Evening Star Newspaper, June 21, 1931, Page 25

EDITORIAL SECTIDN X Editorial 'Page"- | I] ¢ gunflag & v A P & . WASHINGTON, D. C.. SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 21, 1931.° Goal of the “Youth War” Replacing of Elders by Youngsters in Economic Scheme of Things Is the Aim of Those Battling Age. Part 2—10 Pages REICH CRASH WOULD HAVE] EFFECT ON U. S. INDIVIDUALS Cessation of Payments Would Cut Pur- chasing Power of Security Holders NEW THOUGHT ON ‘SOCIAL SET-UP TRACED TO SOVIET Topie, Gaining Ground in U. S., Is Kind of Intellecinal Epidemic Caught and Hurt BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. HE very considerable animation in official circles in Washington following the Chequers confer- ence and the various and some- what conflicting statements of policy which have emerged from the Capital serve to suggest that, at least in administration quarters, there is a growing perception of the fact that a German collapse must have American repercussions. What, then, in the simplest terms, would a German breakdown such as every European dispatch now discusses as a possibility have not merely upon the Government of the United States but upon the individual citizen? How would his daily life and immediate in- terests be affected? Or is the indif- ference which this individual now mani- fests toward the question, comparable with his indifference in the days when Europe was at war and America still neutral, well founded? In point of fact, the individual would be affected, directly and indirectly. To take the simplest and most probable of the present possibilities, if Germany should interrupt the payment of repara- tions her action would be followed al- most automatically by a similar cessa- tion of debt payments to us by France, Italy, Belgium and Great Britain. A sum estimated by former Ambassador Houghton in round figures at $200,000,- 000 annually would be added to the present billion-dollar deficit in the Treasury and duly handed on to the individual taxpayer in the shape of a bigger annual bill. Masses Face Losses. Buch a process would, however, only indirectly affect the great mass of citi- zens. If Germany should break down completely, if there were domesiic dis- order, provoked either by a push from the Nationalist Right or from the Com- munist Left, then in addition to the ces- sation of the payment of reparations there would be an inevitable termina- tion of the payment of interest upon all the various securities issued by Ger- many, by municipalities and industrial establishments alike, and sold largely in the United States. cessation of payments would not affect the great banking houses, which wriginally issued these securities. It ‘would not be a case of the great Wall Street firms Wblstlmg for their money as the man in the street too generally ines. On the contrary, those se- eurities have long ago been marketed among the great mass of American in- vestors, chiefly among the smaller in- vestors. Thus there would result a very marked decline in the purchasing power of the victims, whose holdings certainly pass the $2,000,000,000 mark. The American domestic situation would then be directly affected, the re- covery from the present depression would be to an unmistakable degree postponed. Uhemployment would find less ready relief. Something like $100,- 000000 would be directly withdrawn from the total amount available for purchase of goods and hiring of labor. That would be the immediate and in- evitable effect upon the home situation. Germen Buying Cut. But at the same time there would be even greater indirect effects. Any do- mestic disturbance within Germany would necessarily reduce German pur- chasing power abroad. The ability to buy foodstuffs and raw materials, which are the basis of our export trade with the Reich, would be at once curtailed. ‘This would affect the farmer, primarily, and, in turn, still further diminish his purchasing power. Moreover, it is axiomatic in all Euro- pean discussion of the German situa- tion that a collapse in Germany would not be an isolated fact, but would in- evitably have repercussions all over Central Europe. All the countries be- faveen the Rhine and the Russian fron- tier and between the Baltic and the Mediterranean would be affected, all would have their purchasing power abroad reduced. Thus again American export trade would suffer. A German disturbance might take one of two forms. It might result in the creation of a dictatorship with Hit- ler or the Crown Prince or some other Nationalist and extremist in control; it might, much less possibly, culminate in 2 Communist triumph. Either would fnevitably provoke very loud echoes all over Europe. Tranquillity Threatened. A Nationalist dictatorship would cer- tainly rouse France, Poland and Czecho- slovakia to take precautionary steps, of which the increase of their military forces \would be the first. Thus the prospect of tranquillity and normalcy in Europe would be abolished for a long time to come. A Communist triumph, even if it were thort lived, would have an incredibly de- structive influence all over Europe and, indeed, all over the world. If by any conceivable chance the Reds gained the upper hand in Berlin, then the associa- tion of a Red Germany with Red Rus- sla would be assured and the danger to all of Central Europe would be instant and unlimited. Given the moral and economic disintegration which is tak- ing place in all of Central Europe, it is difficult to say where and when Bol- shevism could be checked. The United States would feel the effects of any such convulsion primarily in a further Farmers. cataclysmic drop in trade and later in possible political disorders at home. ‘The notion, therefore, that Europe can collapse or, more specifically, that Germany can break down without dis- turbing the American situation is pat- ently purest moonshine. 1In any such event, the present American economic depression would inevitably last not for months, but for years, until, in fact, American production had been read- Justed in the face of the practical e: tinction of the purchasing power of Europe. Bolshevism Feared. Once it is made clear what would be the consequences for us of a German collapse, it still remains necessary to bring home to the American public the reality of the danger of such a break- down. When I was in Paris in April one of the leading statesmen of Central Europe said to me, “If you tell me that Bolshevism will reach this very city in which we are now talking in the next ten years, I shall not deny it. I think it 15 possible. My single article of faith is that there is in western civilization enough vitality eventually to_throw off the poison.” In Geneva, a few weeks before, the foreign minister of one of the great powers of Europe said to me, The future of the white race is in America; Europe is finished.” Still another foreign minister, this time of a Cen- tral European state, said, “If you ask me about Europe, I will tell you quite frankly that it is going straight to Hell, and I see nothing to stop it.” ‘These straightforward statements in- dicate what the Europeans who are in- formed about the present situation say. Even in Paris, I found one of the most famous French journalists resolved henceforth to invest his savings in American securities. Bruening Last Hope. Reading dispatches from Washing- ton, one has the impression that in official circles, even though the gravity of the situation is becoming generally appreciated, there exists the convic- tion that there is still plenty of time and that the Germans are deliberately exaggerating their conditions with the patent purpose of enlisting foreign aid. As to the time element, it was the de- liberate judgment of all the well in- formed observers whom I met in my six months abroad that Germany could not go through another Winter without very material aid from out- side and that the Bruening cabinet, which is the last hope of republican government in Germany, could not last the Summer if the reparations | time. It is hardly possible to appreciate sa in Germany itself the degree to which the masses and the classes alike are plunged in an utter and appalling despair. “Anything is better than the present situation,” is the statement one nears on all sides from the youth and middle aged, alike, from the worker and the man in a white collar job. Dictatorship Possible. T believe as a result alike of my stay {in Germany and of my contact with | observers of all the surroundings coun- | tries that the time has already passed when it is possible to prevent a dic- tatorship in Germany, a dicta- torship in which the dominating factor will be the extreme nationalists. But if such a dictatorship does come, the eventual collapse of Germany seems almost inevitable. For France will do her utmost to prevent any financial aid coming from the outside to help a government pledged to upset the peace treaties and annex old German terri- torles now belonging to France's Slav allies. And the world at large will be little tempted to risk its capital in a Germany shaken by domestic _strife and $areatened by French military power. Once the Bruening cabinet is forced | to recall the Reichstag.—and that date cannot be postponed indefinitely— then the final crisis will arrive. The chances that the present German government will survive it grow daily less. because, while the press of the world is filled with discussion of the German crisis, nothing practical is being done to relieve the despair of the German people. America and France Blamed. In my judgment the fate of Re- publican Germany has already been sealed by the decisions of the govern- ments of the American and French republics. Our refusal to consider debt revision, which in turn makes im- possible the revision of reparations; the French refusal to heat of territorial revision of the peace treaties, automa- tically dooms any republican regime in Germany. It is conceivable that a republican cabinet might survive in Germany if it could give the German people relief from one of the two consequences of defeat which they find~ intolerable. But no cabinet can carry the burden of both in the face of the promise of the Nationalists to abolish not only these but all other servitudes under the peace treaties. The promise is patently vain, but in their present mood the German people seem resolved to n ca which can disastrous. i (Copyright, McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) London Retires En Masse Before One AM., Night Owls Using Taxis LONDON, June 20.—Not taking into account its revelers—and many of them are visitors — London, capital of the British Empire and supposed to be the most populous city in the world, still adheres to the early-to-bed if not early- to-rise hours of rural communities. All its traffic facilities, with the exception of a few all-night trams or street cars, are run on the idea that the average Londoner desires to “hit the hay” be- fore midnight or shortly thereafter. It is estimated that not more than 100,000 of the population are engaged at night work, probably less than a fifth of the night-working population of New York City. Not an underground or subway train is in operation after 1 a.m., and most of London's 5,000 busses, barring a few “owls,” are stabled b:fore that hour. The last of the suburban trains has departed from London before that time, and on certain lines there will be no others until after 5 a.m. Taxis Only Transportation. i ‘The ht owls must, therefore, de- pend u';l:n their own motor cars or faxicabs to take them from the white light district to their homes at l&m ‘when New Yorkers are always of a subway train or a street car. And yet Londoners, on the average, 9:30 generally carry higher paid mem- bers of the staffs of u?urnnce compa- nies, law offices and financial houses. Congested traffic conditions are driving some of the heads or near heads of such establishments or undertakings to the underground trains at a later time. It would be futile to try to get into con- in the morning. London Air Drowsy. Londoners who have lived in New York insist that the absence of zip in the London air is partly responsib! tbe inclination here to enjoy a night's sleep and a reluctancs to tumble out in the morning even after such a matter were not adjusted in the mean- | ge tact with the heads before 10 or 10:30 | FT BY WYNDHAM LEWIS. RE not politics and youth mu- tually exclusive terms? It may never have occurred to some readers that there were any politics specifically related to young persons. Indeed, ao nov “‘tender Vears” preclude the idea of politics? Yet the reflective, in to their noses a bouquet of Parma violets, may, in sniffing, sometimes reflect that the cosmestic kings extract from this dell- clous and modest hrcl’l‘nt certain delec- table properties w] yearly they con- vert into & good many thousands of dollars. A There is a class” of objects Wwhich, however ornamental, we are accus- tomed to regard as strictly useless. Yet many purely ornamental things are highly susceptible of exploitation. There is nothing that the big business mind does not see in terms of pounds, shil- lings and pence. And it has gazed upon youth—and it has found it mnot “fair” " but extremely profitable. But even a beggar woman turns her howling offspring into gold, via shame and pity. And shall big business be outdone? It is not likely. Natural Force. Now, in the telchngque o{h y‘:uthz olitics pure and simple, you nof E. thing of flesh and h{ood—but is something liké water or wind—it is considered simply as an abstraction, a natural force. The harnessing of waterpower provides a large city with electric light. That is very useful. On the other hand, it converts a moun- tain lake—of great romantic beauty— into a dull reservolr of water. Well, it is open to any one to dislike these | gifted political engineers—these youth- liticians I am introducing to you— lp: the same way that Ruskin hated | the engineers who spollt his natural scenery for him, for the fanatical water colorist. Certainly the technique of youth- politics does destroy romance. In fact, it must in time actually blet out youth altogether, as we have formerly under- stood youth in Europe, and put some- thing far sterner and less dreamy-eyed in its place. Economics Part Large. Economics have always played a far larger part in politics than any recog- nized historian has allowed. Charles’ head fell as a result of the fiat of the London merchant princess, for instance—not at all in the romantic and revolutionary way that the his- torian would have you believe. But if that were true of events in the past it is doubly true of what is occurring today. ‘The Soviet (as the five-year plan should at once suggest) is a busi- ness man’s or economist’s republic; but wherever you look, politics spell more e | and more economics, and nothing else— except such politics as pure economics involve, and mlhth of human im- ulse as they allow. v But youthyhns always been, for the European, a playground outside adult life—a non-political, sexless sphere of long-winded _ incubation—a period a! most of “endless imitation.” ~And just ir sex” was the pretty sex, —Drawn for The Sunday Star YOUTH, SAYS MAN, HAS BEEN MERELY ORNAMENTAL LONG ENOUGH. IT IS TIME YOUTH DID WORK. 50 youth was the pretty age. A monop- oly of prettiness belonged to the “fair sex” and likewise conventionally to youth. examine a fine waterfall. And he has | found it, above all, unnecessarily long. Youth is, for the youth-politician, a purely technical Yroblem For, says man, youth has quite Tong ‘enough been merely ornamental—with his curly [Is u “crestline” and all the rest of it. It sim) is time youth did work! It is ensue. In the youth revolution, as in the feminist revolution, recruits are en- rolled almost entirely by means of flattery. As it was in the sex war, so Man, that born engineer, is at pres- |t is in the age war. ent everywhere eyeing youth—he “p siz- | days of feminism women were ha- ing up and measuring the length, | Tangued to the effect that they were breadth and height of it, as he would | “as g§ood as men.” like most men, stupid, had to be said to them. Technique Is Marsist, All_ contemporary political technique | reason that khnu i5 a model of time | first-rate_efficacy. youth was harnessed. So youth-politics | class politics: In the militant Most women being, stupid things every system is based upon the group (or cell) technique. And th-politics is no exception to that mo—on the contrary, it t.vnm ly /| adapted to 3 The dilclpm militarizing of youth is natural and easy; and in Russia, Italy and Germany that is going on 8] pace, In the social and literary circles, again, youth groups (sets, cliques or cells) very easily formed. It is seldom it any individual of llnrw- tance belongs to- one for long; leed, " |in the nature of things such groups— or miniature herds—are rather directed against the individual, on principle. But they do good work, especially of & destructive order. Often such groups are formed with some specific destruc- tive operation in view: as soon as the object marked down for destruction is eliminated they will. generally break up, just as soldiers are disbanded once the military object for which they were mobilized has been achieved. During the next few years youth- politics are destined to be the pivot upon which all soclal movements will | thin, turn. Therefore, not youth, of course— the simple fact of adolescence and the earliest adult years—but the politics of youth. or youth mysticiem, as a_péliti cal ideology, or stalking horse for po. a:lnl action, deserves especial atten~ n, \ Youth Motif Frequent. Long ago the moderately observant must have noticed in English publc life—in the lar press, in political o ‘popul P! Ppol 4 , in fiction books, in cartoons, in film and theater—the incessant re- currence of the youth motif. That, of course, 15 the youth-politician at work upon .the popular plane. And for the greater part he is there, upon thal popular sentimental plane—in the ca- pacity of an agitator. He is stirring up the youths: spurring on the non-youths to give battle to the “babies”—setting this person by the ears and that per- son by the ears. It is very amusing to watch him hurrying from one camp to another, pulling this wire and that wire, solidly attached to his puppets, or as. suming first one disguise and then another. No puppet showman could be more dexterous than is he in squaring the shoulder, putting an indignant spark into the eye, causing the combative jaw to protrude, ‘of the gouty and portly lumbago-ridden, red-faced puppet, labeled “Old Stager,” and in making him, in a towering passion, dash off a peppery letter to the press denouncing “all this cocktail drinking,” etc., of the “younker generation”, or, on the other hand, more’ expert in causing ths * juve- nile lead” puppet fo wavs his arms and point his finger, hurling defiance at the “Old Gang” or the “Old Man at ke Top” who refuse to make way for him. This Punch and Judy show has be- come a feature of our social life. Struggles Are Real War. ‘The class war of the rich and poor; the sex war of women against men, thz age war of young against old— these are civil wars. But they are none the less wars. They are just as easily related to_economic factors in _eur (Continued cn Third Page.) Must Reckon With Ritchie Maryland’s Governor Will Occupy Strong Strategic Position in Democrati¢ Presidential Race. BY THEODORE C. WALLEN. LBERT CABELL RITCHIE, four times elected Governor of Mary- land, Southern gentleman by lineage, practical politician by | experience, will have to be taken into account as a presidential candidate when the Democratic national conven- tion meets in June. Not only because he has won the extraordinary honor of three-re-elec- tions for Governor in a State where such a thing has heretofore been deemed out of the question, but Gov. Ritchie is entitled to a distinct place in the list of the real possibilities for the presidential nomination of his party. ‘Though referred to by some as little more than a possibility as a compro- mise selection in case of a prolonged deadlock, this assessment does not do justice to the forceful, attractive and able Maryland Governor. Almost idol- ized by his Democratic co-wdrkers and backers in his own State, with a wide national acquaintance, Gov. Ritchie is openly seeking the presidential nomi- nation and for months his friends have been bestirring themselves in a num- ber of States. True, the Governor has not formally avowed himself a candi- date, but neither in Maryland nor else- where does any one doubt he 1s in quest of the nomination or that his name will go into the primaries and the conven- tion. He Expresses His Convictions. A winning personality, bellefs and convictions which he is not afraid to express, a remarkable capacity for vote- getting combined with that good f tune which has been his all the way along the path of life, are things to be where see nothing improbable likely in the idea that “Maryland, My Maryland,” will be the favorite tune. in the White House on March 4, 1933, and they are profoundly convinced that if Ritchie, who looks the part, should ever be elected President, he will act President and measure up fully to the great requirements of the office. ted spell of repose. But in cer- | the protrac tain businesses convention has much to do with the observance of working hours. The king pins are not suj to arrive on the moment that the ste- notes. Those employes who do arrive early are in many instances permitted a morning cup of tea or coffee between 10 and 11 o'clock, and and 4:30 in the afternoon. g Some health authorities have recently claimed that the half-day on t get to work nearly as early as do g{ne:lm‘lgle‘kers or the residents of most American cities. The straphangers be- tween 8:30 and 9 a.m. are chiefly de- partment store and small shop employes, with a considerable leaven of clerks in commercial establishments. The under- ground tralns and buases between 9 and Saturday or on some other day of the ‘week has produced a much more healt] and alert shopgirl. On the other hand, there has been strong criticism in some quarters of the practice of the Stock Exchange of remaining closed all day on Saturday, an innovation of the war Mod' + (Coprright, .1031) . they have another tea interval between 4 |GoV. have been ite haunts, was the American expect the and 'John J. of Presidents are busy figuring on the chances of this man and Lh:t‘ And such days will continue the er, Fall, next wmu'i‘-”:“nfihm Summe Spring. It can hardly be most . of calculate that Gov. Franklin D. velt of New York is in the lead itic nominat And Democrat tion. Roosevelt enthusiasts look ‘there Dem¢ ‘who lacks much of nomination, fiheneverwmbemmmnm f the political arit nominated, influence of Alfred E. Raskob to work: EEEE 58 i 1] § i 2 i dle in the convention or hold the bal- ance of power, it goes without saying that Gov. Ritchie will be eliminated. He will, in that event, fade from the picture even as a possibility for Vice President. S No frank discussion of the Demo- cratic nomination cen overlook the fact that a great sharc of those elements in the party that want a declaration against prohibition shrink from the re- nomination of former Gov. Smith. Tbis is because they 'do not want the 1928 battle fought over again. They do not ‘want the religious issue tangled up with the next campaign, as it would be en- tangled should Smith be named again to head the ticket. To many Demo- crats taking this view, the nomination of Ritchie would be acceptable. On the other hand, it cannot be overlooked that to many of. the drys the name of the Maryland Governor is anathema, and if more than a third of the convention is made up of uncompromising drys, he will be out of the question even as & compromise. . An able Democratic Senator, when asked the other day what he thought of Dems tic chances next year, re- plied: “If the Democrats keep away from prohibition and religion, it makes no difference whom they nominate; if they don't keep away from prohibition and religion, it makes no difference whom they nominate.” If the controlling forces in the con- vention fear to inject prohibition into the campaign and look on the nomi- nation of Ritchie as sure to inject that issue, then obviously he will have to be checked off the list of the available and some one will be nominated who on this score is more colotiess. ‘' For the Maryland chief executive cannot be ac- cused of being colorless on this or on other issues.. His political philosophy is built on the idea of letting the States and localities govern themselves and that the least governed are the best governed. 3 Is Opponent of Centralization. Some call it States’ rights and some have other names for it. Gov. Ritchie calls it “local self-government” and he never misses an ty to mer it in‘and emphasize it. philosophy . is the basis of his belief that Federal prohibition is wrong in theory and hence a failure in practice, and it is the basis of his views on tar- iff, power, Government in. business, Federal bureau and other matters pertaining to the National Government. ltl:lo\llfl be llnul; I:poldbl 1 hln: e for to be a Mussolini unless he his From Russian Experiment. BY MARK SULLIVAN. HE deluge of thougit sbout so- clal revolution in the ‘United States is beginning to reach the average newspaper reader. So long as it was confined mainly to universities, churches and literary or other “high-brow” circles (including, curiously, some quarters of big business) this kind of utterance practically never came to the attention of the average American in Topeka, Kans, for ex- ample, or Lincoln, Nebr., or Pueblo, Colo. Recently, however, the “new thought” about social wrganization and govern- ment is beginning to be voiced by. men in politics whose words are carried’ by the press as a matter of course. This emergencey of the advocacy of change into popular circles, this whole phe- nomenon, if it really incans anything at all, is decidedly the most formidable g now afloat in America.: The sheer quantity of®it makes it important. So dos the elevation of the sources from which much of it comes. If we should have a Nation-wide debate about adopting a new kind of social organiza- tion, next year's presidsntial campaign would be relatively as a township elec- tion for road supervisor. Perhaps we had better recall that past depressions, about - the ,time of their concluding phase, have also been characterized by talk about social revolution. A whole volume could be written about panaceas proposed, or revolution predicted, in the 5t. w?robthly T should explain the word “revolution” as used in this article. ¢t | Not all who talk about the thing call it by that name (though many frankly do). Comparatively few mean a vio- lent rvevolution. (The average Ame: ican has learned the word “revolutio: as-having a bloody meaning, through its association with our war for inde- pendence in 1776—"the Revolutionary War” is the name most of our school books on history use.) ‘What is meant by most of the sources | of current talk about something por- tentous which they say is about to hap- pen or must happen in America, is a fundamental change in our whole form of social organization—a change which, it it should come, would make the fa- miliar world we live in a very different place. If this thing should happen, the boys and girls now in school would grow up into an America as altered as Russia was by its adoption of Com- munism in 1918, or Italy by Fascism in 1922, or Prance by the French Revolu- tion in 1789. Much of Talk Is Vague. 1t is necessary to be careful in mak- ing generalizations such as the one in the sentence above, for not all the per- sons I am about to quote mean the | pycos partly toward Italy. His “na- become same thing. Some think we must go | the whole length of imitating Russia for the sake of the virtue they think is in the Russian system. Others think we must make a fundamental change in our social organization for the very purpose of defending ourselves against Russia. Much of the talk is so vague that it is apparent the utterers them- selves do not guite visualize what they assert is ahead of America. But what their words mean, if they mean any- | thing, is revolution, no less. Perhaps we can make progress by de- scribing the American social system that now is, the thing which these prophets say is doomed. As it is put by young Senator La Follette of Wis- consin, as he speaks to popular lecture audiences: “The philosophy of laissez- faire has ended in disaster. A new cet- up of society is necessary.” pNov, “lajssez-faire” "is a French phrasé’ meaning “let alone,” “let each of us take care of ourselves and act for ourselves.” The phrase has been long in use as a technical term in economic and social phllols:oph‘{i.e twean;xe::: same thing that Presiden ver by his often-repeated phrase, “Ameri- can individualis®.” £ What “laissez-faire” means is the system we have had in America since the first colony was founded. It means, in short, the world as the average American knows it—the average Amer- ijcan takes it as much for granted as he takes the Christian religion, or the Fourth of July, or the fact that men wear trousers while women wear skirts. Under this system (which is de- scribed as “ended” by Senator La Fol- lette definitely and by the others either definitely or vaguely) a boy is born into & family and is brought up by it.* (The Russian system aims to merge the fam- ily into the state for the upbringing of children.) The boy is inducted into whatever church his parents belong to. (The Russian system abolishes all churches.) He goes to school as long as his parents’ means permit, or his own ambition leads. * When he is ready to take his place in our “laissez-faire’ economic structure he looks about to sell his services to whoever will pay him the most, in money or in opportunity, for whatever aptitude he has. He “gets s job” as we say. In due course he marries, takes out an insurance policy, starts a savings bank account, buys a house and raises a family. As respects his mature place in the world of ‘busi- ness, he either goes upward in promo- tion-in the line he has chosen. or after saving money he sets himself up in whatever business he likes or feels pted to. He becomes a farmer, or a truckman, or he starts -Is‘wgz. or !fnt.; up a garage, or whatnot. e remai pmr?d man or a salaried man, he 'that “America demands the editor of the Atlantic-Monthly know a plan”? How many Americans have been seen parad- ing up the street demanding a plan? A good many of these slogans lose their magic when subjected to a little con~ centrated thinking.) “The Presbytery of New York, speak- g for 63 congregations, “affirms its ief that there 15 needed an economic reconstruction of society.” * * * United States Senator Robert F.'Wagner (Dem- deratic) of New York sees around us “the seeds of instability and collapse.” Thomas L. Chadbourne, big New York lawyer, big business man, once big lead- er in the Democratic party, says (with more restraint than most of the proph- ets of a new order): “The capitalistic system is on trial. * * * We must begin at once to recondition our machinery and adapt it to the changed order.” William Gibbs McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury under President Woodrow Wilson, is practically as specific as young Senator La Follette is declaring that the old order is dead. that the new must be. “Throughout the world,” he says, “the sun in setting on the acquisi- tive society.” And what Mr. McAdoo means by the “acquisitive society” 1s the same that Senator La Follette and all of us mean by “laissez-faire,” or the American system, for in our system we put much reliance upon the hope of gain as the motive that causes individ- uals to work, to invent, to devise. Whether any other exclufive and uni- versal incentive can be effective with the mass of mankind remains to be seen. It is far from demonstrated yet, even in Russia. Sees Need of New Formula. ‘There must be, Mr. McAdoo sayz, “a new formula for human affairs.” His com.“rete E swm. .k “a nndlonnl €co- nomic coun composed of man- ufacturers, ma&mh, agriculturists and representatives of labor and the mining and transportatiop industries.” Mr. McAdoo got that idea from his experience as a cabinet member in the war. There was then a “War Industries Board” which—under the conditions of war—functioned admirably. But so long as it functioned you couldn’t buy a bag of cement mend your front walk without an “O. K” from the War In- dustries Board. And you couldn't go to work in a cigar store if the Government felt it needed you in a shipyard or as & soldier. True, Mr. McAdoo doesn't mean that his peace-time “national eco- nomic council” should have as much power as the “War Industries Board.” But it would have that much power or |it would have none at all. Mr. McAdoo's “new formula for human affalrs” really squints partly toward tional economic council” would the government, would take the place of Congress. Mr. McAdoo didn't in- tend that: he expressly disavows it. But his “national economic couneil® means that or it means more than what the United States of Commerce and the American Fed- eration of Labor mow are. Many of those who talk rather vaguely about a “new formula” and a new “set-up” But even s0, one would like to hear the remarks of Mr. McAdoo's father- in-law, Woodrow Wilson, or the prob- ably more sulphuric remarks of his political demigod, Andrew Jackson, about the course Mr. McAdoo proposes. From material here on my desk I could fill ten pages of this newlp:gr with similar prophecy of change, - ilar sympathy for change, from sources conspicuous in all walks of life. Is there no talk that looks the other way? Yes, it is beginning to come. Ex-President Coolidge observes, with disapproval, that “the pulpit and the commencemept platform frequently as- sert that our * * * economic system is on trial.” ‘To which Mr. Coolidge, speaking on his own account, declares with charac- teristic pungency, that “we live under a system of individual freedom and self-government, where each individual is entitled to the rewards of his own foresight and industry and is charged with his own support. The only way to change this system is to restrict the freedom of the individual, let some one else govern him, give the rewards of his industry to others and make him sup- port others. That system is slavery.” Stands by Present Order. ‘With equal earnestness does Presi- dent Hoover stand by the present order, reject the counsels of the prophets. His Indianapolis speech last Monday is in every one’s mind. His Valley Forge speech was really an impassioned call to America to “ever continue that (Washington’s) = fight. We are still fighting this war for independence. * * * For the energies of private in- itiative, of independence and a high degree of individual freedom of our American system we are offered an al- luring substitute in the specious claim that hired representatives of a hun- dred milllon people can do better than the people themselves, in thinking and planning their daily life.” Not for Mr. Hoover is any supreme “economic council.” Better than any superpower whatever, in Mr. Hoover's economic conviction, held by him with the earnestness and patience of a re- ligion, Js the aggregate of the rescurce- ts | fulness and initiative and energy of a doesn’t like one boss or foreman, he goes to another. As he acquires money, assuming he is & saver, he does what he will with it. If he has a cer- tain set of qualities, accompanied hy favorable fortune, he becomes perhaps an employer. As head of an industry on his own account, he makes or pro- duces what he feels like making, and sells it for whatever price he cares to o that s “laissez-faire,” the Amer- ican-system; all that—at least the eco- nomic part of it—is what Senator La Follette says is “ended.” Kind of Intellectual Epidemic. . ic “col- um&l:flcd by clear t prac- whole phenome- hundred million average Americans. He has an almost emotional faith in the old and democratic method of Amk ican individualism, and a Quaker’s.pa- tient determination to abide by, ‘it. Clear sightedly he admits that there are defects in it. which must be reme- died: but firmly he holds that for Americans the system is better than lien invention bearing the label “made in Russia.” But, perhaps, we need not get too serious about the complainers against America, the comparers witia Russia. A conservative old gentleman of the writer’s acquaintance, who has weath- ered several business depressions, was really very much annoyed by the com- found adequacy lw:o shell %Hm‘t’h = lfl‘z 0] shel ole crawled into as a_shelter fim”l de- scending barrage of German explosives: “If you knows where there’s a better ‘ole, go to it.” —e Ketchup Test. Prom the Toledo Blade. Everlasting. the Gharleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail. nearest thing just now to 1 that we can think of into New York City's