Evening Star Newspaper, July 26, 1931, Page 19

GERMAN POLITICAL FUTURE OFFERS LITTLE OPTIMISM Government Unlikely to Present World Assurance of Domestic Order and Unity. Time Needed for International Acton. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. N view of the turn the German crisis has taken in recent days, the question of the domestic political situation within the Reich becomes one of general imporiance. For there is here involved the problem as to whether the present chancellor, Dr. Bruening, can hold the reins of govern- | ment indefinitely. If he were to stay, it is clear that h's country would profit by the confidence he has earned for| himself abroad—a confidence which certainly rivals that of the late Gustav Btresemann. Stated in the form of Reichstag seats the situation of the Bruening govers ment {5 this: In a Parliament of 576 members it is supported by a coalition | of many parties. counting in the aggre- gate just under half of the total. This coalition consists of the Social Demo- crats, the Center (Bruening's own party), the Bavarian Peoples party, (closely assoclated with the Center and similarly a Roman Catholic group), the Peoples &uty (Stresemann’s old camp), the States (formerly the Democratic) and a tiny rump of Moderate National- ists. All told, this coalition counts 285 seats, and of these the Social Demo- crats and the two Catholic parties count 143 and 87, respectively. On the other side, the two opposition parties, united only by a common pur- pose to pull down the Bruening govern- ment, namely, the National-Socialist- National combination, and the Com- munists, count 225 votes—106 to the Hit- lerites, 44 to the Nationalists of the Hugenberg stripe and 76 to the Social- ists. Between the government and the opposition is a middle ground occupied by a number of so-called “splinter par- ties” which have frequently supported the Nationalists, but never with enough unuilmny to bring down the govern- menf Bruening Majority Shown. On the face of the figures, therefore, Bruening can today count on a slight but still real majority. His difficulties, however, arise from the fact that there is no common basis of union between his own followers beyond the desire to prevent the incoming of a Fascist re- gime. The Social Democrats and the Peoples party, which is a party of the great industrialists, are at daggers drawn on all economic and social issucs. All the underlying sympathies of the Peoples party are with the enemy, in 80 far as the question of national do- | mestic order is concerned. As for the Social Democrats, their situation is wholly analagous to that of the Liberals in England, they are supporting a cabinet dominated by bourgeois influences as the British Liberals are backing a government of Soclalists, solely because an election now would mean a tremendous party disaster. But, like the Liberals, they are losing strength in the country very rapidly, because the rank and file of the membership do not understand the present alliance. ‘Thus nothing is more likely than that & disintegration of the Bruening bloc may take place at_any moment and over any issue. For the profound ‘weakness of the German character lies in the infinite capacity of Germans to divide over academic nolitical questions even at moments of national crisis. ‘Today, when the stability of the Reich economically and financially is at stake, | it 1s not possible to bring about a gov- ernment of public safety, such as was constructed in France in a similar crisls in 1926, because the opposition, | not only the Communists, but the Fascists and Nationalists as well, are solely occupied with their fight for power and are thus ready to further, rather than arrest, economic and finan- clal disaster. Coalition Wants Power. ‘The Nationalist-Fascist coalition ‘wants power at any price measured in German misfortune. It sees clearly that if the present economic and finan- cial crisis continues indefinitely, bring- ing in its train domestic suffering, public opinion in the long run will turn in its direction. It is thus deliberately trading on the misfortunes of its own country to the end that ii may obta:n power. That is why President Hoover's intervention was even more roundly de- nounced in Nationalist and “Nazi” newspapers in Germany than in the most extreme press in France. For a moment the opposition was fearful lest Germany might be saved and thus its own aspirations thwarted. ‘The key of the political situation in Germany not, however, in the Reichstag door, alone. Control in this house means control of the army and the civil government, but even more im- portant is the control of the Prussian police and this rests with the Prussian Parliament. Here, also, a simllar coa- litlon rules and two strong men, Braun as head of the Prussian state and Severing as master of the police, con: stitute the real foundation of the pres- ent regime in Germany. Moreover, the Socialist-Center control in this house has been uninterrupted since the revo- Jution and in these years it has been possible to build up a republican police force which can be relied upon to de- fend the existing governmeni in the Reich equally against the Hitlerites and the Communists. But the present control of the Prus- sian Parliament must face a new elec- tion in a few months. And in such an election there is the gravest danger that the Nationalists, Hitlerites and Communists would together get enough out. police would be lost, the existing force would be shot to pleces and the real barrier to revolution would be abolished. No one who has not been in Berlin in the past 12 months can appreciate what this means, but actually the city—and all other large towns—have been practi- cally under martial law. Policemen are everywhere, machine guns and tanks sre In constant evidence, and fighting has been going forward uninterruptedly and with many casualties. Playing Waiting Game. Both the Hitlerites and the Com- snunists are at the moment playing a waiting e. Both count on the eventual collapse of the Bruening gov- ernment as assured. Were there any prospect of its succeeding at its task, then both the Communists and “Nazis” would take the field. But they see Winter approaching, the number of unemployed little diminished, the new financial crisis imposing fresh hard- ships and additional tax laws bringing further burdens. Thus they are satis- fled to let the fruit ripen and drop into their waiting hands. The real strength of the position of the opposition lies in the fact that the German people as a whole are exhausted by the successive hardships of the war, ghe revolution, the Ruhr occupation, the world economic depression, which hit Germany very hard, and finally this last financial breakdown. Progressively for years they have been coming to the despairing conclusion that the peace treaties alike in their reparations and financial clauses were designed to de- stroy the German people. They are ‘both hopeless and hysterical, dominated by a sort of mania of persecution result- ing from their sufferings. ‘What the outside world has not even now comprehended is how terrible these sufferings have been and how ccm- pletely whole classes of the German nation have been wiped out. Nor has there been appreciation of the extent to which the younger generation which has come on since the war has been affected by discovering that the door of ity was bolted and padlocked against it. One has only to investigate gor & moment the situation in German wniversities—which were, by the way, all \ seats to turn Braun and his associates | In that case the control of the | |a strange sound coming from within closed the other day to preserve order— to recognize the peril which comes from young Germany. ‘There are a handful of courageous men who are staking their lives—not their political lives alone but their ex- istenc>, for the assassination of Rathe- nau and Erzberger shows what they have to expect if they fail—in tha fight to save their country. Bruening, Cur- tius, Braun and Severing ere the most conspicuous, and the two former led machine-gun detachments in the war, an ultimate test of courage. But thcse men—and Luther, the head of the Reichsbank and former chancellor, must be counted in the same number—stand on very fragile scaffolding, and, indeed, can survive politically only because they have the support of the President, which enables them now to rule Germany by decree law—that is, without recourse to Parliament. But Hindenburg's term is running out and, as in the case of the Prussian Parliament, a new election is imminent, and there is the double doubt as to whether the old marshal, now over 80, will stand again, and whether, even if he were a candidate, he could be re- | elected. And here, after all, th: de- | cisive factor must be the economic con. dition of the country during the next | few months. And there the prospect is pat-ntly bad. For even if it were conceivable that Germany could save herself, it is not less clear that the effort would involve still greater sacrifices and suffering on the part of a people which is literally dominated by despair. The gulf which psychologically separates the German from all other peoples now is just as profound as that of the war era. Today the mass of the German people believe that the rest of the world must come to its aid, that what it suffers is the result of the moral wrongs done it in the peace treaties, and that if the world does not now intervene it will suffer far more than Germany. But once it be made clear to the mass of the German people that the world is not going to intervene, that it is not going to abolish, not merely postpone reparations payments, lend billions and agree to the revision of the Eastern frontiers, then the Communists and the Nazis believe their time will come. But as both will strike for power at the sams time, the result must be a civil strifs, provided things go as they now calculate. And in such a civil strife assured. Lack of Ability. i Unhappily, there is not, however, in the National-Socialist or National party any man of even moderate ability, and the larger fraction are youths of little experience and with a judgment better | suited for service in storm battalions than in a national cabinet at the mo- ment of an international crisis. The program of th: National-Socialists is a | quaint mixture of Chauvinism, Commu- nism and jew-baiting. and its pledges begin with the promise instantly to abolish the treaty of Versailles both in | its financial and territorial clauses. The fatal weakness of the Bruening situation lies in the fact that it has never had the loyal support of big busi- | Dess. The money which financed the last campaign of the Hitlerites came | from the industrialists and even some | of the big banks. And the explanation | lies in the fact that these interests are more occupied with their purpose to get rid of the Social D>mocratic influence upon the government and repeal the long program of post-war social legis- lation than with any larger considera- tion. They favor a Fascist control be- cause they believe it would take a Mus- solini tone, and they have displayed a true German disregard for what might e the International consequences of such a change. In sum, then, the German domestic political situation is too incoherent and the condition of the German people too weak to warrant any extreme optimism as to the future, if, as seems likely now, weeks or even months must intervene b-fore there is any international action. In France, when Poincare took the helm at the moment of the franc crisis, he was able to rally behind him not only the mass of the members of the Chamber of Deputis but all the finan- cial, industrial and business elements of the country. His very coming re- stored confidence, and confidence, of course, was then, as now, the main thing lacking. But there is no Poincare in Germany and no basis for national unity. With all their many great talents, the Ger- mans have never yet learned the lesson of putting party or class consideration aside in a crisis; and by class I mean economic not social distinctions. Thus the root difficulty is not impossibly go- ing to be the inability of any German government—and that of Bruening is actually the last chance—to present to the world any assurance of domestic order and unity which will convince American, British and French bankers of the wisdom of risking billions of money in a salvage operation. (Copyright, 1931) Snake Found i;a)flin Hermetically Sealed ROME.—This is a real ghost story, fit to give the children nightmares. Workmen in the little town of Cassino were recently employed to disinter a | body which had lain in the local ceme- tery, lodged in an hermetically sealed zinc coffin, for several years. After re- moving the earth from above the coffin the workmen were suddenly startled by the box. Other workmen and the chief of the cemetery were called, and after a brief consultation the coffin lid was sud- denly flung open. Hands flew up in amazement, and every one spontane- ously took to flight when a giant snake, 18 feet long, emerged from the box and crawled away across the ground. Finally some one had the presence of mind enough to follow the snake to a decrepit piece of garden wall where it took refuge. Eventually it was Kkilled and exhibited to the open-mouthed pop- ulace. The most ghastly fact in con- nection with the story is that the coffin was completely sealed, and that the body of the dead man was entirely in- tact. How the snake managed to make his way into the box will be a matter for conjecture in Cassino for genera- tions to come. Count ;lb:t Apponyi Is Honored by Hungary VIENNA.—Count _ Albert Apponyi, grand old man of Hungary, celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday anniversary re- cently, and all Budapest rose to salute him. He is well known all over the world as the chief Hungarian “elder statesman,” particularly at Geneva, where his tall figure and spade-shaped white beard are famous. He speaks publicly in any of seven languages. He looks exactly like por- traits of Confederate soldiers in our Civil War. The Hungarian parliament, meeting in special session to honor him, offered him a natfonal gift of 250,000 pengoes (about $45,000) and a pension corresponding to that of a prime min- ister for the rest of his life. This is particularly notable, because Count Ap- ponyi throughout all his career has been a member chiefly of opposition parties. The government has asked him to write the memoirs of his l_m::!-lcnl life for the use of future histol . Count Apponyi has sat in the Hungarian J)u- liament from the constituency of Jasz- bereny for 50 years without & the victory of the Nazis would be| THE SUNDAY STAR,” WASHINGTON, D. C., JULY 26, 1931—PART TWO Peru Liberated 110 Years Ago Progressive Latin Republic Now Experiencing One of the Most Interesting Moments in Her History. | BY GASTON NERVAL. EXT Tuesday is Peru's national day. On July 28 the inhab- itants of one of the most pro- gressive Latin republics to the south celebrate the 110th an- niversary of their liberation from the Spanish” yoke and their constitution as an independent, sovereign state. This year her birthday anniversary finds her in one of the most trying and interesting moments of her history. The country is undergoing a critical period of restlessness and political uncertainty, a logical result of the violent change which took place about a year ago in the government of the nation. Last August the autocratic and absolutist 11-year rule of President- Dictator Augusto B. Leguia was brought to a dramatic end by the armed up- rising of the southern military forces of the country. Overwhelmingly supported by the people, the rebellion had no major difficulty in rendering Leguia powerless and in sending him from the Pizarro palace to the national peni- tentiary to pay for his political errors and maladministration of the public funds. Change Was Welcome. The change was warmly received in the country, which had suffered 11 years of arbitrary despotism, and abroad, where the fall of the dictator- ship was seen as the initiation of a more liberal and happier era in Peru- vian politics. Soon, however, the Peru- vian people found that in their country, as in any other, the overthrow of a long, personalistic rule means more than a mere substitution of the men in power. Accord'ng to the laws of soclology and the experiences of history. a period of unrest, disorganization and often anarchy usually follows a change from an old, strong-minded, single-handed regime, which has kept the political forces of the nation inacdive for a num- ber of years. The Peruvians were wise enough and fortuante enough to avold anarchy, but they have not been able to sidestep the laws of natural reaction which must follow the breakdown of a long-established system. THE PASEO DE COLON, LIMA, PERU. tor, Leguia, an atmosphere of restless- ness and constant political effervescence has been prevalent in Peru. Three sub- sequent armed rebellions have resulted in an equal number of changes in th: executive of the nation, and othcr minor uprisings have been, and ars still be'ng, suppressed in various parts of the country. Big Job Ahead. Fortunately, now that the general elections have been called by the pro- visional government, and the different political parties are reorganizing their lines, the end of this ural period of transition seems near. Whoever merts the confidence of the Peruvan people, however, in the forthcoming presidential elections will have a big man's job in evolving a normal, lawful and democratic rule out of the chaos of changing conditions. The first idea that ccmes to mind in thinking of Peru is the legend of the marvelous Inca Empire which flourished throughout that region when America had not yet become America. No matter how many centuries may pass after the last descendant of the Incas has ceased to tread the Peruvian mountain trails, the name of Peru will forever evoke pictures of that wonder- ful civilization. They are so intimately linked that it would seem jmpossible to attempt any discussion of modern Peru without going back to those long gone days when Peru was a land of incalculable wealth and splendor, the t of an indigenous civilization un- rivaled In the southern continent. Fine New Civilization, When the Spanish conguerors whom Columbus landed in America reached | the heart of the continent, they found |in the region now_occupled by the re- | publics of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador |a vast empire of bronze-skinned men, speaking an unknown tongue and pos- sessing extraordinary cultural aitain- ments; an original type of civilization, very different from that of Europe. The Incas had so complete a knowl- | edge of astronomy, geometry and cer- as of arts and crafts, that they astound- Since the ousting of the aged dicta- [ed the European invaders, who had| tain branches of mathematics, as well | thought themselves the m"x"fl clvilized people on the planet. In Tiahuanacu, for example, the Incas had constructed, in the “Gate of the Sun,” a system of measuring time, based on the solar movements, more perfect than those in use today. Communications Rapid. By means of a marvelous system of signals, the orders of the Inca emperor were transmitted to points throughout the empire with incredible rapidity, as it seemed to their conquerors, who spent months in communicating with other groups of explorers. The Inca bulldings were masterly products of engineering skill, revealing artistic feel- ing and good taste. Most surprising of it all, the Inca empire had long existed under a social system far beyond any- thing known at that time, with laws as to property, the rights of the commun- ity, and the organization of labor that griatly resemble our modern theories of Communism. All this showed a de- gree of culture remarkable in a people dwelling completely isolated from any other civilization, and unknown to the rest of the world. However, modern Peru's prestige and wealth rest upon more solid founda- tions than the memory of those days of bygone splendor, of which there remain only ruins and a few million people, intermixed with the Spanish, scattered through Peru, The prosperity of Peru depends today upon its immense natural resources and upon the enterprise of its people. The native Peruvians have long since defi- nitely transformed their country to the standards of European civilization, cul- tivating arts and letters to a notable degree and developing, through material progress and industry, a land that is becoming more and more picturesque and prosperous. Peru is today a republic, under governed its constitution by the usual tered by the President and his minis- Senate and Chamber of Deputi the judicial, composed of the courts throughout the country. The republic dates from 1821, when 12 years of armed struggle culminated in inde- Bolivia and Ecuador. | three branches—the ex:cutive, adminis- | ters; the legislative, composed of the | pendence from the crown of Spain after that time, aside from two major events— a temporary union with Bolivia, forming the Peruvian - Bollvian Confederation, and the War of the Pacific, in which Chile deprived her of great extensions of territory—the history of Peru as a republic was marked in its first decades by internal disorder and revolutions, none of lasting importance, and in its later period by material and economic progress under more stable regimes, Wealth in Agriculture, Peru's greatest wealth is in its agri- culture and mines. In agriculture the outstanding products are sugar, culti- vated along the coast and in the lower valleys, although not on so large a scale as in Cuba, Porto Rico or the Philip- Ppines, and cotton, the plantations total- ing present about 150,000 acres. Corn and rice as well as other grains are produced in considerable quantities. Tobacco, potatoes, coffee and cacao are also produced, but in lesser amounts, rather for local consumption than for export, As for mineral resources, the moun- tains of Peru contain inexhaustible treasure. Copper is most plentiful, the principal mine, Cerro de Pasco, being one of the most famous in the world. Some of the gold and silver mines worked in the time of the Incas are still productive. Coal is mined in con- siderable quantities, and for some time the petroleum fields of the north have been under active exploitation, Industries in Peru, asin the majority of Latin American countries, are little developed. The textile industry is grow- ing, as is tanning and the manufacture of low-grade shoes and panama hats. However, it is still necessary to import practically all manufactured products, the United States being its principal source of supply, just as it is the great- est buyer of their exportable raw materials. Considering the area of Peru—ap- proximately half a million square miles, which is more than France, Germany and Italy combined—her population is small, being but slightly (Continued on Fourth Page.) PARIS.—Eminent minds in France of late years have been turning to the magic arts, not as a soclety fad, but in all seriousness. 50r:|e :}l;e llch:mles‘t‘l. others astrologers, yet others se vi- dences of scientific truth in fortune telling. These men include retired officers of the army and navy, engineers and laboratory workers and several former students ~ of the Polytechnic School, which ranks first in this country for the study of mathematics. When Theo- dore Steeg, the former premier, accepts a portfolio in a cabinet, one of his attaches is Paul Vincente Piobb, who is an authority on Nostradamus, the French astrologer of the sixteenth cen- tury, and who is well known as a lec- turer on the divers manners of fore- telling_events. These men publish a monthly review and write many books. All are in dead earnest. The alche- mists among them contend that modern discoveries—radio-activity for one—go to show that alchemy and not chemis- try is the true science. Such a one is Jollivet Castelot, a leader with many disciples, so many disciples, in fact, that there has been founded in Paris a Soclety of the Priends of Jollivet Caste- lot “united for the defense and the tri- umph of the doctrince of the unity of matter.” Jollivet Castelot is president of the Society of French Alchemists. Blessed with & sufficiency of means, he is able to devote all his time to such whimsies as the Pythegorean theory of numbers, the fourth dimension and the divina- tory arts. He makes concessions to modernity. For one thing, he does not wear a pointed hat or a flowing robe adorned with cabalistic signs. Like many another alchemist, Jollivet Castelot claims to have made gold. Like many another alchemist also he has failed to awaken the interest of more orthodox chemists, who even re- fuse to assist at his experiments. Nev- ertheless, he claims to make gold from silver and tin, and his disciples are Joud in his praise. To carping critics they point out that the great Descartes, the glory of French philosophy, was not above dabbling in the magic arts. Among _students of astrology the Observer Finds 1930 Good Year for China HONOLULU.—China’s civil wars and banditries have not prevented 1930 and the early part of 1931 from being a very prosperous period for most of the co\%\‘tryh the conclusion of H. Paul Do) ss, expressed in Honolulu on his return from a visit to the Chinese re- public as a member of the fact-finding commission of the Social and Religious Research Institute of New York City. Mr. Douglass says that up until the last few weeks there had been no real war in China since last August, that the famine disasters have been mostly over- come, and that whenever there is a lull in fighting tlhe Chinese people recuper- ate amazingly. He pays high tribute to the work of young Chinese engineers, which, he says, is technically skilled and well organ- ized, one result being a great improve- ment in roads and in municipal works. Town in South Africa Claims to Lick Creation JOHANNESBURG.—There is a little town in South Africa which claims to lick creation. Name most any record !you like, and this little place will go one better. Volksrust is its name. ! Venderful Volksrust they call it in ,South Africa, and it certainly does live jup to that reputation. Sunflowers— they grow from 28 inches across in ivalksru.n. Snakes, pumpkins, fish, pigs’ litters and everything, right down to the daily milk output of the average cow—all these things mean records for Volksrust. It is doubtful, however, if all or any of the claims would stand investigation, but they certainly do keep Volksrust on the mlg‘.' which is apt to sul anybody W seen the place. Eminent Minds in France Now Are Serious Devotees of Magic| leaders in France include Paul Chois- nard, who ranks high as a matheme- ticlan and who has written books on “Astrology and Heredity,” and Lieut. Col. Caslaut, a graduate of Polytechnic, | whose chief interest resides in electro- | magnetic_ induction of the celestial bodies. Dr. Georges Lakhovsky of the Pasteur Institute also devotes much time in research connected with astral influence. He asserts that such influ- ence has an effect on microbes, and that epidemics are closely connected with “the interference of cosmic waves by astral influences,” which impart more or less virulence to bacteria. He has sent to the Academy of Sciences a report on the influence of the moon on the sterilization of water, different pe- riods coinciding with shorter or longer lives for the microbes. More and more do these astrologers | and alchemists of modern times belleve that they are following the right path, and that the so-called magic arts will be proved to be as sclentific as ortho- dox methods. — HEN I was in London I read an interest- ing, and rather pa- thetic, newspaper ar- “paby member” of ticle by the s Frank Parliament. His name Owen. He recalled his maiden speech, in_which he pro- claimed: “High hopes brought this Parliament into being. We will make it l‘Pullnmenb of high endeavor.” Haghad been full of fine plans in those days. For one thing, the timber men were to have higher wages. “We got them another 1s 6d a week,” he says, “and then the state sacked some of them. “We looked forward to the debates on_ unemployment and agriculture and the mines,” he adds, “and spoke from the back benches when the heavy guns were at din- " nell:fe was 23 in those days. Now he is 25, and wiser. His ho have faded. K:.thouxht he was going to play a large part in chang- ing England and the “empue. Instead of this he is “spend- ing his time answering letters issued by organizations or- “5’1';')‘ ‘?o vote for humane slaughter of beasts, (b) to vote against it. “(a) To open cinemas on Sunday, (b) to close them. “(a) To prohibit sweep- stakes, (b) to extend them. He has about reached the conclusion that all effort is futile, and that the world is on its way to perdition. CALCUTTA, India.—The report that an eminent Japanese sculptor is coming to India to do a large bust of Mahatma Gandhi is rather amusing when consi ered with an eye on the figures for In- dia’s imports during 1930 and the early months of this year. Those statistics | submit that Japanese mills are now en- | joying what was formerly the British ‘lon’s share of India’s yarn, cloth and Pplece goods business. Continued picketing and the renewed zeal of the boycott have so much re- dounded to Japan's benefit that com- parative import percentages of British and Japanese materials are now nearly the reverse of what they were two years ago. While the new tariffs have gen- erally lowered India's buying capacity for the present, and the imports in many items have diminished, the Japanese percentage of what trad- there is shows steady advancement, while the British portion continues to suffer a devastating decline. Even the Bombay Mill Owners' Asso- clation recently gave ponderous recogni- A Quick Millennium BY BRUCE BARTON Some of us who are older can tell him from our own experience that he is now at the age of greatest discour- agement. We, too, came into life full of determination to set things right instanter. We were frankly critical of the bungling of our predecessors. ‘There should be no more mis- takes and no delay! In a couple of years we, too, were in the depths of de- spalr, deeper depths than we have ever been in since. It is not clear to any hu- man mind just what is the whole purpose and plan of human life. But two things are reasonably apparent. First, it does not seem to be any part of the program to have the millennium come quickly or easily. Gain is won only as a result of sweat and blood, and time. Second, as we get older we see more clearly how destruc- tive it would be if all the gcod ideas of youth were allowed to become immediately effec- tive. The first two Great Reforms in whose service I myself labored were both suc- cessful. I think now that both were bad mistakes. So in our later years we give up the idea of a quick mil- lennium. Some of us do it in deep discouragement. Others say: “I cannot lick the world, but there is one part of it I can lick, namely, myself. I'll se;twhnt go%ln do t\lavlth that.” ’s a good sporting propo- sition. And who knows? Maybe the spread of that simple idea is the real plan. ‘(Copyrisnt. 1931) Hon to the fact that “Japan’s dominance | Japan Gains Market of India as Boycott Cuts Trade of Britain |in December, January and February | ransactions makes it abundantly evi- dent that although the new duties and the boycott heavily have depressed the | Interests of the United Kingdom in In- | dia, these circumstances are acting to ‘the profit and advantage of the Japa- nese importing agents.” Little delibera- tion should be required to arrive at that | conclusion. According to the newly | released import statistics for last year, | Japan’s volume of trade with India by December had increased 22 per cent over that of 1928, while Great Britain's imports over the same period had fallen 82 per cent. Japanese sales now lead thoss of Great Britain in practically all | important competitive lines of ~the | clothing industry. For example, in December, out of Indian imports of 24,000,000 yards of what are called “gray goods” Japan claimed over 20,000,000. The United Kingdom sold but 3,000,000 yards, a contrast especially arresting as com- pared with two years ago and before, when British materials in this category amounted to from 60 to 70 per cent of the total purcheses from abroad. The imports of British bleached goods during December were less than half, and Japan's more than double, what they were a year ago. In yarns the total im- ports were 251,000 pounds, out of which the United Kingdom furnished 22,000 pounds, while 228,000 pounds came from Japan and China (the latter mostly from Japanesc-owned mills). During January, February and March of this year Japan increased its hold on the market in the above lines and strode ahead in others. In January, for the first time, the salss of Japanese piece goods were more than double those of products from the United Kingdom. Out of a total of 13,600,000 yards of cloth Japan furnished 8,200,000 yards, against a little more than 4,000,000 g:rds of British materials. This is per- ps the severest blow to the European rulers of India, who in the past have always regarded preeminence in the plece goods trade as their exclusive pre- Togative. Two years ago England was gglsn'[ about 70 per cent. of this busi- Budapest Sees Play Duce Helped Write VIENNA, Austria—The first per- Italy was given recently in Budapest at the State Theater, under the title of “The Hundred Days.” The play is by Giacchino Forzano of the Milan Scala Theater, but it has been known for some time that Mussolini helped to in- spire it, and in Budapest the Italian dictator was advertised as coauthor. Various social lights and members of the Hungarian government attended the premiere, among them Countess Margit Bethlen, wife of the Hungarian prime minister, and Count Klebelsberg, minister of education in Hungary, sent a telegram of congratulations to Mus- solini the next day. The play de- scribes various episodes in the life of Napoleon after his return from Elba and before his exile on St. Helena. One scene is at the battle of Waterloo. Mussolini is supposed to have given his v‘;‘en ]:n the Napoleonic drama through e play. Wants Canada to Help Maintain King George OTTAWA, Ontario.—Armand La- vergne, deputy speaker of the Canadian House of Commons and fiery French Canadian imperialist, wants Canada to subscribe to the maintenance of King George and members of the royal fam- ily of Great Britain, Lavergne told the house that this country should give a more tangible recognition of the King. He praised the benefits of me y and main- pay the butcher and baker for King George. No member followed Lavergne's sug- gestion, 2 a domination of four centuries. From |di i its assets and its liabilities to Mexico. formance of “Campo di Maggio” outside ! 3 MEXICO HAS PLAN TO AID NATION’S TRADE FUTURE Architect Heads Group Trying to Guide Handicraft Culture Into New Chan- nels Allied to Industrialization. BY STUART CHASE, 'ROM Father Hedalgo's call to rev- olution, which marked the begin- ning of Mexico's independence from Spain, to the fall of Porfirio Diaz was just 100 years. It was a century of hell. Two more decades have passed over Mexico, more turbu- lent and bloody than those which went before, but with the underlying purpose of liquidating the lost century. For the moment peace and stability have been achieved; the liquidation, however, is not complete. The most that we can say is that the last few years have shown a declining red bal- ance. The account may be cast up in the following categories. Under Obre- gon and Calles, Mexico finally achieved: An Increased national consclousness, based on ths conception of continuity. An initial solution of the land problem. A status for industrial labor. A small breach in the wall of tri- umphant militarism. A small gain in the struggle against isease. A considerable gain in rural education. A definite sovereignty over her own natural resources which foreign capital | has been forced to recognize. The divorce of the church from eco- nomic and political power. | A renaissance of the arts, particularly | painting, and & new regard for the handicrafts. Change Is Unlike Russia’s. As contrasted with Russia during the same period, these gains and changes seem slight enough. At the present time, indeed, the two revolutions are headed in opposite directions. We can set down parallel after par- allel, but a major cleavage outweighs them all. Russia has definitely aban- doned handicraft culture and welcomed industrialism to the tune of thirty billions of new investments in her five- vear plan. She has opened her arms to mass production and the machine, though on her own terms of socizl con- trol. Mass production languishes in Mexico; industrialism is not making marked headway on any terms. Handi- craft culture is more sturdy today than under Diaz, with more land, more dig- nity, more intelligent recognition. While Russia runs to mechanical horsepower, the burros, newly blessed, foot their way over the mountains to Mexico's village markets. ‘The handicraft economy of MEX(L‘D‘l is economically stable and self-suffi- clent. There are no rich, no poor, no paupers, no sexual inhibitions beyond the reasonably tolerant folkways. | Community Spirit Is Strong. | | ‘There is no local government worthy of the name, but a strong community | spirt, finding expression not in after- | dinner speeches and paid advertise- | ments, but in helping a ncighbor har- | vest his corn and repairing the town | water supply. In such communities pe- | cuniary standards do not apply and | integrity is not a luxury. Men are gov- | erned not by clocks but by the sun and the seasons; recreation is not a matter | of paid admissions or forced disciplines, but as spontaneous as eating. The in- | dividual to survive must learn many useful crafts; he does not atrophy his | personality by specializing on one. Costs are lower for many articles than is conceivable under the most | efficient methods of mass production, and all work is directed to specific | function with a maximum economy | and a minimum of waste. Overpro- | duction is as unthinkable as unem- ployment. Life in a handicraft com- munity is to be lived. not to be argued | about. to be thwarted by economic | conditions or postponed hopefully until | one has made one’s pile. | Tlliteracy Appalling. On the other side of the ledger we find that the price of stability is the absence of progress—whatever “prog- ress” may mean. New methods are in- frequently invented; new aspirations, new desires, new material wants are | all but unknown. The standard of | living, while adequate, is very low, and the death rate per thousand, particu- larly among infants, is scandalously high. Tlliteracy is appalling, though | millions of Mexican villagers speak two languages. ‘The assets of a handicraft economy are great, but its net worth, after al- lowing for liabilities, is a lower figure; a figure, however, biack, not red . . .| If we could but take the manifest assets | of Mexican villages and the manifest as- sets of Middletown and combine them. .. . Meanwhile there is much dis- | cussion of Middletown’s exporting both It is widely held that industralization is inevitable, handicraft culture doomed and a balanced consideration of its virtues and failings a purely academic | question, if not a total waste of time.| Precisely why is mass production in- | evitable in Mexico—or anywhere else, for that matter? Machine civilization proper is still incomplete over the United States; the map is spotted with | great uninfected areas in the South and | West. Cases may even be found in the | New England States. It is now moving | into North Carolina, accompanied by | storms of protest from embittered Southerners. ~How long will machine civilization require, at the present jerky rate, to crawl from North Carolina to | Guanajusato? The distance is 1,800 miles, Rests on Early Laurels. Mexico introduced the machine into North America early and briskly with the falconets of Cortez. She followed by printing the first book on the conti- nent in 1536, and the first newspaper | in 1693. Then she rested on her laurels, | and has been resting ever since. In 1926 there were 2,877 manufac- turing establishments in the country, employing 95,775 workers, with a total investment of $1,700,000,000. The State of Texas in 1925 had 3,606 factories, employing 106,792 workers, not includ- ing light and power plants, which are included in the Mexican figures. Mex- ico, with richer resources, three times the area and three times the popula- tion of Texas, is the less industrialized of the two—not relatively, but abso- lutely. Texas is but one State in the Union, and, with the highest respect to regard it as an industrialized area is a quaint conceit. ‘With an industrial population of only 250,000, labor problems in Mexico sink into relative insignificance compared with agricultural problems. The rise of tke labor movement since 1910, how- ever, has been dramatic, and, in a po- litical sense, important; it deserves a word. Cost of Living Rises. Organized labor first became a power after the split between Villa and Carranza in 1915. “Red bat- of workers saved Carranza's tottering standard. Article 123 of the Constitution of 1917 was their reward. At the time it was the most progres- sive labor code ever drafted by any nation. In addition, Carranza turned over to the unions the management of the telephone and telegraph lines. In 1918 the C. R. O. M. was founded, a sort of Mexican A. F. of L. Until recently it has wielded great political power. Today the C. R. O. M. is in eclipse. Wages have been rising steadily since 1910, but the cost of living has been ris even faster. ‘wages show no appreciable advance and thus run contrary to the curve of real wages in the United States. A study made in the federal district in 1928 set a necessary minimum wage for a laborer’s {: of five at 8:‘: m wages averaged al than half the re- on a calory basis, is all too common among industrial and urban workers. Capital Scared Away. ‘What do we actually find in Mexico at the meflt time that makes for in- dustrial; l'n—meaning not the cul- tural penétmtion of the “Yankee inva- sion” but Massed factories, blast fur- naces, siuMs—the Pittsburgh sort of things? Plecious little. We find tler on tler of mountain ranges bisected with {rightful barrancas, as inimical to iron horses as to huge supplies of dependable fuel and water, without which mass pro- duction cannot function. We find 1ittie purchasihg power, no stable pecuniary demand, no vestige of mass consump- tion, failing which mass production has no rhyme or reason. We find 15,000,000 Indians who are not to be capsized over- night by super-salesmen. When their simplé wants have been met they to a fles’a or they go to sleep. They have no itch for acquisition; their sales re- sistarme is superb. Thé machine needs capital—millions of it. Mexican citizens have very little capital, and foreigners are still in fear of Article 27. Until the full implications of that amazing document are made clear—e matter of decades perhaps— capital simply will not flow into the country in sufficient quantity to finance industrialization. Mexico might, like Russia, lift herself by her bootstraps and create capital out of natural resources and labor, but that requires a central- ized sociaiism beyond her grasp at the present_tife. Bave National Plan. Most Mezicans cannot read. To op- erate machwnes or consume their prod- ucts on a fcale profitable to the man- 1facturer renuires a literate population— which s Why Russia “liquidated illit- eracy” before she inaugurated the Five- Year plan. It will be many years before the little white school house liquidates illiteracy ir Mexico, even to & prace ticable minXmum. The futufe for industrialism in the sense of mass production is not rosy, for which we may thank whatever gods there be. As a result Mexico has un- paralleled opportunity to evolve & master plan whereby the machine is ad- mitted only on good behavior, and not gulped r2w ms North Carolina now gulps it. Fortun2tely there is a definite movement ik this direction. I have re- ferred to a g*oup of intellectuals dubious about mass production. I can go farther and present the National Plan for Mexico. Architect Heads Plan. Carlos Con'reras, the driving force behind the plan, is an architect edu- cated at Columbia and the Sorbonne. He started his agitation eight years ago. In 1925, he presented to President Calles “A Natiicial Planning Project for the Republic ¢f Mexico.” In 1927 he published a /magazine, Planification. In January, 1930, the first national planning confer®nce was held in Mexico City, under the auspices of the Minis- try of Public Works, with some 50 papers by enziaeers, architects, econ- omists. doctors. The keynote read: “‘Our object i+ to plan a united, ho- mogeneous and beautiful Mexico—and an incdependent, respected and prosper- ous Mexico, in which the life of man will be complete, filled with noble in- terests, dignified and as happy or hap- pier than in any other part of the world . .. Know in order to forsee; forsee in order to work.” Meanwhile Contreras had been given a program department in the govern- ment with a staff of engineers and draftsmen. His first work was the re- | organization of the port of Vera Cruz. President Ortiz Rubio has promul- gated a “Law of General Planning of the Republic” waich provides for & central conning tower in the govern- ment, comprehending and co-ordie nating topography, climate, population, social and economic life, national de- fense, public health. Programs Listed. Under its mandates Contreras and his staff are endeavoring to set up the following specific programs: 1. The division of Mexico into natu- ral economic regions, or functional zones, determining the best crops, the best industries for each area. 2. A master plan for the federal dis- trict. 3. A plan for the future develop- ment of railroads, highways and com- munication lines. 4. A plan for the hydrographic sys- tem of the Valley of Mexico. 5. A plan for seaports. 6. A plan for airports. 7. A plan for the use of waters, primarily in the interest of irrigation (Mexico has very few navigable rivers). 8. A plan for afforestation and na- tional parks. - 9. A plan federal bulldings throughout the republic. When a project is worked out by the program department, it is pre- sented to the President. If he ap- proves he has the power, without |legislative check, to condemn prop- erty and put the project into imme- diate operation. No government agency, furthermore, can undertake any major work of construction with- out the approval of fhe program de- partment. Contreras dreams no longer but has double-barreled execu- tive sancition behind him. At a nod from the President his blue prints can be turned into cement. breakwaters, irrigation ditches and tall pine trees. Mexico has the framework of & genuine machine to control the ma- chine: to strain industrialism through a sieve of just enough and no more. (Copyright, 1831 Europe Plans Institute To Study Current Topics HONOLULU.—The success of the ze- stitute of Pacific Relations, founded in Hawail, is such that a similar organiza- tion is proposed for Europe. This is the news received by the local office of the institute from the League of We- tions. The Institute of Pacific Reia- tions is a non-official, non-political ané non-controversial group for the study and discussion of current political, so- cial, economic, educational and religi- ous_problems. Two conferences have been held in Honolulu, one in Japan and the fourth will be held this Fall in China. The chief task of the institute is the thor- ough research of experts and report of their findings prior to discussions, after which an effort is made to draw con- clusions based thereon. This research program is now becoming a vast in- ternational inquiry, backed by consid- erable funds. American College Girls Plan to Visit Germany BERLIN.—A great number of Ameri- can college girls will visit Germany this Summer, according to a recent an- nouncement made by the German Academic Forelgn Bureau. The coeds are to be recruited from several insti- tutions of higher learning in the United States, including Connecticut, Cornell, Wells, Wintbrop and Colorado. Four ‘groups of English students rep- resenting the National Union of Sf Stimamer trp. with_roups. of German ummer trip grou, students. They will nure joint hikes as well as canoe trips, stopping nights, it is planned, in German youth inns.