Evening Star Newspaper, April 28, 1937, Page 11

THE EVENING » STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY APRIL 28, 1937. Some Worry Avoided by President Roosevelt Fishing Trip Called Tribute to Poise. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. HATEVER his critics ma; think of him other 5 President Roosevelt must certainly be given credit for having the most remarkable poise of any man in the tountry. Certainly no business man or executive of large responsi- bility anywhere compares with him in the calm attitude and peace of mind which Mr. Roose- velt ex to- ward current problems For the Presi- dent is going fish- ing. Every day there comes over the ticker into his office, as it comes into the ~ offices of other people, a simple little table of ex- penses and receipts for the biggest business in the world—the Govern- ment of the United States. Many snother person would get the jitters looking at these figures. Many another person, if it were a private business, would hesitate to venture two blocks from his office, let alone take & vac: Many another per- son would have deep furrows in his forehead and wouldn't sleep nights. But not President Roosevelt, who is going on & two weeks' fishing trip. What is the condition of the “big- gest business in the world Take David Lawrence. April 24 for an example, though each., day is more or less alike. The official Treasury figures say the expenses this year are $6,147,024.503, and at this time last year they were $5.874,203.651. The official receipts are pared with §: figy that the com- say 8o it might be expected that with the receipts about $842.000,000 higher shan they were last year the Treasury eught to be that mu er off. Present Deficit. But actually the defic is 0483973, as compared with | 529,311 last year, and the| is that expenses are growing ts grow, too. important figure that etares one in the face, however, in studying the daily announcements from the Treasury, is the public debt. Last year at this time it w 831.536, but now it is $34.8 ivate business were faced wing debt and a big deficit, now reason even as r The ce: ive in charge would be wor- ving how to get rid of the debt, or | how to make income and outgo bal- | Mr. Roosevelt worries about | can observe it in his de- | He is always buoyant and s he mcets the press. He | in"his own ability to see | i he has the same | he has always | entered the White leaves t he goes fishing on the Gu Mexico for the next two weeks e leaves behind a contro- | versy over whic! llions of his fel- low zens have been bestirred, namely, the change in the relation- ship between the judicial and the other branches of the Government The Senate cominittee has just fin- ished hearings. Mr. Roosevelt's sup- porters are being besought by col- leagues of the same party to work out a compromise. Legislative Program. Then there's the whole legislative program. The President thinks the anti-trust laws ht to be rewritten He has soft-pedaled action on some bills and left others to hang fire till his return. It cannot be said that he has informed the leadership in Congress exactly what he wants done. They must wait till he comes back from his fishing trip. Then there's the delicate situation with respect to gold. The problem of | revaluing the dollar or letting it alone &t the present gold price i filling the | afr with rumors. There may or may not be anything urgent about this, but anyway when Mr. Roosevelt goes fish- ing it is a sign that he isn't prepared to take action in these fields as yet Tax receipts constitute another problem. The estimates were proved wrong and now the task is to find other taxes or to revise the whole fax structure to bring in more taxes. Mr. Roosevelt has delegated all this %0 subordinates, but anybody else would be conferring with them and possibly with others to find a way to keep the Government from running along “on the road toward bank- ruptcy.” Mr. Roosevelt is different. He prefers to let Congress stew in its jegislative juice, so to speak—Supreme Court bill, relief spending, and all— whilst he goes off to the blue waters of the gulf to do battle with the tar- pons, Some day Mr. Roosevelt will go away and find that Congress has gone off the track and decided to assert its independence. But with the tremendous leverage that the White House has over members of Congress because the latter have voted lump sums to the Executive for his discre- tionary use in their districts, the chances of this happening soon are remote. Causes for Worry. ‘Why doesn't Mr. Roosevelt worry about the condition of the Treasury and the fact that the Government bond market shows & lack of confi- dence in his budget balancing predic- tions? Maybe it is because Mr. Roose- velt has a philosophy of sunshine that doesn’'t permit of worry, but one ex- planation being advanced is that it i{sn't his money—it is other people's money. His position is akin to that of the corparation executives whose bonds have been floated to the public and who do not themselves have any- thing invested in their corporation. Some of these executives do not worry either, unless it is about their salaries, and in the case of a President of the United States, the salary goes on for four years. Mr. Roonsevelt likes to travel. He likes to go to sea. He takes frequent trips and vacations. He is physically strong. But if everybody else who had a big deficit to meet in his busi- ness went off on a vacation, America would find herself in the midst of a real “sit-down.” Maybe the thing to do is to forget worries and go fishing and trust to the wonders of nature to reveal the answer to the arithmetical miracle whereby deficits in billions of dollars and growing expenses seem to nly incidental concern. A News Behind the News Slight Business Recession Believed Ahead—Specu- lators Seen Losing Enthusiasm. BY PAUL MALLON. NDUSTRY is continuing to swell its output even beyond 1929 bounds. You may have noticed the Federal Reserve Board officially announced the other day that industrial production had reached 119 per cent in March, as compared with the 1929 average of 119. Now it is being estimated unofficially but authoritatively here that April will be up 3 points more to about 121 per cent, which is 2 points above 1929. Bigwigs in the stock market generally know about changing trends before outsiders. At least that is their business. From the manner in which the market has been acting lately, THESE PANTS it is evident that they sense a re- / \1 SEEM TOBE, cession. £\ SHRINKING This guess is sanctioned by “ nearly every economist in the ‘Government, but only in private, of course. ‘The economists seem to agree unanimously that a period of re- adjustment is in prospect, that it probably will not be extensive or serious. They disagree about when it will come; some say now, some say in the Fall. A rather significant hint apparently lies in the fact that prices, which have been going up steadily since last Summer, reached a peak four weeks ago. MINE SEEM TOGET. Itl,RGEl FVERY DAY * X K % This may mean that expanding production has reached a temporary price ceiling, but authorities who value their record for accuracy will wait & few weeks before saying so in print. For one thing, the reversal of the price trend started in a peculiar way. Immediately after President Roosevelt announced that heavy goods prices were too high, some of the heavy goods values started easing off. But commodity prices generally failed to follow this trend. The index of all commodities, except farm products and foods, kept going right up from 84.4 on February 27 to 85.2 on March 27 and to 86.5 on April 25, Also going up are textiles, metals, building materials. Until these still-increasing prices decide what they are going to do the general trend will be in doubt. But there are indisputable indications that the sensitive speculators have lost some of their enthusiasm. Their ardor is cooling, both here and abroad. Note—Of course, few of these price decreases have reached the con- sumer yet. All cited are wholesale prices. * Kk ok X ‘The business chart which follows, shows employment and wages in the factories are still going up beyond the recently announced official figures. It shows the wage earner is in relatively a better position than 1929, with his wages at 102.5 and his prices around 87.4 Each figure in the chart represents the percentage of 1923-25 as normal for the period stated. gonanpord enpur “yuswsodwa £1019%4 “s3uIpwol 11 Year. 1929 1936 1937 1937 1937 (Est 119 105 87 116 105.0 92.0 89.0 99.7 118 100.8 - 121 1015 * x ok ¥ What Gen. Franco is trying to do is to clean out Bilbao before turning back again on Madrid. He realizes at last the danger to his communications by the sizable force of Loyalists in the rear. Military men think he had better hurry. 109.0 82.0 74% 958 101.2 1025 106 12 70 80 83 82 average - average - January February March ) April 953 80.6 806 86.3 878 874 92 91 Those new secret Treasury tax revision recommendations were pre- pared by Undersecretary Magill, instead of Treasury Counsel Oliphant, although both worked on them. That Anglo-French pact guaranteeing a free Belgium merely made the best of a bad situation for Britain and France. When Belgium announced she would be neutral in the next European war, she practically forced her two ex-allies into renewing their Jealty. It has not been brought out, but the State Department had a prowl through files for days before establishing the American citizenship of Helmut Hirsch, who has been sen- tenced to death in Hitlerland for high treason. There was some doubt about Helmut and his father, Siegfried, but the department finally decided the grandfather Hirsch had claims to citizenship, which makes Helmut a citizen, but not a very close one. Representative Warren of North Carolina keeps in his pocket & constant budget reminder, a clip- ping from J. Micawber's recipe for happiness to David Copperfield: “Annual income, 20 pounds; annual expenditure, 19 pounds, 19 shillings, 6 pence. Result: Happiness. Annual income, 20 pounds; annual expenditures, 20 pounds, 0 shillings, 6 pence. Result: Misery.” (Copyright, 1937.) CTHE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Again Eyes Look West Nations in Berlin-Rome Sphere Seek Help of More Liberal Powers. BY DOROTHY THOMPSON. NTERESTING and somewhat en- couraging developments—from the viewpoint of the future or liberal democracy in Europe—are occur- ring in the small states which lie be- tween Germany and Italy, in the course of what has come to be known as the Berlin-Rome axis. The news- papers in the last weeks have re- ported numerous developments, the last one being the i visit of the Aus- f trian chancellor, Schuschnigg, to Mussolini. The apparent infer- ence to be drawn from the news re- ports, and the in- smooth things out, but considerable distrust was awakened, particularly in Rumania. Yugoslavia is the only Little Entente country which has not recognized the Soviet government, and Czechoslovakia, in particulsr, wishes the members of the Little En- tente to be on a decent footing with the Soviets, particularly Rumania, be- cause Czechoslovakia depends upon Russian support in case of an at- tack from Germany, and can estab- lish contact with Russia only via Rumania Titelescu’s Star Rising. In Rumania the pro-Nazi party of the Iron Guard has made so much disorder and trouble that a really organized resistance against them is beginning to form as people realize that they are merely the tools of Ger- many and Italy. The ousting of ference which is| Prince Nicholas was an indication drawn ¥ controlled Ger- man press, is that | Austria, which is one of the most important states in the | whole complex, is retreating from its | close collaboration with Mussolini’s | Italy and is moving toward Germany. | But actually what has happened i | that Austria, Hungary and Rumania are all finding it extremely uncom- | fortable to sit on an axis and are modi- fying both their internal and external policies with a view of again working together with, and basing their hopes on, the liberal, democratic nations of the West. For the first time since 1933 liberal democracy in this part of the world is beginning to ascend. Nu- merous forces are responsible for it, but probably the two most fmportant | are the British rearmament and the | evidence that the democratic system in } France and the middle-of-the-road | policy there are likely to survive. Like Pawns in a Game. Central European states, which cover an important part of Europe from any point of view—considered either economically or strategically— | have been divided into two groups: | The war-formed alliance of Czecho- slovakia, Rumania and Yugoslavia n | the Little Entente, and the states of the Rome Protocol—Austria, Hun- | gary, with Rumania, which regards | itself as a “Roman” nation, having a foot in both camps. The intimacy of Austria with Italy was conditioned as far as the Austrians were con- cerned by the fear of Nazi Germany. It reached its peak in the Summer of 1934, when Chanc Dollfuss was assassinated by the Nazis and Musso- lini mobilized on the Brenner Pass to prevent the Germans from taking Austria But as Berlin and Rome draw to- | gether, if not for purposes of mutual collaboration, at least for purposes of mutual blackmail, these states are coming to realize that a perfectly cynical game is being played with them, which in no way contributes to their inner or outer stability. Some time ago Italy made a treaty | with Yugoslavia which is not unlike | the one which Hitler, early in his | regime, made with Poland. The deal shocked the Little Entente. because in making it Yugoslavia disregarded the distinct wording of the Little Entente protocol, which compels her | to consult her allies before making | any such agreement with an outside | pow An attempt was made to Dorothy Thompson. 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Included here are outstanding examples of china, silver, glasware, linens, etc., selected from the Spring 1937 market. SPECIAL FEATURES FOR BRIDES — including tips on house-keeping, servant management, wedding trips, etc. Sold at the vegular magazine price—35¢—at news- stands. Or use the coupon below for a special intro- ductery subscription! | #ion of the coronation, by the of the collapse of public patience. It was preceded by unification, at long last, of the strongly anti-Fascist Peasants’ party, under the leader- ship of Mihalachi. Titelescu, who was the perennial foreign minister of Rumania until he fell afoul of the Nazi Iron Guard and who has clung consistently to collaboration with Great Britain and France, is slowly recovering in St. Moritz, and his star is again in the ascendant. Ru- mor had it that Titelescu was pois- oned, and rumor now has it that his bills in an expensive sanatorium are being paid by his poisoners—a Bal- kanesque story. But at any rate he is being constantly consulted on for- eign policy. Hungary, too, played with fascism until a couple of months ago, when a Nazi putsch was aborted and the rovernment realized that playing with fire was dangerous business. An ti-Fascist government in Rumania, ungary realizes, would be willing give more liberal treatment to s and give Hungary wly abandoning ideas to M A reason for s of terri Ttalian treaty is not popular in Hun- As for Austria, a close relation with Ttaly was never popular. The defeat of Ttalian troops on the Spanish front reminds the Austrians again that they repulsed the Italians in the World War—and the Austrians it idea of themselves as soldiers. 1schnigg postponed his v to Italy after the debacle in Spain, and now it is announced that the Austrian foreign minister will use the occa- not only visit to stop in Paris. England, but also These 8mall Central European coun- tr are always a barometer for Europe. That they are beginning to draw away from both Rome and Berlin, approach each other and turn their eyes toward the west is not with- out significance. (Copyright, 19! have mo | | This Changing World. Nations Flirt With Debt Settlement Idea to Avoid Johnson Act Penalty. BY CONSTANTINE BROWN. ENATOR J. HAMILTON LEWIS' keen interest in an early settlement of the war debts has produced deep satisfaction among the debtors and somewhat of a surprise among those who want to see this coun- try aloof in another international conflagration. For the last four years the principal debtor nations have stubbornly maintained that as long as they have cut down the German reparations to next to nothing they ought to have a debt settlement amounting to the same thing. Great Britain, France and Co. have maintained that there was an interrelation between war debts and reparations. The administra- tion refused to accept this point of view. Hence the defaulting. The debtors have announced repeatedly, however, that they are willing to pay something like ten cents on the dollar. Whatever the feeling of the White House and the State Department about this may be, there is no doubt that Congress will not accept such a compromise. It would pay us to lose 10 per cent of $20,000,000,000 and not loan money again to warring and would-be warring nations. Since the possibilities of another international conflagration have become more immediate, the principal debtor countries, hit by the Johnson act, have begun to flirt with the idea of a “debt settlement.” They would like to resume payments in order to avoid the penalties of the Johnson act. In other words, they would not mind paying this country a few hundred million dollars each in order to have access to the billions of “unemployed” dollars in this country. If a debtor government pays, say, $200,000,000 next month, in cash or otherwise, it will be free to go to Wall Street and borrow five or six times that amount. New York bankers are more than willing to open the gates to foreign loans. It's a profitable business for the bankers and promoters, regardless as to how unprofitable it may be for the investor. An agreement to settle debts these days is tantamount to loaning the debtor nations several times the amount they owe us each year and receive back payments from our own pockets. * oK ok K Liberty is a great thing, but unfortunately, it is a luxury only rich nations can afford. This is the theory Dr. Schacht, Hitler's minister of national economy, expounded recently in Brussels. “A nation,” the German economist said, “which has to live in a regime of managed cur- rency and must not only preserve, but create, its raw materials cannot afford the luxury of individual freedom.” * ok ox % Dr. Schacht is now number one traveling salesman of the Reich, He actually sells whatever Germany produces. He is good at it because his father used to be a traveling salesman and had intended to make young Hjalmar Horace Greely follow his profession. Mamma Schacht, the daugh- ter of a German nobleman decided that the son should follow the noble profession of arms and sent him to a military preparatory school. But Hjalmar did not like the goose step and studied political economy. His method of work in the Reichsbank and the department of national economy is unique. There are many of his collaborators who have worked with him for the last 15 years who don't even know him by sight. Schacht believes in minute and written reports. If a department head has any- thing to say, some suggestion to make, he must put it on paper and the boss answers immediately in the same manner. Thus, he avoids waste of time and quibbling. It's all in black and white. ) All the German war material which has proved in the Spanish civil war unsatisfactory for a campaign against a highly modernized army is being dumped now by the German arms salesmen in the Balkans, at & reduced price. The material, they say, is not bad, but not efficient enough against the most modern tanks and airplanes. Some of the Balkan states are jumping at the bargain offered by Krupp & Co. and are sending hogs, wheat and oil in payment for guns, tanks and bombers The fact that the Balkans are becoming almost exclusively dependent of the German amuni- tion market has a capital political importance. In 1914 the states whose armies were equipped with the French “75” gun joined the allies because they could not change their armament overnight. Rumania, Which was equipped with the German “77,” suffered defeat, partly because she did not have time to get her artillery from the allies and had only a scanty supply of shells. It's a well-known fact that countries which do not pPOssess their own arsenals are politically dependent of the industrial countries which supply them with the necessities of war. And Germany now is making an effort to become the sole purveyor of instruments of death to the Balkans. Headline Folk and What They Do U. S. Sends Pierson to China to Develop New Trade. BY LEMUEL F. PARTON. T WAS on April 8 that Warren Lee Pierson, president of the Exporte Import Bank of the United States, landed in Shanghal. Right on time is the Japanese kick-back. They set up a sharp complaint and chal- lenge against “China’s becoming a colonial market of Great Britain and the United ; States.” A market, prof= itable if not co- lonial, was what Uncle Sa had ien he . Pierson ver there. w. M. Kir kpatrick, agent of Great Britain, also se- cret, was a jump or two ahead of him. As the drag- on wakes up and scrambles to its | feet, everybody is trying to sell it something. Europeans were ahead of us in supplying rails and other railroad material for China's new and extensive transportation proj- ects, Road-building machinery, it 1s understood here, offers the best sales opportunity. Chances for big deals in this and other machinery are said to have inspired Mr. Pierson’s missi The bank cannot finance governmental | purchases, but it can arrange credit for individual deals. Mr. Pierson, a youngish, energetic man, was a Los eles lawyer, with & little sideline of Democratic politics, who became general counsel for the bank in 1934 and its president last February. He is an alumnus of the uni- versity of California and the Harvard Law School, schooled in knowledge of international trade by a spe ed law practice. He succeeded George N. Peek as president of the bank wk ter withdrew in an Deal row. The function of is to lucubrate foreign trade deals with credit, after ass of sound se- curity. A friend of m the Orient last vast road-| projects under w undeveloped reso He was bitter abo; difference of the W. L. Pierson, ho returned from week said China had g and construction v and that it had es to pay for them. he sloth and in- ed States in lete ting Britain, pa arl fudge in ahead of her in supplying machines and materials—not having heard of Mr. Pierson's secret mission, perhaps. | (c 1937.) ‘ — Board Names Secretary. 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