Evening Star Newspaper, June 9, 1935, Page 35

Editorial Page Civic Activities Part 2—12 Pages WORLD RECOVERY FOUND OF SUPERFICIAL NATURE International Labor Office Head Finds Depreciation of Currency Is Aiding Some Countries. BY ALBIN E. JOHNSON. ENEVA. — Representatives of more than 60 countrie attending the nineteenth an- nual conference of the In- | ternational Labor Office, will be confronted with some arresting facts as to the social consequences of the depression when they begin the debate upon Director Harold But- | ler's yearly report next week. Based upon exhaustive study of the labor, financial, industrial and social situa- tions in every country of the world. the report shatters mapy hitherto sacred orthodox economic theories. It covers every aspect of the present world economic situation. according to latest available official and un- | official reports and statistics and will undoubtedly precipitate heated de- bates between workers, employers and government representatives who are here in full force. For the first time both are represented with full delegations while Japan and Brazil, who withdrew from the League, are maintaining their relations with the Labor Office. Only Germany, among civilized na- tions, is absent. Among the conclusions reached by Director Butler and his expert ad- visers on financial, economic and so- cial questions are: (1) That, while 1934 saw a distinct advance over 1933, world recovery is &till superficial rather than funda- mental. Advances in some countries are counter-balanced by losses in others and world opinion has not acquired confidence in the new eco- homic system which is emerging. (2) Only seven countries—Aus- tralia, Denmark. Germany have less than twice as much unem- ployment today as they had in 1929. Five countries—Belgium Czechoslo- vakia, France, Holland and Poland— suffered more severely in 1934 than in the two previous years. Depreciation Aids Recovery. (3) Countries which depreciated their currencies have started along the road to recovery, while those which have kept their exchanges at parity, with one or two exceptions, are faring badly. In other words, inflationary policies have brought relief, while de- flationary policies have proved futile in halting the crisis. «4) Public works programs, except where undertaken on a gigantic scale, have had no important results either in reducing unemployment or stimu- lating general economic activity. 5) Reduction of working hours, which is gaining headway in many countries, furnishes only a partial remedy for unemployment, but is be- coming recognized as an inevitable and indispensable economic reform. (6) Reduction of wages, as a means of cutting costs. has served to increase rather than ameliorate unemploy- ment, in the past, no longer are applicable to modern conditions. (7) Social insurance—for old age sickness, unemployment, etc.—instead of being destroyed by the dozged per- sistence of the depression. has on the contrary been given new impetus. (8) Practically all the progress thus far made against the depression has been the result of national effort and limited to the national field. Before recovery can become general and world wide, international action must be taken to stabilize currencies. re- move trade barriers «nd dissipate ex- isting political uncertainty Change in Economic Thought. “One of the revelations, and an outstanding lesson in the present de- pression,’ says Butler, “is the pro- found psychological change that is coming over economic thinking. It has been brought home to every peo- ples, every government and every group—whether conservative or rad- ical, democratic or dictatorial in com- plexion—that the present scarcity is due not to any failure of nature, but to & human failure io make products of nature available to those who need them. It is therefore expected that governments devote ‘he same energy, ingenuity and attention to the pr vision of the elementairy needs of food, clothing and shelter on a civ- ilized scale as to the pirovision of air communications, wireless services and elaborate systems of national de- fense.” In analyzing unemployment and monetary policies, Butler arrives at the conclusion that “the countries which are seeking to keep their ex- change at parity are faring decidedly worse (in 1934) than those which resorted to depreciation or revalua- tion.” Japan, which depreciated early, elearly shows the oest employment record among industrial nations to- | day. Sweden is making remarkable advances with a combined cheap money policy and public works pro- gram. Exports are incrcasing rapidly and unemployment is disappearing. Other countries which are profiting by depreciated currencics are: Den- mark, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Britain, Canada. Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Czechoslovakia and the | United States. Deflation Unsuccessful. Switzerland, Holland, France, Italy, Poland and to a certain extent Bel- gium before her recent devaluation of the franc, have all found deflationary policies more or less unsuccessful in combating the depression and unem- ployment. Wage reductions, one cof the favorite methods of lowering production costs and combating previous depressions, have resulted in growing unemploy- ment and increased industrial stag- nation wherever tried, it is contended. “The experience of the last 12 months confirms the deductions made on last year's observations, that the reduction of costs, mainly at the ex- pense of wages, has not ameliorated unemployment, but has, on the con- trary, increased it,” says Butler. Pros- perity of industry is intimately bound up with wages and salaries which now represent by far the largest propor- tion of the aggregate purchasing power of a nation. In Britain, where recovery is marked, . previous cuts in wages of public servants, railway and indus- | trial workers have oeen wholly or partially restored. The average week- ly wage now is 96 per cent of the f:re-depression level. In the Uniteg the United States and Soviet | Russia, now members of the I. L. O, | Great | Britain, Japan, Norway and Sweden— | Deflationary policies, effective | | States hourly earnings are 98 per cent | of the 1929 figure | “On the other hand.,” says Butler's | report, “it is noticeable and probably | significant that in 3elgium, Czecho- slovakia, Italy, Poland and other states where wages continued to de- cline there was little or no reduction pf unemployment.” The institution of the 40-hour or less working week is proving a pallia- tive at least, but is not a sovereign remedy for unemployment, it is stated. Italy, where the 40-hour week is com- pulsory, 1eported more than 200.000 workers re-employed as a result of the reform. In Czechoslovakia, where the reform is to be made legal, about | 10 per cent of the industrial unem- | “ployed will be benefited, according to the minister of social welfare. Ger- | many, Luxemburg, Great Britain. | among other countries, are trying out the scheme with certain success. Gains in Industrial Nations. “Under the continued pressure of the depression the idea is making con- siderable headway in many industrial nations,” says Butler, “and the con- viction is gaining ground that shorter hours may not only offcr a means of spreading work in times of depres- sion, but it may also be the logical and necessary consequence of the en- hanced productive power now at the service of industry. Public opinion is beginning to demand that workers ! should be allowed a larger share of that leisure which is the greatest gift of machinery to mankind."” Public works projects have proved beneficial only where they are financed by loans rather than taxa- tion, it is argued. Increasing of taxation in times of depression hin- ders fresh enterprise and tends to dis- place men from private industry. Fur- thermore, it is contended that “public works are economically effective in combating depression only when ac- companied by an expanionist mone- tary policy.” Unless undertaken where they have a definite economic value, and as & result of comprehensive planning, and placed under a perma- nent authority, they are merely “re- lief measures” and are palliatives. Public wotks schemes have proved beneficial only where they have been carried dut on a giganuc scale, such as in the United States, Germany, Sweden and Italy. In Great Britain, where the amount spent .n the United States in one year is spread out over 15 years. the effect of 10ad building and public development has been rel- atively unimportant. | Great Britain, on the other hand has demonstrated the désiFability of social and unemployment insurance. | Instead of restricting and abandoning the system, the English, who have had | the greatest experience in the field, | have reorganized and extended it. Re- lief now begins at the school-leaving | age and covers agricultural labor, Value of Aid Recognized. “The economic value of the enor- mous sums paid out by governments | to aid their unemployed is being | widely recognized,” says Mr. Butler, | | adding that: “At a time when the flow of purchasing power is reduced | through the absence of demand for | credit and the decline of fresh in- | vestments the sums made available by the public purse to afford a mini- mum of subsistence to the unemployed have the effect of maintaining their consuming capacity in a limited degree | and thus of insuring a larger and faster circulation of money than would otherwise be the case.” | Governments which are extending their social legislation include Canada, South Africa, the United States, Fin- land. Sweden, Poland. Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, Chile and Germany. Countries which are initiating or | extending compulsory social insurance are Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, | Finland, Norway, Peru and Spain. | Unemployment, as it stood in 1934 | compared to 1929, is shown by the | following chart. 1934. | 185 210 1.485 | 320 789 | 143 | 3.745 | 146 162 320 128 | 399 199 | 333 177 44 1929, 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 . 100 . 100 2 | 100 255 | Australia . Austria . Belgium Canada “ Czechoslovakia .. Denmark . France Germany .... Great Britain. Italy .. . Japan . | Holland | Norway . Poland .. Sweden Switzerland United States........ | The above indi are based upon | | trade union returns,. unemployment | insurance statistics, employment ex- | change figures and official estimates. | The peak of world unemployment was reached in the Autumn of 1932. Since then there has been a steady fall, interrupted slightly the beginning of the Summer of 1934 until to date. | —_— “Village Discipline” Cuts Finland’s Crime HELSINGFORS (#).—An old form | of “village discipline,” including or- ganization of vigilance committees, has been resurrected in many places | |in Finland in a campaign against | drunkenness and various forms of crime. This form of discipline, used in co- | operation with local police forces, in- | cludes the complete social and eco- nomic isolation of persons who re- fuse to conduct themselves properly. It is administered usually by a com- | mittee of three to five men, elected at a meeting of all residents of a parish or community. These men in turn organize a “storm troop” of | picked men to issue warnings and if | necessary do police work. | The psychological effect of such | organization of community disapprov- al has in many cases, it is reported, | brought an appreciable reduction in | erime. Crime in Finland continues, accord- | ing to official statistics, an important | problem. The daily population of Finland's prisons, it is pointed out, is as large as that of all prisons in Sweden, Norway and Denmark to- | gether. Each year some 40.000 per- sons, out of Pinland’s population of | about 3,500,000, are sentenced to prison. » ! fanatic, | mess,” did any degree of objectivity EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunday Star WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE History’s Rabble-Rousers Through All Ages The Professor of Economics Administration at Lehigh University ID vou ever read the life of Peter the Hermit? It 1is highly relevants reading just | now. He lived in the twelfth century, a little over 800 years ago. He was a rageged. ill- favored priest, half mad and wholly who conceived the idea of leading the people of Europe in a holy war to recover the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. There were no radios in the vear 1096. and Peter reached ihe | people by preaching directly. Month | after month he journeved over Fran-e and Germany, inflaming the masses to war upon the infidel Turk. Consider the people of that time— | dumb, driven human cattle, leading short and brutal lives of indescribable dirt, disease. poverty and ignorance.' The average peasant of that day was never 5 miles away from the hovel in which, along with the pigs and sheep, he was born and lived. He never understood what country he lived in, never knew who governed him, what caused disease. why the sun rose. Peter went among them telling them that eternal saliation awaited all those who followed him to Palestine And 300.000 of these deluded vic- tims set out upon this first crusade- a blind rabble. men. women and little children. starting out afoot for an un- known destination, without food or equipment. For months the mob Promises Flood America. moved eastward, loqting. burninz raping. killing all in their path. They stopped long enough in one place to kill 10,000 helpless Jews. None Reached Jerusalem. | As the sinister but pathetic mob moved onward the peoples whose lands they ravished rose and slaugh- tered them for the mad dogs they were. For 1.000 miles through Eu- rope their bones made fertilizer for foreign soil. Not one escaped: not one reached Jerusalem. Thus the rabble-rouser. weaving his spell over ignorance, did his evil work 800 years ago. | fore the birth of Christ, a schem: ‘There were others long before Peter and long after, even unto our owr day. There was Catiline in Rome, be- g aristocrat inflaming the slaves to re- bellion and promising to wipe out all debts. There was priest of Kent Wat Tvler. Here w of quite another kind. It while to look at these two. in the fourteenth century hard for the common man that the life of our modern dwellers, even in the midst of a depression, is incomnarably easier. In Ball his the “mad co Have Led Men to Disaster in Pursuit of the Unattainable. the middle of the century an awful | pestilence swept over Europe, a ghastly pall of death that spread over u numbered millions. And in strict ac- cordance with one of those principles of economics which high political au- thority says economists change every 5 or 10 years, wages weni up. Statute of Labourers. ‘The government of that day es tablished an N. R. A. called the Statute of Labourers. It was strangely like our own comedy of regimenta- tion of 1933, for it was devised by the King's advisers and approved by the big business men of the year 1350. Its objective was ostensibly to improve the condition of the common man, but actually it operated to give mo- nopoly profits to enterprise and to prevent laborers from getting the wages the Black Death had given them. In due time a grievous poll- ax was devised by the brain trusters and added to the burdens of the poor. And this John Ball went about ngland preaching revolt. Believe it not. John Ball in 1381 was a share- the-wez advocate. He preached equality of w h. the abolition of titles and class distinctions, and what led Communism. he urged the t down and exterminate He was excommunicated by his church and repeatedly jailed. But the revolt burst into flame and Wat Tyler led a mob that captured Lon- (Continued on Fifth Page.) Europe Now Is Rumor-Mad Nationalistic Fanaticisms and Mass Lunacies of Cults Described by Observer of Old World Trends. National Conference of and Christians. HE four hectic weeks in Europe from which I have just re-| turned were all too brief for | the long audiences with a | score of Italain, French, Ger- man and Swiss leaders and the many talks with common folk which were | crowded into them. Such experiences make one feel like a barn through which the winds of many speculations have been whistling. Not until my ship ploughed westward from Europe, away from what a Christian professor of philosophy called *“a hell of a Director. | Jews become possible. Europe today is a continent of col- lective lunacies. I realized this from the moment a mysterious letter reached me on the boat going over. “Be careful what you write to me in Munich,” warned this note from a friend, handed me even before the ship had docked. “My mail is opened.” In Paris a Quaker reported to me a crude device he had fashioned to muffie his voice in a phone on the continent. Even so, he, a pacifist and an “internationalist” was in constant dread of tapped wires. In Italy a gentleman of splendid refinement and independent achieve- ment cautiously scrutinized the room before he would venture an honest estimate of the latest Caesar in his land. A Christian German clergy- man, calling on an American clergy- man in a Berlin hotel, sent up a fake name to avoid a record of his visit. “Whispering countries” is the only phrase that fits. Hostilities are in the | air. And there is an element of mad- | ness about it all. Neo-Nationalists Hysterical. ‘The mass lunacies of cults are com- plicated by nationalistic fanaticisms. Nor are these restricted to the do-| mains of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. Totalitarian chauvinisms in ghe great | war planes every day.” | gets impetus from this situation. Some | war will break next Autumn, | ting so accustomed to adjusting to HEMMED 1IN, stupid. tremely countries. are slightly hysterical. Take for example, the Germans. A | Nazi lawyer with whom I talked said: | “We know the French think there are | 65,000,000 too many Germans. are afraid, because the world wants to annihilate Teutonic civilization.” | The result? Italians, French and | British, themselves terrified, discover that “Germany is manufacturing 14 “The. Nazis are hiding huge air hangars, below ground, along every frontier.” “They are widening arterial cavalcade high- ways.” And the blunt announcement | by Germany that she plans system- atfc military training is read with hypocritical condemnation by mili- tarized France, Italy and Russia. Loose Talk About War, Much loose talk about another war nationalistic prophets said war would come out of Stresa. It did not. Others guess It prob- ably will not. More intricate esti- mates calculate that in Germany, Italy and France the economic po- sition of each government is tracing a downward curve while their military expenditures are mounting on a dis- tinctly rising curve: “At the point where those two curves cross each other the next war will come.” “The Spring of 1938!” reckoned one | journalist. But his fatalistic figuring is too similar to that of some of my pre-millennialist Bible friends, who are predicting the end of the world precisely, to be convincing. The no- tion is spread among increasing circles of thoughtful Europeans that in this generation the human species is get- tensions, without much violence, that we are learning to take & crisis in | our stride. A strong ecase ean be.argued by | men mobilized. |in a game of checkers, | forced move is that the Germans are democracy, for instance; but there is, biologically speaking, an even more fundamental conflict being felt—a will-to-live in one nation that seeks nation. Domination Seen Necessary. ‘The nub of the trouble at this point lies in the fact that each party be- lieves that survival depends upon physical domination. To be specific: Germans understand that the New Ttaly, a nation of only 40,000,000 has three 2-year classes of youth in active training, which means 600,000 in addition to boy brigades and older reserve forces. As the next driven to think that, in defense of German civilization, they must unify all Germanic peoples from the North Sea to the Bosphorus. This possibility, in turn, wildly ex- cites Danubian countries, as well as non-German Western Europe, to even more furious preparations for hostili- ties. If Hitler successfully swarms all the 95,000,000 Germanic-blooded Europeans, then, the other nations believe, Goering’s gangster methods would soon Germanize the whole of Europe. Who wants Streicher bru- tality and Rosenberg paganism to dominate the world? “Put an iron ring around Germany” is the prevail- ing reaction. At the same time the common people of every country want peace— want it almost pathetically. Every one has nightmares over the surprises | acter must be applied to political and | in death-dealing contrivances another war would bring. The ordinary man and woman in Europe today will with- stand almost any crisis rather than let loose the gas. fire and germs of |teaches that the injunction to over- | a new war. “The young chaps in Germany know that it means a kind of personal suicide,” oo 27-year-old | | BY EVERETT R. CLINCHY, PH. D, | dictatorships are aggravated by the | those who claim war is inescapable, | Nazi told me. “A war will introdvte slow statesmanship of ex-? however suicidal it would seem. Not | barbaric Dark Ages,” an Italian Fascist democratic | only are there irreconcilable philoso- | said grimly. All the neo-nationalists | phies, as totalitarian clashes with | Many Europeans are saying that, ,‘In spite of the pathological na- tionalisms, only politicians in a com- plete daze or dictators sliding from popularity would be fools enough to We | to deny the will-to-live in another | meet any crisis with an act of wai | I have come to fear the romantic statesman even more than such poli- | ticians or dictators. It is the romantic nature that is now surrendering to extreme pessimism with regard to war. The romanticist believes he can live in an environment without tensions and conflicts. He cherishes an illu- sion that the only way to save him- self and his little fragment of civili- zation is to suppress every idea and every force in conflict with him. He | looks at war as a conflict to end con- | flicts. The basic error of this posi- | tion is the notion that tensions and conflicts are necessarily destructive. The present-day lesson for man to |learn is that tensions and conflicts | between groups of men are essential | to progress, and can be made creative | | —can be civilized. The religious teach- ing applicable to this principle affirms the relation of humanity to a spiritual | man conflicts can be transcended and | spiritual values realized. | Evil for Evil Bad Politics. Despite the war mania so prevalent | in Europe today an increasing number. | of statesmen are coming to believe | that war is a romantic illusion. in the effort to prevent its outbreak they are realizing that principles which are basically religious in char- economic situations. To meet evil with evil is slowly coming to be re- garded as not only poor religion but | bad politics. Practical statesmanship come evil with good applies not only to individuals but to nations. Thzluwnxo:ua’utmtuurnnm | power by appropriation of which hu- | And | Special Articles Travel — Resorts GOVERNMENTAL CHANGES SEEN N. R. A. AFTERMATH Revisions in Federal Form in Near Future Will Have Counterpart in States and Cities. BY JOHN SNURE. AST changes in the form of the Federal Government, with cor- responding changes in State and local governments, will be attempted in the next two or three years. This fact becomes more evident daily as the aftermath of the recent decisions of the Supreme Court in the Schechter case and other cases. ‘The overshadowing question, in Con- and out, is these changes, or the more important on will be brought about. Among the proposed changes are one or more amendments to the Con- stitution which, it is generally be- | lieved, President Roosevelt plans to | try to force to ratification. However, | the movement does not stop Wwith | amendment of the Constitution. Vari- ous proposals are being urged in Con- gress to curtail the powers of the courts to pass on the constitutionality of legislation. Some even go so far as to prevent the Supreme Court from considering the constitutionality of acts of Con- gress, or. in other words, to make a |law of Congress a finality. And. as usually happens when the Supreme Court hands down a decision displeas ing to any large element, there is ta of trying to make the court ove though that sort of discussion has much less force than it would have had if the court had not been unani- mous in the N. R. A. decision. Can't Single Out Individuals. Men who would have been quick- est to assail the Supreme Court as re- actionary in this instance fir cult to single out such progr Justices Louis D. Brandeis Stone and Benjamin N ttack. or to assail Charles E. Hughes as backwari ing view of the manner in which he frequently has been aligned with the liberals. Hence the criticism of the N. R. A. and Frazier-Lemke deci- sions are aimed at the court, rather than at individuals. Chief attention here is being cen- tered. from a practical viewpoin the expected drive by the President to amend the Constitution so as to en- large greatly Federal power ov trastate commerce. which way of saying the ordina and commerce of the coun administration has not come forw with such a proposed amendment is true, but opinion has become set- tled that it proposes to press for one g "ves, as the months go y. that there is likelihood of rat cation Is the country in a mood to rati | such amendment or amendments as the devotees of the now demolished N. R. A. have in mind? Is it possible for President Roosevelt, after a cam- paign in which he will appeal to the public with arguments that change in | the Constitution and expansion of Federal power are indispensable, to | bring about ratification by three- | fourths of the States? ‘ Differences Are Wide. | Amazing differences of opinion are | expressed. Senator William E. Borah | progressive Republican. of Idaho, who in a recent address upheld the Su- | preme Court and the Constitution and stood for the doctrine that the peo- ple alone could change that in: ment, predicted that the Pres would “ride to a fall” if he sought to enlarge Federal intrastate power and break down State and local authority. Many observers assert that a ma- jority of the States will refuse ratifi- cation. Others say the South alone will stand out so stoutly as to block such amendments. But. on the other hand, it is not difficult to find plenty of N. R. A enthusiasts and devoted friends of the President who declare that he will sweep both South and North if he carries to the country in the 1936 campaign the issue of expansion of | Federal power. ‘Those, who believe that the Presi- dent can muster public support base this view in part on his popularity. They base it largely, too, on the be- lief that organized labor, farmers and many business men will back the President in such a contest. Nobody disputes, of course, that, if the Presi- dent forces the issue in 1936, it will cut across party lines and cause much shifting of party attachments It is contended, however, that in any event the Democratic party ma- chinery and the bulk of Democratic voters will go along with him. Labor, it is argued, will be influenced by its purpose to have wages, hours and con- ditions of work regulated. and most farmers will be motivated by a de- sire to have Federal benefit payments continued. Opposing Opinion. The opposing view is that the N R. A, especially in recent months, had become unpopular; that its pass- ing is far from deplored in the aver- age community, whether by smaller business men, farmers or consumers; that even much of labor was dissatis- fied with the N. R. A. and felt the codes were trending to monopoly with increases in prices that tended to off- set wage benefits; that many farmers are unw to support such en- largeme: Federal power as will restore e N. R. A, program, and, besides, that many are far from con- vinced that the A. A. A. program should continue permanently Moreover, it is held that there is wide and deep-seated prejudice against clothing the Government with greatly expended powers, especially when proposed as permanent, rather not as emergent Oppone: f such changes point to the coldr with which many Democratic leaders. especiallv veteran Southern Democratic Senators and Representatives, have received the proposals. Some have declared openly against amendment of the Consti- tution to meet the situation. Moreover, it is asserted that a great army of State and local officials will awaken to the fact that an increase in Federal authority will mark the beginning of the end of much State and local government machinery, with the importance of, all State and local officials, from Governors down, on the decline. It held further that, if Federal intrastate power is clamped down to end the commerce theory of e ng fathers.” it will mean Federal authority will grow by bounds in every direction: the executive power at Was ington, regardless of who is in the White House, will be more insistent: that Congress will be more pliable in the presidential hands: that the States will turn to the National Cap- ital for help more and more. Nation-wide Debate Seen, It is obvious that. if the President throws the issue into the next cam- paign in earnest, there will be a Nation-wide debate next year as bit- ter as those that led to the election of Lincoln, those in the reconstruc- tion era, and the fight over silver and Bryanism. Vari plans are being suggested for raising the constitutional amend- ssue in 1936. These assume, of . that the President intends to the issue. One suggestion is the Democratic National Con- vention adopt a plank in favor of amending the Constitution and that the President carry the fight to the country. Then, having been elected, s friends say he will be. he will call on Congress early in January, 1937, for submission of one or more amendments, bend Congress to his will, and seek quick ratification and rapid action on new laws by Congress. Some observers envision all this be- ing achieved by Spring of 1937. But there are others, equally, who declare it all a dream. (Copyright. 1835.) ‘Monastery Where Boris Godunov Lies | Is Crumbling After Four Centuries ZAGORSK, U. S. S. R—When they want to give the Moscow public a special treat in the way of opera’ they put on “Boris Godunov” at the Bolshoi Theater. Either Pirogov or Mark Raisin drapes himself in a six- teeath century outfit of gold brocade to look like Ivan the Terrible's suc- | cessor and in deep bass tones carries the audience back to the days when Russian despots were cruel but color- ful. Here in the Troitsko-Sergievskava Lavra, a mere 44 miles from Moscow, the ashes of the real Boris mold away beside a cobbled courtyard swimming in mud and nobody thinks anything of it. Certainly, at least. not the red- «osed little boys who keep begging “Uncle, give us a bit of bread” or the mangy local peasants . whose | thoughts, if any, are also completely on ‘their stomachs. After all, the ashes of the mighty | Boris have not fared much worse | than the monastery itself, which has suffered as much from neglect in the last 17 years as it did during the famous siege of 1608 and 1609. when | it withstood a Polish army for 16 months. Only the massive pinacled wall of mellow red brick surrounding the grounds is much as it always was, three or four centuries ago. Serfs | though they were, the old Russians | built well. | Art Is Decaying. | | Water seeps through priceless fres- coes in the fifteenth century Cathe- dral of the Trinity and in the en- trance the paint applied by the brush of some ancient master is already peeling off i long strips. “Yes” says the old caretaker, “something ought to be done about it.” To visit the “treasury” of the mon- astery, in a plain little building back | of the Cathedral of the Trinity, is like wandering from a dark alley into | Tiffany’s. Vacant spots in the cases | religion is to make a contribution to the solution of the problems that face | the world order it must itself resist the | intrusion of the tribal lunacies that | obsess a large fraction of humanity today and keep itself free from the | corrupting influences which every- | where about it are provoking war | mummunga few stray tourists ever see it. show that some things have been re- moved. but you can still get a fair idea of the $350.000.000 collection which occupied the three small rooms before the war. In one case lies a set of gold orna- ments studded with diamonds, emer- alds and 22 large star sapphires; in another stands a metropolitan’s miter encrusted with diamonds and contain- ing one $10,000 ruby; in still another is draped an altar cloth covered with thousands of pearls the size of peas. It is the sort of a collection which only an Eastern potentate or a Rus- sian would think of making and only a Russian would think of keeping way out here in the country where only a A lone man with a holster at his side stands guard in the dim corridor outside, Stops Flood of Pilgrims. ‘The village of Zagorsk has not bene- fitted much by the Bolshevik's anti- religious campaign which has auto- matically stopped the flood of pilgrims who once flocked here at the rate of 100.000 a vear to worship at the shrine of St. Sergius. Peasants swarm about in the deep mud of the market place just below the Lavra wall, haggling with one another over petty odds and ends and feeding their scrawny horses. A drunk creates a disturbance and some one shouts for the police as a bearded companion tries to hush him up “Shame on you for going about in those nice shoes without rubbers.” says a motherly peasant woman, “I thought foreigners knew better.” “I know,” says an old fellow com- ing up to make conversation. “You're a foreigner and you've come to see the monastery. “Sure, that’s right.” “So. Yes, I knew, I kne' And yet they say that Russian peas- ants are stupid. (Copyright. 1935.) Gu;de for Readers PART TWO. Editorial Civic Affairs . Fraternal News ...... Organization Activities. Resorts 2eseses