Evening Star Newspaper, October 4, 1936, Page 34

D2 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. October 4, 1936 —_— e THEODORE W. NOYES...........Editor —_— The Evening Star Newspaper Company. 11¢n 8e anq Fennvivinis Ave New York Office: 110 East 42nd 'g'. Office; Lake Michigan Bullding. Buro T Enon o, Kexeorsi- London. Entiand. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. _45¢ per month -60c per month 85¢ per month - -5¢ per copy Night Final Edition. i -70c per mon! B e e s s i at the end o . ongoliection made K Ihe e %or telephone Na- tional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. mo.., mo.. 40c E 7. sl%.gg % mo. 31;052 1, 1y ... Ir., X T Ay BRyIooooT 7es 3:00: 1 me. 606 Member of the Assoclated Press. {ated Press is exclusively entitled to eredited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and siso the local news published herein. fill Tights of publication of special dispatches erein are also reserved. e The Real Issue. Institution of another suit in Federal courts testing validity of the social se- curity act comes as further evidence of the fact that the fate of this far-reaching legislation is more likely to rest in the hands of the United States Supreme Court than with the electorate Wwhich makes its choice between the presiden- tial candidates in November. President Roosevelt and Governor Landon may debate the law, its objectives and its workability, until the cows come home. But the chief question is whether the law has been enacted within the limits defined by the Constitution. That is yet to be settled. The latest attempt to test the law has come in Alabama, where United States District Judge C. B. Kennamer has granted a temporary restraining order halting the collection of the one per cent pay roll tax from employers. Next year this tax becomes two per cent, and the year after three per cent. Next year, also, begin the one per cent tax on pay rolls and salaries for old-age bene- fits, to be followed at three-year inter- vals by an increase of half of one per cent until the maximum of three per cent is reached. The plaintiff in Ala- bama, a steel corporation, will, it is re- ported, be joined by employers of seventy-five per cent of Alabama labor in pressing the suit. This case has been preceded by two other important tests, one attacking the constitutionality of the New York unem- ployment-benefit law, in which the State has been upheld by the New York Court of Appeals and which has been appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The other originated in New Jersey, challenging validity of the Federal statute. As taxes begin to bear down on employers other suits are anticipated. ‘The Supreme Court may reach none of them during the term just begun. Governor Landon has centered much of his criticism of the act on its un- workability, particularly the old-age re- gerve fund which, under existing terms, would reach the stupendous sum of $47,- 000,000,000 in forty-four years. He has had able support for his criticism of this feature of the act and the dangers it presents for wild extravagance by Congress in the use of large amounts of idle cash. Other criticism of the act has been voiced by men sympathetic with what it sets out to achieve, but skeptical of the methods. But the great- est hurdle yet to be overcome is the Supreme Court’s judgment as to the application of several principles which in the past it has declined to sanction. ‘The only provisions of the social se- eurity act which, seemingly, are directly authorized by the Constitution are pro- motion of the general welfare and the raising of revenue. A legal fiction em- ployed in the act is that the unemploy- ment taxes collected and paid into the Treasury are not, in reality, Federal funds at all, although ten per cent of the Federal tax is retained to defray admin- istrative costs of State agencies. The administrative grants to States and the requirement that State tax collections be deposited in the Federal Treasury are regarded as of doubtful constitutionality, the Supreme Court having held in the A. A, A, case that the Federal Govern- ment had not power to accomplish indi- rectly what it was not authorized to carry out directly. As far as old-age annuities are concerned, the Supreme Court’s chief objection to the railroad pension act, whick it held invalid, was that a fa- vored class of workers had been singled out for special benefits from a “pool” of funds which were contributed by ali rail- road employers, without taking into account the different conditions of em- ployment on the “various lines. In en- acting a new railroad pension measure, Congress not only did not directly con- nect taxes and benefits, but passed one law imposing taxes, another establishing benefits. The District Court here re- fused to consider the separation, how- ever, and held the law invalid. Because of the complicated, vast ma- chinery in the course of assembly to administer the social security act—in Washington and in the States—it would seem advisable that plaintiffs and the Government should join in efforts to expedite the tests of constitutionality. Meridian Hill Park. Meridian Hill Park at last may be called finished and completed. More than a quarter century of development is reflected in its present condition of approximate perfection. The work has been in progress since 1910. Final touches were provided by the Public ‘Works Administration and will consti- tute a monument to that aspect of the New Deal. ‘But credit for the original conception must be assigned to sponsors who, un- $ THE SUNDAY “STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 4, 1936—PART TWO. INTERRUPTED HIGHWAYS BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, D.C. L, BISHOP OF WASHINGTON. fortunately, were not privileged to see the ultimate realization of their dream. The vision which now has transformed an “eye sore” into “a thing of beauty and a joy forever” was conceived by a group of Washingtonians whose leader was Mrs. John B. Henderson and whose cause particularly was aided and abetted by Joseph G. Cannon, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Henry White, Ambassador to the Court of 8t. James. Their monument also the park therefore shall be. And a still earlier generation of prac- tical dreamers likewise deserves remem- brance. Meridian Hill received its name from the fact that it was indeed a me- ridian. point in the District of Columbia as delineated by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, designers of the Na- tion’s Capital as a Federal territary ten miles square. Perhaps they, too, had the ardent genius to imagine the time when the terraced slope should be gardened into loveliness unsurpassed in the United States. In any case, they furnished the background against which Colonel William W. Harts, George Burnham and especially Horace W. Peaslee have labored. But children, playing in a fairyland, probably never pause to wonder whence came the pools and fountains, the promenades, the graceful plantings, the shaded nooks and niches they instinc- tively enjoy. To them the elements of their happiness are things to be taken for granted. Only the passing of years teaches them the lesson of gratitude and the inspiration of great examples. Doubtless, the Almighty Creator smiles at the spectacle and orders the ulti- mate degree of appreciation withheld until near the end. Browning, it seems, was divinely motivated to the writing of the words: “The best is yet to be.” One More Dictator. Although the Loyalists still hold Madrid and profess ability indefinitely to keep the enemy at bay, the insurgents look upon the capital's fall and their accession to power as a mere matter of time. Evidently they think the time is close at hand, for the rebel junta, hitherto functioning as a provisional government at Burgos, has handed over control to General Francisco Franco, commander in chief of the revolutionary forces, and ceremonially proclaimed him dictafor. In assuming “supreme direc- tion of the nation,” the insurgent gen- eralissimo thunders grandiloquently that authority has been vested “in hands that will hold firm” and which will “re- store a noble and united Spain under one flag, a Spanish Spain, to the position she once occupied.” Coincident with Gen- eral Franco's acceptance of the crown, it became known that his chief advisers will be General Cabanellas, late junta leader, and the two rebel fleld com- manders, Generals Mola and De Llano. Thus dictatorship—if such is to be im- posed upon the ruins of the republic— will begin its career as a Fascist regime of avowed military hue. The soldiers will be in the saddle and the mailed fist will be their trade mark. General Franco denies that the army seeks to set up a capitalist state of the rigid corporative or totalitarian model, though the universal assumption has been that if the insurgents win, their purpose is to establish at Madrid forth- with a counterpart of the iron heel sys- tem enthroned in Rome and Berlin. In an obvious effort to counteract prole- tarian fears well in advance, General Franco's “proclamation to the people” promises work for all, free from the evils of capitalism, with guarantees of labor's rights, including minimum wages, an independent, farm-owning peasantry, and a concordat with the Catholic Church, looking to solution of vexatious religious questions. The would-be dic- tator pledges friendly relations with all countries except the Soviet Union, “of which the new Spain will be the enemy.” On its face the Franco manifesto, premature though it is, holds out allur- ing prospects, designed to calm Spain’s sorely troubled waters, which for three months have run blood red while a horrified world shuddered in the presence of strife at times approximating sheer savagery. No matter how beneficent a dictatorship might be set up by a vic- torious Fascism, there is all too much reason to fear that it would be born amid hatreds and passions so fierce as to doom unhappy Spain to a prolonged period of fratricidal discord. A Franco, ruling as an imitation Mussolini or Hitler, will inevitably have many a sanguinary bridge to cross before the peninsula is pacified. Should his Italian and German godfathers claim any territorial pounds of flesh in token of certain valuable services rendered, Spain's troubles are not likely to remain exclusively domestic. A happy warrior is one who finds his greatest natural joy in crashing an in- teresting fight. World Series Base Ball. Base ball, America’s national sport, reaches its climax in the annual “world series” between the champion teams of the two major leagues. Each season the winners of the penmants in the two leagues meet in final contest to determine the supremacy. These two teams are supposedly—and in truth demonstratedly —the best in the country. They are com- prised of the stars of the sport, as pitch- ers and fielders, as hitters and defensive players. These annual inter-league matches, drawing immense crowds of spectators and ylelding great sums of money in admission fees, which are di- vided between the teams and the leagues, with a remainder to the runner-up teams of the two leagues, are not always, how- ever, the best the sport affords. The present series is an illustration. The first game was played in physical conditions that made the contest a veri- table travesty of the sport, the field hav- ing been saturated by rain so that fleld- ing was difficult. The National League representatives won the decision by a score of 6 to 1. It was remarkable that the score was not larger. The victory, however, well earned by virtue of ‘- the supurb pitching of the “Giant” Hube bell. The second game, played after a day’s lapse due to unfavorable weather conditions and on a perfect fleld, was one of the most one-sided contests in all the history of the world series encoun- ters. The losing team employed five dif- ferent pitchers. The contest was a com- plete rout of the Giants, who in the game before had demonstrated their superior- ity. Yesterday the third game was played under auspicious weather conditions and proved to be one of the best world series. battles ever waged on the diamond. It was of the true “series” quality. And yet it was in one respect a freak affair, the winner taking the decision by a score of two runs to one, though outbatted 11 to 4. The winning run was scored on what is known in basq ball as a scratch hit, a puny infield bounder deflected by the pitcher just enough to prevent a successful play at first base or to head off a runner at the plate. The harder- hitting team lost the game. Yet these eccentricities are the very essence of the sport, the factors that make it so attractive to the multitudes. The element of chance is always present in any game. No matter how well the pitcher delivers the ball, no matter how ably the fielders maintain their defense, some freak circumstance may determine the contest. It is an old saying that no base ball game is ever lost until the last man is out in the last inning, or ever won, for that matter. And this is what makes base ball undoubtedly the greatest spectator’s sport the world knows. Heckling is a practice not to be en- couraged under any circumstances. The amateur entertainers who invite audi- ences to hiss the villain have provided all the outlet that should be necessary for the impulse for interruption from the auditorium. ——e—— Laboratories are reported to be busy with experiments in poison gas; which is another means of taking some of the arti- ficial glamour out of war. There can be no heroism in stifling innocent and un- suspecting non-combatants. Tourists are coming home from Europe just at a time when the Old World is most interesting. The tourists do not matter much in world economy. Taxes, however liberal, cannot be depended on to stabilize a currency. FECE e AT = Comment by Ex-Postmaster General James A. PFarley suggests that he is almost as much surprised by Al Smith as ex-Governor Smith was by Professor Tugwell. —_—r——————— One evidence of prosperity that never fails is the demand for world series tickets, regardless of the premium re- quired. ————————————— William Hard secured John Hamilton to fill his radio time. He was a reliable deputy and never said a word that Mr. Hard would not have approved of. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Birds. The ostrich is a gentle bird In fable long renowned. He sometimes places, we have heard, His ear unto the ground. He cannot hear or see a thing; His head is in the sand; His feathers cannot form a wing To lift him from the land. ‘When foes are hastening on their way He smiles without & care, And pauses now and then to say, “There’s really nothing there.” We face the future with a smile And confidently say, “Blue Eagles may go out of style, But the Ostrich is au fait!” No Epitaph Appetite. “Have you a ghost writer?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “I have no appreciation of graveyard reminiscences. What I am looking for is a live wire.” Residuary Applause. Base ball is an exciting game, It calls for many cheers, It has been going much the same For years and years and years, And when with orators we mix * Applause of wondrous heft, Base ball gets its; and politics May have what may be left. Limitations. “Who is the Father of His Country?” asked the teacher. “George Washington,” answered the bright boy. “And what was he first in?” “War, Peace and the Hearts of his Countrymen.” > “Anything else?” “Teacher, any man has his limits. I don't know whether he ever made a home run or whether he even played base ball at all.” “Greatness often remains long con- cealed,” said Hi Ho, the sage of China- town. “The superciliousness of my neigh- bor, Hi Hat, is explained since I find him mentioned in our venerable publication, ‘Huis Hu,’ as the former Mah Jong champion of Pell street.” Time Makes Whoswhoopee! “Who's Who!” “Who's Who!” Is out again. Greatness anew It will explain. But fame will come And fame will go, And there are some ‘Who do not show As bright as new. They're on the spot; You show “Who's Who" And “Who Are Not!” “A big voice,” said Uncle Eben, “is often a means of hidin’ de fact dat & man ain't thinkin’ bout anything in par- ] 4 Farmers Sitting Pretty in The 1936 Campaign. BY OWEN L. SCOTT. ‘The pre-election lowdown: Real victory already is in the bag. American farmers are winning in a walk to take the cam- paign honors and to enjoy the resulting rewards, Either Roosevelt or Gov. Landon is sure to lose. But victory or defeat for either candidate still leaves the farmer a winner. How come? Chiefly owing to the fact that he faces the November 3 balloting with a blank check on the United States Treasury in hand, care- fully indorsed by each candidate and each party. That check will be cashable in 1937 and the years that follow. It is sure to be big enough to cause war veterans and tariff beneficiaries and other special favor groups to turn green with envy. Farmers faced this election in & pre- eminent bargaining position. Both parties today are ready to attest to the fact that they played the game right to take advantage of their position. The rewards are written in big figures. * x % % Republicans realized from the first that the farm vote of the big Middle Western agricultural States was essential to their victory. Gov. Landon was chosen as the man most likely to attract t! vote. . His bid now is in. It involves: A promise of checks from the Treasury to guarantee farm income in an amount ranging from $500,000,000 to $1,000,000,000 based on the difference between the world farm price and an American pro- tected farm price. A promise of something approaching an embargo on imports of foreign farm products that directly or indirectly com- pete with American farm products. A promise of loans to farm tenants who want to become farm owners. A promise of generous drought relief and of a plan to insure farmers against loss of income through crop damage due to weather or insects. A promise of additional payments to farmers in return for their efforts to check soil erosion and to build up the tertility of their land. Combined, these promises involve & formidable array of experiments of high cost. They represent, too, a shift in Republican position since the time when both Presidents Coolidge and Hoover frowned upon the use of Federal Gov- ernment machinery to guarantee farm- ers a definite slice of the country's income. s * k¥ X President Roosevelt at the start of the campaign found himself in a position where he had to have either the vote of the big farm States or the vote of the big Eastern industrial States. He had given the farmers vast bounties in the last three years, treating them as the favored element in the population. But still he and his advisers decided that they could not afford to take a chance on loss of farm support. So they raised the ante. Now the Democratic promises involve: Continued payments to farmers for conserving their soil, with these pay- ments limited to $500,000,000 a year— an amount considerably under the Re- publicast offer. But with supplementary assistance through generous aid to drought suf- ferers, through Government subsidized insurance of farm crops, through price- fixing loans on commodities and through loans on a large scale to farm tenants who want a chance to become farm owners and who can meet Government tests. Further, the President already has approved a Treasury subsidy to assure lower interest rates to farm borrowers than to any other class of citizens, and his program of reciprocal tariff bargain- ing—whatever its effect—is based on’the idea of reviving foreign markets for American farm products. * x % % When the two groups of promises are added up, farmers are assured of: A minimum, tax-supported income; pro- tection against the hazards of Nature, some measure of price-fixing, low inter- est rates, assistance in becoming property owners. The total cost of these promises will be between $1,000,000,000 and $1,500,000,- 000 annually. In a period of falling prices the cost might be much higher. This program of subsidies is devised for a group making up barely one-quarter of the total population. Admittedly, it represents the highest bidding for votes yet recorded and serves to put the war veterans in second place as & pressure group. To tell the truth, the Democrats this year are inclined to be a bit sour on the whole proceeding. The reason is not hard to discover. The bulk of Northern farmers have been Republican since the Civil War. Middle Western agriculture took it. for granted that high tariffs were its salva- tion and that markets for its goods were unlimited. There came a rude awaken- ing, first in 1921 and again in 1929. Democrats took advantage of the situa- tion and won farmer support in 1932. * % % In power, the New Deal has been lavish in its aid to agriculture. Bounties totaled a billion and a half; drought relief added more than half a billion; commodity loans involved another big sum. Yet now Democratic party leaders note a definite drift of farmers back to their old allegiance. This drift is noticeable enough to cause Henry Wallace, Secre- tary of Agriculture, to drop a broad hint to theyrural folk that a display of in- gratitude on their part might lead politicians to be less solicitous in the future. There is known to exist some senti- ment among the political strategists for the idea of writing off the farm vote. A few rather high-placed Government economists think that farmers in recent years have been given an inflated idea of their own importance in the general scheme of things. But when the figuring begins, these sentiments are dropped. The farm vote is found to be too vitally important for the balance of power it holds in several States with large elec- toral votes. * X % % Farmers, taking their cue from the book of experience of war veterans, know that office seekers entertain a profound fear of organized minorities, and act accordingly. Yet the chances are regarded as better than even that, with all of the promised plans of aid, agriculture will turn out to be an acute pain in the neck to which- ever party that wins. The reasons are twofold. One grows from the fact that nations which once were big buyers of American farm prod- ucts now are growing their own or are favoring lower-cost producers. In one of the most dramatic passages of the Old Testament, namely, the Four- teenth of Exodus, the story is told of the flight of the children of Israel from the land of their bondage and captivity— Egypt. Under the leadership of Moses they had gone forth a mighty host be- lieving that the day of their deliverance was at hand and that presently they weuld enter into a country that they could call their own. This mighty host had believed the word of their leader and had gone forth in confidence and high expectation. In this chapter the story is told of their coming to what seemed to be an.im- passable barrier, where no highway was evident and where they were estopped from continuing on their course. Their leader, Moses, had declared to them that the ruler of Egypt, the mighty Pharaoh, would say when they had reached this impasse: “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.” It was a normal thing that at this crisis they should be filled with fear and con- fusion. The incident is one that repeats itself in the experience of every man and in- deed of every people. The highway over which we travel may seem well marked and the objective we seek clearly defined. There are apparent no detours, no di- gressions from a given course. Recently, while driving in Virginia and nearing the place to which I was bound, I came to the low-lying lands just before one enters the Blue Ridge range. There ‘was nothing on the road as I traversed it with all confidence and assurance that in- dicated the way by which the mountains were to be scaled with security and satis- faction. Confident of the road over which I was traveling, I pressed on, and, winding and obscure as it was as one faced the hills, it led with certainty to the destination I sought. This is a fair analogy of experiences that come to one and all of us almost daily. Repeatedly in life we come to what seems an impasse, where our own judgment falters and our decision suffers impairment. We had been traveling over ways that we were familiar with and that were clearly marked. They were so familiar as to be commonplace. Pres- ently a barrier appeared, in the form of & problem, a difficult and an embarras- sing circumstance that not only halted us, but our and our determination. In such a situation the world about us cries out: “The wilder- ness hath shut him in."” It is at such an hour in life that the best qualities in our nature are challenged, when all that we have in mind and heart, of judgment and decision, are put to the test. Pre- quently in such a situation we literally have to blaze a new trail, find a new way wholly unfamiliar to us, a way that is born of confidence and an unfailing faith, Examples of what we have in mind will occur to any one who has lived his or her life, especially those who have dared to live courageously and with confidence in their ultimate objective. Take the shock that comes with a great disap- pointment, or the still more bitter shock that comes with disillusioned hopes, or with the death of one upon whose strong arm we have leaned in sure confidence. In such an experience the open highway that we travel seems to be blocked—“the wilderness hath shut us in.” Loneliness, the consciousness of insecurity, even in- capacity to carry on, these conspire to render us helpless, if not to defeat us. Such a time is one of testing, when we literally show the stuff of which we are made. It takes something more than stoicism or mere brute force to carry us on our way. It does take reflection and a fresh appraisal of our resources, our needs and, most certainly, of our faith. One of old cried out in such an impasse, as he viewed the seeming wreck of his life: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” It has always seemed to me that the supreme test of courage and faith comes in days of excessive pros- perity or of overwhelming adversity. My own observation has taught me that more men and women survive days of adversity than days of prosperity. The latter tend to enervate and destroy the moral fiber; they render men weak and flabby and incapable of rising above their environment and environing condi- tions. It is a great and noble thing to be able to live triumphantly, but to live triumphantly as did the Christ calls for and demands qualities of character that come only from belief in that kind of life that He lived. Fifty Years Ago In The Star “The Fall elections this year,” says The Star of October 7, 1886, “possess more than usual interest to Clerks and 1 c'e mployes in the Gov- Elections. ernment departments in this city, especially those who are Republicans and have retained their places under the present admin- istration. The question is not whether they will go home to vote, but whether they will dare to go home to vote. The Democratic officials disclaim any inter- ference on their part with the free will of the clerks in this respect, but at the same time there are indirect methods which can be employed to advantage. It is not charged by the Republican office holders that any such methods have been put into operation, but still they feel that the conditions are not altogether favor- able. Little incidents are quoted as il- lustrating the present tendency. For instance, a clerk in one of the bureaus applied for a leave of absence a short time ago, the time asked for including the election day in his State. The chief clerk of the bureau glanced over the application and then said in a careless tone: “‘By the way, when does the election take place in your State?’ “The clerk told him and nothing more was said, but the manner of the chief clerk made the applicant for leave feel rather uncomfortable and he is now considering whether he had better re- main home until after the election. A large number of the clerks have placed themselves in a rather negative position, by exhausting all their leave, so that now if they wish to go home to vote they will have to lose their pay. They can readily urge that they cannot afford to lose the money and in this way they will reither cast their votes nor place themselves in a position to be charged with going back upon their party, in the event that the tide of political success should turn. Some of the Democratic officials do not hesitate to say that Re- publicans who are holding office ought not to go home te vote against the ad- ministration, and there is no doubt that this feeling is very general.” * * % When the bottom dropped out of the trough carrying themuml .ce?“ fl;en;:; tomac the Aqueduct Aqueduct was found to be in luck:hl . weak condition that e Bridge. District Commissioners or- dered it closed. The Virginia users of the bridge protested. The Star of Octo- ber 7, 1886, says: “Naturally it causes a good deal of inconvenience to the citizens of Virginia who are called upon daily to cross to Georgetown to have the Aqueduct Bridge barricaded against them, but does it fol- low that the blame should be visited upon the Commissioners? If those offi- cers are convinced that the bridge is unsafe, is it their duty to let trafic go on there as usual or to order a halt until the necessary repairs can be made? And if the bridge was more unsafe in 1884 than it is in 1886 and was not then closed, is that an argument against clos- ing it now? The absurdity of such logic is apparent without discussion.” — e market and to assist them in holding their commodities out of trade channels until they do find a market. That is exactly the road followed by the old Federal Farm Board. ~ When that experiment broke down, the A. A.‘A. came into the picture armed with power to take steps that might be necessary to control production. The Supreme Court has closed the door to a revival of that method of straightening out any new overproduction mix-up. At the moment farmers are sitting on top of the world. They have an income larger than at any time since 1929. They have only small commodity surpluses. They have a direct pipe line into the United States Treasury. They have the pleasure of watching two major political parties bidding actively against each other for their support—with the bidding in dollars. ’ It’s all fine while it las Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. Congress brings them from the high- ways and the byways, from the seats of the money kings and the drudgery of the poor, from church pulpits and the vaudeville stage, romping cowboys from the wide open spaces, savants from scientific laboratories, mechanics and manufacturers and missionaries, yachts- men, poets, cheese makers, shirt makers. Representative William M. Citron of Connecticut covered the countryside as a tinware peddler, doing “magic” tricks to inveigle the yokels. Representative Vincent J. Palmisano of Maryland was a bartender. Representative William P. Connery of Massachusetts and Representative Fritz Lanham of Texas were in vaudeville and Representative William T. Schulte of Indiana was “in stock.” Representative D. Lane Powers of New Jersey was a former congressional page. Senator James J. Davis of Pennsyl- vania was an iron puddler and was a slave in a peonage camp in the swamps of Louisiana. Representative John 8. McGroarty of California is poet laureate of his State by legislative act. Representative Schuyler Merritt of Connecticut manufactured locks. Representative Sol Bloom of New York built his first theater before he was 21 and then superintended the construc- tion of the Midway Plaisance at the Co- lumbian Exposition in Chicago and earned the title of “music man” by establishing a chain of 80 music pub- lishing plants. Representative Robert Alexis Green was messenger for the Florida Legisla- ture. Representative Josh Lee of Oklahoma was national champion college orator. Representative Louis Ludlow of In- diana and Representative William R. ‘Thom, Ohio, were Washington corre- spondents. Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney of ‘Wyoming was a newspaper reporter and Senator’s secretary. Representative Raymond J. Cannon came out of an orphan asylum and edu- cated himself by playing base ball. Senator Harry C. Byrd of Virginia is one of the world’s largest apple growers. Representative Monard C. Wallgren is an optometrist and was national ama- teur 182 billiard champion in 1929. Representative Charles 1. Gifford of Massachusetts was a teacher, auction- eer, and cranberry grower. Representative Richard B. Wiggles- worth was legal adviser to the Treasury Department on foreign loans and rail- way payments and secretary of the World War Foreign Debt Commission. Senator James Couzens was pioneer partner of Henry Ford in the automo- bile business. Representative Hamilton Fish of New York was captain of the Harvard foot ball team and selected by Walter Camp for the all-America team two years. Senator Royal Copeland was health commissioner of New York City. Representative William D. Thomas of New York is a pharmacist. Representative Prancis D. Culkin, New York, is one of the Nation's best known yachtsmen. Representative Will Rogers, Oklahoma, is one of many school teachers in Con- gress. Representative Martin L. Sweeney of Ohio is a former judge. Senator Carter Glass of Virginia is a former Secretary of the Treasury. Representative John G. Cooper of Ohio was a railroad fireman. Representative Ernest Lundeen of Minnesota is a Spénish War veteran. Representative Melvin Maas, Minne- sota, is an aviator. Representative Reuben T. Wood of Missouri was & cigar maker and legis- lative representative in Washington of railway employes. Senator Bennett Clark and Repre- sentative Clarence Cannon, both of Mis- ;;url are former parliamentarians of the ouse. * X ok % The Department of Commerce and Labor was established in 1903, with George B. Cortelyou of New York as first . Nine bureaus were trans- ferred from the State, Treasury and In- terior Departments. This was the ninth executive department. The organic law was a compromise between two groups, one in favor of setting up an agency to oot uring an gy 10 reprnent the other urging an agency ni the interests of lt:dm 'l.'h;"l;nl.cl:‘fll! l:nhfi: Congress separa! these lons two distinct departments, making the total number of 10 executive depart- ments. The first Secretary of Labor was Oharles Nagel of Missouri. Since then a' has been no increase in this num- A Is National Wealth Declining? BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Not since 1922 has the Bureau of ihe Census made an official estimate of the national wealth of the United States. There have been annual subsequent estimates of the national income which probably is & more valuable measure, but there remains only the 14-year-old offi- cial estimate of the wealth. In 1922 the figure was stated as $320,304,000,000. The year “922 was a year of returnizng presperity, the country making a rapid emergence from the depression of 1920- 21. That depression had been brief and nothing to compare in severity with the depression of the '30s. Still there un- questionably had been at least temporary impairment of wealth. The Census Bu- reau’s wealth figures were made peri- odically up to 1922, but there are no annual figures of an official nature avail- able. In 1912 the bureau gave the na- tional wealth as $186,300,000,000. In the period between 1912 and 1922 there un- questionably was a substantial apprecia- tion in the national wealth. It is be- lieved that 1920 saw a peak, some bil- lions higher than the last registered figure of $320,000,000,000 for 1922 * o ® x Necessarily some arbitrary factors are used by statisticians in estimating na- tional wealth, and there is some differ- ence of opinion as to the proper man- ner of judging apparent fluctuations. The Census Bureau has confined itself. to tangible wealth in a fairly narrow field. The big item is real estate in private hands, and the estimate of the wealth placed is in relation to the tax status. As this real estate is affected by the market to some extent, there are fluctuations, and yet it might cogently be argued that land does not really alter in actual value for productive purposes. That is to say, most land does not. Eroded land and run-down land which has not been refertilized does lose value and, in the urban field, there are very real changes in value due to vicissitudes of use and occupancy. But Pike's Peak can scarcely be said to have increased or declined in value. What value to place on the Great Lakes is a problem. As traffic increases on the Great Lakes it might be held that thelr value as a national asset has increased. These considerations have not been gone into by the Census Bureau. * ¥ ¥ x From a practical point of view there must be recognized a relation between wealth and income. Indeed, most wealth estimates are in part based on the in- come a given property produces. Well. in 1922, when the wealth was estimated at $320,000,000,000, the national income was $62,000,000,000. That income sprang from many intangibles as well as the tangible assets and included profits and the wages of labor. The income as shown, taken without weighing and ad- justment for intangibles, shows a rate of about 20 per cent. For the peak year of American pros- perity, 1929, an income of $83,000,000,000 has been reported. On the same basis of return, this would suppose a national wealth of $415,000,000,000. At the depth of the depression in 1932, the national income was but $39,400.000,000, and on the same return basis this would mean a national wealth of $197,000,000,000, or far below the wealth a full decade earlier. The latest figures estimate about $54.- 000,000,000 as the income, and this would mean a national wealth of $270,000,000,- 000. So, if these figures are to be ac- cepted, our national wealth has shown a net decline of $50,000,000,000 in the last 14 years, * % x % Land is presumed to have the most static value, to be the steadiest asset in the country, and the overwhelming ma- jority of the land in use is farm land. The very life of the whole people is dependent upon the production of this farm land, so its worth must be regarded as prime. It probably will astonish a 300d many people, but the statistical fact, attested by the United States Govern- ment, is that farm land and buildings today are worth scarcely any more this year than they were a quarter of a century ago. With all the great gains in transportation and the better marketing facilities for farm products, farm values are not today higher. In 1910 their value was placed at $40,945,000,000, and for this year, $41,811,000,000. be sure, in the meantime, farm land and buildings have had a far greater value, a value almost twice as great. The peak of value came in 1920, when a figure of $78436,000000 was registered. That was more than 15 years ago, and since then there has been a progressive decline. All through the decade which included the Coolidge- Hoover boom, when many other values, especially the intangibles, mounted, the value of farm land and buildings kept dropping. In 1929, at the height of the general boom, the value of the farm property had fallen to $57,604,000,000. * X % % The bottom was reached in 1833, when the figure shown is only $36,235,000,000— half of what it had been 15 years earlier. The rise to the present $41,000,000,000 can scareely be said to represent much of a recovery. * % ¥ % Now as to urban property, figures are somewhat confused. Meanhattan Island, the heart of New York City, the place where the greatest skyscrapers in the world stand, has shown, in the last 20 years, a decline of around 30 per cent in real estate values, according to studies made by a special committee headed by Frederic A. Delano, the President’s uncle. It might be urged that this de- cline was due to the depression of the '30s, but the fact is that the decline had set in before the fatal 1929. Due to the depression, at least $2,000,000.000 worth of buildings were torn down because they were not revenue producing and the owners wished to reduce their tax liability. MiMon-dollar buildings which, assuredly, had represented national wealth, were ruthlessly razed so that the owners would have to pay taxes only on the vacant land. * kX % The value of human effort is an ime portant factor in figuring national wealth, but when human effort is not exerted it loses at least its present worth. With some 10,000,000 persons unemployed and not adding to the national income but, to a considerable extent, constituting a drain on accumulated resources, a de- cline in national wealth in that category must be recognized. The national debt has increased by billions within the last few years and this must be written off against national wealth. £ A studious analysis would, unquestion« ably, reveai some compensating factors. For one thing. the Nation now owns something over $10,000,000,000 in gold or about half the entire world supply. There has been a reduction in farm mortgages and, it is understood, in many urban mortgages. Through financial re- organizations, hundreds of millions of debt of Ma;:;té:nnd corporations, notably the rai , have been written off. Huge sums were lost to the people through bank failures but some of that has been recouped. »