Evening Star Newspaper, December 23, 1934, Page 30

D2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON,D.C. SUNDAY..,.December 23, 1934 THEODORE W. NOYES. .Editor ean Ofcer 14 negent St & England. v Rate by Clrrl:' v'v:’tah the City. e Evening !l'v.'n‘r 450 Evening and Sunday’ Star when 4 Slmdlgl) i:llll_)flmr month T hen B Sundare) 65 per month ‘The Sunday ..5c per copy Night Final Edition, Pinal and Sunday Star, 70 per month | Star. e’ bicdur'mo::th nt! Orders be l.ent. by Dm‘fi or telephome NAtional 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. 1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo.. 85¢ yr.. $6.00: 1 mo., 80c i 1 mo.. 40¢ Datly and Sunday, 13r., $12.00: 1 mo. $1,00 iy only 1yr. $8.00:1 75¢ 3 50¢ Member of the Associated Press. titicd 1o 100 iee T Pebuhcation of ‘i e for republica s dispatches credited to It of not other- also the The Trend. The United States Government has taken over a railroad pending the repayment of a loan made by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The railroad is not a big company as railroad systems go in this coun- try. It is the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad in the Rocky Mountains, usu- ally known as the Moffat line. The late David H. Moffat, Denver banker, started its construction more than thirty years ago. ‘This is the first time since the railroads of the country were turned back to their private owners after the World War that Uncle Sam has as- sumed control of a line. The respon- sible officials of the Government, in- cluding Jesse Jones, chairman of the R. F. C, insist that this does not mean that the Government is going into the railroad business, or that it desires to go into that business. The implication is there, however, as well as the vast possibilities. The rail- roads have been heavy borrowers. Un- less they are able to maintain pay- ments of interest and principal the Government may, perforce, have to step in and take control to protect its financial interests in these properties. Government ownership and opera- tion of the railroads has been agitated for many years, particularly by “lib- erals.” After the country’s experi- ence of Government railroad opera- tion during the World War the pub- lic seemed to be interested in having the roads go back into private con- trol. Numerous problems are in- volved in Government operation of the railroads in addition to that of efficiency. One of them is the possible creation of a great political organi- zation and an extension of bureau- cracy. Another is the fact that em- ployes of the railroads would become employes of Uncle Sam, and the whole question of labor relations, including collective bargaining, the strike, etc., would take on a different aspect. The railroads have become the most regulated industry in the country. The Government tells them what rates they may charge. It passes on all loans and refinancing. Whether or not this maximum of Government Tegulation is responsible, the railroads have had a tougher and tougher time as the years have progressed. Many other factors have entered into the picture, amo.g them competition from automobiles and the air transport. No one would suggest, probably, that the Tallroads should be left without regu- lation by the Government. But there 1s the question of degree, and how far the Government hand may go without stifling competition and efficiency. The present administration appears to be bent upon going into the devel- opment of electric power in a very con- eiderable way. It is not content with the regulatory powers which the States and in some instances the Federal Government has over this newer pub- lic utility. It proposes to build power plants and to sell power to the public as well as to governmental institutions. In this respect, the Gov- ernment appears to be going a step further with the electric power indus- try than it has sought to go in the past with the railroads. The trend toward Government entry into business of one kind or another has become more and more marked. It began as a recovery measure and is being continued for the present largely on that same basis. But there are Indications that more permanence of Government in business may be ex- pected. This is not a healthy condi- tion, nor would it be so in the future. Many excuses may be made for Gov= ernment control and operation. The Government may even appear benefi- cent to hard-pressed industries. But in the end Government in business means strangulation of private indus- &ry and enterprise. ———————— Another problem which might be undertaken by Dr. Einstein is the rela- tivity of drunken driving to the “Hoos- gow.” Christmas Services. Christmas, literally, signifies “Christ's mass” and basically is a religious occa- sion. But, especially in recent years, it has been secularized and much of its authentic sacred character has been obscured or neglected. The resultant effect, it necessarily follows, is a con- tradiction which many thoughtful persons deplore. Figures, of course, are not available and might be untrustworthy at their best, but authorities on the subject appear to be agreed that churchgoing is & declining custom. Even at the services in commemoration of the birth of the Savior—the beginning of the Christian era of history—congre- gations are scant. People are “too busy” to attend, too preoccupied with the less fundamental but theoretically - And yet the attraction of Christ- mas services is greater than it ever can have been in earlier times. The music, for example, is richer than it was before Bach, Handel and Haydn offered their genius to the holiest of uses. Science has developed the power of the pipe organ and the acoustic properties of church build- ings and the lighting of sanctuaries. Education has improved preaching and cultivated the receptive capaci- ties of the listeners. A natural evo- lution has been operative for cen- turies in all these aspects of organ- ized praise and prayer, and he who never has been present in a great ch | cathedral on a Christmas morning has missed one of the grandest ex- periences which may be the priv- ilege of a human soul. But it is the spirit of worship which should be stressed. Much, if not all, of the inheritance, the endowment, which humanity possesses comes down from the night when the star stood ‘over Bethlehem and the day when the Wise Men knelt before the infant Christ. Surely, gratitude must be instinctive in every heart and thanksgiving a normal impulse in every soul. To join, then, in Christ- mas services is a logical as well as an elemental desire among those to whom the festival is not merely a pagan feast. Lloyd George's New Deal. Now it is Great Britain that is to be made New-Deal-conscious. In- spired by the accomplishments of President Roosevelt in the United States, none other than John Bull's World War prime minister, David Lloyd George, has essayed the task of educating the people of the United Kingdom to plight their faith in a nation-wide scheme of reconstruction along lines hitherto untried. Early in 1935 “the little Welshman,” despite his seventy-one years, plans to em- bark upon a campaign to persuade Britons to scrap old shibboleths and conservative economic practices and proceed boldly along untrodden paths in the spirit of the intrepid pioneer. “L. G.” states that in following the American President’s “wise lead,” he, too, has had the advantage of a “brain trust,” consisting of bankers, industrialists, economists and business men, with' whom he has been in protracted conference in working out the New Deal he projects for Britain. Mr. Lloyd George denies that he in- tends doing anything to bolster up “Liberalism, Socialism, Capitalism or Nazism.” He insists there is “nothing revolutionary” about his scheme and that it does not contemplate the for- mation of a new party. Among the innovations he advocates is nationalization of the Bank of Eng- land. Taking a leaf from the note book of Secretary Ickes and other American New Dealers, he favors spending large sums of money for public works and other purposes. “L. G.” also sees eye to eye with our Mr. Hopkins on relief. He maintains that Great Britain is getting nowhere with present plans for unemployment re- lief, based primarily on the dole, and would have the national government launch vast schemes of work relief to meet the emergency. “America,” the former prime min- ister declaimed in the House of Com- mons the other day, “has understood that something catastrophic has hap- pened to the world’s economic system and is making an effort which at any rate is commensurate with the stu- pendous character of the problem.” Despite the progress our British cousins have made in working out of the depression, Mr. Lloyd George thinks they still have much to learn from the American recovery program. It will be interesting to watch the re- sult of his efforts to a New Deal of the Roosevelt model to a people who are not addicted to change and who are deeply devoted to principles and institutions rooted in experience and tradition, especially where the rights of the individual are involved. B —— It is not necessary to go back to the days of Kit Carson to find “bor- der ruffians,” if all the things they say about the dividing line between the District of Columbia and Mary- land are true. A Letter to Santa Claus. Once upon a time, not more than a few days ago, there was a little boy named Lester. He lived in Virginia and was a reader of The Star. With the approach of Christmas he felt the seasonal urge to communicate with the jolly saint who traditionally has charge of the distribution of Yuletide bounty, and, like hundreds of other children, he addressed his letter in care of the editor of his favorite news- paper. The text of the message was: Dear Santa Claus: I didn't get po- moted, so I guess mother and father told you not to bring me a bicycle, so I would like to have a sled and some chocalate and mixed candy and some nuts and a orange and a apple. You will see some paper in rings and some other drawins. I did them. Please treat brother better than me because he got pomoted and I didn't. It wouldn’t be fair to treat me and him the same. If you have anything left over besides the things I asked for above it would be nice for you to give it to me. I guess this will be all for this time. Yours very truly, Lester. The editor, reading the text, thought of other epistles which during a long period of years had crossed his desk on their way to occasional fame or more frequent oblivion—the compo- sitions of kings and princes, presidents and premiers; the celebrated few who sit in the seats of the mighty and frame the policies which rule the world,. And he tried to recall a single phrase, meaningful and memorable enough to stand in his recollection through the rest of his life with the words: “Please treat brother better than me.” But the effort was vain, the endeavor useless. In all the tide of langusge which he had known through the whole span of his professional career the editor could discover nothing quite 80 moving. A sunny haze gathered in his eyes and a compelling new 4 labor of the race, he saw, is not & useless ' enterprise. Men develop spiritual maturity in their slow and painful progress up from the jungle toward the everlasting hills and the ultimate stars. Defeat they may en- counter, disaster may be their custo- mary lot, but surrender is a possibility they never contemplate. Instead, they struggle on—strengthened by the hope, if not the reality, of certain victory. And now and again, as in Lester's letter, they unconsciously assert the elemental endowment which they have from their Creator—the sense of equitable justice and loving mercy which providentially they share with God. The child may not understand. But even though he was not “po- moted” and may not be rewarded with a bicycle, he is rich. He has the capital called character, without which nothing else is worth while, Eleven Points Hath December. A new trafic war is launched. Alarmed over the mounting traffic toll —all previous local slaughter records have already been passed—police and trafic officials have been organiged in a drive for “rigid enforcement of the traffic laws” in the hope of re- ducing deaths. The implication is that they have not been enforced rigidly. An emergency conference has put into effect an eleven-point program designed to force motorists to observe the law. This program includes such items as a vigilance squad of motor- cycle police, the impounding of offend- ing cars, stiffer sentences for drunken driving, arrests instead of tickets in the more serious cases, publication of names of persons whose driving per- mits are revoked, stricter prosecution of traffic violation cases, establishment of a night traffic court and renewal of the demand for congressional en- actment of a local safety-respon- sibility law. Every one of these “points” fis praiseworthy and more than likely to be efficacious. “We mean business,” state the governing authorities. Fine! Up to the twenty-first day of this month the year's traffic fatalities numbered 127. Probably a few might be construed as “unavoidable”—grant- ed that any such tragedy can properly ; be so styled. But what seems to be a pertinent question is: Why was not this “war,” this intensive cam- paign, launched on the first day of January, 1934, when the year's fa- talities numbered exactly zero? It would be a hardy soul, in official or in private life, who would claim that, if it had been, this year's record would have even approached its pres- ent mark. —_——— Dr. Samuel Johnson was one of the few who managed to combine poetry with politics when he referred to “ye who listen with credulity to the whisper of fancy or pursue with eager- ness the phantom of hope.” —_———— John D. Rockefeller, sr., celebrates one birthday anniversary after an- other, but not with precisely the same kind of “whoopee” that occasionally originates from John D., jr.'s Radio City, Jimmy Fontaine relies on a sap Ppublic to keep his racket going, regard- less of right of way controversy or a fence line dispute. . —_— e - Russia has given the world some good music and poetry. Regret must be felt at its disposition to limit ap- preciation of English literature to “They’re Hanging Danny Deevervitch in the Morningoff.” ——aee. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. An Achievement. “A pleasant conversation” Is the usual report When leaders of the Nation Unto conference resort. At the kettle we are gazing With a patient self-control And we learn with joy amazing It is just a goldfish bowl, We learn about the meeting ‘With a happiness profound— A simple, friendly greeting. With no axes to be ground. 'Mid the flerce vituperation That has filled the world with doubt, Just “a pleasant conversation™ Is & thing to brag about. Family Brain Trust. “You have made some New Year resolutions?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “I have tried new resolutions every January. This year I'm going to let mother and the girls hold a confer- ence and decide on what resolutions I ought to adopt.” Jud Tunkins says a friendly police- man can be more help in an emer- D. C, DECEMBER 23, ANOTHER CHRISTMAS BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, DD, LLD, D.CL, One of the days in the calendar|the that never seems to lose its freshness cr its appeal is Christmas. It brings vividly to mind certain things that lie at the very foundation of our life, its happiness and its finer sentiment. It is intimately identified with the sweetest and most treasured things of home life. There is no day in the year that stirs so deeply our better natures or is related more im- mediately to incidents and circum- stances that we hold as among the most preclous of our life's experience. The incomparable story that con- stitutes the heart of Christmas is one that never loses its freshness or its dramatic appeal. We read it when in our youth it filled us with won- derment and stirred us to reverent devotion and praise. We read it again when life is spent and the multiplying years have tended to disillusion us and to take from us the zest and enthusiasm that marked our earlier days. The narrative that contains the Christmas story is a short one; it tells of heralding angels, a Mother who brought her babe to birth in a lowly stable, the mysterious visit of Wise Men and the wonder of be- wildered and confused shepherds and humble peasant folk, but within its short compass it portrays a scene that is not equaled in any literature. Art, music and poetry have found their inspiration in Bethlehem. A new philosophy of life came into being on that first Christmas day. Quite apart from what it has in- spired and called into being, it con- stitutes the greatest contribution that has ever been made to the sweetness and enrichment of the home. It marks the beginning of a new con- ception of domestic bliss and felicity. It is the enfranchisement of the mother, the exaltation of childhood, the lifting up of the race to a new level of thinking and living; it is the supremest expression, not only of God's purpose concerning man, but highest expression of man’s pos- sibilities and tialities. narrowly defined. Even racial, political and ecclesiastical differences and divi- sions give way before its conquering scepter of love. Christianity is not a cult, nor yet a system, it is the incarna- tion of a divine principle of human relationship expressed in terms of life, the life of Him who in humility and obscurity entered into fellowship with men on that first Christmas day. On this latest Christmas day we shall have our home gatherings, our intimate family joys, kinship and friendship will express ves in generous deeds and unstinted giving, but we shall signally miss the deeper meaning and significence of the day unless we find ourselves responding to its larger, broader implications. The world, our modern world, craves that which Christmas expresses; more of under- standing sympathy, more of real cha- rity in all human relations, a finer demonstration of Christian brother- hood that alone guarantees to us peace and good will. Bethlehem’s mighty message must be translated into deeds of selfless service. Its spirit of kind- ness and love for all sorts and condi- tions of men must be interpreted in ways that are practical, that bring re- freshment and renewed courage to those who are disillusioned, to men and women who have lost hope, upon whose paths dark shadows have fallen. When the sipirit of Christmas inflames the hearts of men as with a passion, when its simple story stirs once again the finer, better things of our nature, we shall be at the dawn of & new day of promise and the earth will be filled with the goodness of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Yes, it is another Christmas, the season of precious memories, to some, of forgotten hopes and unfulfilled ex- pectations, but it still speaks its mes- sage of joy, it presents once again to a distracted and confused world an ideal of life that points the way to better, happier days ahead. Richberg’s Success as Co-ordinator Is Attributed to His Tactful Methods BY OWEN L. SCOTT. As official New Deal co-ordinator, presumably empowered to make cab- inet officers dance to his tune, Don- ald Richberg actually is having real success as a New Deal evangelist. Such, at least, is the impression con- veyed by some of those who were to be_ co-ordinated. Mr. Richberg retains his titles and his powers, But Washington's most interesting recent personal develop- ment is his aparent retirement from the position of eminence as No. 2 man of the Government. President Roosevelt still is both the No. 1 and the No. 2 man, among others. In fair- ness, it must be said that the execu- tive director of the National Emerg- ency Council never posed as “Assist- ant President” even though he could have rated the title on the basis of the grant of executive power made to him. Along with Mr. Richberg's initial lack of success in co-ordinating what probably cannot be co-ordinated has gone evidence of his marked ability to serve as the super-salesman of the New Deal. In thal capacity he has made progress in effecting more har- monious relations between the Gov- ernment in Washington and the busi- ness men out in the fleld, who are trying to adjust themselves to hap- penings at the Capital. His numerous, carefully prepared speeches, replete with well-turned phrases, have carried a note of con- ciliation that employers have appre- ciated, even if some high-powered officials here have admitted that they haven't understood the meaning of the most potent phrases. They marvel at the judicial tone and the effective- ness of the selling talk. * k% % ‘The result is that Mr. Richberg has been able to attain better results in the field of oratory than in the realm of arjustments of what newspaper men are wont to call an Ickes-Mof- fett rift, or a Peek-Hull rift, or a N. L. R. B-N. R. A. rift. These are just a few recent rifts of the type that the N. E. C. director presumably was to co-ordinate before they reached the public eye, or the Presi- dent’s desk. But, just as in the past, the squabbles and the policy contra- dictions are going through to the White House. A cabinet officer was heard recent- ly to make a rather facetious refer- ence to Mr. Richberg’s power. Also one board, a relatively new and much battered board, openly opposed his efforts. That result is not surprising to Director Richberg, who realized he would be in trouble the first time he started stepping on official toes. Cabinet officers, jealous of their prerogatives, find it hard to bow to any man other than the President. Likewise the men of strong personal- ity and deep conviction who are di- recting many of the emergency New Deal set-ups do not submit lightly to suggestions from outsiders. They look to Mr. Roosevelt alone as their boss. In deference to the executive director of the N. E. C. in his position as official co-ordinator, high officials have tempered their speech to remove the sour notes that used to be so noticeable, but if any has altered a major policy at the insistence of Mr. Richberg that alteration has not come to light. * % %k X A glaring instance of the way co- ordination works in practice was pro- vided by the experience of the Na- tional Labor Relations Board with gency that the Supreme Court of the | the United States. Inflammatory Fame. Through history we grimly roam, Discovering many a truth. A youth fired the Ephesian Dome, Which should have “fired” the youth, “Much of the world’s difficulty,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “has been due to high-minded deter- mination among nations to civilize one another no matter how it hurts.” Radiosophists. ‘We sing & melancholy song In & peculiar plight, ‘When every one says “something’s wrong,” None shows what would be right. As each man goes from day to day, ‘With troubles of his own, This game we play in joyous way— “Who's got the microphone!” “Some men,” said Uncle Eben, “gits a reputation foh smartness by never doin’ enough real work to risk makin’ mistakes.” Sure Memory Tip. From the Atlanta Constitution. Another good way to improve your memory is to tell a solicitor you will subscribe to & charity fund later. - balance the other. He believes strongly in barter deals. * * % % These two theories now have met in a head-on collision. Germany urgently needs American cotton but doesn’t have the dollars to pay for it. Oscar Johnson, who heads the Government cotton pool with 1,500,000 bales to sell and more millions in sight, urgently needs to sell cotton. Mr. Peek has an export-import bank which could function as an inter- mediary in a German-American cot- ton deal. He was all set to shoot on a proposition that would have given Germany the cotton, and the United States s lot of German currency for spending in Germany for German goods, when Mr. Hull came into the picture. The Secretary of State decided that if this barter deal were approved, the whole principle of reciprocal trade agreements would go by the board. Mr. Hull is mild-mannered but dangerous in a battle. So Mr. Hull and Mr. Peek squared off. This looked like another ideal case for Donald Richberg to co-ordinate. He could come in and make adjustments that would relieve President Roose- velt of the need for intervention. But instead of going to Mr. Richberg. the squabble went direct to the President. Mr. Hull, incidentally, seems to have come off the victor. Now the executive director of the N. E. C. may have to do some co- ordinating to find where the Peek organization can be fitted into the New Deal machinery, if it is not to be used to negotiate trade deals with individual countries. * X ¥ ¥ ‘Then, of course, there is the widely reported lack of co-ordination be- tween Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior and Public Works adminis trator, and James A. Moffett, admin- istrator of the Federal Housing Administration. Mr. Ickes feels that the Govern- ment should use its borrowing power to finance construction of homes for persons who cannot afford to build their own homes or to rent decent homes. Mr. Moffett thinks that if the Government is going to use its power to borrow money at 3 per cent or under and its power to finance large-scale construction at low cost, private capital cannot be attracted to the industry. His whole campaign is based on the willingness of in- ;:;an to return to the mortgage Mr. Ickes is & former law partner of Mr. Richberg and should be amenable to co-ordination by him, if any official is to be amenable. Yet this issue required the intervention of Mr. Roosevelt for settlement. Actually it is not settled and cannot be until broad questions of national policy are determined either by Con- gress or by the President. Those are just sample opportuni- ties for co-ordination. There are many more involving contraditions of 8 glaring sort. Yet they are not submitting readily to the efforts that Mr. Richberg is supposed to be making to give unity of method and policy in the New Deal. * ® % % Actually, many a Government economist will tell an inquirer. the programs that are clashing most openly simply cannot be reconciled with one another. Mr. Richberg is not using a heavy hand on his job. Rather he is going about it in a quiet, suave way that causes some officials to be on guard. Agreements on policy are supposed to be reached in the meetings of the t. | National persisted in its stand. Then Mr. Rich- berg stepped into the breach co-ordinate. But Francis Biddle, new chairman of the N. L. R. B, and his two col- leagues on the board were not to be co-ordinated. They stood their i gs 5 £ i i i g g §§Ezg i ge g T g £ : PRI other policies that have been agreed upon before. In the end, it all comes back to the fact that Mr. Roosevelt has to run the show, so far as policy en- forcement and discipline are con- (Covyright. 1934.) Brighter Skies in Britain On Eve of Christmas BY A. G. GARDINER. 1934 _PART TWO. Capital Sidelights ‘There was great amazement around the Capitol the other day when the special committee investigating un- American activities suddenly closed its hearings on Tuesday although it had scheduled a number of witnesses for the next day. Behind this is a pleasing little story of how the 100 per cent American chairman of that committee, Repre- sentative John W. McCormack Massachusetts, prospective -| can best be done along recovery lines serving notice that a delegation of the Communists were coming to Washing- ton on Wednesday and would demand that they be heard. o ot these publicity-: = Hh tnesses previously called session to storm and no place to voice * x ¥ * An interesting question has been raised by the announcement of Rep- resentative Sterling Price Strong, Democrat, of Texas, s former travel- ing salesman who eventually was elected county and district clerk be- fore coming in as & member of the last Congress, that he intends to in- troduce a bill to pay all of those who were members of the Seventy-third Congress but who through voluntary retirement or defeat at the hands of the voters will not be in the incoming Congress all they would have received if they terms continued until March 4 instead of ending on January 3. Their terms were cut short a couple of months by the so-called “lame duck” amendment to the Constitution. The amount involved is something more than $155,000, being $1,416 for each of the more than 100 members who go off the Congress pay roll. The “equities involved” are based on the contention that when those members were electd in November, 1932, the term to which they were elected was provided by the Constitu- tion to extend until March 4, 1935. “Then came the dawn” in the pas- sage of the Norris resolution, known as the “lame duck” amendment, which became a part of the Constitution on February 6, 1933, by promulgation of the Secretary of State, 39 of the 48 States having ratified it. Under that amendment Congress met for the first time on January 3, last (1934)—in the second session of the Seventy- third Congress. The first new Con- gress to meet under that amendment is the incoming one which assembles on January 3, 1935. able rise in the temperature is no doubt the improved outlook of trade —an improvement which, though it started here, is beginning to be evi- dent elsewhere. Not the least of the factors is the quiet confidence you find in all quarters that the daylight is beginning to filter through the gloom that has hung over the Amer- ican landscape—for nothing is more acutely appreciated here than the im- portance to the world of a return of prosperity on the other side of the Atlantic. * k% X But behind these visible and ma- terial signs that the worst is over is the feeling that the political sky is clearing. Quite the most remarkable world fact of the last week or two is the remarkable revival in the authority and prestige of the League of Nations. It was the widespread fear that the League was “down and out” that was the source of the hopelessness, border- ing on despair, that had taken pos- session of the public mind. That fear first began to be felt when Japan flouted the League and withdrew from it, and when Germany, following the defiant example of Japan, also shook the dust of the League off her feet, it seemed that the star of Geneva had set and that Europe was doomer once more to collapse into a chaos ol com- petitive fragments. ‘That prospect is now sensibly di- minished. The rehabilitation of the League is the most conspicuous fact of the moment. It began, of course, with the entry of Russia into the orbit of the League. That was an im- portant set-off to the defection of Japan, and left Germany the only European nation outside the pale— a fact which must obviously have re- percussions upon the mind of the country. But the revived hopes have been mainly stimulated by the two great and remarkable triumphs for League diplomacy which have been achieved this month. Both illustrate in a striking way the value of Geneva as a sort of cen- tral hospital for the treatment of the distempers of the European body politic. For weeks Europe had been approaching the storm cloud over the Saar with deepening anxiety. It was feared that whatever the issue of the plebiscite, a practically insol- uble situation would arise that would lead to a violent clash on the Rhine. Then, almost without warning, the . | greater than during the same period spoiling for a fight that would have embroiled the continent, were brought to the acceptance of a wise and statesmanlike understanding. significance of this incident is in the light it throws on the indisposition of the powers behind the two potential L iy g i g EE s 5y ] £ g g E £ : E | : b | Esgaéi g ok i Of | its people, these Federal officials are A NATION OF STRANGERS BY FREDERIC ). HASKIN. The National Planning Board and other newly created Federal agencies are seeking to survey every aspect of recovery, and one of the most fascinating has to do not so much with production, public works and such tangible things as with in- tangibles. Understanding that a na- tion is only as rich and strong as making a special study of the psycho- logical effects of depression and what for them. Quite a little has been said already about the need for plan- ning the new leisure which, many students seem certain, will be at the disposal of the people from now on. But there are deeper questions. An inquiry which is interesting the official planners has been made by, the department of social science of Columbia University and has just been reported upon in a fascinating volume called “The Stranger,” writ- ten by Dr. Margaret Mary Wood and made available through the press of the university. The wave of unemployment which swept over the country had the effect of creating & new nation of strangers within the United States. Finding themselves out of employment in their home places, workers and their families moved, not by scores, but literally by hundreds of thousands, about the country in search of jobs. Many of them were impelled to do so further by the fact that the hard times had caused them to be evicted from homes on which they no longer could pay rent or on which mortgages had been foreclosed. The Federal Emergency Relief Ad- ministration has helped some with their rent and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation helped others with their overdue mortgages, but, in the first place, this help was not made available until many already had been evicted and, in the second place, it was not possible to aid all. In consequence, these wanderers have been moving about the country. not in large bands, but singly, in families, or in quite small groups. When a special congressional com- mittee inquired into the question of the condition of the unemployed in the earlier years of the depression, they found the most appalling con- ditions. Reports were obtained from the mayors of a great many cities and they were almost uniform in describing inability of the cities, in most cases, to care for the indigent transients. Soup kitchens were set up by city authorities, by church, civic and fraternal organizations, but 50 numerous were the transients that many cities had almost to return to the medieval system of erecting city gates to bar those incapable of taking care of themselves. Some cities granted one meal and one night’s lodging; others could not do so much. Traveling Under Difficulties. Thousands of these new unem- ployed nomads had automobiles— usually small cars in none too good condition. The car would be all a| family might salvage from its eco- nomic wreck when unemployment set in. Evicted, unemployed, dispos- sessed, a family would set out in a rickety car for any place where even rumor told of work or a bare ex- istence. So prevalent did this prac- tice become that many communi- ties raised funds to use in buying transients enough gasoline to move them to the next town, where the charity would have to be repeated. In the Autumn they would move South, drifting back in the Spring. They slept under bridges, in ragged communities built of piano boxes, or anywhere they could find a scrap of shelter. It is, perhaps, dismal to rehearse these conditions which most people realized all too well. The purpose is to emphasize that they had the effect of producing & numerous nation of strangers, for very few could stay long enough to find anything like a per- manent home or even begin to accli- mate themselves. Month by month, even year by year, they remained strangers. And that is the value to the planning agencies of Dr. Wood's study of the stranger as a phenomenon of society. Human beings have a curious com- bination of gregariousness and sus- picion, with extraordinary degrees of variation among peoples and individ- uals. One notes, for example, th® the English people have a reserv= which often is mistaken for unfriend- liness whereas Russians go to the op- posite extreme, yet both are funda- mentally Nordic. These differences make the problem of the stranger deeper in this country than in some others. The United States having been the goal of so many immi- grants of so many nationalities and races, one finds the problem of the stranger compounded. There doubtless are economic springs traceable in many practices toward strangers. It has been noted that the people of the South Sea Islands were among the most trust- ing and friendly of any in the world and the stranger was eagerly wel- comed in most of the islands. That probably is closely connected with the fact that life was extremely easy, there was plenty of food growing wild everywhere, there was no money, but there was a tradition of sharing. Perhaps the reserve toward strangers of some other peoples in less heavily dowered regions is due to a necessary consciousness of self-preservation. The unknown stranger might bear a threat to the little sustenance available. Whole Problem Reviewed. Religion and caste have played their part in building up the role of stran- ger and, of course, military fear or precaution. The individual trait that makes a religious hermit or a miser cannot be ignored. Pride on the one hand and what the psychologists term a defensive mechanism on an- other should not be neglected as agen- cies helping to create the stranger. The importance to the officials and others seeking to smooth the paths to better and more harmonious times in the course of social as well as eco- nomic recovery of such a work is in proportion to the size of the problem which has developed in the depressed period. Other nations have known whole groups of strangers such as the Jews in Spain and Germany and, at one time, the Irish in America, but here a situation has developed within borders of a Nation of some millions of strangers who are not a group. They have become wanderers, strangers to jobs and, because of their wide seeking. strangers to each other. And the most unhappy lot which the creative genius of mankind has ever conjured up has been that of the Wandering Jew, the Flying Dutchman, the Swimmer and those other legend- ary outcasts. No sadder line has ever been written than that referring to a stranger in a strange land. Tobacco Industry Has Bettered Its Position BY HARDEN COLFAX. ‘The successful marketing of the sea- son’s tobacco crop at prices well above those of last year, together with crop | reduction under the A. A. A. program, has already proved a gratifying stimu- lus to general business in the tobacco States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee, and also in the North. It is reported to the Department of Agriculture that tobacco farmers are meeting their obligations. Banks are more active and optimistic, and a| surprising demand for consumption | goods is noted, as well as improvement I | intensified by the tendency toward in tax collections and receipts. Retail merchants are reported to be very much encouraged. Moreover, it is believed by Federal officials that when the N. R. A. code has been adopted by the cigarette manufacturers, still further stimulus will be given to business conditions and general welfare throughout the tobacco States. Tt 15 true there has been a renewal of agitation for a reduction in the present Federal levies on tobacco products. State and local sales taxes are felt to weigh heavily upon the manufacturers and they are chafing under the processing tax. However, the cigarette industry has bettered its position this year. Figures recently released by the Treasury De- ent show that the output of cigarettes during the first 11 months of 1934 was more than 12,000,000,000 last year, while cigar production has increased by more than 150,000,000. Arguments for continuing the process- ing tax include the contention that net profits of the cigarette manufac- turers are greater than their entire labor costs. * x % % ‘The total acreage grown to tobacco in the United States during 1934 ex- ceeded 1,360,000 acres, the smallest since 1921, The quality of the early consignments reaching markets last week is described as the finest in years, and it was apparent that the Fifty Years Ago In The Star Adoption of the so-called “lame duck” amendment to the Constitution . has abolished the pre- Congress in holiday session of Congress, which was Catalepsy. oneznx notably little legislative action. The Star of De- cember 22, 1884, says: “Congress may now be said to have entered a state of trance. in which it is expected to remain till well after the holidays. This condition of trance, or catalepsy, in which the patient is deprived of intelligence, sensation and voluntary motion, though still alive, is one of the most curious as well as one of the most dis- tressing of all diseases. And.on that account the present attack will excite universal attention and pity. For- tunately, the disease is not in itself fatal. The treatment is simple. Pains should be taken to improve the general health and give tone to the nervous system. Mustard footbaths are recommended and the friends of the patient are advised to soak his head. Before expending too much labor and pity in the present case, however, it would be well to remem- ber that this curious disease is often stimulated by imposters, and there is 2 feeling that there is a good deal of humbug in the present congressional trance.” * * % The question whether a base ball dropped from the top of the Wash- Catching a Base Ball 3o 5" From the Monument. ment could be caught by one standing below was discussed in The Star of December 26, 1884, nearly a quarter of a cen- tury before that feat was first accom- plished by “Gabby” Street of the Washington club August 21, 1908: “It was reported that Supt. Mc- Laughlin of the Washington Monu- ment had made a bet with Paul Hines, famous base ball fielder, that he, Hines, cannot catch a base ball thrown from one of the windows of the Monument. Mr. McLaughlin said today that he had made no such bet, but that he would be willing to wager that the ball would not be caught. It is probable that the Monument will be used for many tests as to falling bodies, and so much interest attaches to an experiment similar to the one spoken of that it is more than likely tes | the test will be made. Officers of the self-sufficiency on the part of many foreign countries and the high prices Monument calculate roughly that the ball would take about 51, seconds to descend and at the bottom would be strength to lift that weight. ball, it is thought, would not be going fast as many that are taken readily infielders in a game of ball, but there are other matters to be con- which would make the test more difficult. The great height ‘would perhaps prevent the ball being seen at once when thrown, and any person who has attempted to catch & ball thrown or batted very high in the - ‘The in American shjppers of tobacco is not exacted price will be from for- rather, whether air recognizes the difficulty of judging it accurately. If Hines should ai- tempt to catch it he would probably have more trouble in judging it than in catching it.” Prefer War to Peace.