Evening Star Newspaper, October 11, 1931, Page 32

Old Potlikker Prosperity (Continued From Third Page.) for strong men, 50 one day a hundred or so farmers plodded through the | bo mud to England and demanded oor?‘l <;mm the local merchants. They got food—but did not by force from | the merchants. For the Red Cross was % liberal, the Federal Government chip- ped in with loans for seed and feed. and local charitable agencies contrib- uted until their coffers were empty. Spring came, and the catfish started biting. Turnip serds sprouted, and that * meant potlikker. Spring was followed by the best growing season in years, and in three months the Arkansas countryside resembled Washington Irv- ing's description of Herr Van Tassel’s homestead. Same With Other Towns. What happened in that Arkansas town, where there was a bread riot, is typical of what has taken place in every hamlet in the drought area of the Mississippi Valley. This has been a “live at home” Summer for the farm- ers, the first since ploneer days, when lack of transportation and distribution caused “store boughten” goods to be classed as luxurles. Dusty fruit jars, unused for years, have been brought out, scalded and filled with luscious uits and vegetables. Literally mil- jons of new jars have been bought. With the first touch of frost there will . be “hog killings.” “chitterling frys” and sausage stuffings, and the sharp odor of Sickory will ooze from the cracks of smokehouses, once conterted into two- car garages but now serving thel original purpose. There will not be uch use for Chicago-cured hams and cons in the back country this Fall. Local citizens, who last Winter helped the Red Cross with the burdensome task of distributing aid to unfortunates, have been deluged this last Summer with vegetables and fruit by these same erstwhile starvelings who now have gardens of their own. And now, as Winter approaches, the drought section is preparing to send t least a part of its surplus food to the relief agencies in the congested ers—in the South, at least—have formed a new conception of their trade. Perhaps it is because they have given up hope of being saved by legisla- tion and the products of the legisla- Itive bodies. But more likely the new conception is due to the fact that they are well fed for the first time in years. For until this year a garden on a cot- ton farm was the mark of its owner's eccentricity. Making a garden was a job for women and children after the day's labor in the cotton fields was lover, and tHe coanty agent's “live at home"” doctrine was just as much “high | falutin language from an expert who 'has never seen a farm before.” King Cotton has lost ground in favor of the lowly squash and the whippoor- | will pea now, and a wave of “potlik- Kker prosperity” is sweeping the land ! which this time last year was parched and bere. The farmers in the South have no money, but they are takini their troubles lightly, what with full stomachs and plenty of cornbread, hog jowls and turnip greens in the of- fing. A vear ago, the threat of 5 cent cotton would have thrown a funereal pall over any village in the cotton belt. Now it is different. The farmers ! meet 1n the town square and greet each | other with “I saw your name in the | paper.” this referring to the fact that | the land holdings of the greeted one | were advertised in the delinquent tax list of last week's county paper. | Broader Aspects and Future | If the farmer is inclined to take his | immediate troubles with a jest, it is no indication that he is not cas.ing & more ecarching eye on the broader aspects | of his profession and its future. The bdrought, the bank failures, the credit | collapse, and the ruinous cotton prices have taught him that he cannot go on forever as he has in the past. Looking around him for possible ways out, he now sees farming as a_mode of living rather than a way of making “big money.” He remembers that only in abnormal times has he made any “big money” out of his crops, and that this orofit was often consumed immediately |in paying for the food his family con- sumed quring the lean years. Calamities have sent the farmer bick to fundamentals. | of regarding his land much as the manufacturer does his factory, the farmer is beginning to look to his farm, first of all, for a “living.” Let profit come when it may. Farm experts sent into the cotton country years ago by centers of the North. Through the | local papers, farmers and townspeople alike are cautioned to can everything possible and not to waste even & scrawny beet, so that the surplus may be sent to centers which were so good to starving farmers last Winter. An Arkansas editor, perhaps boastingly, | cotton Instead Temarks thet “Arkansas should do its utmost to can and preserve as much | surplus food as possible, not necessa- rily for its own use—for apparently enough of that has been laid by—but to be turned over to relief organiza- tions at the proper time to relieve distress among the very people who last Winter contributed a portion of the money and food they then had so that their neighbors in Arkansas might not €0 hungry.” Caution Is Heeded. Throughout the section cursed by last vear's drought the caution Mas been heeded. Thos» in touch with the improved conditions in the farming sections speak of millions of cans when they talk about food preserved for home use during the coming Winter. Some idea of the surplus of canned goods now available in the drought section may be had from the current reports of the American Red Cross, been concerned both wit] gency measures necessary to tide the starving farmers over the Winter and their rehabilitation during the last Summer. Last Spring the Red Cross distrib- uted 610,000 packages of garden seed to 605,422 families in the drought area, and each package contained enough seed to plant a garden that would pro- vide fresh vegetables for a family of five through the Summer. This seed distribution has produced Tesults. “More gardens have been planted in the South than ever before in the historv of the country,” says John D. Cremer, ir.. acting director of the Red Cross disaster service. “Re- ports from our local chapters indicate that there is an abundance of fresh vegetables grown from these gardens in most sections of the drought area. Red Cross chapter workers in co-operation with home demonstration agents are now engaged in a program to encour- age farmers to can their surplus vege- tables, fruits and meats. Reports in- dicate that already several million jars of foodstuffs have been canned. “The educational value of this pro- &ram is very great. Farmers who here- tofore depended solely upon cotton or some other ‘cash crop’ for their liveli- hood are now raising a large portion of the food for their tables. Thus, if their income-producing crops should fail they would still have fresh vege- tables.” Aid of Red Cross. ‘This project has been participated in by a large number of the 1,100 chap. ters which gave drought relief, and the National Red Cross has furnished more than a million cans and glass jars, Thousands of volunteer workers, aided by the Department of Agriculture, Home Economics Bureau, and the State extension groups, have joined in the canning of donated surpluses, some- times by carload lots. Public stores of canned eatables have been produced, and these will be distributed to the needy this Winter, Department of Agriculture workers have for several years been placing emphasis on the need for the produr- tion of more food at home. and during the Summer the results of these teach- ings_have been accelerated “The 'live at home' campaign in North OCarolina last vear.” reports R. W. Dunlap. Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, “caused an increase in the value of food and feed which has been estimated at $20,000000. In Georgia the banker-farmer work this year has been devoted largslv to the production of food for the farm families. Similar educational programs are under way in other States, More than 350,000 farmers who recsived Government seed Ioans this year were required t» sign an agreement to plant a home garden before the loan was approved. Thes~ forces, together with the small amount of cash available among farmers and the extra supply of labor, T believe, have been respon- sible for this increase in home food production The Kentucky Agricultural Extension Service says that “no statistics can be had as to how many millions of cans are stored in the farm cellars of the State, but reports of county farm , agents and other observers indicate that no chances are being taken so far 2s the food supply is concerned for the Winter months. “County Agent W. C. Johnstone of McCracken County, Ky. reports that 22 carloads of fruit jars and 47 car- loads of tugar were received at Padu~ah during June, July ang August. Five hundred farm women attended demon- strations in cannine. . . . The story is almost the same for every county in the State.” As the Government and the var: charitable organizatiors face the Winter, it is somewhat helpful to know ! that those who were hardest hit during the last Winter are on the road to re- covery, if not fully rehabilitated. In fact, the indications are that the rural sections, although there is a scarcity of ready money, will be in much less need of relief than the cities. Farmer Far From Unhappy. Beset on all sides by calamity, drought, bank faflures.with attendant credit collapse, cotton prices that are the lowest in 20 years—the drought area farmer is far from unhanpy. For & time he was disgruntled. He heard farm belt legislators bellow forth in condemnation of the administration, the tariff, the Farm Board policy, Wall Street and 100 real or fancied enemies. Presently, the farmer b-gan to feel sorry for himself; he became quite con- vinced that his labor was not appre- ciated. The touted Indepencence of the esgrarian disappeared in a wave of self-pity, and the noble profession of farmi was denounced by the farmer himself as slavery. -Durink the last few months fém- ' the Federal and State Governments, are at last seeing their “Live at Home™ and diversified crop doetrines tried out. And they are working effectively. Just as the craze for excess profits has meant the death of many a busi- ness venture in recent years, the farm- er's inclination to attempt continually to reap gold from his fields often has resulted in his undoing. “Cotton crazy” was what the county agents said | about them even when cotton prices were high. Now the farmer agrees that he was “cotton crazy,” but he hns re- formed. And he gathers his crop of food first, feeds his family without go- ing to a grocery store except for coffes and sugar, and then looks to his cot- ton fields for his profits, if any. The South has never lacked for ex- amoles of good farming. In almost every community there have been in- dmiduals who have survived and “lived as they say in the Red River bot- Even the drought a year ago was ot much of a set-bick to Charley jHunter. Charley came to Glenwood, tArk, a good many vears ago, bought i himself a poor hill farm overlooking the | Caddo River and settled down for life. He rebuilt the already substantial farm house, bought a cow or two and planied a garden the first year. The Test of the place went in cotton. Bank Account Increase. | Charley raised cotton just three years, | that's all. Now. there isn't a cotton plant on the land, but every year | Charley’s bank account has shown & steady increase, Last year's drought |came, and Charley's crops were parched along with those of the whole countryside. He didn't grow a crop of anything except a few strawberries, which mature early in the Arkansas sunshine. Total receipts were not more | than $200. But when his neighbors flocked to Glenwood along in the next Spring to borrow money from the Gov- ernment to plant more cotton. Charley wasn't among them. He wasn't plant- ing any cotton. and anyway, he had calculated hazards in farming in his accounting, and his bank balance would take care of the lean year, or even vears, if necessary. The writer had & good country din- ner at Charley’s house a few weeks ago There was fried chicken, of course, and beaten biscuits, yellow yams and corn on the cob and to make it really look like Arkansas, a large dish of succulent turnip greens. flanked by cornbread. Charley took time out between bites to explain his plan of farming and to say | a few things about cotton farmers, par- | tieularly tenant farmers. 4 | First of all. Charley Hunter makes is farm a place on which to live. and he draws from it the major part of his | |sustenance, That's essential, he says. Outside of this, diversification of risks has been his greatest aid. Any one- crop farmer, Charley says. is bound to be a failure: the hezards are too great. The man who scatters his risks, cal- culates his markets with a fair degree of accuracy and takes advantage of co-operation in the marketing of his produce. makes money out of farming. The profits and the losses are propor- tionate to the amount of risk. Instead of raistng cotton, Charley raises a lot of things. In the early Spring there are strawberries, small garden vegetables and earlv fruits, raised in small quantities, but each contributing its share to the general coffer. The Summer finds him attend- ing to several other crops. Sometimes there may be tomatoes, if the forecast for the tomato market is good, or there may be cucumbers. or half a dozen other vegetables which may be ma keted in quantfties. On top of it all, there are the staples—corn, apples, sweet potatoes, cantaloupes, cowpeas, hay and fodder. The by-products, which in some years assume the role of mainstays. are poultry. eggs. butter and milk. Cows and chickens consume the surplus grains and feedstuffs that he doesn’t sell to cotton farmers who grow | none of them. Some Crops Thrive. If it is a bad year for some crops, others thrive and make a small profit, It s extremely unlikely that any one year will see a faflure in all, as oc- curred in 1930 But Charley has cal- culated these losses in neatly written figures on his ledger sheets, and they are taken care of by contributions from the rich years. Charlev holds that every farmer should ltke his job—or cease to be a farmer. The rewards of farming. when mezsured in dollars and cents, are not attractive, he savs, but add to freedom and indenendence, ve foy of taking things from the esrth. the absence of time clocks end fastery -lay-offs, and there is a dtferant storv Contrast Charlev Hinter with any “all eotton”farmer. It isn't hard to for until a year ago there were { thousands in Arkansas alone. One ~omes to mind, a of the Old South who had been. until the disastrous events df 1930 laid him low, farming |In the Red River bottoms of Lafayette |County, Arkansas, for many years. He inherited nearly a thousand acres of jfich lend which his grandfather had wrested from a river bottom jungle, |¥y2ars ago. He continued his father's thods, kept his place filled with |tenants ‘who werz given a_ percentege | of the cotton they raised. He “furnich- ed" these tenants with provisicns from the form store which he maintained. He discouraged gardens—that meant |less trada for the store. He loaned his !tenants morney, they bought focd with the loans, and th» proprietor made {money two ways. It is the a-copted |method, even now, in the cotion | country. | This type of farming took money |and necessitated frequent trips to the local bank, which never turned down & mortgage on the rich land, at the THE maximum rate of interest. Of course, the proprietor made money when cot- ton was high—lots of money, but this went back into clearing more land and planting more cotton. His tenants neglected even to raise enough hay to feed the stock used in tilling the cotton flelds, and during the Winter the mules ate hay pur- chased from a neighbor. There were no cows or chickens, and consequently no_milk, except canned cream for coffee from the commissary. Vege- tables were almost unknown on the plantation, and the Negroes subsisted chiefly on cornbread and fat sides of pork, also bought at the farm store. Every poor cotton year—and there have been many in the last 20 years in the cotton country—the bank took % piece of the land. Last year saw the last plece pass from the family. The tenants came into the neighboring town of Lewisville to get a few clothes and a little garden seed from the Red ross, and enough food to keep them and their families until Spring and turnip time. The plantation owner himself saved enough from the catastrophe to buy a few acres of hill land and three or four Jersey COWS. Now he is milking the cows, raising enough feed for them and their off- spring and selling the milk to the townspeople. The surplus he sells as butter fat to a neighboring creamery, and he says he makes more real money than he ever did raising cotton. He has a garden now; as have his erst- while tenants. The farm has been divided up by the local bank and sold, mainly to the tenants, but the mort- gage in each case specifies that only a certain ferunnge of the land is to be planted in cotton. The rest must go_for sustenance. Farm experts in the cotton country calculate that the drought, although it has caused untold suffering among the farmers, is really a blessing in out. They are havin, Fall to find out just % ow much their SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D, C, OCTOBER 11, The Road t pupils have learned, and the effects of | the expensive lesson are everywhere ! apparent. Perhaps the most far-reaching effect of the thing is the beginning of the dissolution of the tenantry system, long the curse of the South. There seems to be no other way out. Corporate farming will not work in the cotton country. The land is not rich enough, and the terrain is too irregu- lar. The plant cannot be cultivated by machinery to any great extent. That is, there has never been any satisfactory means invented for chopping cotton to replace the familiar advancing line of Negro cotton choppers. Cotton picking machines may work well in west Texas where the staple is dry and comes easily out of the boll, but the sogi cotton of the MI«:-Bomh does not yield to such treatment. Labor is cheap, so cheap that last Summer cotton field hands made 75 cents a day and, for the most part, were glad to get it. But it is a labor that is little accustomed to machinery though it has been for generations accustomed to manipulating the most exasperating of all farm machines— the cotton fleld mule. Tractors and cultivators, however, are something else again. As the Southern farmer “kicks over the traces” against the tenantry sys- tem, there are likely to be improve- ments along other lines as well. May- be there will be better public health and educational facilities. Perhaps the “town and country” feeling will dis- appear when the farmer learns that all “city slickers” do not mean him harm. At least one thing is certain. They won't be hungry down in Arkansas this Winter, and they are already mak- ing preparations not to be hungry next wfn?er. There is a comfortable feel- ing abroad In the land. “Potlikker prosperity” has taken hold with a ven- geance. It is extremely unlikely that return. (Continued From Third Page.) T. Robinson. The Illinois delegation will come committed either to Senator Jahes Hamilton Lewis or to Chicago Banker Melvin A. Traylor, probably, as it now seems, the latter. ‘The aggregate of these and some oth- ers would be more than enough to “hold Roosevelt,” as the saying is. If Gov. Roosevel fortunes continue to go as favorably as they have so far, probably most of tnese States and their favorite sons will assent to his nomina- tion. But if anything happens in the meantime to impair Roosevelt'’s avail- abllity; if, for example, some develop- ment about Tammany should become an obvious handicap to him, in that event the united strength of these favo- rite son delegations will be available to give effect to the judgment of the lead- ers that the party had better nominate somebody other than Roosevelt, Roosevelt and Roosevelt's friends cannot very well stop this favorite son development. He is a little short of which would cause the people in Mis- souri, for example, or in any of the oth- er favorite son States, to rise up and say, in effect, that some of these favorite son candidates are “phony” and that the State ought to get behind Roose- velt. Something of that kind happened in connection with the first nomination of Woodrow Wilson. On that occasion, in 1912, Wilsen acquired such momen- tum and such popular favor that the Democratic voters in some States threw over the local “favorite son” program and sent delegations directly loyal to Wilson. Rcosevelt, in the present cam- paign, has not as yet acquired enough popular strength to bring this about. Code of Politics Holds. It is also true, as the code of politics goes, that Roosevelt cannot encourage | State rebellions against favorite sons, About this sort of thing there is an unwritten law that no candidate can afford to flout When Senator Jim Reed of Missouri, for example, says that he would like to have the dele- gates from that State, Roosevelt and the managers of Roosevelt’s campaign and Roosevelt's followers within the State made haste to bow to the situa- tion. They may feel perfectly cer- tain, as practically every observer feels certain that Reed is not a real can- didate, in the national sense; that Reed hasn't the faintest chance of getting the nomination for President, and that probably Reed himself so understands. Nevertheless, if so eminent a Democrat in any State as Reed is in Missouri feels that he wants to take the State delega- tion to the national convention for the purpose of influence upon the platform, or of influence upon the nomination— in that state of affairs the rigidly ob- served rule is that any candidate out- side the State is careful to keep hands off. The public may not see why it should be so, but the politicians know the rule and abide by it as one of the strict canons of their calling To “buck” Reed in Missouri or any other “favorite son” in any other State Arouses resentments too perilous to per- mit. There is a sense of fraternity among politiclans about this sort of thing. Reed, instead of having, per- haps, a passive attitude toward Roose- velt. would at once become the New York Qovernor's determined enemy. Other favorite sons would unite with him in the sense of fraternity. Other leaciers, little local county leaders, would feel that the invader of a favor- ite son’s State does not quite “play the ame.” o Ih short, Roosevelt and Roosevelt's managers are cbliged to let the favorite son play go on. Not all of it is mere litical stage-play. ~Some of the avorite sons are perfectly sincere and completely determined, and even per- fectly hopeful candidates. Unless Roose- velt should become so popular and acquire so much momentum as to cause large bodies of voters in some States to upset the favorite son program, it will result that the aggregate of all the favorite son delegations will be enough to hold a veto power over Roosevelt thirds to nominate. Roosevelt has one real risk. The active, directing leaders of the Demo- cratic party are determined to make Favorite Sons Among Obstacles Yet to Be Crushed by Roosevelt the platform completely wet, 100 per ____(Continued From First Page.) been partially taken care of elsewhere; therefore Europe overreached and much | more was made than had been lost. War Created Extravagance ‘The war accustomed people to spend- ing foolishly large amounts of money to carry it on; far from being an edu- cation in restriction, the war led people to waste. The general trend toward democracy accentuated this tendency; after so much suffering and so meny dangers, the masses of the {beovle quite naturally desired to profit at once and lead a happier life without wait- lnf, 2s in the past, for the gradual de- velopment of the hypothetical promises f & better world. As many countries were living on their capital, the gen- eral impression was one of superabund- ance. The atmosphere of expansion dominated the entire period immediate- ly following the war, and this developed under the urge of inflation. Inflation furnished the means for spending without thought formidable sums which seemed fantastic cven be- fore experience proved that they did not really exist. Ruined countries expanded through the inflation of paper, and rich coun- tries through the inflation of gold, but both of them developed simultaneously an unhealthy purchasing power. The crisis of 1921, which was quickly regu- lated before reconstruction took place, obscured the fever of inflation and produced only a partial return to nor- mal, allowing war-time financial meth- ods to continue—and in spite of every- thing prices remained at too high a level. Every one believed the war had disguise, and so it is really working |the populace as a whole would like the 'been liquidated, when actually it had a chance this old days of “all cotton and no corn” to | not been: afterward—that liquidation is really in the process of being finally effected. Inflation Stemmed. A moment did arrive, however. when inflation was stemmed and then ar- rested—in short. there was a definite turning point. Between 1914 and 1930 all or nearly all the powers returned to a normal monetary regime—Eng- land in 1925, France in 1928. The re- it is only now—10 years| turn of the pound to dollar par in 1025, a parity that has just been aban- doned, without doubt marked the de- cisive moment. The spirit of inflation ceased to dominate, though it still sur- vived a long time in a number of countries. It was at about this period that we cent wet. These leaders will com- | mand—as respects this one question, though not as respects the nomination —a full half of the delegates. And as respects platform, the majority rules. ‘The time will surely come when the Democratic leaders who think this way having that degree of popular strength | in a convention in which it takes two- | will demand & heart-to-heart talk with Roosevelt. They will ask him if he, with his following in the convention, is wiling to let the platform be as wet as the wet leaders want it. They will ask him if he is willing to take the nomination on a platform thus wet. Roosevelt's answer to that question will be important. If he shies away from having the platform wet, many of his own delegates may step out from under him. e very heart of Roose- | velt's strength, the big delegations that | are for him, come from territory that is extremely wet—New York., Massachu- | setts, Pennsylvania. Refusal by Roose- velt to be as wet as these wet States | wish might lcse him the most loyal of his supporters. —unless the wringing wet leaders and the wringing wet delegates should con- clude that success is preferable to wet- ness, that getting a Democrat into the White House is more desirable than any particular brand of wetness in the party platform. If, as the Democratic convention meets next June, the pros- pect seems distinctly favorable to emocratic success in the ensuing | election. in that event the wets who are | now determined to have a 100 per cent | wet platform, may lose their ardor in the prospect of party success, and may | abandon their hfht for a wet platform in the interest of avoiding a party row. In politics, prospect of success, expecta- | tion of office and power, is a powerful | denaturant of convictions, however strongly held. ‘The other alternative, dangerous to Roosevelt, lies in the possibility of the wet leaders demanding that the plat- form be completely wet and of Roose- velt consenting. If he consents to a wet plant. a plank as wet as Chairman Rasksb has been planning, in that event the New York Governor will en- counter serious defections in the dry South. Most of the Southern dry lead- ers favor Roosevelt and substantially all | of them are willing to have him as the candidate. Many indeed are enthusias- tic for him. They know he is wet, but not offensively wet. If, however, Roose- velt under pressure from the aggres- sive wet leaders in the Northern cities, | should consent to have the Raskob wet plank in the platform—that would be extremely disturbing to the spirits of some of the Southern dry leaders now loyal to him. There is one other danger to /elt, & comparatively small one, the “money 'question” is t, osev pparently likely to figure in next year's political | picture in both parties. "It is possible that in the West there may arise, as there arose in 1896, a demand for some kind of cheap money. About money or silver, or perhaps on some £ubject other than currency, there may arise a considerable body of radical sentiment in the West where farm mortgages and other forms of debt are burdensome. The Western wing of the Democrats may be more radical than Roosevelt is willing to be. and more radical than New York is willing to agree to. Such a development might lead to embarrassment to Roosevelt. The net of it all is, though, that nothing succeeds like success. Roose- velt goes steadily on toward the Demo- | cratic nomination. After he has gone | & little farther, local county leaders | everywhere, potential delegates, are | likely to feel that the invincible pro- cession has begun and that they had | best jump on the bandwagon while | seats are to be had. | ~Also, in another sense, success breeds | succes Practically all Democratic | leaders believe, as of today, whether | they are right or wrong, that their | party is sure to win next year's elec- | tion. Thinking that, they will go a long | way toward sinking their convictions, ‘flvolmng rows and letting the nomina- | tion go to the obvious man. Repub- | licans” would do that certainly. Demo- crats have tradition to the contrary. But the urge toward harmony, a color- i less platform on prohibition, and Roose- | velt as the candidate will be very | strong. F ranco-liritish Talk ___(Continued From Third Page.) French and the British seem to have felt that the issue should not be unduly prolcnged, but should be regulated one way or the other as soon as possible. Will Confer First on Arms. 4. Disarmament. The two countries seemed to have agreed, at leest so far as Lord Reading wes able to commit himzelf, that neither will take any im- portant initiative regarding the fcrth coming disarmament conference With- out first consulting the other. 5. Treaty revision. This subject was not deeply argued. The British seem to have agreed with the French that, in any case, the present is not a suitable time for reopening this question. 6. Bimetallism and a possible silver conference. The British seem to de- sire such a conference, which they feel would help particularly international trade with China and India. also has been a suggestion that a wider use of silver money would help to com- ensate for what the British claim to e a world shortage of gold. Paris Opposes Bimelallism, The French are opposed to bimetal- li'm. They are willing to discuss the silver question, but refuse to admit that there is not enough gold in the world. Their thesis is that there is plenty of gold and (hltge present, unequal distribution is merely umx due largely pestus] \ rary, to political ‘There | s Between Laval And Lord Reading Held Good Augury | tions which have destroyed confidence in certain countries. | 7. Plans for & protective tariff in | Great Britain, if the Conservatives win | the elections. The French said that | such a tariff would pe a heavy blow to French trade and would oblige France to try to protect itself in some way. Lord Reading seems to have promised, | as far as it lay In his power, that he | would try to prevent anything like dis- | crimination against French goods. Pound Sterling Discussed. 8. Stabilization of the pound sterling. The French said that fluctuations of ‘the pound are causing disturbances in | foreign trade everywhere, while the fall of the pound has been almost equiva- lent to a high tariff against French goods in Great Britain, M. Laval ex- pressed the hope that Great Britain will stabilize the pound at some suitable | level as quickly as possible and said that when the time comes France is ready | and eager to help Great Britain with | eredits, especially if the United States | is willirg to do likewise. Lord Reading thanked M. Laval and said that it is too soon to answer the question when the pound shall be stabi- | lized. It is necessary first to await the | outzome of the elections. Even then it will perhaps be found best to allow the pound to find its own patural level before stabilizing it, rather than to risk failure through overhaste. Copyrighty 193L) Unless—and this is distinctly possible | began to notice the tendency which had existed for some time, as mentioned above, which led to the persistent low- ering of values; an adyentitious and transient smoke screen nished and this tendency came to light. The re- birth and presperity in the United States about 1925 not accompanied by an augmentation of prices, which I remember Astonished me very much— for T was in America at that time. Since then, if one studies the curve of wholesale prices over a long period, one easily sees them constantly moving toward ‘a reduction—a phenomenon which would have seemed impossible at the end of the war. Today some products are even below the current prices of 1914. ‘The tendency of gold to recover its | former purchasing power, which it had | largely lost in 1920, at this time seems | irresistible. It is like a strong ebb tide | which draws down the price. (Continued From First Page.) his imperturbability—and he has often been tried. His appearance of a powerful and aggressive personality is distinctly mod- ified as soon as he begins to speak. You expect deep tones. a slow, deliberate utterance. But what you hear is a thin, high-pitched voice, coming oddly from such a man, and, on most occasions, a rapid delivery. Has the London Accent. The accent has puzzied Americans. One, sitting alongside me at a dinner at which Stamp was speaking, found it difficult to follow him and asked. in a whisper. if he were Welsh. I enlight- ened him. It was the voice of a Lon- doner born and bred—the true London accent. One may observe in parenthe- sis that Oxford, which has a celebrated accent of its own, does not care so {much for the London accent. He is no orator. He makes occasional addresses, but no one can say that they are popular. He lacks a magnetic per- sonality. He has a habit of packing his sentences full of meat, so that the verage mortal continually rrest him, to say, “Stop a bit, loosen up that statement. explain how, why.” He puts in one surcharged paragraph |what a popular expositioner would take a volume to deal with He is, practically, never wrong. As much cannot be said for some econo- mists. But Stamp is one of the few who follow politics, know politicians (and include the political factor in their |calculations. He never denounces. He has no prejudices. Communism or cap- !pointing out reasonably the advantages \and disadvantages of each as a system | designed to preserve man’s conquests in all realms to date and to advance thence to higher levels. Scores Monetary Fluctuations. he will not reply in patriotic accents. He detaches the whole proposition from its national base and makes it part of a world problem and an integral link in the chain which binds modern civiliza- ticn together. “The greatest influence tending to disintegrate society is the lack of a fixed standard of value. The which he approaches the problem. One of his most important ideas is that the need of the hour is not for new greater, more widely spread knowledge of economics. Unless the knowledge of economics is extended and popularized, he is convinced that our economic s0- clety will slip out of control and smash. Economics came to his own attention because it was presented to him in an examination he had entered. He dis- covered that he had a natural craving for this subject and so he went on with it. If he had remained in the state service his general use would have been considerably restricted, but he had at- tracted the attention of the world of big business during the war by a re- ! markable feat which displayed his pro- i found knowledge and understanding of the workings of industry and the fac- tors which influence business. Devised Excess Profits Tax. He devised the excess profits duty scheme, whereby profits beyond a cer- tain figure made by business in war time were appropriated by the state. Having devised the scheme, he con- trolled and operated it. Nor was he lenient with the big corporations, for it is one of his axioms as a tax expert that while heavy taxation is a great drag on production by individuals and cn savings by individuals, it is not much of a drag on production by companies or_collective savings by companies. It was the directors of Nobel Indus- tries, the big explosives concern, who prized him out of the state service. They invited him to become their chief. He accepted and left bureaucracy for private env.erpfl)u. ‘This was in 1919, when he was 40. It was a new epoch in big business. ge-scale reorganizations were under Iway. The bankers knew that reorgani- i zation was necessary, but were at sea about the ways, means and men. The Bank of England got itself an economic adviser from America. Big business ex- ccutives had to rely more and more on ‘pale professors of ecoromfes and weazened wenasels of research. Even ciplomats found themselves adrift in the new world and had to rope in ac- countants and like specialists to advise them in negotiations. Lloyd e sent a5 Ambassador cokun the astute scif-made Ainancies, Disbernon. When Britain Calls Expert wants to | italism—he will discuss either calmly, | Ask him about the pound sterling and | fluctuations of money values are a real | peril to society.” This is the angle from | scientific discoveries, but for a | 1931—PART TW. o Normaley ‘The cycle of prosperity begun in 1925 was, however, not justified. The rea- sons for that are clear. The farmers and producers of raw materials in every country had become enriched during the great war; in addition, a large number of people who had re- m:fned neutral became rich by selling ! arms and munitions to the belligerents. | At the same time, reconstruction and the development of new plant and equipment provoked a feverish atmos- phere of activity; the immense prog- ress in technique, as well as the as. tonishing amount of “rationalization, increased the efficlency of production to proportions that were unheard of up to that time, and inspired a great amount of general enthusiasm. Men—above all, the Americans— seemed to fo that they were mortals, and that human nature carries | with it strict limitations. Consumption Falls Off. | ‘The hour had to come when the consumer proved unable to keep up with a production that was moving at a glant's pace, and which had re- sponded up till then to what was, on lg‘: ‘whole, exceptional demand. ‘The first signs of fatigue showed themselves in the United States to- ward the end of 1927: the financial reports at the end of that year left no doubt in this regard. Nevertheless, rosperity was to last nearly two years longer. Several causes retarded the advent of the depression, even thoigh it virtually had arrived; one can note, for ex- ample, the prevalence of installment buying, which, in mortgaging the future, reduced unduly the hypothetical | receipts of the future. And, more im- | portant, one must mention speculation, | which increased the general purchasing |power, even though the profits in | reality were fictitious. Without the election of Mr. Hoover at the end of | | 1928, which unlatched this orgy of | ?erullunn. the depression would eI | leclared itself sooner. Loewenstein Fall Significant. ‘The fall of Loewenstein from his air- plane in July, 1923, seems to me a | symbolic date. ‘Today all the fictitious part of the | purchasing power of buyers of the |world has vanished. The fall of farm product prices, more accentuated than |that of manufactured goods, seriously | diminished the capacity for absorption |of those countries that live off the |land. ‘The soporific effect of credits |and the increase of values no longer |sufficed to revive them. Thus the ex- | cessive and artificial extension of their machinery and equipment in the in- | dustrial countries, passionately in- |creased since the war, appears in a | crude light. A painful contraction is therefore | necessary and it will conform to the |law of the survival of the fittest: and | with this in view Europe, well prepared by her long supremacy, should justify her right to live in the presence of young rivals who pretend to usurp her place; it s a chapter in the revolt of young industrial continents against those of the old. The incubation riod of this de- pression was very long. 1t would per- | haps be imprudent to hope, in spite | of encouraging signs, that it can be cured too quickly. | The clever lawyer, the former favorite | of high finance. had proved inadequate in the changed conditions of the world. | Stamp was one of the few men who | measured up to the new needs. | Britain Turns to Stamp. Once he had been dislodged from the treasury, a run started on his services. | The League of Nations wanted a report on double taxation. Stamp wrote a | report, which is the standard work on | | the subject. The London School of Economics needed a governor. They ot Stamp to take the post. The gov- ernment wanted a man to co-operate with Dawes on the committee to ascer- tain Germany's capacity to pay repara- tions and devise means of payment They lassoed Josiah Stamp. More and | more the government, bewildered by the conflicting voices of bankers, in- | dustrialists, professors, protectionists, | free traders and what not. sought sci- | entific minds which could assemble | views as a judge assembles evidence | and pronounce "a judgment in ac- | cordance with broad economic facts, | and more and more Stamp was called | in to advise the statesmen. Nobel Industries went into the merger which formed the Imperial Chemical Industries. the biggest industrial com- bine in Britaln. Stamp was brought | into the new board. At the same time | the biggest of the railioad groups, the L. M. S. capitalized at $1.200.000,000 and controlling the main network run- | ning north to south through the island, | was’ casting around for a new chief | executive. It was a $75000-a-year job and all the big railway men were after |it. But Stamp, as a result of the | chemical merger, now had no more | leisure. The raiiway chiefs came and | asked him what he knew about rail- roads. He smiled his wide vet con- tained smile. ‘“Nothing.” he saild. So they made him president of the L. M. S. He still is. His use to political leaders was in- evitably enlarged by these activities end experiences. He was not merely an_ academician; nor had he the de- partmental official's mind. He had tested his theories in action. qualified his doctrines by including the human equation. On the peaks of big busi- ness he wes not immured in that little, aloof world. Through the building so- ciety he headed he was in contact with the small investor, the small man and woman who works and saves, the back- bone of any country. He knew not only the mentality of labor, but what labor was up to and the stuff its lead- ers were made of. The railwaymen's leaders oriented him there. Deals Aloofly With Facts. In fact, when I once wanted Jim ‘Thomas, the rallwaymen's chief, to talk about & big industrial peace move- ment, I had some difficulty in prevent- ing that shrewd and genial labor leader from sending his secretary to call back Josiah Stamp.: Stamp had been closeted with him and Stamp, in- sisted Thomas, was better qualified to talk about this subject than he was. But I knew that Thomas would be oratorical snd emit rhythmic periods, while Stamp would talk in hard, sci- entific terms, if he talked at all—and as I wanted this thing dealt with in human terms, and picturesquely, with a touch of color, I vetoed Stamp and held Thomas to the task. Talking with Stamp, one is liable to be struck with the finality of his mind. v | |and that we have got our sense of and unsympathetic? All these questions 1 values lop-sided. | must be cleared up before selective Once, asked if he belleved in personal | breeding is undermr*n. ‘There is no immortality, he said that he most cer-| body of men at present fit to be trusted tainly did,” despite the fact that no| scientific evidence for the belief ex-| isted, and that sclence had nothing really to say about it one way or the other. But it seemed to him that both philosophy end intuition were in favor of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul: and a theory that conflicts with intuition or common sense has not much real power. He illustrated by a personal experience: ‘When he was a student he thought that science involved determinism, and he could see no answer to the scientific arguments. 1In fact, he forced himself to believe in determinism—or, at any rate, he tried to. But his common sense rebelled against the theory. Although it seemed unanswerable he could not help feeling that it was all nonsense. It so outraged his common sense that he really could | not believe it. “Thus,” he concluded, “common sense saved me—as it 50 often does | save people.” And he went on to ob- serve that nowadays the doctrine of determinism has not the force it used to have, and through the fundamental ideas of physics itself it seems quite untenable. People’s minds have been liberated by new ideas—the notion of the fourth dimension, for example, and the widespread interest in spiritualism —ideas which have revolutionized the mind and made an entirely new outlook possible. His fundamental ideas about taxa- tion and debt redemption are inevitably affected by his conviction that the m- dividual Iife has rights of its own. He does not agree with the notion that man's whole purpose is to serve the next generation—that is, to find the meaning of life in a goal which per- petually recedes. “We ought not to be content with a purely personal de- | “Each individ- | velopment,” he says. ual's life is partly a means to an end and partly an end in itself.” Appraises Eugenics. His studies of mankind, his ironical sense of the follies of Individuals and of the conglomerate masses of men who comprise sovereign states have moved him to think about the schemes cf e genics to bring about a better futu: race by selective breeding. His sturdy/ there are various kinds of it—of tho: with the power of molding the race.” In his philosophy suffering, which he | finds sometimes beneficant and some- |times gratuitous and evil, does ned negate the not. of a fundamental pur- pese. He believes in a scheme of things | beyond the power of human under- | standing, and when presented with the | awkward question of the existence of suffering in relation to the idea of life | being purposeful he telis himself that it may be impossible to bring results about without suffering, and so thinking he consoles himself and preserves his im- | plicit faith, He seces that while mankind has pro- gressed economically and spiritually, in the sense there is' no longer the great gap that used to exist between the rich and the poor in essential matters, still there are disintegrating tendencies in society, and to understand these you ! have to come back to eccnomics. Holds Economics Essential. Economics, he insists and reiterates, is the thing now. Right thinking about | economics “alone’ cagy save our civiliza- |tion. Energy, if necessary, should be abstracted from other pursuits to pro- vide economics with smore first-class minds to work out the science of the subject. He thinks science could stay put for another 20 years. We can get on with what we know. But greater knowledge of economics is a world ne- cessity. He would like to see a horde of popularizers impressing the impor- tance of economic principles on the public. Unless this great effort of un- derstanding is made he foresees that our economic soclety, abruptly grown so much more complex, presently will be {more than man has ideas to control. ‘This seems to have been the secret of the fate of Rome. Meantime he thinks that the present cepitalistic system, despite many seri- ous drawbacks, gives economic rewards on the whole to those who fulfill eco- nomic wants. Men who maks money do, on the whole, produce something that is wanted, although whether the public should nt the things produced is anothgr matter. | Indeed, he thinks we have got our sense of values lopsided. Money wealth is not everything: and as for poverty ught, common sense plays like a searchlight | of resource, of leisure, of culture. One of over the whole possibility—takes it up, | the needs of a feverish, hurried, nerve- looks at it searchingly from all angles | strained age is that men should realize for a penetrating insiant and drops it | that there are other values outside the with a laconic yet entirely adequate |limited circle, for instance, of the man comment. | who sits in an office all week and can “Eugenics is in its infancy. We have | think of nothing better to do on Sun- to find cut, first of all, what human | the inspection. There is a sort of passive inevitability about the man which makes his re- marks sound like those one might ex- pect to fall from the lips of some extraterritorial being dispassionately locking at mankind. But that is when his brain is busy with facts, known data. He will not then introduce specu- lation. He has no use for theories. But get him off facts, away from the logical examination of a basic situation, and you will find that he has a broad basic philosophy against which he measures his conclusions. He has thought deeply about life, the worth- while things, the relative values of this and that form of human aspiration, or- ganization and activity. And it is this intellectual and humane background which makes his opinions welcome to politicians who cannot stand the ordinary cold and inhuman scientist who despises the looseness and emotion- alism of politics and shows it. He believes that behind all phenome- na lies a purpose, but tnat man’s whole purpose is not to serve the next gen- eration. He laughs at the idea that mathematical proof is the only kind of proof, admitting the profound con- ind Teligious experiences, o ‘thinks Tel ces, He that the present system of rewards and discouragements has serious drawbacks, qualities are desirable before we apply ways and means of getting them. The matter is very complicated. What is in- telligence, for example? There are va rious forms of it. And certain moral cualities are thought desirable by some people and undesirable by others. Is humanitarianism desirable, for example? Might it not be better for the long run bi‘legically if we made ourselves hard District Nat Maj. Gen. Paul B. Mafone, U. 8. A, commanding the 3d Corps Area of the United States Army. with headquar- ters at Baltimore, Md. Friday after- noon paid a formal visit to brigade headquarters here and held a confer- ence on local Guard matters with Maj. Gen. Anton Stephan, who commands the local Militia brigade. as well as the citizen troops of this city and Mary- land and Virginia, which comprise the 29th National Guard Division. According to present plans Gen. Ma- lone is scheduled to visit the Sixth Street Armory again next Tuesday night, when he will inspect the armory and also will inspect the troops on the drill field in the Mall. Organization commanders were instructed to pre- pare their quarters and personnel for They were told to pre- pare and maintain their organization and organization's equipment in the proper condition for such a visit. Spe- cial attention is urged in the matter of rendering proper honors when the corps area commender visits the quar- ters. Lieut. Col. Charles B. Elliott, who re- cently was relieved as senior Regular Army instructor of the local National Guard and sent to Fort George G. Meade. Md., will return to the city Wednesday night to be the guest of honor of the officers of the local Mili- tia at a buffet supper, which will be tendered him in the Sixth Street Arm- ory. The committee in charge is com- posed of Col. J. W. Oehmann. com- manding the 12ist Regiment of Engi- neers; Lieut. Col. Peyton G. Neviit, Adjutant General's Department, and Maj. E. H. Grove, commanding the special troops. 20th Division Three enlisted members of the local Guard have been authorized by brigade headquarters to take the competitive examinations. to be held by the United States Civil Service Commission on Oc- tober 31, for the selection of one man for appointment from the local Militia to the West Point Military Academy. Those who have been authorized to date are: Richard Rothwell, 712 Thir- teenth street southeast, attached to the Headquarters Detachment, 29th Divi- sion; Prvt. John A. Wildrick. 2800 On- tario road, attached to Company D. 121st Engineers, and Prvt. William G Hipps, 2113 O street, also attached to Company D. The successful candidate at the pre- liminary examination will be required to take the regular entrance tests for admission to the academy. Only en- listed men of the Guard are eligible to take the examination. Four organizations in the local Guard mustered sufficient men at their drill last week to be placed in the clas- sification of superior in attendance. They, with their respective percent- ages, follow: 20th Division, Milital Police Company, 94.73; State Detach- ment, 94.73; Headquarters Detach- ment, 20th Division, 93.18: Medical Department Detachment, 121st Engi- neers, 90. The other units, in their respective classifications, follow, with their per- centages. in their relative order: Excellent: Headquarters Detach- ment, Special Troops, 29th Division, 87.50; Medical Department Detach- ment, 260th Coast Artillery, 84.6: Company A, 372d Infantry, 80.88. Very satisfactory: Battery E, 260th Coast Artillery, 77.42; Headquarters Detachment and Combat Train, 260th Coast Artillery, 76.47; Band, 121st En- gineers, 74.: Battery B, 260th Coast Artillery, 74.13; Company E, 121st En. gineers, 71.42; Company C, 121st En gineers, 71.42. Satisfactory: Headquarters Service Company, 121st Engineers, 67.85; Battery A, 260th Coast Artil- lery, 65. Unsatisfactory: Company D, 121st Engineers, 571.81; Company B, 12Ist Engineers, 57.37; Company A, 121st Engineers, 53.22; Battery C, 260th Coast _Artillery, 5246; Company F, 1218t Engineers, 50 The following have been ord-red transferred from the active to the re- serve lists of their respective com- mands for the reasons given: Educational interference with the performance of military duty: Privates, George P. Delaney, Medical Department Detachment, 121st Engineers; Bernard J. Cassassa, Albert I. Hawn and Adam G. Mouton, all of the Headquarters and Service Company, 121st _Engineers; Marion W. Chinn, Eugene S. Petrenko, Norman R. Pond, Paul A. Simpson, John D. Battle, jr.; Augustine J. Bres- nahan, Alex D. Goodkowitz and Robert G. Lamasure, all of Company E, 121st Engineers. - Business interference with the per- formance of military duty: Privates, Jordin J. Little, 29th Division, Military Police Company; Harry E. Finley and Lester E. Oliff, both of the Headquar- ters and Service Company, 121st Engi- neers. Prvt. John ‘G, Barbers has been transferred from the reserve to the ac- :&n list of tl ;{e.:dqunmn and Serv- Oxders recenuly and Engineers. to lssued . traveferzing ters | days than dash about in an automobile, & distraction which belongs to the same class of values which conditions his ordinary life—swift movement merely being the opposite of sitting still. Other values are to be found in such things as poetry, philosophy, history, religion, beauty, great music. We have litlle enough opportunity, he remarks somewhat sadly, to cultivate these cases in man's life on earth. ional Guard | Prvt. George McMahon from the active to the reserve list of Company P, 121st Engineers, have been revoked. | The following of Company B, 121st Engineers, have been honorably dis- | charged on account of removal from the District: Prvt. (First Class) Joseph M. Catchings &nd Prvt. Edward F. Rhodes. Private Harry X. Schwartz has been transferred from the Reserve to the active list of Battery B, 160th Coast Artillery. The Militia Bureau of the War De- partment has announced that, consistent with the economy program, National Guard officers of the Infantry branch will not be authorized to aftend re- fresher courses at the Infantry School, Fort Benning, Ga. It was added that the same policy will prevail in all other branches of the National Guard, in so far as refresher courses are concerned. Maj. Gen. Willlam G. Everson. chief of the Militia Bureau. has informed the chief of Infantry of the Army that ap- propriations at present available for the detail of National Guard officers to the regular service schools are insufficient to take care of the large number of ap- plicants among guardsmen, and that it is impracticable to divert any of these funds for refresher students. Gen. Everson, it is stated. also feels that at the present time it is economi- cally inexpedient to seek an increase in the” appropriations necessary to _take care of scnding National Guard officers to attend the refresher courses. While enlisted men of the National Guard may wear “slacks” or long pants with their uniforms. the chief of the Militia Bureau has ruled they must provide them at their own expense. There are none for gratuitous issue. Staff Sergt. Albert T. King, Head- quarters and Service Company, 121st Engineers. has been promoted to the rank of master sergeant, and assigned to duty as regimental personnel sere geant. Pvt. Ernest S. Atchison, Headquarters and Service Company, has been pro- moted to the rank of staff sergeant and assigned to duty as sergeant major of the 1st Engineer Bat(alion. Pvt. John T. O'Neill has been pro- moted to first sergeant of Company F, 121st Engineers, upon the recommenda~ tion of the company commander. Pvt. Herman T. Harris, Ordnance | Department. State Detachment. has been honorably discharged on account | of removal from the city. | The 1st and 2d Companies, Gover- nor's Foot Guard, and the Putnam Pha- lanx, also known as the Headquarters | Detachment, 43d Division, and State Detachment. _ Connecticuf National | Guard, have been authorized to pass | through the city, bearing arms, while en route to participate in the festivities at Yorktown, October 17 to 20, accord- ing* to information received by the 16- | cal brigade headquatters. | First Sergt. Errest 8. Atchison, Com- | pany F, 121st Engireers, has been trans- | ferred in the grade of private to the | Headquarters and Service Company, | same regiment. Corpl. Marion W. Chinn has been re- duced to the grade of private in Com- pany E, 12ist Engineers, upon the recommendation of the company com- mander. | Claims for distinction are being re- ceived by the Militia Bureau from or- ganizations having several members of amilies in the organization. Informa- tion first came to the bureau that Com- | pany K, 181st Infantry, Massachusetts | National Guard, had seven pairs of brothers. Wisconsin then reported that | Company 1, 121st Infantry, at Neenah, | Wis., had 12 pairs of brothers, among them two lieutenants, four sergeants and four corporals. Battery D, 120th Field Artillery, of Stevens Point, Wis., | has eight pairs of brothers. Company | M, 128th Infantry, of Plattsville, Wis., has eight pairs of brothers, in addition to a father and son, the father bemng | & sergeant and the son a first sergeant. | _ Battery B, 121st Field Artillery, Green | Bay, Wis., has a father who is & first | sergeant and his three sons who are, re- | spectively, sergeant, corporal and pri- | vate, first class. Battery C, 120th Field Artillery, at Chippewa Falls, Wis., has five brothers, two sergeants, two cor- porals and a private, first class. Other organizations are expfcted to be heard rom. Federal recognition has been extended to the following officers of the 29th | National Guard Division: Lieut. Col. Julian S. Oliff, 121st En- gineers, and Maj. Clarence S. Shields, also of the same regiment, in this city. Maryland—Second Lieut. John G. | Kellogg, 110th Field Artillery, and Capt. Frederick W. Zies, 5th Maryland In- fantry, Baltimore. Virginia—Capt. Charles H. Wilson, 104th Medicel Regiment, Danville, Upon the recommerdation of the company commander, Pvt. John V. Ber- berich. jr., has been ordered promoted master sergeant, in_the @