Evening Star Newspaper, January 15, 1933, Page 23

THE SUNDAY ANUARY 15, GHOST RULERS OF EUROPE FORCED FROM OBSCURITY Three Most Influential, Von Schleicher, ! Gen, Gombos and Joseph Beck, Now ‘ Occupy Center of Stage. BY EMIL LENGYEL. | UROPE is full of ghost rulers. They are known to a select circle, but to the masses they remain men of mystery. It is they who manipulate the levers | and pull the wires from behind the | scenes, while the responsible statesmen whose actions they control take uhe bows or blush for the flasco, | The ghost rulers have their habitat | in cbscurity, where they have no fear of being picked out by the spotlight of publicity of legiclative criticism. They forego the glamour cf the news camera for the thrill of the power that enab} them to give life to the political Punch and Judy show. They are mysterious rsonages, elusive and yet all pervad- | ng, the nearest approach in the modern world to the old-fashioned ty- rants who were responsible only to their own consciences. The most famous ghost ruler in re- cent history was Friedrich von Holstein, | known to his subordinates as the Grey | Spider and to his superiors as the head | of the political department of the Ger- man foreign office for more than 30 years. For nearly a gene: & finger in every diplos times co-operating with h: and sometimes defying their he died before his great power had be- come known to more than 2 few. In recent weeks, through a curious coincidence of fate, three of the most influential ghost rulers of Europe have forced out of their obscurity and have been placed squarely in the spot- light of international publicity ihat beats upon the heads of nations. Gen. | Kurt von Schleicher, recently chosen as chancellor of Germany by President Von Hindenburg, is the most prominent | of these ghost rulers. For 15 years | he had been a backstage hand, manipu- | lating the levers and pulling the wires. | ‘While he kept in the background, the | responsible statesmen of the Reich, who | were his dummies, took the applause | and dodged the rotten eggs that were | hurled ai them. He was Germany's | the government offices. Was Germany to succumb to another Grey Spider? Was Herr von Schleicher, & colonel by now, to be the nation's mysterious wire- puller, the super-chancellor of the Reich? One of Reichswehr Builders. Tracing bock Herr von Schleicher's career from tie vantage point of the | prosent day, one is impressed by the consistency of his aims was vinced thet in the turmoil of confl ing interests and clashing political cresds, the nation had only one basic force on which it could rely tely | —the army. emper | was frayed, and attempts at revolutions and counter-revolutions were following one another in quick succession. How | was Germany to be persuaded not to cut off her armed forces altogether so that it would be spared the humiliating spectacle of a mutilated army? Schiei- cher was one of the builders of the Reichswehr and his goal was to make | it permanent in the Reich. | It looked as if that goal would be reached when Field Marshal ven Hin- 1 residen ) vith past glo task of hi to rave Germany > save the old soldier from pitfalls of p: tary life? Fortun-t2ly for Echleicker, memories of the Third Guard Regiment saved the day. Every evening Schlei. cher clicked his heeis in trc renais sance study of the President in Wil- helmstrasse and made his confidential Teport to Hindenburg. His red briefcase bulged with infor- | mation. Pirst he reviewed the press re- | ports, then he surveyed the political | situation. The President’s son, Oscar | von Hindenburg, now a coionel and his | father’s aide-de-camp, and Herr Otto| Meissner, the President's private secre- | tary, joined the conference. In that| company the President was at home:; | they were all from the Third Guard | Regiment and they all spoke the lan- | guag> of soldiers. Schleicker. by this! great political mystery, exclusive and | time a general, had a way of illustrat- yet omnipresent. tiny screw fii into the diplomatic ma- | chinery. Ministers took their cues from | him and he was respensible only to | own conscience. | Gen. Combos Is Another. ‘ Gen. Julius Gombos, the present prime minister of Hungary, is the second of the former” ghost rulers who have just 'bean brought out irom ve- hind the sccnes and who now cre performing openly upon the stage. While ke wes the power behind wne throne he overthrew more than one cabinet. And the third phantom ruler who now has come oui into the cpen is Col. Joseph Bo Tecent'y appointed minisier of foreign affairs of Poland, Who for years was eatrenched benind the Dbarricade cf his redoubtable snonymity. | Gen. von Schleicher, the man with | the pleasant smile and strong will, has for years been necir apparent to power. He was not suspected of over- powering ambition; his good-naturad, well-nourished appearance did t seem dangerous to professional politi cians; end although he undoubs was convinced that he could do better on the stage than any political prima | donna, he was happy with his. place | backstage, where he nad a maximum | of power ¢nd a minimum of respons:- bility. In the cbscurity of his den he laughed at the wry faces his puppats mace as he jerked them ofi the siage. | And although he has been steadily working his way toward greater power through all the post-war years, it is not | entirely certain that he enjoys the new responsibilities which his open assump- Won of power have brought. | The general is fifty years old now, but the mischievous 100k in the corner of his eyes makes him seem much | younger. Dubbed “Chocolate Soldier” | Vhen Kuri von Schleicher joined the Third Guard Regiment at Hanover | some thirty years ago and made the acquaintance of young Oscar von Hin- denburg, he had no idea that this | would one day help him become the | successor of the Iron Chancellor. | Oscar von Hindenburg and Kurt von | Schleicher were friends. And years | later Oscar's father, Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, generalissimo of the Ger- man army at war, called Maj. von | Schleicher to his side and assigned him | to service at headquarters. Those who | envied the major's good luck dubbed | him “the chocolate soldier” because he | had seen little service in the trenches. But those who looked deeper predicted a brilliant future for the ambitious young officer; he was to rise to glory | With the triumph of the German army. But instead of triumph came defeat. That defeat saw the gquartermaster general, Erich Ludendorf, sneak out of Germany in disguise. His successor, Gen. Groener, advised the Kaiser tq|tion of Schieicher as chancellor by his assume the command of his annles“m?"h’"mm about Germany's fu- e denburg, however, urged the Kaiser to | !0 fall into Hitler’s hands. against the enemy. Field Marshal Hin- flee, and he commissioned Maj. von Bchleicher to explain the seriousness of the situation to Wilhelm II. The fol- lowing day, November 10, 1918, a short time after his interview with Von Schleicher, the Kaiser was seen pacing | up and down the platform of a small | Dutch frontier station, awaiting per- | mission to enter Holland. With the coming of the republic, Herr_von Schieicher was assigned to | the Reichswehr ministry. He did not hold a spectacular office, and if he had anything to do with the limelight, it was to keep away from it. He became a fixture of the ministry, one of those permanent officials who delight in ob- scurity and in power. When an inven- tory was taken of the leaders of the republic Schleicher was not among them, and when those who pull the wires were listed his name was not found in that group either. Ministers Found Him Resourceful. The ministers found him discreet and | they liked him because ke never laimed credit for the ideas that were | They took him into their confi- e and found him resourceful. | a permanent official of the army istry, Schleicher was in a key posi- He was not only & soldier, but &lso | omat—a combination highly re- in Berlin. Would he turn to-| re monarchists or would he side he republicans? The fate of the | zime was decided when men of sympathizers with the empire, | the ruling system had first | their cervices, | fifth anniversary of the day | } had urged the Kaiser | hed to Berlin that | brcken out at Munich. | f the movement stood & | K n to fame outside | hile menial worker | s caricatured by lib- | litical Charliz Chap- | lin 12 Don Quixote garb, He was Adolf | Hitler, straining every muscle to over- | throw the republican regime and | establish a military dictatorship. | of the “beer-house | as this incident came to be| that an ally in the Reichswehr | y could have given the move- other turn. But Maj, Schlei- | cher was not an elly. Even if Schiei- ‘cr!;h" had fevored re-establishment of thought of the chan Bavaria as the gi Austrian. The puts of existence was hr%ad. n y that time a few of the s | poumubr;s Rsl:fl! a Barver more ebout Schleicher, and the whispers that a new ghost ru{:r“::& come to the front. The memory of | #rivy Councillor Von Holstein haunted | v S 85 a pol ge coming from nh of ar; untutored | ch_was laughed out | and Schleicher’s smile | mer why Gen. ning’s successor in the chancellorshi gancral could not find a more col per: around to the policy of taming the wil National Socialists of Adolf Hitler and | crazy zigzag of Gen | calculated his moves and that he was | forced to accept the chancellorship. right, it is obvious that Presi Combos became prime minister October. His career, at its beginning, He knew where every | ing the most complicated problems with pictures from the soldier's life. and made himself invaluable to the Presi- dent. At one time it s:emed as if those twilight meetings wpuld have to be 2bandoned. Parlizm ccame restless cbout the * arilla” and de- y ministry be placed uncer palismentary control, Wwhich would have muzzled Schleicher. But he outmaneuvered the politicians Instead of letting them drag the arm into the legislative arena, he succesdad | in legalizing his status as the liaison officer of the President. From that time on Schleicher was Cermany’s official g-maker.” A smiling tyrant, hs made chancellors end ministers. Politicians kowtowed to him and consulted him just as Col House was consulted by those who wented favors from President Wilson hleicher bhad Heinrich Bruening called to the helm as chancellor be- cause he was quiel and matter-of-fact, two cualitics that this Prussian coldier values above all others. For two years Bruening and the general kept counsel, but then the chencellor's idees began t> diverge radically from those of his mentor, 2nd Bruening had to g2. | Needed Celorless Man. | I asked & Socialist deputy last Sum- | von_ Schleicher had ected Herr von Papen as Brue- | He smiled quizzicelly. “Becaus> the n in all Germany.” Herr von Schleicher had swun he needed a colorless man, like Von Papen, s a decoy. Hitler's movement | oo was to be diluted with militarized jun- kerism. Gen. von Schleicher | the danger menacing Cermany’s tradi- tional conservatism. He realized that at | the voted for anti-: the Hitlerites, Communists and Social- ists. And while these parties fought one another with cannibal-like ferocity, they were one in opposing the existing social system. Schleicher hopes to keep | these parties fighting amon, instead of letting their attention on ti istic regime. ke ruling capital- | Some observers contend 'man politics which | ended with the recent a Gen. von Schieicher as chancellor | was the result of a planned poli they give credit to him for an uncan- | nily played game of chess. Others are | inclined to think that the general mis- | | But regardless of which dent von Hindenburg was guided in his selec- He does not want the Reich While Germany has seen Schleicher bring his phantom rule into the open, g:ngarv has looked on quietly, while| n. so Schleicher’s junior, established his regime in full view of the world. Julius Gombos, ten years or For years the ghost ruler of Hungary, Jast was somewhat similar to that of Schleicher. Gombos, too, was attached to army headquarters during the war. But after the Hapsburg Empire had collapsed. he decided to hitch his for- | tune to the rising star of liberalism. He l was sent to Croatia by Hungary's revo- lutionary government with orders to stop lawlessness. Then came Bela Kun, bringing bol- shevism with him. Capt. Gombos disliked the Bolshevist rule, partly be- cause it had deprived army officers of thelr privileges and partly because he had not been taken into the confidence of the new government. Throws Himself Into Melee. _Gombos threw himself fervently into the anti-Belshevist melee, anxious—his critics said—to make amends for the past. He became an apostle of the new era of nationalism | When King Charles. formerly Em- peror of Austria and King of Hungary | (and in those days a resident of vari- | ous castles in Switzerland), appeared on the outskirts of Budzpest to claim the throne, Gombos popped up again. Charles had been led to believe that | his former Hungarian subjects were | awaiting him with open arms. Gombos | was on this reception committee, but instead of welcoming him with thun-| dercus “eljens,” the soldiers riddled the royal train with bullets. It was Gombos who gave the order to shoot, and since that day he has been the enemy of the | Hungarian legitimists. The other Irredentist leaders van- ished, but Gombos worked himself into | the position of a powerful ghost ruler. | A notorious case of corruption in the Ministry of Defense prepared the way for Gombos—s general by this time— to make his bow as the man with the iron fist. He was made the minister of National Defense and demanded the right of the younger generation to have a voice in the government. Then the financial structure of Hungary cushed‘ and that rich country had to declare the United States. The older statesmen | gave way and Gen. Gombos became prime minister of Hungary. If the history %.!he ghost rulers of Europe will one ‘day be written, Col. Joseph Beck, recently appointed for- mystery man. This third ‘huflt political miracle child the arena as the was Poland's | he entered | of the D- | Sovict Russia being _the | masse o-1ess | and trusts to % tories and farms. 1933—PART TWO. How Russia Hoaxes Worker People, Virtual Slaves, Working Long Hours, Half Starved, Fear-Ridden and Hopeless. BY HELEN SIMPSON. N the one land among civilized na- tions supremely deaicated to his welfare, the Soviet worker stands f>ar-ridden vic- hoax. | Lenin said, “Give the land to the peasants and the factories to the work- ers” Like twin beacons gleaming across Czarist Russia, the two | promises lured 150,000,000 people from | their black despair into what they hoped would be the Red dawn of a new day. Yet tod the Russian peasant still toils on land that not his own, and the Russian worker still slaves in fac- tories over which he has no control The whip has been wrosted from the hand of tha capitalist employer only to be placed in the hand of the Com- munist leader, and the Soviet worker has neither independenc2 ner the fruits | ‘of his own labor. Contrary to popular belief, he has not evtn a guarantee against unempl ment ncr the full b2nefit of unemple ment insurance. As for old age pen- sions, the capitalistic State of New York, with its workable—and working —statute, is doing more for _this| “Marxian” measure than Soviet Rus- n law has d since its stillbirth in May, 1929 The prolctarian rev lifting frem labor's b capitslism, has only Recent dispatches tell “white collar” jcb-holders turned ou government Gepartments furnish fodder for the voracious maw of undermanned fac-| s 30,000 from Families Are Broken Up. It does not matter that these “white llar” workers have neither the desire | nor the aptitude nor in many cases SaW | the physical endurance to withstand the rigors of factory or farm life; it Tecent Reichstag clections more | auces ‘this mutden ShiSting of the work than 85 per cent of the electorate had | er's s capitalist parties—for | famg this sudden shifting of the work- phere of activity will break up lies and homes, separate husbands and wives and deprive these men and women of even those meager comforts of life afforded the workers larger Soviet cities. is an industrialization that will over- g themselves | take and eventually pass that of the them concentrate | capitalistic countries, especially that of America and Germany, humanitarian consideration for the wel- that the | fare of the workers can interfere in the Communism’s goal and no petty This forced labor, this drafting of ppointment of | manpower to where it is most needed is no new thing in Soviet Russia cy, and | 1929 the government found it necessary to press peasants into service on the collective | Ukraine. | doctors, under threat of loss of their jobs, to move out Into the country dis- | group 15| tricts has long been in vogue. A woman | | physician whom I knew in Kharkov | | was ordered to a post 1,000 miles dis- | | tant. | sickly child. | conditions of the country environment were too much for both, and within a | year the physician, sacrificing her po- | In farms, the And the practice of forcing especially in She took with her a young and But the primitive living | War Ministry a few years ago. He is only 37. but looks considerably older, especially when he frowns, which he | does_frequently. He is a fighter, and can kill with words. In Poland the President and the prime minister of the republic occupy | subordinate positions. real importance are those of the min- | ister and,the minister of Col ously ill and seldom leaves his resi-| dence in the Belvedere or his country home near Vilne the colonel is the marshal's adopted | son, the executor of his ideas, and the bearer of governmental continuity. The places of | of defense, Marshal Pilsudski, | foreign affairs, | Beck The marshal is seri- In a political sense | | Beck was Pilsudski's aide-de-camp | back in the war days of the Polish Legion against the Russians ski was in better health, he drafted the marshal fought | When Pilsud- | when Beck as a fellow adventurer and they | hatched out their political plans _to- | gether. In the political gossip clubs of Warsaw even then the belief was popular that the marshal was under | the influence of his younger comrade and that the real dictator was Beck. | There is a curious similarity in the way these three ghost rulers have re- | cently been forced into the foreground. | | All three were confidential advisers to | dictators; but this Winter promises to be a hard one and the ghost rulers seem to have been convinced that conditions were too serious for them to remain in the background. It is another curious irony of fate| that all three of these ghost rulers— | strong believers in the convincing power of armies—should have to fall back on a policy of peace and of | democracy as a means of saving their | countries from further trouble. Gen. Schleicher is doing all he can to counteract the. influence of his Na- tional Socialist crities. Gen. Gom- | bos had to retract his Irredentist faith | and one of the main points of his pro- gram is a policy of peaceful co-opera- tion with the neighbors of Hungary. And, finally, Joseph Beck, who is de- picted by the Moscow papers as the wielder of the spear pointed at the| heart of bolshevism, had to give his/ approval to the signing of a non- monarchy, he did not Ilike the | its inability to pay a paltry $40,000 to |aggression pact with Russia and to de- | clare war on the anti-German jingoes. This Winter will test the efficiency of ghost rulers in positions of great responsibility. The three countries | that former phantom rulers head | are located strategically and are the| point of knowing | elgn minister of Poland, will be its|victims of an appalling crisis. Will they retain their power in the posi~ tions they occupy or will their strength vanish under the dazzling light of publicity? | UPPER: HARVEST TIiME IN THE VOLGA REGION. | LOWER: EACH WINTER PEASANTS CROWD INTO THE CITIES SEEKING WORK. —Drawn for The Sunday Star by Joseph Simont. | sition and good standing with the gov- ernment, had returned to Kharkov returned to fir gone and without ing more and more of a problem for the government. Increasingly stringent methods are being brought to bear to m the huge tide of labor turnover—a ver estimated at from 100 to 200 P cent by the Soviet newspaper Provda. Recently a decree was pass- ed depriving factory or office workers of their “closed shop” food cards upon one day's unexcused absence, while hereafter general bread cards, as dis- tinct from the “closed shop” cards, are to be distributed by the factory com- mittees instcad of the housing commit- tees, so that retention of the card de- pends upon the worker continuing to hold his job 3 And still more recently, in an effort to rid the cities of unproductive elements, an order was issued requiring all adults to carry identification papers. It is thought to be a new scheme for ending the mass drifting from country to cities 2 food card. st and her dau T of friends the alternative facing “white coller” workers who dare to lift their voices against the gov ment's order that they go to the farms Out of the hordes of fami peasants and out of armi: workers who find themselves wrong places at the wrong times arises Soviet Russia’s army of unemployed, now estimated at 2,000,000 The pe ants crowd the cities during the Win- er months in a despairing -nceavor to find some work that will keep them alive until Sprin; Without food cards, unable to find shelter because of the terrific housing shortage, these unemployed are becom- ' To Be Loved BY BRUCE BARTON. OME years ago a magazine published a very personal article. It was not signed, but I happened to know the the name of the author. He is famous not only as a writer, but as a speaker. Before an audience he is a He is one of the best toastmasters in the world. S knock-out. k People say of him: “What assurance, what poise, what wit.” Yet this man told of his struggle to overcome a terrific inferiority complex. In school he thought people were talk- ing about him. He was homely, his clothes did not fit. As a young author he was too bashful to make a call on an editor. After he had achieved a measure of recognition he joined a club. At first he used to slink in to a corner table and lunch by himself. One day he was invited to the big round table where the members laughed and joked. He made a great discovery. The men really liked him. It changed his whole life : I recently ran across the report of a similar experience in the autobiography of Anthony Trollope, the English novelist. A great hearty hulk of a man, with big shoulders, ruddy cheeks and an almost boisterous manner, he seemed the very embodiment of self-confidence. Yot he says: “I have long been aware of a certain weakness in my own character which I may call a craving for love. I have ever had a wish to be liked by those around me—a wish that, during the first half of my life, was never gratified. In my school days no small part of my misery came from the envy with which I regarded the popularity of popular boys. They seemed to me to live in a social paradise, while the desola- tion of my pandemonium was complete. And afterward when I lived in London as a young man, I had few friends. . . The Garrick Club was the first real assemblage of men at which I felt myself popular.” 3 How much noisy self-assurance is merely a cloak to cover bashfulness. How thick around us is the craving for affection, the desire “to be loved.” . And what a bl are those people—there are a few of them—who go out of their way to say nice things to us, to write ug friendly letters, to build up our self-esteem. * . . (Mflfu. 1033.) and bt] line with the policy of “no work | —no “u Side by side with the problem of un- employment in Soviet Russia stands its paradoxical twin. “bezrabochitza.” or lack of workers | direct outgrowth of the huge gulf that | exists between the ideal and the actual- | ity of the five-year plan. The “Gesplan,” | lor Government Planning Commis- sion, had thought that 20,000 techni- | cians, 50,000 mechanics and 23,000 agrarian workers would be sufficient to | carry the plan into realization. Ex- perienc> showed them that more than | 1,200,000 engineers, mechanics and | agrarian workers, plus 3,000,000 skilled laborers were needed. Serious short- |ages in these ranks still exist, even | though drastic changes in technical | school curricula were made through the organization of night schools and the turning out in one or two years ot | “half-bak2d” young engineers with lit- | tle_background or general education. |~ sick benefits and unemployment in- | surance, almost primary tenets in any | Sociadistic philosophy, are a tragic joke |in Soviet Russia. No insurance is igrnnled a worker unless he has been Iemployzd in one office, farm or factory for at least two years, and this ccndi- | tion " alone removed 70 per cent of all | Soviet workers from the law’s benef- | icence. Where the law does apply the | stipend is smal! and the care given the sick worker is appallingly indifferent. In Kiev I came across the case of a | woman who, during nine years of labor |in a knitting mill at 49 rubles a menth, hed developed an _almost hopeless case of tuberculosis. I had to promise to pay 150 rubles monthly and pull every wire within my reach to get this woman | admitted to a sanatorium. She was awarded unempioyment insurance to the amount of 16 rubles, or one-third of her salary. I visited her once. The hall and lobby of the sanatorium were clean and spacious. “How wonderful,” | I thought, as I looked about me. “How glad I am that I could find the poor woman so lovely and clean a home!™ Then I passed through the lobby, left behind me the clean, inspiring en- trance to the house of health—and changed my mind. Lump of Bread on Table. I found my friend with three other woman patients in a dark, ill-smelling room. Their bedding was dirty, the mattresses of lumpy straw. Before each bed was a table, and upon it one lump of black bread, one-half teaspoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of sugar and a half a glass of milkk. That, my friend | explained to me, was her ration of food for the entire day, with the exception of a bowl of soun at dinner time. T went to the head physician. “Look here,” I said, “I'm paying this institu- tion 150 rubles a month for the care of this woman. The least you can do is feed her.” But the physician ex- plained that the Board of Health con- tributes 67 kopecks a day for each pa- tient, no more and no less. My agree- | ment to pay 150 rubles a month had | been & very profitable venture—for the sanatorium. In Moscow T met Mrs. B, a univer- sity graduate, who knows French and German fluently, who spends her days at an office filing papers for 65 rubles a month. I had known her in the old days, when her husband had been a respected engineer and her brothers were attending the Naval Academy at Petrograd. Now her husband was | dead, and she and her frail daughter were living in a dark little room, eloth ing themselves in rags and eating mea- ger, wretched food. “My brothers are in New York,” Mrs. B. told me. “One is an artist. They are all well off, but I am afraid to let them help me. The |O. G. P. U. will think I am accepting the dollars to speculate with.” I urged her to forget her fear and accept the dollars, but her face became so suf- fused with horror at the thought that I desisted. She would rather let her sickly 17-year-cld daughter learn the bricklaying trade. “She will worker, and at least she will have a bigger ration of bread!” she told me, she had been ill- with pneumonia for 10 weeks, and had re- ceived not one ruble during that time. “They sent a doctor free of charge,” she said. “That was the whole of my sick benefits.” Cited Case of Girl, 18. In Moscow, too, I followed the swift tragedy which overcame N——, an ex- tremely beautiful and clever girl of 18, who was working part time for a publishing house while she studied at the school of journalism. Through ac- cident she lost some illustrations for a book upon which she was working. Her superiors swooped down upon her as if she had committed high treason. Afraid to tell her father, who held a responsible government position as & scientist, the girl time and again faced ‘her accusers at star chamber meetings |and was subjected to cruel mental | third degrees. She was finally sen- tenced to pay a‘fine of 250 rubles. The | persistent persecution, the inability to raise funds to pay the fine and the ‘Bezrabochitza” is the | be al Last Fall, | ARGENTINA IS BY GASTON NERVAL. RGENTINA will soon be back in Geneva. Constitutional formali- ties to insure the return of the largest Spanish-American state to the League of Nations are being completed by the Buenos Aires government. Several weeks ago, the Argentine Chamber of Deputies ap- proved, by a substantial majority, a bill authorizing the executive to take such steps. The senate, likewise, is expected to pass upon the act of adhesion. ‘Thus, Argentina, which “has had one foot in the League of Nations for 12| years without being a legal member,” is preparing to go in by the front door and take a seat with the other countries av_Geneva. For the past 12 years, Argentina has been in an ambiguous position as re- gards the League. When the covenant was first drawn and Argentina invited to join, President Irigoyen did so by decree, without consulting congress. He sent a delegation headed by Honorio Pueyrredon, later Ambassador to Wash- ington. Soon thereafter, however, he abruptly ordered the withdrawal of the Argentine delegate, because the League refused to edmit Germaany and the Central European fi“m to membership ¢n an equal footing with the former allies. Maintained Observer. In 1923 President Alvear asked Con- gress to approve Argentine adhesion, but the measure died in committee. Since then, Argentina has sent repre- sentatives or observers to most meetings of the League and its principal commis- sions, but only in an unofficial capacity. In 1928 congress authorized President Alvear to pay Argentina’s League dues up to that year. Besides, the Argentina government has, in all that time, registered with the League international treaties, partici- pated in many League activities and has been considered generally by the League itself as a member, from an interna- tional viewpoint. But juridically, from an internal constitutional view- | point, the Southern republic has never | been one. Argentina’s formal adhesion, this | time, will considerably strengthen the | | League’s prestige in Latin America. It is true that Mexico, which joined only in 1931, has lately announcad its with- drawal, but the Mexican government advances simply financial reasons, claiming that it cannot afford to keep | up League dues. The Mexican govern- | ment does not question the power or | efficiency of the League, which only a year and a half ago it joined with great enthusiasm. League Undergoes Test. In Latin America, more than any- where else, the League of Nations has gene through a real test. It is inter- jesting to note the different attitudes which in succession have prevailed in the Latin American public mind toward the League. The original reaction, when the League first appeared, was a frankly optimistic one. With the exception of Mexico—where a revolutionary govern- ment was in control, and this, not having been recognized by the United States and other powers, was not in- vited to be a founder member—all the other Latin American republics readily joined the League. They had been told that this inter- national gathering was to be the ma- terialization of the long-dreamed-of ideals of equality. And that each na- tion, the smallest as well as the largest, would have the same right to speak, and to speak loud. Nearly all of them had claims to adjust and controversies | to be settled with their neighbors. Who, | better than this council of world pow- ers, could deal with those differences? | Who could offer a better guaranty of | impartiality, fairness and more effec- tice means to carry out justice? Thus, believing that the long-heralded | equality of nations was to have a reali- | zation in the League, and that here | was an opportunity to ventilate some of their old controversies, the Latin repub- lics joined the League eagerly, expecting to sit side by side with the great | powers. Ideals Shattered. They soon began to realize, however, | that ideals were still but ideals, and that in the twentieth century force and material supramacy still seemed to bs the last word in international relations. | Devoted entirely to their own Euroj imbroglios, the big powers paid little attention to their young Latin American sisters. The disappointment of the Latin Americans grew rapidly with the failure of the League to handle properly some Latin American problems. Finally gentina, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Brazil withdrew their delegations on various grounds. Unaware of their pos- sible combined value, the League did not show much concern when they parted from her. Consequently, a period of coldness and lack of interest for the League prevailed for several years south PREPARING . TO JOIN NATIONS LEAGUE 'Held Ambiguous Position—Withdrew Delegate and Since Has Sent Unoffi- - cial Observer to Geneva, American governments, probably moved by a desire to profit diplomatically from - the privileges of League membership and by their own fatiure to find other outlets for the solution of their feuds, turned again toward rapp: ent - with Geneva. Intentions Changeds This time they returned with differ- ent intentions. They had learned their lesson. Two years ago, before the League’s annual Assembly opened in Geneva, all the Latin American dele- gates got together and established & regional bloc for the exercising of joint action. Alone, they had been e garded; together, they could be in & Pposition to make their influence felt to - a certain extent. In union there is strength. Soon after the announcement of this “peace alliance” among the Latin American, representatives, the League Councit elected three Latin American jwdm to be members of the permanent tribunal ¥ of the World Court. They were Sanches™ de Bustamente, from Cuba; Guerrero; from Salvador, and Urrutia, from Co- lembia. In the meantime, as the prestige of Latin America gained in Geneva, & sudden interest developed among the League's directors to cultivate and in crease the good will of the Latin Amer-" ican governments. It was undoubtedly with this in mind that the League’s Council acted with promptness in the,. case of armed clashes between Bolivia and Paraguay. For several months now it has been co-operating with the: commission of neutrals trying to reach in Washington a solution of the Chaco conflict. Sir Eric's Trip Significant. Another—and a very eloquent—proof of the awakened interest of Geneva for Latin America was the personal tour in which Sir Eric Drummond, secreta general of the League, was sent mmé. some of the most important Lat! American capitals. When the League’s high executive undertook that long journey through the Latin republics, and gave it full publicity, it was easily realized that he“ was seeking something else than &: glance st the natural beauties and, picturesque landscapes of the Southern . countries. Editorial opinion through- out the continent immediately recog- nized behind Sir Eric's trip something more than pleasure-seeking or a mere diplomatic courtesy. : A3 an ambassador of good will, Sir Eric accomplished his mission. He was - we'comed with the most exquisite re- finements of traditional Latin hospital- ity. He heard everywhere phrases of laudatory encouragement for the League's work. He received bouquets of flowers and shining decorations. Above everything, he left the impres-_ sion that the League was at last cons sidering seriously the position of Latin America in international affairs. The culmination of the League's ef- forts to attract Latin America came soon after Sir Eric's trip, when the Council, by unanimous vote, invited Mexico to become a member. In ex-. tending the invitation, the Council sent, along an “amende honorable,” a di lomatic apology to Mexico for the. League's past attitude, when - that country was eliminated from the list, of founder members. Mexican Stand Hailed. Mexico's entrance to the League, and the strong reservation she made upon joining against article 19 of the covenant, which recognizes the Monroe Doctrine 2s & regional unde; e were halled throughout Latin Americs’ as a conclusive proof of that continent’s growing prestige in Geneva. Just as Mexican adherence was pres, ceded by Sir Eric Drummond’s Latin Auerican tour, the return of Argentina will e been glreeeded by the good- will visit to South America of another officer of the League. ,Senor Carlos Garcia Palacios of the secretariat of the League is at present traveling in the South “on a mission to strengthen the ties between Geneva and Latin Americ: Last month he was in San-. tiago, Chile, where he had gone, he: said, “to congratulate President Ales- sandri on behalf of the League secre: tariat upon his inauguration.” o Besides stressing once more the po= litical interest of the League for the- Latin American countries, Senor Gar= cia Palacios added that the League contemplates & drastic reduction in the expense assessments of the smaller na-* tions, which have felt the economic des. pression more than others. This ans. nouncement, obviously, has been favor- ably received by the Latin Americans. It seems a very app: te one in the present endeavors of Geneva to promote closer connections with the New World. All this flirtation with Latin America, * and the corresponding increase of Latin: American prestige in -Geneva, is, of; course, booming the name of the Les M in that part of the world. Is it not & pity that, at such a propitious time, the Japanese conquerors of Manchuris, of the Rio Grande. In recent years, however, the Latin should pop up and endanger the whole business? d (Copyright, 1933.) By Inadequat (Continued From Pirst Page.) morphine, heroin and other narcotic drugs is no offense. In Georgla, the sale of any narcotic drug to anybody is a misdemeanor. The penalties under the State laws are usually small, although Oregon pro- vides life imprisonment as a penalty for the second offense of causing the addic- | tion of a minor. | _The absurd position in which the Federal Government is placed in prose- | cuting the petty narcotic violators be- cause of the situation in the States is illustrated by a recent case in Texas, where the validity of the State law has been attacked and no decision has been handed down. Woman Addict Arrested. A woman addict was arrested and | found to be in possession of one grain of heroin. Because of the necessity of placing a Federal charge, this woman was arraigned for the purchase and pos- session of this one grain of heroin. Thus it has become necessary, because of the failure of State enforcement, to invoke the majesty of the law of the Nation-to decide what disposition shall be made of the case of this unfortunate. Another instance: Government nar- cotic agents, investigating a discrepancy in the records of a doctor, learn that he | is addicted to the use of morphine and has used the amount unaccounted for for the satisfaction of his own addic- tion. The Federal law, being only a revenue measure, does not prohibit self- administretion. The State law either does not prohibit it or the Federal of- ficer is met with an indifferent attitude on the part of the Medical Board of the State. The need for uniform legisla- tion and tory enforcement there- of is ent. In such cases suspen- for more serious cases, revo- Do o part of bvery Staie law. - So.jong a every w. the use of narcotics is considered i I_)rug Law Enforcement Handicapped e Statutes of States: uniform State narcotic law, and efforts, to obtain it were begun almost as soom as the Harrison act became effective. But the processes are~hecessarily sl as the commissioners on uniform Stai laws meet only once a year. at their last session, in October, the commissioners finally approved a uni- form State .narcotic law, which the States will be asked to adopt when next their Legislatures meet. ‘This model law, sweeping in its scope, provides for the uniform regulation of the manufacture and distribution of narcotic drugs by drug stores; the reg- ulation of prescriptions by dentists, physicians and veterinarians, by com- pelling them to keep accurate records; the control of so-called exempt prepa- rations containing habit-forming drugs, and provides drastic penalties for ita violation. Ratification and enforce-, ment of the new code by the Staf will be a tremendous help to the Gov- ernment in eradicating this dreadfal traffic. The Government has recommends a provision for the commitment an treatment of drug addicts, but it was' omitted from the draft. provision should be made for the of these unfortunates. Cut Down Market. It is apparent that a business, legal or illegal, is bound to fail if depriv of customers. So it is with the bt dling of narcotic drugs. Deprit pedder of a market for his cut to a minimum his iligotten and the peddler will cease to exist. long as an addict is at liberty to idler has a