Evening Star Newspaper, July 19, 1931, Page 18

Has New Alsace-Lorraines (Continued From Third Page.) 1s little known outside their own settle- ments. | The average Frenchman takes scant | notice of these questions, as he is su- | premely confident of the magnetic | power of his own civilization and can- | not concelve of any sane person desir- ing to live under another flag. ‘The| silence with which he surrounds these roblems is piercsd only occasionally v a shrill note of diesatisfaction issu- | ing from one of the “subject” nation- | alities. Otherwise, arything looks serene in a republic whose centralized system of news distribution makes it | possible to sift out undesirable infor- | mation before it reacnes the breakfast | table of the foreign reader. | Brittany. the land or about 3,000,000 Bretons, bids fair to develop into a post- war edition of pre-war Alsace, with the difference, however, that at present the Bretons merely want tneir autonomy in the framework of the French’ Republic and have no thought of seceding from the mere patrie. This part of France is well known to tourists who like to see rugged cliffs soaking their feet in foaming waves Pn the opinion of many of her inhab- itants, Brittany has been destined by nature to tread her own ways. She it @ peninsula, jutting into the sea with reckless abandon and making an at- tempt to run away from a sedately massive France. Breton nationalism was stirred into a strong flame by the World War. Like the rest of the inhabitants of France, the Bretons were made to rise in arms against a world order which prevented small nations from living their own lves. T! went to the ue of Bel- glum and gave up their lives so that Esthonia and Latvia might safely estab. lish themselves in the comity of na tions. Were the Bretons presumptuous in asking for their own liberty? In the trenches they rubbed shoul- ders with the sons of the French Comte of Champagne and of the Diu- phine. They discovered, much to their stupefaction, that their countrymen, the French, were the inhabitants of a dif- ferent globe. speaking a language which was not that of the Bretons and look- ing back on A history which saw Brit- tany on the other side of the fence. Bretons React Quickly. To this surprising discovery the Bretons reacted promptlv and with un- mistakable determination. They took to studying their histery and found solace in the glory, magnified by the assing of the centuries. which had en theirs while they were an inde- pendent kingdom. Thev remembered their Celtic origin and their homeland in Britain, from which the ferocious Anglo-Saxon forced them out 1.500 vears ago. They mused on the 200 years before the French revolution, when they belonged to France in name but retained much of their former in- dependence. They pondered over the success of the revolutionary zealots who converted them to the only true faith and weaned them away from their heritage. They thought with some anger of the denationalizing policy of the two Bonapartes, which the third Republic intensified and sought to bring to a conclusion. Although the World War made Breton nationalism what it is today, the process has been laboriously prepared during several decades. It is instruc- tive, in this connection, to draw con- clusions of the development and strength of the national idea from the names which the Breton organizations assumed. The “Breton Association’ un- der the reign of Napoleon IIT was the first meek attempt of a nation trying to find its soul; it aspired to nothing more ambitious than the cultivation of Brittany's native way Yet, even this was too much for the Emperor, who put an end to the existence of the association before it could grow into & crystallizing force. The third Republic, less fearsome and more confident of its legitimacy, tol- erated the emergence and growth of the “Breton Regionalist Union” and of the “Regionalist Federation,” which sought to achieve only as much as their names conveyed. They were nothing more than French regional organizations, such as one finds in every corner of France, for the promotion of local in- terests, political and cultural. “The Breton Nationalist party,” which came into life shortly before the war. savored of dissatisfaction more than any of its predecessors. It aimed at increasing Breton influence in the Chamber of Deputies in Paris and delegating some executive authority to the proposed Diet of the Bretons. War mentality had to be deflated be- fore the Bretons could think of validat- ing their claims. Thus, it was only a short time ago that the Breton Auton- omist party came into being, under cir- cumstances somewhat analogous to those attending the birth of the Al- satian Autonomist party. In both parts of France it was the vigorous central- izing tendency of Paris which called forth counter measures. The slogan of “Brittany for the Bretons” reminds one of the Monroe Doctrinelike battlecry of the Alsatians, and the following part of the Breton manifesto sounds much like those which have been proclaimed on the banks of the Rhins: “We con- sider Brittany,” the Breton autonomists say, “not as a part of a French terri- tory. but as a nation, oppressed and enslaved, such as Poland and Ireland were before the day of their inde- pendence.” than are the Norman ports. Wh% should Brest be cluttered up witl vessels of the French Navy, tg the detriment of gamnger and freight shipping, and why should Paris look on complacently while the two other large ports of Brittany are being filled up with mud and sand? Another serious complaint is that has _deliberately obstructed efforts to exploit the subsoil of Brittany, which is said to be fabulously rich. we believe the autonomists, their coun- try would be a close competitor of Lor raine in the production of iron, and of the Valley of the Saar in the exploita- tion of coal. The Bretons see sinister powers stalking behind the scenes, ready to prevent the evolution of an industrialized Brittany, which would be‘ more populous, more prosperous and | less tractable. If it is not the aim of the Prench to further the depopuiation | of the peninsula, how can one explain the fact, the Bretons ask, that flurlngl the war the proportion of their country- men killed in battle was twice as iarge as that of the French? To literature Brittany turns to prove her claim to autonomous nationhood. The printed word is the best publicity of independerce, and the gibes of t! Paris music halls recoil on the dete mination of the Bretons to build up & cult of native Celtic letters. It is not to the discredit of Breton nationalism { that the literary rage which has got| hold of Brittany sometimes deceives it into the byways of that superpatriotism which deserves merit more strong feeling than for intrinsic valu Bittany's attempt to emancipate her- self is not matched in sustained inten- sity by that of Corsica. But the student of foreign affairs will do well to r member that in the vicissitudes of turbulent past Corsica has forgotten to present a determined front in the in- terest of any national cause and that serious efforts at autonomy are com- promised by petulent recriminations and fantastic schemes. ~ If Napoleon had not been a Corsican the world would probably know less about this island of 300,000 inhabitants | than it does. This Island of Beauty, as the natives call it, which keeps company to Sardinia in the Mediter- ranean Sea, has little in common with the French except a share in the glory, which was Bonaparte's. The vietors and vanquished that visited these regions—the Ligurians. Vandals, Goths, Moors and all sorts of Latins left samples of their hosts in this island, Although only about 100 miles long and 60 miles wide, Corsica has seen more perturbation than many a large country. In the course of a tempest- uous history its inhabitants have de. veloped a strong individuality and love of liberty. Corsica Once a Kingdom. In her checkered career, Corsica once had the distinction of being the property of a bank. And once she succumbed to the magnificence of a pair of red trousers and a green vest worn by an adventurer, who for some time usurped the title of King of Corsica. About 150 years ago Corsica was turned over to the French and since that time has been an organic part of Prance. Every Corsican is an autonomist at heart, and the fact that the indepen- dence movement is not stronger may be ascribed to the veneration in which the island holds Napoleon's name and to the inability of the Corsicans to pull together on a national policy. In The ladand the condottieri "still rule supreme in an atavistic form of tyranny which may have inspired the political boes system of the United States. The interest of the Corsican boss takes precedence over the welfare of the island. The Corsican autonomist movement is whimsical, and usually follows in the wake of disappointed expectations. It reached one of its high tides before the war when the customs autonomy of the island was terminated by the word of Paris and, contrary to expecta- tions, the treasury in the French capi- tal took possession of the customs re- ceipts instead of turning them over to the island for public improvements and. indirectly, for the benefit of the local bosses. In those davs the pros- pect of Corsica's kicking over the traces | seemed imminent. But complications were avolded by the unanimous de- sire of the bosses to proceed indepen- dently. Some of them declared them- selves in favor of joining Italy, others advocated occupetion by the English, and the rest of them wanted an inde- pendent Corsica or better understand- ing with France. This phase of the separatist move- ment was liquidated before the out- break of the war. The present phase of the agitation, which is as virulent | as ever, is characterized by economic implications. Corsica is puzzled by the | discrepancy between her abject poverty | and France's vaunted prosperity, which is only beginning to be dimmed by the | economic recession. The Corsicans seem to have no doubt that they are being neglected and ignored by France. Look Toward Italian Rule. The island is undercapitalized and underfed. while Paris is satiated with money. Pro-Italian agitators have ex- | tolled the virtues of the Fascist admin- istration, and the picture they pre- | sented was sufficiently distorted to im- press the masses. The growth of pro-Italien sentiment in the island and | | the reported aggressive designs of Rome have alarmed the French and made | the Pyrenees. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 19, 1931—PART TWO. look at this good-natured wrangle with traditional serenity, all this means that they are not ch. They are inordi- nately proud of their origin. This the French super-patriots find odious, and hence a certain friction and distrust between the more extreme elements of the two nations. It is a common belief in Basqueland that it occuples the ci‘e of the Garden of Eden. Is@ot “Eden,” the Basques ask, derived from their native “Ederrana,” which is the equivalent of the “most beautiful.” A patriotic Basque not long ago published & learn- ed dissertation Yo prove that Basque was the tongue of Paradise. Possessed of such an inflated sense of nationality, it is little wonder that the Basques should harp on their achievements in the history of & thank- less world. It was the Basques who checked Charlemagne’s victorious career by cutting off the rear of his army at Roncesvalles as he was sbout to cross It was Basque fisher- men who, they say, pushed their trade routes to Newfoundland and Labrador and first discovered the new land for which Columbus was given credit. Factors Against Self-Determination. If such considerations of national pride gpeak for an mdefiendent Basque- land, other reasons militate against a vigerous campaign to restore the right of self-determination to this mysterious race. Smuggling may not be a credit- ble occupation in other lands, but in the country of the Basques it has its heroes, the sages of whom are perpetu- tated in the folklore still told at the tables of cider shops, where rustic poets sing the eulogy of great smugglers. Sitting athwart the Western Pyrenees, the Basques can give Spain the French products she wants and can give France the Spanish products she wants | without bothering to give the revenue agent his re. Another reason for the quiescent state of the n:lw}:mmy movement is tr:c popularity which Basque seaside re- sorts as Biarritz and Saint-Jeande-Luz have come to enjoy. The result of the tourist invasion is all-around mfi- ity, good railway connections, excellent roads and the promise of an even brighter future. The sound business instinet of the Basques discourages too vehement assertions of their right to a native culture, and as long as money is flowing into the land even the most patriotic Basques are willing to forget that their children are rvade to learn French in the government schools. The French antonomist movement deserves a greater attention from Paris than it has received hitherto. And as long as France leads Europe and prob- ably the world in a new conception of s stabilized prosperity the autonomy movements may not cause any im- mediate danger. However, should the wheel of economic fortune turn, the Palais Bourbon in Paris may have an un- leasant awakening. Sober-minded retons, Corsicans and Basques can- | not help wishing that some concessions | should “be made to the minorities, enabling them to preserve the cultures of which they are proud. A Feder- ated State of Prance is the dream of the Breton antonomists, and they are more daring than either the Corsicans or the Basq phase of French history will ‘watching. 'fi'&rm Yankee Invasion of Mexico (Continued From First Page.) What do the Breton insurgents want? | y Are they dissatisfied with their national | siheotiine o1 aramoitious plan of allegiance, which assures them the pro- while this work is being carried out a tection of a great power, and would | certain amount of money is brought they be happy under their own tattered | inty circulation, and this has seemed to flag, which would make them the butt | dampen the ardor of the pro-Italians, of international intrigues? Consequences of Secession Forgotten, The Bretons are so wrapped up in their grievances that they seem to for- get the consequences of any such hasty action as a complete secession may en- , although the extremists demand- ing independence carry no weight either in numbers or in influence. The majority are striving for a federal state in which the Bretons would have as much to say as the French, the Alsa- tians and the rest of the nationalities | ‘The grievances of the Bretons are of various types. The trouble with the schools seems to worry them more than any other supposedly oppressive measure of the central authorities. Why Paris should be so intent on an- nibilating their ancient Celtic lan- guage. which survived the tyranny of the Bourbons and of the Bonapartes, is & question which the Bretons are not & position to answer. They cmnr in bitterly of the campaign carried on against the children who o far forget themselves as to speak their native tongue on the school play- grounds. Tutors must the meaning of French words in the language of the children. The result is that they leave school without know- ing either Prench or Breton, speaking an appalling patols unsubdued by grammatical rules and unpleasant to the ears. In an effort to control the language of the adults, Paris is carrying on a campaign against the native press, Breton autonomists charge. The oft- quoted “Breiz Atao” (Brittany For- ever) is on the index, its collaborators are closely watched, its news venders are arrested and its coples are not tolerated in the government-owned railway stations. A sinister conspiracy to keep wealth away from Brittany is laid at the doors of the French ministers in Paris. With some of these claims, at any , tour- ists to Brittany will be disposed to sym- pathize. It is something like a mystery why, in order to go from one place in Brittany to another, the tourist should frequently have to take a traln to Paris and from there take a train back to the land of the Bretons, with much expense of money and time. The Bretons charge that apart from a few strategical lines, important in war, the government does not wish to spend money on railways which would enhance the prosperity of an undesirable and rebellious race. What advantage have Cherburg and Le Havre over the seaports of Brittany: Brest, St. Nazaire and Nantes? If the map is correct, the Breton harbors are rably closer to the Americas not elucidate | At present the cafes of Ajaccio and { Bastia resound with autonomist talk— which is a good sign, as Corsican agi- tators do not like to talk and act at the same time. It is very unlikely that— barring extreme provocation—the au- tonomist leaders will go beyond the talking st2ge as long as the Corsican | bosses are divided among themselves. Paul Doumer, newly elected President the French Republic, for nearly 10 ars was the Senator from Corsica. His election to the Elysees Palace may, thersfore, mean the beginning of a new era not only in the life of the island of Corsica, the history and problems of which he knows s0 well, but also for the rest of the French minority settlements which for years hive been demanding | mors adequate representation in the | Chamber of Deputies and some meas- ures of autonomy in dealing with in- ternal affairs. This election, coupled with the spreading of the autonomist movement from Spanish to French Basqueland, will not fail to call to the | attention of Paris the urgency of this | problem The Basque movement for independ- ence has received great impetus from the recent proclamation of the republic in Spain. As is well known, the | Basqu-s live on both the French and Spanish side of the Pyrenees, under two different sovereignties, but recognizing | only one loyaity to the old race from | which they are the issue. Of this mysterious people. living in | the foothills and western valleys of the mountatn range close to the sea, it may | be said, as of faithful women, that they have no history. It would be more | correct to say that much of their his- |tory is unknown to the world. Al- though the Basques in France are only about 300,000 strong, like the Corsi- |cans they have exercised the ingenuity jand imagination of sclentists and nov- | elists quite out of proportion to their | numerical strength. | Who ars the Basques, and how did | they manage to preserve their national | traits between the formidable driving |forces of two such nations as the | French and.the Spaniards? The most | fashionable theory at one time de- | seribed the Basques as the descendants |of the Iberians. But who were the | Iberians? Their history is as much in | darkness as that of the Basques. nions changsd and the Basques were proved to be non-Iberians. of |reappear. We ask—it is always an ad- | He brings a large platter of delightful Seattle to Oaxaca, a route that is theo- yellow morning glories, but before it retically impossible. Yes, they like the reaches the table we are aware that the States. No, they do not want to stay Adventure has not been successful. there indefinitely ! ico is on & much more restricted acale,| Sheets are clean, towels are supposed compounded of business men, conces- go last a week, there are never enough sonaries, adventurers. oil men, miners, 'blankets on cold nights, and no bell is prospectors and a sprinkling of ranchers ered. ovided it is technically that about 30,000 American citizens now | is water or light to be had. Nights are live in Mexico, half of them in the cap- | for sleeping, not for gallivanting around. ital. Few become Mexican citizens ex- | In each room there will be a wardrobe cept for strictly business reasons, al-|about 20 feet high, with no coat hang- Southern republic. We shall return to | an ash tray. To attempt to read in bed them presently; they constitute a by the single dim bulb somewhere up strange phenomenon. ‘l Tot we are exporting words, habits, of modern goods to the urban areas of Mexico. | Contrast in Methods. | In the States we acquire merit by Pall Mall, Herbert Tareyton, English Ovals, Three Kings, Philip Morris. In Mexico distinction is achieved by facing North. We note the “Country Club” of display advertising in the two leadis datly papers of Mexico City for a Bu day in December, 1930, 2,509 inches dealt with American products. 1.056 inches with European—or unidentified— products. America outranked Mexico two and a half to one, and Europe at least five to one. in order: Equipment for the household. primarily radios and electric device other machinery, primarily automobles, ameras. typewriters, firearms; Holly and soaps; drugs and patent medicines clothing and _textiles—silk shirts and collars, hats: rail and water; watches and jewelr ment. chiefly plumbing. Does it all not make one feel at home? Headline in Mexico City paper in ary, 1931: Capone de Chicago” (“Nine Kiddies Go Capone”). (Headline writers, you will note, still have something to learn from America. Spanish is, however, devilish cording to the story, averaging 11 years of age, formed themselves into an ar gang. They began forcing their way into houses under pretext of reclaiming what they could. They advanced cutting squares of glass out of shop windows and lifting soap and trinkets. | They planned to steal a car as soon as came from well-to-do families, and all were devoted “‘movie” fans. Bathtubs Make Progress. Bathtubs and showers are making movement 1is under way. “Neustra Ciudad” is obviously patterned after Vanity Fair.” while newshoys chant ‘in singsong “Graf-i-co. Graf-i-co,” the rubber heels are to be found on native shoes of woven leather strips; Indian artists skilled in silver filigree jewelry are making earrings fashioned like au hubcaps. The “talkies” are all over town; the flapperahave their fine black eyes unswervingly on Fifth avenue. Mexican butter-and-egg men are copies from the Los Angeles copy of the Spanish villa—a case of cultural dif- fusion to excite the anthropologist and a boomerang in all senses of the word. | venture—for butter. The waiter beams. had driven a truck all the way from The migration of Americans into Mex- o e in the border states. It is !!lel!d‘l"l —after 10 pm. Nor though they live out their lives in the |ers. There is never a waste basket nor technical methods and our peculiar type giving our cigarettes British names— packet, and “Jazz.” Out of 4,196 inches inches with Mexican products. 631 ‘The American things advertised were, wood “movies” and “talkies". cosmetics schools and instruction; hotel equip- euve Chicos, Emulos del Famoso language to compress) Nine boys, ac- a base ball from the patio, and stealing the leader learned how to drive. All| phenomenal progress. A Little Theater capital's new picture weekly. American tomobile wheels, with tires, spokes and bu\ldln,r homes in the new subdivisions, Installment selling has long applied to | sewing machines. even in the villages, and now moves on to brass beds, chromos, phonographs and radios. The traffic, however, s not entirely one way. Mexico ships annually some 4,000 tons of chicle into North American jaws, hacked from jungle trees in Yucatan. We note the Ritz, the Regis and the Geneve, all in the throes of endeavoring to superimpose United States hotel standards upon the slippery foundations | of normal Mexican inn keeping. The two systems have nothing in common | save boarding and bedding. When the stream of American motorists arrive over the Laredo road I prophesy piteous outeries from Americanos deprived of their usual quota of steam heat, hot water and snappy service. If I may be permitted to digress for a moment, I should like to lay a small garland upon the hostelry of the old regime. It takes time to become used to it, but once acclimatized, one cannot deny the charm. In Mexico City I lodged at one of the antiques in prefer- ence to one suffering from the United States infiltration. Scene of Breakfast. We are breakfasting, let us say, at 9 am. in Puebla’s leading hostelry. It has a giant tiled patio with three tiers of bed rooms an e linen is clean, the . ¥ the food is good. Directly in the center of the rear patio wall is a large sign, “W. C. Caballeros. A gentleman at the next table has beaten up three eggs in & huge glass beaker, the waiter has poured in about a quart each of hot coffee and hot milk, and the gentleman is now dipping his roll into the foam- ing mixture and sucking it into his mouth with enthusiasm. A boy with a wicker crate of beauti- fully arranged onions, cabbages, beets and other vegetables upon his head makes his way straight across the mid- dle of the dining room from front door to kitchen. He is followed by another boy with a great basket of flowers, also on his head; an Indian woman with a tremendous bundl of dirty shee! man with raw meat'in a tray; a woman with a skinned pig held ten- derly in her arms; a ragged old gentle- man in pajamas with two live white hens, the price of which is a matter of Jengthy bargaining between himself and the proprietor; assorted citizens in som- breros and rebosos, obviously the staff reporting for duty; a boy with a hatful of eggs: & mestizo woman with a load of beautiful inlaid boxes, which she | carries from table to table. Down each side of the patio a sweep- ing brigade is hard at work, aust flying | The ruling hypothesis of the day is that they are survivals of the palaeo- |lithie inhabitants of the Pyrenees, | which may be a satisfactory answer to ethnologists, but does not mean much to the layman. To the Basques, who in clouds. Four cats are jumping upon chairs and occasionally upon a table top. They are reproved tenderly by a porter, whose life work seems to be this, and as tenderly born direction of the Mitchen, tely to | troft, with a somewhat greater popula- | controlling 80 per cent of Mexico's gold Uncle Sam’s Prison Problem (Continued From First Page.) in bofling oil for what would now be no offense at all. And to what effect? Did crime cease? Did all men obey the laws? ::u mn{h :‘me "?zll" even inbe:he alties were bein; mx('cud? e~ . Nc one can afford to be dogmatic in these matters, but we can certainly risk one positive statement. The prison or crime problem simply cannot be isolated and treated as a single prob- lem, criminality subjected to a single cure—either by the hangman's noose or the judge's decree of probation or suspended sentence. Not until we have solved the manifold problems of poverty, bad heredity, industrial in. equality and thllcll and mental in- adequacy shall we approach a com- plete solution of the crime problem. Something of the real nature of that problem can be learned in an hour spent in the criminal division of a Federal court on a day when prison- ers are brought before the judge to be sentenced. Here we have a young man and woman, brother and sister, from a Southern city, never before convicted of a crime or even a misdemeanor. But both now, by the same evidence, have been convicted of violating the Federal laws relating to embezzlement from national ban) ‘The brother took or “borrowed” a little money from the bank for which he worked as a clerk, to late on the stock mat ket; then he took more to ‘“cover uj ‘when the market went the wrong wa: In serious trouble, he appealed for help to his sister, who also worked for the bank. In & panic of fear, she helped him to make false entries; helped him take more money, hoping always that “luck would turn” and t it would be possible to restore what had been taken. Before the same judge, the same s been selling narcotic “dope”—not_only to drug addicts, but to & score of “dope peddlers” He has made thousands of dollars out of the :mcu trafic—and ruined scores of ives. i Here also is & man of another race, who, in a frenzy of passion, committed murder in a Federal jurisdiction. Here are automobile for a trip together through several States. aloft would send one to the oculist. There may be a tollet, washstand and cold shower partitioned off the corner of the room—and there may not. If there is, part of the impedimenta will be chronically out of order. There will certainly be a motherly Indian cham- bermaid calling the lady of the party “Nina" (child), and smiling so beauti- fully that it becomes impossible to rep- rimand her for neglecting more mate- rial attentions. She will take one’s laundry and return most of it in 24 hours, admirably done. The missing articles invariably reappear sooner or later; nobody ever steals in a country hotel The uncounted staff is willing, help- ful, graciously polite and marvelously inefficient. The food is good and gerved in enormous quantities. The prices are ridiculous, $2 to $3 a day in- cluding more than one can possibly eat Tips are often not expected, and if they are, amount to nothing. One is as likely to be undercharged as over- charged on the final bill. This is not a pecuniary civilization. Repeatedly I have called the proprietor's attention to telegrams, laundry, baths, which he had overlooked—in ftself a strange phenom- enon, quite contrary to my behavior north of the Rio Grande. One takes no pride in “getting away with something” in a land where money is not God. Of all the $200,000,000 worth of goods imported into Mexico each year the United States supplies two-thirds or more. By far the largest item on the import list i “machines and accesso- ries.” This does not include automo- biles, which rank second. More than 99 per cent of Mexico's 75.000 motor vehicles were manufactured in the United States: they are now bein shipped in at the rate of about 18,00 a vear. Seventy-five thousand cars for 16,000,000 geome 18 not many. There are more than 16.000.000 people in the States of New York and Massachusetts, and 3,700,000 motor cars. I should esti- mate, however, that more than half of all Mexico's cars and trucks are located in the eapital. Forty thousand cars for a million people is an advance, but De- tion, has six times as many. There is one car for every four persons in the United States and one for every 200 in Mexico. Huge American Investment. ‘The invasion of American capital stands at something under a billion dol- lars, a total less than it to be. More than $200,000.000 has been squeezed out of oil investments alone in the last 10 years. Mining and smelt- ing now come first, with $230,000,000. and silver. Ofl is second, with $200.- 000,000, half of what it was in the peak of '1922. The investment in public utilities amounts to $90.000,000, with many companies recently taken over from British capitalists. It includes light and power. telephone and tele- street railways, 000,000, sugar plantations first, followed by livestock, fruit and rubber. From here we drop a long distance to the in- vestment in manufacturing and selling establishments. Americans own some 8 per cent of the land of Mexico, a little more than half of all foreign holdings, according to Tannenbaum. Nexi come the Span- fards end then the English. Spaniards own a fertile belt in the central States. American holdings run to range lands in the north and are less valuable per acre. ‘There are four kinds of Americans in Mexico: ‘Tourists—Like tourists anywhere, ex- cept_possibly a little hardier. They do not like Mexican hotels, and their con- versation turns mainly on indignities suffered therein; that and their cus- toms grievances. Students—We might term them the popular arts boys (and girls). They are tough, intelligent, enormously enthusi- astic, & little mystical and in various stages of going native. Mexico has got them, and it is doubtful if they can ever break loose. On their right flank march the more stolid battalions of archeologists, investigating scientists, and even a lonely economist or two. like my- self. They seldom have a settled place of residence. Residents—A very small and select group which loves the country, likes the Indians and associates freely with gov- ernment officials and other white Mexi- cans. They may be identified readily by ‘The Hardened-Criminal Type. And here is & hardened criminal, an escaped convict captured when he tried to Tob & mail car—a man past 45, who has spent the greater part of the last years in jail or prison. These are only a few of the many facets are part of what we call the “prison problem.” How could the judge deal with this complex problem in these half dozen cases five years ago?> He could inflict the death penalty in the murder case; he could sentence the others, old and young, new offenders and hardened criminals alike, to vari- ous terms in the same penitentiary. And what were the prisons and peni- tentiaries like—State and Federal? Solid blocks of cells, concrete floors, . high, small. barred windows might be fairly good: it might . laden with disease germs from tuberculosis prisoners. The food might be sufficient: it might be fairly clean; it might be fairly swarming with ver- min. There were vast differences in prisons. in prisoners and in prison keep- ers. But in practically all the prisons there was one vast evil and curse— idleness, never-ending. soul-destroying. mind and body breaking idleness Hour after hour, day after day, week upon week. month upon month, for the years of their terms of imprisonment men sat or atood or lay in small. dark cells like caged animals or joined to- gether in promiscuous association with nothing to do except futilely to plot escape or revolt. Society was protected as long as the term of imprisonment ram. but when sentences expired there went out into the world again men and women better trained for crime by contact with each | other, and with a fiercer hatred against | the law and its officers, but with no bet- ter equipment for earning an honest lving than when they entered. Whrt was the result in most cases? A prompt | return to a life of crime. of course. Is this a mere statemant of unfounded opinion? Not at all. Examination of records has shown, for instance, that out cf 116 male delinquents committed to one Western institution nearly 70 per cent “relapsed” into criminal ways after releage. Of 158 released from another institution, 72 per cent went wrong gan. The 22 -old clerk who went to | prison for crudely forging a few small checks came out of priton a bigger and better forger “educated” by an old con- viet, who knew how to counterfeit bank drafts that even passed muster at the banks—most of the time. ‘The new Federal prison program was based on certain essential facts and principles, among which I might men- tion these: : Duty of Government. The first duty of soclety or govern- ment is to protect its members—by im- prisonment, if necessary, of those who are a menace. Men (and women) may be punished way. prisohs must in due time emerge, to come in _contact with soclety ain. with powerful financial holdings many of our leading corporations. They keep strictly to themselves, despising ai J’ looking down upon the United States, criticizing its customs, sneering at its government, refusing to learn English, sending their children to school in Mexico. looking upon any woman of their group who might associate with Americans as a moral liability. They publicly deplore the American Revolution and sigh for the good days of King George. They appeal to their government in Mexico for armed inter- vention to protect them against a prob- able attack of bandits from Chicago. Their protests against all forms of local, State and natfonal taxation are vocifer- ous and increasing. One hesitates to oup—enough that the end should be gmgr‘ehenll\'e and sudden. The in- born courtesy of the Mexican is proved by the fact that a similar fate does not overwhelm the American colony. That, and 120,000,000 against 16.000,000. Americans Chiefly in Cities. American penetration is confined primarily to the cities, especially Mex- ico City. Along the border it seeps into the towns and rural districts. In these states it is not unusual for Mexican the excellent display of native handi- crer!}(‘A 1;) ““l" houses. e American colony—A larger group, representing primarily cnmmre‘:cl-l 1:- terests, and oriented about the Country Club. Vestiges of it will be found in ail the larger cities, but the prime exhibit is in the capital. It has little or no handicraft work in its houses; all mem- bers sigh for the old days; all have the Diaz reflex, dependable as the knee jerk; all dislike Mexicans in any form, and are interested in Indians only in conjunction with the servant problem. This they discuss interminably. Ameriean Women Socially. ‘They hold that an American woman who associates with Mexicans is no bet- ter than she should be. They conceive it sometimes inevitable, but no their duty, to learn Spanish. ey try to keep thelr children spotless from local contamination. They move in a close, unventilated circle of club, din- ner, bridge, golf and tea. In brief, I am not proud of what I have seen or the reports I have had of the American colony in Mexico. I am | afraid, as an item in the Yankee inva- sion, it will have to be classified as on a lalvel with signboards and patent medi- cines. My eriticism may be made somewhat plainer if we swing the picture around. Suppose there were a group of Mexi- *ans resident on Park avenue, New York, |Beu'-. farmers, like Texas farmers, to come down to the station in cheap automo- biles. But in comparison with Canada, the penetration of Mexico by the ma- chine has been slow indexd. The chief difference, culturally speaking, between Canada and the United States, is pro- hibition (waiving an area in Quebec). But one has only to cross the river from Brownsville to Mantamoros to enter a different world, and the farther south one goes, the more different it becomes. until Mexico City provides a partial hiatus. They call us, in Mexico, “Blond and "eolouuls of the Nonsl," ‘well as gringo. Colossus we are. We h“nv- ma':ur best to roll Canada flat, and it is inevitable that we should try to roll south as well. The wonder is that we have not rolled faster and ore heavily. m!!lelrml Myexlco. below the border estates, is almost combletely uncon- quered. Cities smaller than the capi- tal have taken to automobiles, elec- tric power, Hollywood end jazz in vary- ing degrees. Mexico City has gobbled a sample of practically everything ex- cept skyscrapers and subways: but as our street corner survey shows she is still far from a typical American city— great chupks of Colonial, European and Indian- still survive. The invasion is not to be measured so much in capital investment as in American words, American attitudes, American American goods,) appears for sentence a man who | drugs— | boy and girl who stole an | en masse; they cannot be reformed that | Practically all of those who enter | in | state in plain words the fate of such a | What reaction prison has on them thus becomes a vital question. A very large proportion of those who commit crimes are diseased, physically or mentally, and are thus hmdlubfed in wresting a living from the world in an honest way. 2 A large number of those who violate the laws are without elementary or vo- cati~nal education; they cannot obtain or inld a self-supporting job. About one-fifth of those entering prison doors are drug addicts. And—important to prison keepers— no serious riot has occurred in an insti- tution where all inmates have been pro- vided with study and productive work. The problem, reduced to practical terms, was what to do with 12,000 hu- man beings jammed into crowded pris- ons, and an almost equal number of Federal “petty” offenders in more than a thousand local jails and similar insti- tutions, so that they would emerge the end of their terms better—or at least no worse—than they went in. It was not part of the policy to spend more of honest people's money simply for the purpose of making criminals more com- fortable. Additional prison expenditure could be justified only by a practical attempt to convert soclety’s charges into law-abiding, self-supporting citizens. At _least one State—Massachusetts— the State in which I had been engaged |in prison_administration before coming to the Federal service—has demon- strated that wholesale severity of pun- mamem 18 not essential to better public order, Number on Probation. In that State today there are nearly four times as many persons on proba- tion as there are in prison. And there, | nevertheless, crime rates have been go- ing down, even while they were increas- ing in other parts of the country. On the other hand. the creation of several new classes of Federal crimes nd the transference of others to the National Government by acts of Con- gress within the last 10 or 15 years have been bringing many thousands of addi- tional prisoners before United States |judges for sentence. ‘The practical | problem was and is what to do with them. Congress was willilng—nay, anxi- ous—to do something more than build additional and bigger prisons. It was willing, under the leadership of the President, to give authority to tackle the job of reconstructing men and women, not just for their own benefit but for the protection of the law-abiding masses, who in the end pay the bill for erime, And so one after another in the last two yeats new prison laws have been written on the statute books of the United States. Thoee laws will not in- stantly transform 25,000 Federal pris- oners into 25,000 useful, law-abiding citizens, but they are leavening the lump, nevertheless, and enabling real progress to be made. Take the jail situation, for example. Thousands of violators of Federal laws, including many women, who have been sentenced to serve a vear or less are confined to county jails and other local institutions. We had ®o real control over such places. more than a thousand in number, and there were only two inspectors to see whether these places were fit for human custody. The con- ditions in some of these jails were nothing less than horrifying. But with only two inspectors it took a long time to discover such things. Now. under | congressional authority, we have eight inspectors, each having charge of in- spections in a certain district. They | are gotting co-operation from local au- thorities in making the jails fit places for the confinement of human beings for short periods. Jails are being cleaned that never were cleaned before, or at least in the last 10 or 20 years. Pris- oners are being given clean, plain. sim- | ple food instead of starvation rations or filthy and spoiled vituals. and lax con- ditions are being discovered and con- demned. Moreover, Congress has authorized the building of four large Federal jails for ehort-term prisoners. When we can transier to those jails prisoners who previously could be placed only in local institutions not fit for human habita- tion we shall be able to influence bet- terment there by withdrawing the reve- | nue derived by the county from the Fed- eral Government Consider the drug-addict situation. | One out of five Federal prisoners is | addicted to narcotic drugs—thousands of men and women in the aggregate. After withdrawal of the narcotics these unfortunates are mental and physical wrecks. They need rebuilding of body, mind and soul. For that purpose Congress has ap- propriated money to acquire, in con- junction with other Government de- partments, two so-called ‘“narcotic farms.” There prisoners and other vic- tims of the narcotic habit will be re- habilitated under skilled medical care and strict discipline. There will be no “coddling” of such prisoners, but under the new regime they will be given the opportunity at least to come back to a normel manner of life. Hundreds Mentally Defective. | Into the prisons have gone hundred: of mental defectives, the degenerate, the idiot, the insane. For these to be kept with other prisoners is a crime in | | itself. Congress has provided for their segregation and confinement in hos- pitals. In the past. owing to the difficulty of obtaining competent medical service in | the prisons, much of the disease, physi- cal and mental, which scientists say bears so close a relation to criminality, either has gone undiscovered and un- treated or else has had to be treated casually or intermittently. The im- portance of accurate diagnosis, prompt prophylaxis and segregation where necessary can hardly be overempha- sized. Under authority of new legislation the United States Public Health Serv- ice has taken charge of Federal prison | medical work and a competent medical, surgical and psychiatric staff now pro- vides in our penitentiaries service | which rivals that of any group of peni- | tentiaries in the world. There will be | fewer men and women discharged from | prison broken in health or carriers of ‘lrildrecneul diseases to the world out- | side. Why do ms@ in prison revolt? One of the answe's sometimes given to this question is a real or fancied griev- ance against the sentencing or parol- | ing authorities. Under the old system | the granting of paroles in Federal in- | stitutions was in the hands of busy men who could not give the time and atten- tion necessary to a careful study of the | merits of each case. Under the new law |an independent parole board passes | upon applications for parole and pris- oners have the assurance of fair and prompt consideration, based upon the merits of their cases. One way to prevent prison over- crowding—and the making of more and worse criminals—is to keep people out of pritons in the first place. And so the Federal judges have been given the power to place offenders on probation— to let them remain out of prison while their behavior is good. Something of the history of the individual should be known to the judge before he reaches | Goldberg: two-sixths to a son, Arthur | NATION WILL HONOR ITS OLDEST MOTHER 1932 Mother's Day to Be Wash- ington Bicentennial High Spot. Celetration of Mother's day in 1932 will be one of the outstanding ts of the George Washington Bicentennial observance in recognition of the first President’s devotion to his own mother. This was announced today by Arnold Kruckman of the District of Columbia Bicentennial Commission, which is plan- ning the celebration. According to Mr. Kruckman, the oldest mother in the United States will found and brought to Washin as the Nation's guest for the day. and the mothers of the country’s illus- trious—including the mothers of Col. Charles E. Lindbergh and Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd—will icipate in the observance of Mother's day as planned by the local commission. Bpecial homage will be paid also to the Gold Star mothers, who also will that day. In its efforts to locate the country's oldest mother, correspondence with communities throughout the country will be promoted in quest of nomina- tions of venerable mothers. Hence, the commission points out, the most humble hamlet will have equal ity with metropolitan centers for the distinction. ‘BORGIA WOMEN' HANG FOR KILLING HUSBANDS | Two of Notorious Gang Dragged to Gallows After They Lose Fortitude. VIENNA, Austria—Horrible scenes were witnessed in the town of Szolnok, Hungary, when two of the notorious “Borgia women” were hanged. They were Rose Csordas, 58, and Amelia Szabo, 58, and both had to be dragged to the gallows unconscious. Mme. Csordas preserved her fortitude until very near the end, becsuse she defi- me‘;:y to Ad!mlrbl‘:' l\jlmh);eftht Hun- acin regents ust before be; ;un%etd L . oog‘lpledh . Mme. Bu‘gg oug] madly th the jail but fainted at the last moment. i ‘The two women came from the wil- lage of Tiszazug, where an epidemic of husband-poisoning has raged for years. Thirty-one women have been arrested and brought to trial lately, all of them charged with murdering their husbands or other relatives by arsenic. For some years the crimes were undiscovered, but last year they came to light. Csordas was found guilty of three murders and Szabo of two. Other women are atill :l\l!lun' trial, and, presumably, execu- on. {WIDOW GIVEN INCO;dE Jewish Homes Get $300 and Adas Israel Congregation Receives $200 by Will in Probate. George Goldberg, merchant who died July 1, by his will filed for probate, left his household effects and jewelry | to his wife, Mrs. Hannah Goldberg, and gave $200 to Adas Israel Congregation. £100 to the Jewish Foster Home and ! $200 to the Hebrew Home for the Aged. | The District National Bank and his | widow are named as trustees to hold 119 shares of American Telephone & | Telegraph Co. stock, 93 shares Ni tional Dairy Products, 50 shares Hud- son & Manhattan Railway Co. stock and 30 shares of the stock of the Great Northern Raliway Co. The income from this trust fund is to be paid the | widow during her life. At her death | $1.500 is to go to Prank J. Laverzo, three-sixths to & daughter, Jeannette L. Goldberg. and one-sixth to another | son. Frank M. Goldberg. The residue of the estate goes to the | widow, who will act as administrator with the District National Bank. — but to help rebulld wasted lives. We are making education available to pris- oners, not only by teaching reading, | writing and the other elementary sub- jects. but by training hands and minds for jobs outside prison walls when sen. tences have been served or paroles granted. We are making books avail- | able to prisoners so that minds may de- ;:l;:p instead of degenerate, as in the And, most important, the opportu- nity to work it being constantly ex- | gcndvd. This is being done without | ringing prison-made goods into com- | petition with the produet of paid labor on the outside. Men and women are working in K"”“ shops turning out ! textiles, brushes, brooms, shoes and a | variety of other products. but those ead they ‘ure eingubed By Severn: re z ment departments, > o % In the prison shops the inmates are now able to earn a small stipend, to have the satisfaction of laboring for A& return. At the Atlanta Peniten- tiary, for instance, 900 of the prisoners earned an average of $13.19 each per month in the cotton duck mill. Men so_employed consider this a privilege —many times preferable to sitting in idleness in cells. But until every man and woman in Federal custody who is | | 8ton | insignia will be invited to be present in Washington | gy, antly refused to send a petition for |Koff FROM GOLDBERG ESTATE . The 2d Brigade voluntary formation of the 6th Marine Brigade, 20th and 23d Marines, will take placs today at Area C, Anacostia, head of the Elev~ enth Street Bridge, southeast. Com- l""fll fall El lfi’ 9:30 o‘tlockdlnd mmediately in company close order drill. The new guidons and guidon bearers in the meantime will report to Majs. Lane and Miller for in- struction in the manual of the guiéon, returning to their companies ister. At 11:15 o'clock the companies will report as battalions, at which time brigade pa- rade will be held. On this occasion the new 6th Marine Brigade’s guidons will be formally pre- sented for the first time. It will mark the first time since the Revolutionary ‘War that the old Colonial rattlesnake lgeln be flown officially in the United States Marine ‘The new guidons, which are of scar- let banner silk with golden yellow des- ignatory merkings entwined with a striking rattiesnake, are of the swallow- tailed bu design. They were pre- sented informally at the 6th Marine Brigade ball, held at the National Press lub last Wednesday evening. The ball proved to be both a financial and social !mcneu. Those who attended the ball were generally of fhe opinion that the most beautiful guidons were those of the medical detachments ,of the 20th and 23d Marines. These guidons, also of the swallow-tailed burgee type, are of white banner silk bearing in the cen- ter the Red Cross of Geneva and in the hoist the golden yellow des markings 20th and #3d, res with the striking green rattles twined. Vacancies in the brigade are rapidly being filled on the recruiting nights be- ing held at brigade headquarters, 458 Indiana avenue, on Monday and Pri- day evenings. The coming encampment at Virginia Beach, Va.. and the incident transportation to and from the camp being by boat, seems to present an un- usual appeal to young men desiring to zerve in one or the other branches of Federal Reserve troops. The following transfers of non-com- missioned officers recently made are: Paymaster Sergt. George H. Hubert to brigade headquarters, First Sergt. Rollie V. Essex to Companv H, 20th Marines; Gunnery Sergt. John P. Mesh- to_Company A. 20th Marines: {Sergt. Edward F. Clark to brigade | headquarters. Recent promotions are as [follows: Corpl. Cyril W. Pitts, Com- pany A, 20tnh Marines. to first sere geant; Sergt. George C. Deyoe, Com- pany A. 20th Marines, to gunnery ser- geant: Pvi. Rovert B. Cross. Company A, 20th Marines. to corporal; Pvt. Ar- thur W. Lord, Headquarters Company, 23d Marines, to corporal. the ranks of Corps. pe nake en- | U. 8. Rackets Cost $12,000,000. “Racketeerings” annually costs the American people between $12.000,000 and $18,000.000, the New York State Crime Commission reports. iTi| First Jour of 7% ANCIENT TURKESTAN Join the first de luxe rail carae van inte the heart of Central Avia, leaving Leningrad Aus gust 25th! Forty days travels ing a slamorous route through lands rich in ancient atmess phere tond -moderntactivity Stops on the 8000 mile itine erary will include Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Bake and the fabled Asian cities of Alma Ata, Tashkent, Samars kand, Bokhara. Comiortable accommodations at all times. For detailed information, consult your travel agent or INTOURKST Wit d ence for illun Inerature! INTOURIST U S A Reporemative of 50 STATE TRAVEL BUREAU emeusse 52 FIFTH AVE. § NEW YORK VAC A way = MAIL THIS COUPON NOW.§ able to work is given some useful, pro- ductive task we shall not be satisfled with that phase of the new prison pro- i e o, viduals consf son pop- ulation has had his record, eduupu?fi‘ mental and physical condition and c:&ubmfiu of useful develnpment stud- ied by those competent to judge the possibilities of improvement and ref- ‘ormation we shall not consider the new prison plan anywhere near fulfilled. , the prison problem cannot be solved without some attention to those outside who are related to those within—and who are equally a problem to the community. In one of the Fed- eral penitentiaries, for instance, is a man serving a four-year sentence. His wife appealed to the prison authorities for assistance in supporting eight smail children. Aid for the family was ob- tained from a local welfare agency so that hungry children might be fed and older ones clothed sufficienuy to attend school. Furthermore, the warden of the prison ied the father to the cotton duck mill, where he is working for wages which will be forwarded his family. This could not have been done under the old prison conditions. S0 1t is all the way throi the new methods being applied in gbe Federal prison organization. The purpose is not to curry favor with criminals by leni- ency, but to apply common sense to the problem of curbing criminal tendencies, not so much for the benefit of the & decision on this question. Two years ago there were only eight Federal pro- bation officers able to make investiga- tions, keep an eye on those under pro- bation and those paroled from prison after having served part of a term. To- day we have 55 Federal probation of- ficers, helping more than 9,000 offend- ers to lead straight, useful lives with- out the stigma of prison confinement. ide the prisons and in the camps outside prison walls we have new con- ditions and methods. To relieve over- crowding recourse has been had, with the splendid co-opefation of the War Department, to discontinued or unoccu- pled buildings formerly used in Army cantonments, and in these 1200 men have been put to work outside of the Eenltenfinflcs. New prisons are being uilt, that more overcrowding may be prevented. But we are providing something more rtant than new cells.” We are pro- viding & new organization to deal with problems. We sre training men for prison work—not to ahoot of club, prisoner as for the future protection of society—which will have to pay the bill if the man continues with his crimi- nal activities. We are doing other to give what might be called “individual treat- ment” o the violators of the law. No longer is a judge bound to send virtual- ly all prisoners to the same type of penal institution. We are anu.u% places of confinement for the frsf offender, other piaces for other types of law violators. 3 ‘We know—we do not guess—that this kind of attention to the problem is worth while from a practical stand- point. We have the subsequent record, for instance, of 322 girls and women released from our Alderson lnstitution. Of these 280 are known to be lenmn! law-abiding lives or there is no of subsequent rearrest. Of the other 42 only 8 have been rearrested for causes arising subsequent to their re-! lease. And of 184 released on parole only 3 havg violated the pledge to hnz law lives, DEPARTMENT OF TOURS Chicago & North Western 301 Franklin Trust Bldg. or 308 Cgmmereier Tras Blds umercial “Tr. . P deionia. Fa. No Trip Can All-Expense Escorted Tours Mail the coupon nowl Let it open the gateways .to you for a summer jof joy—at little cost=e without a care. 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