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THE TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
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THE TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, Atlanta, Ga.
Hoover's Americanism and
Democracy vs. Petty Politics.
IF there be those who ask evidence of Her
bert Hoover’s stalwart Americanism, of
his foresight and grasp of world prob
lems. of his drastic independence of foreign
influence, his keen solicitude for his own
country’s well-being, and his constructive at
titude toward the League-of-Nations issue as
it stands at this critical juncture, let them
read his lately disclosed letter written to
President Wilsen nearly a year ago and his
statement apropos of the recent publication
of that most interesting document.
Certain politicians, either in malice or mis
information, have sought to create an im
pression that Mr. Hoover was overweeningly
pro-British. But it is obvious from this let
ter of his, which he never dreamed would see
the light of publicity, that his affections are
tied to no flag but the Stars and Stripes and
that of all Americans who participated in the
affairs of the peace conference, none was less
likely than he to play, even unwittingly, the
hand of Great Britain or of any other for
eign power. It was in April, 1919, long be
fore the presidential campaign was being dis
cussed, be it remembered, that the communi
cation to the President, setting forth Mr.
Hoover’s views on peace problems as they
then obtained, was written. Bear in mind,
moreover, that after all those months the
letter was published without his knowledge
or consent, and apparently, too, without that
of the White House. It thus serves as an
absolutely non-political and trustworthy reve
lation of Mr. Hoover’s thought on the great
Questions at issue. He was writing, it has
well been remarked, solely for the eye of his
commander in chief.
Hence the peculiar forcefulness of his con-,
tention that the United States in ordfer to
play its proper part in an international league
must steer rigorously clear of European and
Asiatic politics, for without this detachment,
said he, the league would become merely “a
few neutrals gyrating around an armed al
liance.” Again he declared In conveying his
views to the President, possibly at the lat
ter’s request:
“I am convinced that there has grown
up since the armistice the policy, per
haps unconscious, but nevertheless ef
fective, of dragging the United States
into every political and economic ques
tion in Europe and constantly endeavor
ing to secure pledges of economic and po
litical support from us in return
for our agreeing to matters which we
consider for their common good, where
we have no interest, and constantly
using us as a stalking horse economically
and politically solely in the interests of
internal political groups within the allied
governments. These objectives and in
terests may be perfectly justified from
their point of view, but it forces us into
violations of our every instinct and into
situations that our own people will never
stand for.”
This, it should be noted, is not the surmise
of a long-distance onlooker, but the mature
conclusion of a participant In the action it
self, the judgment of one highly experienced
in international business and diligently seek
ing to save his country from unnecessary and
unwise entanglements. <
By no means is it to be inferred that Her
bert Hoover was then or is now opposed to
a League of Nations. On the contrary, that
noble enterprise has found no more earnest
of steadfast friend. Nor could there be bet
tdj- proof of his present loyalty to the League
idba, freed from the partisanship and pride
of opinion which unhappily has encumbered
it£ than his statement of Thursday, touching
tlfcs very question. “Regardless of what any
of us think should have been the provisions of
either the League or the Treaty,” he says,
“ive and the world should be kept waiting
I*) longer for a settlement.” That is to say,
the great matters of international readjust
ment, with theii- vital bearing on business
stability and human welfare, should not be
made the pawn of a partisan political cam
paign, but should be disposed of as promptly
and completely as they can baby conciliatory
and constructive action on the Treaty of
Peace. This is not a partisan attitude, but
it is a statesmanly attitude, and it is the
only attitude that will bring order out of the
present chaos and conserve the vast inter
ests at stake. “The whole process of peace,”
Mr. Hoover continues, “is one of compro
mises, and so long as the final form gives us
freedom of action and room for constructive
development of peace, I believe it should be
accepted.” Was American common sense
ever applied more aptly to a troublous Issue?
Was the mind of the thinking rank and
file ever more tersely expressed? Finally,
declares this business-minded humanitarian:
“The reservations should satisfy the
most timid as to entanglements and, de
spite the feeling of the president and his
Associates that the strength of the league
is somewhat undermined, I believe that
they should also accept. I do not be
- lieve that the reservations destroy the
possibility of the creation of a potent
organization to mitigate the dangers in
front of us and the alternatives are a
continuation of our state of war for an
other year or the unthinkable thing for
us—to make a separate peace after we
have gone so far as to agree to its main
lines with our comrades in arms.”
M This proposal does not suit, we dare say,
THE ATLANTA TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL.
either the Reeds and the Borahs on the one
hand, or on the other those who would see
the Treaty fail altogether of ratification
rather than modify a word of the original
text. It does not suit the Irreconcilables of
either faction. But it suits, we have no doubt,
the vast majority of Americans and the
vast majority of Georgians. It points
the one way to speedy, just and honorable
peace.
If the man whom this remarkable letter
and statement reveal is not the soul of vig
orous Americanism, then that virtue never
had an exemplar. If his is not the spirit of
democracy—a democracy born of great sym
pathies and guided by common sense, the
democracy of Washington and of Jefferson—■
then surely that principle has perished from
the earth. Yet, it is this American, this
democrat, whom the State Executive Commit
tee refuses to let the voters of Georgia pass
upon in their forthcoming Presidential pri
mary. Is it because of his devotion to the
nation's highest interests and his fidelity to
the rank and file that the Committee has
taken its arbitrary stand? Or is it because
he places the country’s welfare above the
mere game of partisanship and declines to
kowtow to professional politicians? Certain
ly the Committee has given the people of
Georgia no tenable excuse for its autocratic
indifference to their rights; and certainly no
primary subject to such restrictions will be
more than a travesty upon all that is demo
cratic and just.
Flouting the Party's Voters
And Ignoring Its Leader*
AT their meeting in Atlanta on
Wednesday the rule-makers of the
Georgia Democratic Executive Com
mittee again refused to alter that arbitrary
regulation by which the party’s rank and file
are denied their essential rights at the polls.
In spite of petitions from hundreds of Demo
crats as loyal as the Solid South ever mus
tered, in spite of the well-nigh unanimous
appeal of the State’s Democratic press, in
spite of public protest in every county
from the mountains to the sea, the
subcommittee reasserted its censorship and
dictation. It reaffirmed, in effect, its ri
diculous doctrine that it is not the right of
the voters, but |he prerogative of seven
committeemen, to decide who is worthy of
Democratic suffrage. It ignored the plainest
principles on which the party of Jefferson
is founded, and, in so far as its power ex
tends, reduced Georgia’s presidential primary
from a free expression of the people’s will to
the puppetry of a wretched farce.
In taking this final action the subcom
mittee did not show the public the courtesy
of announcing that a meeting wae to be held,
although. the public’s vital interests in the
ballot box were involved.
Such procedure may be satisfactory to pol
iticians who are bent upon “sewing up” a
primary for some hand-picked candidate of
their own. It may be satisfactory to pati on
age hunters who, thinking they have found
the lucky scent to office spoils, grow blind
and deaf to the people’s interests. It may
be satisfactory to partisan contrivers who im
agine that the public can be bound and
gagged like Gulliver with petty schemes.
But to the great body of Georgia Democrats,
lovers of liberty and fair play, it is indefensi
ble. If the Democratic party in this good
Commonwealth is still a party of thinking
freemen, and not merely a flock of political
sheep, then the issue of the people’s right at
the polls will never be settled until it is set
tled right.
The Journal is of this opinion, not be
cause of any special interest of its own (its,
sole interest in the matter being that of the
average Democrat who wants to see princi
ple vindicated, his party rightly guided and
his country well served), but because the
committee’s autocracy has brought down the
condemnation of the most representative
men in every clan of Georgia s Democratic
ranks. It has been condemned by such lead
ers as Editor Henry M. Mclntosh, of the Al
bany Herald, as stalwart a Democrat as ever
fought the party’s battles; by Hon. Pleasant
A. Stovall, editor of the Savannah Press,
former Minister to Switzerland, unswerving
supporter of the Wilson administration, and
now chairman of the Palmer campaign com
mittee; by Hon. Hoke Smith, Georgia’s senior
United States Senator, who during the mem
orable years of his Governorship made the
guarantee of the freedom and integrity of
the white primary one of his chief objectives;
by former Governor Joseph M. Brown, who on
divers issues has taken a position opposed
to Senator Smith’s, but who in the present
instance sees there is really but one side for
an open-minded Democrat to take; by Colo
nel p. H. Perry, of Hall, a Democrat of
State-wide distinction and lifelong loyalty;
by Judge Andrew J. Cobb, of Athens, that
poised and broad-visioned jurist, an exem
plar of all that is knightliest in the South’s
treasured traditions; and condemned, un
sparingly condemned, by scores and hun
dreds of other representative Georgians who
interpret the thought and respect the rights
of the rank and file. The Journal does not
believe that any political coterie can success
fully defy such an array of public sentiment
and conviction. There is no animus against
the committee itself, but there is a reasoned,
a determined and a State-wide resentment
against its repudiation of the party’s plain
est principles and the people’s basic rights.
Is it to be imagined that such a mass and
momentum of public sentiment can prove in
effectual?
Georgia Jerseys.
A RECENT monthly report of the
American Jersey Cattle club estab
lishes Georgia’s pre-eminence in
the live stock industry. A record is kept by
the club of all cows on official teat in the
United States producing 50 pounds or more
butter fat per month. The Animal Hus
bandry Division of the colleges of agriculture
in the several States supervises the tests, so
that their accuracy is unquestioned.
The last monthly report of the American
Jersey Cattle Club places Georgia at the
head of the rrst of Ss-atb-ra States, as is
shown by the appended tabTe, indicating the
number of breeders, the number of cows and
the average production of butter fat:
STATE Cows Breeders Avg fat
Georgia 9 4 60 31
Texa s 8 2 57.42
Kentucky 2 ] 5223
Tennessee 2 2 51.97
Virginia<2 2 5(h76
Louisiana 11 53.23
Florida 11
Arkansasl 1 51.29
It win be observed from the foregoing
table that Georgia ranks first, with nine cows
that produce 50 pounds or more of butterfat,
and that the average production of the nine
cows far exceeds the 50-pound requirement
and, also, exceeds the average production of
any other Southern State.
According to the State College of Agri
culture, J. R. Humphrey, of Acworth, en
joys the distinction of breeding and owning
the best producing Jersey in the State, and
one of the best in the United States. The
figures are not available, but the record shows
that on a thirty-day test Mr. Humphrey’s
cow produced more butterfat than any cow
in the Sta|e. _
CURRENT EVENTS OF INTEREST
William E. (Pussyfoot) Johnson, or some
other American Anti-Saloon organizer, will
be asked by the Turkish Green Crescent
Society to go to Constantinople and direct
the absolute prohibition campaign opened on
March 5. When the presiding officer was
the Shiek U1 Islam, representative of the
Sultan and actual head of the Moslem
church, who said he would throw the full
Influence of the church to the support of
the society, which is carrying on the work.
At present saloons are not allowed within
fifty yards of a Mosque, and in districts al
ready “dry” through enforcement of Moslem
edicts no establishments where liquor is to
be sold may be opened. Stamboul, the
Turkish section of Constantinople, has no
saloons.
Consul Johonson, at Kingston, Ontario, re
ports that, owing to the high rate of ex
change between the United States and Can
ada, an order has been issued by tlie Cana
dian railways whereby railway agents are
ordered to refuse to accept prepayment of
the shipping charges on shipments from
Canada to the United States except in the
case of certain kinds of goods on which pre
payment is required by the tariff rules.
This means that shipping charges will be
collected at the point of destination, and in
United States funds instead of in Canada
and in Canadian funds.
According to information received by the
Far Eastern division of the bureau of for
eign and domestic commerce a lack of first
class American goods is felt in China, where
the attitude of the Chinese toward America
is considered a distinct asset for trade pros
pects. Many of the firms already flourish
ing there handle exclusive lines, and there
fore cannot be counted among the possible
agencies for new firms desiring to introduce
their products.
The Chicago Medical society recently an
nounced fees charged by its 7,000 members
would be increased from $3 to $5 for calls
to $5 and $lO and from $l5O to S2OO and
$250 for appendicitis operations. Other fees
would be increased proportionately, the an
nouncement said.
New York state purchase two of the one
hundred grains of radium said to be ex
istent in the world.
The senate finance committee is expected
to recommend that the legislature appropri
ate $250,000 for the purpose.
The radium would be used for the study
of malignant diseases.
It is reported that 20,000,000 pounds of
beef purchased for the use of the American
army in France is to be distributed to the
People of New York state at a figure below
the wholesale prices. Commissioner Eugene
H. Porter, of the division of farms and mar
kets announced “the method to be followed”
Y. ; e^u L a ted sales to municipalities for
distribution through the wholesalers and re
tailers or direct to consumers, so as to pre
vent the beef from getting into the hands
of speculators and profiteers.
The masses in India, especially the ignorant
villagers, were greatly agitated' as the result
ot the prediction made by Professor Porta of
America, that December 17 would see the’be
ginning of exceptional storms and earthquakes
say . s .» e T , Cal , cutta correspondent of “The Daily
?! aiL ., By the tune the prediction reached In
dia it had grown into a declaration that the
world was coming to an end. The corres
s.ays these frightened people:
They invoked their gods, made vows and
in the sacred Yearns,
shaved their heads, and sat clothed practically
in sackcloth and ashes (it is quite a common
sight to see religious mendicants smeared all
over with ashes), awaiting the crack of doom
It was rumored that ‘Khuda’ (the deity) was
gcung to descend on the Ochterlony monument
in Calcutta. At the police courts scores of self
constituted astrologers argued some for and
others against the prophecy. As soon as the
weather got cloudy an aged Moslem, who was
the complainant in a case of petty assault, left
the court and let Lis case take care of itself.
He was, he said, going home to die with his
family.”
BONUS FOR SOLDIERS
By Dr. Frank Crane
A proposition is now being advanced to
pay a bonus of money to each man who en
listed in the late war.
The argument on one hand is that the
country owes these soldiers a debt, that they
left their jobs and went away to fight and
endured all manner of hardships and exposed
themselves to peril while the rest of us stay
ed at home, and that while shipyard work
ers were getting sl2 a day working at home
in safety the drafted men were braving sub
marines and lying in trenches and getting
$1 a day.
All this is true enough, but the conclusion
that we can pay our obligation in money to
the defenders of our country is a non se
quitur.
It is not that a pension or bonus to them
would be too much to ask, but that it is not
enough.
And it is the wrong kind of pay. The man
who goes to risk his life for his country lays
us under an obligation we can never dis
charge. To attempt to measure it in terms
of cash is an insult.
Can you pay a mother any sum that will
justly remunerate her for the love and care
and sacrifice she has made for her child?
The only fit pay is for the child to strive to
be worthy of her pains, to love her, honor
her and live for her.
Will a present of SIOO or $1,000,000 be
adequate pay to a friend who risks his life
to save yours? No return can satisfy him
but your eternal gratitude and loyalty.
You cannot pay in money a soldier for
his heroism any more than you can pay in
money a wife for her virtue, a parent for
his care, a friend for his loyalty, or the
beloved woman for her smiles and favor.
The two things, heroism and money, have
no common denominator. At school we
learned that you cannot subtract potatoes
from apples, and that no number of times
so many marbles will make so many pencils.
If you plant wheat you do not raise oats,
neither do men gather figs from thistles.
The soldiers of our great army went forth
from a high impulse to save this country
and .the only way to pay them is to honor
them by making this country worth saving.
Those of them that were wounded should
be cared for, those that were incapacitated
should receive our most generous aid. The
widows and orphans have a claim upon our
pension funds. These things are of course.
But the attempt by any money bonus to
even up the w’age of them that gave their
lives for us shows a failure to appreciate
values.
Captain Burns, who served at St. Mihiel,
was recently before a congressional commit
tee, and testified. He had, he said, gained
something from his war service of far great
er value to him than any man could have
achieved by work in the shipyards at sl2 a
day.
“I have three stars on my bars,” he de
clared, ‘‘and that is something they do not
have.”
“And besides,” interrupted Representative
With the official notification announced re
cently of the accession to the League of Na
tions of Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Nor
way and Holland, all but two, namely, Salva
dor and Venizuela, of the thirteen nations
nonsignatories of the Versailles treaty, in
vited to become original members of the
league, have definitely accepted. Salvador
has signified its intention of joining the
league, but Venezuela has not yet declared
its intention.
Reports from Washington. D. C., state that
Prohibition Commissioner Kramer says per
sons who hold liquor in private dwellings for
themselves and guests need not file returns
of the wet goods they had when prohibition
became effective.
He made this statement in denial of
charges that many statesmen known to be dry
advocates had filed returns showing they had
quantities of liquor. It was necessary ten
days after January 17 for all having liquor
stored in other places than their homes to
make such returns, but they were made in the
districts rather than to the Washington office.
Mr. Kramer admitted that one or two
congressmen, whom he declined to name, had
questioned the bureau about transferring
liquSr from one home to another. Under
a ruling of the bureau, permission to do this
has been denied.
The Tablet, the organ of the Brooklyn dio
cese of the Roman Catholic church, in its
issue will serve notice on both political par
ties that it will oppose any candidate who
has support of the Anti-Saloon League or
who indorses it.
“This is now a recognized anti-Catholic
organization,” says the Tablet, “and in self
defense we shall retaliate on any one, any
society or any political party that permits
itself to affiliate with its anti-American, anti-
Catholic campaign.”
As for Anderson, the Tablet suggests that
after its investigation the assembly have him
’“deordorized and deported to the Island of
Yap, where he can yap, and yap and yap.”
West Virginia has been finally won over on
the question of suffrage. With West Vir
ginia won and the Washington and Delaware
legislatures meeting soon iu special session,,
the opinion expressed at national headquar
ters in New York recently was that “The
struggle is over.” This statement was is
sued on receipt of news that West Virginia
had ratified the federal suffrage amend
ment.
In a statement issued from the foreign of
fice in Paris recently, it is understood that
the French government has not and will not
send any instructions to Ambassador Jusser
and in Washington regarding President Wil
son’s charge of militarism against France.
A report received from the ambassador stated
that on his own initiative he called upon
Under Secretary of State Polk, and told him
of the surprise and emotion caused in France
by the President’s letter. No other comment
was obtainable in official circles with the ex
ception of expressions of curiosity as to
whether President Wilson would take the op
portunity afforded by M. Jusserand’s call on
Secretary Polk to correct the disagreeable im
pression his assertions had made.
Cable from Warsaw states that the Soviet
government at Moscow recently sent a wiieless
peace note to the Polish foreign office. The
communication, which is signed by George
Tchitcherin, Bolshevik foreign minister, ex
presses a desire for peace not only with Po
land, but with the other border states. The
Soviet government declares in the note that
previous proposals of the Bolsheviki hold good
and asks where and when peace delegates of
all the interested countries may meet.
Mrs. Henry Fawcett, a widely known suffra
gist, of London, Eng., complains that the trade
unions constantly are opposing and thwarting
the employment of women, notwithstanding the
fact that women stand for equal pay for equal
work. She told the Women’s institute that the
women workers have been urged not to hinder
the men who were their comrades in industry.
She urged women to constantly appeal to the
most enlightened members ot all political par
ties, for aid in making women free in industry
as they had been in politic;.
PLANTS AND HUMANS
—♦—
By H. Addington Bruce
HERE is a little story of much practical
significance from more than one point of
view. It was told by Mrs. Eva Whiting
White, of Boston, at a child welfare confer
ence:
“A little girl living in a court in an eastern
city planted a window-box in all hope at the
beginning of summer. She nursed her seed
lings with great care, and was elated when the
first shoots appeared.
“From day to day she watched her plants
and vines grow, but with each day they grew
weaker and more sickly, without symmetry or
beauty.
“Finally they died altogether in the vitiated
develop into womanhood under precisely the
atmosphere. Yet the child was expected to
same conditions.”
Told by Mrs. White for the special purpose
of helping her hearers to appreciate the tre
mendous need for better housing for the poor,
this little story has a personal application for
everybody, whether poor or well-to-do.
There are many, many people who, not from
necessity, but from ignorance or carelessness,
live under housing conditions in which plants
will not thrive. These same conditions, though
they may not suspect it, are injurious to them
as well as to their plants.
They marvel at their inability to keep their
ferns or cyclamens or geraniums in good con
dition, no matter how well tended. Perhaps
they hit on the'truth, after much speculation.
“The house is too dark,” they conclude. Or,
“the air is too dry.” Or, “there is too much
heat.”
But do they take steps to improve matters,
so that their plants will have a fair chance?
Sometimes they do. Afore often they merely
abandon all attempt to keep houseplants.
And they themselves continue to exist—after
a fashion —under the conditions which have been
proved most unhealthy for plants.
They feel tired and ailing much of the time;
they are subject to colds; perhaps they have
trouble in sleeping. All of which indicates a
lowered vitality, caused at least in part in the
unfavorable factors fatal to the plants.
House plants, in fine, afford an unfailing
index to living conditions for humans. Houses
in which plants will not do well are houses
in whiclj humans need not expect to be well.
This is a point to be kept in mind by all
of us, but particularly by those of us who
have learned by repeated experience that they
cannot grow vigorous house plants, care for
them as they may.
(Copyright, 1920, by the Associated Newspapers.)
♦
The squire’s silver wedding was approachni
and the tenants were discussing the question
of subscribing to buy him a present.
“Oi propose,” said Mr. O’Flaherty, “that we
give him a solid silver taypot.”
“Shure, ye’re joking,” interrupted his wife
“If it’s solid, how are they going to make tay
in H?”
Garner, of Texas, pointing to his heart, “you
have something here.”
“You bet I have,” replied the witness.
As of the Pharisees in a sordid sense, so
of heroes in a high and noble sense, it may
be said: “Verily they Have their reward.”
(Copyright, 1920, by Frank Crane.)
SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1920.
THE TRI-WEEKLY EDITORIAL DIGEST
A National and Non-Partisan Summary of Leading Press Opinion on Current
Questions and Events
Must He Join the League, or Else Prepare to Fight It?
Secretary Daniels declares that if America
does not join the League of Nations it must
build “incomparably the greatest navy in the
world.”
The LINCOLN STAR (Ind.) indorses the
secretary’s view, arguing that the United
States must be either for the league or
against it. We are, at present, “the only
powerful nation outside the league, and log
ically the task of supplying the anti-league
military strength falls upon this country’s
shoulders.”
“Unless the United States is as strong as
the League of Nations,” the STAR argues, “it
is subservient, in theory at least, to the
league and might as well be a member of the
league, even though at the great sacrifice
which the obstructionist senators say it
would mean to become a party. If the United
States is not to become subservient there is
but one road open, and that is an immensely
enlarged navy and army.”
“If we refuse to take a place in the
league,” declares the SAN ANTONIO EX
PRESS (Ind. Dem.), “all the nations would
consider themselves required, in ‘self-de
fense,’ to go on enlarging their navies, with
the result that such rivalry would force the
United States either to outdistance all other
countries in this respect, or sink to the posi
tion of second, third, or perhaps fourth place
among the nations of the world.” The PORT
LAND OREGONIAN (Ind. Rep.) is of the
same mind, believing that “by accepting rea
sonable reservations we can obtain the pre
dominant position in the league,” and “can
escape the necessity for a great navy,” but
that “if a world-beating navy should become
necessary, responsibility must be shared by
the death battalion and the Wilson stand
patters.”
“The country is at peace or at war,”
submits the NEW YORK WORLD (Dem.);
“there is no third condition. It must seek
peace or prepare for war,” and the DAY
TON NEWS (Dem.) declares that, out of
the league, “America’s isolation would be so
complete and so hazardous to the future of
this country that hard-headed business men,
as well as the man who occupies a humbler
sphere in the affairs of the nation, can easily
imagine that the safety of America will de
pend in large measure on our sea-power.”
The WICHITA EAGLE (Ind.) points out
that:
“All the powers that lately were our as
sociates in war owe us great sums of money,
and many of them would be glad of an ex-,
cuse to quarrel with us and refuse to pay
their debts, if they thought they could suc
ceed in the stroke. If we do not join in a
league with them, they assuredly will join in
a league against us.”
“Besides cost of building the largest navy
in the world,” the ALBANY ARGUS (Ind.
Dem.) reminds us, “thousands of our young
men will have to be taken from the produc
tive pursuits of peace to man the extra war
ships,” and the UTICA OBSERVER (Dem.)
thinks it “unfortunate” that this nation,
“foremost in advocating arbitration, inter
national courts and law, reductions of armies
and navies . . . stands out against a rea
sonable method for the peaceful settement
of international differences and in favor of
gun-toting by the nations.”
So much for the arguments in support
of Secretary Daniel’s position. On the other
side, the FARGO FORUM (Rep.) denounces
Mr. Daniels *as “our chief jingo,” pointing
out that we need no great navy for “de
fensive purposes” since “the war with Ger
many demonstrated the impossibility of land
ing an army on a hostile coast and maln
talningvit there,” and that therefore “unless
Secretary Daniele plans to pick a scrap with
Great Britain” there is no “excuse for sink
ing hundreds of millions in ‘incomparably
the greatest navy’ that will Become junk in
ten to fifteen years.” The INDIANAPOLIS
STAR (Ind. Rep.) agrees with this: “We
are not looking for conquest,” it says, “but
for protection. So long as we have the force
requisite for our own defense we do not need
to worry about what some other nation has.”
The IDAHO STATESMAN (Rep.) regards
the Daniels idea as “meant merely as a chal
lenge to England,” and believes that if the
secretary’s advice is followed, “England will
meet the challenge, or attempt to do so. A.
competition of this kind will force enormous
increases of taxation for a period of years.
. . , And all to what end? In support
of this view, the ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT
HOW COTTON CAME UP—By Frederic J. Haskin
SAVANNAH, Ga., March 14.—With the
price of middling cotton from 35 to 40 cents
a pound, and sea island cotton selling at the
fabulous price of $1 a pound, Savannah is
enjoying some of the most prosperous days
in a long and, on the whole, remarkably
prosperous history. Her harbor is filled with
shipping—and she now has slips for no less
than seventy-five vessels. Her streets are
crowded with motor cars and with dressed
up, prosperous looking people. Her mer
chants are doing a record business. Every
body seems to be chock full of money, mu
nicipal pride and confidence in the future.
This condition in Savannah is typical of
the wonderful recovery which the whole cot
ton-producing south has made since the dire
days of 1914, when cotton was down to 6
cents a pound, and couldn’t be sold at that
price. Those were the days when Presi
dent Wilson called upon all good citizens
to ‘‘buy a bale of cotton” and relieve dis
tress in the south. A good many did it and
sold the bale again, just as soon as they could.
One man here in Savannah, who bought two
bales at that time for about SSO a bale, for
got about them, and did not sell tbiem until
a few days ago. He received about S2OO a
bale for his cotton. And so far as W. H.
Teasdale, secretary of the cotton exchange
here, is aware, he is the only man who bought
cotton when it was down and held for the
present rise. After all, nearly all really
great speculative chances are missed. Any
man who had had sense enough to put a
few thousand dollars in cotton in 1914, and
to hold it until this year could have more
than tripled his money. A few may have
done it, but it was not at all generally done.
Savannah’s great prosperity is explained
by the simple fact that, while the cost of
living has gone up 80 to 100 per cent, the
cost of cotton has gone up about 300 per
cent in the same length of time. Hence
everyone having to do with cotton is far
ahead of the game. Dealers have made big
money, and so have growers. The country
men are all riding around in cars. The
shipbuilding here has also been a consider
able factor in the improvement of condi
tions.
Things here were perhaps at their worst
in November, 1914, when, according to Mr.
Teasdale, ordinary middling cotton sold for
about 6 cents and sea island cotton for
rAout 19 cents a pound, with a market hard
to find. By the first of the following year
trade was brisk, and in February, 1915, Sa
vannah shipped more cotton than in any
other month in her history, nearly a third
of a million bales of upland cotton and
lintels leaving the port, and over a thousand
bales of sea island cotton. This cotton was
rushed to Europe t£ get in ahead of the
AND CHRONICLE (Rep.) notes that with
the German naval menace removed “Great
Britain has adopted a policy of naval re
trenchment,” but that “this policy will
be long adhered to if the impression once is
created that the United States has become a
competitor, in a new race for naval su
premacy, in place of Germany.” Many agree
with the BUFFALO EXPRESS (Rep.) regard
ing Mr. Daniels’ move as a political argu
ment in the hope of developing sentiment
for the League of Nations or making an
impression on the stump during the coming
campaign.” «.
Not a few also take the view that we
need a big navy anyhow, whether we join
the league or not.
Should Put Treaty Up to Wilson
The number of Democratic senators with
the courage and political sagacity to declare
their independence of Wilson’s undemocratic
dictation grows daily. These state leaders,
whose future does not find its “finis” written
across the calendar on March 4, 1921, have
little notion of allowing Jonah to wreck the
ship. Whether there will prove to be enough
of them to confront the president with the
decisive dilemma of an overwhelmingly rati
fied treaty to which “reservation” originated
by some one else and not by himself have
been attached, the next few days wifi show
Then wlil come the supreme test whether he
is really ready to declare war, in the name
of peace, on practically the entire human race
—on the Democratic senators, on Great Brit
ain, the Republican party, France, “the nul
lifiers,” Japan, Lord Grey, Italy, “the mild
nullifiers,” “the great fighting powers of the
world,” anybody and everybody who does not
subscribe to the doctrine that all proper
“reservations” to the treaty have already
been made by WoodroW Wilson himself at
Paris.
The treaty, it seems, was not perfect until
President Wilson made it so. Then it be
came perfect, and has remained so ever since.
The changes in the treaty which the “mild
nullifiers want to make are the veriest dust
in the balances when compared with the
sweeping abandonments of his famous “four
teen points” which Mr. Wilson himself made
in Paris. “The freedom of the seas was never
so much as alluded to at the peace table,”
says Dr. Dillon.” “Open covenants openly
arrived at came to mean arbitrary ukases
issued by a secret conclave, and the ‘self
determination of peoples’ connoted implicit
obedience to dictatorial decrees.”
The president should not bank soh heavily
upon the presumed blindness, the inattention,
the susceptibility to soaring, phrases of our
confessedly idealistic people. We can still
see some things. We can see that tne presi
dent himself has been the great "reservation
ist,” the drastic “nullifier,” the constant bar
gainer with “imperialistic” and “militaristic”
forces. He sold out in Paris immeasurably
more than he brought home; Ylnd the lofty
language of world regeneration and millen
nial peace which he employs in -even his re
cent manifesto to Senator Hitchcock ill fits
the mouth of a man who led the war-harried
peoples of a whole world to believe in it a
little over a year ago—and then abandoned
them and their dreams and their faith for
a “covenant” so poor in salvation that he
himself says that the watering down of one
solitary clause will utterly destroy its worth.
—PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEDGER
(Ind.)
Spelling by Ear
A simplified spelling society in London
has developed a form of language with a
one sound, one symbol notation of letters
and diagraphs. A sample of the system. In
operation is furnished as follows:
“Wuns upon a tym a rich lord and niz
wyf had a litel boi and a litel gerl hoom
dhai luvd veri much. Wun dai dhe good
mudher bekame veri ill. In a short tym
dhe faader aulso tel ill. . . If eu doo dhis
I will glv eech of eu a purs ov goeld.”
The system looks very much like spelling
by ear. It ought not to require any very
complicated system of rules. In fact, many
people habitually spell by ear without the
authority of the society’s diction. There are
many people who have given up further at
tempts at mastering English as it is spelled
today, and these would welcome a phonetic
reform with great joy.—SEATTLE POST
INTELLIGENCER (Ind. Rep.)
blockades which were then becoming tighter
and tighter. Sweden, Holland, England,
Frace and Spain got most of it. Algood part
of that which went to Sweden an” to Hol
land no doubt found its way ultimately to
Germany. At this time some of the last
direct shipments to Germany were made
from this port, and it is said that they were
made at prices far in advance of the market
and brought enormous profits to certain
dealers. The market prices for these large
shipments, just before shipping was tied up,
were from 8 to 9 cents for good middling
cotton. The fact that there was a great
rush to sell at such prices shows that none
anticipated the rise that was coming.
Nevertheless that rise began immediately,
as an inevitable result of war conditions, and
continued steadily up to this year. At the
end of 1915 middling cotton was at 12 cents;
a year later it was around 19 cents; In late
1919 it was 28 cents. Sales were free and
steady at all these prices.
Mr Teasdale reports that at present, sales
of cotton are abnormally small. There is
plenty of tonnage in the harbor, but a lack
of buyers at the current very high prices.
A great many people seem to think that cot
ton prices have reached their peak and are
going to come down, though no sudden or
disturbing descent is looked for. The ex
change rate, which makes the price still
higher, for all foreign buyers, is also a fac
tor in the present dull market. During a
recent week only 590 bales of cotton were
sold here, which is for Savannah, practical
ly no cotton at all. Nevertheless, everyone
here is confident and satisfied, for it is clear
that the demand will keep cotton at a rela
tively very high price for a long time to
come. The tendency is to keep the cotton
in the warehouses rather than sell at a
lower figure. Savannah now has warehouse
facilities for 600,000 bales of cotton, and
there are said to be about 210,000 bales in
these warehouses. On the other hand, it
is said that there are only about 20,004
bales of cotton in New York which could
be delivered on contract.
Meantime, the south has been enjoying
ideal cotton weather. Last fall was a long,
dry, hot one, with no frost until December,
and that is the kind of weather which makes
the fiber grow long and gladdens the hearts
of Georgians.
In front of the cotton exchange building
here is a little patch of cotton growing in
a circular flower bed twenty feet wide, and
that little patch is a veritable barometer of
the fortunes of the cotton-growing south.
The brokers and shippers here look at it
every day, noting eagerly how the weather
and other influences affect it. Last fall it
flourished beautifully for a time, and then
the boll weevil made its appearance.