Evening Star Newspaper, November 8, 1931, Page 33

TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE IS PROPOSED William Tyler Page Be Transacted if Says Business Could Members Were Sworn In. iE following is the text of the address by William Tyler Page, clerk of the United States House of Representatives, on “The Unprecedented Conditions Confronting the Next Congress” de- livered last night in the National Radio Forum, arranged by The Ster and broadcast over a coast-to-coast network of the Columbia Broadcasting System. The election held a year ago for members of the House of Representa- tives and for one-third of the United States Senate of the Seventy-Second Congress created a situation that has | ever s'nce rendered doubtful olitical control of either or ouses of Congress. In the past,.one or the other branches of Congress has been close in its political affiliations—never before has this condition prevailed in both Houses at the same time. The Twenty- Sixth Congress, back in the Thirties, presented a somewhat similar situation when the margin of control was slight in both Senate and the House as be- tween Whigs and Democrats, but the margin of difference was not 50 narrow as at present. Therefore, we are con- fronted with a unique condition. A condition that involves not only party contrel, but one of great~r imnortenea concernirg legislation to be enacted by the Seventy-Second Congress. Condition Held Unprecedented. In the last Congress the Republican party controlled both branches with a majority of 103 in the House and of 16 in the Senate. The election of 1930 cut these majorities almost to the vanishing point. When the smoke screen of battle cleared the Republican ma- jority in the House had dwindled, to 1, with a plurality of 2 over the Democrats. The one lone Farmer-Labor member, whose political stature has a tential and possible deciding factor, me at once apparent. Likewise in the Senate an exactly relative situation resulted. In that body the Republicans had 48, the Democrats, 47, and 1 Farmer-Labor Senator. This status re- mained undisturbed for some time. the changes in personnel by reason of death ,making no difference. No upsets were thought to be imminent. This parrow margin between the two great pdlitical parties in Congress presented, and to & great extent still presents acutely an unprecedented condition, and which inspired the late lamented Speaker Longworth in his valedictory when he adjourned the Seventy-Pirst Congress to prophesy that: It is only an all-wise Providence who is going to determine which of the two great political parties will organize the next House of Representatives. peaker Longworth might also have included the Senate in his prophecy. but it seems to bs taken for granted that the Senate organization will re- main undisturbed, consequently atten- tlon is focused upon the House and ‘well it might be. . 14 Deaths Occur. Since the election of 1930 14 deaths have occurred among the members elected to the Seventy-Second Congress, one as recently as yesterday, and two others within the last few weeks. This is a record number. Each party lost 7, Speaker Longworth himself being among the Republicans. In none of the districts thus made | ‘vacant was an upset at a special elec- ‘tion considered probable, pre-election '&nrusan forecasts to the contrary not- ithstanding. It was thought that for- mer Democratic districts would™ elect Democrats, which proved to be the case, and that the former Republican dis- tricts would elect Republicans, thereby preserving the post-election status of a g:lr ago. But the latter proved not to the case. Drath and the voters of the eighth district of Michigan decreed otherwise. In that district, strongly Republican in 1930, a Democrat, said to be of the wet variety, was elected last ‘Tuesday. This net Democratic gain of two for the time being, with two un- filled vacancies in former Republican districts, gave the Democratic party the advantage of a plurality of two over the Republicans and a majority of one over e, exactly reversing the conditions as they existed for some time after the election of 1930. ‘This advantage, however, was further | strengthened by the death yesterday of & Republican Representative in Texas, increasing the Democratic plurality to three and a majority of two over all. ‘Two vacancies are yet to be filled in former Republican districts, one in New Jersey on December 1 and the other in New Hampshire on January 5. Should & Republican be elected to fill the New Jersey vacancy, the count would stand before Congress meets: Democrats. 217; Republicans, 215: Farmer-Labor, 1, un- less there should be other casualties. If the Farmer-Labor member should vote with the Republicans on the Speak- ership, assuming that all cf the mem- bers are present, and furl. r assuming that neither party would lose any of its voting strength, the Democrats would have a majority of one over all. If perchance the remote possibility of a Speakership deadlock should ensue and continue until after January 5 and a Republican be elected from the New Hampshire district, then the two big parties would have ‘equal strength, each with 217. Possibly by that time the ‘Texas vacancy would be filled, and the successor to Mr. Wurzbach would be the balance of power. Full Roll Call Is Expected. ‘Meanwhile, in the one month re- maining before Congress- meets the Grim Reaper may still further play a lesome part in determining the po- itical power in the next House. A few members of each party are said to be ill. Let us hope that they will be spared to participate with their respective par- ties. But, regardless of whether death may further complicate the situation, absentees, voluntary or involuntary. may upset present calculations. Under ordinary conditions the full memushlp of the House is never present on the opening day of Congress, chiefly due to illness. In my experience covering al most 50 years, the fewest number of ab- sentees was in the Sixty-fifth Congress in 1917, when only three members were absent, two of them on account of sick- ness; one Democrat was brought in from & hospital in a wheel chalr. Tt is quite certain that each party will strive to have its full complement the both resent on the opening day one month | ience. Much gossip is heard to the effect that this or that man will absent himself voluntarily, but when the time comes I think this kind of talk will be found to be groundless. Whatever may be the eventualities, the fact exists at the present time that the Democratic party, in the face of cold figures as a result of deaths among Republicans and as a result of last Tuesday's election in Michigan, potentially control the House. Before this apparent control was transferred by death from the Repub- licans to the Democrats it was common talk that many Democrats, probably a majority of them, did not want the re- sponsibility of the House control on the eve of a presidential campaign—that they would rather be free of the respon- sibility and to harass their political were be willing and would be glad to shift that responsibility to the Demo- enemy. And some said Republican: crats in order to embarrass the: But, after all, whichever party has an actuai majority, that party must assume con- trol and cannot escape its responsibility, at least temporarily. trol would remain permanent depend upon the mutations of life death and of politics. A 1 . Whether that cons would a2t of the House may follow its own tions, and although & Speaker once elected and an organization once set up has never been unhorsed, vet it |is a possibility. And in a House so | evenly divided as the next House will | be any unusual thing may happen. Cer- tainly a rolltlcll majority will not con- trol legislation, although it will be held | responsible for it. It will be impossible {to enact major propositions cther than | by & physical and not by a political ma- | jority. In other words, by a coalition of members cf both cr all parties in- dividually, suppcrt depending upon the nature of the measure it-elf. Manifold Issues to Come U At best the situation in Congress, as | Abraham Lincoln once said, will be “piled high with difficulty.” The | troubles emitted from Pandora’s box | would be blessings in ccmparison. Sel- | dom, not even in a so-called war Con- gress, have as many problems confront- |ed Congress as will await them this “lme. World-wide economic depression, | from which no naticn has escaped, afd | its resulting unempioyment has brcught in its train {lls of the body politic, rem- edies for which will b2 sought and sol- vents for which will not b> Tiere will b> many men of m: and a political majority the country for its ccts will not be in evidence. Nevertheless, the party which | organizes the House vill be held .e- | sponsible by the peoplie for the leg.:'i- tive results. After all, the people are not so much concerned with the niceties and complexities of the parliamentary situation as they are with the final re- sults, which may restore prosperity or retard its return. The pocketbook nerve of the people will be severely strained. The deficit in the Treasury will neces- sitate more and new sources of reve- nues. At the same time economy must be practiced, appropriations must be cut down. These questions alone present a sufficient serjous situation to engage careful study and consideration. But other problems will force attention upon Congress. Farm relief, including the propcsed debenture, the equalization fee and cther like remegles will again be proposed. The silver questicn, long dor- mant since the days of Bryan, will come to the front, and there will be a demand for the remonitization of silver and for a bimetalic basis as there was in the days of the Commoner. We will hear much about frozen as- sets, and the banking problem acute be- fore the establishment of the Federal ve system will press for solution. Unemployment relief measures will loom . Even a proposed dole will have its champions. Sure it is that the soldiers’ insurance, turned down by the American Legion, will have its doughty champions, who will demand the pay- ment of the $2,000,000,000 balance. Measures for the stabilization op indus- | try will receive serious consideration, and- foreign debts and reparations in general will come in for a big share of speechmaking. The German moratorium will meet Congress at the threshhold. This must be disposed of early. It will give rise to much apprehension and possibly some opposition owing to the fear of gradual and ultimate cancella- tion of foreign debts. May Liberalize House Rules. Philippine independence will take & major place among the vexatious ques- tions to be decided. Tariff revision in general and in particular will have ad- | vocates, and the Tariffl Commission and the Hawley-Smoot act will be subjects | of much criticism for the making of presidential campaign thunder. Likely | as not n tariff bills such as harassed the administration of President Taft will be resorted to. These bills would deal with individual schedules of the tariff act. Other problems will press for solution. If all of these matters are to receive considefation and legisiation | result, then Congress may not hope to | adjourn at all next year, but run with- out stopping into the short session a .year hence. The parliamentary situation presents difficulties for either party that may or- ganize. There will be a demand for liberalization of the House rules. This means in its last analysis greater indi- vidual latitude. The rules of the House | are an evolution. Those of the las Congress were formulated for the pur- pose of enabling a responsible majority to legislate. Special rules brought in by the Committee on Rules were designed to expedite consideration of measures | selecled by a Steering Committee for preferential consideration. Such spe- cial rules could not be adopted except by a responsible majority. One purpose of the demand for liberalization is to divest the Committee on Rules of much of its power. Another demand is for a workable rule to discharge committees upon the petition of 100 members instead of by a majority as provided in the old rules. It'is also proposed seriously to change procedure in all committees to enable them to meet without the call of the | chairman and to reduce the number necessary for & quorum. These and | other changes in the House rules de- | manded by Progressive members will | turnish much embarrassment to those in control. Proportional representation on committees is usually relative to | party strength in the House itself. In the ‘last Congress the ratio of a 21- member committee was 14 Republicans and 7 Democrats. With the House so evenly divided this ratio is likely to be 11 to 10, but hardly 12 to 9—just a hair's breadth of difference.y Committees May Bring Issue. In the matter of committee chair- manships, if the seniority rule is ob- served much trouble between the North and the South may be embarrassing to the party in control unless averted by a | give-and-take policy. Sectional claims of this kind have been embarrassing in the past in Speakership fights, but that was when the Speaker had the | power of appointing committees. Now committees are elected by the House. The manner in which they shall be nominated may be another source of trouble for the party in power. The method is different in the two parties. The Republicans nominate through a Committee on Committees composed of one Republican from each State having Republican representation, who has the voting_strength of his State delegation. The Democrats heretofore have in- trusted this function to the Democratic members of the Ways and Means Com- mittee. This method of nominating for places on committees may b: changed in the Democratic caucus to be held on December 5, and the adop- tion demanded of a plan similar to that of the Republicans, which per- mits representation from every State. Even Lhm? should be adopted it is not a foregone conclusion that members nominated for committee appointments can run the gantlet of election by the House under the conditions that will prevail. Any member dissatisfied with his own as- signments may seek better ones by ap- to the House, and in this overthrow the nominating | | | majority attempts are seldom made to overthrow the recommendations of the respective majority and minority nomi- nating committees. Ranking members who have 'l&n Lhel; spurs through years of committee worl will be reluctant to yield their advan- hen they are about to come . Hence the h this or any other plan | mfiflh'.lc THE o WASHI. New Hope in the Coal Fields The Federal Government’s Efforts to Alleviate Distress Brings a Glimmer of Hope. BY JAMES J. DAVIS, luniteq, sates sensior, from, Feppizivanis ‘smoke is first beginning to L;;:xlr out of house chimneys. Within their homes most of our 125,000,000 people, sit in com- fortable warmth. When evening con;u. the pushing of & button or the turni l:s of a switch brmgs‘llgg(:;lgtl;tnl[enerlt illions of carloads i By I who has the price or credit can obtain coal in any quantity ,and industries are am i coal, and at prices mu ye;’u Fnsl et in t ed there is hunger and want and g:scpfuuon among hundreds of thou- Sands who dig the coal that other peo- ple may be warm and that the wheels of industry may be kept turning. Why? The answers are: Uncontrolied pro- uncontrolled marketing, un- ‘competition, uncontrolled re, ever downward. ss i the coal flelds is worth ny man or woman, for he vital elements in our i welfare. It was Great Bri 's Do Mirces ihat gave her pre-emi- fence in manufacturing and exporting for generations, and it was & great coa desired. Our railroads ply supplied with | | duction. | controlled wage pressul ‘The distre the study of a coal is one of tI ickly brought a grave national crisis. Y the possession of adequate coal at gave Germany decided pdvan! e over France and other na- e before the World War. Without the vast deposits of coal that We possess. the industrial development of the United States would have been impossible. Is Essential Industry. Millions of people in this country have never bought as much as & d of bituminous (soft) coal. It takes hun- dreds of millions of tons of this bitu- minous coal to keep our railroads and industries moving and electric current flowing from power plants into homes and stores and factories, Here, certainly, is an absolutely es- sential industry—yet, just as gertainly, it has been an unprofitable industry for many of those who own the mines and those who work in them When they have a chance. That is an economic wrong. of course. And when any nation has an economic wrong, it also has human suffering. The spirit of our people is not to per- mit economic wrongs to continue in- definitely. The typical American spirit is to discover what's wrong and apply a remedy. What an economic wrong entails can be pictured by recalling something that occurred in Washington, a few months ago. On a hot Summer day there rode into the Nation's Capital in a few dilap- idated trucks some poorly dressed, tired, hungry. discouraged men, women and children from my own State of Penn- sylvania. They had come a long way to tell the President of the United States of the human distress in the coal flelds. They told a story of dize misery; of a mother of a miner's family dying of ex- posure and leaving her children to the care of those equally in want; of men going into the mines in the morning with nothing to eat except potato peel- ings; @ 1 supplies ths school; of ;men able to get only a day or two of Work a week, and thelr fam- flies on the very verge of starvation. Stories Reach President. Many other storles of that kind reached President Hoover from the coal of children without shoes in| Winter and therefore unable to attend | HIS is written at a season when | of any grade or quality, | ch lower than m‘ b regions where coal is pro- | - strike in England a few years ago that | and other States. There has been, and is, war in the coal flelds—armed guards, shooting, killing, hunger, privation, bit- ter :overty among people who want to work. It is not a new condition; it is not a condition for which the Government has any direct responsibility, for the Government neither owns nor controls the coal mines; it regulates neither their prices nor the wages paid. Nevertheless, President Hoover did not avoid the problem. Through the agency of his Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor, he sought to bring together in a national conference the mine owners and mine workers. The pul was the rehabilitation of the soft coal industry. That conference could not be brought about. Yet within a short time the at- tempt has brought the first glimmer of hope in an industry where there has been no hope for years. It has stirred the people within the industry to the realization that they must make a real and determined effort to better condi- tions. It brought a call from the presi- dent of the National Coal Association for the meeting of coal operators from the grlnclpul competitive States that was About 20 plans were proposed for bet- tering conditions in the coal flelds; a committee is now studying these and will make its report at a later meeting. 1t is apparent that finally the mine to remedy the evils of a great essential industry that too long has been pros- trated. It is apparent that finally there is a realization that unless the industry BRACING THE ROOF. eld in New York on October 21.| owners are moving toward united action | —Etching by Herman Katelhoern. itself can find the means for better- ment, the problem will become one for State and Federal action. In the reorganization of this basic industry it may be necessary to do one or several things requiring public un- derstanding and sanction. It may be necessary, for instance, definitely to control production, to control market- ing, to raise and keep prices at a rea- sonable level above production costs. Reorganization Interests Public. The public has a right to know whether these things are necessary, why they may be attempted and who will benefit. Thbere have been millions of words written and printed about the troubles of the coal industry, but there is yet hardly any public perception of the real difficulties. It {s easy, for instance, for the public to cohdemn the mine owners in a wholesale way for the misery and degradation of the mine workers in the absence of a true understanding of conditions. Certainly wages are too low in the coal mines Certainly working condi- tions are not what they should be. Cer- tainly the miners have just cause for complaint. ‘There are mine operators—many of them—who will make these admissions. But always they will say, too: “What can we do about it? We are at the mercy of cur competitors in many States. We are at the mercy of our | for the various fields. 'ators and miners get together in con- can take our coal or leave it and obtain their supplies elsewhere. We are at the mercy of railroads, which by a change of rates can bring into our terri- tory cheaper coal from other remote flelds that could not compete under a proper rate structure. If we raise the wages of miners and the operators of other States keep on paying low wages, we will be undersold and driven off the market, our properties placed in receiv- ership, our stockholders ruined. If we try to combine to limit competition or to raise prices so that fair wages will be possible, we may be prosecuted under glefl ;nu—h‘u&t laws, What are we 07" Owners’ Problems Far-Reaching. Those are the practical questjons that will have to be answered befc half a million miners and several million wom- en and children dependent upon them can be lifted out of economic degra- dation. Those are the questions that the pub- lic will have to answer in considering any public or private project for coal control. Those are the questions that, in all probability, Congress and State Legisla- tures will have to ponder before long. ‘This much is certain: Unrestricted | production and competition in uncon- trolled, disorderly marketing is no more beneficial to the ccal miner than is the same kind of production and marketing to the farmer. Reasonable competiticn the public needs, and must have, as a protection against profiteering; unrea- sonable competition lowers wages, ruins industry, degrades the American stand- ard of living. All my adult life I have been a mem- ber of a labor union. I know that when the sound principles behind the labor union movement are put into practice they are beneficial to both employer and worker. During the time I was Secre- tary of Labor in the cabinet of President Coolidge the coal operators and miners came together in conference, and out of that conference came what was known as the Jacksonville agreement. President Hoover, then the Secre- that document. It provided a decent standard of wages for miners, but it did not last because of the pressure of too much competifion. The miners con- tended that it was the operators who broke the agreement. Those operators who broke the agreement contended that they could not adhere to it and still remain in business as long as coal vuubem: sold elsewhere at lower labor costs. ‘The result was the worst thing that can happen in any industry—a contin- ual slashing and counterslashing of wages, prices, wages, prices, Wages prices. Apparently wages can now go no lower, for the miners are in revolt and many of the coal companies are in the hands of the recetvers or else closed down completely. The only practical solution of the problem is to reorgan- ize the industry in such a manner as to insure a fair labor wage, capital a fair return and the public a fair price for the coal. This cannot be done without some uniformity of price and uni- formity of wage scales and with a reasonable limitation of competition that will protect the ratural markets The sooner oper- ference to work out a plan that will be satisfactory to all concerned, the sooner the industry will be restored to a pros- perous condition. «See what has happened under unre- customers who can buy coal cheap— below production cost—from a thousand or five thousand other mines, We are | De at the mercy of selling agencles, which | stricted competition of the last few years: The price of bituminous coal has nearly If. Rallroads "(Continued on_ h Pa ) LA flelds of Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia TIN OPINION SWEEPS AGAINST RADICAL LEADERS| World Importance Seen in Vote of Chile, Peru and Ecuador, Whose Conservative Candidates Won Presidencies. BY GASTON NERVAL. ITH the British elections in \/ \/ el=ctions which have recent- ly been held in three South American _ countries have political observers throughout the world. And yet, thes: elections may be con- sidered, both for the ‘circumstances their outcomes, _the most significant ones that Latin America has witnessed in a number of years. British poiitics, Mr. Newspaper Reader paid little attention to the announce- ment of elections in Chile, Peru and the limelight, _presidential more or less escaped the attention of under which they were held, and for Absorbed in the front-page news of Ecuador. Ju# enough attention to scarcely realize that here were threel re. South American republics which pre f-rred to choose their rulers by lots rather than by bullets. Yet. if he had stopped to study the results of those elections and compare them, he would have found, curiously enough, the same striking feature in all of them that made so impressive the overwhelming victory of MacDonald's National government in Great Britain. The same turn of public opinion toward _conscrvatism, the same swing to the Right which is the chief outcome of the British elections is present in the presidential contests which had for a scenario the southern republics of Chile, Peru and Ecuador. This common characteristic they have | with the British referendum gives the elect’ons in these throe Latin American states an international importance. Be- cause it shows that that conservative spirit which made itself felt in England was nct confined to ths limits of the British Isles. While the “National can- didates” of MacDonald and the Con- servatives were sweeping on to victory in the British polls, across the ocean, thousands of miles away, the same re- action of popular sentiment against the Left was causing the selection of con- servative leaders to conduct the des- tinles of three of the most 1 t Latin American republics. Same Public Opinion. This is, precisely, the’ outstanding feature of the presidential contests in Chile, Peru and Ecuador. If one ex- amines carefully the conditions lead- ing up to them, the platforms offered, the personalities involved, it is easy to find in all o them the identical Jean- ing of public opinion toward the Right. In all three cases, the conservative candidates. those who had the support |of the better classes and the financial circles, emerged victorious. _Montero in Chile, Sanchez Cerro in Peru and Bonifaz in Ecuador, represented the conservative spirit, as against a tend- ency of reform and more or less radical changes which the other candidates ad- mfl. to the gratification of the Left The success of these three men—two of whom were until recently unknown and the other an exile from his own country until s few weeks ago—can only be explained a strong reaction of popular sentiment ;r;“ favor of the established order of ngs. Hidalgo and Alessandri in Chile, Haya de la Torre in Peru and even :;‘Ml Liberal candidates in Ecuador, o cluded in their ¥ So- to latforms tionary _principles which gave candidacles & favor ae&afi .ui; say the least. support and ence of labor elements in South Amer- ican politics, they probably thought that these times of economic distress were the ripest for speculating on social and economic reforms, with po- litical gains in sight. Instead, their vociferous propaganda had an opposite effect. Their repeated mention of communist principles—par- ticlularly in Peru and Chile—alarmed the middle class, small proprietors, government employes, country farmers, which still form the “vox populi” in those countries. Once their fears had been aroused, it was an easy task for the conservatives to gain them to their side. Besides, there was no other choice. They either elected the reformers and gambled with the fu- ture, or supported the conserva- tives—the constituted elements of order, the financial interests—and placed in safety their properties. The results of the presidential elec- tions in Chile, Peru and Ecuador show that the people in those Latin Ameri- can countries are not yet quite ready to gamble with the future. Election Follows Mutiny. In Chile the elections were held only a few days after a mutiny in the navy had been quashed and scarcely a few months after the old regime of Presi- dent Ibanez had been overthrown. This fact alone should suffice to attract the attention of political students. Some years ago it would have seemed im- possible that a Latin American country upset by revolution should return to normalcy in such a short time through :?e legal ways set up by the constitu- jon. for tHe presidential office. Juan Este- ban Montero, who had been called upon to head the provisional government which succeeded the revolution, was the cholce of th Three were the outstanding candidates WORLD PEACE MACHINERY TESTED BY EASTERN CRISIS Three Treaties, Mixed Arbitration Tri- bunal and Mediation All lnvolve{l in Manchurian Situation. BY PAUL SCOTT MOWRER. ARIS, France.—The Manchurian l peace machinery to a crucial test. The covenant of the League of Nations, the Kellogg treaty all have been invoked, a mixed arbitration tribunal has been proposed and mediation has been attempted. but the struggle for present and future peace is far from ended. The machin- ery is right now in full action. The its partisans that it will yet succeed still run high. Great precedents are being estab- years’ standing are being settled almost unwittingly. If peace now wins over war, a great step forward will seem- The outcome is still uncertain, but the issue is clear. It is whether na- tions in the future shall settle their ance with their pledges, or whether they shall attempt at will and by mili- tary force to take the law 1‘ their Incidentally, unless the League and the United States can end the war in Manchuria by January, it appears quite ament conference scheduled for Feb- ruary 2, for the feeling of tension and insecurity throughout the world would would be temporarily impossible. Settles Attitude of U. S, Supposing, however, that the peace the tendency, already discernable, is toward four momentous results: 1. The precedent of the United crisis is putting the world’s peace pact and the regional nine-power The result thus far is literally nil, strain on it is terrific, but the hopes of lished. Juridical disputes of . many ingly have been taken. quarrels by peaceful means in accord- own hands. useless to attempt to hold the disarm- b such that even talk of disarmament machinery now functions successfully, States in world emergencies of sending PRAGUE.—Systematic attention to the general welfare of American students staying in Prague this year is being | paid for the first time by the American Institute, founded last Spring in the Czechcslovak capital. Previously the Y. M. C. A. and various student associa- tions endeavored to look after the in- terests of young Americans studying here, but such effort lacked co-ordina- The American Institute, the purpose of which is to promote better under- standing between America and Czecho- slovakia, holds it among its most im- Eymm duties to assist American guests their first, bewildered days in Prague. Party Is Arranged. Accordingly, a week end party was organized at the resort of Zbraslav, near Prague, where during the warm Indian Summer days, more than thirty Americans went to spend a few days and listen to lectures on different as- ts of Czechoslovakian national life. e visitors lh&ed at Zbraslav three fays, during which time they had full ?ypprtunltlu of prncl;flnlm: the in- formation necessary for their further studies in Prague. The students included representatives ‘Trying Mm:‘uumfi'pfi: s of very diverse inf , soclology, Prague Forms Institute to Minister Welfare to American Students . come from all parts of the United States —New York, the Middle West and the Pacific Coast. This care of students, however, is by no means the only activity of the new American Institute. All its sections, es- peclally the journalistic and the com- mercial, are preparing a series of lec- tures on the American press and Amer- ican business methods. In addition to this, the commercial section will the regula- publication of def periodical reports on the economic ation of late them among the representatives of Czechoslovakian commerce and industry. New Sections Promised. New sections of the institute will be organized soon, uniting all doctors, en- gineers, agriculturists and scientists in- torested in relations with America. The American Minister in Prague, Abraham Ratsheski, is showing the keenest interest in' the institute, of which he is an honorary member. 'Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, and Dr. Ales Hrd- licka, curator of the division of physical anthropology, National Museum, Wash- ington, also have been elected honorary members of the institute, and have ac- cepted nomination. (Copyright, 1991.) taifed | the % itu. the United States, and circu- ' atory . an observer to co-operate with the League Council, if followed, removes en- tirely the controverted subject of the United States’ ing a consultative pact, for this form of co-operation with the League really goes farther in facili- tating international negotiations than any form of consultative pact hitherto contemplated. For years France has been saying that it could not seriously disarm with- out at least a regional mutual aid pact. Great Britain has been saying that it could not make any more such pacts on the Locarno or any other model as long as it did not know what the United States might do with respect to neu- tral rights in case the British fleet took action under the League covenant. ‘This divergence led the American delegation at the London Naval Con- ference of 1930 to propose tentatively, in order to tide the conference over its worst crisis, a consutative pact which would reassure Great Britain regarding the United States, thus enabling Great Britain to go ahead with its Mediterra- nean muttal ald pact, which in turn would enable France to cut its navy. ‘The conference was saved, but the two- pact system failed in the subsequent Pranco-British negotiations. The United States' co-operation with the League Council now seems more than ever to cover the ground intended by the consultative pact and, therefore, theoretically frees Great Britain if Great Britain desires to meet the French thesis. Kellogg Pact “Implemented.” 2. The United States’ co-operation with the League has already ‘“imple- mented” the Kellogg pact. This pact was twice invoked by us in the Russo- Chinese dispute over the Chinese East- ern Railway two years ago. Our State Department found that in_practice no mechanism for invoking the pact ex- isted. It was obliged to send some 50 cablegrams to 50 governments. Answers came trickling in over a period of weeks or months. ‘The need for a better mechanism was obvious, but the organization of such mechanism seemed difficult. Now the League Council, by establishing a prece- dent in itself invoking the Kellogg pact in the case of a major dispute and by suggesting that all the League members do likewise, has pro'‘ded that “imple- mentation” the State wepartment has so long desired. 3. The League covenant and the Kel- logg pact have been suddenly effectively harmonized. For several years jurists of many nations have been striving vainly with this problem: How to make the Kellogg pact, which forbids aggres- sive war in any circumstances, jibe with League covenant, which seems to authorize & dual war after certain medi- measures have been exhausted without the ML reaching & unani- mous agreement In sctual practice, by the simple de- vice of including the Kellogg lrun in a League resolution d calling the League members in a crisis to remind the disputants thereof, the Council mu to have settled the entire ques- All Cases Special. 4. A demonstration has been given that under pressure of precedent and in co-operation with the United States, the nd?t mwen members of the Council will courageously the sense of the e covenant even their own 't interests. Prance nor. Great Britain v - i, tary of Commerce, was familiar with 3 DEARTH OF CANDIDATES ° . 1932 CAMPAIGN PUZZLE Little or no Fighting Nominations—Ro BY MARK SULLIVAN. NLESS the game of politics be- comes alluring to a T number of persons, particularly to & ldrger number of aspi- rants for the presidency— political writers may find themselves sharing the current lack of demand for services. Of pre-nomination Eo - tics, apparently there is to be lLitic or_none. Subsequent to the nominations, of course—after the Republicans shall have renominated Herbert Hoover, and the Democrats shall have nominated, as it seems now, Gov. Franklin Roose- velt of New York—after that there will be such politics and such a presi- dential campaign as almost the mem- ory of man runneth not to the con- O.rzry. But of fighting for the two présidential nominations, apparently there is to be little or none. ‘That Mr. Hoover will get the Re- publican nomination has always been accepted as a matter of course by every one having the faintest fa- miliarity with politics. The spurts of news from time to time which suggest that this, that or the other one will contend against Mr. Hoover for the Republican nomination, reflect, as much as anything else, failure of news- paper managing editors to screen the fantastic from the t-ue. One category of these stories was ended when Mr. Coolidge declared that he does not choose to run again and thai he is going to support loyally the present occupant of the White House. Borah Not Against Hoover. ‘When the newspapers print a dis- patch from Vi saying that some one in that State is for President” Club, any one of several things, but it does not mean that Mr. Borah will contend against Mr. Hoover for the Republican presidential nomination. In every cam- paign it is said—by persons other than Borah himself—that he will either try for the Republican nomination or run as a third party candidate. That has been said every four years since Sena- tor Borah entered public life, which was preceding 1908. It has been said, therefore, in seven different campaign years, including the present, and it has always been as incorrect as it is now. Senator Borah has his own role in public life and his own conception of that role, and it does not include try- ing for the presidency. Similarly, when Senator Hiram John- son of California emits violent and dent Hoover's action about Japan and | China, newspaper headlines record the California Senator’s deflance s a of intention on his part to try to take | the Republican presidential nomina- tion away from his fellow Californian. Senator Johnson, on this point, ‘s |a little less predictable than Zeuator | Borah, because Senator Jolnson has actually entertained the presidential bze, has caressed it and petted it over a period as long, at least, as a quarter of his mature life. ‘Twice Close to Honor. But Senator Johnson is through with all that. He was extremely close to the vice presidency on at least two occasions. Once wes in 1912, when he was teammate to Theodore Roosevelt on the ticket of the Progressive party. Again, in 1920, the Republican Vice Presidential nomination was repeatedly jend insistently almost down Senator Johnson’s throat, 1In that year a combination that wanted to nomi- nate the late Senafor Philander C. Knox of Pennsylvania tried to make a tie-up with Senator Johnson, and if i::’hm had been willing the ticket ight have been Knox and Johnson, in which case a good deal of subsequent history might have been different. Knox died during the period for whick he would have been President—and John- son had reason to contemplate, whether with regret or not, the decision of his which prevented his succeeding to the presidency. Again, in that same year, 1920, after it had been determined to give the presidential nomination to the then Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio, friends of Harding tried every sort of persuasion to have Johnson accept the other end of the ticket. Johason re- fused with violent words to the effect that he was a candidate for *he presi- Zential nomination and would sccept no less. Thereafter the convention, left to itself, gave the vice presidential nomination to Calvin Coolidge. Hard- ing and Coolidge were elected. Hard- ing died during his term. Mr. Coolidge stepped into the presidency—and Sepa- tor Johnson had that further occasion to, reflect upon the whims of fate, and the consequences of his own decisions upon his own fortunes. 1924 Humiliating Defeat. When 1924 came Senator Johnson started out in a most formidable way to acquire the presidential nomination for himself, contending against Mr. Coolidge, then in office. Johnson's ef- forts, while tmnenwus, encountered rather humiliating defeat in the earl- iest of the Western primaries. There- upon, the California Senator declared that he had had his fill of buffets from the unintelligence of such gods as de- termine the history of the United States. He announced he would never run again, and fell, to as yreat a degree as his temperament would permit, into the mood of amiable elder statesman. With that sort of history behind him, Senator Johnson, much as he disap- govgx :wrih!ioovef, 'l,a“not llkelydzo '1:1! e ican presiden nogunn:;n !\‘Dmm im. F nce in so of reverbera head- lines proclaim that Gov. Glggr'd gg- chot of Pennsylvania will try for the Republicar nomination. It is just pos- sible Gov. Pinchot might, though the writer of this article predicts he won't —or will bet he won't, if betting is any stronger evidence of conviction than gredlcunm If Gov. Pinchot should run, e might get, at the extreme outside, 75 delegates out of a total of approxi~ mately 1,100. Young Senator Bob LaFollette may enter for the Republican nomination, or he may toss a penny with his broth- er, Gov. Phil, to see which of the two shall carry on in the LaFollette presi- dential tradition. If either of the La- Follettes runs, it will be merely as their father used to run, for purposes local to Wisconsin and to the LaFollette control of the State. If one of the LaFollettes should try for the Republican presiden- tial nomination, he might get som more than half the 26 delegates from Wisconsin and a scattered few from elsewhere, certainly not more thn 50 in all, out of the convention’s total of about 1,100. LaFollette would not even get all the Progressive strength in the Northwest, for LaFollette is wet, whereas fully half or more of the ves are dry. Norris More Unpredictable. Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska grows more and more unj mig] mal contender for the Republican idential nomination. If he should, he might get a portion, though not all, of tes from irant against Mr. ly ing—indeed, galloping, up and down the land. His name is France, Maryland and he used to be a Senator. He won't get one dele. gate, not even one from his own State. ‘That is the in Evidence for Two osevelt May Gain Delegates by Lack of Opposition. Hoover in the Republican convention. And the sum of all the delegates they would all have would be much less than 100, out of 1,000. Not all of them will run. Indeed, it may be no one of them will run. The net of which is, there isn't going to be any race for the Republican presi- dential nomination, or any important pre-nomination politics in the Republi- can picture. And with the Democrats it is really much the same. Democratic ieaders of the highest standing, having far more than enough power to do what they undertake, as- sure this writer that they will not allow Gov. Roosevelt to foreciose the pieg.- dential nomination at this early perfod or at any date preceding th2 dssenTonty of the conventior. For Best Man at Right Time. 1t is important to be clear about what these leaders say. They do not say they will prevent Gov. Roosevelt’s nomina- tion. They do rot say they are strongly opposed to Gov. Roosevelt getting_the nomination. They confine what they say to this—that the Democratic presi- dential nomination must be held open until the convention meets or there- abouts, and that at that time the lea ers will dedicate themselves to nominat ing the best man then available, the man who at that time seems to promise to be the best candidate and to be the best President if elected. Such bene- ficiary of their judgment at that time might be Gov. Roosevelt, or it might be another. ‘This is an understandable program, and it might produce, during a few days or weeks of June next year, inter- esting and exciting political develop- ments. But as respects having a race for the Democratic presidential'nomie nation, it amounts to the same thing— S0 far as now appears there is not ao(n( to be any race. Gov. Roosevelt going to be the lone runner. Nothing will be done to impede his running, except that he will not be permitted to have “in the bag” the two-thirds of the delegates necessary for a Demo- cratic nomination. The one-third, or the more than one- third of the delegates destined—not necessarily to “stop” Gov. Roosevelt, but rather so to speak to hold him in check. to prevent him from running too —will be provided by half a dozen men bringing State delegations to_the convention. Ex-Senator Jim Reed will be there with his Missouri delegation and a few scattered groups from outside that reverberant dissatisfaction with Presi- | State. Gov. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray of Okla- homa will be there with his delegation in his pocket, and with some other States. Gov. Bill will have” the Oklahoma delegation secure, “hog-tied™ to his purpose. How many more- he will have from outside Oklahoma de- pends on the state of the times. If, as the Oklahoma Governor icts, tha times grow worse, “Alfalfa Bill” might have a surprising number,of delegates. Prospects of Ritchie. Gov. Albert Ritchie of Maryland will be there with the delegates from Mary- land and with, as has lately developed, a rather formidable number of scat- tered delegates from outside. So far as there is any current new csvelop- ment in the Democratic situation, it is that a considerable number of National and State leaders are taking a second look at Gov. Ritchie. Mr. Ritchie-has been Governor of Maryland so lang and a national Democratic figure fo long that party leaders as well as the public have rather taken his qualities for granted. 'He is like a debutante in about her fourth year, and discriminat. ing searchers for a sometimes pick the f¢ tante and live happily ever after. The Ohio delegates will come for some cne other Franklin Roose- velt. They may be for ex-Secretary of ‘War Newton D. d‘glxkel", uf;:m:%l’:gf‘h: present un of o this article is that Mr. Baker decl! to make any formal request for them. (Parenthetically, Mr. Baker, in lpi?.o! his declining to be an active candidate, is quite likely to be the nominee if Roosevelt is not) In any event'the Ohio delegation will not be for Roose- wvelt. Enough other delegates from endugh other States will be available for the purpose of preventing Gov. Roose- velt from “clinching” the nomination unless and until the national party leaders agree that they might as well take him. Hawatian National Park Draws Tourists HONOLULU, Hawali—Healthy in- crease in the attendance of visitors-at Hawail's national park is shown- by figures just compiled. For the fiscal year 1930-31 the visitors totaled 98,895, as Dwnplred with 89,578 during the previous year. Both visitors from broad and visitors from among Ha- wail’s own residents helped to make this large total. And according to present indications the year 1931-32 will make another record. ‘The park itself, of which the central feature is the active volcano Kilauea, is being made more accessible to visitors by roads, trails and increased hotel, cottage and camp facilities. The other big division of the national park, that centering around the mighty ex- tinct crater of Haleakala, on the Island of Maui, is also being opened up with a motor road. Hitherto it has been accessible only by horse. Army Spends Million Secretly in Hawaii HONOLULU, Hawail.—Military de- fenses of Oahu, built with much secrecy by the Army itself—not by public con- tract—will be at next few years. It between $750,000 and $1,000,000 will be spent in a system of gun emplacements and other defenses which will be con- ] & i g i ] gt § i ] é‘E i i [ g 2! E - t