Evening Star Newspaper, February 22, 1931, Page 25

LEGGE SAYS U. S. SHOULD RAISE ONLY OWN WHEAT Export Production Foolish and Dumping Unsound,; Declares Farm Board Head. Favors Collective Action. BY EVELYN TRENT. & O attempt any wheat produc- 4 tion for export in the United - States is foolish. There is no justification and no hope for American farmers to pro- duce more wheat than can be con- £umed here.” ‘Thus does Alexander Leggs, whose re- tirement from the chairmanship of the Federal Farm Board on March 4 next has just been announced, dismiss the possibilities of raising wheat for export in this country, in the face of a steadily increasing production on the part of other countries, coupled with the con- tinued decline of wheat prices on the world market, In an interview before the news of his retirement was made public, Mr. Legge discussed the outlook for Ameri- can sgriculture in the light of prevail- ing economic conditions. When it is realized that the United States has been an important wheat ex- porting country since 1870, and that wheat to the value of $111,000,000 and ‘wheat flour valued at more than $80,- 000,000 were exported by American farmers in 1929, the full import of Mr. Legge's statement may be grasped in its bearing on the future of wheat pro- duction here. It means the scaling down of Ameri- can wheat acreages, now allotted for large-scale production with an export- able surplus of 200,000,000 bushels, to a domestic consumption level, with consequent loss to the wheat growing industry in this country. Wheat Preluction Rises. ‘The increase in world wheat produc- tlon for 1930, exclusive of Russia and China, is given as 8 per cent over that of 1929, according to Department of Commerce figures. Russian production for last year is estimated by the United States Department of Agriculture at 1,000,000,000 bushels, equal to the larg- st pre-war crop harvested here. Canada has an estimated wheat sur- lus for export this year of 300,000,000 els, and there are even larger sur- pluses in Argentina and Australia. More than 200,000,000 bushels of wheat was collected by Russia for export in 1930- 1931, of which more than half has al- ready been thrown on the world market, as compared with an export of less than 50,000,000 bushels of wheat in 1929. ‘With more than 100,000,000 bushels of surplus wheat in the hands of the Grain Stabilization Corporation, set up by American grain co-operatives and authorized by the Federal Farm Board to engage in an effort to stabilize the price of wheat in this country, the agri- cultural outlook for the coming year seems fraught with many and difficult Pproblems of readjustment. Dumping Found Demoralizing. Chief among the causes for the pre- wailing agricultural depression in this country and abroad, according to Mr. Legge, is the reaction brought about by post-war conditions. “Conditions are worse in other coun- tries than here,” said Mr. Legge. “They are acute in a few agricultural products because of severe overproduction and lack of attention to the market con- sumer. This statement is applicable only to a limited number of commodi- tles, and not to iculture in general.” e dumping of surplus agricultural products by foreigrt coun- tries on the world market has played in about the t crisis, Mr. Legge replied that such activities on the part of Russia last Fall had played s major part in demoralizing wheat prices in the European markets and that emergency stgps had been taken by the Farm Board to prevent a similar decline in the American market. He Tejected all suggestions put forward to dispose of this country’s surplus in the world market at prices below the do- mestic level, saying that such measures - would be regzrded by importing coun- | tries as dumping. Universal Raule Applied. “Dumping is antagonistic to the laws, rules and regulations of practically every country on earth,” said Mr. Legge. “We prohibit it and so do other nations, some in the form of anti-subsidy laws, applicable to the farmer or manufac- | turer. Wherever government aid is ex- tended to the export part of a product, | it is called subsidizing, and nnr‘l‘y every | Sountry has legislation pronibiting just ‘The rule applied here is the same as everywhere else: Is the price at which a ‘commodity is sold abroad lower than in the country of origin? “Stabilization efforts are being made in wheat and cotton, so far as this board is concerned, whereby substantial quantities of both are being taken off the market to relieve the sales pressure. As a result of this operation, the price of wheat on an average in this country is 25 cents above its export value: that is, the price it could be sold for in the world market.” Asked what effect the measures re- cently passed by Congress for relief to the drought-stricken farmers might have upon the agricultural situation, | Mr. Legge replied that the farmers| might receive temporary relief, but that such measures would have no particular | effect upon the excess stocks of wheat in this country. | “The solution of the agricultural problem lies largely in organization— which the tarmer sadly lacks—to mar- | ket farm products in a more orderly manner, getting out of such production | all that the market will pay; to raise, those products for which there is a de- | mand, rather than ones for which suffi- cient demand does not exist,” he said. “Planned production on & Nation- wide scale is the real remedy for the present situation in American agricul- ture. In order to assist such com- modity-planned production we are try- ing to arrange matters so that the farmers themselves shall get informa- tion in regard to any commodity they produce. with the suggestion that they adjust their programs in such a way | as to arrive at a balanced production. Opposes Export Production. “Only in such a way can we avoid a repetition of the present crisis. This will not be done by next week, or next month. It requires time. But a real solution of the agricultural problem will be brought about by more collective action and more skillful planning on the part of the producers themselves.” Mr. Legge was asked if such planned production could be brought about in this country without taking into con-| sideration the expanding programs for agricultural production in other coun- tries, including Canada, Australia, Ar- gentina and Russia, all of which are producing large grain surpluses for ex- rt. port. | _“We have in this country 120,000,000 people to feed,” replied Mr. Legge “Many of our agricultural commodities are dn a domestic production basis. To attempt any wheat production for ex- port in the United States is foolish. There is no justification and no hope for American farmers to produce more ! wheat than can be consumed here. “This does not hold true for cotton. It is my belief, for reasons which it would take too long to enter into, that cotton can be raised profitably for export.” Relief for World Market. Mr. Legge takes the position that once the wheat market of this country is free from world market influence, the American Government can be relied upon to give its farmers whatever pro- tection may be necessary to meet the situation. By putting the United States on a domestic production basis, the world market will be relieved of about 200,000,000 bushels pressure each year, until such time as the increasing rate | of production in Russia, Argentina, Aus- | tralia and other countries overcome this | deficiency. It is with a view to regulat- ing the expanding wheat production programs of the different nations that an effort is now being made in Geneva to call a world conference aiming to limit the future supply. “Can the small farmer survive in the face of mass production methods irf agriculture?” Mr. Legge was asked. “The answer to that guestion varies V& every crop raised,” he replied. “ainere are certain crops in which an adjustment of the farm unit size will probably prove necessary, but not in all of them. In wheat farming, yes. In truck farming, fruit and vegetable gar- | | dening, no. In the latter the small unit | | has a chance to survive in competition | | with the large one. Trend Toward Larger Units. “All basic agricultural production, however—wheat and other staples— tends toward large production units, but not necessarily to big corporation farms. The units must be large enough to en- able equipment for production pur- poses.” The present outlook for live stock and cattlemen is fairly good, in Mr. Legge's | opinion. The dairyman will suffer from underconsumption as long as there is so much unemployment, he says, because consumption of dairy products is very | sensitive to unemployment concitions. | “The big staple crops are probably sceing the worst of their positipn right now,” Mr. Legge added. “There is rea- | son to hope that the situation will im- | prove, though not rapidly, nrd that| | existing wheat surpluses will be \\'orked“ |off gradually by raising less. Cotton will | come back by an increase in the con- suming demand.” Bloodless Brain Surgery Is Indicated By Properties of New Anesthetic Bloodless brain Moy surgery may soon be A recent study financed by the Medi- | cal Research Council of Great Britain reveals remarkable properties of a new a.esthetic, a liquid preparation of diallyl barbituric acid, which is admin- istered by injection. It acts on the lower brain centers— the thalamus, midbrair and upper part of the medulla oblongata. It lowers blood pressure without impairing heart action or respiration. It produces pro- found anesthesia without interfering with the spinal cord reflexes, such as the knee jerk. But its most valuable property, as Teported by Drs. J. F. Fulton, E. G. T. Liddell and B. M. Rioch in the Journal of Physiology of London, is that of con- stricting the innumerable small blood vessels of the brain which hitherto have been one of the greatest obstacles in |the path of the bratn surgeon. | Working with monkeys, the experi-' | menters found that they could perform ! | such major operations as removal of the cerebellum or the cerebra! hemi- | spheres ‘almost bloodlessly without the | necessity of closing off any of the great | arteries of the region They were able to-perform three successive operations on the same animal—removal of the cerebellum and of the right and left! | hemispheres—at three-week intervals | The animals used in the experiments| | remained quiet from 12 to 36 hours. When the behavior of the drug is better known, the experimenters say, it| may make possible operations on the| base of the brain which are practically impossible under ether because of hemorrhages. Experiment Shows Complete Amnesia Is Caused by Hemp Lasting for Hours The wild hemp of India, Cannabis sativa, does queer things to tne brain. It has long been known that it would eause visions, that dreadful crimes were committed under its influence, and that seventually it would lead to insanity Maj. Jal Edulji Dhunjibhoy, British army medical officer, experimented on himself to find out what else 1t would do, he reports in the Journal of Mental Sclence of London. Its most striking characteristic, he found, was complete amnesia lasting for several hours. Large doses, he re- , are followed by excitement, de- , hallucinations and a highstate of ecstasy. Then comes a deep sleep. But only the beginnings of this condi- tion are remembered by the subject. ‘When he wakes up everything he did has ‘passed completely out of memory. Defendants who tell the court that they have no memory of having com mitted a crime, Maj. Dhunjibhoy in- sists, are entitled to full credence. In some cases, he t years. His vocal appar: his | strance. and it may reports, the drug seems to attack the speech center of the brain. One man was speechless for yeal atus was right, he understood everything that to him, but couldn't speak a | |18 & tea brewed from the leaves of | plants of both sexes. Both preparations have about the same effect | “Katipunan” Is Weapon Against Aggressions If Speaker Manuel Roxas of the Philip- pine Legislature organizes his new | “katipunan,” it would seem, to have a weapon with which to oppose aggres- sions against the Philippines arising in Western States of the United States and finding echoes in Congress. And here | lies the possibility of violent trouble. If | Fllipino workmen are mobbed the katipunan may flame with remon- et out of hand and | commit reprisals. is would betnm"-‘ thing beyond Roxas’ control, for he him- self is a Conservative. If bills to lay tariffs against Philippine products go- ing into America come up in Congress the organization can oppose them as a unit— saying either continue free trade or grant independence. If bills to keep Filipino emigrants out of | America come up in Congress it can | use the same argument. American goods are not taxed in coming into the Philippines, and Americans come into THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, 1-EBRUAI§Y 22 Political No Man’s Land Slovakia Becomes New Alsace-Lorraine, a Storm Center in Tempestuous Central Europe. BY EMIL LENGYEL. TRADE war has broken out be- tween Czechoslovakia and Hun- gary which, as most trade wars do, aims at a political objective. Its avowed cause is a large sur- plus of agricultural produce in both countries, which sets them at cross pur- poses. Czechoslovakia denounced the trade treaty of 1927 and increased her tariff on grain, whereupon Hungary protested. Attempts at the adjustment of the differences proved futile, and the result was what amounts to a severance of commercial relations. 1If this incident were not the potential cause of dangerous political repercus- sions it would not be any different from the average run of trade wars. But in eastern central Europe such incidents often have remarkable echoes. One is reminded of the Serbian pigs which 17 years ago were barred from Hungary and which, in a very unpiglike fashion, set the world on fire. They precipi- tated a political crisis between Austria- Hungary and Serbia that, in turn, set off the revolver of a Serblan student, which was the direct cause of the out- break of the World War. Although no such dire results are ex- pected to grow out of the present con- . A PICNIC PARTY IN MORAVIA. troversy between Czechoslovakia and Hungary, it is obvious that the ultimate cause of the friction is not oats nor potatoes, but Slovakia, which for the last 12 years has been the stake of the diplomatic gamble between Czecho- slovakia and Hungary. Position of Slovakia. Slovakia_is politically a No Man's Land. Before 1918 it occupled the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Hungary, and now it is the eastern’part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, which came into life at the end of the World War. It is claimed by both the Czechs and the Hungarians. It is also claimed by the Slovaks. For the Czechs the Slovak question does not exist. In the view of the Czechs the Slovaks are their kin, part- | ners in the same gigantic adventure of | nation building. They point with pride |to their joint achievements. Among |the new mations of Europe Czecho- slovakia_is the only one that can be |sald to have placed its existence on a firm basis. It has the unique distinc- tion of having escaped the economic disasters which have wrought havoc | with the destinies of its neighbors. Its outstanding leaders are men generally | recognized as probably the ~greatest statesmen of .the age. Thomas G. Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia, is one of the heroes of our generation. | His friend and disciple, Eduard Benes, foreign minister of the republic since its birth, has secured for his country a place of distinction among the na- tions ‘and has proved his value as one of the great peacemakers. And yet there is a Slovakian question, and it has assumed alarming propor- | tions with the passing of the years. Nation Is 600 Miles Long. One of the reasons why there is a Slovakian problem is the geographical Iposmon of the republic. It is dispro- portionately long, more than 600 miles, | compared with ifs width, which ranges | between 50 and 100 miles. High moun- | | tain ranges, belonging to the Carpathian | | system, cut Slovakia into slices and pre- | vent the efficient working of a central- |ized administration. When the Hun- garlans were masters of Slovakia they | built their raflway lines and highways, |for strategical and. administrative rea- | sons, to converge on Budapest, the cap- | ital, 'whigh lies to the south. As a result | Stovakid is scantily supplied with rail- | roads toward the west, in which direc- |tion lies Prague, the present capital. | The rivers of.Slovakia, with one ex- 1931—PART “TWO. ccption, are tributaries of the Danube and they flow toward Hungary and the south. The political orientation of the Slovaks during the last thousand years has necessarily been toward the Mag- yars, with whom they have lived in one | be household. The readjustment has been retarded by the intransigence of all parties concerned. The Slovak problem, fn its present chronic stage, is the result of the lack of facilities for divorce among nations. In 1918 the Czechs and Slovaks were wedded to each other with much so- lemnity. In 1919 they discovered that they were mismated. The Czechs, who stood to gain by the unfon, hushed up the secret, but the Slovaks began to divulge the truth. Slovakia complained that she was refused the attention to which she was entitled; she wanted more freedom and a greater latitude of independence, but who was to give her the freedom? The Czechs maintained that the Slovaks had equal rights with them, as attested by the fact that the names of both of them were on the signboard of their joint enterprise. Slo- vakia_ protested that she did not want to partake of all the happiness which came by the way of Prague. Thus, in the eastern part of Central Europe (Continued on Fourth Page.) The Story the Week Has Told BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief summary of the most important n°ws of the world for the seven days ended February 21, 1931: B ¥ GREAT BRITAIN.—There seems to be & good deal of doubt about the fate of the trade-disput's bill, now in the committee stage. The Sir John Simon section of the Liberals are urging amendments adoption of which would take all the virtu> out of the measure. In oth'r words Lloyd George, big chief of the Liberals, may not be able to “deliver the goods.” It is understood that he had engaged support of the bill without important amendment in return for Labor support of the electoral re- form bill so dear to the Liberals. The resent political phase in Great Britain s fascinating beyond wildest fiction. The House of Lords rejects, 162 to 22, the schbol att'ndance bill. | i i FRANCE.—The International Colonial exhibition, which opens toward the end of April in the Parc de Vincennes, should go far toward reviving for this year the somewhat moribund tourist traffic, for it promises to be a gem among exhibitions, with its reproduc- tions by exquisite artistry of fragments (past and present) of America, Asia, Africa and the Isles. The participation of other countries will be notable; Belgium, for example, with & compléte Congo village; the Netherlands with a Sunda temple, Italy | with a typical basilica and a section of | Rhodes at the height of her glory. And not least interesting, of course, will be the reproduction of Mount V:rnon (de- scribed by me in a previous issue). Next | to this in interest might be ranked, I should suppose, a reproduction in wood | apd plaster of the temnle of Angkor | Wat, the ruins of which (vividly d-- | scribed by Somerset Maugham i a | recent book) are among the wonders of the world. Morocco should be adequately represented, se-ing that Marshal Lyautey | is commissioner general of the exhibi- | tion. * X % x SPAIN —I reported last Sunday how a Spanish royal decree announced elec- tions for a n°w Cortes in March. On | February 14 a new deeree was issued | indefinitely postponing the elections, and the same day the cabinet headed by Gen. B-renguer resigned. Obviously things were in an awful mess. They were, indeed. Berenguer's fall seems to have been precipitated by the Liberals, headed by the Marquis de Alhucemas and the Count de Roma- nones. The obvious development seemed | to be a cabinet embracing Left and Right supporfers of the regime, the | Liberals predominating. The quid- nuncs envisaged for it a program that | {should be a somewhat liberalized ver- sion of the Berenguer program; elec- tions to a new Cortes conformably to the constitution of 1876, and some pro- vision for constitutional revision—per- haps even a constitutional convention or constituent Cortes, but with sufficient safeguards for the crown. (Gen. Beren- guer had contemplated limited consti- tutional revision by the regular Cortes.) And almost certainly a bid for good will through a general amnesty. Now recall that sundry groups, in- cluding the Reformists (headed by Senor Alvarez), the Republicans and the Socialists, have long demanded a | constituent asscmbly with absolute pow- er to determine the future form of gov- ernment. These groups seem to have regarded Senor Guerra as in a sense their common leader Of these gentle- men some were for for suspending his functions from the dafe of meeting of the assembly, which might restore him with curtailed powers or dethrone him. Al have contended that the King himself, by his perticipa- tion in the illegalities of recent vears, did to death the constitution of 1876. As was to be expected in Spain, the | “obvious development” did not take immediate de- | thronement of the King, others werey stead of the “obvious development,” one of the most extraordinary developments conceivable. On the 16th King Alfonso sent for Senor Guerra and invited him to form a government, with the under- standings that elections should at once be held for constituent Cortes, that from the date of its assembling his royal functions should be _syspended and that it should be empowered to determine the future form of govern- ment. Senor Guerra _consented, but a doubt harassed him. He could not be sure of the collaboration of the Republicans and Socialists, who might insist on the immediate dethronement of the King. He proceeded” at once to clear up the doubt by consulting the chiefs of those groups; to see the Republican chief Alcala Zamora, he had to visit a prison He received pledges of participation in the elections, but refusal to participate in the government. The former was AST Summer there was a water shortage in a town where I was vislt- ng. I happened to be chatting, with my host, who is a noted’ man, while he was shaving, and I noticed how careful he was to use very little water. “It seems sort of silly for you to be so conscientious,” I remarked. “After all, the few drops that you conserve won't make any difference.” “They don’t make any dif- ference in the final result,” he said, “but they make a lot of difference to me.” When he saw from my ex- pression that I did not quite get his meaning, he proceeded to give me his philcsophy of life. He said that when he grad- uated from college, a quarter of a century ago, there was a great deal of popular em- phasis upon so-called “social service.” Science had begun to intro- duce wonderful new inven- tions for increasing human happiness. Men were stirred by the hope of a quick mil- lennium. Young people grad- uated with the notion that a few years of earnest effort would transtorm the world. My friend was one of the most eager of the refcrmers. He organized, and voted, and agitated, and did all the things that he should. But nothing happened. The good candi- dates for whom he cast his What Does It Matter? sufficient; so at noon the next day he presented himself to the King with the list of his proposed government. But meantime the face of things had changed at the palace. The King had been in consultation with the “old gang,” so to speak. Perhaps he had perused the comment of the Parisian press. Perhaps the visit of Senor Guerra to the jails had unpleasantly affected him. Perhaps he saw in the arrange- ment with Guerra the menace of dread- ful anarchy and national upheaval. Perhaps the royal pride had resurged irresistibly. At any rate, the King had changed his mind. He so indicated by objections to the proposed personnel of the new government. Old Guerra took his departure, Now what? Of course, certain mili- tary dispositions are made. The cen- sorship s clamped down hard once more; the constitutional guarantees are again suspended. Rumors hurtle widely Human nature showed a dis- couraging unwillingness to change. “I went through a period of deep disillusionment,” he said. “I thought to myself, what's the use of doing anything when one’s single effort seems so futile? “One day while I was in this mood I disccvered these words of Socrates: ‘I, therefore, * * * consider how I may exhibit my soul before the judge in a healthy condition. Where- fore, disregarding the hon- ors that most men value, and lcoking to the truth, I shall endeavor in reality to live as virtuously as I can; and when I -die, to die so. And I invite all other men, to the utmost of my power; * * * to this contest, which, I affirm, surpasses all con- tests here.’ “That flashed across my mind like a bolt of lightning,” my friend continued. “It clarified everything. “I realized that I am not re- sponsible for the success or failure of any good cause. All I am responsible for is my own best effort in that cause. Whether my vote be effective or not; whether the amount of water I can save will make any difference—these are not the questions. “The only question is: I doing my best? “That discovery gave me great comfort,” he concluded. “Maybe you could use it in one of your editorials.” Am importing _another dictatorship, the name of Gen. Martinez "Anido, Primo De Rivera's minister of the interior, a very strong man, being in many mouths. No doubt his majesty seriously consid- ered a dictatorship, but he pursues a milder course. On the 18th a govern- ment of monarchists is formed, headed by the chief admiral, Juan Bautista Alznar (71 years old), with Gen. Beren- guer as minister of war, and including the two most prominent of the Liberals, namely, the Marquis de Alhucemas (whose government was sent packing by Primo de Rivera in 1923) and the Count de Romanones. I am unable to say whether the Conservative or the Liberal element predominates. The new government announces s program simiiar to that (see above) projected by the quidnuncs for the Lib- eral government which failed to ma- terialize. Municipal and provincial elections will soon be held, to be fol- lowed by general elections to a *Co; stituent Cortes.” “The primary purpose of this Cortes will be to alter the pres- ent constitution or dfaw up a new one, to settle definitely the powers and pre- rogatives of the King and of the legis- lative and judicial branches of the gov- ernment. But the fundamental regime, the monarchy, will not be challenged.” Our information is a little vague, but apparently a large measure of autonomy is pledged to Catalonia. If true, and if the pledge is made in good faith, this 1s important. Of course, efforts toward stabilization of the peseta are promised. The world awaits the reactfons with intense interest. Rumor, you know, has it that threat of a general strike pre- cipitated the King's astounding move with reference to Senor Guerra. The present indication is that the “Consti- tutionalists” or “Reformmists” (the group headed by Alvarez) will refuse participation in the elections. The at- titude of the Republicans and Socialists on this head is awaited unhopefully, * K %k PORTUGAL.—This is the 700th year since the death of St. Anthony of Padua, one of the greatest of Francis- cans. It seems hardly fair that he should be known as of Padua, for he was a Portuguese, born in Lisbon, and Italy, so rich in saints, should concede Portugal a prior right in him. The most familiar legend associated with him is that which tells how he preached to.a school of fishes and was hearkened to with intelligent delight, shown by leaping and frisking. He taught at Toulouse, Montpellier, Bologna and Padua, dying at Padua, and is the pa- tron saint of Padua and Portugal, He left sermons and a mystical commen- tary on the Bible. Murillo painted him twice, the more famous painting being in the Cathedral of Seville, X K % x NICARAGUA. — Secretary Stimson has announced a program contemplat- ing complete withdrawal of American Marines from Nicaragua shortly after the Nicaraguan presidential election of 1932, the which election we are pledged to supervise. Some 1,000 Marines and Navy personnel would be withdrawn by June, 1931, leaving about 500 Marines stationed at Managua to assist in in- structing the National Guard and against an emergency. Some Marine aviators and planes would also be kept to carry supplies to remote National Guard patrols. My understanding is that complete realization of the pro- gram would be conditional on certain action by the Nicaraguan government, to which it has acceded, including in- crease of the Naticnal Guard by 500 men, building of roads and trails in the bandit-infested country and expansion of the school at Managua for the in- struction of National Guard officers. In the course of the American occu- pation, i. e, since late in 1926, 27 American Marines have been killed, 15 have died of wounds, and 59 have be'n wounded not fatally. The Nicaraguan National Guard now numbers about 1,000. * K Kk |been brought into the conversation 500,000 LIVES 31 WASTED ANNUALLY, SAY DOCTORS Annual Loss of $6,000,000,000 Declared Due to Neglect of People to Make Use of Medical Knowledge. BY DR. WALTER P. BOWERS, Member of the Committee on Costs of Medical Care. HENEVER two or more hu- man beings have gotten to- gether since the invention of speech we may be pretty sure that two subjects have within the first five minutes. One is weather. The other is health. The weather has been a cause of comment and complaint since the days of the caveman. It still is, for, speaking in very general terms, there is no per- ceptible improvement in it from gen- eration to generation. With health the case is a little dif- ferent. Primitive man, we now know, was not altogether the healthy and happy creature that eighteenth century romanticists made him. He had his aches and pains and no effective meth- ods of dealing with them and the evi- dence is that whether he died by vio- lence or by disease his span of life was short. With the development of what we like to call civilization there arose many conditions which were and are bad for people’s health. Men crowded together in citles, lived and worked in- doors more than they had done before and built themselves an artificial world to which their bodies were not naturally adapted. Epidemic Laid to Folly. Until almost the beginning of the present century sanitation was primi- tive. Then the tide turned. The causes of many of the epidemic dis- eases were discovered, together with means to prevent or control them. Smallpox, diphtheria, malaria, yellow fever and typhoid fever, to take five| notable instances, need no longer occur in any civilized community. When they do occur they are due to the ignorance or folly of men. The death rate from all causes has dropped. Twenty years ago there were annually about 15 deaths for every 1,000 men, women and children in the United States. The corresponding figure is now less than 12. ‘The brighter side of the picture may seen in comparing the present with the past; for we may congratulate our- selves on living in a healthier, and for that reason a happier period, than our fathers and grandfathers did. But if we compare the state of health to which we might, as a Nation, attain with that which we actually have reached, our complacency ought to di- minish. Much remains to be found out about the human mechanism and its numerouf enemies and disabilities. Knowledge Goes Un‘ypllod. ‘With all our boasted progress we have nct succeeded as a people in applying anywhere near all the knowl- edge we now possess. A glance at & few sober but unavoidable facts stated by Alden B. Mills of the Committee on the Costs of Medical Care will suggest what this means. “The people of the United States on the average,” Mr. Mills finds, “suffer from one to two disabling illnesses a year, males generally having about one case a year and females closer to two cases. School children seem to have an average of over two cases per school year. For respiratory diseases alone, including those which do not disable, there is an annual fate of illness of two to three cases & year. Seven to nine days a year, on an av- erage, are lost by male workers and approximately eight to twelve days a year by females. Children lost from their classes during a school year an average of seven or more days per child.” . The “common cold,” a simple term for a complex and rather mysterious thing, stands near the head of the list, with * influenza, grip, tonsilitis and “sore throat” close behind. Diphtheria Preventable. Among the younger generation measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken- | pox and whooping cough are prevalent. In most of the surveys of adult work- ers “rheumatism” figures. The word is put between quotation marks because it inaccurately describes a condition which may have any one of several causes. Saddest of all is the occur- rence on some of the children’s lists of diphtheria, which need not occur at all if simple preventive measures known to all qualified physicians are taken. Most of us obviously are ill many times with comparatively harmless ail- . ments before the time comes for us to shuffle off the mortal coil. These ill- nesses are costly in time, in money and im comfort. Even if they do not short- appropriating $20,000,000 for loans for “farm rehabilitation.” According to a statement from a dis- tinguished source, thé) main use of the appropriation will be by way of “loans of capital stock for the organization and enlargement of agricultural credit corporations, live stock loan companies, and similar organizations”; the re- mainder to be loaned to farmers “for purposes of crop production and agricul- tural rehabilitation, including food and other necessaries of life.” The President signed the biil on the 14th. Perhaps it has not been made as clear as could be wished to what extent relief of cry- ing distress in resp°ct of the absolute necessities is made immediately and readily available under the terms of the act. On February 16 the House passed, 363 #em39, the veterans’ bonus loan bill on the 19th the Senate also, 72 to 1! So, “after 10 years of .debate the | Muscle Shoals controversy is ended. Conferees of House and Senate have agreed on a measure which provides for direct Government operation of the powsr plant and for leasing of the nitrate plants under conditions stated, provided a lessee can be found within 12 months from enactment; in default of a lessee, the Government to operate the nitrate plants also. There are other interesting details. On the 20th the Hous?, 216 to 153, adopted the confer- ence report. Our January foreign trade was at the lowest point for almost a decade (as to value, anyway). Exports totaled $250,- 000,000 in value as against $275,193,000 for December, 1930, being the lowest for any month sinc: February, 1922. Imports totaled $183,000,000 in value, as_against $208,650,000 for December, 1930, being the lowest since September, 1921. The total of imports and exports was below that of January, 1930, by $288,817,000. The balanée, however, for the month was faborable by $67,000,000. Federal internal revenue receipts of the first seven months of the current fiscal year totaled $1,473,923,000, a fall of $114,158,000 from the figure for the correspondlng period of the preceding fiscal year. 1930 imports of the Philip- pine Islands totaled $123,093,000 in value as against $147,150,000 for 1929; exports totaled $133,167,000 as against $164,447,000 for 1929. Most of the €x- port decline refers itself to smaller ship- ments of coconut oil and manila hemj. The turnover of trade with the Unitey States fell 15 per cent. Th> United States receives over three-fourths of the island’s exports and furnishes over three-fifths of the island's imports. * NOTES.—Sir Eric Drummond, s-cre- tary general of the League of Nations, returning from a general tour of South America, informs us that he found the economic crisis- in_that continent coming as it does from an the, en our lives in the statistical sense they subtract heavily from the portion of existence during which we are fully and joyously alive. There are nu- merous defects, many of lem pre- ventable or curable, which without being disabling keep us from being per- fectly functioning animals. Forty-seven out of every 100 men examined for the draf during the ‘World War were found to have defects or diseases of some kind, and 21 of the 47 were sent home as unfit for mili- tary service. Many of these were quite able to carry on their ordinary civilian occupations. Flat feet, near-sighted- ness, “defective or injured fingers and toes” or a few missing teeth need not shorten life nor destroy one's eniap- ment of it. But diseases of heart and arteries, nervous and mental disorders, tuberculosis and the so-called “social discases,” all of which were found to be prevalent amone drafted men sup- posedly in the prime of life, certainly are provocative of shortened life and distress of mind and body. Similar findings were reported a large private organization which d exmained more than 100,000 adults when its records were tabulated: More than one-fourth of this number had uncorrected defects of vision: nearly half had defective or diseased tonsils; 4 out of every 10 had diseased or defective teeth or gums: 6 per cent had functional or organic trouble with the heart, and 7 per cent were definitely “nervous,” or neurasthenic. Yearly Loss $6,000,000,000. If the facts about preventable sick- ness were realized and acted upon, it might not be necessary for us to main- tain a hospital population which is more than two-thirds the total num- ber of students in all our colleges and universities; to permit 100,000 cases of smallpox, as happened in at least one year of. the last decade; to allow 700,- 000 persons annually to suffer from malaria, or to undergo a total annual loss, measured in the cold terms of money value alone, of $6,000,000,000 worth of lives which could have been saved. About two-thirds of all the deaths in- the registration area of the United States are caused 'by diseases of the heart, pneumonia and influenza, can- cer, nephritis, cerebral hemorrhage and softening of the brain, tuberculosis and various congenital or acquired diseases or malformations of ly infancy. The names are given in the order of their importance. Some can be prevented by proper living habits, or, like cancer, often can be cured if properly treated is a disease we cannot cure, though we can postpone it and make it less tragic. Any death short of the mormal one of old age is in a sense premature. The lengthening of the average span of life has come about, not by adding years to the biblical three score and ten, but by cutting down mortality in infancy and childhood and to some extent in the middle decades. Some diseases, notably cahcer and heart disease, we have not been able to conquer. On the contrary, they have gained on us as causes of death. But even these probably could be re- duced by a more careful education of the public in matters of health and by & better organization of the therapeutic and preventive means we now possess, If every child and adult had peri- odical physical examinations through- flutll 'g:e, i lllmwere within reach of qualified physicians, surgeons, nurses and well equipped hospitals and knew how to make use of them, if health were sought as intelligently and as eagerly as most people seek money, there is no question that the average span of life could be greatly extended. Nelect Termed “Cultural Lag.” Robert E. Farr declares “that the enforced application of the knowledge now in the possession of the medical profession in regard to the prevention and cure of disease would be the means of saving upward of 500,000 lives a | year in the United States alone.” Sir Arthur Newsholme has stated that “at least one-half of the mortality and disablement still occurring at ages below 70 can be obviated by the application of medical knowledge already in our possession.” A certain Pacific Cocast city some years ago drastically cut its infant death rate. If other cities had adopted the same measures with the same success, the lives of nearly 100,000 babies might be saved each year in the United States. Prof. William . Ogburn of the Uni- versity of Chicago has given the name of “cultural lag” to the curious phe- nomena which these facts reflect. . It is to do something toward over- coming the “cultural lag” that the Com- mittee of the Costs of Medical Care, organized three years ago under the chairmanship of Dr. Ray Lyman Wil- bur, now Secretary of the Interior, is devoting its researches. The committee has endeavored to find out how much sickness there is in the United States, how it is being cared for at present and what suggestions may be made toward giving proper care to all sick persons at a cost they will be able to meet. Behind this movement is the ideal of a health- fer nation which needs only popular ap- proval and a more effective organization of medical services to be carried into execution. The United States already boasts it- zelf, even in a tyne of economic de- pression, to being the richest nation the world has ever seen. It can, if it will, achieve a far more important dis- tinction—it can become the healthiest nation the world has ever seen. Naval Pact Praised By Japanese Prince ‘To thousands of his countrymen in Hawali, Prince IyesatosTokugawa of Japan delivered the message that the recent naval treaty reached at Lon- don is a long forward step toward as- sured international peace and a step of tremendous importance to the Pacific. Prince Tokugawa stopped here recently en route to Japan from Europe and the States. He was given a welcome by large numbers of Japanese and Ameri- cans of Japanese descent, the latter joining Americans of other races in their greeting. Tokugawa stressed the accomplishments of the disarmament conference, and his attitude on this was regarded as particularly significant by the Japanese in Hawail. Anything which affects the peace of the Pacific is of first importance in these islsnds, hence the atmosphere of assured gsoa will which Tokugawa radiated was taken by his countrymen here as evid dence that the nations are progressing through conference to a solution of in~ ternational difficuities, Zulus bnce Strongest In Southern Africa ‘When Chaka was King of the Zulus they were the most powerful people in Southern Africa; so powerful that the struggling whites had to keep in Chaka's good books. This was partly due to the warlike qualities of the Zulu race, but behind this there was a store of wealth with which Chaka financed his frequent. wars. This fact is again brought to the fore by the discovery on the banks of th= Tugela, 18 miles from Kranskop, of old mine workings. In them were found crude crucibles and molds. At tnis pomnt the river flows first' competence. UNITED STATES.—On February 14 Word arrives of & counter- the Senate at last followed the House in Lima and Callao, Peru, b in conferenc: report o soon = suppress: involving the (representing a compromise) three-score deaths. vered his :&eech sudden; both and lenule the ggfllppiflu without testriction. The ! place. As I interpret, the Liberals con- of | new movement seems to be something tracted “cold feet,” especially Senor to give national expression to Filipinos’ Francisco Cambo, the Catalan chief, " | ylews on issues with America. - whose co-operation was essential. 3 ] vote were defeated. The good “Many thanks,” I answered. causes made slow progress. “I can.” - (Copyright. 1931.) vo