Evening Star Newspaper, April 2, 1933, Page 23

L WARNING TO WORLD SEEN IN EUROPEAN WAR SCARE Recent Events Are Likened to Tangier, Bosnian and Agadir Incidents That Preceded Upheaval in 1914. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. HE past two weeks have seen de- velopments of lasting interest in the international field. On the one hand it is clear that a temporary War scare more acute in its immediate character than since 1918 has passed without any actual cri- sis. On the other hand it is not less plain that the dramatic_excursion of Ramsay MacDonald to Rome has no lasting value in promoting an agree- ment between the four great powers of the Old World such as the British prime minister manifestly hoped for. In a sense, therefore, Europe is back where | it started at th> moment when the| coming of Hitler set in motion the great scare. Historically, however, there is no rea- son to doubt that the recent episode must_constitute a clear warning. Before the World War_there were several of the same sort. Beginning with Tangier | in 1905, the Bosnian affair in 1908 and | the Agadir incident in 1911, each in 1!5‘ turn for a moment revealed the peril | which was always just around the cor- ner. The last of all the warnings was supplied by the two Bzlkan Wars of 1912-13. After that it is now clear that the deluge was close at hand. What is one to deduce from this latest ‘European crisis? First of all the clear fact that if Germany persists in her present determination to force a re- vision of the territorial clauses of the peace treaties no readjustment in Eu- rope is possible. No matter what hao- pers Poland and the nations of the little entente will not agree to restore any portion of the territory which they acquired after the World War. No gov- ernment could live in any one of these four countries which consented to any such sacrifice. Purposes Irreconcilable. 1f, however, it is once more beyond debate that the nations which acquired territory will not consent to peaceful revision, it is not less evident that Ger- many will not give up her resolution to regain the corridor, Austria to realize union with the Reich, or Hungary to accept the treaty of the Trianon as de- finitive. Thus for a future which can- not be calculated now there will be na- tions with irreconcilable purposes facing each other. These irreconcilable pur- poses must at best constitute a latent peril to peace. In such a situation the policy of three countries must be decisive. And in re-| For as Italian action disclosed at the {time of the Austro-German tariff | union project, Romg does not welcome the idea of a union between Berlin and Vienna which would bring the fron- | tiers of the new Reich to the Alps, and | thus almost inevitably the question rises of the Upper Adige, that old Austrian region now joined to Italy. Nor would | Rome welcome the appearance of Ger- ’many on the Middle Danube, which might prove an even greater barrier to | Italian " influence in the Southeast of Eurcpe than the present French sys- tem of alliances. Italy in recent years has been trying to play a game of prestige policy, nat- ural in her situation, wholly de- | fensible in its character, given the |present state of Italian strength., but | dangerous because it has awakened the |apprehensions of the French on one side and of the little entente on the other. | The object of the policy has been to attain for Italy a place in Europe of parity vis-a-vis France. Because the League of Nations was measurably a natural_ally of the French status quo | policy Italy has been cold to it. Be- | cause the little entente was a French | creation, or perhaps more exactly a French combination, Italy has opposed |it. | Demands Parity With France. In the same way Italy has cham- pioned British and American disarma- ment projects because they seemed to have a disproportionate effect upon the military establishments of France and Ler allies. At all conferences, too, she |had demanded naval parity with France. In the present state of mind of Europe, however, it is plain that a definite | Italian association with Germany could precipitate a preventive war. And Italy does not want war, although she has been ready to profit by fear of war in other countries which might lead | them to make concessions to her. | In the light of the wave of con- | demnation of Nazi Germany which is |now flooding Britain and even begin- | ning to take form in the United States, |and in the face of the German purpose |to realize the Anschluss and thus ab- sorb Austria, it is then possible that Italy may now draw back from the Ger- | man orbit. She has done that and she may again. But she is only likely to do it as she feels the decision of | British purpose. || It is clear that Americans should henceforth be on notice that the con- ality the chance of peace must depend | tinental situation has become danger- to a very great extent upon the course ous, that an acute crisis has only givén of Great Britain. As it stands today there is no present hope of any far-| going reconciliation between France and Italy. Between the two countries there is no immediate territorial issue as there is mo question of treaty restric- | tions. Italy is free to arm as she may | choose and can afford. If Italian am- bition looks to a reordering of African | possessions the issue is not itself acute. But as long as France stands by her | little entente allies, and particularly continues to support Yugosiavia, recon- ciliation with Italy is out of the reckon- | ing because the little entente bars| Italy'’s way to Central Europe and to that sphere of political influence which would otherwise be open to her. No one will imagine for a moment that Mussolini or his Fascist party. desire war, On the contrary. for Italy a new conflict will remain indefinitely a grave hazard to be avoided if possible and as long as possible. It is safe to set both France and TItaly down as certain to use every avail- | able influence to prevent actual conflict. On the other hand it is impossible to see any prospect of Franco-Italian co- operation which would in association with Great Britain clear the way for constructive action. Italy is resolved not to accept the existing state of Europs, which amounts in practice to a_French predominence due to French alliances. ‘Thus, if there is no immediate cause of war, such as the Polish corridor in Polo-German relations, there is basic divergence which bars the way to co- operation. Face Future Divided. TItaly and France are therefore bound —=so far as one can see at the present hour—to face each other in new inter- national conferences, as in the past, di- vided beyond hope of adjustment. In that situation the French allies are bound to follow the lead of Paris, while Budapest, Berlin and Vienna will turn toward Rome. A state of deadlock such as all but wrecked the arms’ confer- ence for nearly -a year and a half is quite possible of perpetuation and the chances of this deadlock changing into an actual collision of purposes must be both real and enduring. |way to a chronic state of unrest, that |along. the many frontiers of friction a |new incident can arise at any moment |and have_almost incalculable conse- quences. Under cover almost feverish preparations will now continue in every country which feels itself within the track of the possible conflagration. European peace has become very defi- | nitely precarious. Obviously, such a state of f:-ts is going to militate seriously againsi the prospect of success in any international economic conference. Nations which are now using tariffs as a means of waging a struggle which they are not yet prepared to take arms in, will be in doubtful mood to consider adjustment of duties and reciprocal concessions. When nations meet in international conference there will be in the minds of statesmen the clear perception that they are facing prospective antagonisis in a possible next war. .And action in economic matters will be gravely in- fluenced by political factors which must outweigh them. The truth is that the hope awakened briefly last year by the success of the Lausanne Conference has largely dis- appeared. Such hope as the arms con- until Arthur Henderson rallied the small nations. Behind the scenes the pessimism everywhere remains unmis- takable. One more terrifying experi- ence has passed without immediately disastrous consequences, but nothing has been done to remove the things which made the crisis terrifying. And a new crisis can easily be provoked from one day to another. If it bz true that the atmosphere of 1914 has for the moment been lightened, the resem- blances to all the events between 1905 and 1914 still remain too impressive to be overlooked. Can United States Aid? In the circumstances can the United States do anythitg postponing or preventing a new world catastrophe? The question has been ‘nsked of me frequently in recent weeks, | but it is hard to see how this copntry |can do anything in its present mocod. ference once inspired had grown thin | to contribute to, In that situation what can the British | The troubles are too deep-seated to bs . do? It is plain that the recent war | Yemoved by any such means as new scare was most acute in Britain, because | Programs in disarmament or by any the British were not only aware of the | projects of economic co-operation. The dangers, but also were determined to fears and purposes which now sway keep.outside the circle of flames. Mac- | millions are too profound to b2 exer- Donald’s Rome excursion was certainly | cised by any such device as the Kellogg 8 direct consequence of the scare. In | pact. even expanded into the Stimson so far as Germany is concerned what is | doctrine or reinforced by an arms em- | THE BY COUNT CARLO SFORZA, Former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. HE problem of disarmament, strictly speaking, is a clear-cut issue. Not even the thousands of studies prepared by the mil- itary experts at Geneva have succeeded in confusing the basic ideas concerned in it. Nothing is more unkind than to show that statesmen are in the tow of mili- tary experts and even of industrial organizations which make tremendous profits in the manufacture of arma- ments; but the caution, the uncer- tainty, even of those who are most de- | voted to the cause of peace—such men | as Herriot and Paul-Boncour—has | reached a tragic end. Fear has again seized the world as it ‘did in the four or five years leading | up to 1914. A nation may desire peace, } but it fears its neighbors, or an alliance | of its neighbors, and so it arms itself. | Nations arm themselves because they | are convinced that armaments will hold | possible aggressors at bay. This is| done today with the full realization | by every one that no premeditated de- sire for war existed in the years before 1914; nations were armed and had con- fidence in the force. of arms, yet they stumbled into war. Theve are only two new elements which tend te change the present situ- ation, as compared with that of 1914. One of these new elements—and this increases the possibilities of another | war—is the new machinery of war | which has not yet bzen tried: those | formidable secrets, whether they be | poison gases, new developments in avia- | tion or noiscless cannon. Those who possess these secrets hope that these engines of war, aided by the element of surprise, will be sufficient to assure | them of victory. For although most of | the great nations are preparing for the next war by studying the years between | 1914 and 1918, just as they prepared | themselves for that war by studying | the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, new | methods of warfare in the next inter- | national conflict are absolutely certain. | War to Come Suddenly. Wars of the future will commence | without formal declaration. The cere- | monies of ambassadors leaving enemy“ capitals, as in 1914 and 1915, will seem an anachronism as romantic and yput- roded as the medieval knight's chal- longes to battle. One will wake up to SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL 2, 1933—PART TWO. 3 % Disarmament or New War? LATIN AMERICANS REVIVE - TRADE BLOC MOVEMENT Vast Possibilities of Multilateral Customs | served. Korner sang of the holy war; New Machinery of Destruction Increases the Likelihood of Conflict Which Would Wreck Civilization. Agreements Are Explored by Commentator. BY GASTON NERVAL. ABLE dispatches from some of the South American capitals report that talk of customs unions or multilateral trade agreements among various of the Latin American countries is being revived by the governments of Chile and Argentina. One of the first acts of President Alessandri of Chile, after being inaugu- rated in office last December, was his announcement that he would continue the efforts, begun nearly two years | ago by former Minister of Foreign Af- fairs Plapet, to induce the South American nations to get together in the discussion of plans for the estab- lishment of an economic bloc. The Planet project failed because of in- ternal political unheavals in Chile. Soon_after this announcement came from the Palacio de la Moneda that official spokesmen for the governments of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in- dorsed the idea. Conversations began almost immediately between the Ar- THE GOD OF WAR STILL SLEEPS—WHEN WILL HE AWAKEN? clearly that it was to be understood that “two years following the conclusions of | the peace” . . . their “adversaries should | likewise proceed upon a limitation of | their armaments and abolish compul- | sory military service.” The response of the Allies on June 16 did not contain the slightest reserve | on these matters. On the contrary, it | confirmed that “the Allied powers and their associates recognize that Ger- many’s acceptance of the terms fixed | for her disarmament will facilitate and hasten the realization of a general re- | duction of armaments”; that the dis- armament of Germany constitutes “the first step toward a reduction and gen- | eral limitation of armaments * * * and | a realization of one of the best methods | of preventing war. “The prevention of war.” In other | words, they sought the source of security. This was in the period of sincerity. | The world had just emerged from tur- | moil and strife; it had not yet had time | in which to forget; it had not yet con- | sulted the military experts. At Geneva the military experts turned everything to nought; most of the tech- nical discussions of disarmament | amounted to little more than the dis- | cussions of merchants who meet to sac- | rifice reciprocally obsolete and out- | moded stocks with the view to the possibility of replacing them with newer | and more modern wares. Those who took part in these discussions at Geneva probably regretted that halberds and iwo-handed swords already had been relegated to the museums; they would | willingly have entered into negotia- tions to assure the people of the world of this new benefit—the suppression of | engines of war so barbarous and so| simple as to be scarcely taken seriously. No People Like War. No people, if left to themselves, like war. Prussia in {he fiery days of Fichte | and Korner, Prussia burning under the futile humiliations that Napoleon in- | flicted upon her, contributed to the | famous army cof 1813 scarcely 10,000 volunteers of the 270,000 men who but the Landwehr volunteers deserted in_mass. There had been in the Germany of | Wilheim II—unquestionably the most | impoverished intellectual period of her history—a multitude of authors who | exalted the beauty and glory of war. | ciscover that ome or two of his coun- try’s most flourshing and populous cities | have been reduced to utter ruin, and | that will certainly be done without any warning. The other new element—and this can be a staying force against another war | —is the certitude that the next war | will be the end of a civilization and a social system. But this argument can have little force for governments which But after all, the Germans in their turn could cull a rich collection of | French sentiments defending the idea | of war. Only 11 months before the be- ginning of the Great Butchery, on Sep- tember 7, 1913, there was published in Paris the following: ‘ “A generation should strive to leave | to its decendants the great virtue of an | intelligence developed in perilous and | ordered energy and by death squarely faced. Frem this serious discipline, from —Drawn £ “Unfortunate are the nations with- out history which seek their praise from the proverbs of cowards and to whom the heroic enlivenment of danger has been too long spared. “The redoubtable imbeciles who preach pacifism—and these unfortunate idealists do not doubt themselves— preach the degradation of their nation's | gentina and Chilean ministers of for- eign affairs and finances. And, only | a few weeks ago, in the conferences of Mendoza, the first foundations of a reciprocal trade pact between the two southernmost Latir republics were laid down. Tdea 20 Years Old. to go about the eonstitution of this Southern Economic Union would be the meeting of an international confezencs, in which the five metioned countries would agree to: (a) A standard cus- toms tariff for all foreign products and for the products of the five countries of the union; (b) a gradual reduction of the latter, 20 per cent yearly, so that at the end of four years the duties on products from the countries form- ing the union would disappear, and () duration of the agreement for a period of 20 years, at the end of which it may be renewed. Inclusive Compact Mentioned. If the figures previously mentioned relate to a proposed union of only five of the Southern republics, it can be easily visualized what an economic union of all the Latin American na- | tions would amount to. Of course, those | countries are at present separated by geographic and political obstacles very difficult to overcome, but the idea of an economic compact including all the nations south of the Rio Grande has already been advanced and discussed by | Latin statesmen. following the sugges- | tion_of former Foreign Minister Planet | of Chile. To stress the importance of such a union, and the effects it would have upon the whole economic structure of The forthcoming meeting of the presidents of Argentina and Brazi Gen. Justo and Senhor Vargas, is also expected to take up similar arrange- | ments concerning Argentine-Brazilian trade, and thus add onc more link to the ambitious plan of a southern eco- | nomic bloc. ‘The idea of regional economic unions among countries of the New World was first mentioned some 20 years ago by the noted Argentine statistician, Alejandro Bunge. His project of a Southern Customs Union, which would include five South American republics, was further developed by the Chilean economists, Eliodoro Yanez and Guil- lermo Subercasaux, and not long ago revived and brought up to date by Senor Bunge himself, with corrected statistics. Senor Bunge’s plan involves the re- publics of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. These five countries together have an area of 6,015,000 square kilometers and a pop- ulation close to 22,000,000. As a geo- graphic unity, such a union could well for The Sunday Star by Stockton Mulford. ‘The main French error, in my opin ion, has been to believe that the Dis- armament Conference might have be- come the means of reaching the eternal mirage, security. Such a conception meant, truth to tell, an unforeseen enlargement of the conference’s aims. These were, at the Deginning, and should have remained; culture and spirit. We should justly fear | 1. Limitation of armament. 2. A com- compare with the United States, or a | longer all this Byzantine vice if France were infected with it. What consolation it is to be able to state today that there is none of this within our country. “Yes, war is truly a holy regenera- tion, since its sole idea is to re-estab- lish the vigor and the courage of the national spirit.” ‘These words were written by one of France's most celebrated and out- standing writers, Paul Bourget, who, after Charleroi and the invasion, could realize and witness at his ease, what he had so ardently desired, “the war of hcfiy regeneration” and “the heroic enlivenment of danger,” which he might have added with joy was no “too long spared” to his country. Hitler Changes Scales. Certainly, what has greatly changed the scales is the recent triumph of the Nazis in Germany. Last January, before sailing for America, I remained a few days in France. All Paris—the so-called “militarist” Paris—was swarm- ing to see beautiful anti-war films like “Les Croix de Bois” or “L’'Homme Que J'ai Tue.” . On Sunday, at the cinema, where for months they have been giving the famous German film, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” additional policemen were necessary, so big was the crowd anxious to find seats. On the same days the same film had been forbidden throughout Germany, and the author, Remarque, obliged to leave for Switzerland, to become an exile. Even more, to complete the compar- ison, while I was writing, I read in the Berlin papers that the outstanding suc- cess at the gigantic cinema, owned by Herr Hugenberg, the Nationalist min- ister, is a stupid film, “The Rebel.” whose only merit is to show enthusiastic crowds a few thousand French being killed in an ambush by patriotic Tyrolese and Bavarians. Such a state of things is sufficient to explain the critical present position of the Geneva Conference for disarma- ment. But even without the errcrs of the past which I have discussed in the first part of this article—and even without the dangerous change of the situation in Germany—one must admit that | some scrious tactical errors were com- | mitted by the French delegation cur- | ing the first period of the conference. | These errors help to explain how it is | possible that for some time (even be- | United Europe, as proposed by M. Bri- and. Senor Bunge feels that if the non-productive land areas are dis- counted, the three groups may be con- sidered as of equal area. He also estimates that the popula- tion of the United States will reach a comparative standstill around the 200,- ©00,000 figure, and that the South American union in two generations would reach the population of the United States today—that is, 120,000,- 000. He bases this prediction on pres- ent birth and death rates of the coun- tries involved. Variety of Production This South American economic en- tity would have the advantage of de cided physiographic diversity, running over a greater variety of climates than the other two unions mentioned. This means a greater variety of production. There is no raw material of any im- portance, be it either mineral or agri- cultural, which is not or cannot be pro- duced within the boundaries of this vast territorial area formed by the five mon agreement ameng all the States taking part in the conference to ac- cept as a permanent obligation the limitations agreed upon. A modest goal? Not so modest, after all. Such an agreement might have rendered impossible the repetition of the dreadful races for armaments which around 1910 and 1912 were the fatal forerunners of the World War. French Offered Plan. The French conception of security, with an international military force at disposal of the League of Nations, was submitted to the Geneva confer- ence in the first months of 1932 by Tardieu, then French prime minister. A brilliant idea; even admirable in a certain sense; but too logical, too complete, too abstract. It was asking too much from European nations that were still feverish from the war con- ‘vulsion. I am one of those who deeply be- lieve that in spite of certain appear- ances the French at present are one of the most ardently peace-loving peovles the world, it is only necessary to bear |in mind the potentialities and capacity | of production of that region. | . The Latin American continent is un- doubtedly *the most promising of the non-exploited regions of the earth. The temperate zone of the Northern Hem- isphere has already been populated and exploited in a large scale. Europe, with some 450 million in- habitants, has an averags of 45 inhab- itants per square kilometer. Asia, with a total population of a billion, has about 25 inhabitants per square kilo- meter. frica has an average close to 5 inhabitants per square kilometer. But Latin America, with nearly 100 millicn inhabitants, has only an average of 2.6 per square kilometer. In the Northern Hemisphere, the temperate zone has been exploited to the limit of its capacity. Europe is unable to increase her production of food or raw materials. Asia, with her tremendously large population and enormous desert regions will neither be able to augment h:rs, and will con- tinue to be dependent upon foreign sources of production. Even the natural reserves of the United States may some day b2 endangered by this country's growing pcpulation and overwhelming industrial development. Unexploited Regions Needed. The world must look for the unex- ploited regions of the globe. Eurcpe and Asia, just as much as the U States, need the products of the tempe: ate and tropical zones of Latin America. Outside of these, there are only two other regions where the world can seek new sources of production and natural resources still undeveloped, Australia and New Zealand, but Latin America | has many advantages over them. All of Argentina, all of Chile, all of | Uruguay. the South of Brazil, the higher | zones of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, are already producing large amounts of grains, and possess great quantities of live stock. Mexico is the third ldrgest producer ‘ct oil in the world, the largest pro- ‘ducer of silver, and has almost a mo- |nopoly of the “henequen” or ‘“sisal” | countries mentioned. Here are minerals such as copper, iron, tin, coal; forest products, includ- ing ‘rubber; coffee, wheat and other grains; petroleum, nitrate, water re- sources, etc. ¥ The various regions of this proposed Southern Economic Union would com plement each other perfectly. Accor ing to Senor Bunge, the fertile Argen- tine and Uruguayan pampas could pro- duce food for a population of more than 100,000,000 inhabitants; the min- eral deposits of the Andes and the Bo- livian entiplano are almost inexhaust- ible: the cold products of the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are numerous; and so are the valuable products which could be raised on a large scale in the torrid zones of Bolivia and Paraguay. Not cnly would this union solve the problem of iron and fuel supply for the five countries involved—the second one in a complete way, for it includes. in the world, and that they would he glad to accept heavy sacrifices for the sake of peace. I do believe so out of a long knowledge of the French smail landowners and peasants who on the day of the general election are the reai masters of France. But if the Geneva conference today seems in danger, if the disarmament problem is still to remain a dangerous | problem, it will be partly due also to the excess of precautions which French diplomacy wanted to take. Do we wish that the Geneva con- ference should not be a complete fail- ure? If so, we must wish simply that; not hope too much, not pretend teo much; be satisfied if the conferenre ends by reaching a few practical re- sults in the field of heavy artillery disarmament, of aviation and so on. With the mad political hysteria spreading in so many countries, even a few modest results will, some day, ap- pear almost miraculous. Mystery of Cathedral Noises Grows Deeper abundance—but it would place those respect to the rest of the world, with almost a monopoly of several raw ma- terials essential to world economics. Senor Bunge's Southern Econcmic Union would possess one-third of the world’s flaxseed, one-half of the world's corn, 30 per cent of the world's wheat, 23 per cent of the tin and 17 per cent ROME—The mystery of the ca- thedral of Cerignola, near Beri, which has baffied church and civil authorities | 40 per cent of th 1d’s drugs, for. thore Than atyear. Has fusk taken | Lor, couk LE he Ronkry ey Sl S on. It would possess the largest borax deposits in the world, and a complete besides coal, oil and water power in | countries in & privileged position with | |of the copper production of the world, | going on in the Reich now—the Hitler reign of terror—has abolished such sympathy with Germany as had sur- vived the fall of the republic last Sum- mer. But the British certainly did hope to prevent the formation of any Rome- Berlin bloc. Up to a point it is still not impossible that they may succeed. One thing seems certain and that is that Italy will not under any circumstances risk a course which might make a hard and fast Anglo-French agreement possible. And it is still possible that with all their reluctance to undertake any continental risk the British might be driven into| such a stand as a final attempt to pre- vent conflict. Again, it is also not im- possible that German action may pres- ently awaken Italian anxiety. | bargo plan. | Europe is in a state of apprehension, | fear and passion which makes all calm | and rational consultation well nigh im- | possible. Armed nations are clinging ‘to their weapons, disarmed nations are | accumulating machinery for conflict. Meantime not one single step has been }lake in the direction of dealing with the causes of the trouble, which are | territorial issues dividing peoples, and | while nations remain unreconciled over these questions, all eclse is beside the mark. Thus while superficially the situation has improved, fundamentally it remains as dangerous as ever, and so0 long as American resolution to take no risks continues, American interven- tion can produce no results. ! (Covyright. 1933.) $250,000,000 More Is Expected To Be Asked for British Navy LONDON--There is every indication that the British people will be asked to put up another $250,000,000 for the | navy in the forthcoming budget. And, judging by the absence of any real criticism on that score, the taxpayers still are prepared to pay till it hurts for the first line of insurance, the “sure shield,” as it is so often described The cost per head in taxation today is the equivalent of $84 at the normal rate of exchange, and the annual out- lay on the navy represents nearly 12 cents of the income tax. But apart from the deep-rooted effect which has b2en obtained by assertions that Great Britain has gone the limit in naval curtailment, and that there must be no more one-sided reduction, there is a feeling that the situation in the Far East is far from healthy In short, unless the senior fighting service asks for too much, there is a general acceptance of the necessity of handing over what the experts say it needs. Certainly a House of Commons that is overwhelmingly Tory in com- plexion will take that attitude. Claim Greater U. S. Personnel, So far as personnel is concernec. it with the American expert interpreta- tion of the situation. | _But the first lord of the admiralty, Sir B. Eyres-Monsell, has said that the | country need not feel any undue alarm, taking into consideration the escalator clause of the treaty, “if we are al- lowed steadily to pursue the replaces | ment program which we have been pur- suing since 1930 " Held Serious Factor. He espouses the naval view that cur- tailment of naval personnel is one of the most sericus factors. The “pool” of extra men, it is asserted, has been cut too much to serve the purposes of efficiency. Naval men also deplore the curtailment of the use of practice ammunition. The new first sea lord and chief of naval staff, Admiral Sir A. E. M. Chatfield, has assumed direction at the admiralty at a highly important junc- ture. He is not the type of sailor who would relish a policy of skimping the navy. He won fame during the war as Armiral Beatty's flag captain and is | regarded as the navy's outstanding gunnery expert. His immediate prede- | cessor, Admiral Field, was a notable authority on torpedo warfare. Admiral 1s assertea that Great Britain is now | Chatfield was a member of the Brit- at a decided disadvantage with the|ish delegation at the Washington Con- United States. The total British pér- | ference. sonnel is given as 91410, the United | States 118,866, and Japan 80,000. It is | further contended that this coumry“ also has fewer reservists. | 1t is claimed in some quarters thal| prom the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. by 1936—when the London Treaty ex- pires—Great Britain will, at the pres-| The thrill that comes once in a life- ent rate of construction, be below the | time—watching long lines of people specified standard of strength as 10| eqgerly shoving each other in an en- 106,220 tons of cruisers, 85,619 of de- stroyers, and 11,491 of submarines, | deavor to get their money into a bank. These estimates, it is pointed out, agree | At last we may say we haye lived! (Copyright, 1 —e Bt ihnes ) exist by traditions of caste, or for dem- | agogues for whom remaining in power | is the sole thing which counts. | A growing nation, with an increasing | population confined within uncertain ] borders, constitutes a danger spot from | the point of view of armaments, only | if it 1s poisoned by the spirit of war, or | if it considers war as one of the lesser | evils, or if an audacious minority of its | citizens esteems war to be a profitable | venture. | There is no doubt that the promises | contained in the Treaty of Versailles, | which have not been fulfilled, have fur- | nished arguments to those growing | numbers among the German people who say: “We have waited since 1919; | either the victors at Versailles shall keep their waord or we shall arm our- selves as they are armed, better than they are armed; if they have their se- | curity to safeguard, so have we ours.” | ‘Who can believe that a great people, | one of the foremost nations, situated in | the very middle of Europe, will remain unarmed when they are surrounded by armed neighbors? Not even the Treaty of Versailles— that treaty which, in attempting to settle the question of reparations, pro- | ceeded upon the principle that “Ger- many will work for us for generations to come, and the more she works the more we will take from her"—not even | the Treaty of Versailles contemplated | that. this sense of vibrant reality and de- cision, art and literature take those | military qualities which, when they are | carried into the domain of ideas, make | true workmen and great works. A And I can cure fits.” Uncle Sam has been sick. Is it a sickness that is better or During the Revol ward, we had inflation. and preparing for a limitation of arm- | aments between ell the nations, it is pro- | posed that Germany * ° * | With these words begins the pre- | amble of Part V of the Versailles Treaty, that section which concerns the military clauses imposed upon Ger- many. pound of tea phrase has ref During and after the Civil Ariick f hw | with “greenbacks.” Article 8 of the treaty sets forth that | the members of the Society of Nutions are constrained to realize “that the maintenance of peacc imposes the re- duction of nationzl armaments to the minimum compatible with national se- | curity and with the performance of international obligations.” | Treaties almost always are to be ex- | plained in the light of the official dis- cussions which preceded them. In the case of the Versailles Treaty what do | we find? | The note which Clemenceau sent to the German delegation on May 22, 1919, | in the name of all the Allied powers | set forth: “That it is noted with satis- | faction that the German government | is favorable to disarmament” and assured the Germans that their late | nemies were at the moment preparing | “some programs relative to inter- | national disarmament.” The German reply confirmed that | the Reich was ready to be the first to isarm “on condition that” their act “would be the beginning of a gen- | eral reduction of armaments by all the | nations.” The German note set forth | same period. former.” occurred in Germanf' again from Mr. Angell’ it took 46,000 marks to equal a 1,500,000.” inflation.” INFLATION BY BRUCE BARTO! N old doctor in the Tennessee mountains, where I was born, was summoned to atterdd a very sick woman. After lcoking her over he shook his head and emitted this bit of medical wisdom: “I do not know what she’s got. But I can give her something to make her throw a fit. shake their heads and say: “We don’t know the cause of the illness. But we can give him ini I have heard this remark so ght i be interesting to look into history and ask: What is inflation? ent illness? Whom does it benefit? Can it be cured? lutionary War, and for some time after- | The cursrlency v‘r’as kiolf.hxormlghi);o in- “F | flated that a pair of shoes cost $100, a bushel of corn , a B s Dl 1;90, a barrel of flour $1,575. All the gold and silver was driven out of the country or into hidin “not worth a continental” dates from that period and erence to the printing-press money issued under the authority of the Continental Congress. inflation. Lacking sufficient revenues to meet the war bills, | Congress started the printing presses and flooded the country According to Norman Angell in “The Story of Money,” prices rose from a base of 100 in 1860 to 217 in 1865, while wages rose from 100 to only 143 during ihe “This means that real wages of labor dropped from 100 to 66 between 1860 and 1865—in other words, ihe workman (with his inflated wages) could purchase only two- thirds as many commodities at the latter date as at ihe The most spectacular epidemic of inflation in our time, following the World War. 's interesting book: “On May 16, 1923, had reached 77,000 marks. By June 10 it was 88,000, June 18, 152,000. On August 9 a correspondent reported: ‘Yesterday my chop at funcheon cost 600,000 marks, but today it cost Wages rose, of course, but not nearly so fast as prices. A few shrewd speculators profited, but the workingman, ihe farmer and the white-collar man were ruined. 1 question whether there is such a thing as “controlled If we start inflating our currency in the United States I can name now the gentlemen who will profit. the farmers, not the workers, not the unemployed—only a few bright-eyed gamblers whose address is Wall Street, New York. (Copyright, 1933.) fore the Hitlerian triumph) of a possible deadlock at the confer- | ence had begun to circulate, and_this | not only in Fascist and nationalistic circles, but more or less everywhere. aspects. organ playing and a voice singing Whenever the sounds have vestigated, however, kbeen found to be empty. | with a pick inside the church. |called the sacristan, | der the floor of the nave. |at_one side of the excavation. | digging or the reason for it. Many self-appointed doctors “miracle.” (Copyright. 1933.) flation.” hought 1t might 1 often that I thought it mig | Humorist A I dvocates worse than Uncle Sam’s pres- PARIS—A French humorist pro- poses, in a letter to the minister of finance, to solve the government's budget troubles by decreeing a 23-hour cay. Here is his reasoning: | “We are told that we gain untold millions by daylight-saving time, which | means that a certain day in April each | year has only 23 hours. | “How much more we could gain if | every day had cnly 23 hours! instead | of setting our clock ahead only on that one night, we would set it ahead every night, “The yeer would then have 380 days, instead of 365—fifteen extra days in | which to work and earn money with | which to pay taxes.” (Copyright. 1,100 Periodicals Listed As Published in Rome g. . . The War we had a second dose of 1933.) Quoting dollar. By June 1 the dollar ROME.—More than 1,100 periodicals are published in Rome alone, the of- ficial news agency of the city says in reply to foreign suggestions that the Fascist regime has discouraged thought. The figure 1,100 includes daily, week- ly, fortnightly, monthly and quarterly | journals, according to the Rome agency, and many of the publications deal with science, politics, art, letters and tech- nol Not y. w other European capitals pub- the agency. (Copyright, 1933.) the talk |on new and even more perplexing Since last Spring, passersby in the late hours of the night, when | the cathedral is supposed to be shut and locked, claim to have heard the| been in- the church has Recently a youth of the town thought | he heard sounds of some one digging! He who in turn summoned the police, and the party entered the church. The sound ceased immediately, but the party had located |it as coming from an ancient tomb un- | When the |tomb was opened, it was found that! |come one actually had been digging in |it, and a heap of freshly dug earth lay Police have thus far completely failed to discover the author of the strange Credulous | townsmen have begun to talk of a 380 Days in the Year monopoly of nitrate, iodine, tannin and other products. Fifth Place in Trade. fifth place in the world. The small value of the commercial interchange |among the countries of the | themselves—not over 45 million dollars a year in pre-depression times—shows | the practicability of the customs union serious degree the custcms revenues of any one of the five republics. The Southern Economic Union would possess live stock equal to that of the United States, and only second to those of Russia and India in the world. {for the financial potentialities of the union, it would have a gold stock su- perior to that of Great Britain, and only second to those of the United States and France. With this gold re- serve on hand, a uniform monetary unit with gold standard could be established for the five South American republics involved. The method advised by Senor Bunge Through Death | LONDON.—With John Galsworthy's | death creating the eighth vacancy in | the British Hall of Fame or Order of Merit, there is much spsculation here as to what action King George will take to bring the order up to something like its full strength. The order was founded by King Ed- ward in 1902 and is limited to 24 full- fledged British members with the addi- tion of forelgn honorary members. For | a long time it has been under strength, a state of affairs for which the sovereign +Finself is responsible, as he has the i soie privilege of appointing the immor- i tals. Although women are eligible, none has ever been given this high honor. No Soldier Members. their is today an abundance of eminence hereabouts, even though the King’s wil- lingness to permit the order to fall to two-thirds of its stipulated strength might give the unobservant the impres- sion that there was a famine in out- standing worthies. ‘The military membership includes three sailors but no soldier. The sailors are Admiral Earl Jellicoe, Admiral Ear] lish so many regular journals,” says Beatty and Admiral Sir Charles Edward | Bridges, one of the immortals, Madden. The sole fore honorary member also is a sailor, As 1 Count ‘The foreign trade of the proposed | i Southern union would amount to nearly | {two and a half billion dollars, under | normal conditions, and thus command | ' proposed, which would not injure in any | In the view of many of his subjects | thread. Cuba is the first producer of r, | Stgar in the world. Venezuela is al- |ready the second largest oil producer, after the United States. Bolivia is the all.rgest oil producer, after the United | States. Bolivia is the second producer |of tin in the world. Chile possesses the world monopoly of nitrate and is the second largest producer of copper. ’Argenunc is one of the most important sources of agriculture products in the world. Her mea%s and grains are ex- | ported in large quantities to Europ: and the United States, and she also has the monopoly on “quebracho.” Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer, and the rest of the production is almost exclu- sively raiscd by other Latin American countries. Nearly all of the cacao pro- duction of the world also comes from Latin America, principally Brazil and Ecuador. Colombia is today the largest producer of platinum. The sugar and cotton crops of Brazil, Peru, and other Latin American republics are already among the important ones in the world. As for rubber, Brazil and Bolivia can | very well recuperate their old pre-* dominant position by means of planta- tions of the type existent in Malaya. The greatest oil reserves are also in Latin America. It is impressing to watch the growth of the oil produc- tion in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, etc., in the last few years. The decrease in | the Mexican production is probably only temporary. As for the power sources used for the production and distribution of nat- ural and industrial products—coal, iron, | water power and oil—Latin America | does not even know approximately the limits of its riches. It has already been said that Brazil possesses 23 per cent of the iron reserves of the world. And of the mineral reserves of the other Latin American countries very little is known. If the economic union of the 48 states of this country has resulted in the stupendous material development which we witness in the United States, and il such wonderful things are ex- pected of the proposed European union of the late M. Briand and the imperial customs union advised by the British protectionists, what could not be ex- d of an econcmic union of the 20 Latin American republics, gifted by Nature with all the raw materials and resources which enter into the eco- nomic life of nations? Hard as it is to conceive such a | union under the present circumstances, the mere vision of its importance should suffice to attract the attention of the world's economists toward its possibilities in the future. (Copyright. 1933.) Hall of Fame Has Eight Vacancies of John Galsworthy Togo of the Japanese Navy. The va- cancy caused by the death of Marshal Joffre has not been filled In civii memboership David Lloyd Gecrge is the only political ‘notable. The ex-premier probably would have declined any honor that would have | affixed a title to Ris name and eventu- ally sent him “upstairs” to the House of Lords. It was thought that with the death ol Earl Balfour some other no- table in the ranks of the Conservatives would have been chosen to fill that va- cancy, possibly Sir Austen Chamberlain or Stanley Baldwin. Letters and Medicine. Science, letters and medicine are all represented in other memberships, and music in the person of Sir Edward El- gar. In letters the namo =f Sir James Barrie is best known. It hal been suggested in the past that George Bernard Shaw ought to have a place in this hall of fame, though some of the barbed shafts he has di- |rected at England and the English | might not have been relished in royal | quarters. Others mentioned as eligibles |include Rudyard Kipling, John Mase- |field (who succeeded the late Robert . &S poet laureate), and Sir Oliver Lodge, (Coprright, 1053