Evening Star Newspaper, March 13, 1932, Page 28

THE EVENING STAR WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY.........March 13, 1832 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor Evening Star N Com; The e Newspaper pany ing 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd 8t. i She e ety e Rate by Carrier Within the City. 45¢ per month 60c per month ‘month. ephone NAtional Rate by Mail—Payable in Maryland and Virgi iy and Sunday.....1yr. $10.00: 1 mo,, 85c | ily only «,, --1¥r, 36.00; 1 mo., 50c | unday only . 45T, $4.00; 1mo., 40c | All Other States and Canada. E:'.}’ and Sunday...1yr. 31200 1 mo. 81,00 dasony v i L soc $5.00; 1 mo.. Member of the Associated Press. e Assoclated Press is exclusively eutitled the ‘use for Tepublication of all news dis- %t or not otherwise cred- Shished eteinr Al siehts of Bublication of ublished he o Ebecial“ispatches hereia axe aiso reserved Advance. nia. yri Balancing the Budget. If there was any doubt in the minds of Americans that the Government should have a balanced budget, even if a tax increase be necessary to effect it &t this time, the greatly increased rate of interest which this Government is compelled to pay for money should dis- pel that doubt. Representative Crisp of Georgia, acting chairman of the Fouse Ways and Means Committee, pertinently pointed to the changed rates while supporting the tax bill on the House floor Friday. He showed that the Government had recently issued short-term securities bearing interest 88 high as 3% per cent, and that & year ago similar securities issued by the Government carried interest at the rate of only 1% per cent. It takes no mathematician to figure out that with these greatly increased rates of inter- est, if the Government continues to at- tempt to balance its budget by borrow- ing money, the ultimate burden on the shoulders of the taxpavers will be very much greater. And at the same time no real pregress will have been made in wiping out the Treasury deficit, now approaching the two-billion-dollar point. Since the introduction of the new tax bill, as drafted by the Ways and Means Committee, a barrage has been laid down against it. Interests which feel the pinch of the tax and members of Congress who fear the anger of the tax- paying voters have taken the lead in attacking the measure. No tax bill which increases taxes will be popular in this or any other country. The people pay the taxes, Theirs is the burden. The House Ways and Means Commit- tee has been denounced because it placed in the bill the manufacturers' tax of 2 per cent. This has been dubbed a “sales tax.” It is no more a sales tax than the proposed excise taxes on many industries, suggested as & substitute, for example, by Repre- sentative La Guardia of New York. It has, indeed, an advantage over taxes levied on individual industries. It is fairer to the whole group of American industries and makes them all share the burden of taxation. If an attempt is made to single out industries for taxa- tion, other industries will be in a pre- ferred class. Give & dog & bad name and matters go ill for the dog. “Sales tax,” the name applied to the manufacturers’ tax, is a bad name. It has been unpopular for years, made so by the hue and cry raised against proposals in the past to levy a sales tax in this country. Too many efforts are made to convince the people that taxes can be devised and levied which will not fall upon them. The pecple in the end pay all the taxes, ‘The House Ways and Means Com- mittee faces a real fight to maintain the manufacturers’ tax, estimated to raise about $600.000,000 and the keystone of the committee’s bill. Too many mem- bers of the House see the personal po- litical side of the question; too many fear that support of the proposed bill will bring an avalanche of votes against ! them at the polls. Those members who consider the real need of the country, | the vital necessity of balancing the Government budget for the sake of the credit of the Nation and for the in- spiration of confidence in all the peo- ple, a confidence much needed, will take & very different view of the measure, Mr. Crisp has told the House that if ® better plan than the manufacturers’ tax, a fairer plan and one calculated to bring in as much revenue, can be brought forward he is willing to accept it. The Ways and Means Committee, however, canvassed the fleld thoroughly, holding extensive hearings. When it | began its consideration of the tax bill probably not three of its members were favorable to such a tax as the manu- facturers’ tax, now dubbed a sales tax. | In the end, however, the committee was | forced. by & process of elimination, to the view that the manufacturers' tax was the wisest course to follow. If the House in the end declines to pass a bill really calculated to aid in balancing the | Government's budget, it will be time, | indeed, for the people to think seriously | of electing new members of that body. - B After hoping for peace the Japanese immediately proceed to preparedness | for another fight. - The Schneider Cup. The recent announcement by sir“ Philip Sassoon, undersecretary of the | English air ministry, in the House of Commons, . that the Schneider Cup races, blue ribbon speed event of the air, were “completely over” was a bit superfluous, to say the least. Engand saw to it last year that the races were “completely over” by refusing t- permit & postponement to allow Itafy to get her planes in order for the big event and going shead with the race alone, thereby chalking up three successive triumphs, which automatically put the cup in its possession and out of compe- tition forever. No one challenges Eng- land’s right to take the action it did. | would be no hope of ever catching it. style of 1931. But it refused to do so, and thus it left the trophy open future contests. The fact that United States won the next year, which would have given it three consecutive victories and possession of the cup, is not without its significance. > Now that the races are “completely over” it remains to be seen what steps will be taken, here or elsewhere, to in- augurate & Dew series of speed events of the air. That England is so far ahead of other nations in speed with a record of better than 408 miles an hour should act as a spur for serious consideration by France, Italy or the United States to the plan of promoting international speed contests, It is hardly conceivable that other countries would be willing to development of fast planes that there Already the difference between England and the United States can be realized when it is remembered that the fastest American plane has done only 286 miles an hour, which would be ke a match between a freight train and an express in view of tue British record of 400 miles an hour. A good start has already been made in this country with the creation of & foundation of $16,000.000 which will be devoted exclusively to develop speed in American planes. This is a fine work and should be continued. America is the birthplace of aviation and should seek to assume undisputed leadership with its rightful heritage. S The Campaign Merely Begins. Washington’s “anti-hoarding cam- paign” is ended. But in the larger sense it has only begun. We have wit- nessed in the last week, in this city, an intensive effort to center public thought on the elementary economic aspects of a state of mind that, it unchanged, could easily account for an incalculable amount of damage. The effort has taken form in that characteristically American activity known as a “drive” or a “campaign.” There has been & muster of speakers who have touched on the known facts and figures con- cerning hoarding, and the newspapers have contributed space for the exposi- tion of other phases of the problem. The President and the director of his Nation-wide organization, Col. Frank Knox of Chicago, have contributed to the appeal and have noted the tangible results so far obtained. More money has been added to circulation durirg the past week than during any like period since hoarding reached its dan- gerous peak toward the end of January. Some 2,395 separate communities have conducted anti-hoarding demonstra- tions. The sale of the Treasury’s “baby bonds” has been successful in bringing an additional amount of money out of hiding. Here in Washington the sale of the bonds was relatively small, in- dicating, in the first place, that the local investor has not lost confidence to the extent that he is willing to sac- rifice sound interest of three and more per cent for the lower interest yielded from these bonds, and showing, in the second place, that hoarding in Wash- ington has not reached the extent re- ported in some other less fortunately situated communities. But if this part of the campaign has been successful merely in ceptering public thought, for the moment, on the short-sightedness of hoarding, as far us the individual s concerned, and upon the real menace of hoarding, as far as a large number of individuals is con- cerned, it has served its purpose well. And if today marks the end of this pre- liminary “drive,” it marks only the start of an effort that should continue until the Nation teases to regard hoarding as of real concern and looks back upon it as one of the queer elements in a period of business depression that will, for a long time to come, provide the historian of economics with plenty of writing material. There always have been and there always will be a certain number of people who hoard their money. But the practice has usually been associated with ignorance or with miserliness. It is only when a large number of people simultaneously succumb to a nameless fear and, panic stricken, hide their gold against the coming of some hazily de- fined eventuality, that the practice assumes proportions that are dangerous, If hoarding is due, and it is, to a state of mind, we must end hoarding by changing that state of mind. What we need is a new outlook on the future, a philosophy that counteracts the in- coherent dread of some fanciful day of reckoning when a balance is to be struck between monetary debits and credits and everything is to start over again. It is this fear, and the belief that & few dollars stuck away in a sock somewhere will come in handy, that accounts for hoarding and contributes to the evils attendant on hoarding. What the people of this country must realize is that if the ship sinks everys body, more or less, will sink with it. Instead of boring holes in the hull as a possible exit in case of emergency, the job is to make the ship keep sall- ing along as it has done for many more vears than this depression has, or will, last. ——— The enterprising bargain manager is offering some of the most cheerful and convincing arguments against hoarding. e e The New York Express Highway. The city of New York is open to con- gratulations, strange as it may seem in view of the shocking exposures regard- ing Tammany, the political organization | which “bosses” the metropolis. But credit must be given where credit is due and the laudation is about an en- tirely different matter. It concerns the opening. the other day, of a new link in the fine elevated automoblle express highway that eventually will run from | Canal street to Seventy-second street along the banks of the river. It was only a comparst'vely short time ago that the visduct from Canal street to Twenty-third street was opened and New Yorkers celebrated the occasion fittingly. The opening of the second span, from Fifty-ninth to Seventy- second streets, leaving only the link! It was all strictly according to the tech- nical rules. It might be pointed out, however, in this connection that in 1924 ‘almost exactly the same situation pre- vailed with the United States. All the entries for that year were elim- between Twenty-third and Fifty-ninth to be completed, was made the event of the city’s latest celebration. New York can well be proud of its leadership among other cities of the country in providing THE SUNDAY trict through which the express high- Way runs is so dense that the pace of automobiles resembles ‘that of the well known tortoise. It took visigp to see the possibilities of an elevated highway which carries four lanes of traffic at thirty-five miles an hour. But what- ever else New York can be accused of, it does not lack vision and the determi- nation to progress in! the handling of its vast numbers of motor cars. The express highway is the answer, and other cities can well acknowledge New York's leadership. The Akron, The report of the eongressional com- mittee which has been investigating ‘youn| sit supinely by and permit England to the construction of the Akron, giant|struggling church the heroic St. Paul get so far ahead in the vitally important | United States airship, is greeted with satisfaction by the American public. It categorically denfes that there are any structural faults in the world’s largest lighter-than-air eraft and holds that, except for being eighteen thou- sand pounds overweight, the ship is flawless. The committee report will set at rest the various rumors that have been going the rounds in regard to the condition of the newest addl- tion to Uncle Sam’s Navy. It is well, however, that Congress took cognizance of the rumors. They had attained widespread circulation and it needed prompt action to squelch them. Big airships, with probably the single exceptions of the Graf Zeppelin and Los Angeles, have not been con- spicuously successful, and when charges are made that the biggest one of them all has serious structural defects, due to sabotage, faulty material and poor construction, they assume significant proportions. All of these charges have been effectively answered, except, of course, the one regarding overweight, by the report of the committee, which was made after exhaustive study. May the Akron ride the skies for many years to come! ———— In arranging to reduce city expenses by discharging thousands of workers, Chicago might at least have the human kindness to arrange for the compara- tively small appropriation that would be necessary for a larger supply of park benches. e Prince Lennart of Sweden, having married outside of royaity, will become & farmer. If he can show a sure way to success in agriculture he may become even greater as a public leader than he would have been as the occupant of & throne. ———— It is not clear why racketeers should concern themselves with kidnaping when blackmail is easier and more dependable for results when only money is desired. ———————— The hope is entertained that much money is awaiting release from old stockings and tea pots, instead of under- | o going liquidation by the two-quart fruit jar process. e r—e———————- By introducing reason as & substitute for force in the Shanghai situation the League of Nations may yet attain a prestige that will silence the most skeptical. ——————— A number of United States manu- facturing firms are arranging to operate in Canada, which will help to relieve unemployment in that country, but not in the United States. ———— ‘Whether it is to be a manufacturers’ tax or & sales tax, the ultimate con- sumer may as well resign himself to making the required cash contribution. ———— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. No News = Good News, A memory sounds from far away— “There isn't any news today.” Since then the world has run a course, Through plunder, panic and divorce, Which seems to shatter every scheme From politics to love’s young dream. None is too great and none too small To hear the loud, relentless call Of Notoriety, whose name Has overshadowed honest Fame. Fame patiently kept plodding, while The gossip moved in flaunting style. The tickers talk, the headlines wave, Confusion runs from gay to grave. We wish sometimes Earth did not spin So fast through a delirious din; And that authority would say, “There isn't any news today.” Names. “Do your colleagues ever get on suffi- clently close terms to call one another by their first names?" asked the Human Questionnaire. “For a while,” answered Senator Sor- ghum. “After they have mixed things up in & few debates they think up a lot of new ones.” Jud Tunkins says them smart city fellers is irreverent. One of 'em says the dove of peace ain't doin’ so well. She took her song too serious and went £00€00. Fickle Publicity. Publicity is hard to land For those whom it would please; Yet where it is not in demand It comes with too much ease. Saddening Influence. “He does his best to be amusing.” “Yes,” said Miss Cayenne. “He tells s0 many of his queer funny stories that he’s the death of the party.” “Power based on fear,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “must keep its watchdogs so carefully chained that they they may not be able to respond when needed.” Peace by Force. ‘We vow again that wars must cease, And next the thought occurs That maybe that bold dove of peace Is trying to grow spurs, “Complainin’ 'bout de weather," said Uncle Eben, “is unsatisfactory. So |many folks agree Wwith you dat dar | can't be even an interestin’ argument.” \‘A Big Field Open. STAR, WASHINGTO! THE GATEWAY OF SERVICE BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D., Bishop of Washington. Text: “A great door and efectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries."—I Corinthians, Zvid. ‘The gateway of opportunity is beset with difficulties. As there is no royal or easy road to knowledge, even so there is no easy or royal road to life's largest and best opportunities. All at- tainment is marked by struggle. Pur- suing the line of least resistance may be appealing, but it has no warrant of_successful attainment. In a letter written to a g and speaks of a contemplated visit to his immature and unformed disciples in a city in which he had met with much opposition. Nothing daunted by his mishaps, he afirms as his conviction that it presents & great door and effectual, but he adds, “And there are many adversaries.”” We doubt not that the very conditions he faced in his contemplated visit and ministry served not only as & challenge to him, but an invitation to increased effort. whole attitude 1is characteristic of those whose life service has been marked by real accomplishment and compensating attainment, It is quite universally true that “The heights by great men scaled and kept ‘Were not attalned by sudden fllfhfi. But they while their companions slept Were tolling upward in the night.” We all too frequentl{ credit men with being the favored of good fortune, those who are the willing and recep- tive victims of happy and fortunate circumstances. The record of those who have served best, who have at-| tained the highest degree of efficiency is wholly out of consonance with this theory. They paid the price, and it was an exacting one, for what they ained of opportunity and advantage. e think of such a favored son as Washington as being born at a time in history where everything was shaj to his desires and fitted to his peculiar gifts. True, his period was rich with opportunity, but no interpretation of | an easy matter to grow a soul. his life is adequate or consistent that does not reckon with the trials and difficulties that hindered and stayed urse, Brilllant as were his :cuhusgmenu. they were dearly bought There is nothing unique in this. It is the unfailing record of all those who through the gateway of service have sought to give their best for the enrichment of their fellows. There are few lessons that we need to learn more completely today than this one, namely, that the gateway of all opportunity is beset with difficulties. Were this not so, we should grow soft and flabby. At- tainment would be so_easy as to be quite unworthy of us. This has its ap- Plication to every phase and aspect of our life, but it has striking applica- tion with respect to the attainment of the finer virtues of character. The Master never promised men that it was peatedly affirmed that if any man would come after Him he must take up his cross daily and follow Him. To His own disciples he gave no assurance that their ministry was to be marked with favor and popularity. Theirs was to be & hard and difficult task, and to His | many of them it meant ultimately mar- tyrdom. From that day to this Chris- tian faith and practice have called into action the strongest and stablest qual- ities in man's nature. As a matter of fact, it has been the expression of these qualities in those who have served the | the Christian cause that has constituted their strongest and most compelling ap- peal. Men are not drawn to a great service through the wedkness of its exemplars. That there Is an oppor- tunity today for,a militant Christian faith’and practice is most evident. The course of events is more largely affected by example than through precept. The men and women who belleve in the Iife and teaching of Jesus and who hold that these teachings bear vitally upon all human concerns have an oppor- tunity for service quite incomparable and unequaled. If in these critical days a finer demonstration may be given to the world of the practical value of Christian faith and practice, we shall witness such a revival of religion, such & fresh exhibition of helpful Christian service as we have not known for gen- erations past. A great door and effec- tual is opened unto us, and it must be entered, however beset with difficulties it may be, BY GEORGE VAN SLYKE. NEW YORK, March 12.—As a result of the gains coming to him from the impressive victory which he scored this past week in the first presidential State primaries, Gov. Franklin D. velt and his supporters are credited with control of a majority of the delegates who will organize the Democratic Na- tional Convention next June. ‘The situation in the Democracy has been clarified and Mr. Roosevelt's posi- tion strengthened by the first expression of sentiment at the polls. Three months prior to the assembling of the national convention and just at the moment when the “stop Roosevelt” movement appeared to be threatening his big lead in the race of candidates, the New York executive has given an actual demon- stration of vote-getting power which has disconcerted his opponents and started him off on a fresh outburst of * kX % ‘The immediate objective of the Roose- velt managers for months has been to win the support of a majority of the delegates for record purposes on the first ballot. Making due allowances for extravagant claims and shrinkage, it now seems there is substantial basis for the belief that Mr. Roosevelt will be able to organize the convention; that his friends will dominate the committee which will decide on contested seats, name the temporary officers of the con- vention and the committee to write the | platform. That is exceedingly impor- tant. Especially is it vital for his friends to determine the merits of rival delega- tions claiming the right to sit in the convention. Minnesota Democrats have a row on their hands, and the anti-| Roosevelt faction in that State, which bolted the regular convention this week, threatens to send & fmmtlnx delega- tion, which, if seated, would cast the State’s ballot against the New York Governor. Probably there will be sev- | eral other similar situations. The Dem- ocrats nearly always have numerous contests of that character. * ox % % The impetus lent the Roosevelt can- didacy by his sweep in New Hampshire, followed the next day by the declaration of Minnesota for his nomination, has brought many undecided and wobbling | delegates into the Roosevelt camp. His | own managers insist they are confident he will have well over 600 votes on the first ballot. Others less partisan who have made careful count estimate that | the Governor at the worst is today within 50 votes of a majority. Some shade it down to 20 or 30. Any of these figures show that the consensus of pro- fessional opinion is that Mr. Roosevelt | is well on the way and is more than maintaining his lead. Almost as important as the actual | gain which he has recorded is the nega- tive advantage which has come to him in the loss sustained by Alfred E. Smith both in New Hampshire and Minnesota. In less than three days the conviction has gone abroad through the party that the Al Smith movement is fading out; that the former Governor cannot be nominated, and that his loyal friends do not owe it to him to give him the power of attorney to carry on a useless fight which may be destructive in its results, Even the die-hards in the party have paused to think it over. s x % Great interest has attached to these first primaries, and naturally so, as| they are the first definite expression of Democratic preference at the polls. For the better part of a year Gov. Roosevelt was far out in front for the reason; that he was the only candidate in the | field, and the prestige of his office lent his candidacy great strength. Then came the uncertain period when Mr. Smith hesitated about r\mnlngl and the belief grew that if “Al” threw his brown derby into the arena it would mean the definite “stopping” of the Roose- velt boom. Mr. Smith did enter finally, and far and wide the party leaders said Roosevelt was through; that the Smith legend still lived and that it would be easy to form the coalition to control one-third of the convention. Firm in that belief, the favorite sons began to emerge until nearly a score were in the race. That was designed by State leaders to hold their delega- tions in line pending developments. This week the party has gone one step further. Roosevelt has met Smith in the latter's own territory and has won so impressively that the Smith contin- gent has suddenly suffered a severe chill. Mr. Smith unquestionably has sustained loss of prestige; the ‘“stop Roosevelt” movement gives evidence of falling to pieces and a big doubt has arisen as to Mr. Smith's ability to head off the New York Governor. * x x % Encouraged by the New Hampshire victory, Mr. Roosevelt has decided to go into Massachusetts and make an ag- gressive battle for that State's delega- tion. That is taken by his friends as an evidence of his own confidence, since the Bay State is Smith's strongest ter- ritory and he is rated there as a favor- ite-son candidate. The Roosevelt man- agers believe they will win 14 or 16 of i the State's 36 delegates and that will be_equal to another real victory. Some of Mr. Roosevelt's friends have been apprehensive concerning these New | creased cotton shipments to the Orient | England contests because of their fear ppostion, of the jarge body of Cathole [0 ly of Cathol vm'm and alienate that entire eleme; of the party b‘:.ymd the Roosevelt Stock Greatly Strengthened by New Hampshire and Minnesota Results that most of Mr. Roosevelt's managers and enthusiastic boomers, both in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, are Cath- olics. Half of the delegates elected this week are Catholics, it is stated. * K X % Indications now are that Mr. Smith | may not have more than 100 delegates | when he enters the convention, if he goes through with all the primary con- tests planned on his behalf. He will have a majority in all probability in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, the solid New Jersey and Rhode Island delegations, probably a few from Chi- cago, a handful from California, and that is all now in sight. One hundred delegates will not provide him the vot- ing power to organize a strong offensive in the convention, as the Roosevelt men see it. They put Smith about on a par with Ritchie, Garner, Robinson, Byrd and Murray, each with a few delegates. The Roosevelt leaders doubt whether even half of that line-up of favorite- son delegates will enter a hard and fast iance to deadlock the convention against a candidate with even half the delegates. Rather, it is their belief that the Byrd, Garner and Robinson votes will turn to Roosevelt rather than op- erate in a purely defensive and ol - | structive movement. (Copyrignt. 1032.) Brighter Prospect For Cotton Textile Industry BY HARDEN COLFAX. Two developments of the past few days are looked upon as of particular significance in registering the progress of the cotton textile industry toward recovery from the doldrums in which it has languished for the past couple of vears. These are the decision on the part of most of the production in- terests to continue throughout 1932 the policy of not employing women and minors, and the spurt taken by the export trade in cotton goods, particu- larly to the Far East, as shown by fig- ures just released by the Department of Commerce. Operators of more than 85 per cent of the cotton spindles in the United States have decided that hereafter they will not employ women or minors at night and that they will limit their operations to 50 hours of day and 55 hours of night work per week. This action is highly gratifying to the Cot- ton Textile Institute, which has been working in co-operation with the De- partment of Commerce to secure the agreement of mill executives in ing out sound economic policies in the textile industry. Fallure to continue the polic(y—cnd there was considera- ble opposition—undoubtedly would have endangered the new program of meas- uring production with demand and also would have further complicated the depressed labor situation. * x x % While cotton prices are low and mills, generally speaking, are not mak- ing a profit on their business. never- theless the industry as a whole, ac- cording to the Cotton Textile Institute and the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, is in a better statistical condition than it has been for a long time. There is a better balance be- tween production and consumption. According to data supplied to the De- partment of Commerce from private sources, the cotton industry has been | operating for the past three months at about 16 per cent under normal capacity. During 1931 stocks of stand- ard goods decreased while unfilled or- ders increased. The production of cotton goods con- tinues to have & very real community significance and the responsibility of the mill owners to the laborer and so- cial conditions in the communities in which they operate is reported as be- ing shouldered courageously. For the six months of the season ending with January, American ex- ports of cotton were 11 per cent greater than for the corresponding period last vear The textile division of the Le- partment of Commerce announces that statisties for February indicate that the rate of this increase in exports is ‘rl:'_:\ greater than indicated by the fig- * o ox o According to these Commerce De- partment figures, the outstanding fea- ture of the trade during the first half of the 1931-1932 season was the in- crease in the volume of cotton exported to the Far East. This occurred while there was a considerable drop in the shipments to Europe, particularly to France, due to curtailed mill activity and generally unsatisfactory condi- tions. In the first half of the season about a million and a quarter bales indicated the increase in exports to the Orient. Both China and Japan drew heavily on the United States dur- ing January and February. Commerce representatives do not be- lieve that the chief reason for in- is to be found in hostilities between Japan and China, except in so far as the lustry had been Chinese boycott. to be that, ow- other crop condi- crops of Indian year, 1932--PART TWO. Capital Sidelights A M usetts clergyman received 8 lettpr in 1832 regarding the attitude of Géorge Washington toward religious beliefs, written by the venerable Bishop White of Philadelphia, Who was per. sonally acquainted with Washington during his presidency. The Rev. B. C. C. Parker, to whom the historic letter was addressed. was rector at the time of Trinity Church, Lenox, Mass. The letter in full is as follows: “Philadelphia, “28th November, 1832. “Dear Sir: I have recelved your letter of the 20th instant, and “will furnish you with what information I possess on the subject of it. “The Father of Our Country,as well during the Revolutionary War as in his presidency, attended divine service in Christ Church in this city, except dur- ing one Winter, when being here for the taking of measures with Congress toward the opening of the next cam- gnun he rented & Louse near to St eter's Church, then in parochial union with Christ Church. During that sea- son he attended regularly at St. Peter's, His behavior was always serious and attentive, but @8 your letter seems to intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it to the truth to declare that I never saw him in sald attitude. During his presidency our vestry provided him with a pew not 10 ynr£ in front of desk. It was habitually occupled by himself, by Mrs. Washington, who was regularly a communicant, and by his secretaries. “Although I was often in company with this great man, and had the honour of dining often at his table, I never heard anyihing from him which could manifest his opinions on the subject of religion. “I knew no man who so carefully | guarded against the discoursing of him- | self, or of his acts. or of anything that pertained to himself, and it has oc- caslonally occurred to me when in his company, that if a stranger to his person were present, he would never have known from anything sald by the President that he was consclous of having distinguished himself in the eye of the world. His ordinary behavior, _although unexceptionally courteous, was not such as to encourage obtrusion on what he had on his mind. “Within a few days of his leaving the gresldenth] chair our vestry waited on Im with an address, prepared and de- livered by me. In his answer he was pleased to express himself gratified by what he had heard from our pulpit, but there was nothing that committed him relatively to reli theory. ‘Within a day or two of the above there was another address by many ministers of different persuasions being prepared by Dr. Green and delivered by me. It has been a subject of opposite state- | ments, owing to a passage in the post- humous works of Mr. Jefferson. He says | (giving Dr. Rush for his author, who is sald to have it from Dr. Green) that the said address was intended to elicit the opinion of the President on the subject of the Christian religion. Dr. Green has denied this in his periodical work, called ‘The Christian Advocate,’ and his statement is correct. Dr. Rush may have misunderstood Dr. Green, or the former may have been misunder- stood by Mr. Jefferson, or the whole may have originated with some indi- vidual of the assembled ministers who mistook his own conceptions for the sense of the body. The said two docu- ments are in the Philadelphia news- papers of the time. “On a Thanksgiving day, appointed by the President for the suppression of the Western insurrection, I preached in his presence. The subject was ‘The Connexion Between Religion and Civil Happiness." “It was misrepresented in one of our newspapers. This induced the publish- ing of the sermon, with a dedication to | the President, pointedly pleading his proclamation in favour of the connexion affirmed. It did not appear that he disallowed the use made of his name. Although, in my estimation, entiré sep- aration between Christianity and civil government would be a relinquishment of religion in the abstract, yet that this was the sentiment of the President, which may have been, I have no light positively to infer. “There do not occur to me any other | particulars meeting your inquiry, con- | fined to my knowledge. Accordingly T conclude with writing myself, very re- | spectfully, your humble servant, “WILLIAM WHITE.” ‘The biographer, to whom we are in- debted for the Tvation of the above letter, adds: “The situation in which Washington stood, while Presi- dent of the United States, made it nec- essary that he should use much ecir- cumspection in whatever came from him touching theological subjects. He received addresses from many Chris- tian congregations . . . including nearly every denomination in the country... In his replies it would have been equally discourteous and impolitic to employ language indicating preference for the | peculiar tenets or forms of any par- ticular church. He took a wiser course; the only cne, indeed, which with pro- priety could be taken. He approved the general objects, and commendeg the | zeal, of all the religious congregations | or societies by which he was addressed, spoke of their beneficial effeets in pro- moting the welfare of mankind, de- ‘clflred his cordial wishes for their suc- cess, -x}d &rlux; tconc)lx‘:d“ with his . prayers for the future in | individuals belony gl T this world and in All answers of this Christian spirit.” %Lindbergh Kidnaping Lamented in France e world to come. kind breathe a BY WILLIAM BIRD, PARIS, March 12—The kidnaping case has taken a mg:“i:breo':: inent place in the French public's thoughts and occupied more space in ‘:gsicn:;ac;:;?erzxéléls week than any ‘an%hfunel'a!. de Briand's death e mystery has been dee) 4 | contradictory "reports in- the "qifferens | | Paris papers concerning the progress of the search and even ?xe circumstances of the crime, some maintainin, |a note was left by the kidnaj | the baby’s crib, demanding a ransom. gnd others declaring the parents have ad no word from thy fl‘s'h" l“"“ = sxnm,. criminals either peculation here is based on uncer- {taln premises and has been extremely | varied, with many commentators em- phasizing the curious procedure of in- voking underworld aid and underlining the 1ne;lecl:ver;!su of the police mens- ures taken to brin very of the child. aronL e tvdovesy Much sarcasm has been hea on | American law enforcement, which the | Paris press comments apparently has been compelled to treat with gangsters as equals—giving them, indeed, n semi- official status even though thelr asso- ciation with organized crime obviously |is well proved. Several of the commentators have gone so far as b&;u‘f1fllt that the poll; themselves are ble accomplices, de- claring they find it impossible to believe the crime could have been committed and remain unsolved without police collusion. Col. Lindbergh s, if anvthing. & |greater hero in France than in Amer- {ica and has almost become a national |legend. He is held up to all French schoolboys as an enmrl- of the perfect knight, “sans peur et sans reproche” | (without fear and without reproach), |and has taken his place ih French ,haglology alongside the medieval cri- saders. His tragedy colncides attikingly with | Briand’s death, for Briand, duting the past few months of slow physleal de- | cline which forced hian disappearance from the political scene, had mmo n shadowy and legendary figure, person- | fying international good will and sym- bolizing humanity’s yearnings for the comforts of and Briand ml Both %u‘ggmctmmun « 1982 i | body of to them, both in | ‘The Federal Reserve System is em- barking an an epochal experiment to determine whether it is possible to start currency and credit inflation and yet keep it sufficlently under control to avoid the subversive reaction which nor- mally follows boom expansion. A meas- ure amending the Federal Reserve act, sponsored by Senator Glass in the upper Congress and by Representative Steagall in the Lower House, provides for the issuance of millions of new money in Federal Reserve notes and broadens the eligibility of securities which may be acquired by Federal Re- serve Banks. It is the usual experience of bankers that inflation is apt to act like a run- away horse which. once starteg, be comes frighfened by its own clattér and gets more and more out of control. The new bank measure has been de- signed to set a limit on the extent of inflation at the outset. ‘The next months should reveal whether such a managed inflation is feasible. The Federal Reserve act was ap- proved December 23, 1913, for the pur- pose of completely remodeling the American banking and currency sys- tem and providing an elastic monetary medfum. The national bank act was a Civil War measure and provided for the issuance of circulating notes secured by United States bonds. Economists believed that its weakness resided in its inelasticity. National banks could issue notes as they saw fit and retire them arbitrarily. The currency was not automatically responsive to the volume of business being done in the country at any one time. In periods of great business activity the volure of circu- lating notes was too small; at other times it was so plentiful that prices rose abnormally. The basic theory of the Federal Re- serve System is that currency shall expand and contract exactly in pro- portion to business demands. In gen- eral, two_kinds of securities have been back of Federal Reserve notes. At no time is the gold cover permitted to fall below 40 per cent of the volume notes outstanding. In addition, evi dences of whole issue. As & matter of practice, the volume of notes outstanding has not usually been great enough to draw the gold reserve down to the 40 per cent minimum limit. At times this gold ratio has been as high as 85 per cent. That has meant that this paper money was good as gold and, in addition, was secured by real consumable values. Only once in the history of the system has the 40 per cent minimum been touched. That was in the 1920-21 de- pression. How the Machinery Works. One may best comprehend the work- ings of the Federal Reserve System's basic machinery by tracing a commer- cial transaction through its ramifica- tions of production and distribution. Let us start with a shoe manufacturer in a New England mill town. He is operating with a given amount of cap- ital which does not prove sufficient at all times to cover his needs. He has a regular pay roll cost to meet and the usual fixed charges of any manu- facturing plant. He follows the hide and leather market and, thinking a given time propitious, buys several car- loads of leather—sole leather, upper leather and the various other varieties which go into the manufacture of foot- wear. The transaction runs into, say, $50.000. The manufacturer does not feel that he can conveniently spare cash for this within the 30 days in which he has valuable property cover the How the Federal Reserve Wdrks The System’s Machinery. BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. | contracted to make payment. The leather is delivered and placed in a | warehouse. He holdy the warehouse | receipts. He goes to bank, & mem- ber of the Federal Reserve System, and explains that he . desires to borrow $40,000. He is a man of sound char- acter and good credit standing. The bank lends him the money on the se- curity of the leather. He gives his note, to which is attached, actually, the warehouse receipts covering the leather. Meantime & dozen, a hundred, per- haps a thousand, other manufacturers | nearby have found themselves in the |mne business position. They go | through the same process, borro | from their banks, giving notes | by warehouse receipts, bills of lading or other tangible evidences of ownership | of & commodity. It may be wool, cot= ton, pig iron or a number of other |wares. The bank finds that it has advanced so much money that it is |not in a position to lend more, although the borrowers are deserving. So it packs up the notes of the shoe manufacturer and those of many | others and takes them to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, that being the district in which the New England town is situated. The Federal Reserve Bank examines them, may possibly re- ject a few as not being regarded as sufficiently sound, but agrees to accept most. Notes Issued and Retired. Qoing back to the single shoe manu- | facturer, against his note, among the | others, the Reserve Bank hands out an equivalent value in Federal Reserve notes, new money. which never has been in existence before, called forth now by the needs of active business. This pits the member bank in funds to make more loans. For this the Reserve Bank charges the member bank & rate which is uniform to all borrowers at the same time. Rates now prevailing range from 3 to 4 per cent. Now, the shoe manufacturer, in a couple of weeks, finds he needs some of that stored leather to make up into - shoes. . He goes to his member bank from which he borrowed in the first place and pays off $20,000 of his $40,000 loan. The member bank goes to the Federal Reserve Bank and re- tires an equal amount that it has bor- rowed. That amount of Federal Re- serve notes automatically retires from circulation. The warehouse receipts are released, first by the Reserve Bank, then by the member bank and finally returned to the shoe man, who gets his leather, A few weeks later he re- leases the other half. The other manu- facturers are going through the same process with their loans and com- modities. All the time, it will be noted, that the Federal Reserve notes have been outstanding they have been secured by that leather, cotton, wool, iron, grain, or whatever else has been borrowed upon. In addition, each dollar has been secured by not less than 40 per cent gold reserve. Here is a combination of serve, valuable because the whol world has agreed to call it valuable, and a reserve composed of which can be consumed and acti are of greater value to mankind. This makes the soundest currency in the world. The public, ua::r?gmnl Re- 1 serve notes in their affairs, are hl‘e?:dm‘! back mgich convenient pleces of paper wl really it gold and, in addition, 'a:g--hun goods. Every Federal Reserve note & men has in his pocket is his lien on & bale of cotton, a bag of wool, or some- | thing else valuable. Fifty Years Ago In The Star modeling the Capitol to make the cen- | tral portion con- ' Capitol and Neow Librury. connection with the Congress Building east of the Capitol grounds. The Star of March 6, 1882, | says: | the Congressional Library bill pending in the Senate proceeds from the theory, Capitol is at present nothing but a lot of architectural shreds and patches; that in order to be improved and beau- tified it must be enlarged and if the Library is removed therefrom there will not remain any reasonable pretext for eplargement. In other words, the valuable contents of the Library are to be sacrificed—for it is nothing short of that for them to remain in their present condition some years more—in an attempt to enlarge the Capitol. One marked that ‘nothing is ever accom- plished in Washington except by in- direction, and therefore, he main- tained, in order to get the Capitol en- larged to the ‘grand and massive pro- portions’ it should display, the pretext that this additional room s needed for the Library must be kept in view. ‘What the people want, both residents and those who come here to make use of it, is & Library to which they can have access in the evening as well as during the day. The people of the whole country also want it to be of a character, the building as well as the contents, to reflect credit upon the literary attainments and taste of the Nation. Congress will hardly sacrifice these ends of enlarging the Capitol by ‘indirection,’ especially as in & few years the additional space given in that building will be again inadequate to the needs of the rapidly increasing Library. What is needed is a spacious separate building, on a plan that will allow of additions to it from time to time as more room is required for the growing Library. It would suit the public to have this National library lo- cated in some central position—in Judiciary Square, for instance—but Congress seems to prefer having it nearer the Capitol. and the site se- lected on the Capitol Hill, though not as accessible as Judiciary Square, could be reached pretty readily by street cars.” * * % “The plan for the reclamation of the malarial flats in front of the city,” savs : The Star of March 7, River Plan 1882, “prepared withh .y, Such care by the board and Lobby. leading Army engi- neers, has been hailed by everybody in- terested in the prosperity of Washing- ton as a measure of relief that could not meet with & single dissenting voice, and which by its merits wowld claim prompt _congressional indorsement in season for the commencement of the improvement this Spring. There are signs, however, that it is to be actively antagonized by the lobby agyd all the greedy crowd of speculators and land grabbers who are_ready to kill any measure that does not bring grist to thelr mill The trouble with t recommended by the Engineer Commis- slon is that there is no plunder There is not & penny in it for the and it effectivelv shuts out the enter- prising crowd of land speculators. It proposes to have the work done bhon- estly, economically and thoroughly wn- der the direct supervision of the Secre- tary of War, and every foot of the ground proclaimed will be the property of the United States. This explaiss the fact why the plan meets the hostity of the Kidwell bottom land gral the Mike Bannon party of Marviand speculators, the ch ey tramp engineers, the Toute plun-~ derers and the miscellaneous crowd of loboy highwaymen who ery a balt wpon every public messure \bat tribute to Pifty years ago the question of re- form to the wirgs was discussed in proposal to place the new Library of | | “It seems that the only opposition to entertained in a few minds, that the | of the advocates of this scheme re-| o R lobby. | Shers, | On Sunday outright. | Europe Anxiously Awaits Today’s German Election BY A. G. GARDNER. LONDON, March 12.—The center of the European drama has shifted from “ Geneva to Germany, where, on Sunday, | President Paul von Hindenburg fights his last battle for the soul of the | fatherland. The spectacle of this in- domitable old man taking the fleld in | the most critical conflict in the his- tory of his country has struck the | imagination of all Europe and, in Eng- land and France especially, :he result Hindenburg involves not merely the fate of Germany, but the fate of Eu- rope also. Should Adolf Hitler win, the effect on the coming French elec- tions will be disastrous. Present me dications point to the probability of a swing to the left in Prance and the adoption of a more mwnh:‘!;lle &mmda toward Germany, upon which the suc- cessful issue of the coming reparations conference depends. £ 4% Al well-instructed observers | that the chauvinistic Paris press Goos not represent, in® its presefit mood, provincial France, which is more truly expressed in the enlightened attitude of La Depeche de Toulouse (the Toulouse | Dispatch), but the defeat of Von Hin- denburg inevitably would create a re- actionary tide at the polls. 's';;“‘r’é%'.‘éi" mfih ‘hm‘“‘ valling as imp; e, t] the pre impression is flnl?:n Hindenburg will not achieve victory on the first ballot. He is the target of the extremists on both sides and his unbending loyalty to the constitution and indorsement of the Young plan have lost him the sup- port of the Steel Helmets, who want a return of the monarchy, and so put Theodore Duesterberg in the field | against him. The defection is not se- rious in point of numbers, being esti- | mated under 2,000,000, but probably is | sufficient to prevent Von Hindenburg from securing the clear majority nec- | essary for election on the first ballot. | A * At the other extreme, Ernst Thael- mann, the Communist, is expected to poll under 5,000.000 votes. The only serious challenge comes from Hitler, whose voluble and inflammatory - sonality appeals to a widespread feel- ing that conditions are so desperate that any change would be a change for the hetter. It is admitted that his policy of violent repudiation of the Ver- sailles treaty has captured the support of peasants, land owners, ex-soldiers jand officials, who largely gave Von | Hindenburg his victory seven years ago. On the other hand, while deserted by his former allies, Von Hindenburg has consolidated a new army of politi- jcal supporters, Catholics, Jews, So- cialisis and trade unionists. who, though their ideals are alien to his cwn, stand | for the constitution and against violent | disruption within the republic and con- flict without. * 2 % x Experts, basing their calculations on the most recent indications. such as the election of the Hesse Parliament. fore- cast 16.000.000 votes for Von Hinden- Detween on the first ballot is not impossil | Bvidences are visible that the | water mark of extremism ! reached and that the tide is receding. | Von Mindenburg's broadcast on Thurs- | dar created s profound jmpression by | s naked honesty and patriotism and | strengthens confidence that the | semse of Germany will settle the ‘That | wnlversally desired here, for it