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EVENTS OF 1923 PfISSIN REVIEW Happenings at Home and Abroad During the Twelve Months That Have Just Closed. PRESIDENT HARDING'S DEATH Futile Attempts to Settle German Rep arations Problem—France Occu pies the Ruhr—Turkey’s Diplo matic Triumph—Terrible Earth quake in Japan—American Prosperity and Politics. By EDWARD W. PICKARD With the exception of Germany, ruined by her own acts, and .Japan, shattered by the forces of nature, all the world was better off at the close of 19U3 than at its beginning. This is especially true of the United States, Italy, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Tur key. and probably Russia, though the information coming from the land of the soviets lias been so colored that it was difficult to determine true con ditions there. Economic recovery of the world was retarded, as it was during the previ ous twelve months, by failure to settle the matter of the German repa rations and by the steady decline of Germany toward the point of absolute collapse. The occupation of the Ruhr by France and the resulting disputes with Great Britain brought on re peated crises each of which seemed to threaten Die ilnal disruption of the entente cordiule. Turkey gained power and prestige through tlie Lausanne peace confer ence and the resulting treaties with the allies and with the United States. Late in the year she added herself to the list of republics with Mustapha Kemal I’aslia as her first president. Under the leadership of General I'rliuo ltivera and other army officers and aristocrats, there was a house cleaning in Spain that resulted in the turning out of the crowd of politicians that had for years been battening on the spoils of j.MSgovernment. The so called , democratic government was overthrown and a dictatorial council substituted. President Harding's death in San Francisco threw all the United States —and indeed all the civilized world — into heartfelt mourning. Vice Presi dent Calvin Coolidge, succeeding to the chief magistracy, carried on in general the policies of his predecessor. Air. liarding had been considered the certain nominee of the Republican party in 1924, and his demise threw ©pen tiie lists and made the political contest intensely Interesting. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS German reparations and complica tions resulting from the failure to pay them occupied much of the attention of European diplomats. Early in Jan uary the allied premiers held a futile conference in Paris, and France pre pared for separate action to collect from Germany. About tlie same time Secretary Hughes announced the Unit ed States would not consider Rerlln’s proposal for a four-power European peace pact and also Informally ad vised France not to occupy the Ruhr. France, however, was determined, and the reparations commission gave her the opening by declaring Germany in willful default in coal deliveries. Ger many formally protesting and Great Britain not approving, the French on January 11 began the occupation of the Ruhr, seizing its most Important cities one after another. President Harding expressed his disapproval by recalling (lie American troops from Germany. Chancellor Cuno, with the support of the lelchstng, declared a "moral war" of passive resistance and ordered all state employees not to obfcy the French. The mine owners and later the Industrial magnates fell in with this'program and for months the French were balked In their efforts to get any considerable revenue from the region. They seized customs, bank funds and railways, and arrested many Industrial lenders and officials, but the passive resistance was not broken un til late in September. The occupa tion was assisted actively by Relgium and passively by Italy. Great Brit ain, though she did not actually ham per the French, gave them no help. On May 2 Germany made anew reparations offer of $7,500,000,000, with many conditions, and it was im mediately rejected by France. Eng land also declared the offer Insufficient. Berlin tlien asked anew reparations conference on the total sum and of fered annuities of 1,500,000,0UU gold ■larks. Great Britain invited France ■nd Italy to join her in a reply to this, and submitted a draft of her proposed answer, but this also fell through. The British government thereupon sent a note to France and Belgium declaring the Ruhr oceupa tion illegal and a failure, insisting on an impartial reparations inquiry after the plan suggested by Secretary of State Hughes, and saying France must pay enough of the money lent her to enable Great Britain to pay America. Again no results, Premier Poincare declaring Germany must set tle the reparations question before an economic accord could be reached. Chancellor Stresemann, who had suc ceeded Dr. Cuno, announced the aban donment of passive resistance and said no more reparations would be paid and the treaty of Versailles would he repudiated. He also put an end to the aid which the government had been giving the inhabitants of tbe oc cupied regions. Soon after this tbe industrial magnates of the Ruhr and Rhineland signed a pact with the French for the resumption of work and of payments of material. In December the reparations com mission decided to appoint two com mittees of experts, one to examine German money In foreign lands and the other to try to devise means by which Germany might balance her budget and stabilize her finances. Poincare now seemed in a yielding mood and President Coolidge an nounced he approved ' of unofficial American participation through the selection of Americans’ as members of those committees. Turkey’s diplomatic victory at Lau sanne was not easily won. While the conference there was deadlocked in January Alustapha Ivenial mpbilized armies to move against Constanti nople, Mosul and other points and called three classes to the colors to combat the Greeks In Thrace. The quarreling in the peace conference was incessant. On January 31 the allies submitted a treaty to the Turks, demanding its acceptance within four days. The Turks agreed to sign it if the economic clauses were reserved for future settlement. Lord Curzon departed in a rage, and on February 0 tbe conference broke up. Diplomatic conversations continued, however; the British indicated they would make concessions, and the conference was resumed on April 23, Russia being ex cluded. On July 24 a treaty was signed which gave to Turkey nearly all she had demanded, the question of oil concessions being left for later consideration. A few days later the United States and Turkey signed treaties of amity and commerce and on extradition. By October 2 the al lied military forces had evacuated Constantinople. Warfare between Italy and Greece in the autumn was narrowly averted. An Italian military commissioner and ids aids were murdered in Albania and on August 28 Italy demanded that Greece apologize abjectly and pay reparations. The Greek reply being unsatisfactory, the Italians promptly bombarded and occupied the island of Corfu. Greece appealed to the League of Nations, which was disposed to take up the affair; but Premier Mus solini declared Italy would withdraw from the league and ignore its deci sion if it insisted on arbitrating the dispute. The situation was most em barrassing for the leagvie, but the allied council of ambassadors rescued it by assuming jurisdiction and order ing Greece to comply with Italy’s de mands almost in their entirety. Greece gave in, apologized and paid 50,000,000 lire indemnity, and on September 27 Italy evacuated Corfu. Mussolini achieved another triumph by an agreement with Jugo-Slavia whereby Italy obtained possession of Flume. In January American and British commissions met in Washington to ne gotiate the refunding of the British war debt to America, and their task was soon completed to the apparent satisfaction of both nations. The Washington treaties on reduction of armament and concerning the Pacific were ratified by Italy in February and by France in July. Through the ef forts of an American commission sent to Mexico, the government of our neighbor was finally brought to ami cable terms and the long-withheld rec ognition was accorded by Washington on August 31. DOMESTIC AFFAIRS Overshadowing all other events in the United States was the death of President Warren G. Harding. He had long planned a trip through the Middle and Far West and to Alaska in order to talk with the people and get their reactions. Though tired out and far from well, he started on June 20, accompanied by Mrs. Harding and several members of his cabinet. After delivering several important addresses, notably one advocating American mem bership in the World court, he sailed to Alaska. Returning thence to San Francisco, he fell ill there on July 28. Four days later, on August 2, he passed away. The taking of his body back to Washington, the services there, the trip to Marion, Ohio, and the Interment there of the little town's distinguished citizen on August 10 gave the people of the country ample opportunity to show In what hi git esteem and affection they held Mr. Harding. Literally the entire nation mourned sincerely, and all the other THE DANIELSVILLE MONITOR, DANIELSVILLE, GEORGIA. nations gave expression to their grief. Vice President Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office’ as President at his father’s home in Plymouth, Vt., and assumed his new duties at once, re taining the entire Harding cabinet and announcing that he would carry out the Harding policies where possible. It had been taken for granted that the Republican party would nominate Mr. Harding in 1924, and Mr. Cool idge immediately became a probable nominee. However, before the year dosed other candidates came forward, notably Senator Hiram Johnson of California, Governor I’lnchot of Penn sylvania and Senator LaFollette of Wisconsin. For the Democratic nomi nation there were several probabili ties, including Senator Underwood and William G. McAdoo, avowed candi dates, and Senator Ralston of Indiana, Gov. A1 Smith of New York and Gov ernor Silzer of New Jersey. There was much talk of the possible nomi nation of Henry Ford by one of the old parties or by a third party, and Ids admirers were exceedingly active. The Republican national committee, acceding to the • wishes of the Presi dent, selected Cleveland as the place for the national convention of 1924, and set June 10 as the date for its opening. Previous action by which the representation of the southern states was reduced was rescinded by the committee. Secretary of the Interior Fall retired from President Harding’s cabinet on March 4 and was succeeded by Hubert Work, the latter’s place as postmaster general being tilled by the appoint ment of Harry S. New. Attorney Gen eral Daugherty, against whom im peachment charges had been made the previous year, was .fully exonerated by the house judiciary committee, the report being adopted by the house on January 25. Among the appointments made by President Harding were Rob ert Woods Bliss as minister to Swe den; Miles Poindexter as ambassador to Peru; It. M. Tobin as minister to tbe Netherlands; E. T. Sanborn as as sociate justice of the Supreme court of the United States, and Gen. Frank T. Hines as director of the veterans’ bureau. The latter appointment was followed by charges of mismanage ment, waste, etc., against tlie former director, Colonel Forbes; which were investigated by a senate committee. Having passed the agricultural cred its bill and many acts of lesser im portance, and killing the ship-subsidy bill, the Sixty-seventh congress came to an end on March 4. The Sixty eighth congress met on December 3 and the Republican majority was so slender that a bloc of so-called pro gressives held the balance of power. Speaker Gillett was re-elected and President Coolidge then delivered his lirst message, in which he declared himself in favor of Americun member ship in the World court, advocated re duction of taxes and opposed the sol diers’ bonus. Two governors got Into Serious trouble. Walton of Oklahoma, who said he was fighting the Ku Klux Klan, came into conflict with the state legislature and ussumed virtually dic tatorial powers. Despite his efforts to prevent it, the legislature met in spe cial session, the house Impeached him on numerous charges and the senate, sitting as a trial court, found him guilty and removed him from his of fice. Walton was then indicted by a grand jury. The other state executive in trouble was Gov. W. T. McCray of Indiana, who got Into deep financial en tanglements and also was indicted. President Coolidge had the appoint ment of one ambassador last year. Col. George Harvey resigned his post at the court of St. James on October 4 and Frank B. Kellogg was selected for the place. Immediately after Its summer vaca tion the Supreme court rendered an important decision upholding the laws of the Pacific coast states which pro hibit aliens from owning land. These laws, of course, are directed against the Japanese especially. FOREIGN AFFAIRS Germany's internal troubles, politi cal, economic and financial, were in extricably tangled up with her inter national woes and brought her to so low a state that her regeneration seemed at times almost hopeless. Roy alists, separatists and communists con spired, revolted and rioted. Unem ployment increased and in the cities all but the industrial magnates and the profiteers were reduced to near starvation, although the crops were large and the rural districts were over running with food stuffs. The govern ment tried to meet the situation by keeping up the flood of paper marks and of course the mark declined until billions could be had for one dollar and those who hud anything to sell refused to accept the practically worthless currency. In August Chan cellor Cuno presented a "rescue plan" to the reichstug. It was rejected nnd Cuno resigned, Gustave Stresemann succeeding him and forming the first coalition majority government in Ger many's history, lie undertook to re form the finances bv the issue of n new currency, the renten mark, backed by the country’s resources. This vyas far from successful. Throughout the year the royalists or nationalists of Germany were ex ceedingly active, those of Bavaria usu ally taking the lead. In September the Bavarians actually revolted against the Berlin government and made Gus tave von Kahr dictator of the state. The relchstag thereupon gave Strese mann dictatorial powers. A little later the socialist governments of Saxony and Thuringia refused to obey the chancellor, and he subdued them by a show of military force. He yielded to Bavaria’s demand for greater au tonomy, but this was not enough. On November 8 Hitler, leader of the Ba varian Fascist!, and General von Lu dendorff attempted a royalist coup d’etat in Munich and other cities and threatened to march on Berlin. This revolt was rather easily put down by the national police and the workers and Hitler and Ludendorff were ar rested. On November 10 Frederick William, the former crown prince, sud denly returned to Germany from Hol land. • In October the separatists of the Rhineland got into, action and set up a republic which was looked upon with favor by Fiance. „ However, it was not, able to maintain itself very suc cessfully, and there was almost con tinuous fighting with the national forces. Another separatist movement was started in the Bavarian palatinate, but it failed for the tlme.being. . Late In November Chancellor. Strese mann’s coalition went to pieces and, being denied a vote of confidence in the reichstag, he resigned. Dr. Hein rich Albert, unpleasantly remembered in America, and Adam Stegerwald both failed to form acceptable ministries, and so Dr. Wilhelm Marx, leader of the Catholic party, was made chancel lor on November 29 and got together a cabinet that included Stresemann as foreign minister and that was expect ed to carry on his policies. The revolution in Spain, which was connected with the unsatisfactory war with the Moors, took place in Septem ber. The revolt, led by General Primo Rivera, Marquis de Estella, was against the cabinet and corrupt poli ticians and also was an expression of reaction against tbe growth of so cialism and syndicalism among the workers. The king supported it and the cabinet resigned on September 14. A military directorate was established and Rivera was made sole chief of the administration. The new govern ment made itself popular at once by a campaign on profiteering and gam bling, by cutting expenses to the bone and by other drastic measures of re form. Trial by jury was suspended because of the corruption of the courts. Altogether, it was a happy revolution for Spain. Bulgaria also had a revolution, al most bloodless, when Stamboulisky’s peasant government was overthrown on June 9 and the premier himself was captured and killed. Professor Zank off was made head of the new govern ment. In September the Communists and peasants resorted to arms in an attempt to regain power, but they were soon suppressed. Andrew Bonar Law, prime minister of Great Britain, resigned on May 20 because of the illness that caused his deatli in October. He was succeeded by Stanley Baldwin, who had been chancellor of the exchequer. On Oc tober 1 an imperial conference and an economic conference of the British em pire opened in London, and various Important measures were debated and adopted designed to bind the compo nent parts of the empire by closer commercial ties, at the same time leav ing them their full measure of self government. These questions brought to the fore the old question of free trade or protection, and since the gov ernment had promised there should be no change in the tariff policy during the life of the existing parliament, Prime Minister Baldwin dissolved par liament on November 16 and an elec tion was called for December 6. For mer Premier Lloyd George, who had been on a speaking tour of the United States, arrived home just In time to make up his old quarrel with the other wing of the liberal party, and went into the campaign with vigor. When the votes were counted it was found that while the Liberals and Laborites both had won many seats from the Conservatives, no one of the three parties had a majority. The Laborites, however, announced that tlieir leader, Ramsay MacDonald, would undertake to form a government as soon as called upon, whereupon Prime Minister Bald win declared he and his cabinet would retain office at least until the new parliament had met in January. During the early months of the year the Irish republicans continued their guerrilla warfare on the Free State, but on April 10, tlieir chief of staff, Liam Lynch, was killed in a fight and on April 27 Eamon de Valera ordered his followers to cease hostilities and negotiate peace. The Dublin govern ment refused to treat with him and on August 15 he was placed under ar rest. Manuel Talxeira Gomes was elected president of Portugal in August and was inaugurated on October 5. His first task was the suppression of a revolt in the northern part of the • ■•luntry. Poland was threatened by Lithuania over the possession of Memel, but the League tervened,. The Polish eabin^ 0 ® 8 *■ on May 27 and Witos beca m l Premier Bratlano 0 f 2 Preaier ' forced out of office in adT* * as was Premier Brantin- o fV' ? nd 80 In Russia, as the soviet uaiiy modified their CoramS,™ cies, there seemed to be st 12 ress toward stability. Most 1 Pro? ’ tions still wi thheld‘recognition e , r “ a- Moscow government, but a „ D f th( them made commercial with the soviet regime. The l,?* supreme court condemned Arch 2 ft Zepliak and Vicar General ? vich of the Roman Catholic C h h death for revolutionary activities latter was executed, but Zepliak's s ! tence was commuted to ten years'u prisonment. J ars Early in December another revoto. tion was attempted in Mexico, the leader being Adolfo de la Huerta wh was offended because President Obre gon would not support his candidacy for the presidency. The revolt spread rapidly, but before the month closed Obregon seemed to have the sltua. tion well In hand. INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR . Only one really big strike marred the record of the year in the United States, and that did not last long, The miners in the anthracite fields and their employers tried in vain to fix a • new wage scale and working condi tions, and on August 21 they broke off negotiations. With the approval of President Coolidge, Governor Pinchot of Pennsylvania ' undertook to handle the problem, and proposed a compro mise on August 29. The strike hegiffi officially two days later, but the nego tiations were continued. Pinchot’s plan was accepted September 8 and the miners resumed work on Septem ber 20. At various times during the year the railway labor board adjusted the wages of certain classes of rail work ers, usually raising them. Some of the roads made separate agreements with their employees, giving them in creased pay. April 9 the steel indus try raised the wages of common labor 11 per cent and adjusted the pay of other classes, and on April 13 the Chi cago packing house employees and building trade workers were given an increase. The steel makers had been attacked bitterly for maintaining the twelve-hour day, and on August 2 El bert H. Gary of the U. S. Steel corpo ration announced its elimination, The American Federation ot Labor met in annual convention in Portland, Ore., and, among other acts, voted against the formation of a political labor party and also against the rec ognition of the Russian Soviet govern ment. The advocates of these meas ures and indeed all the more radical factions in the federation were routed by President Gompers, who was re elected. DISASTERS Unequaled in modern times was the disaster that befell Japan on ber 1 when violent earthquake shooKi and resultant fires destroyed 0 ®" haraa entirely and about two-th r s Tokyo and ruined many smaller tow The number of killed was estimated at 225,000, and the Injured at m ■ than half that number. Though ni< J of the houses were flimsy, the r k erty loss was enormous. 1116 dreds of thousands of refugees fered severely, but the America S eminent and the American ° were swift with relief measures other nations joined in of Among other serious ands the year were: January 3, • g{ sons killed by collapse of a-britt Kelso, Wash.; nne plosion at Dawson killed : ’ FetK at Cumberland, B. C.. killed ** ruary 18, twenty-two three attendants werekiile u asylum fire on Ward’s Island, York; March 10, Greek wa ves with 150 soldiers; April 0. t in Corea and Japan killed ■ 14, Hot Springs, Ark. P* • stroyed by flood and seventy-three killed m . j u ne schoolhouse at Cievelan •, > • ’okla -10, disastrous floods m ■ ' ’ homa and Colorado; •’in ’ earth sands of Persians killed byj> quakes; June 18, Ktna ; An stroyed by eruption o *‘y Kem . g „„ U. coal mte tt merer, Wyo., killed ’ _ ; hv tvp hoon; Hongkong badly damage.- Ar . August 22, mil Hon-d 0 1 ‘ ffiber g, kansas valley, Coiorau , Cau nine U. S. destroyers reckea fornla coast, 23 lives being i teniber 15, typhoon an ; , ar?e 5,000 in Japan; Septe* destroyed W part of Berkeley, a.. ki 'ned i° flames; September ~ • • locW 11, Burlington train ''^'';. irthqua ke Wyo.; November 13. \. q]ed i;*: Shansi province, Chin . bT burst" December 1. nearlyoOO ){aly: [w ing of darn near Berg-'- fflar;V is cember 9, nine klll . ed T .“ , nt jetl> Ce * jured in wreck of the ' y pert* 3 tury train at Forsj t* e> * 51 her 15, destructive e* Colombia and Ecuador. t C®. lilt. W**tem K vrßP ‘' "