Evening Star Newspaper, March 13, 1932, Page 27

Part 2—-8 Pages CHALLENGE OF JAPANESE ENDS DREAM OF LEAGUE Drama of Far East Expected to Have Decisive Result Upon World Ideals Visioned by Wilson. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. | ENEVA —Watching the drama of the Far East unfolding day by day as a parallel play to the Council Assembly of the| League of Nations, it is hard | to escape the conviction that these rary events will produce his- toric results which will be decisive as they affect the Wilsonian conception of international co-operation to maintain ‘workd peace. After nearly half a genera- tion, the Wilsonian conception is sud- denly bankrupt because it was founded on an assumption which the first great test has proved unsound. The result has been a disaster to the League and & disillusionment of the Leaguers of unimaginable proportions. Thus, while it is perfectly true that 1o one even now talks of the disappear- ance of the League altogether, there is almost universal agreement that no phase of the enormous phenomenon of world deflation has been more far-going than that concerning the League. The ‘Wilsonian conception was of a_ future Peace insured by the League of Nations serving as executor of world opinion. ‘That voice of authority from beside the waters of Lake Geneva was to have an effect beyond exaggeration, and if any recalcitrant nation were to refuse to heed, the world would, through the League, bring the offender to reason and to justice. Both here at Geneva among the Becretariat and elsewhere among loyal Leaguers there has been almost a mys- tical value attached to the influence of the League. Thus, when the Sino-Jap- anese episode opened, Leaguers all over the world, particularly in Great Britain and in certain of the smaller continen- tal states, hastened to push Geneva toward decisive action. The machinery was invoked, the voice of authority sounded, but nothing happéned. Japan proceeded on her Manchurian adventure and in due course extended the field of operations to Shanghai. World Opinion Divided. Durin Dawes conferred and co-operated with the Council of the League at Parls | nothing was so striking as the rapid | gression, sinks patently to the level of ss of deflation of the moral au- ”hm;ny &:l the lln‘gnue. World opinion, ar from proving unanimous an Teady, was divided and hesitant, e\v‘exfll impatient at the action of the League | secretariat in forcing the issue when | mgtgm;ternc?uld result. | le by little it became | Great Britain in the League ln‘g(::nel::g: outside would not undertake by an eco- nemic boy and a naval blockade to give efic to sanctions. Geneva, like Glondower, has undertaken to sum- mon spirits from the vasty deep, but | they refused to come on cal. On the | contrary, day by day the Japanese, with | full assurance as to the hollow char- acter of League demands, have con- tinued their course with increasing energy. So eventually the appealed from the Council to the Assembly, and the last weeks have seen the larger body grappling with the problem. Yet ones more disillusionment has been | rapid. Nations - significantly lacking navies or seacoasts, like Switzerland and Czechoslovakia, have urged drastic methods to restore the prestige of the League, but nations like Great Britain, America, France and Italy, which would | have to do the work, have stood sig- nificantly aside, limiting action to words. If you have read comments of Leaguers all over the world, and if you encounter the official secretariat here, you must Tecognize at once that for them what has occurred is the end of a dream ‘They have believed that popular opinion ‘within the nations would drive states- men to quick and effective action. but popular opinion has been extraordi- | narily quiescent, whereas in England it has not been so outspoken in forbidding action involving war as concerning pos- sible economic losses. AH Values Lost. "This all means that for the future no nation which feels itself menaced is going to base its security on justice or its cause on the moral authority of the League. The covenant, the Kellogg m&. the nine-power treaty have all their chief values in the eyes of the signatory states. In China, above all at Shanghai, Japan employed war as an instrument of policy, and nothing happened. The Chinese defense of Chinese soil has been overwhelmed; | armies have advanced over wide areas; cities have been destfoyed; civilians and soldiers have been slain. All this time the League was able to do nothing ef- | fective, but was condemned to rely upon the admirals of the sea powers to in- form it as to the development of the | war. For any armed nation in Europe this | example constitutes a warning to stay | armed; for the disarmed it is an em- | the Scandinavian states, Holland— | process of revaluation has begun | peaceful world, but futile on a divided | planet. | of triumph. Oddly enough, even then | exercised a potent and for a time even phatic incitation to restore their mili- tary and naval establishments. Japan in an unmistakable manner has Shang- haied both the League and the Dis- armament Conference. Here in Europe small nations, notably those which were neutral in the last war—Switzerland, preciated the disaster, and the Assembly made a final stand to save the moral authority of the League. The effort, however, has visably and definitely failed, and now nlrnd!'clhe er- tain values obviously remain. Geneva | thinks the League a nice place where statesmen can meet with the machinery | of the League available whenever states- men agree. Geneva continues a con- vention city and the League clearing house. That is what is left of the grandoise Wilson dream now that Ja- pan has put it to the test. | League to Be Disarmed. Ironically enough, not Europe but the League will emerge disarmed from the present conference. Unable to keep peace in Asia, unable to restore it in Europe. Thus the Disarmament Con- ference which was to promote peace daily degenerates more completely into a struggle between the status quo pow- ers seeking to achieve unilateral se- curity revision and states striving to impose unilateral disarmament. Geneva, which was to be the capital of a united Europe, is now the battleground of a divided continent. Underneath the cover of an outward tranquillity states- men are taking positions for the re- sumption of a conflict which has never ended actually since 1914. The war in the Far East and the Disarmament Conference at Geneva together have demonstrated how far hopes outran the realities and how little public opinion within countries where world opinion is large can in- fluence any nation in its foreign poli- i cles, or prevail upon them to moderate | domestic _policies _concerning arma- ments. Euroj will not disarm, nor g the Autumn days. when Gen.| Japan desist from its imperialistic pur- poses, but the League, which cannot promote disarmament nor prevent ag- a bureau with importance as a piece of machinery available to serve a Already the lesson is penetrating as one discovers by considering the size of the military and naval budgets now being adopted on this side of the Atlantic and by examining the com- ment which accompanies them. “Peace by pacts,” the slogan which found so wide an approval, is giving way to the old doctrine of preparedness every- where; the whole Wilsonian gospel is in full retreat all over Europe. As the | crisis of Agadir, following quickly upon The Hague Conference of 1907. dissi- pated the idealistic dreams which were mommw;wbed following the Czar’s pro S0 the Japanese war, coming a the ceremonies of signing the Ki “PpEdt, has produced the same re Dislllusionment Grows. It is difficult to transiate to the‘ American audience the degree of disil-| lusionment and tragic disappointment which the collapse of the League in the Sino-Japanese affair nas produced everywhere among men and women of the European countries who con- sistently, even confidently, saw in Geneva an alternative to the old sys- tem of international relations. But not less important is it to make clear that disillusionment _has taken place. Such | voices as Cecil's and Gilbert Murray's| have become almost hysterical, but the ruin of their hopes and calculations is| patent. Thirteen years ago I was present at the session in the famous cloak room of the Quai d'Orsay when Woodrow | Wilson, the great figure of the Peace| Conference, moved the adoption of the Covenant of the League of Nations.| For him it was manifest that this seemed the supreme day of his life: as it turned out it was his last moment the one great question mark in all| minds was whether Baron Makino, the Japanese representative, would make hostile motion based upon the Jap- anese exclusion laws of America. Now, after all the years during which the Wilsonian conceptions have a commanding influence, it is plain | that his League of Nations has reached | dead low water mark. No comment | is more frequently heard here than the speculations as to how rehabilitation | may take place on more modest and realistic bases. But meantime there | remains the problem presented by the inevitable and imminent Franco-Ger- man_clash, with further destructive possibilities which cannot be exag- gerated. (Copyright, McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) Spirit of Individualism Rules London as| Hard Times and Taxes End Imperialism LONDON —London is & lovable city.) planks and blankets that he is actually tle. London will not hit you | pleased to call a -bed AL Mo | fireplace in the basement, with a lot | | of when you are down. And vet in the last two or three years the character changed. Life, instead of being imperi- alist, has become starkly individual- ist. ‘The Englishman is no longer thinking in terms of national glory: he is thinking of himself. And with this passing of empire-consciousness goes the feeling of security. Writing about London in 1827 or 1928—when times were good—one would inevita- bly have struck the note of its pomp and romance as the center of empire. The gorgeous war dance of the chang- ing of the guard at Buckingham Pal- ace; the sonorous edicts that still issue from beneath the spires of Westmin- ster; the legions of generals and ad- mirals—through with making history —retired to comfortable whiskies and sodas in their clubs along Pall Mall Taxes Force Big Change. Today all that pomp and ceremony is out of date. There is a note almost of mockery in the clanking harness of the horse guards on parade. The retired officers in their clubs are not writing letters to the Times so much 85 they are figuring out how to make both ends of their pension meet and still pay their income tax. And the soldiers that one notices only too often nowadays are the lugubrious little clus- ters of ex-service men—with all med- als up—who trall the street curb sing- ing “Land of Hope and Glory,” with their hats held out—because unless they sing for it. or do something, it is lllegal to beg ‘There is a law in England that says that no man may starve. And vet— come with me any night behind the cafes of Piccadilly and you will see tattered old men and women fishing hgrbue pails, hoping to that they may eat! hind aw Cambridge, London’s newest , and enter Tommy Farmer's “flophouse,” where for a few pence & man can stretch out on some of London has | A communal greasy-faced men dancing jigs about it. A Hogarthian picture. Yet | one of the best doss-houses in London. Far better than the “House of Lords” | down in the east end, where poor devils over 65 can stretch out on a dais under a burlap bag. One block from London's humming Strand. just about the time the night- | club life starts, you will see about 50 | men sleeping on’ the grating beside a restaurant’s back door—warming them- selves in the taunting hot waves of | air from its stoves Sleep in Park on Bench. Any night on the Embankment you will see some lesser wretches, men and women. trying to snatch some slum- ber on a fog-drenched park bench. Why? Why all such misery when the law has it that no man shall starve? Because these are life's irreconcilia- bles. They want to be free—even from the workhouse—to lead their own lives. Every city has them—no city can stop them And vet London is kind. No class is benefiting at the expense of an- other in these bad days. If there still colossal mansions in Belgrave or Grosvenor square, many of them are empty or up for sale, and the chasm between them and the million people in one square mile of Shoreditch is not so wide. The English taxation has seen to that. London has a thousand lives; from Carlton House terrace to Charlie Brown's pub by the West India docks, they all seem to be good 1If a man falls from one social level into another, the drop should not hurt him very | much. He could still make himself com- | fortable. He could, if he behaved him- | self, attain a position of respect—self- respect—in any life that he fell into. |, And it is the self-respect of these muuz e %in, m:“:ll:n — essen London. | situation offers considerable evidence | of the progress made in the accom- (8t the head of the list the fact tha | rent expenses without seriously jeopar- | and the enemy of society. upon of | situation prequeq ~—~ EDITORIAL SECTION The Sundiy STar. WASHINGTON, i, @, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 13, 1932. U. S. Reconstruction Program Secretary of Treasury Believes Basis Has Been Laid for Widespread Economic Recovery. Note: Secretary of the Treasury Mills writes. in the article following, that “the stage is now favorably set for fhe country to work its way out of the depression He believes Natton will promvtiy take up the job ‘and see it through with courage, determination. imagina- tion and. undoubtedly. with success. BY OGDEN L. MILLS, Secretary of the Treasury. T this time the United States is passing through a most im- portant phase of an economic cycle, during the past two years of which it has been experi- encing perhaps the most severe depres- | sion in its history. | Since the middle of 1929 there has | been an almcst uninterrupted decline | in industry and trade, in commodity prices and other values, and in volume of employment and pay rolls. We have witnessed an uninterrupted and drastic liquidation of values and credits and there has also been a con- | siderable liquidation of public confi- dence. I have little doubt that un- certainty and lack of confidence, par- ticularly in recent months, have ac- centuated the decline. The Government is now bringing into operation & program of construc- tive measures and it is important that the significance of its program be gen- erally understood. Principles Are Discussed. A word as to the principles upon which the Government reconstruction program is based. The record of pro- duction, prices, banking development and other elements in the economic plishment of those economic readjust- ments to which we look for the elimi- nation of pcints of weakness developed in s period of excessive speculative ac- tivity Just how far this process must con- tinue before the besis for a sound for- ward movement has been laid no onc can say: but it would seem reasonable to believe that the readjustments which have already teken place have laid the basis for the commencement of such a movement. The initiation and accom- plishment of actual recovery, however, rest chiefly with men and women in industry and trade. The most the Government can do is to aid in the creation of conditions favorable to recovery. To this end, and on the assumption that liquidation has gone far enough, aggressive non- partisan action is being taken under the leadership of the Chief Executive which should go far toward safeguard- ing the national economy from the devzstating effects of avoidable catas- | il trophies and of unnecessary liquidation, | which is setting the stage for the Na- | tion to go to work with renewed as- surance. | In summarizing certain major items | in the Government's program, I place both parties in Congress are actively | co-operating to assure the maintenance ‘ of Pedelrlll flnh:nces on a g:\lmd bni‘s. ‘The policy Treasury strongly urged and which is meeting with strong | support calls for restricting and re- ducing expenditures so far as possivle. | as well as raising a large amount of | additional revenue so that in the com- | ing year the Government will not have to resort to further increase in the public debt to meet its requirements. To meet this objective it is estimated | that $1,241,000,000 is needed. | ‘We cannot rely indefinitely upon bor. | rowing to cover the Government's cur- | dizing the public credit, and the main- tenance of the public credit unimpaired | This Kidnaping Racket Recent Abduction of Lindbergh Baby Centers Attention on Commercialized Criminality BY WILLIAM J. DONOVAN, Former Assistant to the Attorney General { the United States. HE wave of kidnaping which is passing over the country is but another manifestation of the very prevalent social disease from which America is suffering today. Kidniping is as old as_ the history of crime itself. 1t is perhaps | one of the simplest crimes to execute— the victim can be taken in broad day- | light—but it is one of the most difficult crimes to solve Save when it has been committed under the impulse of an insane or diseased mind, it is a form of terrorism imposed upon soclety by the criminal classes. and, like all forms of terrorism, its purpose is revenge or the extortion of money. In classical times, down through the Middle Ages, and even to the present day, it hae been one of the most terrifying weapons of the outlaw In Three Forms. Kidnaping in its modern phase can be analyzed and broken down into three forms: Kidnaping by an insane or de: mented person, which the law, no mi ter how stringent or efficient, will never be able to control: kidnaping for the purpose of revenge or spite. and the commercial racket of kidnaping which has grown up with the development of organized crime in recent years. The most modern addiiion to the technique of racketeering is the organ- ized gangs of kidnapers which have Sprung up throughout the country. This crime, under the able exploitation of our foremost gangsters, has developed into A new source of income to the organ- ized criminal class of this country. If the few hundred cases of kidnaping that have been reported in this country In the last year may be taken as an incication of the widespread prevalence of this form of crime. and if the meth- ods uncovered by these reported cases ere indicative of the methods used in| the larger and unreported field of opera- | t'on. we may assume that the racketeers until very recently have preyed chiefly upon their own kind. It has been their practice to frequent gambling establish- ments, speakeasies and other places of ill-repute, to study the people Who patronize these adjuncts of the under- world and to discover somewhere in the life or habits of th uj whom ther wish ‘To prey’ sometiing o which will place him within their power. Though common blackmail might achieve their ends, exercising the pressure of kidnaping brings a greater and more immediate ‘relum‘.‘ = Crime Easy to Execute. The gangster element has used this | form of“\ntimidation and extortion chiefly upbn “double-crossers” and those ‘who Bave failed to “come across.” ‘This racticed more easily because their own hem from turning to the organised channels of law and order for protection, However, the rela- OGDEN L. t | is absolutely essential to the establish- | fiscal year 1933 can now be balanced in Underwood Photo. MILLS merfi;ot improved economic conditions. | the sense that there will be no further depression almost halved Federal | increase in the public debt after June | revenues from taxation. The wel of the Nation demands a reduction in the cost of Government, local, State and Federal. But it would be quite impossible to effect an immediate re-| duction of Federal expenditures by the | full extent of the decline which has been experienced in the revenues. In the present emergency this means that the Treasury must be supplied with ad- ditional tax dollars. A revenue bill has been prepared by the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives after careful and intensive study. This bill should assure the attainment of the Treasury’s main objective. The budget for the 30 next. The commitiee proposes to. cover the deficit by raising approxi- mately $1,120,000,000 of new revenues and by reducing expenditures by $125.000,000. Although different in many respects | from the recommendations submitted | by the Treasury Department, the com- mittee program has the approval of the Treasury and will receive its hearty support. I am confident the public will willingly support this revenue measure and that the additional taxes which it carries wili be accepted as a necessaty though not easy contribution to the Government in its time of need. Another item in the Government's Drawn for The Sunday Star by Harry Fisk. THERE HAS BEEN A POPULAR FALLACY CURRENT IN OUR LARGER CITIES THAT GANG WARFA tive success of this crime, its ease of operation and the small cost necessary to execute it as compared with other | rackets have led the gangster afield and have opened up to him a new source of income. It has been shown that the majority of kidnapings are performed by organized groups operating in the same manner and with the same sources of protection as other gangster activi- ties. The American people for more than 10 years have been subjected to a con- tinual and ever-increasing extortion. | This extortion exists because the Ameri- | can people are willing to permit it to exist. Our cities are not aroused to indignation or to action by the oper- ation of racketeers within their midst. Millions of us have aided and abetted the violation of the law and have been partners with the criminal class in pre- venting the law's rigid enforcement. Enforcement Laxity Increased. The result of that nullification of law has been increased laxity in gen- bition enforcement so that groups 'hln achieved such RE A BENEFICIAL THING. financial and even political power as to make them feel beyond any police force | of the Nation. With the great wealth reaped from the liquor traffic _the gangster has foraged further afield. He has discovered that it is possible to collect his percentage from every walk of life. More than one industry must pay tribute and “peace money.” Often the racketeer has been sble to make industry feel that it is cheaper to pay the racketeer's price than to combat him openly and to meet him as a pub- lic enemy. It is especially cheaper to pay the racketeer’s price when that price can be passed along to the ulti- mate consumer who pays his tax to gangland just as he pays any indirect tax that is levied upon him by govern- ment. Those business men and leaders of industries who have been coerced into meeting the gangster's demands are not supine or spiritless citizens, but they are faced with a stark alternative. Opposed to them is a highly organized and powerful machine that can, and has, corrupted government and justice. Threats and demands ime | ing and loan associations, various agri- | reconstruction program is the organiza- tion of the Reconstruction FPinance | Corporation. This institution, with au- thorized resources of $2,000.000,000, was created to provide for such emergency advances as may be needed by a variety of institutions, including banks, build- cultural credit organzations and rail- | roads, as well as to provide funds with which to make advances on the assets of closed banks. This corporation makes available a large fund of re- sources with which it should be pos- sible to close up practically any breach in the Nation’s economic front. A third important item In the Gov- ernment’s reconstruction program which | I wish to mention is the recently en- acted Glass-Steagall bill, which lib- eralizes certain provisions of the Fed- eral Reserve act. An important result of this act is that banks which have exhausted Lheir supply of eligible paper, as now very strictly defined in the Fed- | eral Reserve act, can under certain specified conditions and limitations ob- | tain accommodation from their Reserve | bank on the basis of good assets not | now eligible for rediscount. This should | | greatly fortify the banking system. | Moreover, by liberalizing the pro- visions of the Federal Reserve act per- | taining to the collateral required for Federal Reserve notes, the bill, without altering the existing reserve require- ments, adds some $750,000.000 to the free gold available to Pederal Reserve | banks and so strengthens their position in the event of increased demands upon their resources. It is not enough just to take care of | the weak spots and the purely emer- gency situations. A most important factor in the provisions for reconstruc- | tion and recovery on a broad basis Is | the restoration of the normal functions of credit machinery. The Glass-Stea- gall act should go far toward accom- | plishing this very objective. By put- ting the banking system in a stronger position, it should enable the system to arrest the deflationary movement and | more adequately to meet the needs of | agriculture, industry and commerce. Anti-Hoarding Drive Aids. The Government-sponsored campaign of the Citizens' Reconstruction Corpora- | tion to put idle money to work con- | tributes toward this same purpose. When an individual hoards currency it means that returns for his labor are permitted to lie idle, and instead of fa- cilitating and stimulating industry and commerce are tucked away in hiding. Money used in meeting individual cur- | rent needs enters the channels of com- | | merce and has the power to create markets for services and products. Money saved in banking institutions or otherwise invested represents purchas- ing power placed at the disposal of | those engaged in business, and benefits | both the borrower and the lender. | Money in hiding, on the other hand, is so much paper or metal. It is inactive. It brings no return. It does not grow. Further, the withdrawal of cash from banks for it is fair to_say, greatly hampered the banking system in the performance of its func- tions which are so im nt to the economy of the Nation. The lurking possibility that he may be subject to! the insistent demand that he provide | his depositors with cash on a large| scale be locked up in private hoards is a threat which cannot but prevent a re- sponsible banker from extending credit freely even for legitimate business uses when that threat becomes really immi- | nent. Hoarding has undoubtedly been | & major factor in the inability of the| | banking systsm to function freely in (Continued on Fourth Page.) possible in a civilized world are made, and when they are not acceded to gang- land's answer is meted out with a thoroughness and expedition which is ample persuasion that the hand of the | criminal class of this country wields a weapon which is not easily to be brushed aside. However, it is obvious to any one willing to consider the prob- lem that every concession made to the criminal class emboldens it to encroach further upon the liberties and rights of the public. Gang Wars Not Beneficial ‘There has been a popular fallacy cur- rent in our larger cities that gang war- fare is a beneficial thing; that if one gangster kills another the world is bet- ter off for one less gangster; that if one gangster racketeers another and takes away from him his financial power there is one less powerful crimi- nal to combat. The charge has been made, and not entirely without foun- dation, that in certain instances the | police have permitted crimes within the | crimial class to. go pretty much un- noticed However, the criminal class learns, through experience, what it can get away with. With internecine gang war demoralizing the police forces of the country, with the tremendous wealth and power which the gangster possesses, it is not much of an innovation for him to venture into the fringe of the under- | world, to prey upon the bookmaker, the gambler and his like. Emboldened by this step and seeking new fields of profit, he begins to lay a direct tax upon the law-abiding and respectable individual in society. Where such individuals have only been reached before by the increased cost of government which the crimi- nal had imposed upon society, and by | the increased cost of almost every ar- | ticle produced, which the racketeer has | imposed upon industry, the gangster now, by threat of danger and attack | upon the wives and children of these individuals, begins to collect his toll Nor are his threats likely to be taken as idle gestures, for the gangster has for his armed weapon all the terror that he has no fear to use upon the | lowliest or the highest that he may choose as his victims—the threat of kidnaping. Police Are Hampered. The police, who can protect the in- dividual from such assaults, are ham- pered in their work by the difficulty of obtaining information from the fam- ilies of the people abducted. The fam- ilies fear, and rightly, that as the net of the law closes about the kidnapers, | they may murder the person they hold | before he can be saved. More than all other forms of terrorism, kidnaping plays upon the emotion of the people against whom it is practiced. It is the unknown that strikes terror into the | We must consider him, of course, not MURRAY’S RATING IN WEST WILL BE SHOWN TUESDAY Duel With Rooseve It in North Dakota Will Shed Light on Oklahoma Gover- nor's Power to BY MARK SULLIVAN. | EXT Tuesday we are going to | get light on the capacity of the Governor of Oklahoma to | get delegates in a contest with | the Governor of New York. ‘The arena, North Dakota, is, to be sure, of a sort to favor “Alfalfa Bill” He and Roosevelt are the only entrants—it is a simple political duel between them. For a long time observers and poli- ticians in Washington took it com- pletely for granted that Roosevelt would have the North Dakota delegates (as well as the delegates from most of the rest of the West.) Roosevelt's at- titude toward public questions, the in- itial impressions he made on the coun- try, was a kind to appeal to the West, especiaily the part of it that you call | “progressive” if you like it and “rad- | ical” if you don't. The two pretty radical Democratic senators from the Northwest—Wheeler of Montana and Dill of Washington—were among the | Democrats of that rank. the earliest and warmest of Roosevelt's indorsers. That Roosevelt would carry the Demo- cratic primaries in North Dakota and all the nearby States was generally taken for granted. Then “Alfalfa Bill" entered the race. Quickly it became apparent that Mur- ray has as much favor in the North- west as Roosevelt. In the poll of Towa, conducted by the Des Moines Sun- day Register. Murray ran neck and neck with Roosevelt, sometimes ahead of Roosevelt. In the outcome. Roose- velt “was ahead, but only a little. In the final count of the poll of 53,073 Democrats in Iowa, the results were: Roosevelt Murray Smith Baker Ritchie Young Garner Reed McAdoo Incidentally this must be a pretty representative poll, just to be accepted as a barometer, not only of Iowa but of nearby States. The total Demo- cratic vote in Iowa in 1928 was 378,936; this present poll of 53,073 must rep- resent about one cut of every seven Democratic votes in Iowa. Loss Will Hurt Roosevelt. Now, next Tuesday we shall see how Murray fares in a formal, official pri- mary in North Dakota. From the point of view of politicians and observ- ers in Washington and the East, the principal question is not whether Mur- ray_wins. but whether Roosevelt loses. If Roosevelt loses it will damage him somewhat in the East and do some detriment to his fortunes generally. If Roosevelt loses North Dakota, it will be interpreted as meaning that Roose- velt is not progressive enough for the West, that Murray is the truer ex- ponent of Democratic sentiment in that territory. At the same time it has already been felt that Roosevelt dam- aged somewhat with the con- servative East by making any kind of appeal to the West. Nevertheless, even if Roosevelt loses North Dakota to Murray, Roosevelt will still be a major contender for the Dem- ocratic nomination. Murray, even if he carries North Dakota, and despite the really sensational showing of strength that is emerging for him in the West—in spite of that, any one in Washington or the East regards Mur- ray as a major contender. It is ad- mitted that Murray is showing utterly unexpected strength in the West, it is admitted as certain that he will be an important figure in the convention and will make a good deal of commotion in it—but hardly any politician in the East believes, as of today, that Murray has any chance of really running away with the Democratic nomination. He is a striking, attention-arresting, resourceful person, but he has not yet convinced Democratic leaders that he is a L. What shall we think about Murray? | | merely as himself, but in relation to his times. Following Acquired Recently. The undeniable fact is that William H. Murray is the only man in politics Who has acquired for himself a large following during the last two years. Other men, such as President Hoover and ex-Gov. Smith, already had fol- lowings acquired years ago, and these followings they keep. Democratic Speak- er Garner of the House is acquiring a following, but Garner's leverage con- sists of his official position. Murray is the only man who started at zero in 1930, unknown nationally and practical- | ly forgotten even in his own State of | Oklahoma—and now, two years later, stands before the country with a really hr‘ge penslomil following. ot only in politics. In any ot field—the church, the press, Mnar who can name a man who was un- known in 1930 and in two years has made himself a leader? In a time of distress people are fretful, and when people are fretful they tend to be sus- picious of most persons who ask for their support and confidence. A time like this is, in short, unfavorable for the appearance of leaders n any line except that in politics; at such times much of the public is ready to take| ttlndly to new leadership of a particular | ype. Murray has come forward with the Tight appeal. Starting in Oklahoma in | 1930, after he had been 12 years out | of the State in South America, when | many of the older folks had forgotten | him and none of the younger folks had | heard of him, when he was a little dis- credited by the failure of his South American colonization enterprise and financially broke (legend says he had but $12 and was obliged to hitch-hike his way about the State)—in that con- dition Murray made himself Governor of Oklahoma. Then, in two years, he | has made himself a national figure, | worked himself up to a point where everything he does and says is news, | where Eastern newspapers and maga- Zines print more about him than about any other Democratic aspirant. The secret lies, of course, not wholly in Murray (though he reaily has per- sonality), but largely in the times. The people are distressed—and Murray ap- Dpeals to distress. It has been done be- fore, by Bryan in 1896, by Weaver in 1892. The process is plain, Murray walks out in front of the crowd. “Look at me,"” he says, and he gets their atten- ton. “Follow me,” he says, “and I will lead you back to comfort, to the times that used to be.” Murray Is a Reactionary. This is, in effect, just what Murray says. He is a reactionary, not a radi- cal. His appeal is, not that he will bring 2 new day, but that he will take us | back to an older day. That is what justifies Murray in professing himself to be an Andrew Jackson. Always it is backward that Murray looks—not for- ward to revolution. Revolution he de- the le—the ever present fio—’fim they dearly love to torture or may be or roll an to certain plores. “We must,” he says, “either re- verse the lever of our Win Delegates. ray's utterances closely, that he i, as he says, “for the great middle class and the poorer class”—and he means the middle class first. His plea, indeed, is preponderantly for the middie class; he sees the middle class in danger of ex- tinction between pressure from the rich above and the poor below—and he proposes to save the middle class. “As Governor of Ol oma.” he says, “I acted for the great middle class; this class has always been the stalwart pre- server of civilization.” How much Murray understands of this is not the question. The fact about his status before the country is that it is the middle class—the farm- ers—who compose the better part of his following. Therein lies the weakness of Murray's plea for the Democratic nomination. In the West it is mainly the middle class, the farmer, who feels distress. In the East, in the cities, it is mainly the laborer class that composes the bulk of distress. There is no signs, as yet, that Muwray has any prospect of having as much as one delegate from east of the Mississippl. (Though it is possible he may get some from Southern States where, as in the West, farmers com- pose most of the distressed.) In Oklehoma, Murray clearly has & majority of the Democrats with him; his control of the recent Democratic State convention is sufficient proof of that; he dominated it personally more completely than any Eastern boss is commonly able to dominate his State convention. Deplored by Many In Oklahoma. Many thoughtful persons in Okla- homa deplore Murray. The following sentences are detached from letters re- ceived by the writer of this article from two men in Oklahoma who have high public ideals, combined with sound judgment and insight into char- acter. They are personally disinter- ested about Murray, although the sen- tences here detached are mainly the ones in which they criticize the Gov- eronr and picture him as a danger. “The Eastern press and magazines in the publicity they give about Mur- ray are playing with fire. Just because he is a picturesque old cuss, writers come down here, shut their eyes to what any informed man could tell them and write him up for national consumption with emphasis on his picturesqueness rather than on the qualities the country ought to look into if it is to take him seriously. “Murray is really a hard-shelled con- servative—observe his opposition to public ownership—yet he talks suffi- ciently like a radical to fool the un- thinking. It is only in his words that Murray is radical. The mood to which he really appeals is a mood that wants to go back to the older and simpler days, a mood which thinks that Gov. Murray can restore a pastoral civili- zation. Fundamentally he is opposed to modern industry and all that goes with it. His pose is the wise old states- man calling for a return to the old days. He is the kind of fellow that captivates the mind of the dis- and the couraged discon! Just now we have a lot of them in the West, good solid people don’t want Russia, but do want to back to an earlier and more stable condition. Mur- ray is as daring as Andrew Jackson and utterly without a limit to his egotism. He would go into a foreign war at the drop of a hat if he thought it neces- sary to avert attention from domestic predicaments. In his executive work he is rough and surly, without mg}o— macy and indifferent to the feelings of any one. He is the most suspicious man I ever saw, seeing a hidden pur- pose in the motives of any one who approaches him on any subject. He has gone to the most petty extremes in or- ganizing each State department down to the last office boy with his own friends. He dictates every appointment. He is fanatical for his friends, regard- less of their abilities; a poor judge of human nature and consequently has surrounded himself with a number of officeholders who are not of the best material. He is money honest. I do not believe any one could bribe him with money. But he is the most greedy man for power that has emerged in America in recent times. He is one of the best spellbinders in the United States (under present conditions). He is so convinced that he is called by destiny to be the next President that he feels justified in doing ruthless things to bring it about.” Possesses Personality. After all is said, the outstanding quality of Murray remains. He has the indispensable thing, personality, and the particular kind of gpersonality which, taken in connection with the condition of the times, causes every- to look at him and many to fol- low him. This is a unique perform- ance. Nobody else is achieving any- thing like it. Consider Joseph I. Prance of Mary- land, for example, who is trying to take the Republican nomination away from Mr. Hoover. They very audacity of that ought to attract attention to France, if he had the particular kind of per- sonality that the times call for. Prance is not a newcomer; he was a United States Senator from Maryland some 10 years ago. France is, like Murray, an old-timer trying to stage a come-back. The very boldness of the attempt should make him conspicuous. But few go to see France. No one hears about any of his public meetings. He is not written up in the newspapers and magazines. In short, Prance doesn't have political “it"—and Murray has. Old Recipe Exhibit Bares Extravagance LONDON.—There is an exhibit in the walnut exhibition now being held at Sir Philip Sassoon’s house in London, which proves that ready-to-serve foods are not the discovery of our modern age. This is the Queen Anne Cookery Book, which contains, in the finest pen- manship, records of the favorite recipes of titled women of the day. Apart from thelr extravagance—10 chickens are the alarming start-off for one pie—one is chiefly struck by, the strangeness of some of the ingredients. A grain of musk is recommended in the making of “carraway wiggs,” and am- ber grease in the foliowing 200-year-old recipe for cheese cakes: “Take a quart of curds of sour milk when the wi is drained well from it lndnbeltnl:.’ fil‘} in a stone or wooden mortar w! a pound of sweet butter. Then you must ruv.:o?or the seasoning a large nutmeg grated and beaten, cinnamon as much as the quantity of nutmeg, half a pint of good thick cream, eight eggs, and take away half the whites, a little sack, a little rosewater or orange flavor water, a little amber grease dissolved in sugar beaten very fine, half a pound of currants. “Mix all well together, then fill your cheese cakes, half an hour well bake them, your oven must be hotter than for white bread. is best will observe, if you follow Mur- them it must be Puff for the cheese-cakes, buzp‘t?nm Talse paste.” Evidently expense was no object| ¥ 4