Evening Star Newspaper, March 15, 1931, Page 37

THE SUNDAY SOUTHLAND NOW FRONTIER| IN VAST DEVELOPMENT Awakened Farmer, Credited With Strides and Consolidation of Schools, Has Furthered Transformation. BY JAMES E. BOYLE, Professor of Rural Economy, Cornell University. South is our mnew frontier. Sixty years ago Horace Greeley : “Go West, young man; go West.”. Ten million young men took that advice and the West- ern frontier disappeared. If Horace Greeley were living today he would say: *“Go South, young man; go South.” The next 60 years belong to the South. Already young men of excep- tional ability in the professions of law and medicine are headed Sauth. The economic life of the South has had a sudden awakening, thanks to the abun- dance of cheap power, a friendly cli- mate and an adequate labor supply. Already two-thirds of cll the cotton spindles in the United States have mi- grated to the South. The railroads, the banks, the industries, the public utili- | ties of the South are making phe- nomenal progress. The South is being rapidly industrialized. There is now passing out of the picture the old aris- tocratic plantation owner, With courtly and leisurely rural civilization. New Agriculture Arrives, The skyscrapers of Atlanta and the smokestacks of Birmingham show a mew industrial South. You must go to the country, howev see an even greater transformation. There is a new agriculture in the making. It is a scientific agriculture. This agrarian revolution in the South is not a farmers' movement only; it is much more than that. It is a mobilization of the banks, the railroads, the mer- chants, the editors and the schools, all co-operating with the farmers and working through the farmers to bring in the new agriculture. But it is chiefly the schools that must and do supply the dynamic force of this mighty movement. Under the in- spiration and guidance of the new edu- cation agriculture is being exalted and dignified. The farmer, with his eco- nomic and social status improved, is coming back into his ancient heritage. In the matter of common schools, high schools and colleges, the South for seven decades had lagged behind the North, Her percentage of illiteracy was therefore much higher. But now that the awakening has come in Southern education, the South is un- questionably making faster progress than the North. If this pace keeps up, it is only a matter of time until the South out- strips the North. A study of the new laws on education in the South, such a8 the unified education act of Ala- bama, will convince any possible skep- tic that the South is in’terrible earnest about its new program. It is willing to invest time and money' and thought most lavishly. Type of High School. ‘The best tangible evidence of this new and vast expansion in the South’s educational program is the type of high school buildings now being erect- ed. Comparisons always are odious, but surely few high school buildings in the Northern cities of America are as large, or complete or as beautiful as those two new ones located respectitcly in Little Rock, Ark., and Montgomery, Ala. Not quite so obvious, but even more Impressive to the close observer, is the high character of the personnel now in charge of this educational renaissance. I have never observed anywhere, in any capacity, men who are better trained for their special tasks; than these men. One of the first things to impress | the educationally minded and observant | traveler in the South is the consoli- dated school. Here the principle of the industrial merger is applied in the edu- cational world, one strong central scheol taking the place of a number of weak and scattered schools. A example of the consolidated school is geen in Hamburg, county seat of Ashley County, Arkansas, a village of 1,500 in- habitants, in the southeastern part of the State. By abolishing 19 small, un- improved school buildings in a terri- tory about 17 miles square ‘and erect- ing one modern central plant with ample accommodations for 800 pupils, a wise investment of public money was made. The new school building in Hamburg contains a modern gymnasium and au- ditorium, a library and science equip- ment. What the consolidation of schools is doing in Arkansas it is doing in other Southern States to bring to the farm boys and girls longer school terms, improved facilities and better teachers. ‘The slogan “Equality for Agriculture” is not a new ane, although it has been rezelving new emphasis recently. Fif- teen or twenty yvears ago the leaders who looked at the farm problems from | the educational standpoint pointed out | the inequality in schooling between | farm boy and city boy. Most of city | boys were going to high schools as a | matter of course. There was no tuition | to pay. They lived but a short distance | from the high school building. The farm boy lived a long distance from any high school. And if he did | overcome the handicap of distance this farm boy had to pay tuition. Courses of study in the high school were so de- signed as to lead the farm boy away | ;rom the farm rather than back to the arm. Four Thousand High Schools. his | crowth has taken place. Fhom and potash he is using for fertilizer, and why. ‘These boys show their leadership by | going forward into another organiza- | | tion, the Future Farmers of America. Young Head Their Elders. Yet another offshoot of this move- ment is the Boys' and Girls' Four-H Club movement, now famous for the projects carried through by their young | people themselves, along strictly scien- |tific lines. These young leaders fre- | quently convert their own parents to |the new and scientific agriculture. However, it is the evening class move- {ment, the movement among adult farmers, that promises to transform Southern agriculture. ‘The evening class for farmers from 18 to 80 years old is the most impressive thing in agricultural education that has | developed in this generation. Already in some States there are more farm- | exs ‘enrolled in these classes than there |are farm boys in the vocational agri- { cultural subjects in the high schoals. In the last six years this phenomenal We may call it a Southern movement because in 10 Southern, States there are more eve- ning classes for farmers than in all the other 38 States combined. The 10 States of the South which now have | more than 50 per cent of these classes |are: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippf, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. What is an evening class for farmers and why is it so important? It is im- portant because it gets hold of a few farmers in the community who are hungering and thirsting after knowl- edge. These men are in a receptive mood. Since they are actually practic- ing the vocation of farming, there is no lost motion, lost effort or lost time in teaching them agriculture. ‘The teacher must stick to the facts as worked out by the various experiment stetions. Farmers in the class are en- couraged to contribute ideas proved sound in their own experience. These discussions help farmers discover their own problems. A problem once clearly stated is half solved. A class running one hour and six evenings a week does not change the practices of all the farmers in the class. Some are skeptics, but this situation is successfully met by having the class run for three consecutive years in the same schoolhouse. If the teacher the first year teaches some new doctrine about the kind and amount of fertilizer to use on cotton, some of the farmers will use this information, some will not. ‘The second year the results obtained by those who used the new knowledge will be discussed in the class. By the third year the new practice has become practically universal among these men. In one group, for instance, where the teacher showed the correct amount of ammonia to be used, the farmers in the class got 100 pounds of cotton per acre more than neighboring farmers who stuck to the old customs. Agriculture is competitive now as never before. Tariff laws, farm relief laws—these are but palliatives at best. The farmer, like his city cousin in in- dustry or commerce, must meet the new competition by lowering his own costs of production and improving the quality of his product. The evening classes, as long as they stick closely to a better production program, are doing more to lower the farmer’s cost of production and to improve his quality than any other agency. They are using the re- m of all the other agencies com- Luxurious Sea Villa Of Nero Unearthed| Never before have diggings been un- dertaken in Italy with such intense rhythm as today. Pompeii, Cuma, Capri, Carpena and Ostia are under- going the’ painful experiments of one champion lady diviner in the person of Signorina Mataloni, while Rome con- tinues to yleld that ysual supply of ar- cheological finds with which she so gen- erously endows the Fascist era. Now Anzio, seashore town on the coast south of Rome, not to be outdone, follows the general trend, and it is reported that remains of a house belonging to the villa of Nero have come to light during excavations near the lighthouse. La Tribuna of Rome describes the building as a luxurious dwelling house, the older portions of which are ascribed by the authorities to the republican epoch. Belief that this house was Nero's sea- side villa is maintained by experts be- cause of the peculiar structure of the walls, belonging to the Neronian period, and of structural alterations made in the fourth century AD. Remains of rich interior decoration composed of columns, marble panels and splendid mosaic pavements were found during excavations made to the left of the lighthouse, and this other Roman con- struction is thought to have been a public building. Mosaics described as of great value and striking effect, dat- ing from imperial times, perhaps to the first century A.D., came to light when a small walled-up room, hollowed out of the rock in the ground of what was previously known as the Villa Sarsina, Congress attacked this problem, among others, in 1917, when it passed & | law known as the vocational educa-| tional act, or Smith-Hughes law. | law provided for a new scheme of high | school vocational education in agricul- | ture, industry, commercial subjects and home economics, and for the training of teachers in these fields. The States | favoring the scheme were asked to| mateh dollar for dollar Federal funds was recently discovered. One of these mosaics located in a niche of this room shows an image of Hercules seated on a rock crowned with ivy. In his right hand he holds his club and in his left a cup. On the left of his figure is a beautiful modeled winged genius and on the right a boar about to be sacrificed. The outline of the niche is decorated with seashells of uniform size, perfectly with State funds. The law proved satisfactory to the| States. It was promntly accepted by every one of the 48. These States not only matched the Federal grant but they put up two er three to one for all Federal funds received. Standards of | training were worked out co-opera- | tively by Federal, State and locall agencies. Under this new scheme classes have been developed in agricultural subjects in about 4,000 high schools. Since there are only 3,000 counties in the United States, this means a little better than one high school in every county offering work in agriculture. = There is now thousands of farm boys taking work in these high schools. The work is called vocational agriculture because of its practical nature. | Chief Weakness Apparent. Its chief weakness as a trade school experiment is at once apparent. It is training young boys for a vocation at a | period of their life when they have im- mature ideas of what vocation they will follow later. Some of these boys lack | zest of purpose. This particular defect in vocational agriculture education is| working out its own cure. Evening classes are being formed for adult| farmers, as I shall explain in a moment. But vocational agriculture is more than a trade school movement. We must see it from the wider viewpoint. Its most precious contribution to rural lite is its discovery and training of leadership. From the group of boys en- rolled in any community in such studies a few have their imaginations kindled and their scientific curiosity channeled to creative work. carry on vari- e e o , prune trees, nsect pests an zowfll’h ‘They exhibit live stock and poultry at the county and State fairs. The best of the lot exhibit at the In- ternational Stock Show in Chicago. They learn to talk a new language, the language of scientific agriculture. -year-ol1 boy, with his one-acre 16 , will tell how % project, v& you exactly | 3,100 searches and 3,385 fines imposed. arranged, and the mosaics are all of different colors and styles. Traces of pletures in mosaic of a sea monster and a web-foofed figure easily can be detected. el i Black Shirt Troops Attain Efficiency | : e Black Shirt militiamen, on permanent | duty in Italy during the last year, again showed their ability as policemen by arresting a large number of law viola- | |tors and collecting far more than | | enough in fines to pay their way. These | | militiamen, whose numbers are far less | than is commonly thought, guard ports, post offices, forest districts, highways and rallways. The port militia, consist- ing of 43 officers and 857 Black Shirts, during the course of the year arrested | 147 political criminals and 1,399 others guilty of minor offenses. There were The highway militia, with 31 officers and 362 Black Shirts, collected 94,463 fines amounting to 2,161,000 lire. The post office militia, consisting of 38 offi- cers and 332 Black Shirts, arrested 548 people and collected fines amounting to 3,106,851 lire. The forest militia con- fined its efforts to the reforestation of barren tracts of land. The railwa, militla, which is known best of all foreign visitors, made 11,235 police op- erations and collected 2,330 fines amounting to 1,376,747 lire. Many of the Black Shirts in these services are men who served in the march on Rome. They are far different in appearance and in function from the youngsters who now make up the bulk of the militia and are, practically speaking, no more than police. The Black Shirts who serve only a few days each year are now largely young, bright-looking stu- dents who like the thrill of the business and have some idea of what Fascism is. The special militia contains men of .t wulh‘:lrn variety m;now L\tfl; sbout Fascism except ussolini the “big chiets STAR, WASHINGTON, 1 e MARCH 15, 1931—PART TWO. "'Will the World Disarm? Noted British Statesman Declares Lasting Peace Must Be Built on Desires of People: BY VISCOUNT CECIL OF CHETWOOD. SUPPOSE there is no question so fateful for the maintenance of our civilization and so commonly neglected as this: “Can popular opinion be organized as a political power against war, and in favom of the consolidation of peace?” For who can fail to be struck with the almost shameless and perpefual contradiction between declarations of statesmen upon peace, arbitration, dis- armament, economic co-operation and the rest, and the failure of their po- litical forces at home to make good these declarations? Nor is it only a matter of government spokesmen be- ing betrayed by the inertia or mistrust of their parliaments. There is almos® the same distressing contrast between | the words of the natural leaders of popular thought and the action of those they lead. How many congresses of political parties or of professional and labor.| unions have passed, in country after country, resolutions of the most ad- | mirable and pacific_nature, and yet how little practical effect do they have | upon the conduct of foreign affairs? | Clergy, bishops, the Pope himself, have expounded the principles of interna- tional justice and charity, denounced materialistic nationalism, advocated coneiliation. Lack Peace Technique. How many of the faithful give any tangible proof in their civic and po- | litical life that they are inspired with these principles? For church, for na- tionality, for party politics, for class, for professional interests, even for ab- struse social theories, man is evidently | prepared to do and die. For peace, the very framework of order in which his | earthly life is lived, without which all | is uncertain and endangered, he will | | seldom 1ift a finger, seldom spare half | an hour’s consecutive thought. Hence the sorry gulf that yawns between promise and fulfillment. Why is it? In the first place, I think it is that we have not discovered the technique of inspiring and organizing the peo- ples for policies of peace. The Story the BY HENRY W. BUNN. following is a brief summary of the most important news of | the world for the seven days ended March 14, 1931: BRITISH EMPIRE —So it seems that there really is a “new party” on the basis of Sir Oswald fosley’s latest man- ifesto. That gentleman has been for- mally “read out” of the Labor Party, the National Executive Committee of the party unanimously resolving that “by his act of gross disloyalty Sir Os- wald ceases under the constitutjpn to be & member of the Labor Part§.” The new party now has five members in the Commons, namely: Sir Oswald, Lady Cynthia Mosley, his wife; Dr. Robt | Forgan, John Stloe Strachey, son of a | famous father, and W. E. D. Allen. All| were Laborites except Mr. Allen, who was a Conservative. Lady Cynthia, it| will be remembered, is daughter of Lord | Curzon, conservative of the Conserva- | tives, a deservedly famous Viceroy of India and no mean writer, and grand- daughter, through her mother of Levi Leiter of Chicago. Lord Curzon's vice- regal prestige was in no small measure due to the singular charm of his Amer- ican vicerine. By the death of his brother, Ber-| trand Russell, the philosopher, mathe- matician and writer, has succecded at the age of 59 to the title of Earl Rus- sell. The late earl was & man of some note. He was one of the original Fa- bian Socialists and at_ the time of his decease was parliamentary undersecre- try for India. Lord John Russell, the famous prime minister, was his grand- father. He was somewhat eclectic or changeful in the matter of religion, be- ing reputed at one time or another high | churchman, agnostic and Buddhist. He leaves a widow, namely, the author of that charming book “Elizabeth and Her German Garden.” The Federal Structure Committee of the Round-Table Conference on India is soon to resume work in London, and the India members of the commit- tee have been asked to return to London, and the Indian Nationalist Congress has been invited to send addi- tional new members, including, if pos- sible, Mahatma Gandhi himself. The die-hards, the bitter-enders, of the Conservative party, in particular Mr. Winston Churchill and Lord Bea- verbrook, tried to bully Stanley Bald- win into repudiating his pledge of co- operation toward giving effect to the resolutions of the Round Table Con- ference on India, and to commit the party to an attitude of hostility to the policy expressed in those resolutions; but in the course of a great debate in the Commons on March 12, Mr. Bald- win rounded upon these gentlemen. After praising Lord Irwin and decla ing that he had not surrendered to his “Right Honorable Friend” T, Churchill) as the press had intimated, he said: “I shall assist in carrying out that policy as long as I am here. I shall do it not in a niggardly spirit, but with eyery effort to overcome the tre- | God’s name, choose another leader. | they be a minority, let them at least | | refrain from throwing difficulties in | of the British Empire.” | of the Conservative members. mendous difficulties facing us. But if there be those in our party who would | T] Spproach this subject i’ & HiSEIDE, grudging spirit, who would have forced out of their reluctant hands one con- cession to India after another, if they be in the majority, then let them, 1!!; the way of those who have undertaken | an almost superhuman task on which | depends the well-being and duratior | A statement which evoked tremend- ous applause not only from the Labor- ites and Liberals, but also from most ® xR FRANCE.—On March 9 the French Forelgn Legion, that organization of so romantic and gallant a record, cele- brated the 100th anniverasy of its institution. It is said that from 1914 to 1918, inclusive, over 600 American citizens® were members of the legion, but that at present it. includes no American citizen, 51 per cent being Germans, 15 per cent Russians, and the rest made up from a score of na- tionalities. The Afgle, fifth of the six destroyers of the 1927 Prench program, went down the ways at Dunkirk the other day. Of the four in commission, each of the last three has beaten its prede- cessor, the Verdun and the Vauban developing over 40 knots. The Algle is_expected to do still better. The text of the Franco-Italian naval agreement has been published; but I see no occasion for special comment, the details essentially bearing out the fore- casts. o PERU.—We are glad to hear that matters are being straightened out in Peru. Col. Jiminez, head of the junta of three which established itself at Lima on March 5, announces that as the result of negotiations among the sundry factions a new provisional gov- ernment will soon be installed to in- clude: For President, Col. Ocampo, head of the “southern junta” of insur- rectos; two more members from South- ern Peru, one from Central Peru, one from the north, one from the “Oriental” (transandean) district, one from the army and one from the navy. General elections are to be held in the very near future and it is hoped that the new Congress will proceed to decentralize at the expense of Lima. Alas, Col. Jiminez did not know his Arequipans. The arrangement proposed did not commend itself to them. For them, apparently, the whole hog or none. So matters have not straightened themselves out in Peru. But they are straightening themseldes out, after all. The southern junta has dissolved itself and Col. Ocampo, erstwhile its chief, has accepted the invitation of Col. Jiminez to head the government, or whatever it should be called, at Lima. The new junta was sworn in on March 11. It has eight members, in- cluding Col. Jiminez as minister of war. * ok k ok AFRICA.—There is at last complete It is not—of this T am convinced— that ordinary men and women are tarian; on the contrary, the profound and world-wise reaction from the great war showed how strong was the desire for peace in a generation which, shaken from its easy-going habits, had ilxooked the ugly monster of war in the ace. Protection Instructive. ‘The natural wish to preserve life and limb, home and family, combined with man's natural good will to others, is a strong incentive, even without definite spiritual motives or political principles, to make him want to avoid war. In a dumb, inarticulate way, at least, the worker in the factory, the mother in the home, the peasant in the fields, those who go to their daily round in shops or offices—all these want peace; but the exacting routine of daily life leaves little time for thinking naturally bellicose or partisan or sec- | of plans for the betterment of their nation or the world, and there is much competition for this little time. I should be the last to disparage the importance of strong religious guidance, sound social and political doctrines and an intellectual discipline which trains the mind, even amid the clanking of machines, the clattering of typewriters or the slow labor of the fields, to con- secutive and constructive thought. n:v’. o even if all these influences be turne toward peace they still lack something. For they cannot compete in the mind of the busy. man or woman with the cleaer-cut definite program of the party poiitician or the nationalist leader, aid- ed, as he so often is, by traditional It can hardly be disputed that Fas- cism, whether we like it or criticize it, was a revolution supported by the people; it responded to a need; it has an obvious objective. In Germany the Nazis have swiftly become a powerful factor, for to the people Herr Hitler presented a simple emotion—indigna- tion at their country’s supposed humili- ation—and a _simple objective—the (Continued on Fourth Page.) | loyalties and principles. eek Has Told at Beira in Portuguese East Africa, on the Indian Ocean. From Benguella the route is almost due east to Tenke in Belgian Congo. TWere connection is made with British lines and you pro- ceed circuifously through the Rhodesias, past Broken Hill, Salisbury, etc., to the edge of Portuguese East Africa, whence the route is almost due east across the narrow strip of Portuguese East Africa to the Mozambique Channel and the Indian Ocean at Beira. It is almost 30 years since work was begun on the Benguella-Tenke section, It seemed as though that strip of about 300 miles through the Belgian Congo from the Angolan frontier to Tenke never woyld be finished. It is. * %y UNITED STATES.—Among the most interesting items of legislation of the last session were the bills relating to unemployment submitted by Senator Wagner of New York; one providing for periodic employment surveys, an- other for planning ahead of public works, and the third for “organization of a Federal system to co-operate with existing State employment agencies, or to set up such agencies in States which have none but which grant the Federal Government authority to es- tablish them within their limits.” The first two were enacted; the third died on March 9 through failure to receive the President’s signature. The Department of Commerce fur- nishes gloomy statistics of our last year’s foreign trade: Exports of grain and grain products in 1930 were valued at about $191,000,- 000, as against $286,000,000 for 1929. In volume corn exports totaled only 6,370,~ 000 bushels, as against 33,750,000 for 1929. Textiles exported in 1930 were valued for 1929. Export of raw cotton “exclusive of linters” was valued at $493,572,000, as against $764,760,000 for 1930. Export of rayon manufactures was valued at $5,910.000, as against $7,225,- 000 for 1929; of silk manufactures at $14,340,000, as against $20,390,000 for 1929; of wool manufacturers at $4,020,- 000, as against $5,360,000 for 1929. Export of automotive rubber goods was valued at $35,284,000, as against $43,092,000 for 1929. Export of wron and steel products fotaled 1,985,000 gross tons, as against 3,038,000 for 1929. was valued $16,674,000, as against $22,353,000 for 1929. Export of industrial machinery held up well—$227,060,000, as against $257,- 085,000 for 1929. And the motion picture industry has no occasion to lament—$8,119,000, as against $7,622,000 ‘The volume falls, of course, were not nearly as serious as the value falls, by reason of the very considerable de- cline in commodity prices. According to an announcement by the aeronautics trade division, Department of Commerce, our export of aircraft and aircraft parts and accessories in 1930 for 1929. railway service across Scuthern Africa. he terminals' are at Benguella Angola, on the Atlantic, and in | ued nlmoa:& equ:::it fl;:%&( olfl;:v, being val- al 806 as_against 000 for 3939, The about $9,202, same at $640,000,000, as against $972,225,000 Export of leather manufactured goods [y, statement informs us that the total of complete aircraft, civil and military, produced in the United States in 1930 was 3,357, as against 6,000 for 1929 and 4,346 for 1928. Our Postmaster General predicts that before very long our trunk airmail lines on Latin American routes will cover the costs of maintenance by receipts, which keep a-swelling. American Airways, Inc., recently is- sued a statement showing a very con- siderable increase of business in 1930 over 1929. Sixty thousand passengers were carried, compared with 17,800 in 1929; about 7,000,000 miles were flown, compared with 5,700:000; 1,230,000 pounds of mail were carried, compared with 1,071,000, The company is a sub- sidiary of the Aviation Corporation, and operates Alaskan Airways, Inc.; South- ern Air Transport, Inc.; the Colonial Airways _Corporation, Service, Inc, and the Universal Avia- tion Corporation. The chief medical examiner of New York City reports 1295 deaths in Greater New York in 1930, as “caused directly or indirectly by liquor,” includ- ing 625 due to alcohol poisoning. But he adds: “There are probably hun- dreds of alcoholic deaths we never know of. Physicians conceal them by putting other causes on death certificates. They do this to spare disgrace to families, for insurance and for a dozen other rea- sons.” ‘Through enactment of a measure adding 1,550,000 acres thereto, the Adirondack Park, New York, becomes the largest park, National or State, in the country. Two whole counties, namely, Hamilton and Essex, and most of Warren are included. The entire Lake George region is brought in. The headwaters of the principal rivers of the State (not considering the St. Law- rence) are now adequately protected and wild life is to be congratulated. The Travelers Insurance Co. of Hart- ford publishes a pamphlet which it hap- pily entitles “Worse Than War.” presents the' following lurid statistics: In the World War the A. E. F.’s total of deaths in 18 months was 50,510. In the past 18 months the total of motor accident deaths in the United States was 50,900. In our Civil War of four years the total of deaths of Union sol- diers was r10,070. In the years 1927- 30 the total of deaths from motor ac- cidents in the United States was 117,- 530, while in 1930 alone the number of non-fatal injuries was over 835,000. In 930, though “motor vehicle mileage” substantially decreased, there was an in- crease of fatal motor car accidents by over 4 per cent, of non-fatal accidents by 13 per cent. It is a pretty situation. * ok ok X NOTES.—More and more pleasure boats, for American financial princes are being turned out from German yards. ‘The famous Neue Preussische Kreuz- zeitung, for over 80 years organ of the Prussian aristocracy, is about to cease publication. ‘The population of Hungary is shown by the census just completed to be about 8,700,000, haying increased by nearly 9 per cent in 40 sears. The Rumanian 85 an interna- Ve oy of S eaivalent; of shosk 5 modern |and outward Interstate Air | I CHINA’S OPIUM BAN FARCE, SAYS WU, OFFERING PLAN Eight Proposals for Control of Traffic Now Menacing World Trade by Hague Conference Delegate of 1911-12. BY VICTOR KEEN HANGHAI—A plan providing for the eradication of opium produc- tion in China within 15 years has been proposed by Dr. Wu Lien- teh, ghfim‘l official delegate to The Hague Opium Conference, 1911 to 1912, who admits that opium suppres- sion in China today has become a farce. In an article to the “Chinese Nation,™” a locally edited Chinese periodical, Dr. Wu charges that the problem of opium and its narcotic derivatives is no longer solely confined to China, but has come & world menace because the ever- increasing number of addicts among the races of Occident. It points out that prior to 1927 China was regarded as the only nation whose people were ad- dicted to the opium habit, whereas since the World War narcotic addiction ‘“has invaded the most sacred precincts of the Western nations as well.” Among the causes mentionsd by Dr. Wu as_contributing to the increasing use of habit-forming drugs in countries hitherto untainted by the vice, are men- tal affiiction, bodily pain, prolonged en- joyment, Buddhistic repose and physi- cal exhaustion. To these he adds “the craze for dancing, late nights Previous Oplum Production Before the agreement concluded be- tween China and Great Britain for gradual and simultaneous abolition of the opium traffic within 10 years, Dr. Wu says China produced approximately 3,000 pounds of opium annually aside from the thousands of chests imported yearly from India. Within three years after signing, China had uprooted every opium | . Farmers were instructed to plant wheat and cotton in its stead. A considerable quantity of the drug still found its way into the country from India or through the activities of of the military war lords, who reintro- duced poppy cultivation as a quick and easy means of producing revenue for the vast armies necessary to keep each military leader in power. . “And s0,” Dr. Wu writes, “for almost 20 years now opium suppression has become almost a farce, and although public opinion is still dead against the habit, call for revenue has sup- 5ll.nud every humanitarian considera- o Although the opium habit is no longer d as fashionable and a social obligation, as it was before 1900, Dr. ‘Wu estimates that the annual produc- tion of the drug in China today amounts to 1,500 pounds, or half the quantity produced before the Anglo-Chinese agreement of 1907, Charges $35,000,000 Graft. “Officially,” Dr. Wu goes on to say, “the central government never has re- ceived any revenue from the extensive trade in opfum, which under the pro- “the number of factories manufactur- ing morphine and other narcotics might be counted on two hands. At the present time, I have on my list more than 140 firms openly dealing in these pernicious alkaloids. The latest and one of the largest producers in the fleld is Turkey, which, in the last re- port to the League of Nations, an- nounced that its annual export of drugs was 5200 kilograms of morpnine and 8,650 of heroin. This means that mod- ern ‘Turkey is producing half the world's requirements of morphine (12,- 000 kilograms) and more than its total needs of heroin. Truly an apt pupil of advanced Europe.” Dr. Wu points to the large narcotic seizures made in recent years in San Prancisco, New York, Singapore, Ran- goon, Shanghai, Tientsin, Hongkong, Marseille and other big ports to show how profitable the illegal trade in drugs has become. Suggests Factory in Geneva. Dr. Wu's suggestion for world con- trol of narcotic production (which has been introduced in Geneva by Woe Kai- seng, China’s official delegate) es that a central narcotic f be established at Geneva with authority to manufacture alkaloids for the legiti- mate and medical needs of the world. Every country thereafter should close its narcotic factories. Only ulkaloids (and these in as few forms 8s possible) would be distributed, al- ways among accredited agents of each government. The reformer admits that this would meet with two objections—; from vested interests in countries hith- erto manufacturing narcotics, and sec- ond, from the point of view of national security during time of war, when each country must have its own supply of drugs for medical As to the first_consideration, he points out that the narcotic ind is'a comparatively new one and therefore could be liqui- dated by arrangement with the govern- ments concerned. As to the second, he feels that more urgent supplies, such as gasoline, ofl and food, are of more paramount im- portance and that the question of drug sunrly in time of war would not seri- ously menace any nation’s security, . Italians Seek Speed Of 6 Miles a Minute A speed of 373 miles per hour, or more than 6 miles a minute, is the goal of Italian technicians in prepar- 1 Iflly‘scl:lree elt;iumfor the next elder Cup race Prance and England. To realize this record the s, prepared three " new nes, incl one Fiat of the CR.20, ore savmvld.:ehme:u':’nlfi tection ©f military chiefs has developed | ter is into one of tne Jiggest scandals of the country. amounting to 100,000,000 taels annually (approximately $35,000,000 in gold et present exchange rates) has been dis- sipated by selfish individuals, with no benefit to the nation.” Dr. Wu's plan of national govern- mental suj of opium taxation and gradual diminution of poppy culti- vation and opium smoking over a 15- year pell-l.ul includes the following eight roposals: “1. The central authorities, through the Government Opium Suppression should acknowledge the magni- tude of the affair and invite practical ess and scientific leaders to a con- ference to adopt a fundamental method of dealing with the danger. “2. Without delay, an accurate survey should be made of the areas of poppy cultivation mruu]fhoun the various prov- inces, so that full data may be available for the guidance of the authorities. “3. An interregnum of 15 years for bringing the whole affair to an end. During this year strict control of its production throughout the republic by the central government should be es- tablished, particular stress to be laid on the ports and cities whence the raw drug is exported. Separate Excise Account. “4. Invite the experienced staff of the maritime customs to collect the necessary 2,000 taels (about $750 gold) per picul (133 pounds), which should be entered as a separate opium excise account. By this means immediate operation could be assured with little or no extra cost to the country. “5. Out of the gross revenue thus collected at least 10 per cent should be ear-marked for the establishment id maintenance of opium refugees and general hospitals in various cen- ters, where addicts could be treated and whence anti-opium and health propaganda could be 'minated. “6. Hand-in-hand with the above there should be firmly enforced the gradual diminution of poppy cultivation and opium smoking by one-fifteenth every year, so that the provinces and people could adapt themselves to the progressive policy of the government. It is not advisable to adopt too drastic or detailed a scheme at the be- ginning, such as the licensing or photo- graphing of opium habitues, for such means entail enormous expenses of ad- ministration and numberless loopholes for misdeeds, apart from the unpopu- ity of the measure. “8. There is no need to be ashamed of this apparent inconsistency from previous declared opium policies of the vernment, for a mistake corrected is tter than an obstinate insistence upon unpractical methods. Besides, we have the glaring example of the power- ful and well organized United States of America, which, in spite of its advan- tages, has not been able to solve the problem of prohibition among a popu- lation only one-fourth ours.” Faces Issue Squarely ‘The obvious weakness in Dr. Wu's plan is that it is postulated on the assumption that the authority of the central government is as effective in, say, remote Szechuen Province as it is in Nanking. The fallacy of this pre- mise is eloquently demonstrated by the present bandit suppression campaign the comparatively central provinces of Hupeh, Hunan and Kiagsi, a campaign which the most sanguine Nanking offi- cial must admit has made but little headway in the last two months. But, despite its elements of impracticability, the Chinese reformer’s p: s show a frank and sincere desire squarely to face issues and facts regardless of |al whether or not they redound to the credit of his country. In a discussion of the world aspects of revenue, say, at the rate of The income thus received, | the seem to up their sleeves in the cal -efinements which may overcome this handicap. All of Italy’s former Schneider Cup models, mma:: the “hush hush” pllun which was ready in time for the 1929 , ha been' discard 1 The ties already ing given tryouts at Italy" ing grounds at :Jeunn:: Garda, in Northern Italy. Canada Building Port For Lake Grain Boats Ontario, a little town on the St. Lawrence Rl.kv:rl.” a 5,000,000-bushel its white flanks beside the Lawrence. Boats from the big upper lakes, hitherto landlocked except for the old 14-foot Welland Canal, have not yet found their way down here. They must await the deepening of the nar- rows in the St. Lawrence River at Breekville, 12 miles from Prescott, and the establishment in the Spring of the deep-draft channel from Prescott to Lake Ontario. The influence of the new Welland ship canal has, however, made ite -If felt in advance of its official open- ing. Lower lake boats, which hitherto took their cargoes from Lake Erie down through the 14-foot St. Lawrence ca- nals to Montreal, last Autumn com- menced loading to a draft three feet deeper and turning around at Thus, a radical ‘change has been reg- istered in Great Lakes navigation, Independence Now Sought by Iceland “The majority of Icelanders want separation from Denmark and the in- troduction of a republic,” declares Baldwinsson, leader of the Socialists in Iceland’s Parliament. When Denmark to acknowledge Iceland as an independent state the conditions were that Denmark’s King was also to be the sovereign head of Iceland, that Danish diplomacy should act on behalf of Iceland and that .o change of the status could take place before 1943. Mr. Baldwinsson says that his party favors revision of those conditions as soon as possible and that the Socialist in })arty should formulate a definite claim for Iceland’s absolute independence during this coming Summer. His state- ment that the majority in Iceland are in favor of independence can lnm be substantiated, as the other dmi'ed parties there have not even Nevertheless, the state- tive of a tradition tha the question. % in ment is_indical has been of the narcotic question, Br. Wu says | Bul the problem of cocaine and numerous flerl\é:nv‘el of oplt“‘mh 13 in ’:my re- spects of more outstan iporta: for the world than th olp%m . Twenty years ago,” Dr. u really want fr , as Mr. son states, the Socialistic power in Denmark is not al tagonistic toward revision of the ment between the two countries. $50,000,000, the French share predomi- nating, and similar loans to Jugoslavia and Greece, of about $40,000, 000 in each case, are being negotiated Paris. There are or are not a_million in Russia held for this or that alleged reason in “prison” or “concentration” camps, and engaged in forced labor. ‘The Iraq gove 7-1-- has ordered five Gypsy moght airpl: B numbe; for E Intgmed that recen$ excava- eal substantial evidenégs sof a ic an civilizal t- m known K dy- Italy Rejects Plans To Change Calendar No matter what Russian or Amerl- menthumwh-um& will not consider any reform of commission that lem was studied from all possible - &ofl!n banking, scholastic and mmm In ‘each case S Culendu. seisppiuge turned down on grounds visabiliti'