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THE TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
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E TLI-XA EEKLY JOURNAL, Atlanta, Ga.
Putting Georgia Democracy
In a Ridiculous Position
J F there is any significance in the fact that
j a H the Democratic constituenceis which
thus far have voiced a preference con
ce-.-ning the Presidential nomination, either
through primaries or in the appointment
cf delegates, are pronouncedly for Herbert
Hoover, then he is far and away the likeliest
prospect now on the horizon of the San Fran
•c:co convention. The Democrats of New
Hampshire, casting about with unusual
care for the strongest securable candidate
to pit against General Leonard Wood, a
native of their state and a probable
Republican nominee, voted overwhelming
l.v for Hoover. The Democrats of Cal
ifcrnia. appreciating the peculiar exi
gencies of the coming campaign and seeing
that Hiram Johnson, a native Californian,
might be on the Republican ticket, likewise
have united upon Hoover as the one man
who, in their opinion, can lead the party to
victory. The Democrats of lowa, realizing
that only a nominee capable of carrying the :
independent vote can win either in that re- I
gion or in the country at large, have selected ,
Hoover as pre-eminently qualified. In New
Hampshire the choice was made directly at !
the polls. In California and lowa the dele- 1
gates, though not under explicit instructions, I
are avowedly for Hoover as • the undeniable
preference of the voters whom they repre- i
sent. So stands the record for the Demo- |
cratic rank and file who thus far have been
given the right and the opportunity of de
claring their will, without hindrance or dicta
tion. on this most vital question of the partv’s
affairs.
. Who. then, can maintain that, the Demo
crats of Georgia are not entitled to vote, in
their approaching primary, on this man who i
obviously leads in Democratic
the people have spoken and who certainlyl
will figure as a major force in the San Fran
cisco convention? Professional politicians, '
more interested in manipulating party ma
chinery than in ascertaining and executing
party sentiment, may as they will Mr.
Hoover’s steadfast refusal to bandy and barter
with them. But they cannot in reason or jus
tice deny the voter’s right to free expression.
They can offer no tenable excuse for a rule
which says to Democratic Georgians, “You
shall vote upon only such names as we see J
fit to place on the ballot; you shall not vote
on Herbert Hoover, no matter what convic
tions you hold or what petitions you make.”
That position is not only the height of
unfairness, but the height of absurdity as
well. Here is the most typical American of
his day, a national figure and a world figure,
the one name that has evoked substantial
enthusiasm as a Democratic suggestion for
the Presidency, the one name that has mus
tered a following from the rank and file and j
given promise of notable strength in the na- i
tional Democratic convention. This great
minded, great-hearted American whose every ■
utterance on current issues rings true to the |
principles of Jefferson and whose life itself i
bears eloquent witness to his democratic .
spirit; this unpretentious but wonderfully ■
able doer of big deeds, who seeks no office I
but is sought after by thoughtful voters ■
throughout the Union; this abhorrer of what I
is either reactionary or radical and upholder j
of all that is liberal; this man of the hour, !
who is good enough a Democrat, not only for
the party in New Hampshire and California
and lowa, but for thousands of Georgians
as well, Georgians of as discriminating a ,
political judgment as Judge Andrew J. Cobb i
and representing all regions of the Common-'
wealth from the mountains to the coast—he
it is whose name the rule-makers of the State
Democratic Executive committee presume to
say the people of Georgia have no right to
vote on.
Such a position, we say, is preposterous. It 1
amounts to ignoring and denying, not only
the plainest rights ot the voter, but also
the plainest facts of the Democratic situation.
It puts the Georgia division of the party in
the ridiculous attitude of overlooking the only
nomination prospect which has aroused in
terest in the country at large, and the one
which, as matters now trend, is most likely
to materialize into a convention choice. Our
State Executive Committee cannot plead in
justification that Mr. Hoover would not avow
to them that he was a Democrat. He has
stone no more and no less in the case of
Georgia than in the case of New Hampshire,
California, lowa and every other State where
the question has been broached. Repeatedly
he has declared that he is not seeking the
nomination, and that, therefore, he will have
nothing to do with his name being entered
in preferential primaries. But just as per
sistently, nevertheless, the nomination ke’eps
seeking him, and wherever Democratic voters
b»ve been consulted so far, they have de
clared unmistakably for HooVer.
Politicians who for purposes of their own
are bent upon eliminating him in spite of
the popular will, have sought to create the
impression that while he would not sanction
the use of his name oh. the Democratic bal
lot in California, he consented to its use on
the Republican ballot. There was never a
shred of truth to this piece of gossip, but
to set it permanently at fest, Mr. Hoover, in
an interview with The Journal’s Washington
correspondent, has issued an explicit denial,
in the course of which he says:
“I have not authorized the Republi
cans of California to use my name on
THE ATLANTA TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL.
their ballot. I have told both the Demcr
crats and Republicans of that State that
I was not a candidate for President. I
have used almost every negative expres
sion in the English language trying to
i make this plain in California and every
where else. Should I authorize my name
on any ballot, naturally I would become
a candidate, and I am not a candidate
in either party. Some of my Republi
can friends in California informed me
they desired to run me. Some of my
Democratic triends did the same thing.
I wrote a letter to a Democratic friend,
telling him I would not enter that party's
primary, and 1 told a Republican who
came to see me that I would not enter
the Republican primary. lam informed
that certain Republicans in California
want to place me on the ballot anyway.
But if my name goes on anywhere it will
not be with my authorization. It will
be because I cannot help it.”
Nothing could be franker or more consis
tent than Mr. Hoover’s attitude, and noth
ing could be plainer than the wish and the
right of Georgia Democracy to pass upon
him in the coming primary. The very fact
that with all his ability and prestige and
i readiness to render public service, he will
not enter upon a course of self-seeking to
obtain public office, commends him to a na
tion that is weary of political selfishness and
intrigue. It is obvious, moreover, that where
as his well-known convictions preclude his
nomination on a Republican ticket, his whole
hearted support could be counted upon for
a platform of genuine democracy shaped to
the great issues and great needs of the day.
He urged the election of a Democratic Con
gress in 1918, and assuredly he would bear
aloft a Democratic standard in this equally
crucial year of 19 20 should it be committed
to him. The people of Georgia see all this
as clearly as do their party colleagues in
New Hampshire or California. They see that
it is not a question of Mr. Hoover’s indiffei
ence to political preferment, but a question
of their own earnest desire for a Presidential
nominee who will make the party a winner
at the polls and a worthy instrument of na
tional service. Above all do they see that
they are entitled to vote their conviction re
gardless of the prejudices of seven iule
niakers. It is the public’s demand that tle
State Executive Committee revoke the arbi
trary restrictions which a Sl jb-section of its
members has thrown around the Geoigia bal
10t an insistent demand and an inescapable
duty.
Making Smoke Into Treasure.
THE more and more urgent problem of
fuel conservation can be solved to
a great extent, thinks Interstate
Commerce Commissioner Robert W. Wool
ley, by coking raw bituminous coal, utilizing
the sundry by-products and burning the resi
due in furnaces and stoves. Writing in the
Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science, Mr. Woolley supports
this opinion with an interesting array of
facts gathered in the course of his notable
researches into the matter of fuel economy
as one of the important questions of trans
portation during the war.
It appears at the outset that the coking
process, if generally adopted, would increase
the available coal supply forty or fifty per
cent, “through the use of low grade ores, now
regarded as of negligible value.” Gains of
this nature could be augmented still further,
it seems, by mixing, the immense culm banks,
hitherto regarded as sheer waste, with vola
tile coals of the anthracfte region and cok
ing the combination at the banks or mines
near Northern and Eastern industrial cen
ters.
Specially striking is the estimate, based
upon figures carefully collated for the Smith
sonian Institution, that if the entire annual
output of bituminous coal, worth ordinarily
about $2,142,000,000, were coked, the re
sultant would be: $2,062,866,41)0 worth of
coke, $3,213,000,000 worth of by-products,
and a saving of some three and a half bil
lion dollars’ worth of natural resources
which, under present methods, are wasted
or lost. As to the particulars of this far
reaching conservation we are told; The an
nual gasoline supply would be increased 4.8,-
624,110 barrels, or nearly twice our total
production for 1917. The total gas supply
would be increased 3,672,000,000,000 cubic
feet, worth $367,200,000, which could be
piped for consumption. Through recovery of
light oils and twelve gallons of tar per ton of
coal, 7,344,000,000 gallons annually, worth
$3 67,200,000, we should become the leading
dye and chemical producers of the world. The
18,360,000,000 pounds of ammonia sulphate
-—thirty pounds per ton of coal—produced
annually would so augment our fertilizer
supply as to increase vastly our agricultural
production. Production of toluol would be
greatly increased.
I-inally, by extracting all these treasures
from the coal before turning it over to the
consumer, the smoke nuisance, that evil
genie of the American city, would be made
forever captive. Imagine the delectableness
of a smokeless Atlanta! This alone is ample
to commend Commissioner Woolley’s idea.
The Bible Confer 'ence.
ONE of the most important Bible con
fei ences in the history of the south
m . Will begin in Atlanta, Thursday,
March 18, at the Baptist Tabernacle, and will
continue until March 28.
Among the religious leaders in attendance
will be Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, of London,
who aroused deep interest in Atlanta on pre
vious visits here to attend sessions of the
conference which were held yearly at the
Tabernacle until their interruption by the
war.
Dr. Len G. Broughton, while pastor of the
Baptist Tabernacle, established the annual
Bible conferences as a permanent part of the
cnurcn. program. His plan, in which he met
with entire success, was to bring here each
year leading Bible students of this country
and of England for a series of lectures which
w’ould extend over a week or ten days. The
yearly conferences had become thoroughly
established when the war made it necessary
to abandon them in order that the church
might give its full support to necessary war
measures.
A year ago, however, the Rev. John W.
Ham resumed the plan of a yearly Bible con
ference, and this year has arranged for six
sessions daily throughout the conference, with
six Bible leaders of national reputation in at
tendance. In addition to Dr. G. Campbell
Morgan, the speakers will include: Dr. W.
M. Evans, of Los Angeles; Dr. George W.
McPherson, of New York; Dr. Jasper C. Mas
see. of Brooklyn; Dr. John Paul, of Wilmore,
Ky., and Dr. Len G. Broughton, formerly
pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle, and now
of Knoxville, Tenn.
The conference will draw to Atlanta peo
ple from all parts of the south, and will fur
nish an opportunity for Bible study such as
the city has seldom enjoyed.
No slacker charge could be brought against
the French during the war and none can be
brought now, for the cable dispatches say they
are even “eager to pay taxes.”—Cheyenne
State Leader.
TAMING THE EVERGLADES—By Frederic J. Haskin.
PALM BEACH, Fla., March B.—Crossing the
everglades used to be a thrilling and
dangerous adventure; now any tourist
can do it in two days on a comfortable boat.
The glades used to produce nothing but alli
gators and magazine stories; now they are
producing sugar cane, corn and garden truck.
This means that one of the last great Amer
ican wildernesses is about to be tamed. True,
only a small fraction of its area, which is about
the same as that of Connecticut, has been made
habitable for men. Fifteen thousand acres is an
estimate of the area now under cultivation, and
about three thousand people live in the Ever
glades. including two thousand in Morehaven,
the glade metropolis. But the drainage canals'
which are to pierce the watery heart of the
great swamp are almost completed. The wateri
is receding steadily, the area of farm land
creeping farther in. There is a part of the
glades, perhaps a fifth of the whole area in
the far southern end, which will probably
never be drained because it is too low. This
will remain as a memento of what the glades
were, and it should by all means be made into!
a state or national reservation. For the glades
as a whole are doomed.
The glades are certainly one of the most
stubborn and resistant wildernesses on the face;
of the earth. Within thirty-six hours of New
York by rail, surrounded for a long time by,
populous and cultivated territory, with some;
of the most fashionable resorts in the United
States within a few miles, the Everglades have:
remained almost unexplored until quite recent-j
ly, and even now there are parts of them that
no white man has ever seen. A seeker after
contrast could hardly do better than to spend
a day or so at Palm Beach in one of the most
luxuriously civilized settings in the United
States, and then go ten miles west, into the
wilderness of the saw grass and palmetto, where
bear, deer and alligators still abound.
Hunters, fishermen, Indians, explorers and
naturalists have traversed the glades for a good
many years without in any way changing them,
but now an individual has invaded their sacred,
silences who brings change in his wake. This
individual is the Florida Real Estate Man, than
whom there is no more belligerent, imaginative
and indomitable representative of his übiquitous
species. A Florida real estate agent can sell
you a pile of sand or a puddle of water with
out half trying. He can take you out and show
you some of the wildest and dreariest Spots in i
creation, and by the sheer power of the spoken;
word he can make you see that same desert;
blooming with orange blossoms and green with;
corn. When traveling in Florida it is always;
well to keep the fingers crossed and make a
resolution not to sign anything.
But the real estate man is not supreme in
the glades. Os its drainable lands there are
about two million acres in private ownership,
but nearly a million and a half are still owned
by the state of Florida. The state is doing:
the work of cutting the primary drainage canals,:
and a settler can buy land direct from the
state.
To understand this work of drainage you
must know .that the glades are not a swamp in
the usual sense of the term. They consist of
a great shallow limestone basin Wevated a
dozen feet above the sea. This basin is filled
with clean fresh potable water by innumerable
springs in its bottom. The water is always
IRRESISTIBLE LOGIC
By Dr. Frank Crane
Gut’of the dirt and dust and wrangle and
general scramble, incident to the collapse
of idealism at the close of the Avar, and the
springing into vigor of every sordid and
contentious impulse, a few things stand out
“fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and ter
rible as an army with banners.”
First: The people of the United States,
the great mass of the intelligent commons,
they who one day will reward and punish
all their public servants according to their
doing or their undoing of their will—the
people are overwhelmingly in favor of one
thing, and that is that such a horrible,
stupid, cruel and criminal thing as the late j
war shall not happen again, if there is any 1
honorable way to prevent it.
Don’t forget. That is the one main issue ,
before not only the United States but hu- j
manity, just now.
Two: The League of Nations is an at
tempt to prevent future wars. It can only
be defeated by showing us some better way.
It cannot be permanently shelved because
it is imperfect. It cannot possibly be as bad
as the Old Order of rival armaments.
Three: The people of this country are
not vitally interested in Senator Lodge, or
Hitchcock, or Woodrow Wilson, or any other
man and his ambitions or personal feelings.
Neither do they care a hang about the suc
cess of the Democratic or Republican party.
They want peace established, commerce re
sumed and further possibilities of war pre
cluded.
Four: The people are entirely out of pa
tience with the actions of the politicians.
They want to know “what mysterious in
fluence is blocking the way to agreement be
tween forces separated by a margin so nar
row?” If the hope of humanity, the honor
of America, and the whole higher gain of
the war is to be lost, in order that some
partisan advantage may be gained bv any
group of men, the people will sooner or
later find it out, and visit upon those who
have betrayed them their full contempt and
wrath.
We went into this war for just, one pur
pose, to stop war by licking that Prussian
militarism which was war’s chief proponent.
And we do not propose to be cheated out of
what we Avon.
Come, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Lodge, Mr. Hitch
cock, and the rest, rise up, be Statesmen,
not Partisans, get together, ratify the
Treaty and give us some kind of a League
that will furnish an honorable working
agreement with those nations by whose side
we lately fought the common enemy. That's
all we ask.
(Copyright. 1920, Jjy Frank’ Crane.)
QUIPS AND QUIDDITIES
T gSGd Htti r^ glish b °y suddenly
tnvi nowhere ’ darted toward the
taxi which the man in a hurry had just
summoned and politely opened the door
waked carefully closed the door and
But the man in a hurry had no loose
change. Moreover, his overcoat was tightly
buttoned and he would have to squirm con
siderably to get at his money. Therefore
he gazed stonily ahead at nothing and ig
nored the expectant child.
he T ha e d ? s < t?uS t ! r u kne 7 fr ° m experien ce that
sourlj? k hopeless case and he smiled .
“Nearest poorhouse, cabby,” he called to
the driver as he darted for another cab. 1
She was a professor’s wife and she was
Protid of her hubby. One day when:
about him " eSeS CaHed ’ She told them a ”
( “He’s a wonder, is my husband,” she saidJ
Just at this minute he is in the laboratory
conducting some experiment. The professor:
expects to go down to posterity—” \
B-r-r! Crash! Rattle! Another B-r-r from
the direction of the laboratory.
“I hope he hasn’t gone,” said one of the
visitors anxiously.
Mr. Sophtie—Well, Willie, your sister has
given herself to me for a Christmas present.
What do you think of that?
Willie —That’s what she did for Mr. Bunker
last year and he gave her back before Easter.j
I expect you’ll do the same.
slightly moving. For this reason there are
scarcely any mosquitoes and the region is quite
healthy.
The state began the work of primary drain
age in 1906, and it will be completed now
within a few years. This work consists in cut
ting a number of outlets through the rim of
the basin, so that the ivate. can flow into the
sea. But the cutting of these primary canals
does not thoroughly or completely drain any of
the lands. In order to do this, laterals and
sublateral canals must be cut, and this work
devolves upon those who buy the land.
The state law favors the individual settler
in search of a home rather than the develop
j ment company and the speculator. It provides
that if anyone wants to buy more than 320
acres of land in the glades, he must make a
bid and the lands must then be advertised and
sold to the highest bidder. No real estate oper
ator likes to buy land that way. He goes to all
i the expense of making an investigation of the
lands, and then someone else perhaps outbids
him and takes them away from him. The
1 chances of getting theip at a bargain are slim.
The individual settler who wants less than 320
i acres, on the other hand, ca . buy from the
state at the assessed value of the land, which
j is from $35 to SSO an acre.
The trouble is that the individual settler
■has rather a hard time draining his lands. They
can be most conveniently drained in lots from
ten thousand to fifteen thousand acres. The
man Avho takes up a hundred acres may have
difficulties. It is said, however, that if he
takes lands on one of the canals he can drain
them fairly easily. There is also a provision
of the state law by which the settlers can band
together to form drainage districts.
The settlement of the glades is said to be
proceeding slowly, despite the great richness
of the black muck which is left exposed by the
receding water. It appears that when the land
is first drained, it is impregnated with acid,
and will kill some crops. The average settler
does not seem to understand this. The land
should be allowed to lie exposed to the air
for a year or so before it can be safely culti
vated, except in a few crops of no great value.
No doubt settlement is slow also because
the amount of capital required to put a hun
dred acres of the glades under cultivation is
considerable. When a man has to pay the
1 state fifty dollars an acre for the land, and
; then dig lateral canals and put his land under
' the plow, he has a considerable investment to
; make. None the less, those who have done
i the thing right, now have splendid and profit
j able farms.
One of the most interesting products of the
little patch of the glades now under cultivation
is sugar cane. The Floridians claim that it
l grows there much better than in Louisiana. The
: cultivation of it only began five years ago and
iis rapidly spreading. If the shortage and at
tendant high prices of sugar continue, it is
quite probable that the greater part of the
Everglades may be converted into a giant sugar
bowl for the United States.
The individual who probably witnesses with
least joy this taming of the Everglades is the
Seminole Indian. The glades have long been
his home and his hunting ground. When they
are gone, he, very likely, will have to go, too.
CAMPS AND CHARACTER
—♦ —
By H. Addington Bruce
SUMMER still is a long way off. But
already many people are talking over
plans for a country life during the
heated months. Especially is this true of
people with growing boys and girls, whom
they are anxious to take out of town even at
inconvenience to themselves. .
To such people I would suggest that they
seriously consider the desirability of sending
their children to good summer camps, instead
of accompanying them to summer hotels or
farm boarding houses as they have ordinarily
done.
Certainly summer camps offer advantages
for the young which no hotel or boarding
house can give. They are particularly to be
recommended in the case of children showing
character defects which the parents lament
but which they feel at a loss to correct.
In fact, a properly conducted summer camp
for boys and girls is essentially a school for
character training.
Hardening the body and improving the
physical health through outdoor games and
exercises, the summer camp equally improves
the morale and gives the psychic hardening
every child should have.
The timid return from it with then- timidity
gone. Often children who have been down
right cowards delight their parents by an
astonishing conversion to fearlessness.
The disobedient child learns in a good sum
mer camp Avhat obedience means and why it
is necessary. Discipline tactfully enforced,
and reinforced by the example of other chil
dren, works marvels in curing the headstrong.
The selfish, too, learn greatly needed les
sons. Not only do camp rules make against
selfishness, but camp traditions emphasize the
value of generosity, self-denial, mutual give
and-take.
For that matter, the social sentiments in
general are developed through the daily inti
mate intercourse with the other children in
camp. As one well acquainted with the sum
mer camp for boys puts it:
“The chief value of camp to the boys, as
contrasted with however favorable a set of
family-vacation circumstances, lies in the
stimulus of the group, a thing that no amount
of private tutoring, elaborate equipment, in
dividual liberty, can take the place of.”
True of good camps for boys, this holds no
less true of good camps for girls. In both
also, the prime virtues of honesty, industry,
and thoroughness are fostered.
And, happily, it need not cost much to send
a boy or a girl to a first-class summer camp
—first-class, that is to say, in point of influ
ence on character. Some of the best camps in
this respect are within the reach of parents
of limited means.
If you are interested, your child’s teacher,
the family doctor, your clergyman, ought to
be able to inform you as to some good camp
near home. Or question neighbors who have
sent their children to summer camps.
Thus you can obtain the personal indorse
ment you ought to have before you incline to
any given camp. After this, write to the
camp authorities for specific information as to
rates, regulations, and so forth.
Don’t act in a hurry. But do act if you
feel that you have a child who might signally
benefit from camp training.
(Copyright, 1920, by the Associated News
papers.)
PUNGENT PARAGRAPHS
Oil City authorities arrested a man for
working. They apparently concluded that he
was mentally unbalanced.—Steubenville
Herald-Star.
Prohibition agents are being furnished with
real guns and ammunition. Evidently those
who violate the law' will be more than half
shot.—Detroit Free Press.
Perhaps if the country really wanted to be
“dry” it wouldn’t require the expenditure of
$50,000,000 a year to keep it that way.—
Columbia Record.
The landlord having raised the rent, now
can the tenant raise it? —Buffalo Times.
Every time sugar is introduced into it, the
debate in the house grows bitter.—Greens
boro News. j
TUESDAY, MARCH Iff, 1920.
THE TRI-WEEKLY EDITORIAL DIGEST
A National and Non-Partisan Summary of Leading Press Opinion on Current
Questions and Events
The Red Tape IT r orm in II 7 ashington.
“Out of the mouths of cabinet officers,
safely resigned and therefore no longer to
discipline, cometh truth.” Such is the Em
inent of the WASHINGTON HERALD (ltd.)
on the searching diagnosis of governmental
ills made by Franklin K. Lane as he relin
quished the interior portfolio.
“Too much red tape” is the substance of
ex-Secretary Lane’s answer to the question,
“What ails Washington?” capital, he
says, “is a combination of political caucus,
drawing room and civil service bureau,” and
he continues:
“It is rich in brains and character. It is
honest beyond any commercial standard. It
wishes to do everything that will promote
the public good. But it is poorly organized
for the task that belongs to it. Fewer men
of larger capacity would do the task better.
Ability is not lacking, but it is pressed to
the point of paralysis because of infinitude
of details and an unAvillingness on the part
of the great body of public serA r ants to take
responsibility. Every one seems to be afraid
of every one. The self-protective sense is de
veloped abnormally, the creative sense atro
phies.”
While Mr. Lane “does not say so in so
many Avords that the government has become
bureaucratic,” the NEW YORK WORLD
(Dem.) thinks “that is the name of the thing
which he describes and condemns. . . .
These are the symptoms of stagnation and
dry rot that indicate the presence of bu
reaucracy as unfailingly in America .as in
Russia.” The IDAHO STATESMAN (Rep.)
asserts that “instead of overstating the case,
he rather understates it, but he certainly
hit the nail on the head when he declares
that ‘fewer men of larger capacity would do
better’ than the poorly organized army of
officials Avho now have in hand the conduct
of the government’s business. . . . Oils
man who has the courage of his convictions
and will take a chance at making a mistake
is better than ten men who adopt the policy
of inaction and let matters drift because
they dread the responsibility of making a
decision.”
A great cause of the trouble is, according
to the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER (Rep.),
that “in order to prevent possible fraud or
error we have constantly thrown safeguards
around action until red tape is choking all
men save those with courage enough to dis
regard it, and apparently there are few such
in Washington,” and. following up the same
idea, the GREENSBORO DAILY NEWS
(Ind.) declares that “what America needs
to learn in governmental policy is to pick
a good man and tell him to go to it.” The
fact that office does not carry with it respon
sibility and opportunity, adds the DETROIT
JOURNAL (Ind. Rep.) “is one reason why
strong, vigorous men like Franklin K. Lane
chuck $12,000-a-year cabinet jobs to enter
positions in the business world where there
is some outlet for their energies.”
The remedies suggested by Mr. Lane have
the indorsement of the BOSTON POST (Ind.
Dem.), which summarizes them thus:
“That greater power of discretion be given
to public servants, quicker promotion or dis
charge, a sure insurance on disability, and
salaries for higher officers twice as large as
those noAv given. Above all. the man at
the top should be free from details and able
to devote himself to questions of planning
policies to be followed.”
It seems to the DALLAS NEWS (Ind.
Dem.) that this means cabinet officers should
have a larger “grant of confidence from the
president who appoints them.” But this is
“a matter Avhich could hardly be touched by
law,” since congress could confer no inde
pendent authority on cabinet officers with
out subtracting from that which the con
stitution gives the president.” The NEWS
suggests, however, that:
CURRENT EVENTS OF INTEREST
Sixty-six alleged radicals Avere taken in
raids on meeting places in Aki;on. Ohio, ac
cording to a late dispatch. Federal opera
tives, city police, deputy sheriffs and indus
trial police took them in custody, headed by
H. W. Kage, department of justice. The men
are members of the Industrial Workers of
the World, Communist party, Russian Union
and Bolsheviki, Chief Kage said.
Bitter attack on President Wilson for his
stand on the Adriatic problem characterized
an address made in ProA’idence, R. 1., be
fore a state meeting of the Sons of Italy by
F. H. La Guardia, president of the Ncav York
board of aidermen. “The last spiteful note
of the president on the Adriatic questions
shows that he represents not the justice-lov
ing American people, but rather the selfish
arrogrance of himself,” he declared. “Med
dling and muddling in the affairs of other
nations is not the will of the American peo
ple, and President Wilson’s action in so do
ing is unforgiveable.”
The St. Louis Retail Druggists’ Associa
tion has asked congress to enact a law pro
hibiting dispensing of intoxicating liquors by
pharmacists on a physician’s prescription.
Such legislation is desirable, it was explained,
to prevent “undesirables” from entering the
drug business. The druggists urged that
government agencies be established Avhere
such liquors may be sold for legitimate medi
cal purposes.
The convict industries at Sing Sing prison.
New Y’ork, according to a report just com
pleted, show an increased earning power of
25 per cent. During the last six months of
the fiscal year just ended, the industries yield
ed a profit of $60,000. In the same period a
year ago the profits amounted to only $4,800.
Colonel Louis A. LaGarde, Medical Corps,
U. S. A., retired, died recently of an
apolectic stroke on a train en route to
Washington from Chicago, where he attend
ed a meeting of examiners. The body -was
brought to Washington by Surgeon General
W. C. Braisted, who Avas accompanying him.
Colonel LaGarde entered the service in
1876. It Avas his recommendation, made
long after study of gunshot wounds, that
led to adoption of the heavy caliber auto
matic pistol now used by the army.
Two American liners sailed a short time
ago for Europe with full passenger lists, but
very little cargo in their holds, the latter con
dition reflecting the cut in imports, due to
the exchange situation. The Mongolia, which
left for Hamburg at 3 o’clock, had a passen
ger list of nearly 100 per cent German-speak
ing people. There were 1,000 in the steer
age who paid SIOO each for the passage, the
highest for that class of accommodation in
the history of Atlantic travel. These, and
150 cabin passengers at an average of S2OO
each, made the company’s receipts $130,000.
Instead of having 12,000 to 13,000 tons of
cargo in her holds, as normally, the Mongo
lia had nat more than 3,000 tons, mostly pig
iron and lubricating oil. Thera were no
foodstuffs. She goes to Hamburg only on
this voyage. The steerage contained Ku- :
manians, Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, '
Bohemians, Poles, Slavs, Croatians, Jugo
slavs, Czechoslavs and Turks.
The second American liner to leave was
the St. Paul, bound for Southampton, and
“Perhaps the end could be accomplished
in some measure by making members of the
cabinet also members of congress for debat
ing purposes. If that were done, a president
_n choosing his cabinet Avould feel impelled
.o get the strongest men he could draw about
him. for it would be upon them that he
would have to depend for the defense et
administration in congress and for the ad
vocacy of the measures and policies which
he projected.”
But such a reform would presuppose a
congress Avilling to inaugurate it, and this
is up to the people, thinks the FORT WAYNE
JOURNAL-GAZETTE (Dem.) “They have
the power to send real constructive forces
to congress, and they too often send sticks;
and whenever an effort is made to rid a de
partment of dead timber, the hue and cry
is made that the civil service is being attacked
to wicked politicians.” The SAN ANTONIO
EXPRESS (Ind. Dem.) has much the same
thought, and says:
“The general public has suspected for a
long time that a score or so of first-class men
could accomplish more in the way of con
structive legislation in a few weeks than a
congress composed of several hundred ‘prac
tical’ politicians usually accompishes in a
continuous session of several months. In
fact, there has been a general impression that
if a group of business men could be substi
tuted for the whole aggregation of political
misfits that make up a portion of the na
tional law-making body, the sessions would
be very much shorter and the useful work
done very much greater.”
The PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEDGER
(Ind.) likewise suggests that we “try the ex
periment of putting men trained in practical
business in charge of the very practical busi
ness of making business efficient,” and the
WASHINGTON POST (Ind.) reminds us that
the late Senator Aldrich “once declared that
if the executive departments of the govern
ment were conducted on approved business
principles a saving of $300,000,000 a year
could be effected.” The POST adds that if
this estimate of years ago was accurate, “a
saving of at least twice that much would be
possible noAv.”
But many are skeptical of any practical re
sults flowing from Mr. Lane’s criticism. The
CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL TRIBUNE
(Rep.) thinks “red tape is a necessary evil
of a republican form of government,” and
the KANSAS CITY STAR (Ind.) believes that
even were Mr. Lane’s suggestions accepted,
there would remain the “feeling that there
is no use worrying over efficiency, that Uncle
Sam will foot the bills.” The DEROIT FREE
PRESS (Ind.) frankly opposes giving depart
ment heads "any new leeway in the expendi
ture of public moneys.” It points out that
“during the war some of the department and
bureau heads had the sort of liberty Mr. Lane
suggests, and the result was the wastage of
billions of dollars.”
Italy and the League
“There can be no League of Nations with
out Germany and Russia, and there can be
no peace without the League of Nations,” de
clares the CORRIERE DELLA SERA
(Milan), and this view is upheld bv the ECO
DI BERGAMO. The POPOLO ROMANO adds
that the league “cannot exist without thfe
United States.”
An article in the REVISTA POLITICA E
PARLIAMENTARE (Rome), however, ex
presses the opinion that “the league is mere
ly the successoi’ of the peace conference” and
will exist only long enough to wind up the
affairs which the conference did not finish.
plan to put Fiume under the control
of the League of Nations is condemned by
the IDEA NATIONALE (Rome), which says
that w’hile “the supreme council may have
ceased to exist, the league hardly exists at
all.”
commanded by Captain Arthur R. Mills,
commodore of the fleer. This Is her first
voyage since May, 191 S, when she turned
over on her side at Pier bl, North river.
Nine thousand organizations of Catholic
Avoinen, each with more than a hundred mem
bers. would be merged into one association to
be known as the National Catholic Women’s
Council, under plans outlined by Bishop
Joseph Schrembs, of Toledo, at the initial
I session in Washington. D. C., of a conference
i of Avoinen members of the Catholic church.
The council, Bishop Schrembs said, would
have the support of the Catholic hierarchy.
“Our aims are to co-ordinate the women’s
i societies and to establish a central directing
: agency,” Bishop Schrembs said. . “Another
I purpose is to solidify and unify the work of
Catholic women throughout the country.”
While the United States continued to pile
; up a trade balance against Europe in Jan
uary, South America, Asia,-.Africa and Mex
ico increased their against this
country.
Figures made public in Washington, D.
C., by the Department of Commerce show
that for the month imports from the Soutn
American republics, Asia, Africa and Mexico
exceeded exports to those countries by $220,-
437,983, increasing the total balance for the
seven months of the fiscal year ended with
January to $665,156,801.
Brazil and Cuba had the largest indi
vidual trade balances against the United.
States for January of about $15,000,00*)
each, Avhile Argentina and Japan had ap
proximately $7,000,000 each and Mexico
about $6,000,000.
Statement from Budapest tells us that Ad
miral Horthy’s salary as regent of Hungary
has been fixed at $609,000 a year. After his
election the national assembly sent a deputa
tion to escort him to the chamber, where he
took the oath and was presented with a draft
of the law creating his office. Addresses
which eulogized him as having saved the
i nation from ruin were delivered.
j Good crop prospects throughout France
I are reported by the Journal Officiel, which
j states that the condition of the tilled fields
i was as good in February as it was a year
; ago. The 1920 Avinter Avheat crop is fore-
I cast as likely to be about the same as in
: 1919, while some improvement in the barley
and rye harvests is expected.
According to a dispatch from Constanti
nople, in view of the gravity of the situation,
the cabinet resigned a few days ago. The
sultan has called upon Marshal Izzet Pasha to
form a new cabinet.
Izzet Pasha is a partisan of Mustapha
Kemal Pasha, the leader of the Turkish Na
tionalists. His designation as head of the
new cabinet is regarded here as a triumph
for the Nationalists over the sultan and the
more conservative leaders.
The retiring cabinet was formed last Octo
ber, headed by Ali Riza Pasha as grand vizier.
Izzet Pasha is a former commander-in-chief
of the Turkish forces and was minister of war
in the cabinet of the fall of 1918 that asked
peace from the allies.