Evening Star Newspaper, June 19, 1932, Page 27

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 19, 1932—PART TWO. BEER RACKET FOUNTAIN OF ILLICIT GOLD INN. Y Conditions Prevailing in New York Are Revealed in S world (Continued From First Page.) names. A conservative guess of the average weekly collection is $50. The captain of a Harlem precinct fixed 2 minimum of $50. The smaller Pplaces sought a compromice of $25 week. The captain’s men returned word that it was $50 or troub’e. The small fellows held a meeting and resolved to P2y no mere than $25. The grasping captain detailed three husky policemen to batter ones. three called, quic the acti as the raiders were hed the revolt. But he three horsemen” and the milder- ered agents of the captains and inspectors ceased when Seabury’s appointment was agreed upon And it happened that the scholarly Seabury, a former judge of the Court of Appeals, the scion of a line of distinguished churchmen numbering the first Episcopal bishop in America, whose diocese embraced the whole United States, unwittin became the best friend the spea owners of the metropolis ever had. He reduced the average annual tax on them from $1.880 to $1.319, which is less than the saloon keeper paid to the State and Federal governments before prohibition. But the creation of the legiclative in- vestigating committee did not stop the other collections. Prohibition agents, who collected more than half the graft, ‘were immune from a committee sub- were nearly the $32,000.000 they Tupt Republicen pol they owed their appointments. Democratic predecessors had done the same with their political sponsors. The speakeasy cwners say the average prohibition agent is an un iable graft- er. He has reduced collecting to a science. He exchanges graft informa- tion with his fellows. His reputation is WTit in large characters in the Wicker- sham report and in court records. He collected from a keasy near the Grand Central terminal $600 w for nearly two vears. He refused come down in his tax, and his averic closee the speakeasy. The extorti from this place averaged $31.200 a y He visits small speakeasies ab a month. He does not leave unless 1s richer by at least $100. or has arrest to his ered suspended ““for the ‘Then he drives another and “borrov each. Only th him the “loan A New Form of Revenue. Since the early a. the grafting prot tapping a new threatening to act to he nother Sometimes he is gcod of the service.” revenue der section permits the seizure of fi liquor. is sold withc ‘This has led to le One downtcwn s kea raxl $4500 to save hi hings, to se> one on 3 a good time. He is usually drunk when he reaches a place where he intends to play the role of a sport: and all at the bar must be guests. Ho orders roun: drinks, and. marvelous to re! them.” No one else ma humors _him, even him. There is ccarse fellow, a and he has a revolve The testimony befc Commission b b3 d 3 Judze Kenvon's statem ed that at least 50 per cent of the pro- hibition agents prior to the time they were placed under civil se: fit for the position and i law enforcement officers. But civil has not ceably changed them. “Some apparently sought the, Dositions because of the opportunity for | graft and openly boasted cf what th could make therein.” said Judge Ken- yon. He quoted Maj. Chester P. Mills, a West Pointer, one of the few honest prohibition administrators, who said that “three-fourths of the 2,500 dry agents are ward heelers and sycophants named by politicians.” Referring to the conditions in New York City, as bared by Maj. Mills, Judge Kenyon sai “Politicians, some of them high in national affairs, attempted to force upon him men with criminal records—s-me the very lowest grade of vote-getters— which, apparently, was the test of the ‘politician for good prohibition agents Prohibition was expected dently some politicians to furnish a fine for the operation of the spoils t in politics. Their expectations have been largely realized. One of lead- ing political bosses of New York City informed M that he must let him control the patronage in his office or ‘. he would have to get out. Another told him that efficiency must give way patronage. One agent with a cri record whom he discharged was re- ' instated after Mills ceased to be admin- | istrator and w: continued in cflice until about a year ago, when he was | indicted for alleged conspiracy to violate the provisions of the national prohi- bition act. One of the parties whem it was insisted he should appoint had shortly before shot a man in a row in a speakeasy; another had been found with burglar tools upon him. Maj. Mills tried to do an hcnest job and soon dis- covered, according to his statements, | that he was not wanted on the job.” Special Agents Honest. In discussing prohibition agents, boot- leggers always stress that the special agents—the Secret Service men of the Department of Justice—and all other special agents cf the Government are honest. They are. A well informed one in the retail end of the booze racket | said solemnly that the average prohi- | bition agent makes Lis first million at the end of the fifth year. He w saylng what is heard all over The speakeasy owner does n°t mind paying a dollar on each half barrel to| vhe patrolman on beat nor the petty | graft to the “chowder boys.” But he sees red when he talks of the prohibition agents who extort annually an average | cf at least $1,000 from each drinking place. | The “chowder boys” are a survival of | the old days when the saloon and saloon | vote were important factors in every large city. They received their name in the 70s, when New York City was onymous with Manhattan Island and rd leader hired a tugboat to tow | 2 barge or two on a trip up the Hudson or down the scund, wkere beer, clam chower, lobster and chicken and othe foods were served amid rustic setti: But as a great dgal of drinking was done cn the way to the grove, only a| few had a desire for anything save the chowder, which is noted for its sobering | effect. With the coming of Winter, the | “chowder boys” gave balls, and those who went on the trips up the river and | down the sound attended the dances | and brought their woman folk. Because from Federa emonstrat cmpetent as an_extortionate price was charged for | ington during 1927, said to the spokes- | yrchin, hardly breeched, but giving his the tickets—and hundreds were sold to | people who were not expected to attend, such as keepers of bawdy houses—the | political chowder party became a syncnym for petty graft. The paste-| boards for the dances always bore the legend, “Admit gent and lady.” ‘ The old chowder party went out of | fashion in many sections of the city long before the war. It had become a scandal. The homeward trip was usually rough. At the Battery and cther ‘points of debarkation squads of | poiice awaited the return of the party to call ambulances for those who had been hurt. But in many assembly dis- | sricts the “annual outings and games” surpassed the metropolis. tory of Under- Rule. |are still a feature of ward politics. and countless are the variations played by these racketeers on the old chowder ; the popular chowder party is a glorificaticn of the ball of other days, and is usually described on the pro- grams as_a ‘“reception, supper and dance.” It is sometimes held in the | ball rooms of the city's largest hotels. These are graced by men and women of fashion, who take politics seriously. | Here they meet on a commcn level | with other men and women of wealth, the leaders of our aristocracy and their bejeweled companions. Pearl studs match pearl studs, and one powdered k is not different from another. It takes more than a glance to tell them apart. “Admit Gentleman and Lady.” There is an indication of cultural progress in the tickets for our prohibi- tion chowders. They now read “Admit | gentleman and lady.” There has also been an advance in price. Ten dollars is not uncommon. Box seats fetch more. Here the sky is the limit. Most owners of speakeasies buy a table seat- ing 10. This is $100. He pays for a card in the program. This is $25 or more. Sometimes the name and den or speakeasy, of the ad- vertiser is printed: but the modest and knowing fellow is masked behind the | line: “Compliments of a Friend.” Andj Bere are often 20 and more “Friends” Tepresented by the same card. During the first year or so of prohi- | bition, while the Democrats had con-, trol of the greatest boon to organized crime and corrupt politics, tke patrons of chowder parties were still sought within the boundary lines of the dis- trict. With the passing of the Wilson Tegime, many wheel horses of the Re- publican machines in some of the five counties within the City of New York began to make up for the eight lean rs. Right and left they passed the . and the chowder boys of one dis- trict invaded adjoining bailiwicks. If * boys come from a distant part of town, the speakeasy owner might escape with a §25 levy for a real or imaginary ad, ight or ten such payments in the course of a y ot unusual. And in Manhattan many speakeasies pay 200 and more for chowder tickets in montts. The owner of a small East e speakeasy who spent nearly $600 this way in 1931 said: “It was money well ‘spent. These chowder boys chum with the Feds” In the white light district another said: “I pay $500 v for tickets and ads for outings rd balls and at least another $500 for That means that this * gives up more than a thou- | each year for this sort of Some of ‘the still smaller fel- | part $150 and more for | cr parties—which few of them Democratic “chowder boys™ still their activities to their own The annual tribute average | $200 for each speakeasy The distributors and bry clite of the beer racke from police interference; that the prohibition agent makos squinting at a brewe wer and the distributor enj; est of political protection. In- n in both political machines addr thing ons of the beer racket. i The net profits of the distributors on the 4.800.000 half barrels delivered ally in New York City are at least §26.400,000. The brewers make $44,- 400.000 or more. H What proportion of this $70.800.000 goes to the political partners and pro- tectors of the gangster-brewers and the ors is beyond approximation. The distributors, after loading, cart the barrels to garages, called drops. | Each truck holds 120 half barrels. | The distributors are many. There are but few large organizations in New York City. In one of New York’s police pre- cinets at least eight distributors supply the speakea Another precinct is known to have seven. A third has three | or more. Special agents of the Government— prohibition agents, as the hcnest | s are uninformed and the corrupt s are untruthful—are authority for declaration that most gangster | k| gs in New York have been due to personal feuds. As a rule, the slain ster had put the double-cross on | oss—to use an underworld phrase. | Sometimes a threat to squeal, or an at- | °mpt to blackmail means death. New | Yorkers may thank the quadruple al- iance of the twin underworlds of crime and corrupt politics, the police and the prohibition agents, for the compara- tively few gangster killings. Save for this alliance, New York, and not Chi- cago, would have led our cities in gang murders, as the beer racket i the chief | source of gangster feuds. It was only | in lack of organization that Chicago | Wildcats Popular. There are smaller rivals, called wild- cat and alley breweries. Their num- ber is a closely guarded secret. The talk in the industry is that the wild- cats produce at least twice as much beer as the big breweries. Some esti- mates place their output at 5,000,000 half barrels. The wildcats are housed in old factories and garages. They have become so popular throughout the coun- try that one manufacturer specializes in making these miniature plants. Some can be installed in a small room. The old-time brewers tried to crush these illicit plants which have reduced | the annual consumption of near beer | from 50,000,000 to 2,500,000 barrels. | Under the leadership of the Brewers' Board of Trade they began the fight in 1920. Year after year they submitted afidavits summarizing the evidence | gathered by detectives of the existence ! of the beer racket with names, dates! and addresses. In 1927 they were about .| tired of the empty promises of local prohibition _directors and the real powers in Washington. It mattered not who was President. But a year before the Coolidge administration came to an end. they began to see results. Maj. Mills, the prohibition director of New York State, in office less than a year, was beginning to stop the flow of beer. As Mills was getting in his swing, local Republicans pleaded with Washington to remove Mills. arguing that the party | in New York City could not survive if Mills should dry up the town. This was twaddle. The party in the metropolis has been only a shell for 15 years or more. Many Republican district leaders, following the example of their Tam- many masters, turned bootleggers and gamblers: some district clubs were used to violate the law, as raids under two police commissioners disclosed. Those who actually inspired the removal of Maj. Mills from a post where he could hamper the beer and booze racket, were . wearing the masks of the party of Lincoln: and one of these aristocrats, while the Brewers’ Board of Trade was making one of its last appeals to Wash- man of the board over the telephone: | “You keep your snout out of this if you know what's good for you.” Spon_after, the brewers abandoned their fight against the beer racket. The threat of the thug did not stop them. The indifference of the Govern- ment did. e oS Dawes and His Bills. | From the New York Sun. As a private citizen Gen. Dawes will find himself for some little time looking over the monthly bills and being sur- prised that they don't add up to hun- dreds of millions. | W |1 The League’s Don (Quixote Few Idealists Have Crusaded as Valiantly for Many Causes as Viscount Cecil. BY C. PATRICK THOMPSON. PED, with a great hawk nose Tg.r?d l}‘:mudz*cl cyes, he looks like a Durer etching of Don Quixote. All around him you can glimpse the phantasmagoria of crusades and causes. In the days before the war it was the ‘ Established Church of England whlch‘ kept him riding fiercely back and forth, and many a violent clash he had—| before they unhorsed him—with Lloyd‘ George and all the villains who soughl‘ to disestablish the church in Wales. | During the war the Anglo-Saxon brand of civilization, was the maiden | on whose behalf he fought the Hohen- | zollern militarists, and this time, in- vested with the authority of blockade minister and backed by the Bl’ltl_shi fleet, he tited with terrible effect among the non-combatant multitudes | in the land behind the fighting fronts. | The war ended; there floated into view above the roofs of Paris the vision | of a world organization with a seat 198 the 1.000-year-old City of Calvin | aison d'etre in the achievement | 2?%? ‘mational peace and security: and | he hurried over to help an Amencan‘ President, a Boer statesman-soldier and | some others pull this shining dream down to earth and nail it there in an inviolable covenant. Plan for Portrait. ever since he has been galloping ar:?:r‘\id. harrying the enemies of the new League and searching for the Holy | Grail which contains the key to dis- | armament. He has grown old in the fight and the search, and worn and battlo-scarred, and covered himself with honor and renown—so much so that he has been awarded the Wilson peace | prize, offered the Albanian throne sndi granted a peerage; he has witnessed | the political chiefs of his country com- | bine in a manifesfo appealing for funds for a portrait of him to be hung in the National Portrait Gallery under the name tablet: Edgar Algernon Robert Gascoyne-C~ First Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, in the County of Sussex, England. R : | As the greatest champion of disarma- ment of them all, you might expect to | find him riding hard in the great Geneva arms tourney. the most active and spectacular of the 1500 cham- | pions. But something is amiss here. At the Disarmament Conference Don uixote does not ride. QDunmz the scnorous platitudes of | the preliminary orations at the grand opening he sat slumped in an obscure | corner listening. On the day—it was February 6—when organizations of all kinds were graciously allowed to pre- sent petitions to the conference, he unwrapped his long body from the seat reserved for the president of the In- ternational Federation of League of Nations Societies, made a speech out- Lning the federation’s disarmaments proposals, presented the federation’s pe- tition and then the hawk face, the brooding eyes sank out of sight again and were lost in the melee 1,000 Miles North. Formalities over and the conference settled down to business you might have run across Viscount Cecil in the, “Hall of Conversations,” where the delegates met daily and all the great ores had a deferential handshake. a bow and a word for him: or you might have sighted him here and there around the city. But you would not have met him in the conference council cham- bers and committee rooms or at the lunches where Bruening and MacDon- ald conferred with Stimson and Gibson or the cinners where Tardieu tried to come to an understanding with Simon | or anywhere where the big hunt for the to disarmament was active. On| of the big vital days. indeed. you | 1d have had to fly 1,000 miles north | to fin4 him. Thus it was in the earl} | days of the conference and thus it is oday. Back of the King's palace, in Lon-| don, is Grosvenor Crescent, a wide, | quict backwater, and at the east end is| a big, old-fashioned mansion sur- mounted by a faded flag, and in the| mansion, on thé ground floor at the back, there is a small, ill-lighted, book- | lined room which might have been the | kbutler's in the days when it was a pri- | vate residence. A quaint Tound black | hat hangs on a peg behind the door. | Viscount Cecil. foint president (with| Earl Grey of Fallodon, Asquith’s war- time foreign_secretary) of the League | | [ | of Nations’ Union, which he founded, is at work in his room at union head- varte | g ‘Towa evening he leaves his room. comes down the steps and heads west, making for his modest house in a His black coat flaps ray from his lean form. His big head | s hunched in his bent shoulders. A group of children play at the corner. He surveys them thoughtfully as he passes, nervous big hands clapsed be- hind his back. And for a moment a grave smile crosses the harsh quixotic countenance, irradiates the dark and inscrutable eves. It changes the whole face, the whole man. The combative fanatic you were looking at a moment before is metamorphosized into a calm and kindlv old scholar, sweetness in the thin mouth, sadness in the deep-socket- ed eye. Many Possibilities. ‘Why is Viscount Cecil rot at Geneva to help the world rid itself of an over- weight of arms? The answer to that is another question: Why is Viscount Cecil just the sort of personality that Viscount Cecil i1s? If he were not so emphatically and provocatively the man who has taken the center of the disarmament and League stage he might today be Archbishop of Canter- bury, a crabbed iawyer, a country par- son or prime minister of England. He had the seeds of all these and other possibilities in his cadaverous frame. The vicissitudes of his career and his resent magnificent isolation are ex- plained by his curiously complex char- acter, in which honesty of purpose and intellectual obliquity, simplicity and casuistry, disdain of power and lust for it, and an unconquerable and irrepressible zeal are oddly mixed. His place in the fabric of British political life was determined, fundamentally, by his ancestor, that great Elizabethan minister who miraculously managed to keep head, poise and position in the most dangerous times, and firmly founded the extensive family. Salisbury, a marquis of elegant propor- tions and die-hard tendencies, leader of the old aristocracy in the House of Lords, is head of the family now. Viscount Cecil and Lord Salisbury are brothers. Their father, the third marquis, prime minister leader in Victorian days, was & great figure in the life of his time. Robert Cecil, his third son, was brought up in the huge family house at Hatfield, where Disraeli was a constant and hon- ored guest, and where the new demo- cratic tendencies and the rise of the mercantile classes to political power were regarded with grave misgivings. In a letter to Lady Bradford is the seventies Disraeli tells her that he had been visiting Hatfield. “There was literally nobody there but the family— but that is a numerous and amusing one. Five boys, the youngest quite an opinion on public affairs like his brothers. ‘The Standard’ (a now ex- tinct high Tory organ heavier than “The Times’) is his favorite paper, but he did not approve of its leading article on Russia, remarking that the tone was too sarcastic.” None in Trade or Navy. None of these youngsters had a sense of humor. It is a quality they have not subsequently acquired. But all had nicknames. One, a bishop, was known as “Fish.” Robert’s younger brother was “Niggs.” Lord Salisbury was“Jim.” Robert Cecil himself was “Linky.” But | VISCOUNT CECIL OF CHELWOOI Pl | settled down and Tory | only to his family and intimates, He ON THE WARPATH FOR PEAC] does not look like “Linky” now, and he does not encourage “Bob. No Cecil ® date has gone wrong or gone smart. It is their nature to work —in the army, the church, the law, the scholastic _professions and high politics. Earl Balfour was a Cecil on the maternal side. Irwin, India's former viceroy, is another Cecil. There are only two places one does not find them—in trade and in the navy. When he was 25, Robert Cecil married Lady Elggnor Lambton, daugh- ter of the second earl of Durham, and to law practice at the parliamentary bar. He was 42 when he entered Parlia- ment as Tory member for a northwest London suburb. The Conservatives were in opposition. Lloyd George was abusing the dukes and taxing their land. Asquith was threatening to create 500 new peers if the lords did not do the Commons’ bidding. Irish home rule was an issue which cut so- ciety asunder. The fight over Welsh disestablishment was breaking up o- cial intercourse and estranging friends. ‘The new-comer from the Cecil clan couched his lance and rode right in. He got a new nickname “That damned nuisance.” A debate would jog along without warmth. In a cor- ner seat under the gallery lounged Cecil, shoulders humped, hat over eves, feet propped up on top of the bench in front. Yeu thought him asleep. but suddenly he would jump up. throw out long arms and eject a stream of chal- | lenging questions garnished with pro- | vocative comment. The intervention of a man with personality, passion. invec- tive and a complete mental mastery of his subject changed the whole atmos- phere. The lobbies emptied, the house | filled. When he sat down a minister got up. He had done what none of th» others had been able to do; goaded a government into speech. In these sharp combats in law courts and Parliament Robert Cecil developed a formidable skill as a jouster. He was a great worrier and disturber. He dis- liked a bill and got put on the com- mittee considering it in one of the rooms upstairs. Then he proceeded to obstruct. The committee found itself unable to adjourn: he refused to let it. ‘The lunch hour passed. Lord Rob- ert ordered a dish of chops and vege- tables, a thing unprecedented in com- mittee. end proceeded to eat with noisy clatter of knife and fork. Finally, some one proposed the closure. ~ Cecil—his temper was hot and is still liable to be hasty—arose in wrath. “What can one expect.” he shouted. “from a Welsh chancellor of the exchequer. a Welsh solicitor gen- eral and a Welsh lord chancellor?” A Labor member would have been re- ported and suspended. But everybodv liked Lord Robert and respected his character. It was only his little way For a while he brooded darkly over the ruins of his lunch, and then apolo- gized. Amicable relations were estab- lished. But the bill went through. He was 50 when the war came, his big head already bald. his lean shoul- ders already curved. His party's lead- ers joined Asquith to run the war. and in 1915 Cecil was made undc secretary for foreign affairs. started his conspiracy to oust Asquitn Cecil went over with Balfour and the the ministry of blockade. He had to steer his way between dan- gerous shoals, with the Americans, on one side, threatening armed neutrality or open rupture if their shipping was interfered with, and the British, on the other, demanding that the sea net be drawn so tight that not an ounce of raw material likely to relieve the strain on the central powers should get ! through. The blockade which he con- Something Simple BY BRUCE BARTON. WISH to ask that no more plans for solving the economic sit- uation be sent to me. My quota is completed; my files are full. My mental decision to retire from plan reading was reached some time ago, but before I could notify my secretary she let one last plan-bringer in under the wire. This was an earnest gentleman with a gleam in his eye. He asked me to read a book in whic}a a nevéhgléoxi);le:nslgtsa{lorrt& : x;;wd religion. Th an assured me 1 wogxen (:oulde hgeexllet}ie!?o xt‘hink the thoughts of this prophet every difficulty would fold up. While we talked I turned the pages of the book, and after about a minute I assured him that I XSk}%?égcremt need to read it in order to know that it would have no in: A He was aggrieved. “You have a closed mind,” he charged. “Not at all,” I said. -“I happen to know what kind of words move %‘e zorld. Tl give g’ma nntexamplet ““The Lord is my shepherd,’ etc. “‘Four score ang sev:n years ago our fathers founded on this continent,’ etc. "gon{mst these simple words with a couple of phrases from our book,” T said: e “The definitely “anticipatory” value of the self-protecting mechanism of covenant obligations . . .’ 5 " & ‘Expandingvconsciousnegss flbtainfbtlie X'l.hroug}’x the direct ap- plication of the method of cyclic evolution . . . “Nobody is going to overturn the world,” I concluded, “unless he is able to make his ideas understandable even to a little child. Second-raters are always obscure. But the head man in any de- partment of life, I care not whether it be medicine, theology, science or what, he can make a talk that will fascinate a kinder- gart‘e’gi;’ B to hi ders that he might have n Bunyan explained s _rea adopted a“stllg“ mugg more fancy, but he wanted his bgok to b_e read by common people everywhere. He has his wish: “Pilgrim’s Progress” will live as long as anything in our language. o Lincoln’s style grew steadily clearer and simpler as he grew ears and wisdom. 2 y“Whai: harm %x:n a book do that costs a hundred crowns?” Voltaire exclaimed. “Twenty volumes folio will never make a revo- lution; it is the little pocket pamphlets that are to be feared. I do not know wha} plan will lead us to new heights of pros- rity or whether, indeed, there will be any one plan. But if here be, it will consist of things that everybody can understand, such as “the less you hamper trade the more trade can expand' and “if we can help to keep all the world peaceful and prosperous then we can sell the world more goods and all make more money. No five syllable words will pull us up. It will have to be some- thing simple. - (Copyrisht, 1832 When Lloyd George | other Conservative chieftains. He got | trolled starved the old and stunted th»l young, took its toll of the lives of the unarmed masses as effectively as fly- | ing metal and poison gas took lives on | | the front. He has remained an advo- | | cate of the economic blockade as an | effective instrument for punishing a | recalitrant. | the peace. [ Invited to Be Prince. His career rose to its peak in the five years following the war. He helped | draft the covenant of the League in| | Paris. The British place on the League being filled, Gen. Smuts got him on| as represcntative for South Africa, a | country Cecil had never seen. He se- | | cured recognition of the Albanian claim | to nationhood, and was promptly in-| vited to become their Mpret or prinee | —an honor which he felt obliged to| decline. A Boston jury adjudged him| | winner of the Wilson peace prize of $25,000, and he went to America to receive it and had a great personal suc- cess (but failed to convert Americans to the League). He crossed lances with Mussolini at Geneva and nearly un- | horsed the Duce. He was elevated to| the peerage. It is, in effect, a life title. | He has no children. Baldwin took him into his minstry as Lord Privy Seal, a job without depart- mental responsibilities, and gave him his heart’s desire, the job of chief League representative for the British govern- | ment. He immediately established him- self as the most commanding figure |in Geneva. Sitting back in his chair | at the Council table, aquiline face up-| lifted, he would interject his views and comments. He never raised his voice, | but every word he uttered could be | heard quite plainly in the farthest cor- | ner of the big room. His big hour came when Mussolini had a row with Greece and sent the | | Italian fleet to bombard Corfu. Ha!! | An affront to the League. Adding in- | sult to injury, the Duce denied the | competence of the League in the dis- | pute. A repudiation of the solemn | covenant pledge! Cecil clapped on his | hat, arrived ominous as an electric storm. “Here comes Calvin,” mur- mured a secretarial wit. But nobody laughed. Played Clever Lawyer. entered the council chamber abruptly, vigor in his angular move- ment, left arm stiff and thumb clenched under his fingers, as always in mo- ments af nervous tension. _Everybody | knew that this formidable Englishman was going to start something. but no- body quite knew what. He looked capa- ble of starting a holy war, and perhaps he wanted to. Rising, he asked the| interpreter to read out the clauses in | the covenant by which Italy was bound under the Versailles treaty to submit her quarrel with Greece to League ar-| \bitration. It was dome. Then this| !strange man uttered a solemn warning that if the covenant were ignored a | deadly blow would be dealt at the hope | of a new Europe. | He was exalted. At the same time he was playing the clever lawyer. He had associated covenant and treaty and hinted to the powers whose aid he wanted against Italy that if they did not back him the treaty itself. that sacred document signed in Versaille Palace, was so much waste paper. Poin- care, another lawyer, felt the shrewd thrust. The League failed to jump on Mus- solini. Diplomatic _ingenuity found a way out. But Don Quixote had charged the windmill and done it some damage and there were plaudits from the by- standers. Soon afterward he resigned from the government on an issuc which the country thought a minor one, but | which bulked big with him. He had! done as much once before. dropping 2 ministry on a point of principle. | When the names of the British dele- gation for the arms conference were | ublished and Cecil's was not among | them the government was pressed for | explanations, and so was Cecil. Both | maintained an impenetrable silence. ! It was stated by some that he had a simple and effective plan so certain to bring about disarmament that a pre- deminantly Tory British government would have none of it. However, Cecil gave his plan in a book published just in fime to anticipate presentation of the Gibson plan at Geneva. The two plans were found to be alike—scrap- ping of submarines, tanks, mobile | heavy artillery and other aggressive weapons. And the British backed the Gibson plan. So that guess fell flat. No Hobbies or Sports. It has also been guessed that Cecil | was left out because Ramsay Mac- Donald fecls there is no room on the | Geneva stage for two British prima | donnas. If there is going to be an| | arms conference success he wants it and needs it. But if you say that he is not now a big political power and that it is an | ungrateful werld anyway—if you say that you can stop guessing, because you will be near enough to the mark for all practical purposes. Thus Viscount Cecil, two years off 70 now, but tough, tireless and still in the saddle. His life is quiet, studious, entirely unassuming and devoted/to his causes. Fashionable salons, night clubs, dance restaurants are a world as re- mote from his as Mars. He never goes to the play. He seldom dines out. He has no hobbies, indulges in mo sport. Most of his time is spent in his cffice at League of Nations Union head- quarters. If you had passed there one day early last month you might have seen him come down the steps with a quick stride and an unusual air of anima- tion. His wife—they have been mar- ried more than 40 years and are de- voted—walks with him. He has to catch a train. Geneva calls him, his spiritual home. The disarmament con- ference? No. Liberia has some troubles and a League commission is investigat- ing them. Viscount Cecil is a member —and if he cannot couch a lance for disarmament he will for Liberia. Windmill Owners Win Fight Against Taxes people who wantonly break He | | PARIS.—The French treasury has decided that the fact of retaining sails on an old windmill no longer used for grinding does not render the owner liable to taxation as a miller. The matter was brought to the atten- tion of the treasury by an archeological society in Brittany, one of whose ob- Jects is the preservation of windmills. All the picturesqueness of the dis- used mills was lost when the sails were removed, but owners preferred to lose picturesqueness rather than pay. A similar reason explains why so many ancient buildings in France, no longer used as dwellings are disfigured by filling in the windows. Until rela- tively a few years ago there was a door and window tax in this country. As a consequence owners of old buildings no longer used as dwellings filled in the windows to escape taxation. (Copyright, 1932.) Autographs Sell Low At French Auctions PARIS. — Apart from great world leaders, autographs are selling for small sums in Parisian auction rooms. A Georges Clemenceau letter has sold for $24, and one from Marshal Foch, written when he was only a captain, for $25. But for $4 one can buy a dozen letters with the signatures of Raymond Poincare, Paul Dcumer, An- dre ‘rlardleu and other gouncuns. Fouur postal cards autographed by Maurice Chevaller are quoted at $1.20, S?onmnt. 1932) {cure of the world's ills, MACDONALD TAKES HELM AT LAUSANNE HOPEFULLY Depends on Bold Action to Turn Tide of Depression—Nations in Better Mood to Co-operate. . BY PAUL SCOTT MOWRER. AUSANNE.—The Lausanne Rep- arations Conference, now full swing, is essentially British in both inspiration and organi- zation. It signifies the re- entry of Great Britain as leader in| the world arena after a year of re- tirement amid domestic difficulties. The British delegation contains fev- erzl cabinet ministers and is excep- tionally strong. but, of course, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald is the center of the picture. Edouard Herriot, French premier; Lieut. Col. Franz von Papen, German chancellor; Dino Grandi, Italian foreign minister, and other statesmen here, while they certainly intend to defend their various national interests, seem quite content to let MacDonald lead. ‘What MacDonald feels and thinks is therefore fundamental here. He feels that this is the most im- portant conference ever held. He fears that if the Lausanne meeting fails there is little immediate hope for the world. He thinks that all countries and all major questions are clearly interdependenrt and he hopes to make Lausanne, for four to six weeks, a sort of center and capital of the world. Avoiding the pitfalls of an elaborate program and entanglements of long technical ~discussions, he wants, by means of personal talks among the heads of states, to take the world's ills by a sudden bold assault, change the general despondency to general confidence, assert the spirit of leader- ship and thus abruptly turn the tide of the depression. Favors Quick Action. “Despair,” he declared, “is a fortress which must be carried by storm and cannot be conquered by a long siege.” If only the statesmen here assembled have the courage and foresight to make swift and drastic decisions, he believes, the whole world, including the United States, will heave a sign of approving relief and will hasten to co-operate in working out the details. Whether he will succeed in this am- bitious aim is still uncertain. The gen- eral atmosphere, however, is one of energetic endeavor. Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy all seem in a better mood for negotiation on a basis of mutual compromise than they have been for many months. + The greatest drawback is the absence of the United States, for every one here is convinced that no really lasting solu- tions can be reached without American co-operation. They are equally con- vinced that it is useless to discuss the world’s ills without dealing with war debts and reparations. Yet in any discussion of war debts and reparations, it is said to be practi- cally impossible for the United States to participate just now for reasons of interior politics. As far as is known ;}hem is not even an American observe! ere. There probably had been Anglo- American conversations in advance in both London and Washington, and through diplomatic channels the Ameri- can Government. with only slight delay, will be kept fully informed of every- thing that happens here. The fact re- mains that in the task of diagnosis and which is the ostensible aim of this conference, the American experts will take no part until some later time, say October. when the main lines of the Lausanne solutions will already, it is thought, have been laid down. British Politics Felt. It would have been the natural thing for contact of the conferende with the United States to be established through the American disarmament delegation at Geneva. But, on the one hand, poli- tics makes it possible for any members of that delegation to appear here even informslly, while, on the other hand, MacDonald obviously is eager for the time being to keep the center in Lau- sanne rather than in Geneva. The | reason for this ¥ aid to be British D | politics. Arthur Henderson was chosen presi- dent of the disarmament conference while he was still foreign minister of the British Labor g | fatled of re-election and wcame a ple citizen, yet he kept the presid |of the disarmament perley. He re- mained a Laborite, while MacDonald | took the premiership of the national cabinet. If Henderson had resigned the disarmament chairmanship Mac- | Donald would doubtless have presided at Geneva. | The disarmament conference today |is confused and deadlocked. It is an | open secret that MacDonald and Hen- | derson do not get along, and it is ru- mored that MacDonald feels he could | have succeeded with the disarmament | Bathering where Henderson appears to have failed. In any case. MacDonald now has a conference of his own, and apparently he hopes to settle even dis- armament here in Lausanne. Disarmament, says MacDonsld really part of our work” here in Lau- sanne. Although MacDonald wants to avoid a detailed program or premiture technical discussions, it is beginning to 5; clear how the problems are shaping | Agreement Is Sought. It was agreed Thursday to drive full speed ahead for a rapid, final and new settlement of war debts and reparations and give Germany a moratorium until this is accomplished. Yestercay the | principal powers stated their repara- tions viewpoints. Germany said it can not even hope to pay any more. Great Britain favored wiping the slate clean. France seemed to want to let Germany off a few years and then have it re- e payments on a lower scale, 650,000,000 marks ($154,700.000) a ‘year. Regarding war debts, the Germans are not intercsted. the British want to | wipe out at least the intra-European war | debts in the hope that the United States will thereafter be equally gener- | ous, while the French seem to want to rfinakle; a new settlement contingent | finally on some sort of 5t | United States e Today. in private talks, ways of recon- ciling these initial standpoints are be- ing sought. Naturally, the question of frozen private credits’ in Germany is | closely in the backeround. Meanwhile |it is urgent to help Austria. The | league's Austrian Aid Committee came | here today. But with the Austrian question arises the question of a Dan- ube_economic bl to widen this bloc | in continental European Including not only the smaller | countries but Germa Italy and | France. So Sweden, Norway. Denmark, | Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg, which have been trying to negotiate | an_economic bloc in Geneva, are com- ing here today. Many Issues Raised. The project for economic unions raises various tariff and monetary questions, which in turn raise credit questions and that of co-operation ef | the central banks. And with all this | arises the general peace question. “If statesmanship is to overcome economic difficulties, which are our chief concern here,” says MacDonald, “it must secure a period of settled political tranquillity when the nations, putting their economic affairs in order. may not be distracted by dread of | wars and rumors of war. At some point of our deliberations we may have | to_turn our minds to that.” What he refers to is a general peace declaration, which 1y already being | discussed among the British, French |and Germans. Thus gradually, little by little, proceeding organically, Mac- Donald hopes to build up his confer- | ence to a universal success. (Copyright, 1932.) |Puzzling World Questions Raised By Proposals at Geneva Conference (Continued From First Page) will not assent to this more onerous burden. Nor can there be, I think. any doubf as to the attitude of Great Britain and the dominions. After long and careful discussion they all refused assent to the protocol of 1924. T have seen no sign that any one of them has changed or is prepared to change its opinion. Great Britain has made her contribution to the security of France, Germany and Belgium by | the guarantee treaty of Locarno. In that particular quarter of Europe, 50 near her coasts, so often the cause and scene of wars in which she has been involved, she has a particular and definite interest. To prevent a recur- rence of war in that sphere she has felt justified in binding herself in ad- | vanc to place her whole strength at the service of the League to prevent and | repel unprovoked aggression. But to ask her to assume a similar obligation in all cases, wherever and however arising, is to ask something to | which I am convinced no British gov- | ernment can agree and no British Par- liament will ever assent. because both would feel that they were giving a pledge which, when the time came for its fulfilment, the nation might not be | prepared to honor. ‘The treaty of Locarno was our alter- native to the protocol of Geneva. Hav- ing ratified the one, we shall never ac- cept the other. But in the eyes of the British gov- ernment of that treaties were not merely a definite nd- dition in themselves to the peace and security of Europe, they were also an example which it was hoped might one day be followed by other nations in other danger spots of Europe. Stressed as Example. ‘We conceived that we had done our share, but why not a Balkan Locarno cr a Danubian Locarno? We were not unmindful of the immense difficulties, but were they really more insuperable than those which Herr Stresemann and M. Briand met and overcame? It is the will to peace and the bold leadership which are less rather than the obstacles which are greater. Is it too late, nay rather, is it still too early to make the attempt? The influence of France, the authoritv of the con- ference at Geneva could nct be better used than to seek out and presr some such solution which would supplement and correct the alllances among for- mer friends by wider agreements to guarantee local peace which would em- brace former opponents as well. ‘There remains the French demand for the creation of an international force, composed of all bombing aero- planes above a certain size and of land and sea contingents held at the dis- posal of the League Council. I am as good a friend to France as an Englishman who places his own country first can be. I see in a close and cordial understanding between England and France not merely some- thing necessary to the maintenance of good relations between our neighboring nations, but also the essential founda- tion for our common reconciliation with Germany. But I would beg my French friends to be reasonable. This is an impossible demand. Impossible to Agree. The United States cannot and will not_accept it. No British government, at home or overseas, can listen to it. Our peoples will never consent to place the use of our forces—air, land or sea— day the Locarno | at the orders and under the control of an international body. The blood of ritons is to be shed only at the call { their own sovereign and at the bid- | ding of their own representatives. | If any Frenchman thinks otherwise, | he is cherishing a dangerous illusion. | The demand is impossible of fulfillment, { for if any British government accepted |it today, it would be overthrown to- | morrow. When such is the fact, sure- | ly the more plainly it is stated the bet- | ter for all concerned. This objection is one of fact. It is by itself fatal to the general acceptance ‘ul’ the French scheme. If that scheme | goes forward at all, it must be without | the United States of America, without | Great Britain and without the British commonwealth of nations. Let me state |it briefly. 1f the proposal to create an interna- tional police force (as it is often called, though the analogy is completely mi leading) be once accepted, an interna- tional general staff must be created to direct it, an international commander in chief must be appointed to command it, and plans must be studied interna- tionally for all the campaigns in which the international force might be re- quired to take part against any one of the nations which subscribed to the scheme and will therefore be repre- | sented on_the general staff which has to make them. All this sounds absurd and I think it is, but it is inherent in the logic of the French scheme. But when this is | done or at least part of it, the whole | character of the League will be so changed that it will be unrecognizabls for the same boay. Opposed to Peace Plan. The covenant was subscribed and the League was formed as an instru- ment for preserving peace. These measures would convert it, as I said when opposing the protocol of 1924, into an organization for “waging war, and war, it may be, on the largest scale,” and I added “it certainly seems to his majesty’s government that any- thing which fosters the idea that the main business of the League is with | war rather than with peace is Jikely to ‘weaken it in its fundamental task of diminishing the causes of war without making it in every respect a satisfac- tory instrument for organizing gres: military operations should the necessity for them be forced urer the world.” To create this impression would be to destroy the League's moral authoritg. It is by that moral authority that all its successes have been won—by con- ciliatory or arbitral action patiently and peacefully pursued and by creat- ing and concentrating upon the dis- pute the moral judgment of the world. That moral judgment is a more powerful factor for peace than any in- ternational force in the hands of the League. I believe that the possession of such armed force would split the League from top to bottom on the first occasion on which its use was in- voked. Even before that time comes, the difficulty of organizing it, the impossi- oility of giving it the coherence and unity of a national army or navy, and the un- certainty whether the contingents prom- ised would materialize when called for, would have destroyed the one purpose for which the League was created— namely, the hope that under its aegis every nation would feel secure, ht. 1932, the North American (o webuper Allisnces Tae. ™" 1 4