Evening Star Newspaper, October 4, 1931, Page 34

John Bull Looks at Silver (Continued From First Page.) Lancashire cotton industry, who have lost 60 per cent of their trade in the East and want to regain their old posi- tion. The bankers who finance com- merce, both East and West. Shipping groups plying the sea lanes to and from the Orient. The silver producers. Im- perialists who believe that the silver poultice, applied to India, will draw out the poison of political unrest and coole Mahatma Gandhi's goose. Used as Gandhi Weapon. These, elements are backed by the general realization in Britain that there is no use balancing the budget for 1931 and 1932 if the general price level goes on falling and Britain's export trade shows no expansion, Tariffs now on the way would reduce imports, thereby im- proving the trade balance. But unless the prices of primary products rise the purchasing power of Britain’s custom: will remain I>w and. therefore, the ex- port trade of Great Britain also will re- main low. The problem of lifting the prices of primary products thus becomes of first | importance. Because prospects are that some time will e'apse boi e the gieat masses of gold in America and France are pumped back into the world’s eco- nomic machine, British opinion was in- creasingly in favor of attempting to bring about a rise in the world price le;rekl{! MacMillan Committee on Finance and Industry, in 2 recently published report, went extensively into this ques- tion of raising price levels, but kept off the controversial silver issus and ad- vocated concerted acticn by the centrai | banks of the ch ef creditor states. The pro-silver crowd say thai the cents banks will not join in a concertsd ac- tion. They urge that the v'tal thing is the rehabiiitation of silve”, reviiin. the purchasing pov-r of the Far East ana thus stimulating world t-ad>. B2 it would lessen the painful readjistment neeced in Brita, i ochey would be necesary in order to bring her prices into equilibrium with the present low levels of world prices. Silver Price Drops. It has been polmed';;ul that l‘x?:.ooo.- 000 people—namely. the population of Chingelxl"ld India—use silver as & basis of value. And silver has dropped from a high of $1.80 an ounce in 1920 to & Jow of less thin 26 conts in 1931, and is also in heavy oversupp! On the other hand. g terms cf goods, commox ices, has risen stecply in in heavy under-cupply, rclative to the world needs. I¢ is obvious that this has lessened the capacity of the vast marikets of the E s.. while by-products expressed in es end serv- alue and is are bursting the warehouses and gran- | ariss of the West China end India are the two coun- tries vitally interested as consumers. Mexico, Peru and the United States, prducing b:Aween them tod°y 175.000,- 000 ounce: ot silver out of a wcrld pro- duction of 244,000,000 ounces (the fig- ure was 262,000,000 ounces in 1925) ave the c-untries primarily producers. In between comes Britain, neither consumer nor producer, but in- terested primarily in the trade stand- point, with the secondary angle in In- dia. Bimetallists Active. These fmmense. powerful interests have been talking bimetallism and urg- ing international action to give silver a higher status and stabilize its valuz at & higher price than now prevai's. One may quote this typic t instance: Sir Hug> Cunliffe-Owen, millicnaire head of the biggest tobacco group (which still reports & $5,000,000 proft, despite the depression) who insis:s that concur- rently with the budget balancing meas- ures, the national government should call a conference cf Westrn p-wers to tackle the problem of restoring the buying power of silver throughout the East “It is computed that these peoples have & hoarded wealth of 7.000,000.000 cunces of silver,” says Sir Hugo. “That silver ‘was worth $4.500,000,000 in 1929 it is worth under '$2.000.000.000, much less than half. The thre-fifths of the world population who use silver have had their wealth so much reduced that they no longer buy from the two: fifths and therefore our trade with the three-fifths is being reduced to the van- ishing point. Let us now face these facts to which the leading economists and industrialists here and in the United States are fully alive. Let us deal with this silver question and put silver back to a fair price. It can be done. Why don't we do mmeuun% about 1t? The world production of silver in 1930 was under 246,000.000 ounces and the annual consumption is estimted at 230,000.000 ounces, Are we g:ing to #uffer this increasing depression for the sake of 16,000,000 cunces of silver which 10500\'?nh today in gold less than £1,000,- ow Sir Henri Deterding, the head of the giant Royal Dutch Shell Oil combine, echoes the wcrds of Cunliffe-Owen. Neither of taese men suggests in so many words the remcnetization of sil- | ver. Interests tbat turn pale at the gills at the mere hint of bimetallism appear ready to support an interna- tional scheme to raise the price of sil- ver so long as they are sure that this move will not start a landslide toward silver in Britain and other Eurcpean countries that will give the radical ele- ments a chance to use such a slogan as once catapulted a young newspaper man named William Jennings Bryan onto the national American st>ge. Obstacles Are Many. The snags in the way of raising the price are numerous enough as it is. Stlver, largely a by-product of the base metals, is in oversupply. In 1930 Mex- ico produced 105,000,000 ounces, the United States more than 50,000,000 ounces, Peru more than 20,000,000, and this aggregated only 70 per cent of the total world production. But besides this new production large supplies of silver have been set free by the de- monetization of silver coinage. Following the post-war stabilization of currencies on a gold basis, European countries made it a practice to reduce the quality of new silver coinage. The old coins that were withdrawn from circulation provided not only the silver required for the new coinage but also surplus quantitics of silver which found their way into the market aug- | menting to an important extent the supplies of the new-mined metal. ‘The stocks of siiver held by the gov- ernment of India are huge despite heavy realizations over the last four years — which sales have helped the downward trend of silver prices. Sir George Schuster, finance member of the executive council of India, felt constrained to point out lately that India is a large consumer of silver, the purchases made by her people over a corresponding period outweighing the amount sold by the Indian government. But so far as the market value of silver is concerned this is an eyewash be- cause the existence of this huge sur- plus in India frightsns a sensitive mar- ket and nobody knows w sr or not India will be pressed to sell. (The gov- ernment of India is so hard up that the last loan was a 6 per cent internal one, the outside market having got a bit tired of absorbing successive issues of India’s short-term bends.) India Position Menzcing. ‘The Indian position is a considerable factor in British reactions to the silver question. Although India has been put on a gold basis, silver in some form or other has remained the medium which in thousands of big towns and 700,000 villages the people hoard as savings. ‘The depreciation of those savings in terms of gold are serious and provoca- tive of political trouble. If the farmers of America felt that they were being erucified on a banker's “cross of gold” in Bryan's young days the teeming millions of India have had much the same sensation, only in thelr case ther aee the crucificr as the British over- Jord who brought them back to gold and who controls their national finan- clal affairs. ‘This explains why the robust little Lmlpdfrilli:t, Leopold Amery, who has el ise | interested as ' follos of the admiralty and the colo- nies, has jumped into the silver move- ment and is strenuously advocating ac- tion. As he will hold office in either the next Tory government or a recon- stituted national ministry it MacDonald goes to the country with a petriotic coalition asking toriffs. Amery's atti- {tude is important. Silver rehebiliia- tion, for the imp:rialist Amery, is a practical means of lifting India cut of the rut of dspression and digging a lot of ground from undcr Gandhi's ap- neal for the 300,000,000 for whom he tleims to speek. The Chinese situation is neither so complex nor so_entangled in politics. | China has a silver standard for her * currency and requires silver in payment for goods she supplies. In ordinary circumstances a fall in silver prices would st'mulat> exports from China, and a larger demand for silver from that quarter would ersue, offseiting to some extent the augmented supplies avail- in the world market and notching | the next 15 years indust:y, so far et| i % east a8 the ‘monetary factor is con- | ap the price. Chinese Production Low. i But what with the great flood of| | Interminable wars, production in China !is at a low ebb, and the Western pow- is | ers are chiefly concerned with restoring | by J. F. Darling, a director of '.he: to some extent the buying power of that| Midland Bank, one of the big five| | mighty market of 400,000,000—a grow- ing market particularly for tobacco, ofl and finished goods of all sorts—by rais- ing the value of silver in relation to gold. Those industries which depend ]upon China for their outlet arc being | knocked out merely by the failure to | solve this silver problem. Lord Inchcape, an octcgenarian, who owns Pacific, Orient and other great shipping I'nes—a Scotsman who went to Infia at 22 rnd a mil'lengire at 40 and krows #ll there is to know aout Fest'rn t-ads—Dbas just tirowni himself into the rehabilitetion of the sii- | ver fight. Just as the Amcrican tin plate irterests would be willing to boost the consumption of tinned goods every-| where in the world, because the bukk of | the tin plate business goes to them anyway, so Lord Inchcepe wants silver rehabilitated because it would mean more to Britain in her present situa- | tion than it can possibly mean to any | other state, although America would also gain by it. This is how he states! the case: “For Great Britain it is essential that every avenue be explored which may | lead in the direction of such economic | independence as we may attain. Com. | plete economic independence is, all admit, beyond our reach; but as a re- sult of such a serles of inquires, pro- duct'on in our home market should be immensely increased and the total of our imports much reduced. The value | of sllver in 1914 was about 50 cents an ounce; today it is just about half of that. This is killing China, which has a silver currency, and is very material- /1y and injuriously affecting the export trade from Europe and America. If some arrangement could be devised. as | T belleve is possible, to raise the value of silver relative to gold, the trade with the Far East would vastly im- prove.” Silver Importance Stressed. So much for the group which wants to salvage silver, restore the buying | power of the East and stimulate world | trade in general and the British export trade in particular through those chan- ‘Whole-hoggers now tending endeavor to show how all the birds ean be killed with one silver stone. Silver to them is an enchanted bridge where- by Britain can escape from the prison of gold, Adopt bimetallism, they say. | Remonetize silver and so broaden the | basis of credit and increase the demand | for and value of silver at the same ! time. Controllers of the currency policy have been crouching in their piliboxes ever since this bimetallism barrage started. So far they have refused to !be drawn into answering the fire. | They know Britain is in a jam, but i hope to be able to get out of it with- | out adopting bimetallism. I have heard |1t said that the only statesman Eng- |land has had in half a century who | thoroughly grasped bimetallism in all | its implications was Earl Balfour—and he is dead. | Just what dangers and risks it holds, | every American who went through the | renowned bimetallist controversy in | the latter part of the last. century |knows. In private you would find men in responsible or official posi- tions explaining their reticence on | this question and deprecating public | controversy on the ground that they | hoped nce and America, holding Jthr -quarters of the world gold stocl would recognize in time the common danger to our civilization in the threat- ened breakdown of the monetary ma- | chine and would listen to official Brif | ish suggestions of an international con- | ference to consider ways and means of luuplng from the gold impasse, Gold Hoarders Cautious. jon that historic Monday when Britain awoke to find herself unloosed from | gold, Britain had been informed that a move to initiate any such discussion would be most unwelcome. The pow- ers with respectively $5,000,000,000 and $2,500,000,000 of the yellow metal | frozen in their vaults did not care to take any steps liable to lead to the devaluation of their vast hoards and liable to wesken the power that gold a world harnessed to it and based upon it. Circumstances now are dramatically changed. Britain's official hopes have been dashed as decisively as all her hopes since Montagu Norman of the Bank of England and Benjamin Strong of the Federal Reserve co-operated to get the world back to gold in 1925, Britain officially now looks for s return to the E:ld standard. She sees disadvantages in other states going off the gold standard. But in the absence of any action on the part of the chief powers to confer on great monetary changes long overdus & movement to :’eek rfl}:t liln Mmetnm.lqll: in conjunc- lon with all states will to come may bscome {rresistible. " ® Export Growth Necessary. | _Her position strengthens the | of bi-metallist proj l‘:nd.\au‘ lnmlg: | vaults of the cent bank lies only $630,000,000 worth of gold. The - ance of trade is such that despite 6 per cent bank rate she cannot ex- | pect largely to increase that gold stock | for some time. In order to strengthen | her position, England must swiftly in- crease her export trade. Tariffs ham- lp’:r ml:l :hancu to increase sales to e -based countries of Further, she is worrl - T for it. Can anything be done abou T, [ volces ask? “Surely, is "the et Teply from a dozen different quarters, and a leading British economist gets | lown to bed rock with the explanation | The basis of credit must be broad. | ened and the value of money reduced | by, international agreement. “Several methods are possible,” ob- serves this authority. ‘Personslly, I | think- the most promising suggestion is the re-monetization of silver. This scheme avoids the financial and psy- leholoflcl dangers which are involved in an infation of credit, with no in- crease in its metallic basis. It provides thet increase in a way which by de- | creasing the demand for and value of | gold would put up the general level of | | world prices and raise even mo.e the | | price of silver, thus restoring to India and China some of thelr lost puichas- | ing power. It a'so solves the problem by getting the new credit that would be | created into use. It would best bs dons /by an agresment betwsen all nations, | but, unlike some other schemes, it might be initiated by a limited num. | ber of nations.’ Loid Hunsdon, head of one of the confers upon those who possess it in |~ THE houses in London, goes into greater de- tail. He wants the United States, France and Britain, or any two of them, to agree to adopt bimetallism in 15 years' time at the ratio of 20 to 1. (The 'sent ratio of silver to gold is 70 to . s against the old bimetallic ratio of 15} to 1) This, “by raising the value of the silver hoa'ds in India, would do more to settle the Indian troubles than the round table confer- ence.” In parenthesis it may b> noted how difficult these men find it to keep off India troubles. But in. order to pre- nt & fair and who'e picture it may 150 be noted that the American share in the Indian merket has tremendously incieased since the war and that she stands gain in an important meas- ure froml the restoration of the de- ressed Indian market, which is very ar from being an exclusively British market. Lord Hunsdon continues: “The foregoing natlons should begin to buy sliver at once to form part of their reserves and continue to do so year by year and thus release gold and raise prices. It Is certaln that if this plan were adopted we should have an immediate rise in prices, and that for SUNDAY cerned, would have a rising market in which to trade.” Banker Agress on Ratio. Lord Hunsdon's ideas were indorsed banks of England. Darling points out the 20 to 1 ratio is well' within the natural ratio of the relative produc- tion of gold and silver today. That production is estimated at 1 to 13, But whereas gold is being produced to the limit under high pressure and the known sources of supply are steadi- ly falling, silver production is being re- tarded by general conditions. and it is Gifficult to say what the maximum pro- duction might be in the absence of such world controi es, for instance, has been planned fer tin. Silver is produced meinly es a by-product in the mining of copper, lead, zinc £nd nickel. Production would increase, probably steeply, as world trade revived and the demand for these metals increased. The serious problem might then arise of maintaining the value of silver in the presence of overproduction. Ardent sil- ver advocates reply to this great’ques- tion in bimetallism. Thelr argument is that increased quantities of these metals come to market only as world trade expands, and that such an ex- pansion would imply a corresponding industrial expansion and the need for more currency—and so larger quantities of silver would be needed and could be put to use. This sounds plausible, but it makes men who pin their faith on gold—or, to put 1t more precisely, to the preserva- tion at all costs of the one known stable measure of valueina chaotic world— shake their heads dubiously. They see squalls and storms, quagmires and quicksand It would seem that as the world's difficulties increase the weight and area of these assaults upon and criticisms of gold as the sole arbiter of values will increase and extend. For instance. Keynes, whom Lord Dabernon. financier and former British Ambassa- dor to Berlin, describes as one ol the two leading exchange currency au- thorities living, says bluntly that the world has outgrown the money suit in which it is clothed—which is only a step farther than the candid announce- ment of a big British banker, Reginald McKenna. chairman of the Midland, thet world production and exchange have outstripped banking technique. Being convinced that gold, besides suffering from maldistribution, is adequate to world requirements now, Keynes advocates a managed currency in Britain. He has been In favor of letting the pound go off the gold stand- ard since France and America ignored the recommendations of the Genoa con- ference for controlling gold by in- ternational agrecments and instead forced payments on trade accounts in gold, which they have no use for and for various reasons cannot turn loose again to irrigate the fields of world trade. International Acceptance Is Crux. International acceptance is the crux of the silver problem. Silver advocates would like to see international accept- ance of silver come about as the result of a world conference to stimulate world trade before the depression deep-! ens still more. If this move is not made in time, they opine, it will prob- 2bly come’ anyway eventually, as a des perate salvaging operation to save & civilization founded on gold and going to smash as the old Roman Empire did when it was unable to control the metal it had made the basis of its monetary system. ‘The general feeling in England among persons of power, influence and per- spicacity (terms not necessarily synony STAR, in- WASHINGTON, D. G OCTOBER 4, 'Scientist, Born in Slavery, Holds South’s Salvation Lies in Chemistry __(Continued From Third Page.) ing just like cow's milk, whether it is sweet or sour, and the curds may be made into ches: But that is not all this milk can do It is an excellent beversge—a purely vegetable drink which forms a bedy-builaing ncurish- ment for invalids and children. A pound of peanuts, he says, contains a little more body-building nutriment than a 23 much heat and energy. The sweet potalo has also been meta- morphosed into a multitude of things by the Tuskegee wizard. But the most striking thing about Dr. Carver's asso- clation with the sweet “tater” is that he says it isn’t a potato at all! No sir, it is more ethereal than that. It is a morn- ing glory, if you please, But never in the history of this world did it occur to {any human being to classify the sweet ! potato as a morning glory till Dr. Carver communed with a bushel ¢f them one eventful morning in his laboratory and dlzccvered that the family had been im- | properly introduced to soclety all down the ages. But, before we consider the various metam-rphoses through which that de- liclous veg:table has passed under the dusky scientist’s hands, let us see who the man is, whence he came and how he got his start. It would be hard to find a man whose entrance into the world, whose boyhood and ycuth were more unpromising and discouraging were George Washington Carver's. Was Born in Slavery. ‘To begin with, he was born a slave in Missouri. As if that were not handicap enough, when he was scarcely more than a baby he and his mother were stolen from their master's farm by a band of raiders in the last year of the Civil War. Moses Carver, the master, dispatched men on horseback who were well supplied with cash to try to induce the kidnapers to retarn his slaves. A colired baby desperately {1l with whooping cough possessed little value for men who h'd stolen Moses Ci ver's slaves, so when they were offered a fine race horse in exchange for the sick child they jumped at the chance to dispose of the little dark liability and gladly gave him up. But the sick child’s mother was never seen or heard of again and nobody knows unto this day what was her fate. Not until George was 10 years old did he have a chance to go to school, such as it was, and that was 10 miles away from the place he called home. Up to that time his dearest possession had been an old blue-backed speller, over which he pored every chance he got, learning every word in it from { cover to cover. In'this little school the 1 lLiad extracted from the teacher all the knowledge he possessed and then the boy left. ! He decided to go to school in Kansas, and began to walk to his destination. After he had trudged along about |day a mule team overtook him and | gave him a lift for Fort Scott, Kans. | Here he began his education in earnest. the | He was alone in the world, and there | was nobody to whom he could look for assistance of any kind. Every cent spent for food. lodging, clothes, books {and tuition he was obliged to earn him- self. For nine years he supported him- | self by engaging in domestic service and ‘doing any kind of work he could get, no | matter how menial and hard, savin only as much time for his studies as he could manage to find. Leaving Fort Scott he went to Minneapolis, Kans., and graduated from the high school there. Here his appetite for knowledge was whetted more than it had ever been before, and he decided definitely to go to college. Lived on 10 Cents a Week. That was much easier said than done. But he would not let a little thing like lack of funds swerve him from his course. at Simpson College, Iowa, and bought his books, he had only 10 cents left. Half of this sum was invested in corn meal and half in suet, upon which he feasted for a whole week. and they soon discovered that the col- ored student could do them up perfect- v, so they cheerfully turned their laundry work over to him. For George arver the rest was easy. Having graduated from Simpson Col- Ilege he entered Iowa State University. | where he received both his bachelor |and his master’s degrees. To such an extent had his ability been recognize during his course at the university that, | as soon as he graduated. he was placed in charg: of a greenhouse of the bac- teriological laboratory and of the de- partment of systematic botany. Then Booker T. Washington appeared on the scene, discovered this genius and | spirited him away to his own institution | pound of sirloin steak and nearly twice | After he had paid his tuition | The boys had a have clean clothes, | tory by Dr. Carver himself is a red let- ter day in anybody's life. After such an experience Will Rogers exclaimed en- thusiastically, “I wish it were possible for me to spend at least three weeks and sit at your feet as a pupil.” From scme ordiniry weeds common in the State Prof. Carver has mede paper of various grades. Experts declare that some of it which comes from cotton stalks and from the palmetto, which is ublquitous in Florida, might well be used u“doth, e newspapers of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and other Southern States have vied with each other in singing Prof. Carver's praises, The At- lanta Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy sent the Tuskeegee teacher a “written expression of their terest and appreclation of you in your efforts to exhibit the products and pos- siblesindustries of our South, and the chapter wishes you godspeed in any en- deavor looking to the development of any project in which we are mutually interested.” A Mississippl paper enthusiasticall declared that, if his methods are fully carried out he will add $100,000,000 an- nually to the South. For instance, take the blue which is made from the red clay of Georgia by oxidizing it inter- mittently six times. (And this same blue when oxidized a few more times becomes royal purple.) It is described as being ‘“seventy times bluer than the bluest blue.” Nearly 15 years ago a church interior at Tuskegee was paint- ed with this blue pigment made up into gfilnt form, and in the passing years it 25 lost none of its sheen and gloss. No evidence of cracking and drying out appears. the Egyptians, Product Held Cheaper. If you ask the man who made these colors if they are really permanent, he will reply: “Why should they not be permanent? God made the clays in the hills. They have been there for countless centuries with colors un- changed. All I do is to compound what God has made for man's use and delight. It is the handiwork of God, not mine.” Now this blue “which is seventy times richer than any other blue” can be made for considerably less than any on the market. There is plenty of red clay No fear need be enter- it will give out very soon. All that is necessary to start a pigment plent is a steam shovel plus a 10-ton truck and a simple little factory. It | has been demonstrated that paint made sell any pigment on the market toda: Those who know all about paint de- clare that the one made by Dr. Carver tion with minerals and plastics, with ery few restrictions, “Here," says Dr. Carver, “is an op- portunity for some Southern industry 1 go on with the work: to build the necessary laboratory, find out the prop- | erties of the soils of Macon County. or any of the Southern counties, and then | learn to make this pigment or whatever | | pigments are required by the paint| manufacturer. Dr. Carver calls himself a trail | blazer. He has shown the South herein lies its weaith. He has taken Southern raw material and has demon- strated a variety of uses for each one. | He has sought and found the mine, then left it to others to get the gold. Dr. | Carver could not be expected to de- | velop his vast researches, said one |of our greatest thinkers. “It would take 10 lifetimes of one man to do that.” Already certain industries are under ontinued From First Page) sovereign countries is represented by internation-] finance and international | commerce. Hence the importance, at this time, ¢f a conference aimed to Increase commercial interchange among | the nations of the Western Hemisphere, and to discuss & number of pressing economic and finincial problems of sig- nificance to each one and all of them. Other Special Circumstances. Outside of these general considera- | tions, there are other special eircum- | stances which make this a most appro- | priate time to discuss economic and | continent. | _In the course of the last 15 months, mous) may be summed up in a remark | in Alabama, where Dr. Carver has Te- | ncw governments have been established which an interested oil king made to me during a discussion of the sub- Ject: Even when the | mained ever since. offered the ! great Thomas Edison {in nearly all the important South | American countries. New governments “If only this business doesn’t| Tuskegee teacher the princely sum of | brought about by revolutionary changes, throw up another Bryan talking about crosses of gold and crowns of thorns. if we can keep this thing down to hard But as Chancellor Snowden revealed | terms of trade and finance and out of This is the. w emotional politics, something of value to the world in general and to T gland in particular should come of it.” Problems of Laval To Be Difficult Here (Continuéd From First Pa international affairs, you have some fifteen billion dollars invested in foreign countries, seven of which are in Europe. You have been consulting and helping and advising Europe ever since the end of the war and more so in the last few months.” “This may be 30,” reply our leaders, “but we have done so on our own volition, without being compelled to by any treaties or agreements. Just because we have stepped in several times lately to save Europe from anarchy, you must trust that we wil not permit any recurrence like the 1914 war.” And this is the crux of the situation. Wil the President be able to convince Laval that neither France nor any other country need fear that we will allow an unjust attack to take place, and, even if Laval is satisfled, will he be able to convince his countrymen of the justice of our point of view? It is difficult to give an answer at the present moment. There are cer- tain indications from Paris that the French government might be willing to bargain about the revision of the Versailles treaty. The Germans do not desire to reopen the question'of the lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, but they are insistent on the revision of | the treaty in regard to the Polish cor- cidor. They have repeatedly stated that if the corridor was suppressed and East Prussia were no longer separated from the rest of the republic they would be quite willing to' extend a friendly hand to Prence and let by- nes be bygones. But in exchange or this concession and, in order to induce the French people to accept such a revision, which will undoubtedly be described by the French press as a betrayal of Poland, Laval must come back to France with some sort of an urance that we are willing to take care of France should she be in danger again. It is sald that the French premier does not care how platonic sych sn assurance may be, but it ap- pears that it is the only thing that can induce the French people to ac- !cept 2 revision of the treaty and a substential cut in their army and aavy budget. Rumor Still Persists. 1aud Newls. that Shakespeare was oncc caught poaching on the estate of Sir Thomas Lucy and appropriately pun- ished has been disproyed. Legend that he poached on other n cessive Tory government port- most important merchant banking serves still persists, 15100000 to work for five years in his laboratory at Orange, N. J., Dr. Carver declined this alluring invitation. Dr. Carver explains the reason he decided to reject Mr. Edison's offer: “You see, Mr. Wash- ington put me here nearly 30 years ago and said ‘Let down your bucket where you are’ I did as I was told and my bucket has always come up brimful and running over. Mr. Washington is not with us in person any more and I could not be faithless to his trust; now could 1?7 Makes Many Products. s Reference has already been m i the flour which the Tuskegee wizard has manufactured from the sweet po- tato which is first cousin to the morning glory. But flour from the sweet potato is cnly a drop in the his lips over a dish of delicious pud- ding rx:lnde from the tapioca into which the sweet potato has been converted by this master chemist. The crystalized ginger and the breakfast food which come from the sweet potato are highly recommended by those who have sam- led them. i It does not require a great stretch of i like sweet potatoes to believe that things good to eat can be made out of them. But when Dr. Ca you a piece of rubber and tells you that it really strains your credulity and puts st. Up to date, 120 products have “i‘fern crcglcd from the sweet potato and still there is more to follow. Then, too, there are wonderful dyes and paints which Prof. Carver has | made out of common Alabama elay. The | Egyptians must have used the dyes | found in clay, he says, and those who know declare they are the same bright, soft colors found in King Tut’s tomb. As you look at the blues, reds and yel- lows in Prof. Carver's laboratory, it is very easy to belleve that he has re- discovered that art lost for so many years which produced colors that have remained beautiful and unfaded for 30 | centuries. ceAnd right here attention must be called to the fact that Dr. Carver has dore something which a noted German scientist who recently visited this coun- try declared could not be done. As Dr. Carver was showing my daughter and myself through his labcratory a short while ago he pointed out a curious derk blue mass of something in a huge glass jar. With a stick he stirred it up and expiained that the product which we sew was the result of what is called fractional oxidation. At present chem- istry does not recognize such cperations, he explained, and he declared that the Germ™n professor had every reason to feel skeptical. After the foreigner had looked carefully at Dr. Carver's dark blue mass in the glass jar, he sim- ply shook his head and said it wi strangest product he had ever seen. But there it is to speak for itself. ‘Will Regers Amazed. “So meny new things are being dis- cussed along all lines,” said Dr. Car- ver, “it is not at all surprising that chemistry can furnish its quota.” Being conducted through his labora- bucket, so to speak. One may smack | the imagination for those of us who | shows | |it was produced from a delicious yam, | {your falth in his veracity to an awful the | | which were, in a considerable degree, | precipitated by economic factcrs. These | governments, facing the task of a com- plete reorganization of their financial | ms, in the midst of the world's gravest economic depression, are adcpt- | ing_radical measures and methods new | to Latin-American conditions. The re- | adjustment of these methods. and & | concrete pclicy of co-ordination among them appears to be a pressing need at this particular moment. The falling off of foreign trade, ex- perienced by almost every one of the countries in the Western Hemisphere, is another circumstance which adds to the significance of this Pan-American ccnference. Single-crop nations, most of them. dependent exclustvely upon the exports of one or twn specific commodi- ties, decreasing sales and lowering prices have affected ter:ibly the whole eco- nomic structure of scme of them. Related to this situation is the prob- lem of tariffs, which for some time has been the matter of heated controversy both here and in the Latin-American countries. High pretective tariffs are blamed for much of the present critical conditions of interamerican trade. And | yet, the majority of the Latin repub- lics have been steadily falling in line with the United States, in the last few years, and erecting high tariff walls for the protection of their home indus- tries and for revenue purposes. Problems Are Crucial. The problem of overproduction, low prices, deficient distribution and the new movements in Latin America for producers’ ments—like in the cases of sugar, ‘ee, tin—and for diversifica- tlon of production in countries which S0 far have been dependent upon only one commodity, are cnly so many other Teasons to admit that this is a crucial period for interamerican commerce. And, finally, the recent appearance of two distinct trends in Latin America— one for econcmic unions, for closer co- operation, for free trade agreements and another one for economic nationalism, for self-sustenance and dcmestic con- sumption of local products—makes even more important any decision concern- ing interamerican trade which may be adopted at this time. Some of the topics cf discussion men- tioned in the official agenda of the conference give an fdea of the signifi- cance which this may have in the benefit of pan-American commerce. It is safer to say “may have” because dele- gates to international congresses not al- ways fulfill the hopes of public opinion. Barrier Elimination Important. Paramount among the subjects which will mglm Aattention of the confe: ence is elimination of trade riers. According to & communique the Pan-American Unio, it is felt any advance that may be made in the solution of problems arising from the presence of excessive trade barriers will represent “a real step forward in the premotion of interamerican trade and 1elieve it of artificial hindrances.” The same communique describes as “trade barriers” hindrances to commerce resuling from “high customs tariffs, import and export prohibitions and re- strictions and an excessive degrse of governmental prctection.” Although it is realized that.the question of cus- toms tariffs falls within the jurisdiction from that 1931—PART A great scientist has declared | that Dr. Carver has found the secret of | |in such a factory could easily under- | eager pupil remained until he felt he | e Y \cer can be used profitably in water colors | j or ofl paints or as pigment in combina- | commercial questicns throughout the | TWO. way and others are bound to come as a result of the work done by this trail blazer.. From the pastures and the swamps of the South he has taken such materiel as clays, palmetto roots and wild weeds, out of which he has shown how to make comforts and necessities for the world. Nor has he neglected the pecan. For he has found 80 ways to make that contribute to the needs of mankind. Dr. Carver is always in great demand as a speaker all over the South to au- diences of both races. On several oc- casions when he has addressed institu- tions for white youth the boys were 8o fascinated with the simple manner in which he explained what had seemed to them impossible before they had heard him it was difficult to drag them away from him. He exercises a grip and control over his audiences which are rare for a speaker who the subjects he presents. Especially do the farmers hear him gladly. His mes- sage to them is filled with informaticn, inspiration and hope for those who will only use their brain and brawn upon the things which the Creator has placed within their reach. Wherever he goes he emphasizes the fact that “science, not the tariff, must find the solution for the South’s agri- cultural problems.” “‘One million dollars applied to chemi- cal study of our agriculture,” he says, “will do more for it ultimately than the $500,000,000 fund set aside by Con- gress to attempt to alleviate some of the ills from which it is now suffering.” Dr. Carver has offered some very pointed suggestions concerning wheat. “The laboratory, rather than the Liverpool market or the Chicago Board of Trade, will solve the wheat problem,” he says, “and insure the farmer a fair price for his products. Multiply the uses of wheat,” he advises. ‘“Products from wheau certainly should equal those from the peanut. Bread is the prin- cipal article made from wheat today. Its possibilities are limitless.” “You can do it,” declares the man | who has made 200 or more articles from | the peanut. *“You have your labora- tories in your industrial institutions. in your schools, colleges and universities.” Sees Future for Chemists. He belleves that young folks studying chemistry today may be the saviors of the wheat situation tomorrow, and that the problem of surplus crops may be zalved scientifically by the South. Somzzody (Prof. Carver has no idea wLa it was) proposed him for member- ship in the Royal Soclety of Great Britain because he has made so many remarkable chemical discoveries, and he now enjoys fellowship in it—an honor which s been conferred upon few Americans. During the World War the Govern- ment recognized his genius by drafting him for investigational work in the | Washington laboratories. Among other things, he entered upon a study of dye stuffs,” formerly imported from Ger- many, and of which the country was |in dire need, and he is given credit for having duplicated more of these dye stuffs than all of the other scientists engaged in the work. n addition to being & chemist and an_agriculturist, the Tuskegee wizard is & musician of distinction, and James Wilson, once Secretary of Agriculture, declared that “Prof. Carver is probabl; the finest painter in the State of Iow: Few men have been called more names by the press of the country in reporting his speeches and describing | his work than the colored scientist. | “The Columbus of the soil,” “‘the of organized chemistry,” “the man of the hour,” “the hope of the South” and | “the discoverer of the peanut and the | sweet potato” are some of the titles | which have been bestoged upon him. | _The modest umpm*shn ‘marks Dr. | Carver's genius endeGm® him to all who | meet him and he numbers among his | triends some of the most distinguished |and influential men of modern times. {In the language of the Savannah. Ga | Press, “He belongs not to the Negro | race, but to the world.” Pan-America to Take Stock | of each individual state, says the Pan- | American Union Bulletin, 1t is also | recognized that the rates contained in a tariff act may have a far-reaching | effect and important consequences upon | the industry, trade and national econ- omy of cther nations. It is probably knowing that the Pan- American Union had such a liberal view on’the tariff problem that the Mexi- can delegation has already announced | an open, decided attack on high cus- | toms duties in the conference. Possibility of the establishment of or | adherence to & bank specializing in in- | ternational settlements will be promi- nent among the topics presented for | discussion. It has been pointed out that a bank for interamerican settlements, | protecting gold without shipping it | from country to country, promoting the co-operation of central banks and act- | ing as a bank cf clearance and settle- | ments restrictions, would perform & | most valuable service to all financial | transactions of the American countries. | ._Undoubtedly, exchange facilities for international - commerc! transactions | would be greatly developed by the es- | tablishment of such an institution. and payments in foreign currencies would be placed upon a much more stable and liquid basis than exists at present. The development of tourist travel is another of the topics on the list. The conference is to consider various stej that may be taken to facilitate tourist travel between the American republics, such as simplification of passport re- quirements, speeding up of customs ex- aminations, establishment of tourist bureaus or agencies by means of which information could be sunplied to travel- ers and other measures The uni stresses the fact that expenditures made by tourists have become a major item in the national economy of many coun- tries, especially in Europe. Simplification and standardization of consular procedure within the American republics is also in the agenda on the conference. Inasmuch as complete uni- formity in all Jhnm of consular pro- cedure is considered as im ible of immediate realization, according to the Pan-American Union, it has been sug- fil'td that adoption of measures cover- g cases in which the majority of the countries are already basically in accord should first be attempted, followed by later action to bring agreement on those phases of the question upon which there is a divergence of opinion or practice at the present time. Problems of ove?rmducnon and the measures adopted for the stabilization of certain industries in Latin American countries will be studied by the dele- gates to the Fourth Pan-American Com- mercial Conference. The nitrate, sugar, coffee and tin agreements recently con- cluded in Chile, Cuba, Brazil, Bolivia, etc., are mentioned in this connection. Advantages and disadvantages to the American republics in tne establishment with particular emphasis upon the cir- cumstances under which these zones could be successfully created and main- sessions of the conference, As if all this were not encugh, the agenda of the Pan-American Conference still lists several other topics to be taken up: Trade promotion its vari- ous phases; tion and com- munication development by air, land and water; customs regulations; eur- rency stabilization, financial statistical services, and nationsl ang inf Juridical questions. For the of pan-Americanism let us hope that the delegates to this ternational will have time to go over all these pressing problems of interamerican re- lations. (Copyright. 1931) . A Not Until Then. From the Louisville Courler-Journal. . ‘The country will begin to believe the Paris report that the bustle and hoop- skirts are corninlm!‘:wk hl‘r‘;m)thshlon ‘when - the automotive ustry an- ‘nounces changes in designs to fit the emergency. of fres port or foreign trade szones, | Th tained, will also be discussed at the |t most opportune international gathering | 1a! Speed and the Depression (Continued From Third Page.) invested in motor cars. The highways are filled with pleasure-seekers. Taxes have been vastly increased. But who cares about that? We are in a new era, and every one is prosperous. Suddenly the whole caravan of the new era crasies upon an invisible ob- struction. There are many casualties. The whole world is in the ditch. That iinvisible thing is a law as old as civili- zation. We are sternly reminded that prosperity must be on thrift and useful work. We begin to pay for our | love of speed in a world-wide depres- sion. We learn that we have not out- grown the old, slowly moving laws that Tegulate the ccnduct of man. I have been studying the effect of the new era on a bit of country with which I am familiar. When I was a young man, it was a land of plenty. A farmer or a merchant who did not have & balance in the bank drawing interest was either paying for his land and cattle or for his folly in wasting his time with drink, poker and fast horses. In the best known village of the St. Lawrence Valley of Northern New York lives a man who for years was a Pros- perous farmer. He now runs a nk. He told me recently that the farmers there were In a bad way. Many had been weakened by speculation during the boom. Most of them had children with extravagant tastes. “You remember Mr. Blank,” he said. “He owned a lot of farms. He was rich. In his will he left bequests to charity. Not one of them can be paid. Why? 1 will tell you One of his farms has 80 acres of good land—a comfortable stone house, a handsome barn with concrete flooring in its stable. The farm is on a dirt road, but its situation is fine. with a grassy field sloping down to the river. I cannot get $2.500 for the property.” “What is the reason?” I asked in | astonishment. “I'll answer your question with a story,” he answered. ‘“The other day a man came to see me. him and his wife for years. to borrow $1.100. “‘What do you want of $1,1002" I asked. *'To keep my boy with me. I've got to buy a decent looking motor car for his use,’ the man answered. Farms Begging for Buyers. “I loaned him the money and took & mortgage on his farm. You see, & boy has to be hired to stay here on the land. He is about the most ex- pensive hired man you can employ, for he has to drive around to see the coun- try and everything that's going on. To sum it up, gas, oil, tickets and taxes make it necessary to have more money than one can earn on a farm. So farms 80 begging for buyers and some of them are even being abandoned. “Go across the border into Canada and you find a different situation. You see good houses, large, well He wanted out at interest, but they still ride be- hind a h(;ll'fle, “Now, the motor car is & very good thing for those who can afford it. We ought not to be so crazy for speed that Wwe mortgage our future for it. There is such a thing as going too fast. We should stick to the spring wagon until we are able to pay for the speed we desire. The gasoline spirit—to get what you want and get it quickly—is abroad in the world. It is the spirit of adventure. If one wife doesn't satisfy you. get your sins and errors. are almost empty. The minds of many people trail along with Mr. Mencken, who has summed up his philosophy in this sentence: “How are we to get through life with & maximum of pleasure and a minimum of pain?” We are all trying to learn how to do that: but I think most of re the main thing. Are we to keep away from the sick and the starving because they give us pain? Are we to stop work when it interferes with pleasure? Our sins give us pain. Therefore we will not be reminded of them. Are we to break faith with a wife or a husband if keep- ing 1t is & bar to our enjoyment? May we not quite as properly break faith with our creditors? There are many, these days. who get a. severs pain in paying their debts. Pain Is Sure Penalty. Now, pain and pleasure are as ine evitably connected as action and re- action, as darkness and light. You cannot avold the cold, gray dawn of the morning after. Pain is the sure penalty of misdoing. It would seem to be a fairly valuable asset of this world we inhabit. They whose chief So the churches aim is the painless life have often | gone to the hospital. the madhouse or the jail. Yet it is absorbing _the strength of many good people. They avoid being reminded of their faults and errors. It gives them pain. Sun- days they rush off on the roads and have their luncheon in some shady spot and go to the “movies” in the evening. The problems of church and state are no longer discussed in their neighborhood. They give little thought to the great, slow-going things. There is one leader of incalculable influence. It is the “movie” show. it is the greatest power for good or il the world knows and in part it exalted sex and violence as a power in human affairs—now and then with | is good ps g on | th shocking indecency. Seldom in my knowledge has it done justice to the agencies for the improvement of the human spirit. Whatever may be said of the church and the synagogue—and I am well aware of their imperfec- tions—they seek to make men better citizens, with a desp respect for human rights. They fail in their purpose now and then, but rarely. When they fail e case is extremely advertised. ‘Why should this great agency for good be neglected by the stage? Is Tectitude uninteresting? The great problems and adventures of the human spirit in conflict with the power of evil are of tremendous interest. When an artist of deep insight deals with this theme no theater can hold the crowds that want to see his play. The craftsmen of Hollywood would do well to turn from swift and violent adventure to the slowly going things in which sex is not both the driver and the team, but is the dog under the wagon—a big, powerful, likable dog. if you please. Idle Riech Given Blame. The conditions of which I complain are, in part, due to rich, idle and often much-married men and women who set the fashions in dress, manners and even in morality. They soothe them- selves in wallows of vice where the code of Moses is violated and ridiculed. Many of them despise America while they have fattened on the prosperity it has enabled them to enjoy. They have made George Bernard Shaw their chief prophet, probabl- against his will. ey take him seriously. He would conquer the world by swinging it around and shifting its poles to the uator. It is an adventurous under- g. The hinges of creation are not easily moved. Now, the chief business of Mr. Mencken and Mr. Shaw is that of blowing up the “ice flelds of Puritan- .” They lead the shock troops in the smashing of established things. Shaw is the chief grenadier in the army of speed. He hurls detonating s. They make a loud sound. His droll audacity amuses the nations. He is the most artistic scoffer the world has . Wearled with adulation, he stands on his rubbish heap and en England was in sore straits in 1914 he upheld Germany in regarding the treaty with Belgium as a scrap of paper. If he meant it, honor and good faith were to be added to his rubbish heap. Of course, he didn’'t mean it, and no one in England took him seri- ously. He was only keeping up his practice of being unique. He has said that when he thought of himself and of Shakespeare and Homer, he had a great contempt for these poets. S‘ll:\ hlny one seriously imagine that but a jest? He praises 1 had known | painted | barns, prosperous farmers with money | another. It is a bore to be reminded of | It has overemphasized and | the Soviet government because most people regard it as a black tyranny with a background of murder and rapine. When asked for his reason, he flings & little Fabian chaff in the air. It just |hints at reasons hidden in the deep caverns of his intellect. I cannot be- lieve that he was more serious about Stalin’s government than he was in speaking of the poetry of Homer and Shakespeare. Appealed to Smart Set. Shaw appealed directly to the large and growing smart set in England and America, who had felt the influence of the Court of Edward VII and whose main purpose was to be merry. Many of them were bored by their husbands and wives and all the restraints of reli- gion. Their prophet had thrown the church and its holy matrimony upon his mountain of waste. Is it possible that any one is so simple- minded as to think that the world is one great rubbish heap and George Bernard Shaw and the Soviet govern- ment? Can any one imagine that even Mr. Shaw belleves it? Mr. Shaw has the superman attitude. He does not trouble himself with eluci- Cations. We are often in doubt as to whether we should blame our own intellects or his. I once knew a lawyer who won im- portant cases with nothing but a super- man attitude. With an air of divine authority he said things which nobody could understand. Judges and juries believed him. They were ashamed to admit that he was too deep for them. They concluded that he must be right. His career ended when a clever lawyer answered him as follows: “Hic hoc maurus multicaulus emen- ciet thoro rutabaga centum. Gentle- men, do you understand me? Of course not. I do not understand myself. And | yet you understand me as well as you | understood the fogmaker who has, I fear, caused you to lose your reckoning. Do not through modesty blame the wrong intellect. It is stmply ‘emenciet thoro rutabaga centum.’ He may do to practice law among angels, but this is & world of men and most of us want to know the facts before we reach a de- cision. It is our right and our duty s0 to do.” I read in a declaration of Albert Eine stein: “Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of the body. although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism.” gHere is another smasher in the shock troops. 1 make no, argument against the thesis of this distinguished gentle- man. He speaks of egotism. I ask, was there ever such & sublime and shocking | example of it as this statement of Mr. | Einstein? He may be a great man, but I must be permitted w doubt if any man can get far enough in his quest for knowledge to warrant an attitude of | unparalleled arrogance. However much he may know, he is only at the threshold of the great houss of mystery, and he would better be humble. Shining Lights Included. In effect he tells us that the shining lights of history—Lincoln, Webster, Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin. Wash- ington, Gladstone, Disraell, Pitt, Fox, | Burke, Newton, Cromwell, Milton, Ba: con, Shakespeare, Cicero, Jesus Christ, the martyrs—these were all “feeble souls.” Mr. Einstein, in his notion ef his own superiority, shows no hesitation n his use of the word feeble, It reminds |one of the old Kings who appointed themselves partners of God. Robert Millikan is a philosopher |in whose judgment we may have some | confidence. H= says: “Fullness of knowl- edge always and necessarily means some understanding of the depths of our ig- rorance. It is alwi conducive to hu- mility and reverence Mr. Dreiser is another captain of the shock troops who are besieging the stronghold of time-honored opinions. He | says that the moving throngs at Broad- | way and Fifty-seventh street reminc him of Darkest Africa with its predatory | beasts, serpents and insects, each sus- | | | oppression, false witness, cruelty, vanit:. | gluttony, sodomy, are all fortified and | intrenched and that the weak or defi- | clent, as in the jungle, are preyed upon | by_the strong. ! The things in his black list are un- doubtedly here. The world we live in is very imperfect, or good men would have no great work to do. Save for intoler- able wrongs there would have been no ‘Abl’ehlm Lincoln, no Benjamin Frank- lin, no Oliver Cromwell. But evil is not | the dominating note in human life. The | world has made some progress since it | was ruled by Nero and Caligula. Let us | not be traitors to our time and abandon | hope of it. Stand in the crowd at Broadway and | Pifty-seventh street long enough and | you ‘will be amazed by its generosity. In |a day a flocd of siiver passes to the | lame,’ the blind and the unemployed. Here comes a boy. He is shabby and | depressed. He has had nothing to eat | for a day. He is from Texas. I saw him with my own eves. He has come to New York to find k. He has failed to find it. He has a good face. He is tell- |ing a man of his troudles. The man says: “Here is a dollar. Go and get yourself fed up. Then come to my office. We'll have a little talk and I'll see what can be done for you.” That kind of thing happens often mn our crowded thoroughfares. Truth About Main Street. I have seen the long lines of the un- employed eating the bread of charity furnished by “the strong.” I have seen® the mills and factories bled white by keeping up the wage scale of unneeded men. I have seen the suffering of disap- pointed holders of stocks and bonds Wwhose interest had been spent to pre- vent unemployment. So I am not able to agree with Mr. Dreiser that the crowd at Fifty-seventh Broadway is like the hyenas and boa constrictors and lions of the Kongo. Sinclair Lewis of the new army is an artist for whose work I have a sincere admiration. It is a pity that he did not tell the whole truth about Main Street. I knew it well in my youth. The look of it was quite as drab ‘as he has drawn it, but below the surface was a beautiful spirit. Many men anad women in the town I knew were eating the bread of sacrifice and toiling beyond their strength to give thelr sons and daugh- ters an educaticn. After all, imperfect as it is, and rough and hard 8s my way has been, I like the world we live in. The great, vital things filled with the sacrifice and wisdom of the innumerable dead are not easilv moved. Even the conceit, the follies, the vanities, the wickedness of men con tribute to their strength. Their founde. tions are deep and wide. Above them the ages have slowly added their de¢ posits of wise revision which are llke the gigantic rules of geology. Races disintegrate, nations rise and fall, believer and unbeliever, saint ané scoffer go quickly to the ‘dust. The praying, the playing and the laughter sink into silence, but the stronghold of the ages still lifts its towers and stil's we hear the calling of its solemn bells. —_— Sermans Claim Hoover And Pershing Ancestors BERLIN, Germany.— More than £,000,000 Palatinate Germans and their descendants live in the United States, according to & special “America num- ber” just issued by the magazine Pfalz am Rhein. They include two especially distinguished men — President Herbert Hoover and Gen. John Pershing. ‘The cover page of the magazine has a picture of the Huberhoff in Ellerstadt, the old home of Andreas Huber, Presi- dent Hoover’s German ancestor. Post- master Meick of Ellerstadt, who discov- ered the location of the house, has written a_ special illustrated article sbout it. Mention is also made in the magazine of Friedrich Pfoersching, Gen. Pershing’s German ancestor, who em grated from the Palatis Philadel- Phia In 1732, a0 -