Evening Star Newspaper, May 3, 1931, Page 29

Part 2—8 Pages EDITORIAL SECTION - The Sundiwy Star. WASHINGTON, D 10, SUNDAY MORNING, MAY a 3, 1931. NO CHANCE FOR SUCCESS OF ARMS MEETING SEEN _ British for Navy, French With Army Are Considered Too Far Apart in Views for Possible Accord. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. ARIS.—Unless all signs fail, the meeting at Geneva in mid-May is destined to prove one of the most_important of all interna- tional gatherings since the war. ©On the surface it will concern itself primarily with the question of the pro- posed tariff union of Austria and Ger- many. But it is far from improbable that_the issue may be postponed until the wgldmcwrb gn{p':anwufl;:edt upon the judicial aspects o e project. Thus the clash due to friction be- tween Germany and France resulting from the Austro-German proposal may be avolded for a certain time. But in yeality the clash between British and Prench policies and purposes has become romething almost more serious, if not more dangerous, than the differences be- tween the ancient antagonists on either side of the Rhine. And we appear to be moving toward a showdown. At bottom the issue grows out of | the totally different conception of the solution of the problem of peace in France and in Britain. In France the unanimous view, pointedly voiced by the President of the republic at Nice after the Anschluss incident, is that war in Europe can only be prevented by the existence of a League of Nations pro- vided with a military and naval force sufficient to act, automatically and im- mediately, the moment any nation takes a first step toward aggression. British View Differs. The British idea is quite unlike this and on the whole not greatly different from that prevailing in the United States. The British hold that disarma- ment, by removing the means to make war and by avoiding the evil conse- quences of competition in armaments, is the only solution. They want to cut down armies, but at the same time they insist upon maintaining & navy equal to the combined tonnage of any two Euro- pean nations. ‘That is, of course, the fatal flaw in their argument when they encounter the French, who insist upon a_superiority over other armed states which, without being as marked, is de- cisive. A deadlock results from these opposed views because & proj 1 for a British guarantee of the existing order in Eu- rope, backed by British bl and treas- ure and direcied by & League Council ip which the British vote is 1 in 14, would not even command the patient consideration of Britons of any political social rank. or But, just as universally, Frenchmen econdemn any program which involves their disarmament without physical guarantees. see no reason why, faced by an yond the Rhine and eq fortable Italian neighbor beyond the Alps, they should be asked to reduce their military defenses below the level Britain, without facing any such obvi- ous dangers, maintains for her navy. German Threat Seen. _This debate, which has endured ever since the Peace Conference, takes on a new acuteness now because the British see clearly that unless the military es- tablishments of Prance and of her Slav allies are materially reduced within a short time Germany will indubitably throw off the limitations imposed upon her by the peace treaty and begin to re-establish her old pre-war military force. Once this happens, the British believe, with patient justice, that many of the worst of pre-war circumstances ‘will be restored. Moreover, the British maintain that having signed the Locarno accords, which bind Britain to support France against a German ion (and Ger- many against any rly unprovoked French attack) in the Rhine area, they have in fact assured PFrench security beyond reasonable doubt. The French do not belleve this. They remember that despite British help German armies in 1914 almost reached Paris and re- mained on French territory to the end of the war. They also recall the deadly fears of the last days of the 1914 crisis before Britain made up her mind to Join up. As a_consequence the French have made alliances with three Slav states Poland, Czechoslovakia and® Jugoslavi he first two neighbors of Germany, the third of Italy. In addition France has financed the military organizations of these states, which together keep in hand armies aggregating 600,000 men. Needless to say, the peoples of these countries, sharing French fears growin; out of efther German or Italian circum- stances, share also French resolve in the matter of disarmament. ‘What makes the situation apparently insoluble is the fact that Germany and Hungary, as well as Austria, are opely resolved not to accept their present ter- ritorial status ‘o{ ng:l&adl loo;;gl;::n. They have publicly a m of revision of the peace treaties, which can be achieved only at the expense of the Slav allies of France, and of Ru- mania also. France, in effect, therefore, says to Britain, “We shall not disarm, nor will our allies, until you guarantee the permanence of precisely those fron- tiers Germany, Austria and mean to change.” ‘The theory of the Labor government has been that the role of Britain was to act as arbitrator alike between France and Germany and France and Italy. Its condemnation of Tory foreign policy, used effectively in the last campaign. was that Chamberlain had permitted Britain to become the tail to the French kite. Labor has been resolved to make it clear that the war-time alliance with France was at an end and that Britain would play no favorites as between France and Germany. Today things are drifting toward the situation of 1921-23 in & very striking fashion. On the one side Germany is again beginning to challenge the trea- ties; on the other British public opinion is becoming increasingly angry with France because of French opposition to all British projects for disarmament. and thus, as the British see it, to all efforts to establish peace in Europe. British Threat Seen. ‘Thus in many influential quarters one sees clear evidence of a tendency on the part of the British to threaten the French with serious consequences if they persist in their way. But the trouble is that while it is possible to threaten France, it is even less easy than in 1923 to coerce France. For now France is not only still at the head of the most powerful military combination in Europe but has recov- ered her economic and financial strength at & moment when Britain is suffering in both directions and Ger- many is well nigh compelled to apply at Paris for the loans without which she cannot carry on. For a year the gold of the world has been steadily draining from London to Paris, while the Bank of France still retains in the British capital funds the recall of which might cause grave trouble. Similarly France is rationing Germany through short-time loans, the recall of which might not impossibly produce a panic in Berlin. It is this circumstance which makes it practically certain that in the face of & new crisis Prance would not, as in 1923, resort to military sanctions, but could with far greater effect content herself with finan- clal reprisals. Britain, Germany and Italy for quite different reasons resent the French atti- tude and the French . Britain believes the French stand on disarma- ment precludes the arrival of real peace. Germany finds it an absolute barrier to her ambition to restore her Eastern frontiers and unite with Austria. Italy Is Blocked by France. Ttaly finds every attempt of hers to play the role of a great power in the Danubian region blocked by French in- fluence. All want the French army re- duced, all would like to break up the solidarity between France and her Slav allies. But neither individually nor collectively are these three countries | capable of coercing Prance, which is by | comparison rich and almost prosperous. But the effect of all these various signs discoverable in London, Berlin and Rome has been to arouse French appre- hension and harden French purpose, with the result that the prospects for a successful disarmament conference are today just nil. This is the situation as it exists to- day: Before this article is published two things may happen—the Labor gov- ernment may fall in Britain; Briand may have to Jeave the Qual D'Orsay. But the former would not materially change British policy; the latter would only constitute further evidence of the hardening of French opinion. More- over, one must recall that French pol- icy, based upon the same convictions which control today, prevented the suc- cess of the Washington Naval Confer- ence, the Genoa Economic Conference, the five-power session in London last | year, and marched into the Ruhr in 1923. Whatever one may think of the moral aspects of French policy, it is | mpossible to ignore the physical aspects, now that a pew conference is in the wind. | (Copyright. 1931 Americans in Paris Programs on Short-Wave Sets| PARIS.—It certainly is a pleasure ‘while in Paris or Vienna to tune in on your short-wave radio and hear the American stations. Also, it is too bad that “fading” often comes in to spoil this contact with the home country. Amer- icans, far from home, are deeply grate- ful for that short-wave program. A sentimental and patriotic chord is touched, s0 that the fact that one is Jistening in on an American station be- comes far more important than the pro- gram itself. The only suggestion one might make is that the programs should be more national and perhaps more varied. The music given on American programs is ®ood: it is too good. It is too classical and monotonous. Some short-wave sta- tion should set out to reflect abroad a serles of pictures of characteristic American life. Endless Variety in Europe. The listener abroad has a choice of about 50 large stations and about 150 local or minor chain stations. But there is endless variety in Europe. Eu- ropean countries are as small as States | at home, and in each country there is a different language, different customs, different music. It is a liberal education Just to turn the dials. Many Europeans *now something of languages in nearby oountries, so some of the announce- ments are understood. But the uni- versal language of music is penetrating throughout Europe and is doing as much as the League of Nations in get- 1ing people better juainted. Austrians like to tune in Toulouse, France, and hear the extremely pleasant announcer “sell things.” And the rr:nch are fond of Hungarian gypsy music, when the Eiffel Tower is not hashing up the air too much. If & one can turn to . Scala, or the Vienna opera, in Austria. State Operation Is Rule. ‘With the exception of France, Hol- Jand and a few others, radio broad- oasting is a state monopoly. Set owners are cgnged from 30 cents to $1 T month besides the usual taxes on sales. This tax is ordinarily collected by the postal authorities, which iscue permits Jor sets. The amounts col- lected are vast. u One central European country, LS Hear U. S. tributes about 25 cents per capita to the broadcasting company. Forty per cent | of this sum is turned over to the state | and city in the form of taxes. The res | goes to operate the station. There is |no varlety of program. Velled adver- | tising_1s "conducted and we certainly | suspect the advertisers pay for this in If set owners want | one way or another. | another Tam they must turn to & station outside the country and in a swrange language. “Black-listeners,” or | pirates, are hunted down like bootleg- gers, even 1f tuning in on foreign sta- ons. Government to Bu'ild New Hawaiian Ports —y HONOLULU. — Congress has voted and the War Department has allocated more than $250,000 for harbor work in| Hawall during the next few months. | The largest single item is $150,000 for enlargement and development of the harbor of Kahului, principal port of the island of Maul. While Honolulu remains the busiest port of the Ha- waiian -Archipelago in point of ton- nage, other harbors are doing a stead- ily larger volume of ess. Several of these have had to be developed to accommodate ocean-going liners, which up to a few years ago seldom had oc- casion fo visit any other port but Honolulu. ECP R Chinese Study Subsidy To Aid Fishing Trade SHANGHAT—With a view to assist- ing Chinese coastal fishing trade, the minister of industries has presented a plan to the government for subsidizing the construction of new, fast fishing boats for long-distance cruising. Sub- sidies are to be on a tonnage basis. Legislation coupled with this calls for protection of the fishing indus- try and for tax exemption. Chinese conflicts with Japanese over fishery rights are not unusual, and it is the intention of the minister of industries to place Chinese fishers ol\xlur com- hmesitive besis . | | | t | tion early in the second Summef. World Surveys Its Trade ils Among Business Men As Cut-Throat Methods Pass. New and Better BY SILAS H. STRAWN. Chairman, American Committee. Interna- tional Chamber of Commerce. OMORROW in ‘Washington America greets and welcomes | the business world. From across the seas, deserts and mountains, | from all the continents and all | the far corners of the earth, men and | women—hundreds of them—of 46 n: tionalities have come to meet in friend- Spirit Prev. 1y conference. Thelr purpose is to dis- | cuss and to come to an accord on the thing that vitally affects men, women and children everywhere. That thing is business, big business and little busi- ness, which together constitute inter- national commerce. The assembled delegates from all over tion. of the organization America is the host | to the International Chamber. Here will meet not only the captains | of industry, but also its generals and | commanders in chief. the world to the Sixth General Congress | gathering of interest not alone to b of the International Chamber of Com- | ness men, but to all thoughtful peo) merce will be greeted by a citizen of the ' throughout the world. SR R ~—Drawn for The Sunday Star by J. Scott Willisms. Yet this is h Spie | ness:and- financial world, In it are the United States and of the world—Her- | possibilities of benefit and hope and bert Hoover, the President of our Na-| For the first time in the history | in the German-owned shop, good alike for the child who pllvfm ulahy: for sheep herder on the plains of Australia, | for the American farmer and for the | employed or unemployed mechanic of a Detroit automobile factory. There is no .other agency that so effectively brings together the leaders in the busi- ‘The_meet- (Continued on Third Page.) Business Girds to Battle Slump U. S. Chamber of Commerce Shows Fight, but Proposes No Cure-All. BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. | MERICAN business grit its teeth at Atlantic City last week, and. paraphrasing Ulysses S. Grant s fmmortal determination when he Jocked horns with Lee Jn Virginia in 1864, set its jaw to fight lll out on the depression line if it takes till | the Summer after next. That was the keynote of the annual meeting of the | United States Chamber of Commerce. which brought to a close on May 1 the most critical session in'its history. There was no cansensus of prediction that it will take another year for busi- ness to recover. Indeed, the Nation's economic leaders were deeply impressed depressions. Any one wno s middle- aged can remember the organized dem- onstrations of the 1. W. W.'s in 1914 and the demonstrations of the unem- ployed in cities like New York, where they crashed the gates of churches in order to find & place to sleep. in 1921 there was plenty of agitation and some violence. : the most serious de- ression of them all, there seems to b2 | s R complete abssnce’ of any subversive | But they show an alimost total absence o “During_this, The SunUponYourWrath BY BRUCE BARTON. with the revelation—brand new to near- | Iy all of them—which fell from the 1ips of Robert P. Lamont, Secretary of Com- Merce. In addressing the chamber, the | - administration spokesmen, without ven turing onto the perilous ice of prophecy, disclosed that in virtually every depres sion since the panic of 1873, the pend lum began to swing in the cther direcl-r history repeats itself, the business hori- 2on ‘xmu&e begin to. brighten in the United States within 60 days. Representatives of virtually every branch of commercial and industrial activity had their innings at Atlantic City without putting before the cham- ber anything savoring of a cure-all. The meeting adjourned, rather, amid | a general feeling that business can | do ‘little more than continue the de- | fensive measures invoked during the first year and a half of the slump. A relief plan that might benefit one | trade, it was made apparent, would | not benefit some cther entirely differ- | ent trade. Each has its special set | of conditions to face and problems to unravel. Wage cuts or curtailed hours, which would serve a purpose here, | might utterly fail to serve any pur- | pose whatsoever there. The antici- | pated drive for wage reductions, which | it was feared might be precipitated | from banking quarters, failed to ma- terialize in Atlantic City. On the con- trary, the principle enunciated by Seq- retary Lamont—that slashed wages would mean slashed purchasing power and therefore income for em- ployers—was accepted as unanswerably sound. Senator Couzens’ warning to business to introduce unemployment insurance, or have it legislatively im- posed upon it, falled to terrify the chamber, Oapital at the chamber conclave had only words of unstinted praise for labor, in consequence of the mutual experiences industry .as a whole has weathered since the Fall of 1929. The sentiment that employer and employe “are in the same boat” today, if they ever were, dominated lings. Gov- ernment representatives in Atlantic City suppll some striking testimony on this score. writer has had access to a memorandum prepared by an administrationist, who is intimately concerned with the Federal Govern- ment's depression activities. “The evidence of sincere efforts by employers to maintain wage rates,” the | memorandum reads, “and by labor or- ganizations to keep the industrial peace suggests some results which contrast in | bsignificant Zashion. those of earliex it HERE is a certain fam- ily in this country consisting of several brothers whose com- bined resources total many millions. They meet every day at luncheon and discuss what- ever problems the day’'s work has developed. Often the de- bate is .Sgll‘l'.ed. but when it is over they make their de- cision unanimous and always act as a unit. _All their financial opera- tions are pooled. If one brother has a fortunate in- vestment all share the bene- fit. If another takes a loss, it is charged to the common account. What has preserved their remarkable partnership? One great rule. They never allow a disagreement to carry over into a new day. If two of them have had a falling out they must meet and settle it before the sun goes down. I have an acquaintance who recently celebrated his twen- ty-fifth wedding anniversary. He said that when he and his wife were married they faced frankly she fact that some disagreements would inevi- tably arise. Therefore, they tried to remove in advance two of the most common causes of misunderstanding. First of all, money. Noth« ing causes more marital grief , € (Copyright, than the constant argument about expense. ‘The husband who does not make his wife a re7ulnr allowance, who com- pel s her constantly to ask for money, explain its needs and account for its expenditure, is sure of plenty of dehate. They decided what part of his income she ought to have. He then arranged that his salary check should be divided into two parts; her part was deposited not only in a sep- arate account, but in a dif- ferent bank. Second, jealousy. to her: “I'love you. I know tI and trust me. He said ou and trust at you love ‘When my feel- ing changes I'll tell you, and I'll count on { honest. Until not ou to be equally that time I am oing to ask you any questions or fret myself, no matter what you you meet. do or whom “As for the troubles which we could not foresee,” concluded, “we he agreed that we should mever take them to bed. We would make up and forgive before night- fall, and go to sleep in peace.” Many years aj writing to his Ephesians, said: 0o St. Paul, riends, the “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” What would business and in happen, in marriage, if we all should try that good rule for a year? 1931.) Even | activities. | ‘The letters which come to the Government from all parts of the | country regarding unemployment and business stabilization carry complaints, suggestions, appeals and denunciations. f anything in the nature of popular distrust of our institutions. It seems | to be among the ‘tired Liberals’ and the ‘college Reds’ that our only revolution- aries are to be found.” One of the conspicuously outstanding addresses of the Atlantic City meeting was forthcoming from Fred W. Sargent, president of the Chicago & Northwest- ern Railway Co. Preceding and suc- ceeding speakers rang the changes on every conceivable sort of remedy for American and world distress. Some think tariff revision downward, here and abroad, is the only hope. Some think reduction or caricellation of the war debts is the best bet. Some thi drastic means for getting rid of the United States’ swollen hoard of gold is the only promising relief. Some think that if Uncle Sam makes a huge silver loan to China world trade will magically revive. ~Mr. Sargent’s con- tribution to the subject of what the country can do to be saved is the slogan, “Back to the Constitution.” In reasoned and convincing terms, the C. & N. W. executive argued that it is the steadily growing passion of Con- gress, mindless of the Bill of Rights and sometimes aided and abetted by Government departments, to centralize more and more authority at Washing- ton and to invade more and more of the provinces of private enterprise, that is the most unsettling factor in the American cconomic situation today. Politics, Mr. Sargent suggested, is one of the era's supreme menaces. 1f the Government is going to go in tric energy, Sargent foresees the mo- ment when it may decide to embark upon the production of coal or oil. If a-Federal agency is to be authorized to plunge into commodity markets for price- pegging, Sargent wonders if the day isn’t dawning when the Government will be goaded into a dozen ventures in flelds far remote from agriculture. The Chicago railroad magnate was particu- larly savage on the Government for ex- tending the activities of the Post Office Department, intended by the founding fathers to transport nothing but “‘mail, to a point where the postal service is carrying as ‘“mail” almost ai that can be lifted and trundled. He also assailed the Government barge ‘lines as poachers on private business preserves. Sargent charges the Government, under the ruthless system he sees in ncessant vogue, with dis g in- dividual enterprise comes without making dy pensation which the Constitution pro- vides fof. He envisions not only pro- pressive impoverishment for many forms of private enterprise if this sys- tem persists unchecked, but possibly grave political upheavals destined com- pletely to change our existing form of Government., The Sargent address was described in Atlantic City as a “state paper,” which almost makes its suthor presidential’ timber. o Wcossseht MR iiizisir SAbAD B0 | not_ want to. | means that in New Jersey (taking that | nk | his shoulders behind an affirmative wet, today for production and sale of ‘elec- | ginamite, ROOSEVELT’S CHANCES REST WITH INNER PARTY CIRCLE 'Rank and File of Democrats Will Follow | Preferences of Few Proven Leaders. BY MARK SULLIVAN. l OV. ROOSEVELT of New York will receive or not receive the Democratic presidential nom- | ination, according with what is felt about it by some five or ten national leaders, chiefly those in the North and East. Their judgment will be decisive. It is true that Gov. Roosevelt is far |on the way toward the prize. But he will not get it unless these leaders deem | it wise he should have it. If all the roughly 1,100 delegates who will make | up the national convention should vote | their present personal inclinations, | Roosevelt would have close to the nec- essary two-thirds. But not all and not even half the delegates will vote according to their own offhand inclinations. They will They would feel lost if they had to. What they will want and turn to is guidance from men to whom Nfiey are accustomed to look for leader- | ship. A wise and experienced politica’ ob- server Has expressed it by saying that in any national convention the mass of delegates are men who “take orders,” while about 50 are men who “give orders.” To describe the situation in terms of “orders” is misleading. Cer- tainly it would be more accurately de- | scribed as a willing deference by groups | of delegates to leaders whose guidance they have depended upon in the past. | However the process be phrased, it | is leaders that count. For example, in | every Democratic national convention in recent. years, all the delegates from New Jersey have voted as a solid unit for one presidential candidate or an- other. Does this mean that each of | these 32 men has hA&pened to have | exactly the same individual preference, | and that at a certain point in the ballot- | ing they have all changed their pref- erence simultaneously to another can- | didate? | New Jersey Is Typical. Of course it does not mean that. It State as typical) the local Democratic | workers in the counties and cities (from | among whom the delegates come) have been accustomed to co-operate with and | be guided by some one State leader, or a small group of two or three State leaders. This State leader, in turn, de- termines his action by consultation with | he has co-operated in the past. -In the coming national convention, does any one doubt that all the 94 delegates from New York State (with or four eccentric excep- tions) will be guided by two cr three State leaders? ' Or that all the 74 dele- fates from vania (excepting a ew ones from rural districts) will | by one or two State leaders? Or that practically every delegate from Ohio will take the g of Gov. George White and ex-Gov. James M. Cox (who will be careful to agree with cach Other): or that all the delegates from Ilinois (excepting the dry ones from a few districts “down State™) will | | follow & single leader? Or that all the | | delegates from Maryland will follow the leadership of Gov. Ritchie and his | friends? One could similarly call the roll of | many other States—Connecticut, Mas- | sachusetts, Rhcde Island, New Hamp- | shire—in which all of (or in some | cases the mass of) the delegates will | follow the guidance of their State | leaders. | It is the leaders that count. Gov.' Roosevelt may have as many as 400 or 450 delegates as the result of his own spontaneous momentum. And (if the lack of other aggressive candidates | continues) whether he reaches the two- | thirds (roughly 734) necessary to | nominate, depends upom whether the leaders, looking upon conditions at the time of the convention, deem it wise lo | nominate him. Opinions Not Certain. | The present_state of mind of these | leaders about Roosevelt is inconclusive. Any one who talks with them nnds‘ them not sure of their own rnlnds.‘ ‘Taking them as a group, they are not | strongly for him. It is difficult to| guess what they would do if the date | of the national convention were ad- vanced a vear, and if the necessity for | final choice were immediately ahead of | them. First of all they would consult | with each other, and the consultation | would consist in part at least of an | exchange of misgivings. Most of the leaders who will deter- mine Roosevelt's fate are wet. (The dry | leaders in the coming national conven- | tion will stand off by themselves with a candidate of their own.) The wet leaders are uncertain whether Roose- | velt is as wet as they decm it best the | next Democratic nominee should be. | They query in their own minds whether | Roosevelt would whole-heartedly put program; Whether he would live en- thusiastically up to their determination to make the mocratic party com- glekly wet; whether he would put his eart into an effort to drive wet legis- lation through Congress and to get the eighteenth amendment out of the Con- stitution. ‘They are troubled about Roosevelt's relation to the Tammany scandals—not, of course, in any sense that the scan- dals touch Roosevelt, for they do not. But the national leaders feel fairly sure that things are pretty bad in Tammany, that there will be a series of explosions, that some of the explosions may blow 'off right in the midst of the Presiden- tial campaign next year. Throughout all these disclosures Roosevelt as Gover- nor of New York will have an unes- capable responsibility for saying how far the disclosures and the subsequent punishments shall go. Situation after situation, all charged with political | , will be “‘up to” Roosevelt. Within the last 10 days it has been up to Roosevelt to say what should be done about formal and serious charges against the Tammany Mayor of New York City. Tammany Explosion Felt. ‘That -&au&tlo;, 50 the Democratic leaders anticipate, will be repeated over and over, in varying forms, right up to the Presidential election of 1932. The leaders, consis whether or not it is best to make velt the Presi- dential nominee, wonder whether the New York Governor may let his foot slip at one point or another—whether he may err on the side of severity, which would “queer” him with th party 3 of leniency, which would *queer” him with the country outside of New York. Many experienced, hard boiled leaders, rather sympathetic to Roosevelt, think it can be only a political miracle if the Ubugiy' vour and & Bai of expiosions a year a of ns bout Tammany wit al thout making some misstep. Thinking that, they wonder if 1t would not be Presidential candidaf better to te having no faint- est contact with Tammany—one from outside New York, such as Newton D. Baker of Ohio, or one from outside politics, such as Owen D. Young. ‘The leaders think sometimes about Roosevelt's health. If i talking to | for him—not merely | velt cannot get the nomination, | necessary two-thirds. | piank. Tammany Probe Is Feared. health has apparently been no impedi- ment to his being a perfectly compe- tent Governor of New York, they reply that the presidency is a tougher, more wearing job. They say, not with final- ity but merely as the expression of & querying doubt, that they would feel uneasy about putting upon Roosevelt the heavy business of leading a three- month grueling country-wide compaign for the presidency. Past Sacrifices Aid. It is true that in 1928 Roosevelt's health was supposed to be such as to make it imprudent for him to run for governor and imprudent to take up the duties of that office. When Smith, be- ing then the Democratic candidate for the presidency and wishi to have every help in carrying New York State: when Smith asked Roosevelt to go on the ticket as candidate for governor, persops close to Roosevelt demurred on the round that the campaigm might seriously retard Roosevelt's recovery of iis health. Roosevelt, however, upon intimate urging from Smith, gallantly took the chance. That act, by the way—that deference to Smith’s wish under circumstances that made deference a sacrifice—that act is today Roosevelt's greatest single political asset. It is the first law of Smith’s human nature and of his polit- ical technique to live up to his obl gations. And it is largely in Smith's power now to say whether Roosevelt shall or shall not be the presidential nominee. Smith is by far the most im- portant one of the leaders who have the decision in their hands. Unless Smith is for Roosevelt, unreservedly for him, wholeheartedly, and convincingly “for” him,. but “fur” him, as they say in Illinois with a subtle distinction—unless Roosevelt has Smith’s support in that sense and to that degree, Roosevelt hasn't s Chinaman’s chance. Without Smith’s complete and public blessing, Roose- and if he should get the nomination he would have no chance for the election. Prosperity Is Issue. Some Democratic leaders, considering with conscientious earnestness whom it - is best to nominate, feel there are bet- ter men than Roosevelt—better in leaders from other States with whom | particular endowment—whereas, Young has ktmupleuoul and proved endow- ments, Again, the next Democratic presiden. tial nomination is inextricably knotted into the matter of Chairman Raskob’s plank committing the Democratic party to the wet position. To get that plank adopted Mr. Raskob and the leaders associated with him need only to have a majority of the delegates—and it is fairly certain they will have the major- ity. The drys can hardly have & ma- Jority in resistance. But to nominate a wet presidential candidate (or any kind of a presidential candidate) it is necessary to have not merely a majority of the delegates two-thirds. And it is doubtful if Mr. Raskob and his associates will have the ‘The drys can readily command the one-third of the delegates that can veto a presidential nomination. Certainly the drys can command an effective third if they have good leadership, if they have a candi- date of their own and if they achieve solidarity and maintain it to the end. Anything Can Happen. In this situation—the wet leaders with a majority, but not with two-thirds—lie the possibilities of countless complexi- ties. To express the situation the other way round, the drys will not have the majority necessary to resist a wet plank, but will have the one-third that is capable of resisting a wet nominee. Under such circumstances many things can happen, eccentric outcomes perhaps. The fight on the wet plank will come first and presumably will be won by the wets. Thereafter, what will be the state of the mind of the drys? Will they say. in effect: “The wets have beaten us and had their way on the Now we" will stay here until doomsday before we let, them have their way on the candidate.” Or will the drys say. in effect: “We have lost on the plank and we might as well let the tail go with the dcg. The wets can nomi- nate any one they feel like, s0 far as we care.” As to the wets there are similarly con- trasting possibilities about their state of mind after they win the fight on plat- form. No human being is wise enough to divine what will be the net mass psychology of those 1,100 delegates, all stirred up emotionally, after the fight on the wet plank. The whole picture is much too complex to be explored in advance, As to Roosevelt's relation to it. one can only say that the situation within the convention will,be full of quick- sands, charged with explosive mines; 2 situation in which the avoldance of fatal misstep calls for extraordinary political talent—or incredible luck. To turn back to the situation as of pres: Dem cratic leaders are sufficiently disturbed by various perils associated with Roose- velt to cause them to hold themselves in reserve and to keep other possibilities as “aces up their sleeves” until the very, day and hour of the national convention that will name the presidential candi- date. Edelweiss Protected By Swiss Regulation GENEVA.—The Swiss Government is protecting its wild flowers as it does its wild birds. Especially is the “noble white plant” of the mountain peaks, the edelweiss, the beneficiary of recent regulations. One may not pluck it up by the roots: it may not be sold in bunches or bou- quets, and it may not be made into substitutes for daisy chains to deck out fair ladies at costumed balls in the big hotels of the mountain resorts. Like the chamois and the ckled trout, for fear they will some day ut- terly disappear, the edelweiss is hent forth “protected.” ‘That all may take the warning to heart, notices have been posted in rail- way stations, post offices. schools and mAny eker public places,