Evening Star Newspaper, December 18, 1932, Page 28

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASBHINGTON, D. C. WONDAY......December 18, 1932 THEODORE W. NOYES... . Editor -— The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: t. and Pennsylvania Ave. York Office: 110 East 42nd 8t. Office: Lake Michigan Bullding. 4 + London, 71 75c per copy the end of each month. n by mail or telephone The Surday Star Collection made Orders may be sen NAtional 5000. Bunday only All Other States and Canada. 1y, §1200: 1 mo., $100 1yr. $800: 1mol 35¢ 1yr. $5.00: 1mo. S0¢ Member o the Assoclated Press. The Associaied Press is exclusively entitled to the 1se for republication of all news dis- atches credited to it or not otherwise cred- fed in this paper and al<o the local news published herein. Al rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved Hoover and the Tariff. President Hoover is sticking to his guns in the tariff war. When the United States Tariff Commission sent to him a dozen reports on proposals to in- crease and lower tariff duties the Pres- ident approved all the increaces, de- clined to accept ot this time the de- creases and approved the recommen- dations of the committee for no changes in some of the schedules. The announcement of the President’s de- cislons in these matters was made pub- lic by the Tariff Commission Friday. Obviously, the President believes that this is no time to lower tariff duties and permit an inflow of foreign goods in competition with American producers and workers. And obviously the Presl- dent is correct. In his letters to the commission dealing with proposals to lower the duties on cotton velveteens and agricultural hand tools Mr. Hoover called attention to the depreciated cur- rencies in foreign countries today and the great effect this depreciation of cur- rency has upon costs of production. He recommended to the commission that further inquiry be made in the light of these reductions in the value of cur- rency abroad before any change is adopted. Under the “flexible provisions™ of the tariff law, the President has the au- thority to raise or lower by fifty per cent duties imposed on imported arti- cles, following investigation and report to him by the Tariff Commission. It is by this authority that the President now accepts the proposals to increase duties on aluminum and weoden folding, rules, some cotton velvets, prism binoculars, upholsterers’ nails and several other articles, and these new duties will be- ccme effective January 13. Mr. Hoover during the campaign declared himself firmly 2gainst a lowering of the tariff protection afforded American industry. Indeed, he predicted that if the Demo- crats were voted into office and under- took to reduce tariffs, as they promised, disaster would follow in this country. With the Democrats coming into full power in both legislative and executive branches of the Government on March 4, the tariff problem will then be in their hands. Despite their deunucia- tions of the Smoot-Hawley tariff act, the Democratic leaders were not willing during the campaign to specify just which tariff rates they proposed to Jower. They are still treading softly on this issue, and few of their outstand- ing leaders are willing to propese dras- tic tariff reductions at this time. Many of them are wondering what would hap- pen to them if the Democrats should lower the duties generally and American industry should be hard hit. The pros- pect s not alluring to a group Which has been out of office for twelve years and is but now reaching again the promised land. President Hoover is acting in the in- terests of American manufacturers and American labor in dealing with the tariff, as Indicated by his decisions in regard to the recommendations of the Tariff Commission. If the Democrats undertake to lower the protective tariffs and the results are not good, Mr. Hoo- ver's stand for protection of American industry will be recalled widely and With considerable effect politically four years hence. r—oe— A discussion of methods of retaliation between two continents provides an- other sad example of the eise with which in the mysterious evolution of events promises may be displaced by reats. s Provisions for “Marcher: Preparations for the reception and ganitary care of large groups of peti- tioners for legislation, at the same piace where the “hunger marchers” were recently assembled upon their ar- rival in Washington, are proposed by the District Commissioners. This is in order that if any others should arrive for whose accommodation arrangements have not been made by the promoters of these enterprises of agitation there will be no lack of precautions against suffering and disease. No shelters will be erected and no arrangements made for feeding. It is not proposed to estab- lish a hostel. No encouragement is to be given by inviting conditions to in- duce large groups of discontented peo- ple to abuse the constitutional right of petition and assemble at the Capital. That is all the Commissioners can do, all they should do. It is not for them or for the people of the District to provide housing, at public or at private expense collectiveiy, for those who may we misled by radicals to advance \lp(ln: the Capital as petitioners. Congress may appropriate public funds for the | erection of shelters and the main- tenance of catering service, if it feels that the right of petition includes the right of accommodation at the seat of government while engaged in the act of petitioning. It may prescribe rules and regulations for the reception of these “marchers,” perhaps scheduling the period of their tenure, maybe even establishing a ratio of representation based upon State populations. Those national legislators who criticize the manner in which the marchers have been heretofore treated by the local authorities should consider whether the responsibility for their reception does not rest upon those to whom the peti- tions which they bear are addressed. Them 15, of course, no need fo¥ those who demand relief from Congress|petition for the senatorial procedure through legislation—and relief can be| necessary, after a decade of delay, to granted from Washington only by this|harness the power and prestige of the means—to come to the Capital in person | United States to those of other Arst- in large numbers from all parts of the | class nations in converting the Perma- country. Probably they know this per- |nent Tribunal of International Justice THE SUNDAY STAR, .85c per month | fectly well unless they are deceived by their false guides into the bellef that only by thus massing at the Capital can | their demands be heard. But the path | to Washington should not be smoothed, | nor should there be encouragement for their coming in provision at public expense for their housing and main- tenance while here. The District Com- missioners, unless given & mandate by | Congress to do otherwise, can make no such provision, nor should the burden |or the care of these claimants for | Government largess be laid upon them | or upon the people of Washington. e e | The Beer Bill. The committee report on the Collier beer bill. which will probably be voted on Tucsdey in the House, is an inter- esting and informative treatise on (1) the change of sentiment toward pro- hibition: (2) the need for revenue and the fact that beer taxes would yield revenue; (3) the physiological effects of alcohol on an empty stomach as | compared with such effects of alcohol | when taken with food: (4) the psycho- logical effect of re-establishing an in- dustry utilizing manpower, railroads 'and farm produce, and (%) the evils, | sanitary and otherwise, of the bootleg |traffic in beer and homebrew, from which the Federal Government collects no revenue. Yet all these malters are irrelevant The question is: Is beer of 3.2 per cent by weight or 4 per cent by volume in- | toxicating within the meaning of the ! Constitution of the United States, which forbids the “manufacture, sale or trans- | portation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the | exportation thereof from the United | States and all territory subject to the ! jurisdiction thereof for beverage pur- poses™? On this point, the committee divided seventeen to six. Seventeen members agree that the beverages proposed to be legalized would not be “intoxicating in fact” and that such legislation is in keeping with “the letter and the spirit of the amendment.” Six members of the committee have taken the opposing view. The pro- posed beer would be intoxicating, they say, and their support of a movement to legalize such beer would repudiate their oaths to support and defend the Constitution. = Another dissenting member of the committee, Mr. Treadway, took the po- sition that it was improper to treat a measure legalizing beer as a revenue measure. Is 4 per “pre-war,” beer intoxicating in fact? The committee’s reasoning, to support its opinion that it is not, is important. It follows here, in part: The alcohol in 4 per cent beer is so diluted that it would require consid- erable effort on the part oI an average person to drink enough to become drunk. Moreover, in determining what is in |-fact intoxicating it would not be proper to use either an inveterate drinker or one easily susceptible to intoxication as a criterion. Also, it should be assumed that the beer i o be drunk as il is generally drunk—that is, in limited quantities and with food. 1t is common that the effect of the cor alcoholic liquor on an empty stomach is much different than when taken with or after a meal. The presence ol solids in an alco- holic beverage, as in beer, or the pres- ence of food in the stomach, hold the zlcohol back from the rapid passage through the stomach wall into the blood stream and allow some of it to be ab- sorbed through the intestines 4 In this way the rate of absorption into the blood is slowed down and the alcohol is allowed to pass off before there is any large accumulation in the system. This is all true. But is there any evidence that thousands of persons will not be glad to expend the “considerable effort” necessary to become drunk on beer? 1If. by expending consicerable effort, they become drunk on beer, is beer intoxicating in fact? Is there any basis for the assump- tion that “beer is to be drunk * * * in limited quantities and with food"? Is not the weight of the evidence, drawn from common knowledge regarding the conditions before prohibition, exactly to the contrary? When the saloons were selling beer, did patrons of the cent. or saloons consume it only in limited quantities and with food? They did not And that emphasizes another im- portant section of the beer bill. Beer would be sold “in or from” bottles, casks, barrels, kegs or other contain- ers. No restrictions are made as to its retail sale “in or from” such containers, That would mean the return of the beer saloon, except in the States that chose specifically to outlaw saloons. Both parties are pledged to fight the return of the saloon. Why does this bill make no mention of the beer saloon, or seek to control retail sale of beer? It is, presumably, because of the ob-' vious inconsistency that would lie in calling a beverage non-intoxicating, and then seeking to regulate its retail sale because of its intoxicating qualities, But if the States seek to control its retail sale, they will thereby imme- | diately recognize it as intoxicating, and if it is intoxicating it is contrary both to the letter and the spirit of the eighteenth amendment. This beer bill permits the return of the beer saloon. People will get drunk in those saloons on 4 per cent beer. That is the truth and it cannot be dodged. B ) Gold bars are said to figure in foreign | debt transactions; also, it is audaciously intimated, “gold bricks.” —— s e The World Court. One of the most impressive docu- | ments submitted to the United States Senate in recent times with the im- print of Vox Popull is the appeal just | addressed to that body by a bipartisan | committee of eminently representative | American citizens calling for prompt | American entry into the World Court. At the head of an imposing number of Republicans who urge such action is | Maj. Gen. James G. Harbord, one of the | purty’s acknowledged leaders in New | York State, while an equally large num- ber of Democrats join in the appeal, under the leadership of John W. Davis, Democratic nominee for President in 1924. Every prominent phase of na- tional political, financial, commercial, industrial and intellectual thought is ! represented among the. signers of the Into an effective institution, Senator Borah, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, says he is | ready to report the protocol out of that | repository, where it has lain ever since | the Senate itself, seven years ago, by & vote of 76 to 17, ratified the measure on condition that certain reservations re- mained attached to it. The terms of these reservations are fully covered by | the subsequent treaties now before the | | Senate. ‘There is neither rhyme nor | reason why the proposition should any longer be kept from the floor and from ;l vote. Senator Borah and Senator | Watson, Republican majority leader, | intimate that there are still votes enough to defeat final ratification. If | they are confident on that score, they ! have no reason to prevent & final test. One hundred and twenty-five million Americans—provided their chosen na- tional leaders for the past twelve years may be regarded as qualified to speak for them—cannot be wrong. Three Presidents of the United States and each and every one of their respective | | Secretartes of State in succession have favored entry into the World Court. Two of the latter—Messrs. Hughes and Kellogg—have actually functioned as judges of the court, by the will and selection of non-American member countries. The American Bar Associa- tion and countless other representative bodies of public opinion in the United States have time and time sgain in- dorsed the court and pleaded for ad- herence to it without further procras- tination on the part of the Senate. Finally, as if to cap the climax of the country’s approval, both the Republican and Democratic parties in their 1932 platforms expressly favored American entry. At a time when war debts and other causes tend to depreciate Uncle Sam’s popularity in foreign parts, would it not be a sensible gesture on his part to end the procrastination which has marked the course of World Court con- sideration at Washington, and move at once in an affirmative direction? The appeal now lying on Senators’ desks must indicate to them that it is no longer a partisan issue, but something for which the American people stand, regardless of their political afliations. B S If China should by any trick of his- tory be added to the immense area which Russia already controls, the ruler of thit domain would be in a position to sympathize on & huge scale with citizens who suddenly find themselves “land poor.” . There is need of food. In a time when charity becomes a recognized ob- ligation, the question “How much can you give?” becomes related to “How much do you waste?" U At Jgast there seems a possibility of bringing questions of international debt to a settlement without the additional expense of hiring psychoanalytic spe- cialists. = e Perhaps Ponzi is a lucky man. He is in a safe retreat, beyond the temptation to attempt any juggling in international . monetary interchange. ————————— It is possible to prescribe alcohol for a Jame duck, but there is no assurance that some of them will take their medi- cine gracefully. e " SHOOTING STARS, BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Trusted Stranger. When you feel a sense of weary ap- prehension, And the shadows gather near from every side, From friends to whom your troubles you might mention You turn away with shrinkling, yet with pride. And as your mood grows desperately solemn, You turn to print; heart aglow You find advice presented by the col- umn and there with Abundantly by folks you do not | know, . They tell you how to have a home so cozy, And how to get both into debt and out They give you rules to make love's pathway rosy | And remedies for whooping cough or gout. In offering the needed information Acquaintances may prove a trifle slow, But fine acvice that has no limitation Is offered by the folks you do not know. Adjacent to a beatific ballad You find suggestions for a wounded heart; Likewise a recipe for dressing salad And tips on how to make a motor start. A friend might often solve & serious question, ing show. We take our hopes of peace and good | congressional debt-funding commission, | conclusion, made public today, suggestion And trust them all to folks we do i not know. His Depth. “Do you think there is any depth to‘ that man?" “Not much,” answered Senator Sorghum. “I never knew him to dig ‘in all my life.” | Regal Splendors. A spray of Autumn leaves, } Purple and gold, | Lingers where Winter grieves | Amid the cold. | withering side by side In mute array, Symbols of haughty pride, They go their way. 3 Same Old Surprise. “Some men never learn by experi- ence.” Torkins. “Charley is just as much surprised every time he loses at th2 races as if it had never happened be- | fore.” “Money talks,” said Uncle Eben; “but in an election bet you can't be sure | whether it's talkin’ sense or, jes' gittin’ excited.” ’ But strangers make the more allur- | WASHINGTON, "D, “Jesus sat over aginst the treas- ury.”—St. Mark, 12, pt. 41. It was sald concerning the Great Master that “He knew what was in man.” Repeatedly, with penetrating vision, He appraised human values. In doing so He did not deal with externals, but sought always to discover the mo- | tives that lay behind actions. | In the instance related in the above | text He had been speaking of the rep- rehensible and offensive practices of the scribes who sought, through ostenta- |tion, to impress themselves upon the |ropulace. He spoke of them as those who “love salutations in the market places, the chief seats in the synagogues and the uppermost rooms at feasts.” Notwithstanding these proud preten- sions and their show of piety, they in- | curred His stern condemnation. Sitting over against the treasury of the temple, | He noted with discriminating judgment | those who made their offerings. There were rich who, out of their abundance, cast in much, but they won from Him ne word of praise. Presently there came | & certain poor widow who, with evident embarrassment, dropped her two mites | into the temple chest. Immediately her self-sacrificing gift provoked His admi- | ration, and, calling to Him His disciples, He said to them, “Verily, I say unto you | that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the ‘Lreasury," His further observation was {tbat the more prosperous had only | given of their abundance, and that dis- proportionately, but the widow, out of | her_penury, had given “all her living.” To her He accorded the word of highest praise. It was not the volume of giv- mg nor the ostentatious display that earned His commendation. It rather the motive, the deep-seated re- ligious spirit that won His praise. Ever and always His judgment con- | cerning men and women was based upon what He discerned in them of real worth. There is in this incident t which suggests a consistent method in our appraisal of the real worth of men |and women. How frequently our judi ments are determined by some ostenta- ticus and showy display. How largely is our estimate formed by that which is Appraising Human Values BY THE RIGHT REY), JAMES B, FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, p of Washington. was | DECEMBER 18, Sy purely external, and that may be wholly without merit of design or motive. The appraisals which the world at large be- stowggare without discriminating judg- ment and all too often mistaken and undeserved. Christ's sternest denunci- ations were directed against those who too conspicuously displayed their vir- ‘The whole world today is stock-taking. It is studying with meticulous care its values. The situation is one that oc- casions widespread concern. = Some things that we had thought useful and Even institutions that had seemed fixed and indispensable are receiving scant consideration. New standards of ap- praisal are being used, and when we emerge from the shadows that have ob- | scured our course we shall have to ad- |our conceits, we shall be compelled to | make new adjustments and pursue new | pructices. In the midst of all these | revolutionary changes we discover more clearly than ever before that the exter- nal and surface values cannot pass for real values and that our appraisal must | b based upon the more enduring things of character. We may judge institu- tions by the prominence and distinction | of those who underwrite them, but their stability is not determined by the wealth or cleverness of those who indorse them, but rather by the moral worth and sterling integrity of those who administer them. Let us hope that one of the best results we shall gain from our long period of depression is a finer sense of what really constitutes human values. “Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men de- ‘Thus the poet wrote, and his reason- Ing is sound. Over against the treasury Jesus sat studying human nature, and an impoverished widow whose devotion reckqued not with self or self-sacrifice gained His highest commendation. Not the size of her gift, but the generosity and fineness of her motives—these gave Great Searcher of Hearts. :Two Billion Estimated as Maximum Value | Of Foreign Debts Now Owing U. S. BY WILLIAM HARD. What will happen to the debts now? That is the question that principally | perplexes Washington at this week end. Some shreds of an answer to it are pos- sible. In the first place, it is doubtful if any of the proposed reprisals against our defaulting debtors will ever come into actual being. They all would add further impediments to internationa’ economic intercourse. One of the highest ideals of most of the world's governments at the present time is to diminish rather than to enlarge such impediments. President Hoover stated that the economic recovery of the United States depends largely upon progress in better international eco- nomic relationship. 1f measures em- bodying reprisals against our default- NG debtors shouid survive debate in the two Houses of the Congress and | should be sent to the White House for signature, it would seem extremely un- likely that the signature would be forthcoming. The revival, therefore, of dead or dying debt payments by means of the lash of retaliatory economic w: | fare may be dismissed as an oratoric: rather than as a legislative or diplo- matic prospect. * has emphatically * o ox In the second place. the President now stands committed twice to the ini- tiating of new negotiations with our debtors in general. The first commit- ment was in the Hoover-Laval state- ment of October of last year. The wording of it was: ¥ | “Prior to the expiration of the Hoo- Ver moratorium year some agreement on intergovernmental obligations may be necessary covering the period of the business depression.” This commitment was tentative. The second commitment was definite. It oc- curred in the State Department note of December 7 to the government of Great Britain. It said: “The President of the United States is prepared, through whatever agency may seem_appropriate, in co-operation with the British government, to survey the entire situation and to consider what means may be taken to bring about the Trestoration of stable currencies and ex- change, the revival of trade and the re- covery of prices.” The absence of the word “debts” from this passage is of no consequence. That a discussion of currencies and of prices would necessarily involve a discussion of debts was thoroughly understood in | Washington as well as in London. * * The question then advances to an interpretation of the phrase “through \\ha_lle\er AgENncy may seem appropri- ate.” The President has continuously | taken the view that the Congress ought to authorize him to negotiate regard- ing the debts through a new debt-fund- ing commission. He now, however, pro- Pcses to negotiate through “whatever agency may be appropriate.” He might thereupon negotiate either through our regularly established diplo- matic officers or through special com- missioners of his own choosing. These commissioners would not need to authcrized by the Congress or even cone firmed by the Senate, In the course of our national history we have had more than 400 such commissioners ap- pointedsby the President alone for the conduct of negotiations with foreign | powers. On occasion the Senate has Pprotested against this presidential prac- | tice. The prevailing dominant opinion about it, however, was conclusively ex- | pressed in 1888 by Senator Sherman of | Ohio, when he was chairman of the | Senate Ccmmittee on Foreign Relations. | Senator Sherman said: | _“The President has the power to pro- | pose_treaties subject to ratification by he chooses to employ.” | It is possible, accordingly, that Presi- | dent Hoover, having failed to secure a | | the Senate. In the negotiations leading | | to treaties he may use such agencies s | H soned proposal for bringing the debts question to a final universal settlement * ok kK It is net thought that it would be difficult to negotiate simultaneously with our paying debtors, such as Great Britain, and with our defaulting debtors ! such as France. The reason is that th French, for instince, have clearly inti- mated their willingness to change de- fault into payment if negotiations should be offered to them. Some coun- tries perhaps could not pay without en- Pt dangering their monetary liv e Is such a country. Poland, possibly, is another. France and Belgium, how- ever, from the standpoint of their cur- s rencles and from the stindpoint of tues and too noisily declared their piety. | permanent are proving of little wcrth. | just ourselves to new methods and ways. | No matter how tenaclously we hold to ! her the distinction and the praise of the | 1932—PART TWO. L’Enfant Proposed as Nanie for New “Square” To the Editor of The Star: In connection with the suggestions for an appropriate name for the area tentatively known as Union Square, now being developed between the Capitol and Sixth street northwest, the name of L'Enfant Square is proposed. Be- | cause of the prominence of New York's | Union Square the Capital's prominent new square certainly should have a more distinctive name than that. | It is well known that the plan for the Federal City which Maj. L'’Enfant prepared was “accepted and generally followed because of the breadth of its avenues, the large tracts set aside for gardens, parks and squares, and for the general logic of arrangements,” and that the Capital was designed by (him on a “scale as to leave room for that aggrandizement and embellish- ment which the increase of the wealth of the Nation will permit it to pursue at_any period, however remote.” No thoroughfare or park here ap- pears to have been named for the plan- ner of the National Capital, and be- yond the cimple marker over his grave in_Arlington no imposing monument appears to have been erected in recog- nition of his services to the country or its Capital. It is said L'Enfant failed to obtain satisfactory remuneration or | recognition for his plan, which has en- | abled the Capital to become a world- famous city beautiful, and died poor and disappointed, although later hon- | ored by the removal of his remains in 1909 to Arlington, where a monument in bronze showing his plan of the city | was erected by Congress. | The name of L'Enfant is intimatel associated with that of the City Washington. It is an historical name i f and one that can be easily pronounced and llmx a pleasing sound. Like the re- cently adopted it 1s name of Constitution peculiarly adapted to the tal, being distinctive and Wnat could be more appro- priate than to distinguish the new square adjoining the Capitol with the name of an enthusiastic patriot who served Americans on the field of battle | during its darkest day and afterward contributed so handsomely toward making its Capital the beautiful city it now is? LEWIS L. YOUNG. . Pedestrian Says a Word For the Drivers of Cars To the Editor of The Star: Your Mr. Tracewell has recently writ- some interesting articles anent the d:fficulties of the poor pedestrian in his corflict with the ubiquitous automobile, ¢ of which he seemed to favor the in his disposition to cross streets in the middle of the biock. This Y fair to the car driver. I am niol one and can therefore sponsor his interest. It is the practice of most s to pass over at street intersec- Drivers have come to feel that have the right to proceed at other points with more or less freedom—rather | more than less, I suppose—but as the traffic has 10 keep moving as expe- v as possible it is only proper e car driver be accorded this Pprivilege. We pedestrians are likely to take our- ves tco seriously, if we don't watch thelr gold supplies, are fully able to Ui cxpiyimosy COMIortable way to take Vi an is legitimately presumed & pueaPerience of cro: 2e stre that they would quite readlly proceed § oo Peint i to consider it more as to pay if only once the prospect of ne- gotiations for new debt arrangements became assured. : - Two ultimate queries then emerge The first is: How large a sum is probable that we can extract from our debtors in final satisfaction of our claims? In answer it miv be said that the most optimistic surmise here enter- tained does not rise above $2,000.000- 000. The present actual capital value of the debts is perhaps between $5.000,- 000.000 and $6.000.000,000. No banking firm, however. would purchase them at that figure. It is a statistical account- ing figure. It has to be modified by the psychological factor of the moral unwillingness of most of our debtors to complete their payments on the basis of the existing agreements. With that factor in mind. there are bankers who estimite the present value of the debts as being not much more than one billion doliars. If our di plomacy should succeed in binding our debtors to a positive deliver: billion dollars, these bankers very much surprised. A cautious judg- ment would perhaps be that negotia- tions for a revision of the debts might terminate with gebd fortune at the figure of a billion and a hall, x | The second concluding query is this Will it be possible to m:mguce}h pic of disarmament into debt-revision treaties? Thit it would be advantageous to us to introduce it has long been main- tained in many influential utterances by Mr. S. 0. Levinson of Chicago, author of the “outlawry of war” principle em- bedded in the Kellogg-Briand pact, and by Senator William E. Borah. Observa- tions in a similar tone have recently been made by Secretary of State Stim- | son. The argument is that an arma- ments reduction sufficiently drastic to | save us $250,000.000 a year on our ex- | penditures for Army and Navy would | compensate us approximately fully for "the losses imposed upon us by the ulti- mate cessation of debt payments. It can be safely remarked that haste ' | Will be necessary if we intend really to try to achieve any of this sort of | compensation in return for debt con- | cesslons on our part. A year ago our debtors were in a better mood tow:rd | bargaining than they are today. With every pasSing hour they are less in- | clined to intkoduce the element of com- pensation to us into a process which | | they think is in any case developing | toward an extinguishment of their ob- | A . This is an | Make it. Indeed, a good cup of coffee | Breat deal of talk and no legislation at ligations to our Treasury. | added reason why it is supposed in | many quarters here that the adminis- tration wiil endeavor to initiate the new (Copyright. 1922.) oot Credit of Retailers Comparatively Sound BY HARDEN COLFAX. Wholesalers and manufacturers sell- ing direct to retuilers in the United States do by far the greater part of their business on credit, and this credit |is comparatively sound. Such is the of a sur- debt negotiations as rapidly as possible. any deeper than $2,000 in a clmplign‘ may appoint what will be in effect a | vey of mercantile credit by the Depart- | presidential debt-funding commission | ment of Commerce, with the assistance which will derive its authority solely | of the National Association of Credit | from presidential order and which will | Men. | make its report, not to the Congress,| There have been investigations of the | but to the White House. credit operations and standing of re- That report would comprise the re- | tailers in the past, but this is the first | sults of the commission's negotiations | effort made to learn just what are the | with our debtors, and those results credit practices of manufacturers and | would be put into the form of treaties wholesalers dealing directly with re- for transmission to the Senate. The | tailers. House of Representatives could thus be | More than 6,000 wholesale and manu- | eliminated from the affair altogether. | facturing firms to whom questionnaires Tk - treaties, if adopted, would become | were submitted r.ported on their credit | “the law of the land” and would super- | operations covering the years 1928, 1929 | sede all previous acts of the Congress | ahd 1930, disclosing, among other as a whole. The House of Representa- | things, that, of the nine kinds of whole- tives would have no constitutional | sale and manufacturing establishments means of preventing the entry into force dealt with in today's report, the one of any new debt-revision treaties nego- | with the lowest percentage of credit tiated by the President and accepted by | business had 87.9 per cent. Most of the |a two-thirds vote of the Senate. percentages were into the 90s, and | * Kk * clothing manufacturers do 99 per cent | That President Hoover may wish to | of their business on credit. present such treaties to the Senate be- X% X fore retiring from public office is in| Twenty-five lines of trade were con- some circles increasingly believed. The ‘s‘i:l:::d in the survey, which is being “That's true” answered young Mrs. debts question is the outstanding ques- hree parts. The first part {tion of the moment in the world's | thought. An effective solution of it would be a dazzling crown to any states- man's career, | A solution accepted by the Senate would be a memorial to which he could look back with pride; and an appealing solution rejected by the Senate would | constitute an issue which would keep | him before the public as the leader of | a cause. Such calculations in the minds both of Mr. Hoover'’s friends and of his enemies incline many of them to believe that he will, indeed, attempt, before March 4, to hand the Senate & rea- covers agricultural implements, athletic and sporting gcods, automotive sup- plies, books and stationery, clothing, in- cluding hats, caps and gloves; coal and | coke, confectionery, including soda | fountain_ supplies; drugs, toilet articles |and drug sundries, and dry goods and noticns. The investigators found that, while | on the whole credit is sound, numerous firms nevertheless are “probably carry- ing on their business without proper re- rd for sound principles of credit.” ;me of the firms bad debt losses two or three a8 great as 4 game than as a business, although We may have business awaiting us after- ward. In such circumstances,evervbody cone bm»d has an objective, just as the plaver has. He wants to get . Just as do we walkers and Now. if we go at the thing in the proper spirit. we must realize that cach of the other fellows is also going scmewhere, and all should be on the lookout for obstructions. The foot ball man has to do that, and he can not do it_properly if he lets his mind wander off to his best girl or anybody else’s If ke is to win he has to keep his mind on the game: and if we expect to get salely over a busy street we must con- centrate on what we are doing. Good humor is a valuable asset at such a time, as well as consideration for everybody else in the game. Giving people dirty looks does not help. ex- cept to take our self-respect from us and leave nothing worth while in its place. 2 After a good deal of practice I have d. before starting over, to look four ways to see what's coming on the surface of the street. and take an- other good look to see what may have come up out of the ground or down from the sky, the while maintaining a proper sense of humor, and then I plunge into the scramble. So far the plan has proved pretty safe. M. H. BROWN. ‘Dat Ees Cllicory.’?aid The Banana Messengers To the Editor of The Star What The Evening Star of Tuesday had to say about good coffee reminds me of the very early period of my life spent on the night shift of one of those box car lunch reoms down in the South. Engineers, firemen. brakemen, conduc- tors, switchmen and “banana messen- gers” came in at all hours of the night for a cup of hot coffee. And banana messengers, you must know, are right out of New Orleans. Th> boss made the coffee in a 2-gal- lon pot during the day and I kept it all due respect to the boss, it Just wasn't coffee. Engineer Matt O'Hearn. who was a man just about like Senator Norris, on passenger run betwe:n Bowling Green and Memphis of the L. & N., came in | one night and, seeing that I was just It really doesn’t make much difference what you make it in—it is how you is a work of art. No lazy person makes good coffee. It's too much like work. | They just simply let it boil till they are satisfied that 1t's “made.” So_ after I learned how to make a satisfactory cup of coffee, the banana | messengers got so they would drink it. me, saying, “Dat ces not coffee! Dat ees chicery!” =~ And many of them even contended you could not get a good cup of coffee after leaving New Orleans. | HARRY ALEXANDER. —ate—e | A Spanish Slump. | From the Toledo Biade. The last bull market to be deflated is bull fighting in Spain. Only 215 were { held; only one man killed in a very dull season. | Hunger and Marchers. ! From the Indianapolis News. | One can't help but wonder what a | hunger marcher would do if he were | hungry. !they should have been. The survey conciudes that the type of management shown by such firms has the effect of “nourishing a group of inefficient re- tailers who are a wasteful burden on the distribution system.” In almost all the classifications there were recorded some attempts on the | part of customers to dictate the terms | of sale. Some firms have been used to | rather rigid terms of credit and prac- | tices with regard to discounts. With changes in business conditions, it is be- coming more and more the practice for customers to dictate their own terms. Whether or not the wholesaler or ma: ufacturer has agreed to these, it is sig- | nificant that the average length of time accounts outstanding slightly increased in 1930 as compared with 1929. As far as bad debt losses are con- cerned, comparatively small percent- | ages were discovered in all classifica- | tions, due probably to the superior | business practices of the wholesalers and their facllities for learning the credit rating of their customers. “uOl’l the vi):o!e,nthehlmv mdlm?fi mportant part playt )y _cr distribution and emphasises the essen- tially sound condition of the trade. Tax Revolt of Highway Users BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN, ‘The old adage concerning the turn- | maintenance represents & heavy and | farmer. o warm for the trade at night. But, with ' a kid, showed me how to make coffee. | | Before 1 learned how, they came in, | took a sip and looked astonishingly at | ing worm has been illustrated anew in the banding together of the principal | users of American highways in protest | against the burden of taxation which has progressively been unloaded upon them. Throughout the years in which the American highway systcm has been bullding, cities, counties, States, and even the Federal Government, have laid tax after tax upon the motorist. As these imposts have been added picce- | meal, rather than in one huge tax, they were permitted to accumulate like the proverbial straws on the camel's back. So great has now becotne the aggregate that the section of the public using the roads has arisen in revoit, crying for equity. | The National Highway Users’ Confer- |ence has been organized, with head- quarters at Washington, by so many | constituent bodies that it bids fair to | be the greatest body of the public joined togethe - for a single purpose, short of |a naticral political party. | To begin with, through the American | Automobile Association, it has tens of thousands of private motorists as mem- . But the membership goes far be- | yond this. Obviously, the protestants | against oppressive and discriminatory | | taxation are motorists, but all kinds of | | peoples use motors on the highways or | | have collateral interests. ~Alfred P.| | Sloan, president of General Motors, Is | chairman of the conference. The improved highways of the coun- try first were devised as an aid to tl ‘That was long before the de | velopment of the pleasure car. So it/ is natural that the National Grange, the greatest farm organization in the coun- | try, sheuld have its thousands of farm- ers ranked with the conference. The 1 ‘connnuinz charge on any comm: 'y and the better and more extensive highway system the higher the cost, It was when these facts appeared thas the State and county solons began turning to the highway users. Firsh they charged substantial license fees for licenses to operate automobiles on the highways. Next they provided that every operator must have a permit and charged a fee for the permit. Still the cost of road building and maintenance mounted, and the gasoline tax was dise covered as a fruitful source of revenue. To add a haif-cent or a cent to the | price of gasoline seemed not unreason= able and one State after another re- orted to this means of raising revenue, But motorists, who at first did not ob- ject to the light tax, soon discovered that the taxing authorities were develop= along the line of drug addicts, who st have a stronger and stronger dose &5 the habit takes hold. From tbe original half-cent taxes the imposts began to mount to 2 and 3 cents, then 5 cents, and now in som- Slates the tax which must be paid for gasoline, in addition to the purchase price, is 7 cents a gallon. Four Taxes on Gas. It is interesting to note how.the two lines representing gasoline pfce and gasoline tax have crossed in the United States. When gasoline was as high as o | 30 cents a gallon the tax was negiigible. Since then, except for a brief rise dur- ing the World War, the gasoline price has come steadily down, but, mean- time, the rate of tax has gone steadily upward. It now averages for the coun=- try as high as 30 per cent of the retail of the fuel and is higher in some Also, it musi bz remem- € morning milkman, who must truck in 2 to he > taxes, his product to town over the highways, certain cot s in r tax is Tepresented through th: Iniemna- which goes to the and tional Association of Mik Dealers. The cities have even post on American Bakers' Asscclation is in and of that. The las Tevenue the National Chain Stores Association. The American Petroleum Institute, which thinks gasoline is overtaxed, be- longs, and so does the Rubber Manufac- ‘ turers' Association. ‘The Farmers’ Union and the National Publishers’ As- sociation have joined the revoit, and also the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, Pyramiding of Taxes. | It is doubtful whether there has been | so concerted & rebellion against taxes ! of a certain type since Great Britain levied the stamp tax on the American Colonies just before the War of the American Revolution. Roads first were constructed out of the taxes paid by many States, bcfore the er roads, road taxes and poll ta be paid by farmers by manual labor on the roads—ditching. smoothing ruts, re- pairing culverts and the like. This suf ificed for the old dirt road. but when the era of macadam came law added a tax to be collected for the benefit of the national Government This pyramiding of taxes on gasoline had gone so far that in 1930 the huge sum of $1,000,000,000 was paid by the | users of highways and streets in taxes on motor vehicles, chiefly in the form of gasoline taxes. The year 1931 saw this figure jump up another $25,000,000, and in addition to some local raises in 1932 the Federal Government last June put on a tax calculated to add $150,000,000 to the total gasoline tax bill and $35,000,000 to the automobile excise taxes. not to speak of $33.000.000 to come from a tax on lubricating oil, part of which is used by igures do not take into con- aticn at all th» income taxes paid the earn of taxicab, b: trucking firms nor the persc erty taxes paid for the pr owning these vehicles to the local juris- dictions esting compari- tax bill is about highly organized and infinit Bis \thie cairimons expensive type of road buil 5 of the Nath called for. ~Taxes were increase all this the legislatures of counties znd States, as well as by citics tates are due to meet some time in ‘The counties and States, eager to ex- nter of 193 and in each tend their improved highway n: be offered some new proposal could not wait for the taxes to come ncreasing taxes on motor This in, so they bonded themscives to the s oot o tune of ma: 11 While this fu for the wideapread nished the money for immediate T o b o ooespredd uilding, it alto added a heavy we National Hignnas Users: to the m‘és {nr in‘nres:l A'e;. the Conference the legislators of America varicus jurisdictions soon learned. the will soon hear that the came! do first cost i5 by no all. Road & o T o ol F ift;v?Years Ago In The Star Civil Service reform, meaning the establishment of appointments to minor TY &Ny more straws Public Opinion Forced Great Britain to P, BY A. G. GARDINER. LONDON week b December 17.—Events this ve fulfilled the confident pre- dictions expressed in these cables. This i 1 sis Government. positions upon the basis, gycerver pever wavered in his convie- ) 0 of merit rather nd would pay and t. Merit System in than politi nct pay the Decem preferme effec less than 50 years ago passage of an ect of Cu Houses being controiled by Republican majorities, whereas the House of Repre- sentatives of the next Congress would be organized by the Democ The Star of December 13, 1882, say “The Pendleton Civ.l Service bill, now before the Senate, provides for a board of commissioners of five, who shall have supertision over all matters pertaining to the Civil Service. The commissioners are required to be select- ed for the different political parties, and competitive examinations are made the corner stone of the Pendleton struc- ture. In the House numerous kills of this character have been introduced. but the Kasson bill has the right of vay. It has received the approval of Civil Service Reform and, while it does not lay down a sy: tem of competitive examinations, re- quires thet applicants for office shall be examined as to fitness. It also pro- vides for fixity of tenure and prohibits members of Congress and United States judges frcm interfering in the making of appointments cr from soliciting ap- pointments, unless asked for advice or | for the recommendation of persons by the appointive power “It 15 hardly necessary to ,say that of cpinion on this sub- ject in Congress. Indeed, it is & ques- tion prolific of opinion and the var.ous shades and lights in which it | is viewed by the congressional mind will be pictured to the country in the forthcoming debate. In this te of affairs there is no predicting what may | be the result in the shape of legislative | enactment, but the chances are that a the Civil Service. there is variet | all will be the cutcome. | " “The gesire of the people of the coun- try to see some substantial improvement | in the method of filling the public posi- | tions is so manifest that no man who | has asp'rations which cepend upen the votes of the people cares to set himself up in opposition to it. Hence the ques- tion of reform, when it comes before Congress, will find plenty of advocates: but the very fact that most of the members will want to put_their favor- | able opinions on record will operate as a_ hindering cause to any legislation. The session is too short to admit of any great waste of time on a subject that is to be finaily acted upon, and it is not improbable that the debate upon the question of reforming the Civil Sertite will take such a wide range that finally the whole subject will have | to give way to other pressing matters. | “This. however, is not the only cause that will tend to defeat reform legisla- tion. One powerful cause has already | been voiced by some Democratic Con- | gressmen who are bolder than others | of their party in stating their views. The Democrats are naturally very much clated at the result of the November elections, and the prevailiug view taken of the future of the party is that it only has to be upon good behavior for the next two years to sweep the coun- try {n 1884. In short, the Democrats cons’der that they have the i grouid for the next president test. and they much prefer to defer | Civil Service reform until after the | offices shall have been filled with Dem- | ocrats. There are those among them | who regard the present willingness of the Republicans to vote for a reform law as an evidence of the despair at electing another Republican President, and that, so despairing, the Republicans now wish to effect legislation that will retain their partisans in office. One of the most prominent of the Western Democratic Senators calls the reform agitation a Republican scheme to en- trap the Democrats into voting for legislation that will save the offices to the Republicans after a Democratic | President shall have been elected. This | Senator is by no means alone in his| opinions. There are Democrats who | had much rather speak in favor of a| ?lvi{' Service reform now than to vote or. 1t installments to the United r of Deput meln rejecting the pro- cabinet by an . In each case the ry action represented a de- > ba of public feeling outside, There were only two serious critics of the British government's policy, Win= ston Churchill and David Liovd George, and though they are the mast brilliant living parliamentarians, both had the House of Commons almost unanimously against them. Indeed, Lloyd George Was nearly howled down and presented the pathetic spectacle of a m: once the magician of the H: left without party or friend port him. ambe [ ovd George's ar; No parle; ' but it mpE o Baldwir re- for ‘the debt settlemcnt with Amer angered the House, He flourished in binet doc- uments which, he le: d that he had wanted a settlement in terms of the Balfour note and would not have consented to Baldwin's terms. Sir Robert Horne. ch. exchecquer in Lioyd Geo ment, threw over Lloyd George and defended Baldwin. and the House re- sented Lloyd George's effort to use the occasion for pe tage against the man who v hiefly responsible for the overthrow of his government in 1922, dent showed that Lloyd miscalculated the had ¢ temper of Pai nt and is tak indicate that his pa:ia:'rx’u\lL §11;;(nhl!: finally set. Churchill's attack equally failed to Win support. He wants Great Britain to act alone to procure the best terms possible from the United States and put the screw on European debtors to pay England. This is merely cryving for the moon. Since France did not make payment on account of her own debt to the United States, what reason is there to suppose that she would help E: ain pay Britain’s debt to the United States Tance's position throughout g;‘ been, “No reparations, no war and her refusal to pay America clearly implies that if we continue to pay on the present scale we must shoul- der the burden alone. In these circum- stances it would be madness to enter upon a European dog fight for debts which are manifestly uncollectable. * x ¥ % Moreover, the effect of the Churchill policy would be the destruction of the Lausanne agreement and the collapse of the nations into the chaos from which that agreement rescued Europe last Summer. “Britain seeks a final sat- isfactory settlement with the United States, but is equally concerned to save the Lausanne settlement, on the pres- ervation of which depends the continu- ance of harmony among European na- tions and the stability and securitv of the financial situation on the Continent. The spectacle of the United States zing England, of Engiand squeez- ing Prance and of France sgucezng bankrupt Germary is an unthinkable nightmare, and, whatever happens in America, the maintenanee o= the Lau- sanne agreement will be the cardinal aim of Great Britain. But in view of the action of France, the maintenance of that agreement means that the last war debt payment to America on the present scale has been made. One of the main subjects of press comment on the situation relates to Neville Chamberlain's justification of the statement in one of the British notes that the Lausanne agreement had the cognizance and approval of the United States. The chancellor of the Exchequer quoted the Hoover-Laval statement and added the entirely new fact that the United States Government then had intimated to the British Am- bassador that if the European powers “devised a reasonable reparations ent this would be the best method Noi\flthn;ndln‘ ‘The Star's appre- (of hensions, the Civil Service reform bill | due became & lawPthe month following. pproach to revision of the war debt United States.” (Copyright, 10330