Evening Star Newspaper, December 24, 1936, Page 9

Nationalism Kills Spirit of Yule Doctrine Spurs Arms, Violating Peace and Goodwill Injunction. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. VERY year now since 1918 the world has at this season ex- amined with sadness the age- old verse, “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” ‘This Christmas there is throughout the world a fear that war is in the offing in Europe. The feverish prepa- rations in building up the necessary armament give rise to the appre- hension, One glance at the plight of Germany s it is being revealed in the press reports from day to day makes one wonder how there can be a war in Cen- tral Europe. Ac- tually there is a dangerous short- age of fats and the German peo- ple are on the verge of a ra- tioned food sup- ply. It is amazing to contemplate, but the German peo- ple are being asked at Christ- mas, 1936, to make the same & e e e Christmas, 1918, when they were emerging from four years of war. Can it be that the German people, with all their munitions and all their instruments of war, would start into a confliet with another power when the vital necessities of the non-combatant population are already so scarce?. It took a naval blockade of world-wide proportions to starve Germany into submission. Today Germany, by rea- son of a financial blockade imposed as a consequence of her own inflationary experience and misguided nationalism, is in virtually the same position as she was 18 years ago—she has no exten- sive credit outside her borders and no husbanded resources of gold and sup- plies inside her border. Crisis Being Approached. Germany has often been thought to be on the verge of collapse in recent years, but dispatches during the past week indicate that some kind of a crisis is in prospect. There are some here in diplomatic quarters who think this in itself might precipitate war; that Hitler would find an excuse for entangling the nation in a war as a way to excuse the collapse of his eco- nomic policies. But this seems hardly plausible, because the German peo- ple remember all too well the suf- ferings of the World War, and when food supplies begin to be a matter of | rationing as in war times, they will begin to grow suspicious and perhaps rebellious. 8o far as the Western World is con- cerned, there is peace, and recently at Buenos Aires a rededication to the cause of peace. Likewise, the anti-war feeling has reached unprecedented strength in America. The scrupulous effort to draw neutrality laws and em- bargoes which would prevent Amer- jcan citizens from entangling their country in war is but one of a num- ber of symptoms of the peace senti- ment of the United States. Nationalism Foe of Good Will. Is there “good will” in the world? Hardly. Nationalism, both political and economic, have attained a new! high in scorn for the well-being of other peoples. The spirit which ani- mated Christianity from the beginning, the ideals which first gave it univer- sality was based on a concept of the | brotherhood of man. | Today the brotherhood of man is not even remembered in the gestures of nations to each other. The theory | today is that nations must develop self-sufficiency and extract from each other the maximum advantage with- out giving in return anything but the minimum. It is true that the United States has embarked on a policy of reci- procity in trade agreements, but even this policy is bitterly fought in prin- ciple as well as in detail. Likewise, the moral power of the United States which might be exerted in the chan- oellerjes of Europe to further the cause of peace is not exerted because of s nationalistically developed an- tipathy for all things foreign. To prevent war for the United States by trying to stay out of it| ‘when the conflict, arises abroad is ad- mittedly difficult, and 1917 shows how even the best of intentions can fail. ‘To prevent war by being active as a moral influence when the steps lead- ing up to war are in process is a prin- ciple that appeals to peace-loving citizens, but the Government here is rather cautious about any public or private expressions in that direction for fear of drawing the fire of the nationalists. Pleas Seem Vain. Mr. Roosevelt's speech at Buenos Alres was an indirect appeal to Eu- rope, but it will require more than exhortations to affect the govern- ments of foreign lands. The basis of much of the trouble in the world today is insincerity. People who are hungry feel insecure. Nations impoverished are insecure and reach out for colonies or trade to help their suffering peoples. Announcement of an economic in- terchange, a world-wide economic con- ference, in which all nations and all governments participate, a consulta- tion in which an effort would be made to agree on the principles that should be applied to bring about worldwide re-employment without resorting to artificial economic processes such as armament building would be the best Christmas or New Year’s present the world could possibly receive. For it would be recognition of the fact that good will among men ean come only out of a mutual regard for the wel- fare of fellow human beings. (Copyright. 1936.) © ESTABLISHED 1865 o 7 CLOSED XMAS % And Saturdey, Too! Wae have been very busy, Washington, thenk you! We're taking e ~two-doy holidey. Wae'll be ot your service again next Monday Groetings /LUMBER and MILLWOKK 649-651 N. Y. Ave. N.W. 1523 7th St. N.W. CNA. 1348, “The Lumber Number | | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, News Behind the News Mr. Claus to Give Ickes Housing Control—But In- terior Secretary Won’t Get Bigger P. W. A. BY PAUL MALLON. ! DEFINITE revival of faith in Santa Claus is noticeable among Secretary form of daily publicity handouts stretching mote & bigger and better P. W. A, asking for Rural Resettlement, but it, and reaching for it. Mr, Ickes is not going to get has other plans for him. The P. stances, and Agriculture Secretary of Rural Resettlement. But direct informa old man with the long white beard indicates get control of slums clearance contemplated passed early in the New Year. He is to become the big housing man of the second arrangements are now being mlge.‘ e The Federal Housing Administration is not going to fare'as Mr. Ickes and the others, apparently, switches is likely to be its lot, if not at Christmas, then shortly after the New Year. Those who give and take away within the New Deal are said to have decided definitely to discon- tinue Pederal Housing Administra- tor McDonald's Title 1, authorizing him to make those small loans for home refinishing. Title 2 will be continued on the present unexciting basis. There is just a bare probability that Mr. Fahey’s H. O. L. C. will be turned over to Mr. McDonald for liquidation. That matter has not been decided. Agriculture Secretary Wallace made away with the Rural Resettlement by getting some of his men on 8. Claus’ board of directors. He would probably have received the bureau anyway, but it is noteworthy that when “the co-ordinating committee” was appointed to divide what Prof. Tugwell left behind, Mr. Wallace was well represented. The chairman of the com- mittee was M. L. Wilson, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. Another member was Milo Perkins, who was one of Wallace's secretaries until he was appointed head of the Rural Rehabilitation Division of Resettlement, * k% X As this is a season of peace and good will, President Roosevelt's ar rangers are trying to arrange for a little of both in the scramble for the House leadership. Definite negotiations have been undertaken backstage to prevent an open fight in the caucus election. What the peace-makers hope to do is to satisfy Representative John O’Connor on the side, and elect Represent~ ative Sam Rayburn to the leadership unanimously. A few Yuletide polit- jcal gifts may be dropped into Mr. O'Connor’s ample sock. Whether he will withdraw is yet questionable. His friends believe he can win, and, as long as they continue to think so, there will be no peace. There is no question about Mr. Roosevelt's sincerity in an- nouncing that he was taking mo part in the fight. Yet most of his White House associates are working ardently for Rayburn. Ima partial insiders also know that, before the President left for South America, he authorized a certain compromise plan for Rayburn's election as Speaker (not leader). It did mot work and has been dis- carded, but it indicated how the President stood before the fight became warm. * * % X Politics is always a complicated business, but it will rarely get more complicated than the situation involving choice of a successor to Senator Norbeck in South Dakota. The Senator died at the wrong time. The inside on the situation is this: If Norbeck had died two weeks later, a R¥publican Governor could have appointéd his successor. If he had died two days earlier, or one day later, Democratic Gov. Tom Berry could have arranged the appointment of himself to the vacancy. But two days before the death, Lieut. Gov. Peterson was arrested on charges involving his bank at Centerville. Therefore, hes can- not be appointed to the Governor- ship by Berry in order to appoint Berry to the Senate. Peterson declined to resign and permit some one else to appoint Berry, which left the matter in about as bad a tangle as was possible. Meanwhile, the regular Republicans, who always charged Norbeck with being inconsiderate of his party, because of his independent attitude, say his final act was a fitting climax to his career of irregularity. * * % % Here is what you are going to get from Santa through the Securities and Exchange Commission early next year: 1. Flcor traders doing an “in-and-out day business” must margin to cover on maximum commitments. 2. Commission houses carrying business on margin should not trade on margin themselves—their trading, if any. must be for cash. 3. Specialists should not manipulate their books in such a manner as to effect a new high or a new low for the day. 4. The question of segregation of broker and dealer to be reserved for future consideration. (Copyright. 1936.) q'Ht opinions of the writers on this page are their ‘own, not necessarily The Star’s. The Star’s effort to give all sides of readers, alti h such themseives a The Unenforceable Lord Moulton Pointed Out Reliance in Great Domain - of Action. BY MARK SULLIVAN. OME time ago, writing about the | thing. obligations upon King Edward,|s growing tendency to treat matters I alluded to & phrase, “Obedi- | that are not regulated by positive s#nce to the unenforceable.” I|law as being matters of absolute NEW BOMBER APPROVED LOS ANGELES, December 24 (#).— Army Air Corps officers announced themselves pleased with & 10-pas- senger bomber designed for sub- stratosphere flying after its maiden | voyage yesterday. United States Army experts care- fully watched the big ship undergo & series of rigorous tests. The ship is powered with two twin-row 1,250- horsepower wasp motors and fash- ioned of multi-plated armor. Officials of North American Avia- tion, Inc., said even the most raking high-caliber gunfire would not dam- age the plane’s stressed-skin wing and fuselage construction. The aviation company will enter the ship in competition at Dayton, Ohio, in March with other American- made aircraft in an effort to sell #t and subsequent planes to the Gov- ernment. e CLUTCH INVENTOR DIES. LOS ANGELES, December 24 (#).— Marshal Beck, 89, inventor of an auto- mobile clutch and s widely used hay- rick loader, died here Tuesday night from infirmities. He invented the Borg-Beck friction eclutch for suto- mobiles. For Out-0f-Town Telephone Calls Will Be In Effect. SAY “MERRY CHRISTMAS"’ To Distant Friends by NN LILY DAMITA BACK HOLLYWOOD, December 24 (#).— The marital affairs of Errol Flynn, film actor, took & new turn yesterday when his wife, Lily Damita, returned sud- denly for Christmas. A month ago they separated. Then, reconciled, they started for Europe. In New York Flynn was ordered to return to Hollywood for work. They ‘were to meet in Singapore next Spring. FTRTTEEES WM (B BN A Y said I thought it originated with Lord Chief Justice Hewart of Great Britain. I was mistaken. The author was the ters. Some called j my attention to my error. More, never having seen the phrase be- fore, asked about its implications and origin. It is apparent the phrase has a kin- ship to what many Americans are thinking in this troubled time. It occurs to me to reprint some condensed extracts from Lord Moul- ton’s address, as having appropriate- ness to the Christmas season in a year in which the world is much per- turbed about the relation of the in- dividual to society—the felation of the individual conscience to, on the one side, written law, and, on the other, to the Golden Rule. Lord Moulton was not primarily & phflosopher or moralist. He was a man of action. During the great war he was Britain's minister of muni- tions. After the war he delivered an address before the Authors’ Club of London. Apparently the talk was im- promptu; certainly there was no manuscript. Notes were made by a hearer. Soon r, the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, Ellery Sedgwick, be- ing in London, heard of the address, procured a copy, and printed it in his issue of July, 1924. The title he gave it was “Laws and Manners'— his editorial acumen, great as it was, did not extend to realizing how much more forceful and catching, as a title, was the phrase which the address contained, and which was born for immortality, “Obedience to the un- enforceable.” Three Domains of Action. “I ask you to follow me in examin- ing the three great domains of hu- man action. First comes the domain of positive law, where our actions are prescribed by laws binding upon us, which must be obeyed. Next comes the domain of free choice, which in- cludes all those actions as to which we claim and enjoy complete free- dom. “But between these two there is & third large and important domain in which there rules neither positive nor absolute freedom. In that domain there is no law which inexorably de- termines our course of action, and yet we feel that we are not free to choose as we would. It is the domain of obedience to the unenforceable. The obedience is the obedience of a man to that which he cannot be forced to obey. He is the enforcer of the law upon himself. , . . “The infinite variety of circum- stances surrounding the individual and rightly influencing his action make it impossible to subject him in all things rules rigidly prescribed and enforced. Thus there was wisely left the intermediate domain, which, so far as positive law is concerned, is a land of freedom of action but in which the individual should feel that he was not wholly free. This lies between law and free choice. Beset by Two Dangers. “The dangers that threaten this do- main arise from its situation between the region of absolute choice and the region of positive law. There are countless supporters of movements to enlarge the sphere of positive law. “In many countries—especially in the younger nations—there is a tend- Mark Sullivan, choice. . Both these movements are encroachments on the middle land. And to my mind of a nation, its the right of the majority to decide whom we should marry or what should be our religion. These are but types of & vast number of matters which we hold to be outside the decision of a majority, and which are for the indi- vidual alone to decide * ® °, Lust for Governing. “There is & widespread tendency to regard the fact that they [parliaments) can do & thing as meaning that they may do it. There can be no more fatal error. Between ‘can do’ and ‘may do’ ought to exist the whole realm which recognizes the sway of duty, fairness, sympathy, taste. It is this confusion between ‘can do’ and ‘may do' which makes me fear lest in the future the worst tyranny will be found in democ- racies. Interests which are not strong- ly represented in Parliament may be treated as though they had no rights, by governments who think that the power and the will to legislate amount to a justification of that legislation. Such a principle would be death to liberty. No part of our life would be | secure from interference from without. If I were asked to define tyranny, I would say it was yielding to the lust of governing. “The tendency of modern legislation is to extend the area ruled by positive law and to diminish the area of action which is determined by the decision of the individual himself. [I] dread | lest we should hurriedly let positive law come in and check the growth of self-reliance, check the growth of the | sense of personal duty, and lead people | to feel that if they obey the law they have done all their duty * * *,” (Copyright, 1936,) THREE MEN ARE KILLED "IN CROSSING ACCIDENT | Train Speeding to Make Up Time Crashes Into Produce Truck at Cygnet, Ohio. BY the Associated Press. BOWLING GREEN, Ohio, Decem- ber 24.—Three men were killed when a New York Central passenger train, | speeding to make up lost time, crashed | into a produce truck at a crossing in | Cygnet, 10 miles south of here late yesterday. ‘The locomotive was derailed a mile | from the crossing, but remained up- right. Coroner Halford E. Whitscre identi- fled the truck driver as Louis Torto, 65, of Toledo, and one of his helpers as Earl Kopp, 38, of Bowling Green. | The third man was mangled beyond | recognition. The cab of the truck was carried on the front of the locomotive and THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1936. We, the People Abdication Throws Into Sharp Relief the Cleavage of American and European Morality. BY JAY FRANKLIN. postponed discussion of King Edward VIII's im- pressive farewell address to the British Empire because such an ture consideration. Just as every suicide is = of society, 50 must this abdication be regarded es a the world. Not since the Emperor Charles V gave years ago and retired to & monastery has there héve been executed for abuse of their power, it down in response to an inner moral dictate. sbdication means to the British Empire will long be un- state with conviction that the British erown would med by Edward’s making a Queen of the woman by the course which Stanley Baldwin and the Archbishop of Canterbury forced upon him? The King’s farewell marked him as a great ly, honesty, simplicity and decency far above the human average. Before he faced the microphone at Windsor Castle, the British crown was greater than the King. After= ward, the ex-King was greater than the throne he had surrendered. As a contribution to the tradition of human dignity, his abdication was superd. The empire has lost @ great man. The wdrld has gained & great citizen. This event is bound to complicate Anglo-American relations and mutual regard. It illustrates, as vividly as—though less violently than—the Nazi “blood-purge” of 1934, the gulf between American morality and Euro- pean social compromise. It shows that British society is profoundly at on, odds with our own standards of decency and dignity. For if Edward had “done the proper thing”—married some eli- gible princess and bred stock for the British monarchy, ‘while conducting genial amours on the side, archbishops and premiers would have winked and nodded and eonfined their moral eriticism to & few knowing “tut-tuts” on the - boys-will-be-boys order. Instead. because King Edward wanted to marry and live with the woman he loved, rather than amuse himself with her as & lady of his royal nw,ummnmmmummmmpm by its so-called moral leaders. This cuts far deeper than the fleeting Cinderella sentiment of the American tabloid mind. It is far more weighty than our natural satisfac- tion that an American woman was worth more than the greatest empire on earth to the deposed King. This is & clash of two national moralities which shows how far apart are the British and American standards of social conduct. * e xa Our greatest—if least acknowledged—contribution to human dignity has been our elevation of women from an officially female status to the plane of individual equality. Whatever the accidental causes of this social achievement, we have not accepted either commercialized vice or the continental system of official mistresses as recognized American insti- tutions. Here women are becoming something more than mere means cf Ppleasure or of reproduction and, above all, have ceased to be property. This has, in part, been accomplished through our system of legal and respectable divorce. No human society can be permanently Jounded on divorce, but no system of marriage can work without some safety valve which will permit the small minority to end loveless or unhappy marriages and to find mew partners and new happiness. This fact is as old as the hills. The only question is whether an indissoluble marriage system, mitigated by organized infldelity, is better than a device by which those whose circumstances permit can change partners without public reproach or private shame. We have not yet, as a people, clarified our conscious thinking along the latter line, but our conduct leaves no room for doubdt as to what our morality permits. Judging by the statistics, we feel that divorce and remarriage is often better than the European alternative of life-long marriage tempered by adultery. * * ¥ ¥ This is the moral issue which, Edward’s abdication has raised in the Anglo-Saxon world. Mr. Baldwin's and the Archbishop’s objection to Mrs. Simpson as Queen was admittedly the fact that she has two former husbands living. The fact that her divorces wers in accordance with the law of the land made no difference, Ancient British social convenience demanded that an American di- vorcee be not permitted to become Queen of England. Edward has now confronted his persecutors with another question: Is it right to compel a king to marry without love, beget without passion and to divert himself in a manner condemned by both church and state, rather than to live with the woman he loves on terms of mutual dignity? - Americans will answer this question in the negative; British argu- ments that it is the royal duty to subordinate the highest functions of the human being to the convenience of the state will evoke increasingly varied and divergent answers throughout the empire. This cleavage in moral thought will disturb relations between the two great English-speaking peoples for many years to come, not least because Edward, by adopting the as yet unformulated American standard of marital morality, has shown himself to be a braver man than any empire can afford to lose with ‘equanimity. (Copyright, 1936.) thrown nearly 800 feet from the erash into a ditch. ADVERTISING INCREASES NEW YORK, December 24 (#).—News- paper advertising lineage in November showed a gain of 9.9 per cent over November, 1935, the Printers’ Ink in- dex showed yesterdsy. The increase WISHING YOU THE MERRIEST CHRISTMAS IN YEARS! over October of this year amounted | to .6 per cent after adjustment fnr] seasonal variations. ‘The general index for the adver- | tising fleld indicated an increase of 14.7 per cent over November last year | and 1.4 per cent over October, Averve"=Tth. Bth nd O S - STORE CLOSED ALL DAY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY! Headline Folk and What They Do New Envoy at Large to South America Is Diplomatic Veteran. BY LEMUEL F. PARTON, LUMP, talkative and tireless Spruille Braden becomes Am- bassador at Large in South American countries. The New York mining engineer and financier, veteran of countless Pan-American conferences and movements, will have & quasi-official diplomatic swing trick, much like that of Norman H. Davis in Europe. Notably, business men with heavy stakes in the diplomatic arguments have been merely onlookers in inter- national deals, sometimes resorting to devious or insidious influence, if any. England started using the man diplomat. We followed with Mr, Davis, whose work has been effective. Mr. Braden's far-ranging mind and interests ought to be equally effective in the practical follow-up of the Buenos Aires peace and trade sym- posium, ‘Today he sits in with South Ameri~ can delegates in an effort to liquidate that Gran Chaco War. Apparently they have only knocked off for a siesta, and pacifying Bolivia and Para- guay is one of the first details of con- tinental renovation. The genial and convincing Mr. Braden is a good pacifier. In many big business deals he has worked through some troublesome snarls. In 1920 he took over the job of electrify= ing the state railways of Chile, where he lived for many years. He was as- sociated with his father in copper de- velopment there and has vast, ramify- ing metallurgical interests all through that region. ‘This writer, having observed some of the troubles of American big busi- ness in the Cerro de Pasco region above Lima, can testify that s man of Mr. Braden's type fills a long-felt need in those parts. He was born in Elkhorn, Mont., and was graduated from the Sheffield Sclentific School of Yale University. The Archbishop of York has a way of erupting suddenly with surprising assertions, which have involved him in some sharp controversies, but never before invited attacks on the grounds of good taste—which assault is being vigorously pressed by British news- papers as the archbishop swings on ‘Windsor after the bell has ended the contest. A vigorous, vital cleric, he is likely to give sudden and extreme em- phasis to a matter possibly calling for detachment. As, for instance, the hanging of women. “For some reason, which I think is perfectly idiotic,” said the archbishop, “there is a special sentiment against the hanging of women. I do wish the women of England would rise up and protest. I think it is a humiliating insult to them which they ought to re- sent with ferocity.” He was the most Rev. Dr. Walter Temple, elevated to the archbishoprio in 1929, a scholarly Oxonion, deeply immersed in theology, the reaction from which might explain his sudden, febrile interest in such forthright busie ness as hanging women. (Copyright. 1936,) RUGGLES, JR., ILL 8Son of Director Undergoes Opera- tion in New York. NEW YORK, December 24 (#).— Wesley Ruggles, jr., 4-year-old son of the movie director, yesterday under- went an ear operation in his mother's suite at a New York hotel. His mother, Arline Judge, the ac tress, said there were no complica- | tions and he should be all right in & few days. The father is in Hollywood.