Evening Star Newspaper, September 6, 1931, Page 11

. EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunday Star, Part 2—4 Pages WASHINGTON, D. €., SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1931. CRUCIAL PROBLEMS FACE LEAGUE ON 12th BIRTHDAY Attendance of 28 Premiers, Foreign Min- isters, or Both, at Potentialities of Mcéting. BY ALBIN E. JOHNSON. f ENEVA —Confronted with an | economically and politically | disorganized Europe, as well as | with numerous mlmunstrauvc‘ problems of considerable con-l sequence, the twelfth annual assembly of the League of Nations which con- | venes tomorrow, Monday, September 7, | under the provisional presidency of Alejandro Lerroux, foreign minister of Spain, will be faced with perhaps the most serious periodic crisis in its event- | ful_career. i | Crises are common things in Geneva; the League councils and commissions, and the international conferences hcld‘ here face them at every turning and usually emerge none the worse for the ‘wear When things go wrong and blind alleys are reached, in small as| well as large matters, responsible statesmen sneak away to Thoiry, An- necy, Divonne and other nearby vil-| lages renowned for their restaurants, | or take cooling excursions on Lake Leman to adjust their differences. The twelfth anniversary of the League. however, finds efforts at in- ternational co-operation complicated with crucial problems, such as war debts, reparations, the Austro-German | “anschluss.” tariffs and disarmament, to say nothing of irritating naiional: sore spots brought on by unemploy- ment, social disorders and political upheavals Few qualified observers will deny that Europe is standing at the cross- roads. In the next 15 montbs most nations will have to decide the fork they are to follow—whether they will go along together under the aegis of the League or scparate and adopt the pre-war system of alliances. Show- downs are overdue on many issues— disarmament chiefly. And disarma- ment involves the Versailles treaty, which to Prance and her mid-Euro- pean allies at least, is sacred. | “Blocs” Forming. The “blocs.” in formation ever since | Germany entered the League four years ago. have become more distinct. Siding with the ex-enemy states are to be found Italy. the Scandinavian and neutral countries. and now, since the overthrow of the monarchy Spain threatens to leave France in the lurch Britain. too, is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the “balance ot power.” In recent months the Uniied States has re-entered. haltingly. and with great diffidence. the European pic- ture through President Hoover's moa- torium suggestion and the discusson (despite denials) of war debts, disarma- ment and other problems by Secretary Mellon and Secretary Stimson with Europe's statesmen. But neither the League nor European govetnments count heavily on American promises. They always remember the Senate—and the Versailles Treaty, League Covenant and World Court negotiations. So fraught with potentialities are the next few weeks at Geneva that no less than 28 countries of the 50 attending the League Assembly are vepresented by premiers, foreign ministers or both. While delicate conversations are being carried on behind closed doors and in- ternational policies of various capitals broadcast for public consumption from the rostrum of the assembly hall, chan- cellories of London. Paris, Rome, Berlin. Warsaw and others less importan* will be marking time. Moscow and Wash- ington will have their ears to the ground, too. during the next fortnight if they are seriously interested in whither disarmament is going and the showdown that is inevitable when the world conference is called next Feb- ruary. At that time. if not before, | Europe’s cards will be laid on the table. The coming weeks at Geneva will de- | termine whether the cards are to be stacked. ~Soviet Russia, at last accli- mated to Geneva activities through the participation of Bolshevist delegations in fany conferences, will have had her foreign minister. Maxim Litvinoff, on the scene, and Washington's high com- missioner _(generally known as_consul- general) Prentiss Gilbert, and Minister Hugh Wilson from Beine will have ring- side scats. Even Mexico and Turkey ‘observers” here and are fol- Jowing developments closely. On the official agenda of the Assem- bly are to be found 24 items. Others will be added as the Assembly ge's underway. The keynote speeches of Aristide Briand, Arthur _Henderson. ' Alejandro Lerroux, Dr. Curtis, Dino Grandi and other lesser personalities will open the way for new issues, espe- ciallv in the economic sphere. During the sessions of the Assembly the Coun- cil will continue grinding away on its program. and, unless advance n is false, will pass along to the Assembly the memorandum of Portugal regarding Council elections. Fight for Persia’s Seat. Accorcing to the system now in vogue, three new members to the Council will be elecied. Spain, Persia and Ven-| ezuela will have served their three-year terms this September. Spain is due for re-election, having been declared, with Poland, to be re-eligible. Siam and| China will be in the running for Per- sia’s seat. If China does not get it some real fireworks can be expected. | The Nanking Nationalists have played | their cards cleverly the past year. Be-| sides owing the, League more than a| million dollars in back dues they have | persuaded the Sercetariat and Council to send economic, health, communica- | tions and transit and educational ex- perts to the Orient, “to help put China | on her feet.” The League is too deeply “involved” to turn a deaf ear to China's demand. Two South American | and Latin American states have al- ways, in the past, been elected each vear. Whether Spain's re-eligiblity will| be conceded as a South American rep- | resentation is doubtful. Making two| bodies occupy the same space at the| same time is the difficulty. 4 Portugal, in complicating the situa- tion by her demand for a seat, and in an inferred threat to withdraw from the League if the inequality of Council representation is not remedied, has ad- vanced a possible way out of the dilem- ma by suggesting that another member be added. It took Brazil's resignation and Spain's temporary abstention, to say nothing of the humiliation inflicted upon Germany, to revise the old system. Whether ‘the withdrawal of Portugal, and perhaps other smaller states (for Portugal has the pledged support of at least a dozen countries) will be enough to inaugurate another election reform is problematical. Many: of the routine matters coming before the Assembly hold a direct inter- est for the United States. The proposal for amending the League Covenant so as to bring it into har- mony with the Kellogg outlawry of war pact, is again up for consideration. Last year's Assembly became so hope- lessly entangled in legal and political technicalities that the matter was re- ferred to a special commission of jur- ists for study. Their report will be placed before the Assembly and definite action is expected to result. The Finnish proposal to confer upon the Permanent Court of International | there are | largest island in the group. Okinama, Session Indicates Justice jurisdiction as a tribunal of ap- peal' in Tespect to arbitral tribunals es- tablished by states, also is of vital in- terest to Washington in view of the pending application of the United States for membership in the Court. The ap- proval of the proposal would mean that nations having bi-lateral arbitration and conciliation agreements would have a “court of last appeal” and would not be faced with an impasse were their arbi- | tration boards to fail in adjusting dif- | ferences amicably. The Draft Convention for Strength- | | ening the Means for Preventing War, | which has been see-sawing back and | forth between Assembly and commission | for several years, also is on the sched- | ule. Its adoption seems a foregone con- | clusion and a drive will be launched to obtain wide adherence. The coming into force of the proposed treaty would add an important stone to the Blrll(’-‘ ture for preserving world peace that has been so laboriously built up by the | League during the past decade. | Few people know that there -are more | than 5,000,000 slaves in the world today —five millions of humans actually | owned outright in India, Persia, Arabia, China and Africa. Liberia recently was caught red-handed in what amounted to slave trade through forced labor, the President and several government of- | ficials resigned and the United States, | for years more or less responsible for | the Negro republic, virtually asked the League to take over the task of chastis- | ing the transgressing member. Now, | not Washington, but Washington and the League of Nations are the “big brothers” of Monrovia. League commis- sions have been studying means for re- establishing Liberia's finances and the oppression—which at various times in her history threatened to bring about the_extermination of the ruling groups | in Monrovia—has been suppressed. The League has not been so successful, how- ever, in dealing with slavery in Abys- sinia, or wiping out the traffic that is | carried on in Arabia. Indian provinc have mitigated the evil to a large ex. | tent, but in the Irrawaddy Triangle in- | conceivable conditions exist. The As- sembly will seck to find means of deal- ing with them Refugees Are Problem. Dealing with refugees, which still abound in Europe as an aftermath of the World War. is but a short step from the slavery problem. It is estimated that at least eight more years will he required to dispose of these unfortunates _mostly Russians, Armenians and | Grecks. Already several millions of up- rooted peoples have found new home in alien lands. According to estimates several hundred thousand derelicts still in Europe and China awaiting_definite determination of their status. The problem confronts the As- | sembly yearly and since the guiding | hand of Fridjof Nansen noted Nor- | wegian explorer and philanthropist. who dedicated his life to these unfortunates. | was removed through death, the League | has had a difficult task on its books. | In the social field the Assembly will deal with the League’s work during the past year concerning white slavery (an investigation is being carried on in | the Orient to complete the data ob-| eep the Child in School! Famous Educator Discusses Trends in Education and Things Needed to Make Sturdy Youngsters. tained from European countries, Canadz., | , the United States and South America) the narcotic menace. which is assuming serious proportions: the welfare of chil dren and young persons, the Child Wel- fare Committee report, the nationalny of women and similar subjects American women and women'’s organi- zations have been particularly active in speeding the League in its efforts to simplify the questions of dual nation- ality and “heimlose” or homeless women, who through marriage to foreigners find their status difficult to determine. As the question of children’s nationalities | is Involved, and with it the obligation for compulsory military service, the problem is proving difficult for countries having universal training and con- scription. Overlooking the questions which ap- pear on the agenda of the Assembly there is a host of problems or contro- versies, which will be aired behind Khe‘ scenes. The Franco-Italian naval dis-| pute, which centers around Mediter-| ranean supremacy, and the Tangier question, will be discussed by Foreign Minister Briand, who will again head | the French delegation, and Foreign Minister Grandi. There are reasons |1’)l believe that a solution will be found,| since the 1932 Disarmament Conference | cannot very well start with France and Italy at dagger’s points. | ‘The European Union meetings, which started the first of September, also, will | continue unofficially during the ' As-| sembly and plans for the economic | restoration of Europe will be formulated. | Russia and Turkey are interested in these questions and will maintain dele- gations in or near Geneva. War debts are taboo at Geneva, ordi- narily, but the recent recommendations | of the International Bank have forced | a showdown on both these and repara- | tions. When 28 foreign ministers get together there is no limiting what they will talk about. All in all, the political pot will have | plenty of opportunity to bol the com- | ing fortnight, and few dare predict | what will emerge. | 30,000 Have Dengue In Loochoo Islands| TOKIO.—A tropical disease believed to be dengue fever has reached such proportions in the Loochoo Islands, the stepping stone between the southern part of Japan and Formosa, that more than 30,000 of the 500,000 inhabitants | aave been infected. The epidemic shows no signs of termination, and the usual routine of activity in the islands is suspended. As most of the physicians on - the where the disease is worst, have them- | selves ‘contracted the fever, medical aid is being sent from cities in Japan. The | Institute for Study of Infectious Dis-| Who at heart was not a revolutionary, | | eases, in Tokio, has commissioned one | but at most a reformer; whose sym- | | of its experts to collect data for use in | research that may determine how the | disease is transmitted and how to im- | munize against it. | _In the principal city of Okinama, Naha, many primary schools are closed | indefinitely and the staffs of post of- fices and all other public institutions | have been depleted to such an extent that work is virtually at a standstill, | - —>— |Resort in Germany Has Glider School BERLIN—Gliding is becoming in. creasingly popular in Germany, and af one of the most popular Summer reserts of the North Sea, Borkum, guests are offered an opportunity to learn the art of pfloting motorless airplanes. A sum. mer school for gliders has been estab- lished there under excellent natural surroundings. The dunes and the broad beach create strong upward currents, which greatly facilitate glding. | tee figure {than class considerations. | bor party. | an impossible situation and an equally | impossible because the party had t.o‘ BY ANGELO PATRI, f Famous Authority on Children. | HAVE spent most of my life in the public schools. I was graduated from them, entered City College and began teaching soon after receiving my degree. 1 am still at work, still trying to give every child who enters | the school that I administer the best ity for growth. that T want to tell y the old school possible oppor about this sch t is as much unlike of 25 years ago as has the usual class room equi desks and books and the usual course of study. In this fundamental aspect it is like all other schools. We teach the three R's as thoroughly as we know how and we prepare children for high Drawn for The Sunday Star by Robert Lawson. school. But we do more. and remem- ber, please, this is a public school sup- ported and control'»d by the City of New York In the days when you went to school any child who bothered the teacher too much was sent home. Any child who failed in his studics was told to go to work and never mind coming to school Only the book-minded child had a place on the platform at graduation time. What happened to the others was not the concern of the school Now that is all changed and with it the school has changed. We no longer are irritated by the fact that a Divine Providence made all children individ- ually. all different. We no longer call a child a failure and shut the school (Continued on Fourth Page.) Loses Battle, Begins a War British Labor Party Certain to Follow Firmer Course Against Capitalism. oeMacDonald’s Position Today. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. AMSAY MacDONALD, yesterday leader of the British Labor party, today prime minister in | a national cabinet and tomor- Tow, if George Bernard Shaw is right, Viscount Lossiemouth, is a figure not unfamiliar in our own time. It is of a revolutionist who, at the critical moment, could not take the final step. Every continental capital, save Mos- cow, is today full of Russians who were pink before 1917, but whe when Bol- shevism flamed into fiery red stepped aside in horror. The French Revolu- tion turned up the same type. With the recent crisis in Britain the strug- gle between the masses and the classes | came to a square issue; the whole capi- talistic system was at stake. And in the hour of decision MacDonald proved a pacifist in _class war, as he had been in_the World War. The issue was net: Poverty or prop- erty, the pound sterling or the poor man’s dole. For MacDonald, national credit suddenly became more important | In a word, the revolution which this man had started outgrew him: ke could not fol- Jow the principles of his party to their logical conclusion. Unmistakably, when the first bitter- ness was over, there was a profound sense of relief in the ranks of the La- | It had escaped alike from | impossible leader. The situation was carry on a government in conformity | with a system it was out to destroy, | and its fortunes were directed by a man | pathies were radical, but whose prin- ciples were fundamentally conservative. Decisive British Date. The departure of MacDonald, how- ever, marks a decisive date in the his- | tory of the British revolution. There is | little of Bolshevist fury in it and none of the “heads-rolling-in-the-sand” busi- | ness of the German National Socialists. But British -Socialism is determined to bring about a _redistribution of "the wealth of England, and at heart it is ‘_ruthles& The thing it intends to do | is something quite different from the rosewater and smelling salts reforms of MacDonald. While there is no guillo- | tine and no Cheka in Labor’s program, | there also is no quarter for capital. Had MacDonald been able to impose his will upon his party, Labor would have been finished, because it would have sacrificed its principles. It would | kave recognized, as MacDonald did, | that in a national crisis there was no | room for socialistic experiments. What | was at stake in England was the whole | capitalistic aystem, for had Labor' | RAMSAY MACDONALD. shared in the salvaging of the pound pletely revolutionary. Its ranks have sterling, by that act it would have rec- | been purged of the members who were ognized the capitalistic system as es- |at heart moderate. sential. And in the larger view that means Now Labor goes out of power With | that British Socialism has taken a long ite principles intact. the wilderness a party of revolution and when it comes back, as it must inevi- It departs into|step toward the Continental. | ‘The im- mediate _emergeney in Britain will be settled, British credit will be restored, & tably, it will come back still more com-' new election will bring in its train a But Labor will fight that battle on the issue of capital with the international financier as its immediate target and | with a franker employment of dema- gogic arpeal than ever before. Having | lost a battle but begun a war, Labor will wait, as it can aflord to wait. 5 for MacDonald. he presents one of the most_interesting pictures of our own time. During the cxciting days of | thef London Naval Conference he sud- | denly astounded an international press | meeting by bursting into an eloquent | harangue ~about _Stonewall Jackson. | The strategy of the Naval Conference was that of the rebel general; the pend- | ing phase was like the march to the | Potomac. This outburst from a paci- | fist prime minister frankly bewildered | the American audience, Role Like Jackson'’s. “It is simple enough,” the most bril- liant of Labor journalists later e: plained to his puzzled colleagues. “Do you remember the poem— “‘Up the street came the rebel tread, Stonewdll Jackson riding ahead.’? “That's what got MacDonald. When | Hoover he heard about Jackson and | read about him. And the rebel gen- eral caught his imagination; he saw himself playing the Jackson role. He | never was able to read about the battle of Waterloo without fancying himself at the head of the Old Guard, which would die but never surrender. You think of him as a pacifist, but in fact he is a romanticist; you talk of him as a radical, but actually he is beyond all else an actor, the greatest British actor since Garrick. And if he ever has the chance to play St. George for England against the dragon—God help the Labor party.” That is exactly what has happened. The role of St. George was suddenly thrust upon him. And it was so like him, when emerging from the con- ference at which his party had de- | clined to join in the new crusade that he should let himself be discovered by the watchful journalists, his head buried in his hands, his frame shaken by emotion of parting from his lifelong associates. But a few hours later he reappeared, proud and confident in the role of national savior. cause he enjoys and even exploits his emotions, they are insincere. On the contrary, MacDonald has infinite ca- pacity for suffering. He is of the stuff of which martyrs are made, but not militants. He is incapable of suffering privately. The tears which come so readily are covered by his hands, but through his fingers he still perceives the camera. This capacity for infinite dramatiza- tion marks the whole of MacDonald's (Continued on Fourlh Page.) loss of seats and of power to Labor. | he went to the Rapidan and met | No one should conclude that, be-| BY MARK SULLIVAN. HE question is, has Gov. Roose- velt's chance for the Democratic presidential nomination been diminished by what has gone on between him and Tammany? The answer, as Mr. Dooley used to put it deliciously is yes and no—but chiefly no. Gov. Roosevelt has been very close to that nomination for many months and recent events have not measurably | set_him back. | Presidential nominations are made by delegates, some eleven hundred of them | in convention assembled. The writer | of this article will believe that some one other than Gov. Roosevelt is likely | to get the Democratic nomination just as soon as he sees delegates being col- | lected in behalf of that potential “some one else.” At present and for many months past delegates have been under accumulation on a Nation-wide basis for Gov. Roosevelt. They are not being accumulated for any one else. Gov. Roosevelt is the only candidate who is a candidate outside his own State. Of all the other potentialities, | each is limited so far to his own State. Delegates in behalf of Newton D. Baker are benig accumulated in Ohio only—and even in Ohio in only a half- hearted way. If the very large number of Democrats who think Mr. Baker would be the best candidate really want to translate their wish into actuality, they need to get busy. Delegates for Mr. Baker could be secured in practi- cally every State—but no one is at work securing them. Similarly, Gov. Albert Ritchle of Maryland is sccumulating delegates— but in Maryland only. And so for all the other potential candidates. All are | o far limited to their respective States. | Tt that condition_continues, with Gov. | Roosevelt alone having friends active in States other than his own, the answer is plain. Another question is, will the scandal about Tammany and the unescapable | necessity put upon Gov. Roosevelt to have an attitude and a policy about that | scandal—will that injure Gov. Roose- velt? Will it injure him, first, for the nomination; and will it injure him in | the election, assuming he gets the nom- ination? Open War Would Aid Chances. The answer is a partial yes. There is just one way in which the Tammany scandal might fail to injure. or even slightly help Rdosevelt. That would be in case Tammany should get angry at Roosevelt for failing to protect them and should epenly, avowedly and con- spicuously make war on the Governor. That would help Roosevelt in two ways First, it would differentiate him com- pletely from Tammany, would give him immunity to that suspicion which. " throughout the country tends to adhere to any one, even Gov. Roosevelt, who has any assoclation with the New York | | | | | | | | ation of war by Tam- many upon Roosevelt would make Roosevelt free, in turn, to make war on Tammany. That is what the country really expects from Roosevelt. The Governor so far has adopted a strictly judicial attitude toward Tammany. He | has done just as much as any Governor is called upon to do by the letter of the law and by conformity to legalism. That is rather less than the country outside of New York expects. As it was put to the writer of this article by a Wetsern Progressive: “That is not what we expect of a Roosevelt: we cxpect a Roosevelt to be a crusader; we expect him as Governor to act as & prosecutor of Tammany upon the known and suf- ficient evidence.” The Western Progres sive Senator who put it that way is just the type and reflects that part of the Western electorate upon which Roosevelt relies for help in the election. There is no doubt that if Gov. Roosevelt, over a period of more than a year until the next election, attempts to walk the narrow line of strict legal- ism during a period of cumulative di: closures of Tammany corruption—in that event he will certainly fail to stir | the enthusiasm of the country and may | even forfeit the adherence of many who have been well disposed to him There can hardly be much doubt that Tammany would really help Rooseveit | by declaring war upon him—and ther by making it easy for Roosevelt to de- clare war upon Tammany. ‘We must consider, of course, what | Tammany could do' to Roosevelt by making aggressive war upon him. The answer is, not much. They could de- prive_him, as respects the presidential nomination, of more than half the im- mense delegation from New York State. But for every delegate subtracteqy from Roosevelt by this sort of method and in this spirit, he would get the loyalty of more than a compensating number | of delegates from the South and West As respects the election (assuming Roosevelt gets the nomination) Tam-| many could, of course, “knife” Roose- velt. Any “knifing” by Tammany in the election, sufficiently organized and widespread to keep from him the nor- mal immense Democratic vote of New York City, would unquestionably be | serious to Roosevelt's fortunes. | Drys Could Defeat Roosevelt. | | _ Those who doubt the nomination of | Roosevelt—and the doubters are nu- merous and shrewd—enumerate, among their reasons for Roosevelt, failing, an assertion, or an assumption, that the dry Democrats will oppose him vigor- ously .and unitedly. | Opposition to Roosevelt by the dry! Democrats, if united and vigorous, would be serious. The drys will have more | than a third of the delegates and under | the usual Democratic rule one-third, can prevent a nomination. The drys, | mathematically and on paper, could | prevent Roosevelt’s nomination. But | the essential condition is that they must | | all—literally all—be united in that pur- { pose. To be united they must be organ- ized and have leadership and a rallying point, a candidate of their own. So far the Democratic drys do not have this. | _The writer of this article is familiar | with what Is going on among the Demo- cratic drys—or rather, with what is | not going on, for the clear fact is they| are not taking steps that would make | |them effective to prevent Roosevelt's | nomination. Frequently, one or another | | of the formal Anti-Saloon League lead- | ers permits himself to be quoted pub- | licly as saying they will oppose and | prevent the nomination of Roosevelt. | Their statements must be based on fu- | ture expectations, for certainty they| | are not supported by the present facts. | To the iowledge of this present | writer a few of the more ardent dry leaders in the Anti-Saloon League or in the Democratic party have made ef- forts to bring all the Democratic drys into an organization with a common P of preventing the nomination of Roosevelt (or of any other wet). These attempts have been made re- peatedly and as repeatedly have failed. ‘They have failed chiefly because a good many of the Democratic drys are"| Democrats first and drys only seconda- rily. The ardent drys who propose organization to head off Roosevelt and who in furtherance of that purpose make approaches to outstanding dry Democratic leaders, receive again and again a discouraging reply, which runs to this effect: “Yes, we're dry and we' | November instead of November, ROOSEVELT HAS LITTLE TO FEAR FROM TAMMANY Open Warfare Would Help Chances for Nomination—Drys Can but Prob- ably Won’t Block It. deplore the Democratic partvy going wet, and we deplore the nomination of Roosevelt or any other wet—but.” The “but” is always the same. IL is that the Democrats really seem to have & chance to win the presidential election next vear, and “We don't want to rock the boat; we don't want to be the ones to throw a monkey wrench into ma- chinery which seems geared and oiled for victory.” And often they add, “Be- sides, Roosevelt's a decent fellow; we'd better take him or we may get some wetter in & more objectionable way.” Leaders Are Democrats First. The net of which is. there is not now in sight any prospect that the Demo- cratic arys will prevent the nomination of Roosevelt, That constitutes the attitude of the Democratic drys toward Rooseveit, as respects the nomination. What_will the Democratic drys do about Roosevelt as respects the elec- tion? That is, assuming Roosevelt is nominated by the Democrats, and as- suming the Republicans are as dry. in nominee and in platform, as they were in 1928—assuming that, what will the Democratic drys do? ‘To answer this we must draw a line between Democratic dry leaders and Democratic dry rank and file. Demo- cratic dry leaders tend almost univer- sally to be Democrats fast and drys afterward. On the other hand, many of the Democratic d: rank and file tend to be dry first and Democratic afterward. If Roosevelt is nominated. Demo- cratic dry leaders =m the South and elsewhere will tend gen-rally to sup- port him (though there are a few cx- ceptions) That is. Democratic dry leaders who are active_in politics or who hold public office. Democratic dry Senators, Governors and Representa- tives—these will tend a!most umiversally to support Roosevelt if he is nominated. But this assertion. in such general terms as this, cannot safely be made about the Democratic dry rank and file. Of all the letters that come to the writer of this article from readers throughout the country few are so earnest or convincing as those of Dem- ocratic drys who write, in effect, as fol- lows: “If Gov. Roosevelt (or any other wet) is nominated by the Democrats we will not vote for him. And we will not stop with refusing to vote for him. We are no‘ politicians, Lut we know how to organize. We know our own people. We will organize our counties, and we will carry them against Roose- velt. We will carry them for the Re- publican nominee if conditions are a they were in 1928: or. if the Republican platform or candidate is unsatisfactory, we will set up an independent dry car didate and carry our count‘ies for him The possibility of a split in the Dem- ocratic_party, of a third party headed by a Democratic dry, is, as of today, far-fetched—yet no adequate survey of the situation can quite ignore it. The sincerity and determination, the cru- sading spirit of some of the dry Demo- cratic rank and file in the South, is seriously misunderstood and underesti- mated by the Northern wets. In all considerations of what will happen as respects the Democratic nomination and afterward. there is one fundamental condition which must be borne in mind and which is not yet certain. That consideration Will the Democratic platform be Democratic drys, especially in the South, make a deep and earncst dis- tinction between a wet nominee and a wet platform. Of the two, they are vastly more tolerant of the first. A Democratic wet nomince such as Roose- velt, if running on a platform dry or silent, would be regarded by many Southern drys as merely an incident. | They would say that the fundamental policy of the party is expressed in its platform, and that, as respects nomi- nees, the party is big enough to toler- ate varieties But if the Democratic platform should be wet—if the wets should force into the platform that wet plank which Chairman Raskob proposes — in that event many Southern Democratic vot- rs would regard their party as having passed away from them, would feel freed from obligation to support it. To put_the same thing in other words: If Gov. Roosevelt were nominated on a platform dry or silent that would not lead to a party split, mor to wholesale defections (though even that condition would be attended by some defections). But if Gov. Roosevelt were nominated on a wet plaiform that condition would really shock a good many dry Demo- crats and would include in its after- math the possibility. at least, of a for- mal split. with a third party composed of Democratic drys. There is one strong motive that works toward Democratic unity. that works toward favorable fortune for the Demo- crats in every respect. That is the weakness of the Republicans. Every- body knows that chiefly because of the business depression Republican chances are diminished almost to the point where they must rely upon good luck. | Nearly everybody would estimate that if the presidential election were nex 193 the Republicans would lose and weu d lose without regard to what the Demo- crats do. That condition, the weakness of the Republicans, the excellence of the chance that the Democrats may win— that condition operates as a strong in- centive toward Democratic harmony. & powerful deterrent of cleavage. Th Democrats, in short, are-the benefici- aries of that strong cement which is mixed of the anticipation of victory and the expectation of office. - French Playwright Lauds United States PARIS.—M. Henry Bernstein, a fa- mous French playwright, has just ar- rived in Paris from the United States. Through the interviews he gave to newspaper men it seems that he had enjoyed his stay in America very much. He says he was impressed by the courtesy of the Americans, their good will, the fast rhythm of their life and the thousand opportunities it offers. He doesnt think the economic crisis there very striking. “Everything interests the Americans. ‘Their ideal usge is to solve problens I think that the Hoover plan is a mani- festation of this urge. * * * Not to be afraid of ideas, words and things—that is American. Their frankness is brutal, but total. That should facilitate mat- ters.” M. Bamnstein thinks that French propaganda in the States is very poor, especially when compared with Ger- man. He remarks, however, that friendship for Prance is very strong. The artist he admires most is Cath- erine Cornell. He wants to write a play for her, when he goes back soon to America. What he likes best in the talkies are the gang pictures; he thinks they are full of life! He is awed by the fact that the film industry in America must produce 850 original pictures a year, and he thinks that the idea} type of talkie writer has not yet been