Evening Star Newspaper, August 23, 1935, Page 2

COAL BILL ACTION RAISES ARGUMENT Taft Stand on Bill Under Similar Circumstances Is Cited. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. Congress has heard this week and last an amazing series of arguments | as to why the precedents established by the Supreme Court should be ig- nored in the passage of legislation. ‘The Guffey-Snyder coal bill pre- cipitated the controversy. President Roosevelt had advised Congress to pass the measure irrespective of any doubts members might have as to constitutionality. The Attorney Gen- eral had declined to say publicly that he believed the bill constitutional. i Much stress was laid during the de- | bate on an argument which this cor- respondent first emphasized, namely, # message from President Taft to Congress in February, 1913, in which He argued that Congress should not pass the buck to the courts, but should decide for itself whether a bill was or was not constitutional. It so happened that Mr, Taft be-| lieved the measure then under con- | sideration — the Webb-Kenyop bill, | regulating interstate traffic in intoxi- cating liquors—was not constitutional and he submitted a carefully thought | out opinion by Attorney General | Wickersham to support his view. The | Congress passed the bill over Mr. | Taft's veto and subsequently a divided Supreme Court—Justice Holmes and Justice Vandevanter dissenting—up- beld the constitutionality of the act. Likelihood of Reversal. Unfortunately, the members of Con- What’s What '| Behind News In Capital British See Much to Be Excited About i in African Dispute. BY PAUL MALLON. HE British seem to be more ex- cited about Ethiopia than any- thing since the World War. The King and cabinet could not be acting more gravely if the Italian conquest were going to be staged in the yard at Buckingham Palace instead of in duskiest Africa. A story is going around that what has shaken customary British reserve is the prospect that the Italians will cut the Ethiopian headwaters of the Nile and thus ruin British interests down the river. It is true that the modern Romans intend to come very close to Lake Tsana, which feeds the Nile, The lake is only 150 miles back up in Ethiopia and just of the direct Italian route to Addis Ababa. But you may accept as a flat fact that the British have already taken that matter up with Mussolini. He has given them private assurances that he will guarantee British drain- age rights if he conguers the territory. reason to feel safe with Mussolini in control than they have had under Ethiopian rule. Mussolinl's interest is in soil, not water. gress and the administration spokes- | 2K men stopped here when they related the episode. They did not refer to Xhe fact that the decision was gen- prally regarded as likely to be reversed, and when it came to the writing of a hew constitutional amendment to re- ‘place the eighteenth so0 great was the doubt among constitutional law- yers as to the correctness of the Su- | preme Court’s interpretation of the | Webb-Kenyon law that Congress by | two-thirds vote of both Houses decided to incorporate in the repeal amend- ment a provision which put into the Constitution the very terms of the | ‘Webb-Kenyon act which had oeen Questioned. Thus, the twenty-first amendment | today contains this section: “The transportation or importation | into any State, Territory, or possession | of the United States for delivery or | use therein of intoxicating liquors in | violation of the laws thereof is nereby prohibited.” President Taft Vindicated. Mr. Taft was thus vindicated and incidentally it was a Democratic President of the United States, Frank- | lin Roosevelt, who had more to do | with the adoption of that amend- ment than any other man’in public | life. | When the twenty-first amendment | was under consideration in Congress it was given intensive study by the Judiciary Committee of the Senate. ‘The late Senator Blaine, chairman of the committee, in reporting the reso- lution to the Senate, said: “The committee felt that since Congress had acted and had definitely legislated upon this question (ie., the Webb-Kenyon act), and while that legislation had been sustained by the | Supreme Court, yet it was sustained by a divided court and that we could | well afford to guarantee to the so- called dry States the protection de- signed by section 2." Now as to the Guffey bill, the prece- dents of the Supreme Court are clear, the latest being the decision in the Schechter case, which was delivered not by a divided court but by a unan- imous bench. Every issue contained in the Guffey bill has been passed upen either in the Schechter case or in the second “child labor case” which was an 8-to-1 decision of the Supreme Court. Guffey Bill Action. Tn the face of such a preponderance ©f Supreme Court utterances, Congress passed the Guffey bill, and the pre- sumption is that many members felt they would meet punishment either from the labor groups or from the ad- ministration at the polls if they did Dot vote to pass the act. The Supreme Court unquestionably will hold the Guffey bill invalid. Every important and corhpetent legal au- thority outside of the political realm which has expressed an opinion on this question indicates that the meas- ure goes beyond the Constitution in several respects. The fnere fact that the Depertment of Justice refused even privately to go on record as be- lieving the bill eonstitutional is suspicion enough that even the ad- ministration knows the bill is of doubtful validity. But the coal unions are threatening 8 strike and Mr. Roosevelt has yielded to their coercion and has put the full ‘weight of his office behind the pro- posed law. What Mr. Taft advised ‘when he was President was that Con- gress should not transfer its.respon- &ibility to the Supreme Court. The fact that Mr. Taft’s view on the case in question happened at the time to be reversed by a divided court does not substract one fota from the prin- ciple he expressed to a Congress which at that time was acting at the behest of the dry organizations and not on the merits of constitutionality as it then construed them. Support of Constitution, Bhall Congress bow to group pres- sure even when it knows an act is likely to be declared invalid? The oath of office requires & member to support and preserve the Constitution, which means the clearly expressed de. ciglons of the Supreme Court. There might have been some justification for what Congress did in 1913, as no precise case involving the same de- tailed points had been previously de- cided, even though there were some cases approximating it. the | lican. | their _apprehensions to other nations, A better but still inadequate expla- nation is the widespread one that there are two big questions back in the British mind. What will the Yugoslavs do to Italy with Mussolini's army off in Africa? What will Hit- ler's mice do in Austria during the same absence of the Italian cat? T -se who think they know what is going on in world diplomacy be- lieve Mussolini has also thought of these things. In fact, they have been tipped ‘that Mussolini has a secret agreement with the French to watch what will go on in Europe behind his back. The possibilities of a European backwash to the Ethiopian war there- fore are not generally considered dangerous unless Mussolini's Ethi- opian campaign drags out for a longer time than he thinks it will. Specific Diplomacy. What the British have in mind par- ticularly need not thus be speculated upon. While they have said little out loud, their diplomatic agents have been quite specific in communicating notably France. They told the French, in effect: “The conquest of Ethiopia will ' ‘mean the end of the League of Na- tions and the end of a world era. Prior to the World War, nations did not ever. pretend to have a con- science. They took what they wanted and could get. The League was founded while the world was in @ conscientious mood. It has not done anything important eco- nomically. Its single accomplish- ment worth noting was prevention of the disintegration of Austria. Its failure in Manchuria was a world joke. But, at least, Manchuria was Jar enough off to permit the League thereafter to pretend that it was still @ benign influence. But if Mussolini walks off the League pohtico with his thumb at his nose then even pretense will no longer be possible. It is the end of the conscience era. ‘That, say the British, is worth get- ting excited about. £raLoaD SEFTHIS, None of the munitions makers closed up shop when the Senate passed the | neutrality resolutions. There is good | reason to suspect they will be doing business at the old stand for & long, long time. What happened was that the New Dealers had to concoct a reso- lution hurriedly to avoid a Senate flibuster. They put together ome which is sufficiently indefinite and permissive to be virtually in- mocuous. For instance, the first re- solve is “that upon the outbreak or during the progress of war . , . the President shall proclai msuch fact,” ete. Under that order, the Presi- dent might wait until the war had progressed to a conclusion before acting. One Senator, in debate, covered the neutrality legislation situation fully by describing it as “a series of New Year's resolutions.” Reosevelt’s New Charm. ‘Touchy Far Easterners will probably explode when they hear about it, but the President is using a Shanghai dol- lar as a new good luck piece. It is one of the coins withdrawn by the Chinese. On it is a Chinese junk with three gulls fiying over it and a sun in one corner. The Chinese interpreted the sun as meaning Japen, the gulls as Japanese airplanes and the junk as China itself, That is why it was with- drawn. Globe-circling honeymooner James Moffitt presented it to the President. High-Priced Bargain.. Highest-priced vote buying in the closing days of Congress involved of the Minnesota fire claim bill involving $9,000,000. It was based on claims from forest fires dating back to war-time Government control of raiiroads. ive of the merits of the bill, Republican Representative Pittenger persuaded to support it ?euule he thinks there is a chance of Minnesota going Repub- Democratic = Representative Ryan s0ld it to the House Democrats, saying the party could not take re- sponsibility for killing it. ' Consequently, the British have more THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, HOUSE APPROVAL OF TAY BLL NEAR Report on Changes, How- ever, Delayed in Senate by Harrison. BY JOHN C. HENRY, Clearing the way for quick disposi- tion of the “emergency” administra- tion tax bill to aid in redistribution of wealth, Representative Doughton, Democrat, of North Carolina, head of House conferees on the measure, late last night filed the conference report and statement of the House managers. His action was taken just before the House adjourned shortly after 10 p.m. and was belleved to indicate that ac- ceptance of the report will be asked in the House this afternoon, with no op- position expected and very little, if any, discussion. Quick approval of the report is anticipated. On the Senate side, however, Sen- ator Harrison, Democrat, of Missis- sippi, and head of the Senate con- ferees, is holding the report and Sen- ate statement in abeyance until final action is taken in the House. Possi- bilities of delay are feared in the upper body, where some of the “silver” approval of the report until they are given some satisfaction in return for elimination of the McCarran amend- ment from the tax measure. Filibuster Threat Wanes, ‘With both houses and both parties pushing for adjournment, however, even & potential filibuster probably would be ridden down without undue loss of time. As filed last night in the House neither the conference report proper nor the statement of the House man- agers discusses the revenue legislation in a general way, each being confined to a technical explanation of changes made in the measure during passage through the Senate and the agree- ments reached by the conferees. Addi- tional revenue from the measure is now estimated at about $250,000,000. In connection with the agreement to eliminate inheritance taxes and re- tain the Senate scale of increased estate taxes the House managers site an example to show how the taxable net amount might be computed. In the example they apply the new spe- cific exemption of $40,000 rather than $50,000 as in the present law and also apply the privilege of valuating the estate one year from death, rather than at time of death. $194,550 Estate Is Example. ‘Their example follows: A decedent dies owning real estate valued at $100,000, corporate stock of $60,000, bonds of $20,000, foreign gov- after date of death worth $10,000, but of a value of $9,550, and cash amount- ing to $5,000. These values are at | date of death. The gross estate at | that time, therefore, amounts to | $194,550. The decedent had debts of $15,000 and the administration expenses were $25,000. The value of the net estate after subtracting specific exemption of $40.000 was $114,550. = Six months after the decedent’s death the exec- utor distributed the bonds to a legatee under the will, at which time they were worth $18,000, and he sold all the corporate stock owned by the de- cedent for a fair market value of $50,000. The foreign bonds were paid in full at maturity. During the first year after the decedent's death the value of his real estate appreciated $5,000. The executor elects to take advantage of the new provision allow- ing valuation one year after death. Net Estate §108,000. The assets follow: Reai estate (one year after death), $105.000; corporate stock (date of sale), $50,000; bonds (date of distribution), $18,000; foreign bonds (date of maturity), $10,000; casn, $5,000. Gross estate, $188,000. Deductions (debts, administration and exemption), $80,000. Net estate, $108,- 000. The new estate tax rates, starting at Z per cent on the first net $10,000 and reaching 17 per cent on the last $8,000, would be applied. The report was signed by Senators Harrison, King, George and La Fol- lette and Representatives Doughton, Hill and Cullen. Republican con- ferees, Senator Metcalf of Rhode Is- land and Representatives Treadway of Massachusetts and Bacharach of New Jersey, refused to sign. —e STRIKEBREAKER BILL FORWARDED TO HOUSE Senate Passes Measure to Make Felony Importing of Pro- fessionals. By the Associated Press. A bill making it & felony to import professional strikebreakers into a State to interfere with peaceful picketing in labor disputes was passed by the Senate yesterdsy and sent to the House. Introduced by Senator Bymnes, Democrat, of South Carolina, the measure would make violations pun- ishable by a fine of $5,000 and im- prisonment for two years. Byrnes told Senator Borah, Re- publican, of Idaho, it would not apply to persons employed to take the places of those on strike, but only to interstate movement of strike- breakers. Byrnes said there were four or five national agencies engaged in sending out professional strikebreakers, —_— Edns Jarvis, Actress, Dies. NEW YORK, August 23 (#).—Edna D. Jarvis, 38, musical comedy actress, died today at her home after an ili- ness of several months, Her husband Senator Byrnes, Democrat, of South Carolina, seeks 12-cent loan on cotton. House: Moves toward vote on meodified neutrality plan. i — e L1:nm;fl|mnmrtamm,nw,»-r “must” program of legislation ably is that he looked up the meaning of the adjective “must” in o big dic- 4 - i Senators have said they might held up | | ernment bonds maturing nine months | In an al Calif., tarred and feathered two men to leave the county because of alleged LR v # 4 4 ight raid a band of 300 disguised vigilantes at Santa Rosa, and beat three others, warning them radical activities. Four of the victims GIRL IS RESGUED, FIANCE DROWNED Blast on Boat Turns Vaca- tion Trip Into Tragedy for Tennis Star, Fears for the safety of Clara Tabler, Washington tennis star, missing since yesterday afternoon following her Tescue from the Potomac in a boating accident, in which her fiance, James T. Stark, 30, of 815 Twenty-first street, was drowned, were allayed today when friends here telephoned her father, Clarence Tabler, that she was with them and recovering from the shock of the tragedy. Meanwhile, soldiers from Fort Wash- ington continued to drag the river for | Stark’s body. They were working mid- | way between the mouth of Broad | Creek on the Maryland shore and ‘Wellington Villa on the Virginia lld!,; where early yesterday afternoon sn explosion aboard a 14-foot, auxiliary- motored sail boat sprayed them with flaming gasoline and forced them to dive overboard. Saved by Alexandrians. Rescued by two Alexandria youths, Charles B. Hayden, 19, of 114 Duke street, and Osear Ralph Suthard, 20, of 429 Wilkes street, Miss Tabler was taken by them to the home of her flance’s parents, Mr. and Mrs, Lovell Stark, at the Twenty-first street address. 8he was treated there for slight burns of the arms and legs. At her suggestion she left soon efterward with friends of the Starks to bring back her fiance’s car from the wa- terfront here. On the return trip she | persuaded them to let her out in front of the Keystone Apartments, at Twenty-first street and Pennsyl- vania avenue, stating that she wished to see some friends there, When inquiry revealed she had not been seen there and that she had not returned to her own rooms at the Marcheta Apartments, where her father also lives, police were notified that she was missing. Man Was Fishing. “She told us,” Mr. Stark seid, “that ‘Jack’ was fishing and she was sitting aft watching the engine, when a backfire ignited some cans of gaso- line nearby. There was an explosion and the fiames shot high enough to catch the sail afire. “She said that the force of the explosion threw Jack overboard, and she then leaped overboard also.” Mr. Stark also told how his son, employed in the cabinet shop of the District sewage department, had built the boat in which the couple set out yesterday morning to cruise to Colonial Beach for & two weeks’ visit there with Miss Tabler's sister. Mr. Btark said his son was worried that the sail was not enough, s0 he bought the engine. Yesterday was the first time he had used the engine. “He was & good swimmer,” he added. “Two miles was nothing to him.” The parents said the couple had been engaged for some time and that they planned to be married in a week or two. Hayden and Suthard, vacationing on the farm of Hayden's grandparents on the Maryland shore at Broad Creek, today gave their version of the accident. Saw Beat on Fire, Rowing about half a mile offshore they noticed the sailboat In mid- stream, smoke rising from it, and then flames. Suthard bent to the oars, Hayden, a good swimmer, shed super- fluous clothing. “Before we had gone far,” Left: Wilkes street (top) and Charles B. from drowning in the Potomac when tennis garb. RAIL PENSION BILL RESTS ON SENATE | Early Committee Action Ex- .pected Following Pas- sage by House. By the Associated Press. Administration leaders Jooked to the | Senate Pinance Committee today for early action on & tax bill to raise pen- sion funds for more than 1,000,000 rail- road employes. ‘The House the measure yes- terday, a few hours after it had been approved by its Ways and Means Com- mittee. ‘The bill would impose a 3%z per cent | tax on employes and = like tax on rail- road pey rolls to be paid by the em- ployer. The money would be turned into the Treasury from which pensions would be paid workers under provisions {of a pension bill now awaiting the President’s signature. Increase of Levy. Originally the House measure would have imposed & 2 per cent tax on em- ployes and 4 per cent on the carrfers. ‘The Way and Means Committee, wor- rying over assertions that the € per cent tax would not be adequate, equal- ized the Jevy and increased the total 1 per cent after suggestions from the ‘White House. The measure before the Senate Pinance Committee still carries the 2-4 levy and, unless changed by the Senate, will have to be adjusted in conference with the House. . Up te $120 & Menth. Under the pension bill, benefits ranging 8s high as $120 a month would be paid to a worker who had reached the age of 65 or worked 30 years. It does not become effective until next clerk droned through & series of per- fecting amendments which were ac- cepted without debate and them sent FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1935. are shown, left to right: George Ford. Hayden, 19, of 114 Duke street, who yesterday afterncon rescued Miss Clara Tabler, 30, Washington tennis star, the boat in which she and her fiance, James T. Stark of 815 Twenty-first street, were cruising, caught fire 3 miles below Alexandria. Stark was drowned. Miss Tabler is shown above in SEARCH WIDENED Additional Pilots Join Hunt for Craft Not Seen Since Monday. By the Associated Press. FAIRBANKS, Alasks, August 23.— Additional pilots joined the far-flung serial search today for an airpiane which has not been reported since Monday when it left Dawson, Y. T., with four persons aboard. Alaskan afrmen swept along moun- tain sides and explored dark valleys again yesterday, but failed to find a trace of the vanished plane. The craft, piloted by Arthur F. Hines, left Dawson for Fairbanks in the face of unfavorable flying weather. His pessengers were Mr. and Mrs. John Lonz, newiyweds, and Alton Nordale, clerk of the United States District Court here. “We've flown along every stream of importance in the region,” said .Jerry Jones, Pacific Alaska Airways pilot, last might when he came here for supplies. “The weather was 30 clear we eould make out old, broken-down cabins But we found not & might have landed.” Food, rifles and other supplies were carried aboard the lost ship for use in event of a forced landing. Formerly Employed Here. Mrs. Lonz, before her marriage Miss Betty Glaum, was employed in the of- fice of Chief Engineer Perry Fellows of the Federal Emergency Relief Ad- ministration in the Walker-Johnson Building here. She resigned last May 23 and left for Alaska June 1 to be married to Mr. Lonz, & Fairbanks mer- chant whom she had met in her home State of Florida five years ago. Miss Edith McMechen, with whom Miss Glaum lived at the Claridge Ho- Jack Green, Solomon Nitzburg, G. Meyer and FORALASKA PLANE in| JUBILEE SPURRING | ~Copyright A. P. Wirephoto. DEMOCRATS HEAR LOYALTY APPEAL “Constitution” Plea Merely Catch Phrase, Says Broughton. BRITISH RECOVERY Celebration in Honor of King Gives Extraordinary Stimulus to Trade. This is one of @ aeries of articles by Mr. Fawcett, written in the course of & recent trip to Europe and recording his impressiony end observations. Other articles in this series will appear from time to time in The Star, BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT. Great Britain is prospering, the dark shadows of the depression are lifting, and one explanation of the phenomens 15 to be found in the extraordinary stimulus to trade and travel resulting from the celebration of the Silver Jubllee of King George V. In sober fact, the commemoratica has had a marvelous and seemingly lasting or permanent effect. It “primed the pump” of recovery, Un- exceptional forces eventually might have accomplished as much, but their pace has been vastly accelerated. Progress that would have required years has been achieved in & few weeks. But it may be difficult for the aver- age American to understand how any sort of jollification, however patriotic, could work an economic miracle. The Tepeal of prohibition did not serve to banish poverty in the United States. Logically, it appears incredible that rejoicing over the King's twenty-fifth arniversary could get his country out of the red. Started Money Flowing. ‘The basic factor in the story. how- ever, is the key to the mystery. All England—every man, woman and child—has participated in the festiv- ities; the occasion has been a com- pletely democratic fete. The sovereign is popular with all classes, and the humblest of his subjects has joined with the highest to do him honor. Naturally, each incident in the Sum- mer-long program has involved ex- penditure for labor and materials. Money, therefore, has been placed in circulation to an unprecedented degree—war costs alone excepted But it likewise is true that quae- } By the Associated Press. | MILWAUKEE, Wis, August 23— Young Democrats, gathered for the opening of their second annual con- vention today, were urged to support President Roosevelt and disregard the opposition's shouts of “Constitution.” | "“That is only a catch phrase” | Charles E. Broughton, Democratic | | national committeeman from Wis- consin, said of the ery against the President in an address of welcome | prepared for delivery today. “It is a smoke screen,” Broughton | said, “to hide from the public the fact | that nothing was done to stave off the crisis in 1932 and that nothing would | have been done in 1933 and 1934 if we had not succeeded in electing President Roosevelt.” Confidence Held Renewed. “You have witnessed the rehabili- tation of a Nation, strong in its finan- cial structure because of renewed con- fidence on the part of the American people,” Broughton said. “You have witnessed the return of liberal legislation, which sounded the death knell for fanatical legisiation. “You have witnessed a President heeding the call of the distressed home | owner in the city and on the farm. “You have been awakened to the fact that the American Government is the creation of the people, and that they, rather than nations lying beyond | our shores, are entitled to enjoy its privileges and its fruits. * * * “You have witnessed the efforts of an honest and sincere Government to | bring our country out of the depres- sion into which it had fallen.” Banners Plaster Town. State delegations, arriving last night by special train, boat, bus and suto, plastered the town's leading hotels with banners and signs. The National Executive Committee, made up of one man and one woman from each State and the District of Columbia, resolved to nominate and elect new officers from the convention floor, their choices to be confirmed by the Executive Committee. The method was favored over one to place choice of officers in the hands of the com- mittee. A move to change the distribution of votes was defeated, 29 to 26. Pro- ponents of a change contended wealthy State organizations could control the convention under the existing set-up, which gives each State three votes | and one additional for each 1,000 paid-up memberships. Continuation of the present system was supported by those maintaining that the edditional vote phase was stimulus for State organizations to increase their memberships, IOWA TREASURER ADDED T0 “GRAFT” JURY’S LIST Indictment Charges Perjury in Connection With His Testi- mony on Affidavit. By the Associated Press. SIOUX CITY, Iowa, August 23.— The Woodbury County “graft” grand jury yesterday added another State official—the State treasurer—to the list of persons it has indicted since launching an investigation of alleged graft and corruption in public office last April The indictment accuses the treas- urer, Leo J. Wegman, of perjury in eonnection with testimony he gave Saturday concerning an affidavit made by Lynn Gell, Des Moines. Geil, & grand jury witness, declared in this affidavit, filed in District Court here by Walter Maley, indicted assist- ant attorney general, that H. M. Havner, special grand jury prosecutor, paid him for testimony presented to the grand jury. ——— DETAINED AT BORDER ‘TORONTO, August 23 (#).—Black- eyed, dark-haired, Celia Villa, daugh- ter of Pancho Villa, who achieved fame as a Mexican rebel Jleader, arrived here yesterday after being detained for 15 hours at Fort Erie by Canadian immigration authorities. She was en route with s party from New York to the Canadian National Exhibition here when she was de- tained. Immigration officials did not disclose the reason for the detention. Colonists Declared Content. tities of money have been imported into England in connection with the jubilee. London, especially, is crowded with returned colonials, each of whom, it has been estimated, spends at least £1 & day. A typical case is that of a family from Melbourve, Australia. They brought a small fortune with them from home in the belief that it would be ample for their needs, yet, at the end of six weeks, they were obliged to cable back for further funds. Nor had they been notably exuberant in their spending. They simply had traveled further, stayed longer, bought more largely than they had anticipated. Prices, they realized, were not much higher than they previously had been. The crux of the business was that England was unac- countably more attractive than ever before in their experience. ‘The change, of course, is predomie nantly psychological. People are hopeful, and the fever of their opti- mism is contagious. The celebration furnished an oppertunity for a review of the past quarter century, and each such survey prompted a feeling that England had much to be thankful for, much to be happy about. Granted, there had been the war and many far- reaching social changes since 1910, But with one eve on the continent, the British public was glad things were not worse than they were. Old England, it suddenly remembered with undeniable pleasure, had not gone the way of Russia, Italy or Germany, nor the way of Prance, nor even the way of America. The future, patently, should be bright, and the present, therefore, was reasonably good. King Given Credit. Moreover, the people freely credited the King with having deserved well of them. It is no accident that he has won the affection of the masses, Rather it is the nmatural fruit of his own personal gifts of character and temperament. He has been & cone stitutional monarch, never presuming, but constantly lending himself and all his persuasive talents to the purposes of orderly progress, honorable peace and merited prosperity. Never once has he dictated national policy. His influence has been indirect, but it has cut across all party lines and for that reason has been universal in effect— he has been not a Tory king, nor & Liberal king, nor & Labor king. He is merely the acknowledged leader who is consulted and whose advice is so- licited. His modesty, his dignity, his cheerfulness even when desperately ill, his love of children, his keen in- terest in sport. his humane sand thoughtful integrity have endeared him to the millions. In fine, he has redgned over zn age and is entitled to gratitude for all the good values which that age has embraced in terms of survival, eomfort, security and—most important—hope. The British people and their guests from overseas, it follows, are thinking constructively. They are making the prosperity they desire, ~Wishes, for once, are horses and erstwhile beg- gars are riding. Men greet each other with the assurance, “Things are look- ing up,” and repetition is an argument toward that end. London Becomes Gay. Not since the bectic, bitter, fatale istic excitement immediately after the armistice has London been 30 gay. Theaters and cafes are packed— people stand in line for the privilege of seats in restaurants. The shops of Bond street, Oxford street and Regent street are crowded with customers who cannot resist the lure of an inter- minable variety of articles displayed in the windows and advertised in the press. The railroads, naturally, are generation. Hotels, even in small towns far from the metropolis, are “booked solid” and so-called pensions —the continental name for boarding houses—perforce must take care of the overflow. The celebration will continue unti} October, and by that time England. ENCEPHALITIS SPREADS 257 Die of Sleeping Sickness in Central Japan.