked: | “Is this the place where you receive reports of international ccferences, say—from Geneva?” She went to consuli somebody and came back “No. Youl find those in the Western European Division. See Mr. Field.” And so that I should not get lost in a maze of corridors, she marked the number on a slip of paper. Another sign, this time on the third floor—Western European Division. And the very first office I walked into was | the right one. My inquiry ‘Do_you get documents from Geneva, and have you received the report of the Prepara- tory Disarmament Commission? Answer: “What, the draft conven- tion? Yes, here it is. Just came in a few days and in this morning’s mail eame a verbatim report of the closing speeches. We have only copies of these documents, but you're welcome to look at them or copy them. All are open to the public and to the women's conferenct should they wish to con- sult them. He furthermore courte- ously gave the address of the private agency where additional copies may be had when arrived in Washii n. As for the new “International Con- ferences and Protocol” sign, that is nothing to write home about. It sim- ply means that, having sat in on a few conferences and still holding the bag, Uncle Sam may try a few more, and an office has been opened to look afte= certain details if he does. Peace Dove That Returned. - The most thrilling thing that has happened at any of these conferences was the ratification of the Kellogg- Briand pact on the very day in Janu- ary, 1929, when the delegates made a pilgrimage to the Hill, State by State. They went to carry resolutions indors- ing the pact from 12,000 meetings they had arranged during the months that the pact had been under discussion. That was a peace dove that came home to roost quicker than any one expected. As Mrs. Catt reminded her hearers: “I have never known any public proposal in my long life to move so fast as this treaty. Twelve thousand resolutions for a first campaign by the women of the country for a peace treaty is a record which may well make us proud.” Mrs. Catt, however, pointed out that the treaty was neither final nor com- plete. ‘The London naval pact had a break, too, so far as these women's help is concerned. When they met last Janu- ary it was in time to send their reso- lutions by two of their delegates, Mrs. Edgerton Parsons and Miss Josephine Schain, who went to London for the purpose. Joining up with Japanese and British women’s deputations, they were received by Premier MacDonald. En- visaging reduction of armaments, the treaty did not come up to expectations. But after weighing the pros and cons these same organizations urged accept- ance. They worked hard in the Sen- ate’s special session last Summer. ‘Though all the plenary conferences have been held in ington, the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War maintains a permanent office in New York. It is a modest room, with a secretary, in the Grand Central Terminal Building. The dele- gates who come to Washington pay a $5 entrance fee for the privilege of attending. It is not yet known whether the economic depression will affect this year's attendance and keep women at home. But that the economic situation al- ready has reached under the skin is evidenced by the likelihood that eco- nomics as affected by this country’s in- ternatemms ‘goiicies will be on the pro- gram next year. (Copyright. 1931.) Akl Pacific Route Laid Out for Dirigibles Dirigible service between Hawaii and the Pacific Coast will probably be the - first regular overseas passenger service established, it was indicated here by United States Senator Hiram Bingham of Connecticut, who is president of the National Aeronautic Association and in close touch with aerial developments. Senator Bingham outlined briefly some of the plans of the Pacific Zeppelin ‘Transport Company, which is a subsidi- ary of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corpora- tion, and urged that Hnwllrlmmeeed with erection of a suitable.te: for the dirigible. The territory has already established landing flelds and lmt facilities in most of the important islands of the Hawalian group, and has, of the North are scheming, maneu near Honolulu, an airport which can be developed for dirigible use. It is under- stood that when the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation completes a contract now under way for the construction of two dirigibles for the Unifed States Navy, it will begin to build the ship destined for the Pacific Coast-Hawall of the most lucid minds America may boast; namely, Emerson and William James. Silver bullion has fallen to its lowest value of record—13% pence per ounce -—in the week ended, January 10. It is expected to fall lower, with exacerba- being sent from Britain to Australia in ballast to load grain. The situation is not myeh better as traffic. ‘The passenger Winter cruises are canceled. deep-sea tonnage totals about. 68,000, 000, including over 7,500,000 w‘, of oil tankess. o fng, outbidding each other for this| Sloncrs were sent to the River Platiz | gir Arthur is now in India giving ness and solve the problems each day as they camec along. “I did not think 1 was big enough to help or harm the does that, the world will be world’s progress, but I did saved. (Copyrisht, 1931.) I am trying hard to work out my own salvaticn. If everybody in the world . » et countries t» investigate the trade situ- | comfort and advice, He would be con- [ PR e et "the first comers | ation. Brilish consuls embodied urgent | suited by Nanking regerding monetary 1n'the old smuggling days. so the Brit- | Fecommendations in ihcir reporls {or | rehabilitation and reforms, in view, es- | B were the first to seize the trade |the guidance of exporters at home | pecially of the dreadful slump of sil- when the Spanish-Americans declared | But the United States, Italy, Belgium, ‘ver and would no doubt be sounded ' their independence, The revolutionary | France and the Netherlands were all concerning the possibility o: a recon- | N e b e S B 4 AR O B BN LD P e Pt — .Y