Evening Star Newspaper, May 24, 1931, Page 30

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition, WASHINGTON, D. C. BUNDAY..........May 24, 1831 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Ncwm’n Company %, -“fi,"fi;,"w“‘"'-.,gvfi ago e: Lake Mic] utlding. Firortan ce: 14, Regent ®. Lo Rate by Carrier Within the City. Evening Star._..... th RS Brentnx DA% wunday iar oo 2o 0 (when 4 Bundays) 60c per month. The Evening and Suni e Buhday B % Collection mad X d | f‘u ;'fiflen maj sent in by matl or Ational . Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. per month e ‘telephoné I and Sunday... inday onls’ All Other States and Canada. 41y and Sunday...] yr., $12.00: 1 mo., 31 ily onl: 1y §8.0yi 3 mo. ndas "only 1101 TEL 800 d e 6o Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Press s exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news di Patehes credited to it or not otnerwise cre ted news in this paper and published herein. local {l rizhts of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. = ‘Waiting for a Merger. ‘Those who favor a merger of the transportation lines in Washington, and these include the general public, the Public Utilitles Commission and the street car and bus corporations, inust have experienced some disappointment on learning, through an interview with Harley P. Wilson in The Star, that his own renewal of efforts in behalf of & merger is in some degree contingent upon assurances that “the new plan of unification will be handled expediti- ously.” For it is eifficult to understand how, under present conditions, any such assurances can be given. Congress in the past has jealously guarded its right to sanction a merger of the lines, and there are no indica- tions of a change in policy from that quarter. ‘The failure by Congress to ap- prove a merger agreement drawn by the corporations resulted in the failure of tk¢ merger. But those who studied the eriginal merger proposal from the viegpoint of protecting the interests of thy public have never expressed any grsat regret over its failure. It seems to be pretty generally conceded, out- side of the corporations themselves, that it was a good thing that the first merger agreement did fail. In the meantime, circumstances have altered the conditions under which the corporations may hope_to tackle the task of having their future merger plans approved. They have gone into court and obtained a higher rate of fare, when the prospect of being &ble to stave off & higher rate of fare was one of the chief arguments originally used in be- half of a merger. It has been estab- lished that higher fare has not solved the difficulties facing the car lines. Every time a balance sheet is drawn it ‘becomes more apparent that the street cars must follow some other course than at present pursued if they hope to recoup the losses in patronage al- ready sustained. The opinion is justi- fled that when the corporations seek a merger next time they will be seeking # for their own economic salvation. ‘The merger shoe, in other words, is on the other foot. The public was eager for the fir8t merger proposal, for it held out some offer, however intangible, of a Jower rate of fare and a better and more convenient service. With something to promise, the corporations had some- thing to bargain with. ‘What have they to bargain with now? In the last rate hearings the Public Utllities Commission, with a merger plan of its own, introduced the subject of merger as a possible alternative to higher fares, and for its pains had such talk labeled by learned counsel for the companies as speculative and hypotheti- cal. All of which it may have been. But if it was then, it is now. And with mere speculative and hypothetical bene- Aits to result from a merger, it stands to reason that the public, with nothing to gain and having already lost, will be prepared to drive a good bargain if there is an opportunity to do so. Congress has no intention of delegating its power 10 examine the bargain. Of course there should be a merger of the car lines. It is ful and inefficient not to combine “the city's transportation agencies and under cen- tralized authority and unified control use them for the convenience and the greatest benefit of the public. But the companies cannot hope that either the public or the Congress will come on jerror in deduction will neva last week, especially during cur- sory discussion of the German-Austrian customs union, are depressing omens of the abmosphere likely to prevail when the world assembles there for the 1932 general disarmament conference. Manifestly realizing that the United States of Europe is not so urgent an is- sue as the ecomomic crisis oppressing the globe, M. Briand's commission wound up its conversations with adop- tion of various fact-finding plans for relieving world depression. It did not even ban Soviet Russia’s cynical “non~ economic aggression” program as un- worthy of consideration. The readiness of Eurcpe to ponder M. Litvinoff’s pro- posal, though Geneva correspondents depict it as denoting Russia’s formal admission to the European family, seems rather an indication of the Old World's desperation. It has something about it of the straw at which a drown- ing man grasps. Dumping of low-cost or no-cost Russian produce in the mar- kets of Europe is becoming a first-class menace. If British and continental statesmen see even a glimmer of hope that the Soviet export plot can be thwarted by scrutiny of the Litvinoff protocol, they cannot be blamed for consenting at least to examine it. The Soviet commissar for foreign af- fairs told the Geneva commission that his proposition means to do for eco- nomic warfare what the Briand-Kellogg peace pact does for war—to outlaw it. Russia wants, Litvinoff said, merely to assure the “peaceable co-existence” of the communist and. capitalistic systems. He might as well propose a merger of oil and water. Collectivism and in- dividualism were not meant to be eco- nomic bedfellows. Misinformation on Washington. Because of its unique political status and the peculiar financial relationship with the Federal Government in sup- port of the Capital City, Washington is America’s most misunderstood city and Washingtonians are the traditional victims of misinformation in the minds of their fellow Americans. Even in Congress an intimate knowledge of the municipality is confined to the handful of committee members whose dealings with local legislation or appropriations have required extraordinary study, and those whose friendly interest and ex- tended residence here have made them familiar with local problems. Outside of Washington most of the citizens are under the impression that taxation without representation is as extinct in America as the dodo. Many of them believe that Washingtonians pay no taxes, and some of them may believe that a beneficent Federal Government !etdus and clothes us and puts us to L The Chamber of Commerce is to be commended for having quickly - called to the attention of Barron’s Financial Weekly a rather characteristic error ; which appears in its current edition. Merlin H. Hunter, professor of eco- nomics at the University of Illinois, describing the cost of the Federal estab- lishment, suggests that “the officials of many of our minor political units find themselves in a difficult position when faced with the problem of raising revenue to carry on the apparently necessary governmental actvities. These may look with justifiable envy upon the City of Washington and the District of Columbia, for these may expect to Teceive from the Pederal Treasury in 1932, on the basis of present estimates, the sum of $47,796,000.” ‘The professor’s mistake is perfectly natural, although one might expect that & professor, at least, would look before he leaped into print with such an amaz- ing conclusion, Sitting down to write an article, he had at hand t!uo? budget estimates for the fiscal yehr 1932—estimates which since have be- come appropriations. And running down the table of various proposed expendi- tures, he paused at the item, “District of Columbia, $47,796,047,” which comes right between “War Department, in- cluding Panama Canal” and “Reduction in principal of the public debt.” It required only a second to make the consequent deductions and before the professor could reach for his pen the comparison between the struggling tax- payers of other budget-burdened com- munities and the tax-free residents of the District of Columbia, -receiving $47,796,047 from the Federal Treasury, had flashed into his mind. The incident is an interesting example of the confusion invited by including District of Columbia estimates, about eighty per cent of which represents locally derived revenue, in the Federal budget. And the professor's unfortunate naturally be bended knees and petition them 10{yeoq and its full import digested by draft a merger plan, assuring them that it will be quickly approved. The atti- tude of the public and of Congress now is, rather, “What have you to offer, and ‘what can you say in its behalf?” It is to be hoped that the companies will Tespond. ————— Pacifists should calm down. It seems that we have only 280 actual fighting planes after all, which is, in more ways than one, abous equivalent to a slap delivered to John L. Sullivan in his prime. e The U. 8. of Europe Dream. Another three months of deliberation and discussion are to ensue before Aristide Briand’s United States of Eu- rope will be taken up afresh. The com- mission which closed seven days of de- bate on the subject at Geneva on Fri- day adjourned to meet again on Sep- tember 3. There were smiles, bouquets, handclasps and applause for M. Briand, but his ambitious project was recon- signed to that dreamland whence it emerged a year sgo. Pan-European union remains a noble aspiration honey- thousands who will never note the cor- rection, if any correction is made. Some of them, no doubt, will write letters to their Congressmen. e A Chicago woman artist has had in- disputable proof that her paintings and sculptures are of considerable value. She discovered that her husband was slip- ping them out to pay for drinks at a nearby speakeasy. e No Extra Session. President Hoover wisely has placed a ban on an extra session of Congress at this time. He has pointed out that it is impossible to legislate men and women back into jobs. That is the problem of industry, and will be solved alone by industry. If Congress were in Washington again all kinds of legisia- tive panaceas for unemployment and o encourage business and the farmer would be before the House and Senate, ranging from a Federal “dole” and the “debenture” on the one hand to huge building programs by the Government. Congress, at its last session, put through measures of relief, particularly for those in the drought-stricken area. combed with perplexities, shot through with suspicions and fraught at every turn with bafing complications. “It is certain now that this enterprise will not be abandoned by its members,” remarked the French foreign minister as he pronounced a closing benediction upon the preparatory commission at its final session. “None can longer doubt the efficacy of our association,” M. Briand added, in another bromidic ab- straction. Other statesmen of Europe— Henderson of Britain, Curtius of Ger- Those measures have proved effective, as the testimony of leaders in that area emphatically asserts. It added to the program of bullding and construc- tion work of all kinds for the Federal Government, and that work is being made available to industry and labor as fast as pcssible. The panicky mem- bers of Congress who demanded a Fed- eral dole for those out of work have been proved in the wrong. The country is carrying on. Admittedly the situa- tion is difficult. It will require work many, Grandi of Italy—echoed the|gang patience and denial of luxuries. But plous thought. them recognized, even though the hour was not meet for registration of their quaims, that pan-Europe -is a program But each and all of luu country will solve the problem. President Hoover, in his announce- ment to the press and the world that he does not propose to call an extra bristling with ungovernable difficulties. | session of the Congress, said: “I know The rivairies and animosities which nothing that would 50 disturb the jeal- suddenly neah-sighted when dey stah'ts ’ m'nummqmummmmmuuuuw~-.___. THE SUNDAY STAR, on in the economic situation.” Doubt- less he had in mind the probable at- tempts on the part of some of the members of Congress to bring about “dole” legislation, tariff revision, in- creased Federal taxes, the entrance of Government in the power business, into the rallroad business, the farm “deben- ture” and a host of other measures. With such legislative proposals under consideration by congressional commit- tees and by the Senate and House, business undoubtedly would halt in its stride toward recovery, ‘The demand for a special session of the "Congress has its political angle. Those at outs with the administration in the Republican party find it difficult in the extreme to keep their propa- ganda ball rolling with the forum on Capitol Hill closed. The Progressive conference, called by a handful of the Progressive Senators of both parties im- mediately after Congress adjourned, has passed into history. It labored and brought forth a number of committees which ave expected to make reports possibly to another such conference in the Fall. In the meantime, however, the administration has full sway and industrialist and farmer alike are seek- ing to work out their own salvation. If Congress were assembled in Wash- ington today, there is not the slightest doubt that it would become again & great political gathering, with the & ties and party factions tain political advantage for national campaign. Those members of Congress who are considering the best interests of the country—and they con- stitute & great majority of the whole, Democrats and Republicans alike—be- lieve, as does the President, that it would accomplish no good purpose to call a special session. The Congress | has made provision for the running of the Government for the coming fiscal year. The Government is being well Tun. A clergyman at the “International Good-Will Day” meeting in New York offered a motion to the effect that the current Army air maneuvers are “mon- strous, arrogant and shameless.” When it is considered that if a hostile fieet equal to this aggregation made an attack on any city it would take four times as many planes as we have to beat them off, it seems as if the display were shameful rather than shameless. ———rae— B ‘The Post Office Department is one of those ordered by the President to cut down expenditures. Letter writers know in advance, without being told, that this means less mucilage on the stamps and envelop flaps. Bex is sex. 1In the revived frog jump- ing contest of Calaveras County, Calif., the lady entrant brought grief to her owners and backers by making a good jump, but making it backward. R s Germany's new battieship, the Ersatz Preussen, seems to be a middleweight, with the punch of a heavyweight, the speed of a sprinter and the staying powers of a champion two-miler. e —— ‘The President's new private craft, former barge of a battleship, is 50 small that one wonders i, when traveling on | her, he does not feel tempted to do a little surreptitious trolling. ‘The 1930-1931 season saw the produc- tion of the world’s record crops of both cane and beet sugar. And is it not also fine that there are 5o many fewer Amer- ican flies to enjoy their share? Premier Mussolini declares that his countrymen are beating their swords into plowshares. All right; but some- body is making far too much racket with that hammer and anvil. ———r———————— Sir James Jeans, British astronomer, is so pessimistic over the condition of the universe that he can almost taste garlic in the Milky Way. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Peculiar. Oh, human beings are, in sooth, A most peculiar lot. By them a lady or a youth Is kidnaped, like as not. They love to turn to reckless fun ‘Which undermines the health; And each feels happiest when he’s won Another's hard-earned wealth. Each likes to talk about the way He loves his fellow man. But you will notice, day by day, He “does him” when he can. The golden rule he quotes as truth— 'Tis instantly forgot. These human beings are, in sooth, A most peculiar lot. Practical Preference. “Which do you prefer on the radio, the singer or the orator?” “1 strongly prefer the singer,” re- plied Senator Sorghum. “Music enables a man to use his voice all he wants to without risk of being drawn into & po- litical argument.” Jud Tunkins says the father who in- tended to make a great professional man of his son usually manages to con- ceal his disappointment when the boy signs up for a neat salary as a ball player. Had His Good Peints. Oh, Ananias was a man Of wickedness indeed. Perhaps he tried to tell the truth, But he did ne'er succeed. Stern disapproval of his way Posterity must nurse. Yet it is not too much to hint That there are others worse. Of him with kindness let us speak, E'en though some cynic mocks. He never went to selling tips On races or on stocks. Doubtful Intent. “My small boy asks me some inter- esting questions,” said the serious man. “Do you object to that?” “I don't know. I can't be sure whether he's trying to find out how much I do know or how much I don't.” Change Assured. This world—it is a pleasant place Where none need vainly yearn. You get precisely what you want 1f you will wait your turn. “Some men,” said Uncle Eben, “gits Sapping the WASHINGTON, D. C., MAY 24 Foundations BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, Bishop of Washington. “This country seems to be more con- cerned about hog cholera than it is about the well-being of its children.” This was the rather brutal statement made in a large assembly by an out- standing leader. When we heard it we were repelled by it. It seemed like gross exaggeration, but as we reflected upon it we wondered if it did not con- tain a modicum of truth. Certainly there are conspicuous evidences that we are more concerned about legisla- tive matters of one kind and another than about the character bullding of our youth. A community can be read- ily stirred to action in the interests of some reform that has to do with its administrative life, but it regards with complacency the widespread evils that are designed to hurt and ultimately destiby the moral character of the young. We literally furnish protection to institutions and agencies that are sources of infection;, How little we hear of criticism today of some of the pictures and plays that are freely pre- tented and that are wickedly designed to break down and destroy the things of character! As a matter of fact, our finer sensibilities seem to be blunted when it comes tg matters of this kind. ‘We speak with Torror of c indi- viduals or groups whose offenses are so notorious it they disturb the peace and quiet of the community in which weun.bnzweddnndnmdmuly commercial institutions that lose neither conseience nor fine sensibilities, that think of what they produce solely from the standpoint of profit. Chil- dren of tender years become 80 ac- customed to hearing and seeing that which is suggestive and impure, and sometimes criminal, that they w callous and indifferent to the im tions of what they witness. We recall that in our young manhood a far more strict supervision was exercised over public entertainments of one kind and another than we witness today. As a matter of fact, there is no standard by which we determine what is decent or indecent. The new standard would seem to be to put everytl before the youth, leave nothing untold, no unnoticed, make even crime fascinat- ing, and this despite the fact that we have more youthful eriminals in our tentiaries today than we have ever | the own. American Policy to ica- | de Only recently a distinguished judge of a city court stated that he was over- whelmed and appalled by the propor- tion of youthful criminals brought be- fore his bar. This whole situation is the morale of the home. dication of the ment of all restraint. In the many letters that come from my radio talks week by week a large It is the ab- tions. The reading of them discloses cern too Ila loose break-up of the home of the youth for larger freedom and independence. The whole situation = domestic e the State and relation to our security and perma- nence. in individual and corporate life. Par- of reform kinds of professional and sociations for advancing the Iinf of our individual and corporate cerns, but there is no evident effort to consolidate, strengthen and stabilize our lomestic and home concerns. changes. The whole question goes back again to the individual home, and the question facing us is one that concerns our solemn responsibility. Are we will- ing to have our sons and daughters grow up in an atmosphere that is will- fully and wickedly designed to destroy their moral se: ‘unresponsive to eir citizens of the State? Abstain From Share In Management of World Bank at Basel BY WILLIAM HARD. Events in Europe this last week com- pietely preoccupled Washington. Im- portant developments occurred as to the relations between the United States and the foreign world. These develop- ments, it is believed, will profoundly affect American internal economics and politics. In the first place, another separating wedge was driven into the so-called “co-operation” between the United States and the Bank for International Settiements at Basel, Switzerland. That bank, otherwise known as the World Bank, is owned by the central banking systems of 23 foreign countries and has been anxious from the,beginning tq en- list the direct participation of the Fed- eral Reserve System of the United States. In the absence of such partic- ipation, which was declined by our State Department, the Bank for Inter- national Settlements has desired *“co- operation,” which our Federal Reserve Bank in New York City seemed disposed strongly to st * Inquirfes in New York City indicate that the Federal Reserve Bank there was extremely willing, for. instance, to send a representative to the stockhold- ers’ meeting of the Bank for Interna- tional Settlements this last week at Basel. Nevertheless, no representative of the New York Federal Reserve Bank or of any other part of the American Fed- eral Reserve System was present at that meeting. The conclusion is frresistible that the wishes of the directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York City were overborne in this matter of representa- tion at Basel by national policy imme- diately declared to them from Wash- ington. The United States Government now most emphatically and definitely demonstrates that it does not wish to be implicated in the operations of the Bank for International Settlements, which, through its dealings with Ger- man reparations and with numerous other related European difficulties, is profoundly involved in European poli- tics. The stockholders of tr Settle- ments Bank went deeper into such poli- tics this last week through dealing with the problem of the money to be loaned to the Austrian State Bank on the political condition that the Austrian government should not join itself to the German government in a customs union, It was precisely the fear of such min- glings of economics with politics on the European continént that led our au- thorities at Washington to discoun- tenance all American official repre- sentation at the Basel bank assemblage. x9S It can accordingly be set down as a currently astablished American govern- mental principle under this adminis- tration that ropean financial recon- struction, in so far as it is based upon European political considerations, will not in fact have any ‘co-operation” from American official governmental financial quarters. Americans in their private capacities may and do become officers of the Bank for International Settlements. Americans in their pri- vate capacities may and do visit Basel and confer with the bank’s officers. The American governmental Federal Reserve system, nevertheless, as a sys- tem, holds strictly aloof from the bank's affairs. The consequences are numer- ous and vital both for the United States and Europe. Momentarily the financial ascendancy of France on the European continent is assured. France has been able for the time being to frustrate the Ger- man-Austrian customs union through political use of its present vast supplies of gold. It weakened Eastern European interest in the union through large loans to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Ru- mania and Jugoslavia. It weakened Austrian insistence upon the union through making it clear among the financiers assembled at Basel this last week that it would help to finance Austria in its immediate acute eco- nomic distress only if Austria would cease from negotiations for the union. It had its way at Geneva in the Coun- cil of the League of Nations in the matter of the union primarily because it dominantly now holds Europe's purse strings. * K % It now will continue to be the chief operator of those strings in the men- agement of the new European Interna- tional Agricultural Credit Bank just voted into being by the League. It is French capital that will largely finance that bank. It is French policy t! will largely thereupon sway that ba: to , Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, Jugoslavia, Bulgaria. It is the purpose of Prench political statesmanship to weld as many of those countries as possible into & special amity with France to counter the power on the w;‘hmdo!aummdonmotm t)of Agriculture continue American farmers strongly in their | wide agreement among farmers to con- own interest to cut down production as | trol the wheat lus, fas as possible toward the limit of |mer’s rhn called for an or Prench governmental political aims. * k¥ % double twist. from European central finance politics. of gold, stand forth at the opposite poles of po- ing the international use of gold. return here of Mr. Charles Dewey, for- merly Agsistant Secretary of the United States Treasury, from three ‘Iun of service abroad as financlal adviser to holds enormous unity in Eastern He points out that those countries con- tain some 90,000,000 people of the white race who have it in them within the next few decades to make sta . He maintains clall; a0 Aln:h o - especially weloome is that American dolhnwm fimefmnw‘ 9 them nupefifi by them of having any Amer- ican_political governmental designs. * x & % This last argument of Mr. Dewey’s is | in logical line with the behavior of the Turl government in planning now to send an economic mission to the United States. The Turks do not hesitate to reveal their feeling that financial re- lations with the United States are pref- %Ab'l: to_financial relations with the ‘estern European powers gucluly be- cause the United States has not in- volved itself in European political ma- neuvers. The open expression of such senti- ments by the Turks is accompanied by the quiet private em of similar segtiments among Eur as reported to Wi nbyourgzplo- matic observers abroad. Eastern Europe is most certainly increasingly restive under what it often feels to ze undue French political influence. In numer- ous influential Eastern sec- tions of opinion there is today an out- H&ht impulse actually to shake Prance off and to plinge into the customs union which Germany has offered, not alone to Austria, but to all neighboring countries. It would seem to be the fate of France to be obl to send more and more money into tern Europe in order to keep its Eastern European po- litical fortifications standing. * ok ok Tt would be today within the power of American finance to supplant French finance in Eastern Europe if our pri- vate bankers chose to do it. Some of them are debating doing it. They are unlikely to get any governmental ges- ture from Washington encouraging or sanctioning them in any such project. Our Government holds to the view that our economic destiny abroad is in fact not retarded but furthered and ulti- mately solidly safeguarded by our very refusal to back it with political govern- mental on. (Copyrighs, 1931.) Wheat Surplus Problem BY HARDEN COLFAX. Can the wheat-producing and wheat- exporting countries of the world be induced voluntarily to limit production and exports, or must there ‘some international agreement—signed and sealed by governments—with quotas of production and exports agreed upon? This is the line which divides the point of view of the United States and that of the other 10 wheat-growing ship of G. Howard Fe: last week in the British capital. The spokesman of the America delegation, ber of the Federal Farm Board, told the conference that, while the United States is “emphatically not out of the for a considerable time to come,” the to advise domestic requirements. * ok ok * Delegates from the other IH&—Arlnll;lnl. Australia, Canada, Rumania, Ji 1931—PART TWO. Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. A" et anfenterig % ot o e & aliman a5 he may now Think talisman He is not going to be invited right away to reform the world, or business, jor to solve industrial and unemploy- directly traceable to the break-down of | ment problems. Thirty-six years proj n of | solved the ind: them have to do with domestic situa- | problem. nsibilities and render | 8ttracted the them those refinements | the fount of sel of life that make for and contribute to | the historic usefulness as Christian | convenient to the Capit Wi move parallel in Eastern Europe with lv\;mzfln inf through a fear of politics. France|struction are materials purcl plunges into European ocentral bank | George Washii n himself in 1798, '3 in order in large pari to promote | build his town PFrance and the United States, | for the entertalnment of members of , | Congress and other notables during the the government of Poland. Mr. Dewey that American finance has an ;:: qm:{“gzm':,‘l Not Solved at London | This countries which, under the chairman- |only one concern rguson, Canadian | The League of Natlons, now in high commissioner in London, and the | at Geneva, is also facing it. The Dominion’s representative at the World | foreign minister, Mr. Briand, has a Wheat Conference, held discussions [ for an international economic Samuel R. McKelvie, mem- | general, and the rticular, world export wheat market, at least) just coming on. g0 Herbert Hoover got his A. B. d legree | of parents, the abandon- | from Stanford University, and although | American statesmen upon to solve many ul{; world he hasn't yet ial and unemployment He was chairman of the American Rellef Commission in Lon- he has been called of the ills of tj slon. He has gone a long way on his in|A. B., supplemented by almost countless l'}ll‘l'a 'lieh o t'ln; ::tl::'r { the world, that today I wvest ) e y of o , so ay Ic|Britain. | p'o! the Nnm 1o | probably has more earned and honorary g lture, desirabl e e o T A proper eulture, e a5 | 1920, W] Was cl an o son's war c it 1s, gives :;v guarantee of those things | President’s Second Industrial Confer- of war risk that make for satisfaction and decency ence, he from the leading univer- degrees any engagsd on the in- BY FREDERIC'J. HASKIN. ‘The manner in which public relief) measures planned to ameliorate the distress of unemployment bujld up on! each other and become hugé burdens on government treasuries is being illus- trated by the ex ence of Great Britain. A keener ht into the rea- sons why President Hoover, Secretary the Treasury n and other ave 50 bitterly d anything resembling a dole system is vouchsafed by a glance at British experience. It is found that schemes for public assistance to the unemployed, the aged in almost every instance a concern for |don, chairman of the Commission for|and the indigent, which begin under the well-belngryot children, but a con-|Relief in Belgium, United States food |the most favorable auspices and with te in its exercise and too|administrator, member of the War|gactuarial assurance of paying at least | in its discipline. Where afuence | Council, chairman of the International | large part of their own way, failed ey T A sury it uic] followe: A e nditions. & A ‘and the search |of the Mississippi Flcod Relief Commis- | and uncalculated ‘The American Nation has had con- siderable experience to illustrate this fact, but not nearly the amount which has beerr bought dearly by Great ‘When William G. McAdoo, as Secre- tary of the Tyeasury in President Wil- et, broached the scheme zurance for every man in the armed forces, it was figured out| Precizely as with (he American war insurance for veterans, the British uns employment insurance schgmes have overstepp>d every bound originally set for them until now it is necessary for the Parliament at least to attempt meas- uyes which are declared to be flatly con= fiscatory in order to maintain the ever~ increasing cxpnse of public relief. Res lief measures now constitute the largest item in the Eritish government budget. The British exceriencs has fallen into unhappiness because of the occurrence in terrifying iapld succession of those unforsseen contingenci-s which, it would almost appear, are about the only cone tingencies which may be counted on. Funds Easily Exhausted. The first unemployment insurance scheme: on a large scale was launched in 1920. It provided that the benefits be paid from a fund built up from small, Tegular contributions from the workers on the one side and from employers on the other. The Government was to have appropriated small sums in emergencies | to fill shortages in the privately raised | funds. | In its first year ths schem> fell dovn dustrial and employment problem. This that the benefits would pay for them- 8nd the insurance fund became actu- ents maintain that they are the victims | shows that the world has some tough selves. The United States Government | ar'ally insolvent. In 1921 an acute trade et to be solved that have not got into the insurance business by set- | depression descended upon Great Brit= degrees or world- | ting up a War Risk Insurance Bureau | ain. Factcrics closed and unemploy=- There is_al t | to write marine insurance on merchant | ment became general, the beginning of the best talent |vessels. The activity of German sub-, & decade-long period cf distress among s. ‘They they have because ' Uncle 's service shows those without such ‘wxml Just as far and and helpful citizens. and those without col- lege educations if they but pub their heart into thelr life's work can achieve. There is plenty of work ahead for the effort of each and every one of to serve their fellow mep and vancement for themselves. ' More power to them! A S are being wiped out which have housed some dead, | of military com Inn, just across the street from the present House Office Building ‘The situation thereupon has a strange | and from the new House Office Building The United aummnmu Which is being erected, and but one block from the Capitol. In its con- hased b of brick and stone Winter social season. He died before litical and economic philosophy regard- | occupying it. square in which it was situated ‘The In these circumstances the most tre- | together with several - mendous interest attaches to the recent | qu's:gd by the oo::mn:.:: r‘:n ::{: ?fir » plaza development between the Capitol and Uniom Station, which will be com- pleted for the Bicentennial Celebration, The material in Washington's house 'moved and utilized in Hotel, at New Jersey opport: Europe e in the nine countries already mentioned. | tor - whion pay pob Outh of the Capi been s0 appropriately named. Two marble mantelpleces, a gift from Lafayette to Washington, occupy posi- honor in the George Wash- "|ington Inn. One of these mantels is in the lobby and the other in a cozy Tetreat called “Martha’s Room,” with an old spinning wheel and wool winder. —— the world international ‘“cartel,” with the consent of the member countries, to keep a reserve of wheat to dispose of for “emergency needs” such as famines and other natural disasters. The an- nual quota would be placed on a monthly basis, the cartel having. au- thority to withhold stocks from the market or release them for sale in order to help market prices. The | Australians proposed & somewhat similar plan, * K oK ok ‘The Soviet delegation accepted the Polish plan “in principle,” but without the price-regulating agreement, and with a quota for Russia so large as to render any general agreement futile. ‘The Russians opposed the American plan for reducing wheat acreage. Social and industrial conditions in the Soviet Unilon, they sald, make increased wheat production imperative. “It seems ad- visable to us,” the chairman of the Rus- sian delgn.lnn sald, “to allow each country decide for itself whether to curtall production. * * * In our opin- ion, the only workable solution for the fixing ‘a direct result of contradictions within the capitalistic system.” Russia is in a position to continue increasing her wheat acreage, because oz her low nrgdl;cwnn costs. "shs could “dymp” much larger quantities than m:mm done during the past year and thus further demoralize the world mar- ket by underselling. Even a halfway agreement with regard to production and exports is regarded as a concession by the Russians. * K X % In reply to Del?lte McKelvie's decla- ration to the effect that the United States will not indulge in “dumping,” but will get rid of its surplus “only by orderly marketing,” the other delegates expressed doubt that dumping could be avoided. Moreover, they ask, how are the world's farmers to be convinced that they must restrict planting? The United States is now producing on an average something like 200,000,~ 000 bushels of surplus wheat a year— that is, in excess of domestic needs. year, according to reliable reports received in the Department of Com- merce, Soviet Russia will probably have an exportable surplus of an equal amount, or more. Next year the sur- plus she can ship abroad will be even greater. Australia, Canad tina—] arly the last also producing vastly in excess of the domf:flc um ) to consume. The question is one of enormous im; ice to the entire world. e * Ok ok X The gathering in London is not the with this problem. session French cartel, farmer pai , would like to know is what will be done by the Federal Farm Board in the United States with the new crop last week the Farm Board pronounced “impractical” Federal Farm Board and the Secretary [ plan suggested by State Senator W J. Wilmer of Washington for a Nation- Senator Wil- ganization to crops of 1931, 1932 up” the fi conf the and 1933 by la and Argen- | sense. named—are marines against neutrals and the gen- eral risks of wartime at sea caused vate insurance companies to raise their rates to gohlbmve figures and at & time when there was special necessity to keep the channels of world trade open. The Treasury Bureau wrote such insurance rates which shippers could afford to pay. ‘Then the United States entered the | war as a belligerent. The Treasury's i Insurance Burecau had worked well and ‘at no great drain on the public fun: The idea of extendin insuranc scheme to the entire military and naval forces at one sweep was magnificently conceived. Such a plan, it was urged, would forever obliterate the necessity to pay war pensions. Hard to Count on Future. Held strictly to insurance, the scheme did appear to work well, but very speed- hand and began ex- tensions of benefits. Huge sums had to be appropriated to pay disability com- pensation and otherwise tak care of the veterans. No one has ques- tioned the rightness of this recognition services, but experience his shown that the best laid plans are sub- ject to the greatest changes. At the last session of Congress, huge sums were appro vance, .in the form of loans, bonus money to veterans suffering from the hard times. The theory even now is that these loans will be repaid. That only a very small portion of them will be seems to be the general opinion. Moreover, all the experience of past wars and past lation suggests com- mfln‘ly that when this bonus money been exhausted and expectations for more from that source are dim Congress will, in its generosity, vote regular monthly pensions to surviving veterans in the old manner. This is a far cry from the original plan of an insurance scheme which would cost the Govern- ment little or nothing. Not yet has the American Government gone into unemployment insurance, al- though strenuous efforts were made at the last session to pass measures for public insurance against unemployment which would have been revolutionary in American practice. Great Britain, how- ever, is in the business up to the chin and the British experience is well worth some inquiry. the workers. The very fact that tbe numbers of unemployed were large struck a blow at the scheme. Out of work, the workers were unable to build up the planned reservoir of relief meney and that very circumstance made it neces sary for them to call upon the insuffi- clent reservoir for relief. The scheme, in this emergency, was | altered to provids for what was termed | uncovenant>d benefits. This permitted | unemployed persons t draw, in ad- | vance of their contributions, sums such | as they would have drawn under the original plan. In other words, they were borrowing against future payments into the fund. The treasury, of course, had to put up the money. It is a long time since there has been any unem- ployment fund and the whole load has fallen on the exchequer. Existing legis- lation, under which the ts are paid, is effective until October 31 next and a royal commission now is studying the entire set-up with a view of finding a way out, The fiction of the unemployment fund is maintained as a bookkeeping matter. The government merely “lends” to the ffund. Parliament has passed successive acts setting a limit to loans, but little while this limit must be ted to pay, in ad- | The creasing at the rate of $5,000,000 a week. Obvicusly some drastic step must be taken before the Autumn, when the en= abling legislation lapses. ile the law authorizing these treasury advances to the fund the basic law setting up the does not. This means that the ployment fund will continue to owe treasury the total of its that some day this must be Clearly, then, the workers who on return of prosperity will again be draw- ing wages must p¥ their oontributions into the fund wit} the certainty as fast as they are paid in, creating a new reservoir, they must, for a long term of years, go t> the reim- bursing of treasury loans. Short of ex- traordinary prosperity and a | in the wage scale, there is little of the present generation of British | workers repaying their debt. Their chil~ dren will have to take up the burden. Political Calm in Britain Probably Precedes Storm BY A. G. GARDINER. LONDON, May 23.—The last few weeks have been weeks of great calm and tranquillity so far as internal poli- tics in this country are concerned. The budget has now into the pedes- trian quietude of the committee stage. Liberal dissensions for the time being have been hushed up. Lord Beaver- brook and Stanley Baldwin have had no further clashes. Political wiseacres have now begun to talk as if the pres- ent government is good for another two years. ‘This may very well prove to be true. But all such prophecies should be in- terpreted with great caution. There are a number of issues bound to come up | during the next few months, any one of which might provoke a political crisis ofmnmordircgmm‘ g tude. There {5 the problem of the coal min- ers, due for discussion in July. There is the problem of India, by no means a settled question. There are innumer- able problems bound to arise during the period of increasing unemployment. Among these problems none is more likely to produce a more heated or bit- ter controversy than the ar:blem o(l L\ln; employment insurance. a result of the persistence of the trade depression, the unemployment insurance fund is| now running into debt at a rate of over unds sterling a week. Un- less somet) is done, this process bound to have l:rlom repe‘ reussions in the finances of the country. But the problem is, what is to be done? A royal commission was ap- pointed to investigate these matters last Winter. After hearing very sensational evidence from ‘fovemment departments and other public bodies, it has now re- tired to prepare an interim report, which is expected within the next week or two. * kK K Last Monday the London Daily Her- ald, usually well informed on matters of this sort, published a forecast of the report and suggested drastic modifica- tions to be recommended. They are ‘That benefits should be cut down, con- tributions should be raised, of standard benefit should be ¢ iled, and the loopholes for various glaring abuses now prevalent should be closed. All this is very reasonable. Abuses are universally itted. It is univer- sally admitted, too, that if the scheme is to ‘be self-supporting, contributions must_be raised. Even lergucum in fits is not ant common bene‘um benefits were fljhst n‘):ed in 1920, when prices were muc er. Since then all modifications have in an upward direction. At the same time the cost of living has fallen steadily. The net result is that the dole is much more valuable in com- modity terms zha:x E‘ergre. * 1y it is not unreasonable, when instui: > t 18 months the cost of living | has fallen at least 10 points, to modify | the money benefit accordingly. It may be reasonable, but whether it is accept able to the present government is an- othe: tter. Bl;o’l’:y‘lidt with the forecast of the report, the Daily Herald, which is more or less the official organ of the Labor rty, launched a violent attack on| commission. It declared the| utter impossibility of giving effect to were sald to be ruthless in ir dis- regard of the welfare of the workless and their dependents. * kK K Fifty Years Ago In The Star | _On Monday, May 16, 1881, Senators Conkling and Platt of New York threw Senat a Joint bombshell into -the nators se’nlbe. Thqe'noflfl.d the i ice President, as - Resign. ¢ icer ot the Benatey that they were their offices. This was their method of protesting against the nomination of o be collector of customs at port of New York. action created & great sensation in Wasl and The | Star hsx‘:.edlm.d:x‘n e to an- | nounce b : “About 10 minutes before the Senate met today a prominent Republican to a Star reporter, ‘You'll get & sen- resignations of Conkling an tt, the Senators from New York, will be read as soon as Senate meets’ was the whispered reply. Immediately after the reading of the Journal the Vice Presi. dent handed the clerk a communica- tion to be read, but it was only in re« gard to the district attorney muddle in the western district of Virginia. It was evident that the coming event was still secret, known to but few present. Sen- ators were talking with each other and general inattention was ested. the envelope u- emlubeaheeme of note per, apparently not aware self of the startling nature of the tents. He read a letter to the President requesting him to inform Senate that the resignation of Roscoe Conkling as Senator from New had been forwarded to the Governor of that State, to take effect immediately. ‘What’s that?’ inquired a dozen or more Senators instantaneously. As quick as lightning the hum of voices ceased, si- lence reigned and several Senators, not doubting but that they isunder= stood mtdfimmm' called for another reading of it. “The news of the resignations was re- ceived at the White House about 25 minutes of 1 o'clock and it naturally created quite a breeze. Mr. Judd, the telegraph operator, heard a announcing the fact going over the wire and communicated it to the Presi- dent’s private secretary. Of course, he was to an extent dazed. Soon there- after a representative of the Associated Press brought to Mr. Brown a copy of n | the notification of the resignation in manifold paper, which G the sirects oF In the departments “On reets or the fact of the resignation was not known until about 1 o'clock. Once started, however, the news spread like wildfire and was an engrossing topic of discussion. As in every thing, there were two views of the case. On the one side it was urged that Senator Conkling could do nothing less and maintain his self-respect. His admirers say that both . himself and Senator Platt will be tri- umphantly re-elected by the New York Legislature and come back to Wi ton with the indorsement that both have pursued a right course in_oppos- ing the confirmation of Judge Robert- son. ‘The rumor was also afloat about 1 o'clock t Vice Presicent Arthur also contemplated resigning, as well as Post- master General James. These stories were, however, promptly denied. “Since the controversy between the President and the New York Senator t | began there has been no such excite- fu- in the i for ture, If it is really a fact that face of a grave emergency the govern: ment is not prepared to take sf l; by men of unfl b) blic irit to it its ances in gdx, u:c’n it ml(hguu ‘well be said that ment as in the city today.™ i mx: dvm reported from the on was fa: ly Senate Committee on Finance, and the day following he was confirmed. The scene of the disputation shifted to Al- ‘where Senators employment insurance has become & | y, un liability rather than an asset. It is is the case. perhaps of or- advised to reflect itiating tne system now Great oo