Evening Star Newspaper, April 19, 1931, Page 28

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. BUNDAY... ...April 19, 1881 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The lvmlu'shr Newspaper Company fopean_ Office; 14 Regent Bi.. Londons “Englan Rate by Carrier Within the City. m m‘gfi ;40 per month flvhll'n 1‘: unc ; B i’GM per month |.' l':nb !u::%n:l) B .68¢ per month 8y w P . er copy ;fih“ 5 et S S Ationel. 8000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. $fl¥ lnf Bunds ily only . junday only All Other States and Canada. .1yr. $12.00: 1 mo., $1.00 R L1yr., mo., Member of the Associated Press. ‘The ated P 1s exclysively entitled 1l dis- PX XN Y T pu Herath: AL siehts of bublication of rein. " All rjents of rein are also reserved. The Speakership. “The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other officers.” ‘With this language the Constitution provides for the selection of a presiding officer of the House. It has been said frequently in the past and recently by Representative Royal Johnson of South Dakota, Republican, that the Constitu- tion permits the election by the House of a presiding officer who is not a mem- ber of the House. And Mr. Johnson has suggested that the next Congress, evenly divided between Republicans and Demo- crats, with a group of Progressives hold- ing the balance of power, might do well to pick former President Calvin Coolidge a8 Speaker. ‘Without referring to the fact that Mr. Johnson put forward his name for the speakership, Mr. Coolidge has in effect penned another “I do not choose to Tun” statement. He points out that the House has never yet gone outside of its own membership for a Speaker; that there are plenty of men well quali- fled to hold the office in the next Con- @ress, and that, indeed, it would be un- wise for the House to depart from its custom and elect & Speaker who was *Mr. Johnson, believing that the formter President would not care to undertake the job of presiding over the House in the next Congress. Mr. Coolidge’s own comments on the subject, however, have dignified the suggestion that the House Under the language of the Constitu- tion the House has always picked a Spéaker from its membership, bul other officers, clerk, sergeant-at-arms, doorkeeper, postmaster and chaplain, have never been selected from the mem- bership of the House. Those who argue that the House has a constitutional right to elect a Speaker who is not a member of the House point to this with regard to ‘“other Constitutional or otherwise, the House members, it could go far and do worse than to pick former Sen- ator Gillett of Massachusetts, who be- fore he was Senator served three terms as Speaker of the House, or Judge Finis J. Garrett of Tennessee, a Democrat, and minority leader of the House until he went on the bench. In the past the House, because of political afiliations and because of animosities, has had serious difficulty in electing a Speaker. It has, indeed, gone for weeks at a time without a Speaker, placing in the chair the Clerk of the House, or some other temporary presiding officer. In the next Congress, where the Republicans probably will have 218 members of the House, the Democrats 216, and the Farmer-Labor party 1, there may be considerable de- lay in the election of a Speaker, due to the various degrees of republicanism that exist among the members of the majority party, In the end, however, the House will find a way to elect a Speaker, and it may be predicted with certainty that it will not be an outsider. T ‘This is & mechanized era. That fact, however, does not warrant Nicaragua in introducing the machine gun as a fea- ture of the fruit-growing business. ——eme— Babson as Optimist. It any American economist during the past year and a half of gloom was entitled to say “I told you so,” that man is Roger W. Babson, statistician. It was he who predicted the 1929 crash In the stock market with an accuracy that turned out to be uncanny, though there were few at the time who took his forebodings seriously. Mr. Babson was in Washington last week and saw the President. Mindless of the current quip that the country has suffered from overprediction hardly less than from overproduction, he in- dulged in some rosy prophecy for Mr. Hoover's benefit. Business has now “definitely turned the corner,” quoth Babson, who added that he “should not be surprised to see a shortage of labor in some lines before the end of the year.” Before he left the White House the statistician emphasized that this is his first optimistic prediction since busi- ness started down the toboggan in the bleak Fall of 1929. Mr. Babson has earned the right to e listened to when he ventures upon She thin ice of economic prognostica- $ion. Statistics being his daily diet, he @sks the country to observe the statis- tics of car-loadings. These are steadily increasing. They have always been of barometrical significance. When freight is moving factories are working and shipping, merchants are buying and industry statistics show that one or | two big firms have turned the corner, promising that smaller fry, too, are headed out of the red. While Mr. Bab- son was in Washington the Depart- ment of Commerce made the gratifying disclosure that our foreign trade last month for the first time in a consider- able period evinced an unmistakable up-grade. Only with respect to the stock market is the seer of 1920 lugubrious. “Pecple are tired of stocks,” says Babson, and the next speculative era will be in com- modities. He does not expect much activity in stocks “for the next two years.” If the American people turn their gaze from the “big board” in Wall Street to the bigger opportunities which await them in constructive directions of every sort, the upturn foreseen by Mr. Babson will come all the sooner and all the surer. —— e Crime-Ridden America. ‘We think of ourselves in America as the most progressive of Nations and one | might complile an impressive array of evidence to prove it, including the na- tional readiness to scrap outworn the- ories and methods and adopt the latest ideas. But Chairman Wickersham of the President’s Commission on Law Ob- servance and Enforcement has gathered some disillusioning facts. One of the ‘many reasons our law enforcement ma- chinery has ceased to function ef- | ficlently, he told an audience in Cin- cinnati this week, is because it is so anclent. It fairly creaks. In an age of | alrplanes, we are clinging to an ox cart because it was good enough for our forefathers. ‘The legal system was brought to this country by the founding fathers, who borrowed the best thing avallable at the time. But because it has become an “institution” we con- tinue to use it long after others from whom it was borrowed have discarded it as outworn. Chairman Wickersham points out that judicial machinery in the United States is similar to that of England the eighteenth century. The 2= _.ent form of indictment with which offend- ers were charged with crime in the days of Sir Matthew Hale is still used in our Federal courts, including the District | of Columbia, with only a few of the States having been able to change and simplify it. Elected judges, with small salaries, serving for short terms, have reduced the judiciary to the level of petty administrative officials, despite the relatively high standard of the Fed- eral judiciary. County, State and even Federal prosecutors are chosen to fill a political office, with incidental atten- tion given to the professional fitness of the appointees and with such low sal- arles that few able men are attracted. | Our reverence for the mere right of trial by jury too often permits loss of the equally important principle that “the trial shall be in the presence and under the superintendence of a judge having power to instruct the jury as to| the law and advise them as to the| facts.” Gen. Harbord of the Radio Corpo- ration predicted the other day that within a few years directors of cor- porations, living in widely separated | cities, will be able to “attend” board meetings, discuss resolutions, pass motions, sign documents, by means of television-equipped radios. Within a few hours after a devastating earth- quake in Nicaragua every newspaper- reading man and woman in the United States is able to learn the details. Messages can be sent around the globe in the fraction of the minute. Yet the United States remains the only great | civilized country that does not collect and preserve statistics indicating the prevalence of crime, or collect data that would emphasize the deficiencies or the adequacy of the administration of criminal justice. “We have really no means,” said Mr. Wickersham, “of tell- ing accurately what is the effect upon conduct of our methods of dealing with crime.” With the exception of a few large citles, no effort is made to collect and complle intelligent statistical rec- ords dealing with crime. And while we have made great progress in stand- ardizing the paving brick, the method of recording crime statistics differs from one State to another, from county to county, or city to city, rendering them useless for purposes of scientific comparison. The traditional complaint about the weather has been that everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it. As a matter of fact, we have learned to do a great deal about the weather. We know the value of fore- casts, for one thing. Weather experts can put two and two together and know definitely what will happen, and millions will profit from the knowledge. Everybody is talking about crime in the United States. Somebody may eventually do something about it. Mere improvement of the machinery by which guilty men are sent to jail would do little to lessen the number of those who go to jail. Causes of crime, as Mr. Wickersham points out, are as complex as the causes of dises ‘While we may remedy our deficiences in the enforcement of the laws, a much broader task confronts the Nation in examining the reasons for violation of the laws. Little progress was ever re- corded in any battle against disease until discovery of the cause of the dis- ease. The forthcoming and final re- port of the Wickersham Commission will probably recommend improved methods of dealing with the national disease of crime. But it will emphasize the necessity of isolating the causative germs. e In certain forms of business organi- zation the rubber stamp goes with an elastic conscience. / o —— The Spotlight for Woman Flyers. The spotlight in the aviation world is being turned on the women these days and what a merry battle it is between three of the best to keep their honors! First, elghteen-year-old Elinor Sith, chagrined at losing her altitude record to Miss Ruth Nichols, steps casually into her trim plane and pushes it up in the skies to more than thirty-two thou- sand feet for a new mark. Then Miss Nichols, probably a little disappointed at having Miss Smith take away her altitude laurels, starts out after the speed record held by Mrs. Amelia Ear- hart Putnam. And it must be said that she succeeded nobly. . Mrs, Putnam’s mark was one hundred and eighty-one miles an hour, and Miss Nichols' offi- eustomers are consuming. The chain-lcially timed record is two hundred and stcre industries, Mr. Babson points out, ten miles an hour. Then, Mrs. Putnam, in' 'bout don't allus shoy whut he’s dicips nigher sarmings, In every Koy pechaps A e snzojed a4 Mise thinkin' out” THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, Nichols for invading her speed ter- i ritory, put on a novel stunt. She bor- rowed an autogyro “windmill” plane from the Pitcairn Company, which has Jjust received the Colller award for de- velopment of this type of craft, and sent it up to an eighteen-thousand-foot altitude. And thus progresses the struggle for supremacy among three of the fair sex. They are all fine pilots, and no mere man can “pooh-pooh” their achieve- ments. It takes skill of the highest order to pilot a fast plane. Both the landing and take-off speeds are high and delicate bandling is necessary to avoid disast>r. It takes almost equal skill to get the utmost “ceiling” out of a plane and besides that it takes nerve and determination. Ascending to a height where oxygen is necessary is no mean task, and proper handling of a ship with the senses reduced in effi- ciency requires instinct above the ordi- nary. Congratulations to three fine fiyers! May they go on to greater ac- complishments! e A Little Rain. The gardening world of this vicinity gave thanks for the miniature thunder- storm which broke over the city Friday evening. It was much in little, and just the thing for growing grass in particular. The preceding two weeks had been extremely dry; the fourteen days bad been a drought in miniature. For a few days it almcst seemed as if the dry spell had set in again, but the freshening rain drops dispelled that nightmare. ‘There can be no dbubt that mankind gains little from a pro- longed drought. It may be said that rose bushes benefit, for they are able to go almost any length of time with- out water, and the lack of it on their leaves saves them from the customary leaf-spot which threatens them in the usual Summer. Benefit to roses, how- ever, while a boon to rosarians, is not a sufficient gain to the world at large to justify a drought. All men will wish from now on for a normal rainfall, which will benefit agriculture, help keep the wheels of industry turning, and insure the water supplies of great cities. One Summer like the last is encugh for many, many years. JENEERERSE A number of eminent statesmen in various regions contemplate ideas for universal and permanent peace With the air of the skeptical theater man who, after hearing a magiclan's de- scription of an act, remarked, “It is a good trick if you can do it.” sy Newspaper reporters are being 80 harshly dealt with by the movies that the only representative of practical journalism whose reputation seems en- tirely safe on the screen is the Holly- wood press agent. ‘There are fears that U. 8. wheat may have to be marketed at a price below the cost of production. The Chicago Bcard of Trade continues to rival the N. Y. Stock Exchange as a place where the bad news frequently starts. —— o No request to be recognized as a dic- tator ‘has been suggested by Hinden- burg. It may be assumed that for all practival purposes a perpetual presi- deney s s good as a dictatorship. —————————— In spite of underworld activities there are spots in this hemisphere even more unsafe for U. B. citizens than the big towns in their own country. ——— Crime is beginning to draw new lines of class cleavage with the underworld frankly challenging the hitherto con- ceded prestige of conservative society. B Paris, thanks to Alfonso and party, has never witnessed so brilllant an opening of the tourist season. N SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Mechanization. What wonders we may now behold Displayed on every hand, ‘With great inventions which, of old, No one could understand! Great combinations we will find, Affairs to regulate, But where is the controlling mind To keep them going straight? Upon the wings of light We go At a bewildering speed. New systems in our commerce show How we shall meet each need. And yet, the way seems often Tough, With satisfaction small. Whete is the person smart enough To operate them all? Ostentation of Wealth. “Ostentation of Wwealth is something which good taste always avoids.” Especially,” sald Senator Sorghum, “when the subject under discussion happens to be & campaign fund.” Jud Tunkins says too many good old scouts make the mistake of thinking that the way to seem young is to act foolish. ’ Sympathy for the Pish. ©Oh, Mister Fish, I'm longing now In quest of you to go, And pause beneath some sheltering bough Where tranquil waters flow. And there T'll wait with line and bait, Where you with sunbeams play. Down in my heart, the truth to state, 1 hope you'll get away! Reversing a Rule. “A woman always has the last word,” remarked the cynical citizen. “Not in our house,” replied Mr. Meek- ton. “I make it & point to see that Henrietta has the first word so that I can agree as intelligently as possible.” “In studying ancient civilizations,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “we arc tco often tempted to forget the virtues which built them, and imi- | tate the vices which destroyed them.” Sheaves and Chefs. | 1In paroty the farmers ask For musical relief. The world, to cheer them at their task, Will sing, “Hail to the Sheaf!” And the consumer hopes at last New notes will grace the clef. With less experience than in the past, He'll sing; “Hail to the Chef!” “De trouble wif speechmakin’,” said Uncle Eben, “is dat whut a man's talk- ] i | | | Bishop of Text: “I see another law in my ‘members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”—Romans, vii.23. Repeatedly in his letters St. Paul makes allusion to the great conflict that goes on unceasingly within the breast of every man. He has been saying in this remarkable chapter: “The that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” In an- other place he says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, etc. No matter how much men may differ as to their religious views, or as to the need of re- ligious systems, they will not differ as to the reality and persistence of evil in the world. Many of our modern writers are telling us that religion is a spent force, but as yet none of them is making any suggestion as to how we shail deal with sin. The many modern systems or cults that have been proposed furnish no panaceas for the evils that afflict us. While medicine and surgery are making great strides in discovering antidotes for poisons and antitoxins for life-destroying maladies, the purveyors of new and fanciful theories for living are suggesting no adequate remedies to heal moral plagues that afflict us and menace our security. Evergs.mg is being conceived and effected y to improve the physical condition of life. What were once regarded as luxuries for the exclusive few are now the pos- sesslon of the many. In every respect the conveniences of life have so vastly muitiplied in our generation that they are literally within the reach of us all. We are adepts in improving the common conditions of life, but we have made remedies ta correct the ills that affect us_individually and corporately. ‘Through the long ages from Plato's “Republic” to More’s “Utopla” and the Brook Farm Community attempts have been made to set up systems for the regu- lation of life, its conduct and practice, but_they have not achieved even meas- urable success. While we are reluctant to give much thought to the considera- tion of sin, and while the theme is gen- erally quite unpopular and infrequently discussed In the modern pulpits, we are made increasingly familiar with it and its ravages are conspicuously evident in every aspect of our modern life. A cur- THE GREAT CONFLICT BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, good | little progress in securing to_ourselves | D. O, APRIL 19, Washington. sory reading of the press of a single day bears eloquent testimony to our incapacity to deal with evils whose malevolence grows apace and whose fleld of operation takes no cognizance of restricted areas. We readily trace | the defects in our social, domestic, eco- | nomic and_ political life to the selfish-! | ness, greed and moral dereliction of those who abandon conscience and dis- | regard all law, human and divine, that they may attain their seifish purpose: | True, we attempt to regulate our com- munity life through laws and conven- tlons and high-sounding resolutions, but the evidences of our failure are on every hand. One_of the foremost jurists in the land, Elihu Root, recently maintained that his long observation had made clear to him the Ineffectiveness of law to render better and more wholesome habits of human life. It might be said with like assurance that our growth along cultural lines furnishes no guar- antee to our moral enrichment and im- provement. The primary defect In the present situation is found in our unregulated and undisciplined home life. Parents frankly state that they can exercise no control over the habits of their chil- dren. Such a situation renders the ef- forts of school and church impotent. ‘The three agencles that have conspired to make moral spiritual conditions more wholesome are the home, the church and the school. The whole point is that in each individual life a conflict goes on, & conflict between the better and baser natures. Unless some method or system is employed to guarantee the victory of the better nature, there is little hope of its survival. St. Paul clear}y saw the conflict in his own life and the struggle within him was a live thing. It was only when he was able to affirm, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,” that he felt assurance that in the end be would attain what he sought, namely, the disciplining and defeat of the baser things of his nature. We are reminded of the words of the poet: “The greatest victory ever man attain Is thltl v;glch o'er himself, h!m.!teg gained.” m:gt’: :;mmnsgn?;cehwgh that other g, “Better e that ruleth | his spirit than he that taketh a cit‘;‘."’ BY WILLIAM HARD. Two quite important developments happened in Washington during this week regarding prohibition. Both have a large bearing upon the future of the prohibition question. The first was the firm steadfastness of the national convention here of the ‘Wemen's Organization for National Pr hibition Reform in favor of outright re- peal of the eighteenth amendment and keep the liquor trade within Federal Jjurisdiction. The peak words in the reso- were to the effect that any eighteenth amendment revisicns which would “leave the matter still in the hands of Congress conditions born cf the aitempt at na- tional prohibition.” * xR % Thus the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform declined in essence to follow the lead of Mr. John J. Raskib, member of the Finance Com- mittee of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment and chairman It drew away from Mr. Raskob'’s “home rule plan” whereby individual States might write themselves out from under the eighteenth amendment, but the eighteenth amendment with Federal enforcement would contlnue in exist- ence in all other States. worthy in view of the attitude taken by the third large and influential anti- prohibition organization, namely, “The Crusaders.” The Association Araginst the Prohibition Amendment is composed largely of big business men and of big contributors to the anti-prohibition cause. The Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform and the Crusaders have a broader base of mem- bership. The Women'’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform, composed wholly of wemen, has some three hun- dred thousand members and its con- vertion here was attended by more than eignt hundred delegates. The Crusad- ers, composed wholly of men, has some ;vnr hundred and fifty thousand mem- ers. o e S ‘The Association Against the Prohibi- tion Amendment operates largely through agents. The Women's Organi- zation for National Prohibition Reform and the Crusaders are more in the na- ture of active mass movements of en- thusiasts. Their views accordingly are perhaps more illustrative of the state of mind of the wet rank-and-file. Now it happens that the Crusaders, precisely like the Women's Organiza- tion for National Prohibition Reform, have resolutely refused to express any favor for any method of dealing with the eighteenth amendment except sheer repeal, The officers of the Crusaders, to date, decline to compromise. They now seem to be upheld in their policy by the ladies who guide the destinies of the Women's Organization for National Prohibition, Reform and who are per- haps more énergetic in their propaganda than any man wets in the country. It is true that at the women's con- vention here Mrs. August Belmont (Eleanor Robson) declared that the wets, in the solving of the liquor prob- lem, should join hands with “the mod- erate prohibitionists.” This idea, how- ever, did not make any victorious head- way. Meanwhle the dry organizations, on their side, are for the most part equally uncompromising. * x x ¥ In these circumstances, it is not surprising that considerable quiet prog- ress is getting made among practical political wets by the “nullification” idea of Representative James M. Beck of Pennsylvania, formerly Solicitor General of the United States. Mr. Beck steadily maintains that the wets, if and when they get a majority in the House of Representatives, should cut through the deadlock created by the multiplicity of wet plans for eighteenth amendment revision or repeal and should simply exert the congressional “power of the purse” and refuse to appropriate any money for Federal prohibition enforce- ment. This can be done by either of the two Houses of the Congress, without aid or consent from the other, and it requires only a majority vote instead of the two-thirds vote required for constitutional changes. * K Kk This writer ventures the belief, after long inquiry into wet legislative senti- ment, that while the wets may wrangle publicly endlessly on eighteenth amend- ment proposed constitutional tinkering, their first actual blow, if they ever se- cure a majority in either House of the Congress, will be along the line of Mr. Beck’s recommendation. While “repeal and “revision” are occupying the land- scape of ultimate philosophical discus- sion, “nullification” is almost noiselessly creeping fast into the immediate fore- ground. . o ‘The second important prohibition de- velopment in Washington during this last week was in connection with “grape concentrates” and the manu- facture of wine in the home. Reply- ing to a letter from the Crusaders on this topic, Col. Amos W. W. Woodcock, director of prohibition in the Depart ment of Justice, decried and deplored such manufacture as out of keeping with the Lspir&t :l(d l!l}\‘:' eti’:hmmh amendment and s “‘grape concentrates” are sold to the h’oruxe- bolder “with au inteny thal they Important Developments in Prohibition Versus Anti-Prohibition Campaign against any “revision” of it which would | lution finally adopted by the convention | and still liable to be a foot ball in suc- | cessive campaigns” would constitute no | definitive “release from the intolerable | of the Democratic National Ccmmittee. | ‘This development was especlally note- | be' solyéd to intepsity the used in the manufacture of a beverage which is intoxicating in fact,” thn there is a violation of the national pro- hibition act. These statements of his were widely taken as dangerous threats to the success of the “grape concen- trates” industry as promoted by the vineyardists of California with the hei in part, of a loan from the F‘cderfi Farm Board. Such an interpretation seems much exaggerated. In the first place, Col. Woodcock was careful to point out that the task of proving “intent” is full of “practical difficulty.” In the second place, and still further | to complicate the task of proving “in- tent,” it does the Department of Jus- tice no good all to prove that there |was an “intent” to manufacture wine. ‘What would have to be proved, ac- cording to the settled decisions of the courts, is that there was an “intent” to manufacture not only wine, but wine that would be “intoxicating in fact.” ~ K K K Skeptics here wonder how an inspec- tion of valves on the tops of kegs con- taining non-intoxicating “grape con- centrates” in the cellar of a house- holder would enable the inspectors to know whether the agent of the vine- | yardists intended the householder to | continue the fermentation in the kegs |to the point of producing an intoxi- | cating beverage or only to the point of producing & non-intoxicating one. Moreover, in accepted Federal pro- hibition enforcement practice. inspec- tions of cellars or of any other parts | of homes are rarely, if ever, made un- |less there is a firm suspicion that the householder is not only consuming his | home-made beverages but also selling | them. | The Volstead law went out of its way |to safeguard the home on two points. The first was, and is, against drastic | “search and seizure.” The second was, and is, in favor of a special exemption on behalf of “fruit juices” in the home from the “one-and-one-half per cent” definition of “intoxicating.” On the whole, it probably remains | true that in practice ex-Representative | Franklin W. Fort of New Jersey was right when, on January 31, 1930, he famously declared in the House: “If the wets want the light wines ‘lor which they beg, they may make |and drink them now to their heart's | content.” (Copyright, 1931.) ———— | Personalities of the New Spanish Republic BY OGIER PRETECEILLE. MADRID, April 18.—Now- that the republican victory has been fittingly celebrated, everybody in Spain is re- | turning to work, especially the members |of the provisional government, whose |labor is in reality unceasing. A stupen- |dous task and heavy responsibility | await them. | Although President Alcala Zamora |alone has governmental experience, the | majority of the cabinet ministers have ‘had parliamentary experience and, what |1s more useful in the present juncture, | eiministrative knowledge. Several of them have been deputies and others as municipal councilors in the large cities participated in local government. *Exo But it is not only administrative prob- lems that “New Spain,” as everybody calls it, now has to solve. There are| !many other serious ones with wide- ispread consequences. This correspond- | ent obtained interviews today with Miguel Maura, minister of the interior, | and Largo Cabellero, minister of labor, and they scarcely sought to conceal the | preoccupations of the new government | in_this connection. Members of the government, whether Republicans or Soclalists, agree that the republic must be established on a fed- eral basis, leaving wide autonomy to regions which have long possessed orig- inal traditions and organizations, or ‘even_jurisdictions, such as Catalonia, the Basque country and Galicia. Not only does the common law of these re- glons include privileges or features having great traditional force, but technically and temperamentally they are so different that the overcentrali- zation on French lines always has been 2n artificial framework here in contra- diction with the country’s needs and | geographical considerations. It is be- lieved, therefore, that a federal system is best fitted to Spain’s needs. * * x x None the less, it is felt that Col. Fran- cisco Macia, head of the Catalonian state, and his friends of the “Estate Catala” party take their nationalism too seriously and bid fair to create the first grave difficulties for their allies of the central republican government by ex- tending the autonomy of their regional administration to its extreme limits. They have formed a Catalan govern- ment, comprising not only education, economy, finance and public works de- partments, but even a ministry qf de- fense. Members of the Madrid govern- ment told this correspondent that they hope soon to see this Catalan organiza- tion reduced to more modest Dropor- tions in accord with principles of na- tional unity. The fact remains, how- ever, that therein lies the first danger, and one of indubitable gravity, to th 1931—PART ;ductions cf historic documents, republic, ‘The g‘;dfldmfllmu?: of l.b;)rjl econ- omy, and pul works are fully re- national wells TWO. Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. “Romance of the Mails,” the stcry of the carrying of intelligence and the de- velopment of the postal system, is pre- sented in an ornate booklet ccmpiled by Representative Edmund F, Erk of Pitts- burgh, Pa., copies of which are being | received by his many friends at the Capitol, who prize the many similar human-interest memorabilia, hand- somely engraved with facsimile repro- Mr, Erk delights in getting out period- ically. In a concluding summary, Mr. Erk emphasizes that “the United States Post Office Department is cne of the biggest business enterprises in the world. It has 49,063 pesy offices and gives employment to 371,625 persons. The annual receipts last year amounted to $705,484,098.15. “The airmail, instituted May 15, 1918, has had prodigious growth. There are 26 regular airmail routes, employ- ing 225 pilots and using from 275 to 300 planes. The average daily flight of the mail planes is 65,137 miles, and ap- proximately 60 per cent is flown at night. In the meantime, commercial aviation in the United States has ad- vanced to a stage where it exceeds by far that of every other nation,” says | Mr. Erk. The survey of the postal system is made under the fcllowing interesting headings: “The Earliest Organized Pos- tal Systems,” “Great Medieval Mes- senger Systems of the Orlent,” “The Roman Era and Middle Ages” “Early Colonial Posts in America,” “Pennsyl- vania’s First Mail Service,” “Benjamin Franklfh, Postmaster General” “The American Post Office and City_Deliv- ery,” “The Origin_of the ~Postage Stamps” and “The First Railway Mail Service.” Nowadays when there is a great re- vival among the ycuth of the land who are indulging in the educative pastime of making postage stamp collections, even as some of the great men of the country have been doing for many years, Representative Erk tginks that the boys and girls shculd leArn briefly the history of the humble postage stamp. : When the postage stamp was intro- duced in England in 1840 it was greet- ed with ridicule. Despite the public clamor against it, the stamp survived and led American postmasters, particu- larly in New York, Baltimore, St. Louis, New Haven and other cities, to issue thc‘;& own_ stamps printed from wood cuts crudely made by their own hands and of different designs. The method proved so popular that in 1847 the United States introduced stamps, the 5 and 10 cent denominations bearing re- spectively the heads of Franklin and Washington. Stamps gained favor in this country and in 1851 a new series was adopted, consisting of denomina- tions of 1 and 3 cents, but afterward in larger amounts. Stamped envelopes were first used in 1853, and the follow- ing year the registration system was introduced. One of the most energetic of American Postmasters General, Mr. Erk points out, was Benjamin Franklin. who is credited with having developed the Co- lonial system of posts. He took office in 1753 and directed postal affairs until after the outbreak of the Revolution. Franklin, who, when serving under the British crown. had franked his letters thus—"Free, B. Franklin,” now jovially superscribed them, in honor of the spirit of the times—*B. Free Franklin.” ‘The important part that Massachu- setts plaved in establishing the postal system of the United States is stressed by Representative Erk, who points out that the first suggestion for the estab- lishment. of postal service in America originated in Massachusetts in 1638, when King Charles I was asked to grant a patent to some one who would set up an institution “so useful and abso- lutely necessary.” A fee of two pence, “the least coin there,” was proposed as the charge on a letter. This request was not acted upon until many years had passed. The first legislative action was that of Massachusetts in 1639 providing for foreign mail. “In 1652, quotes Represen from Harlow's “‘Old Post Bags, Symonds of Ipswich, Mass., wrote to a friend: ‘I cannot say but its beside my intentions that I writ> not more fre- quently unto you: I can only plead this for my excuse (so farr as it will goe)— the uncertainty when and how to con- vey letters.’ “For several decades after the first European colonists landed in America the uncertainty existed, the only means of sending letters to and fro being as primitive as were those of Europe in the Middle Ages. In the French-Span- ish settlements in Florida and Louisiana, as well as in those of the English and Dutch farther north on the Atlantic coast, servants, acquaintances, mer- chants, peddlers, friendly Indians and <hip captains were the casual®postmen, some making a charge for their services, some carrying letters free.” As our postal system and our Nation had their beginning in the English and Dutch colonies, Representative Erk traces the early history of the great postal busi- ness through these early pioneer fields. being from every viewpoint and to harmonize the needs of reduced indus- trial production with the exigencies of greater agricultural production, both of which have hitherto béen perpetually in_ conflict regarding customs -and tariffs. It probably will prove easier for them than for their predecessors, whose hand: were tied, to solve the grave agricultural crisis in Andalusia by suppressing the system of vast un- productive estates. k% Regarding financial and monetary questions it would be rash to make predictions, as the government is er- tremely reserved concerning both the utilization of foreign credits and stabilization of the peseta. At all events we may expect a policy of fiscal economies and marked reductions in the expenditures of certain depart- ments for the benefit of others. Where serious difficulties will 'arise will be in connection with a reduction of the army budget, which is manifestly dis- proportionate With needs. The Repub- licans have announced formal inten- tions in this regard and it is evident that, with the disappearance of the monarchy, the country will not need the costly luxury of 700 generals and 26,000 other officers. There is con- cern, naturally, as to how the officers | will receive the news of a reduction of the army establishment. Up to the present the army has re- mained outside the peaceful revolution which brought King Alfonso’s down- fall and departure from the country. This fact is a most favorable sign for the new republic, which has thus broken with a long tradition of mili- tary pronunciamentos. But it remains to 'be seen what attitude the army | will take during the forthcoming period of stabilization of the new regime. The great hope of the Republican gov- ernment rests in the spirit of sacrifice of a large number of young officers who are partisans of the Democratic | regime. s Another serious obstacle in the path of the young Spanish Republic has to do with the relations of church and state in a country where the Catholic tradition, with the constant mixing in of the church in affairs of state, weighs with the force of 15 centuries. If, on the one hand, the Vatican, faithful to its custom, readily recognized the new government, on the other hand it is likely to receive ill-humoredly a decree by which Catholicism ceases to be the official religion of Spain. It is not Emhab]r that Rome will seek an open attle in this matter, but the clergy have many means of marshaling the faithful against the republic. While the young Spanish Republic was born healthy and robust, serious difficulties attend it at its very cradle and the men called to direct its des- tinies will need all their intelligence nd will to overcome them, even if the peril of an attempted restoration of the monarchy does come to inter- Tupt their heavy task. (Cobygieht, 1931 which | | Njhilist prisoners a system of torture Where Is the D. A. R. Liberty Bell? Now that their sleuthing talents have) been sharpened by the hunting of red propagandists and of Americans assay- ing less than 100 per cent, the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution may be successful in solving the mystery of whatever became of their replica of the Liberty Bell. Committed to their care nearly 40 years ago, the Daugh- ters today are ignorant of the fate or 1hl't whercabouts of the interesting ob- | Ject. In anticipation of the World's Fair at Chicago, planned to be held in 1892, but which was not actually ready until the following year, the Columbian Lib- erty Bell Committee and the Daughters had a replica of the famous bell cast. ‘The best way to tell the story is to quote the letter sent by the committee to every member of the Daughters of | the American Revolution as well as to members of other patriotic organizations including the then highly regarded So- ciety of German Patriots. The letter reads: | “To Daughters of the American Revo- lution: “It has been determined to create a Columbian Liberty Bell to be placed by the lovers of liberty and peace in the most appropriate place in the coming World’s Exposition at Chicago. After the close of the exhibition this bell will pass from place to place t the world as a missionary of 3 e ing first to the Capital of the Nation under the care of our soclety. “Then it will go to Bunker Hill or Liberty Island, to the Battlefield of New Orleans (1812), to San Francisco, to the place where any great patriotic celebra- tion is being held, until 1900, when it | will be sent to the next World's Exhibi- tion which takes place at Paris, France. | There it will cortinue until that exhibi- | tion_ closes. “When not in use in other places, it will return to Washington under the Revolution. Washington will be its home, and from there it will journey sion throughout the world. Times for Ringing Bell. m:’r.?;: following is the proposed use of sunset; at 9 o'clock in the mq % :nnivershafl;a of the days at even ave occurred marking the world's progress toward liberty; at 12 oclock on the birthdays of the ‘creators of liberty’; and at 4 o'clock it will toll on the anniversaries of their death. (It will always ring at 9 o'clock on October 11 in recognition of the or- ganization on that day of the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution.) The responsibility of its production and the direction of its use have been placed in the hands of a committee of women representing each State and Territory, one representative of each republic in the world, and a representative from the patriotic societies—Daughters and Sons of American Revolution, the Lyceum League of America, the Society of German Patriots, the Human Free- dom League, and kindred organizations. “The National Board of Management of representing the National Soclety of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion upon the General Committee, and this circular is sent to every member of the soclety, asking for her personal co-operation in making the undertak- ing successful. In creating the bell it | from ‘place to place, fulfiling its mis- |1 BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. is particularly desired that the largest number_of persons shall have a IJIDIL fm this reason m‘l’e'm'n ‘; ns from many persons asked for rather than large contribu- tions from a few. They are to be of two kinds: “First. Material that can be made & |part of the bell; articles of historic | interest will be particularl¥ appreciated; | gold, silver, bronze, copper and nickel can be fused. “Second. Of money with which to pay for the bell. Each member of the so- ciety is asked to contribute 1 cent to used into the bell every one recelving this circular to act at once. Bell Went Junketing. “In forwarding material to be melted {into the bel, please send fullest his- torical description. This will be entered carefully in a book which will accom- pany the bell wherever it goes. “As the motto has not yet been de- cided upon, m ideas on that subject will be gratefully received; we will also ‘weloome of events to be celebrated and names to be com- memorated.” ‘The encyclical is signed by Mary Desha as a former vice vmtdmtflgx'; eral of the Daughters of the Amq Revolution. Now it is known that the contribu- tions both of material to go into the | bell and of money to pay for the cast- |ing were made generously and that the bell was cast and placed on exhibition at the Chicago World's Fair. care of the Daughters of the American | Am : It shall ring at sunrise and |Fourth versary of Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and then the sunset curfew. Had it remained in use up until recent times, a noon ringing would have been required on the Fourth for Calvin Coolidge, who claims that as the anniversary of his But long ago the bell disappeared. No one clearly remembers its chime. There are vague rememberings of some scheme to melt it and cast of tiny replicas of the but no one seems sure. has placed upon me the responsibility | is h William O. mmflm Newark, N. J., once interested himself in the bell, but in what manner is not made clear. It ought to be rather difficult to hide & full-sized replica of the Liberty Bell. Fifty Years Ago In The Star In The Star of April 12, 1881, is the following Xelllé\l/e.to Iln nc'-l]nn in In- : ana favorable to the Suffrage in enfranchisement of wom- i en, g modified by Indiana. G0 iqnent Satoment: “The State of Indiana steps to the front rank in the recognition of wom- en’s rights. A bill has both houses of the Legislature conferring the right of suffrage in all elections upon women, and the measure now only awaits the Governor’s approval. The bill first passed the House, and as the Senate is equally divided between the two parties, some doubt was entertained of its success in that body; but Demo= cratic Senators joined with the Repub- licans in its support and it was without either delay or difficulty. There seems to be a very general impression in the State that the Governor's ap- proval is certain, and if this be so, then the women of Indiana will be the first of the sex in any State to exercise the full privilege of the ballot. It appears that the cause of woman suffrage has been championed by both the Democrats and Republicans of Indiana, but it was never put into the substantial shape of law until the latter came into power. In the United States Senate it was Senator McDonald who took charge of the bill to confer upon female attor- neys the right to practice in the United States Supreme Court. Sul uently ‘he same Senator submitted resolutions in behalf of woman suffrage and sus- tained the cause by an argument. “This action of the Indiana Legisla- ture indicates a progress of the woman's | sa; rights cause which will no doubt spur the supporters of that movement to greater exertions than ever before. Though Indiana is the first State to sccord this right to women, two of the Territorles, Wyoming and Utah, have given them the ballot. The right to vote in the Territories is, however, not 50 big a thing by any means as that to vote in the States. “The politicians of the country, who are so much exercised about the vote of Indiana in presidential years, will now have the additional problem on hand of how to operate to secure the votes of the women of that State.” In The Star of April 14, 1881, is & paragraph explaining that the action of the Indiana Legislature was simply the adoption of an amendment to the State constitution which had to wait for two years for ratification by the succeeding Legislature before submis- sion to the vote of the people. > - Seven Nihilists, five men and two | Canadian News Print Industry in Difficulty BY HARDEN COLFAX. Anno\g;eemzntb.ml:l &fek of e merger of & number largest terests. The troubles of the Canadian news print industry, which is second only to wheat, are haps indicative fluctuate greatly. Overproduction, with- out an understanding of markets, is ad- mittedly its chief danger. g, which as. Targs. holdunes. and merger, whic] rge an business in Minnesota and Ontarlo, is now in the hands of receivers. Its de- any an indication of the entire paper industry has been duced by t economic malady over- Pproduction. i 4 According to a member of the On- tario Parliament, the interests involved in the deal recently consummated ag- gregate $540,000,000. Not only paper producers, but also banks in Can: are endeavoring to make the merger a suc- cess. The largest corporation involved represents one-fifth of Canada’s total news print capacity and holds some of the largest world news print contracts. ‘The president of this com) 1t as his opinion that the news - or;m w—c'yfidns orld is operating at a scan per cent of capacity, Generally ., he has been over- d, and there te understanding among its_leaders as to their common welfare. It seems to be the general opinion that there are too many com- petitive paper lines being pushed now, most of them approximately equal in In fact, for years the paper as well as that of the United States has been overbuilt and it has become the practice to force markets by acquiring controlling inter- ests in publications, which need sup- plies at regular intervals. Canadian paper interests own print mills in the United States and American concerns, in their turn, control plants in the Dominion. * ok ok ok ‘The position of the United States and Canada the world production of news print paper is forcefully told in figures. Last year the world produced, according to ofcial res, just under 7,000,000 tons, of which the share of Canada and the United States was close to 4,000,000, or more than half. Next in order was Great Britain, followed women, were c_on:'rrllc'.ed of nlc}mntn; S in the conspiracy for Russian .fa#mfi‘msfi '_b‘, tim of Russia. of them Tortures. Jore hanged at once, the seventh, a woman, being reprieved pending the birth of a child. The Star of April 14, 1881, says: ° “Gen. Melikoff, commandant of St. Petersburg, with unlimited power over the inhabitahts by orders of the late Czar of Russia, is reported by the cable dispatches as having applied to the more barbarous and horrible than the worst devices of the middle ages. It by Germany, Newfoundlan pan, France and the three e considerable umu{y in R appears to have been a part of Gen. Melikoff’s duty to extort from the pris- oners confessions not only of their own guilt, but including by name all who were concerned with them in their as- saults upon the life of the late Czar. He was prompt in the discharge of this duty, and it seems es if the method of physical torture was the only one which suggested itself to his mind as a means of wringing from the unwilling’ tongues of the captured Nihilists the de-fl-ed confessions. None of the hundreds of inhuman devices that history describes as having been applied for similar pur- s in the past were cruel enough for his military savage. With an ingenuity that would do credit to his satanic majesty, Gen. Melikoff invented a form of torture by electricity, which inflicts upon the human body all the agonizing pains of the rack, the wheel and the fire at one time. The electric current was so applied as to shock and almost shatter the muscles and nerves and also to slowly” crisp parts of the ski nd flesh. horrible even to thimk of subjecting thewhuman system to such frightful sufferi and, odious ag are the crimes of thos& to whom it applied, the Russiany agthorities m earn the detestation of ind for pesorting to satisfactoy Shat rz_y are available from (Copyrient, 1931 Judge to Reverse Course. From the Goshen Datly News-Timer. leveland ju has been nam foot ball relerei. d‘&hc!fll he Iome:’ heard both sides and then gave & ision, e’] Ve lecision then hear both lifl'.l.‘ = Not Enough! From the Kansas City Times. The gangsters in motion ac- cording to Will Hays, mpl.:m A last days. But will the public that u"nuulctary ,lmept Back Yard Thrillers. From the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. 81 ots not always L 2 1y de- and lens. - Block Simple Life. From the Toledo Blade. Many men who yearn to live the sim- le life find themselves handicapped possession of luxuries,