Evening Star Newspaper, April 28, 1935, Page 33

Editorial Page Civic Activities Part 2—12 Pages FEAR OF REICH CREATES UNITED FRONT IN EUROPE Menaced Nations Utilizing League for Preservation of of Versailles. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. NOUGH water has now flowed over the dam since the Stresa and Geneva meetings to per- mit their meaning to be appraised objectively. That meaning, too, is unmistakable. A common fear of Gérmany has pro- duced something like unanimity be- tween all of the other great and many of the smaller states of Europe. The League of Nations has been utilized by the menaced countries as an in- strument to preserve the remaining fragments of the treaty of Versailles, notably those which established the demilitarized zones at the Rhine and forbade German union with Austria. Fear of Germany still renders impossible for the Reich to obtain Justice at the hands of her former conquerors. For, in principle, there can be no denying the inherent right | of the Germans alike to equality in 'maments, to integrity of sovereignty and to the right of self-determina- tion. The fact that 17 years ago Germany was defeated in war and the military decision was translated into treaty law does constitute a Juridical barrier to these things, but no one can seriously argue that it also constitutes a moral obstacle. In 1931, in the face of economic paralysis in both countries, the states- men of Austria and Germany under- took to arrange a tariff union. The undertaking was voluntary on both sides and the question of whether the plan was economically sound was therefore irrelevant. But because the nmeighbors of Germany, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia, saw in a tariff union the preface to a political fusion, they intervened, invoked the treaty law and exploited their con- trol of that adjunct of the League, | the World Court, to pronounce the tariff project illegal. Threat To Be Fullfilled. In 1933, nearly a decade and a half after the close of the conflict, Ger- many. having failed to secure recog- nition of her claims to equality in the means of national denfense, with- drew from Geneva and gave warn-| ing of her purpose to arm without further concern for the treaty law in this respect. In March of the pres- ent year Hitler put Europe on notice that he now purposed to carry out this threat. And, once more, as in the case of the tariff union, the great powers have been able to mobilize the machinery of Geneva to pass legal and moral judgment upon German action. In effect they have done even more for they have at least hinted strongly that in case Germany seeks now to free herself from the restraints upon her security inherent in the demili- tarized zones, the great powers, using the League as their instrument, will impose economic and financial sanc- tions. very simple statement, that while Germany can never hope to obtain Justice at Geneva, her neighbors can, ‘when they choose, use the League to exert coercion as well as to express moral judgment. Not a few of the most sincere of the remaining friends of Geneva in the United States have perceived the implications for it of this latest epi- | sode. Nominally the League still re- mains a means by which the collec- tive action of all countries to pre- vent war can be made effective. Prac- tically, however, it is a weapon in the hands of the victors of the last war to perpetuate the decisions of that conflict. And this holds true even when, as in the case of the Anschluss and armaments, the Ger- man claim is in all respects save juri- dically beyond challenge. Menace in Justice to Reich. Of course the vicious circle is unmis- takable. Justice for Germany has al- ways carried with it a threat to the security of many countries and to the unity of several. To permit Germany to unite with Austria, thus creating a state of 75 millions of people in the wvery heart of Europe, is to create the most powerful state in the Old World. ‘To consent that this state shall arm up to limits fixed by its own leaders is to furnish it with the means to establish continental hegemony. When, moreover, Germany has fallen into the hands of men proclaiming expansive and explosive policies, the peril be- comes unmistakable. ‘The actual failure of the League has lain in the fact that it could not serve as an instrument to insure the security of the neighbors of the Reich and at the same time do justice to the Germans. That failure has been due to the total unwillingness of the American and British peoples to agree to underwrite by force the existing territorial order in Europe. For the French, Italians and other nations immediately or eventually menaced by Germany would not consent to honor Germany’s just demands unless they were themselves insured by the Anglo-Saxon States against the pos- | sibly evil consequences of such con- cessions. Today the world is witnessing the spectacle of the most powerful of all European peoples actually in revolt against conditions which are unequal and for which there is no discoverable remedy other than victory in war. ‘With the onset of the great depres- sion, too, Germany’s political wrongs have been accentuated by her eco- nomic weakness. As a result of the tariffl and currency policies of other countries she finds herself unable to sell her own goods abroad in sufficient quantities to supply herself with the essential raw materials and minerals of industry. Suffers as if by Blockade. Lacking cash and credit and unable to market her goods, Germany thus sees herself in a time of full peace suffering as she did in the World War &s a result of the Allied blockade. Her populations are reduced to wearing paper clothes because cotton is un- obtainable. Her workers face growing unemployment because iron, copper, tin, rubber and a host of other neces- sary things cannot be purchased. The German government is confronted by the eventual choice between foreign ‘war and domestic upheaval when the decline in the national standard of life reaches the revolution point. For these material conditions, as for the inequalities and injustices of the treaty law, Germany has no means of redress. The more fortunate nations, such as the British Common- 'wealth and the United States, will not 'odxty their tariff and currency, poli All of which amounts to a| EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunday Star Remaining Bits | cies to admit German goods, because {‘these would necessarily compete with | domestic products. And, in the same ‘wny, the nations bordering the Reich will not consent to political changes in the treaty because that would com- | promise their own security. | What has resulted inevitably, there- fore, has been a German explosion at home followed by the instinctive as- sociation abroad of the countries men- aced by German purposes. Today the Reich is encircled by a ring of armed | frontiers and menaced by the threat of common action by her neighbors, united in one or several coalitions. France and England mount guard on the Rhine—Italy, France and the Lit- | ttle Entente on the Danube. Last of | all, in the east, France, Soviet Russia |and Czechoslovakia are framing still another alliance calculated to main- tain the status quo at the Vistula. | League Stands by Law. Were Germany to return to Geneva | now she could only hope for such | crumbs of concession as her fearful | neighbors would allow her. Against | any demand, however just. which car- |ried with it danger to these neigh- | bors, they would instinctively and in- stantaneously “gang up” against her. And always they would have the law | with them, because that law was writ- ten by themselves in the peace trea- ties. Always, too. in the final show- down, the League would have to stand | by the law, because it is the law. Never could it contribute to amend | the law, because the interests of a majority of the member countries are served by that law. The latest session of the League Council has disclosed the ultimate bankruptcy of Geneva and the com- plete futility of the so-called collective | system. For in human affairs no in- stitution condemned to uphold the | law—however intolerable that law may be—and without the actompanying i power to amend it can possibly work. Since 1919 there has been enormous talk about the substitution of law for war as a means of settling differences between nations, but nothing has been !said or done about substituting just | for unjust laws, and, save as that is done, the whole process is doomed to | failure. The Japanese adventure in Man- churia disclosed the League without | the power to carry out decisions whose justice was beyond challenge. The German experience in armaments ex- | posed Geneva as powerless to put an | end to conditions based upon laws | which were totally unjust. What Japan did was a clear violation of a treaty law voluntarily accepted by Ler as by all others. But she proceeded | on her course unhindered. What Ger- | many has done has been to repudiate | an unjust law imposed upon her by | force, once she was convinced no other avenue of escape was open to her. Seize On Hitler Action. Alarmed by the German purpose, which threatens them directly, the | interested European powers have | seized upon the latest Hitler action | as the justification for turning the | League of Nations into an instru- | ment to resist any further progress of Hitler along his indicated path- | way. Military force these powers will | possess in the coalitions which they are now creating. Moral warrant for the use of that force they are now | assuring by establishing their con. trol of the machinery of the League. Thus, whereas hithertc the shade of | Woodrow Wilson has continued to hover over the old building of the | | League in the new palace of the | nations, henceforth the spirit of Met- | | ternich will dominate. At Stresa and Geneva, Great Bri- | tain lost her long battle to keep the | continental situation fluid and pre- vent a reversion to the circumstances jof 1914. And she lost her battle be- | cause, at bottom. she shared the fears of her former allies as to Germany. She was ready to see German ambi- tions in the matter of Austro-Ger- |man union satisfied. She was pre- | pared to see German purposes in the Corridor realized. She was willing to |see the Germany army increased. |But confronted by German air | strength and the plans for German | naval construction, she at last ac- cepted the German danger as real because of its reality for her. | Never at any time did the British | envisage a German recovery which would enable the Reich to become | again the danger for England it had | been between 1905 and 1914. But | they believed that minor concessions | would serve to placate the German |spirit and exercise the danger of | major difficulties. Always, however, | they were caught between the Ger- | man determination to recover all and that of the French to yield nothing. | In the end, moreover, they have been | compelled to identify Germany as a iprnspecuve enemy and France as an | inevitable ally. Foes Contiol League. Henceforth the prospective foes of | Germany will exercise full control of the machinery of the League. They have already revealed their intention to use that machinery to serve the practical ends of realpolitik. The idealists, pacifists and Utopians, who dreamed of employing Geneva to pre- vent war by conciliation and and compromise, have been turned adrift. The realistic statesmen who have re- placed them calculate upon using it as a means of coercion to postpone war and as a moral aid to winning the war when, as they agree is in- evitable, it does presently arrive. It is true that Stresa and Geneva together render war a little less likely in any immediate present. For they disclose Germany today utterly iso- lated and, within any calculable time, completely incapable of coping with the aggregation of force marshalled against her. Once more, as in the case of the Ruhr and of the Austio- German tariff union, German effort to escape from the consequences of military defeat and the restrictions of the treaty of Versailles has disclosed her friendless in a fearful Europe. In fact, the other day in Geneva she was more isolated than she has | ever been since the armistice. | To imagine, however, that as a re- sult of recent events Germany will permanently renounce her pursuit of military security and economic pros- perity by the sole means left to her, namely war, is to imagine a vain thing: Vain, because no government or people will abandon its effort to ttain a situation in which it can live t WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 28, 1935 Air Unit Strips for Action Revitalized American Force Is Ready for Battle on Any Front at Any Time. BY JOSEPH EDGERTON. UST beginning to find itself after the most sweeping reor- ganization in military aviation history, the Army Air Corps, revitalized and exceedingly active, is introducing startling and wholly new principles into the aerial defense of the Nation. The General Headquarters Air Force, created to take the place of the old Air Corps as the aerial com- bat organization of the Army, is in the position of an Infantry soldier who, after days of marching under heavy pack, strips down to combat pack for battle. The G. H. Q. Air Force is stripped for action. It has laid aside the heavy pack of the old Air Corps and has become an exceedingly mobile, alert fighting outfit, instantly ready for action on any front. The United States is witnessing dramatically the rejuvenation af the Army's air combat organization. Sweeping the airways like keen, eager hunting dogs of the skies, the new G. H. Q. fighting squadrons, in a series of the boldest aerial combat maneuvers this country has seen in peacetime, are working out the prob- lems which must be whipped if the United States is to be adequately prepared to meet any emergency in the air. Higher Levels Reached. The morale of the old Air Corps, brought low during the past decade by inadequate, insufficient airplanes and equipment; lack of proper flying training, a promotion system which held no hope of rewards for faith- | ful capable service, and the bitter criticism which undeservedly came to | Air Corps personnel as a result of | the airmail experience of last year is building back to higher levels than | ever before. The new G. H. Q. Air Force, only little more than a month old, is com- ing to regard itself as a “corps d'elite,” | a fit, efficient fighting organization. For the first time since the World ‘War fiying officers, by virtue of whole- sale temporary promotions, are hold- | ing ranks commensurate with their | duties and responsibilities. | Swivel-chair pilots have been weed- ed out and the G. H. Q. Air Force is developing into the kind of an outfit of which combat pilots have dreamed. | 1t is & fighting organization pure and | simple. The Air Force has no con- cern with training problems. with the maintenance of depots or of service schools. Its sole concern is to fit itself for battle. This it is doing by | the most strenuous field exercises in | | all parts of the country, exercises | which already are developing the most vital information concerning matters of tactics, types of equipment and problems of organization and supply. These exercises began while the G. H. Q. Air Force was just a paper or- | ganization, last February. They in- creased when the force became a liv- ing organization on March 1. In their results the Army is finding the key to creation of a concentrated, hard-hit- | ting arm, ready for service without | warning. Of this new air force, Maj. | Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois, chief of the Army Air Corps, has this to say: | “This force will be of a strength and | 1 have a cohesive contrel, uniform train- (ing, unified command and readiness for active operations which will per- mit the chief of staff, under whom it serves directly, to employ it immedi- | ately upon the occurrence of a major emergency, with all the advantages to be secured by observing the principles of war. Of these principles, the con- centration of effort, the objective, sur- prise, the offensive and security are of primary importance, and the mobility of aircraft is such as to permit a skillful leader to apply these principles | with telling effect.” | | The G. H. Q. Air Force is to consist | of about 920 airplanes of the four com- | bat type, divided into three wings | which can be welded on 24 hours’ no- tice into a single aerial thunderbolt of ‘terrific power. The force is com- manded by Brig. Gen. Frank M. An- drews, who has just completed the establishment of his headquarters at Langley Field, Hampton, Va. Wing in Lonely Area. ‘The 1st Wing is coramanded by Brig. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, first and also | latest winner of the coveted Mackay Trophy, who has headquarters in Cali fornia. The 2d Wing, commanded by | Brig. Gen. Henry C. Pratt, is the wing assigned for the defense of the At- lantic Coast and its headquarters are at Langley Field. The 3d Wing, in | the Central United States, is com- manded by Col. Gerald C. Brant, at Barksdale Field, La. Once a lonely neck of sandy, for-| ested land on little Back Creek, 8 miles north of Old Point Comfort and 125 miles, airline, from Washington, Lang- ley Field today is the nerve center of J | AND MAP | | Special Ar ticles Travel — Resorts STORM CLOUDS WORRY DEMOCRATIC LEADERS Insurgents Stirring Up Trouble for Party and Republican Liberals Constitute'Major Threat. BY JOHN SNURE. ! ATHERING storms in the Democratic situation have featured the week in Wash- | ington. While the legislative | prospect remains tangled, and | uncertain, despite the efforts of Presi- | “must” program and the efforts to get | an early adjournment, more revolt and | insurgency loom in the majority party. This insurgency is growing, instead of tending to disappear. It proceeds from some of the foremost conserva- tive Democrats in Congress, markedly in the Senate. But it is not confined to conservatives. | Striking phases of the Democratic cratic Senators that the spending pro- gram of the Government cannot go unchecked without Government credit breaking down is one of the things most worrying to thoughtful Demo- cratic heads in the two houses. Such warnings were heard from | dent Roosevelt to drive forward his | members such as Senator Glass, Sena- tor M. E. Tydings of Maryland, Sena- tor Bailey and others, when the great work-relief bill was ng considered. They are recurring from time to time, and do not become less impressive. Bankhead Bill Assailed. Senator Adams, speaking on the vast Government debt as he opposed the Bankhead bill authorizing $1,000,000. | protest in recent days were the speech | 000 of Government-guaranteed bonds | of Senator Alva B. Adams of Colorado, | to buy farms for tenants, predicted | in which he pictured the growth of the | that, once the Government entered public debt as startling and dangerous, business as a landlord, it would cost | with the menace of “national bank- it $10.000,000,000 to $15,000,000.000. tastrophe”; the address of Senator | Harry F. Byrd of Virginia. colleague of Senator Carter Glass, in which he made a sweeping assault on the amendments to the A. A. A. act, which | are sought by Secretary of Agriculture | Henry A. Wallace; the utterances of | Senator Josiah H. Bailey of North Car- | olina, in the Senate during discussion | of the Bankhead bill to have the Gov- | ernment finance purchase of farm| homes for tennants; and the challenge by Senator Glass to the constitution- ality of the Bankhead measure. ‘There is also the continuation of the protest in which New England and the South are joining over the cotton textile complications, mill closings, in- | vasion of Japanese imports, while the AN ‘» / ATLANTIC OCE market for Southern cotton abroad falls off and the specter of largely in- creased production of cotton in Bra- zil, Argentina and other countries keeps rising. Textile Row Arouses Leaders. | This cotton textile difficulty, though not partisan, has aroused some of the ablest Democratic leaders of the South” and New England, as well as in the Central Atlantic region. The administration, to appease the agitation, has started cabinet and Tariff Commission investigations. but there is little indication that these will calm the agitation. Linked with it and a part of it is the opposition to the processing taxes, not alone on cotton, but on other commodities. While the efforts of the adminis- | tration to kill bonus legislation have upset party lines, the proposed hold- ing company legislation continues to | be & subject of wide differences and there are many symptoms of a grow- | mg revolt. in which Democrats will AIR VIEW OF LANGLEY FIELD SHOWING ITS RELA- TION TO PRINCIPAL CITIES OF THE EAST. the Nation's air defense. Here, far| removed from the great cities of the Atlantic Coast, the G. H. Q. Air Force | has established its high command and | concentrated most of its fighting squadrons for the defense of the At- lantic seaboard. ‘This decentralization is one of the | significant moves of the new G. H. Q. Air Force plan. The air force has been moved from “under the thumb of Washington.” It has been set up as a combat organization and its high | (Continued on Tenth Page.) PRESIDENT TURNS EAR TO LEFT TO WIN IN ’36 sure Because Conservatives Fail to Threaten Election Chances. BY MARK SULLIVAN. S TO what President Roosevelt will do, looking to re-election of himself next year, a pre- diction is made by Gen. Hugh Johnson, About Gen. John- son’s expertness in the field of politics, or in any other field except perhaps epithets and epigrams, I say nothing. But Gen. Johnson is in a position to have information or judgment about what Mr. Roosevelt will do. And it happens that Gen. Johnson's predic- tion agrees with the judgment of prac- tically everybody else. The general makes his prediction observer can deny that so long as the demilitarized zones continue to exist and the present economic practices of more fortunate nations prevail, se- curity and prosperity will be lacking for the German people. In the same way, while the German-speaking pop- ulation of the old Hapsburg monarchy are forbidden to decide for or against union with the Reich, the right of self- determination is also withheld from | the German people. Test on Zones Next. In all human probability the next test, barring accidents and incidents, will come over the demilitarized zones, although the possibility of a fresh Austrian crisis cannot be ignored. Against the day when the zone ques- Pttpn arises, too, the neighbors of Ger- many, through the medium of the present declarations at Geneva, have acquired legal and moral warrant for economic and financiel sanctions. But Germany, by contrast, has found no new way to redress her old wrongs. Thus after Geneva, as before, Europe continues to drift helplessly toward a destination which can no longer be concealed. Meanwhile, as a consequence of the recent session of the Council and its unanimous condemnation of German action, with Denmark alone abstain- ing, the chances of German return to Geneva are reduced to nil. Useful as a means for mobilizing public opin- ion in member countries against Ger- many in the future, as the League will probably prove, its value as a means for organizing world peace has been abolished. Once conceived as a partnership of all peoples, it has de- generated into another Holy Alliance with the perpetuation of a status quo satisfactory to another vic- in an article in the May American Magazine. The prediction and the a gument are clumsily clogged up with violent phrase-making and esoteric literary allusions. Nevertheless, what the general means is clear. I quote him—the italics are the general’s own: | “Write this in your hat—smoke it |in your pipe—Franklin Roosevelt is | not going to permit himself to be de- feated in 1936 * * * In spite of all the threats of disruption there will be no third party * * * I have no brief for any side, I have no inside dope, but this is too plain to ignore: If Franklin Roosevelt is pressed 1o ex- plus the dumb stubbornness of social crustaceans, he will go to the left, but he will not give up the ship. And I for one agree completely that he ought not to give up the ship.” Left Swing Predicted. Shorn of some of the cryptic ex- uberances of language, what Gen. Johnson says in this prediction and in his article as a whole is this—I in- terpret the general’s argument: “President Roosevelt from now on until the election 17 months ahead will go farther and farther toward the left, toward radicalism. Mr. Roose- velt will do this in order to assure re-election for himself. He will do it in order to prevent Senator Huey Long from building up a radical third party. Huey Long will promise the people actions more and more radical, what Gen. Johnson calls ‘bunk of balmy idealism.’ But however, far Huey Long goes in the radical direc- tion, Mr. Roosevelt will follow close behind. Thus will Mr. Roosevelt pre- vent Senator Long from building up & strong third party. Thus will Mr. Roosevelt get for himself the mass of the. radical votes. And thus will Mr. Roosevelt be re-elected.” To simplify this for the reader, let us put it this way: President Roose- velt was elected by the Democratic party ¢plus, of course, many inde- pendent voters). Within the Demo- cratic party, and within the whole body of voters who elected Mr. Roose- velt, are two groups. One group is the conservatives, the other is the radi- cals. The radicals threaten to form a third party, which action migh men- ace Mr. Roosevelt’s re-election. This threat of the radicals is a pressure upon Mr. Roosevelt. Acting in re- sponse to that pressure, Mr. Roose- velt will go farther and farther to- ward the radicals, farther and farther tremes by the bunk of balmy idealism | |Roosevelt Seen Heeding Radical Pres- Belief That Cla—ssical Orthodoxy Can Cope With Severest Crisis Is Losing Ground Rapidly. BY PERTINAX. HE “gold bloc” is In a bad way. Belgium has devalued its cur- rency and it is very difficult to foresees the repercussions of that development upon the monetary systems of Holland, Switzer- land and France. As for Italy—she seems already to | be following the example set by Ger- many; in theory, the gold content of the currency is maintained; but the whole financial and economic life of the nation is under so many restric- tions that the notion itself of cur- rency—which essentially means free- dom for the exchange of goods and | services on the national and inter- national markets—is fast disap- pearing. Anyhow, the belief of the “gold countries” that there is such a thing in monetary matters as a classical orthodoxy well able to withstand, in the long run, the onslaught of the severest crisis and triumphantly to assert itself sooner or later—this be- lief is speedily being undermined. But any prediction or forecast is made un- certain by the fact that until the very moment they embark upon a process of devaluation, the governments con- cerned must swear that it has never occurred to them that even the most insignificant monetary changes could be made. Until the last minute, the currency must, officially, be described as unchangeable. Therefore, when- ever we try to see what is ahead. we cannot rely very much upon govern- mental affirmations and denials, but must form our conclusions inde- pendently. Costs and Prices Are Crux. 1t is recognized on all sides that the fundamental problem, the problem which above all others commands attention, concerns the relation to be maintained between produetion costs and selling prices. If the classical theory is to be trusted, whenever sell- ing prices go beneath the level of producing costs, industries must cut their expenses to fall in line with the prices which the public is ready to pay for their goods. Then begins the process of the elimination of the most unfit. Among the industries concerned, those which do not succeed in cut- ting down to a sufficient extent the salaries of their workmen—the main factor in producing costs—in “ration- alizing” their output, in revising i.heirl or in burden | GOLD BLOC RECEIVES BAD BELGIAN EXAMPLE | the most inefficient producers, | deflated—but most men hardly notice of debt are compelled to wind up their business and disappear. Then, little by little, through the eliminition get tl supply of goods falls off, the demand cannot be met and prices jump higher. Such was the conception of the inner mechanism of all economic crises | which found acceptance up to a few | years ago. Nowadays this theory cannot be en- tertained any more. The industrial structure has lost its flexibility: it has become far to rigid. It cannot auto- matically readapt itself to new cir- cumstances unless perhaps a dicta- terial government powerful enough to trample upon the claims of the work- ers happens to be in office and lend assistance, gradually paving the way, | meanwhile, for the advent of an “au- tarchy,” for the severance of the na- tional community with the outside world. Unfit Often Saved. In normally coverned countries the most unfit are too often saved from disaster by governmental financial help, by the free allocation of public funds. In short, salaries are regarded as sacrosanct and no adjustment of production to consumption occurs. Row is it possible to get out of this vicious circle? It is at this point that people begin to shout for the devalua- tion of the currency, for the scrapping of the gold standard. Through the diminution of the gold content of the coin or banknote, the salaries can be it. They are deluded by appearance and words. In the Summer of 1931 British sail- ors mutinied because the cabinet con- templated lowering their pay by 10 per cent. Today their salaries, calculated in gold, have shrunk 30 or 40 per cent as a consequence of the devaluation of currency—yet they do not show any uneasiness. In the same way the de- bentures of all the industries and all the debts in general are alleviated and the greatest debtor in the land, the state, benefits more than anybody else. Taxes Have Increased. ‘To appreciate fully the position of a state which refuses to tamper with its currency, let us keep in mind that in France at the present time tax receipts correspond, if expressed in the terms of wholesale prices on the world mar- ket, to three times their amount in 1929. It is asserted by statisticians that while the national revenue has | itant leadership and something like join, against the administration’s program on this subject. The troubles over the Costigan-Wagner anti-lynch- | ing bill, with its threat of a serious party split, may not be overlooked. While such conditions obtain, | largely indicative of the protest of conservative Democratic chieftains | against phases of the New Deal, the radicals are not silent. | ‘The vitriolic direct attack of Sen- | ator Huey P. Long of Louisiana on | President Roosevelt, while minimized in some quarters, must not be lightly dismissed. in the opinion of . many | competent observers who saw the milling crowds at the Capitol wanting to hear the Senator speak, but un- able to find room in the galleries. It is widely regarded here as not at all unlikely that Senator Long in 1936, regardless of whether he runs for President, will be able to lead many voters who supported Mr. Roosevelt in 1932 in some other direction. Pension Reprisals Hinted. | It is the fashion to regard the Townsend old-age pension movement | | as squelched since the House a short | | time ago, with but 33 votes in dissent, | passed the administration’s modified | social security bill. Nevertheless, it | is worthy of notice that a new flood | of letters descended on the Capitol | this week, in which the writers asked members how they voted on the Townsend measure. The implication of political reprisals is plain. The abler political leaders in Con- gress who are actively supporting or | going along with the administration’s policies are far from blind to what is | happening. | And they are not a little perturbed | over it. They see months of turmoil | and controversy ahead of Congress, | with possibilities that the session will | run into August or September, and with insurgency getting worse. The difficulties arising over dispensation of works and relief funds, not only | in Louisiana but in such States as| Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois and | Ohio, are not comforting. { If the Democratic leaders really ex- | pected a thorough-going reorganiza- tion of the Republican party soon, with development of an able and mil- unity and cohesion, they would be | alarmed over the prospects for 1936. But, viewing the inconsequential ef- forts of the Republicans in the House and the Senate this session, they can- not bring themselves to believe that they will have a strong opposition. The Kansas luncheon at the Cap- itol the other day, though marked by many outward expressions of a pur- pose to rehabilitate the Republican party, also showed widely differing views under the surface. For in- stance, the ideas of Senator William E. Borah of Idaho and of some of his sympathizers, and of “Old Guard” chiefs, were as far apart as ever. Borah in Foreground. Since then, while the Midwestern Republican conference and other re- gional Republican conferences are be- ing promoted in the hope that they will unite and energize the party, Sen- ator Borah is promoting a meeting of independent and progressive Repub- licans at Chicago in the next few months. Senator Borah is demanding as strongly as ever that the old-time conservative Republican leaders step back, and declares that, unless tbey do or unless they are driven into the background, the Republican party will go down to another disastrous defeat ‘Were it not for the internal dissen- sions of the Republican party, the growth of revolt in their own ranks would jeopardize continued Democratic control of the House, to say nothing of the effect on the 1936 presidential contest. As it is, the Democrats, though working to organize for the next congressional campaign. are con- vinced that they can hold the House, and that President Roosevelt will bg returned. The repeated “nuus from Demo- @ | ruptey. national calamity, national ca- | He listed direct Government obliga- tions of more than $40,000,000,000 and indirect and contingent obligations of at least $5,000.000,000. He feared that this total of more than $45,000,000,000 soon would be run up to $55,000,000. 000 or more. He maintained that this threatened impairment of Government credit, with destruction of “the land- lords and tenants, the merchants and the bankers, the professional men and the working men.” And Senator Bailey, conservative Democrat from North Carolina, sounded the alarm that the country was being driven into “Federal socialism.” It is true that the Bankhead proj- ect for Government-aided purchase of farms for tenants is not known as an administration measure. However, it is in line with much of the New Deal program, such as subsistence home- steads, and it is generally supported by administration Senators. Nn sug- gestion is given that the measure | would not be approved by the Presi- dent. The Senate, after long debate ard two unsuccessful attempts, recom- mitted the bill to the Committee on Agriculture, with instructions to re- port back May 12. While this action delays the measure, it does not kill it. It is the purpose of the bi!l's spon- sor. Senator John H. Bankhead of Alabama, to press it again later in the session. It seems likely to pass in some form, although it is believed widely by Senators that if Government financing of farm purchases is once entered on it will mean ultimately that the Government debt will be en- larged by billions. But the speeches and remarks which are made openly in Congress and especially in the Senate, are far from being the only symptoms of in- surgency in the majority party. The talk in the cloak rooms and corridors is far more strenuous and bitter. Not | a little of the New Deal program. in- cluding new legislation sought by the White House this session, is roundly denounced in private by Senators who, for political reasons, do not care to “talk out in meeting.” In other words, there is more scope and strength to the protest in the Democratic party than the Congressional Recerd indi- cates. Repatriated Chinese Colonizing Farm Area NANKING, China (#)—Driven out of the United States and other coun- tries by the depression, scores of over- seas Chinese have returned to China tc make a new start on farms pro- vided for them by the Chinese gov- ernment. A tract of 1,000 acres of waste land in Anhwei Province, 80 miles south of here, is being colonized by the desti- tute, repatriated Chinese. They have founded a new town, | which they call “Overseas Village of Happiness,” and they are energetically tackling the task of restoring the land to productivity. About 200 families have been settle on the tract by the government Through credit co-operative societies they are receiving government loans to tide them over until crops are har- vested and sold. “Model” homes are being built in the village by the government. They are rented to the returned emigrante at a nominal rate. The Chinese government got the idea for this colonization scheme from a similar project started 22 years ago by Jung Kwei-Kan, a Chinese who had returned to his homeland from Panama. Jung's colony has grown steadily and today has a population of 900, nearly all of whom are re- patriated citizens. Largest of Fountains Being Built in Secret OSLO, Norway (#).—What is claim- ed to be the largest fountain in the world, as well as the most expensive one, is being constructed here. It is being made under cover, with enough mystery to keep Norway in suspense for several years to come. It is to be placed, when completed, in Frogner Park in Oslo, to form & tremendous array of terraces, pillars, sculpture and babbling water. The whole is to be topped by a monolith, hewn from solid granite, rising 65 feet above the ground, and placed at the top of a hill. No estimates of the final cost are available, except by popular judgment, but it is believed that the last ac- counting will show more than 5,000,- 000 kroner (about $1,250,000) to have been expended. The fountain is the plan and work of Gustav Vigeland, greatest of Nor- wegian sculptors, who first submitted plans for its construction in 1900. For 35 years, work on the project has pro- ceeded without interruption and growing in scope. Gu;de for REGJEP‘S Editorial .. Civic Affairs Organizations Fraternal News Cross-Word Puzzle