?-?^ -_--------_---_-----_-W--*.^--_^-^------? ?? -^ ~ ?Mero Doth afriimtu First to Last??the Truth: New?*?Edl torittla?Advertlsements Umber of ?Ut* Audit Bureau al Clrcttla?one TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 1920 Owitcd ?nu) published dally by New Tot* Tribun* ?a?c a Kw Tort Corporation. Ogden Bold, Pres* dor.,; O. Vt?OT Rotor?. Vlee-Pr?nldent: Holen Ki***e?i BcM. rttentin; B. K? MraftoUt. Treasurvr. Addree?. Tribun* Building. 154 Nassau ?Juxct. New York. Teler-kcme, Roekman S000. 8DBSCRn>TIO?V RATES?By mall. Including r?MUge, D? THB t'NTT|*D ?STATES AND ?CANADA. One Six One Year. Mnn?is. Monti?. H"*J*jr and ?Sunday.?lioo $?.co $1.00 DeJJy only. 8.00 4.00 .75 Bt?day only ,,. 4.00 "iOO .40 Sunday only. Canada. 6.00 "? S3 .05 FOREIGN BATES Dally and Sunday.*2i5.00 ?13.30 ?.?ato ?ally only . IT 40 8.T0 1.45 ?Sunday only . 9.75 8.13 .S8 Entered at the roitomc? at Nsw Tork as Second aas? Mall Mailer GUARANTY Yon ?an purchase merchandise advfrtlscd In THE THIBUNE with absofute ?afcly?for It dissatl'fac tiot results In any case THE TRIBUNE guarantees to ?ay your money back upon .-?quoat. No red tap?. Ko quibbling. Wo mako good promptly I! tito advertiser doe? not. MEMBER OF TUE ASSOCIATED 1'BES.S The A/ts<*.lntcd Prcs? Is ?.???cluslvciy entitled to the uso far rupubUcatlon of all news tllispalchos credit??.*' to l: <>r tu*. ?>therwUi? ?redltol In list.?*. |).ipt?r. mill aiso the l?xal news of spontaneous orizlii published hanta. All rights of repubUcatlot, of all oilier matter iraruin also are reserved. Pointed Right at Last The petition signed by A. Law? rence Lowell, Cardinal Gibbons, Cleveland H. Dodge, Herbert Hoover and many others conspicuous in the agitation for a league to enforce peace at least has the merit of being pointed in the proper direction. It is addressed to the occupant of the White House. It asks him to retransmit the treaty and to revoke the order under which enough Sen? ators voted "no" to defeat ratifica? tion. So doing, the petition locates responsibility where it belongs. That responsibility is with the President alone. It is true the "irreconcilable" group is also against ratification, but they number only sixteen, a negligible company except for the President's alliance with them. Since July, when the treaty, was brought home, those who assumed charge of the. public agitation'- in favor of the league have been little helpful to the cause they had at heart. They persisted in center? ing blame on Senator Lodge and on the majority party in the Senate. Never was it in the power of Senator Lodge or the party of which he is a member to command the two-thirds vote essential to ratifica? tion. It was obvious the treaty could not be ratified except through the cooperation of the President, for it early became sadly evident that Administration Scr-itov? would fol? low not their own judgments, but ordf-V3. Nevei-theless, little if any fire of protest was built under the Presi? dent. On the contrary, White House pettifoggings were applauded by the peace leaguers. No absurdity was too strong for their acceptance. It is still tiie practice in certain quar? ters to curse Lodge and the Senate. But at last the lesson has been at least partly learned. The holder up cf ratification now, as for many months past, is the President, and this is now practically acknowledged. No wonder Senator Lodge exclaimed to Mr. Taft: "Why hammer me? I ;:m not strangling this treaty. If. you don't like stranglers, protest to the White House." Whether the President will yield to the present petition is, of course, unknown. Probably he will not. He seems to want to use the treaty in politics. But what chance there is of inducing him to yield lies in mak? ing it plain that the country at last thoroughly understands where is the obstacle to ratification. Every utterance that minimizes this fact and every declaration to the effect that responsibility is divided- will encourage the President not to change. The White House must be approached realistically. All good Americans have high respect for the Presidency. But all good Americans have stronger re? spect for the country and its in? terests. So plain speech is called for. At this juncture no one can be considered much of a friend of the treaty or of the peace league who shrinks from courageously testifying to why the treaty is in the Presi? dent's pigeonhole. " - In the Open If police conditions, after two years of a restored Tammany, are as in? dicated by the statements of both Assistant District Attorney Smith , and by Inspector Henry (the prose? cution and the defense agree as to the facts, though differing as to where lodges responsibility), it will be conceded there should be prompt and thorough investigation. And if there is an investigation it must be conducted by a legisla? tive committee rather than a grand jury. A grand jury inquiry is secret, whereas it is highly desirable to have a public investigation open. When a witness appears before a grand jury and gives testimony offen? sive to a high officer of the Police Department, that officer commonly learn* the substance of the evidence. Then the witness may find life un? comfortable for him, while he lacks the protection incident to public knowledge of why he is disliked. Nor has a grand jury ihe inde? pendence which an investigating body should possess. The jury is under the charge of a judge, and in many respects controlled by the District Attorney's office. The A? mirall jury sought to do its duty, | but whenever it struck a hot trail it encountered impediments. Moreover, an investigation with one side directed by District At? torney Swann and the other directed by Mayor Hylan would scarcely command every one's confidence. Mr. Swann has relations with Tam? many Hall and Hearst, and so has Mr. Hylan. It is to be feared Messrs. Murphy and Hearst would arrive with buckets of whitewash and demand a cessation of what they would call foolishness. So it must be a legislative investi? gation if there is to be an investi? gation. The Housing Bills Some of the Real Estate Board's proposed amendments to the hous? ing bills are entirely reasonable. It is suggested, for instance, that the emergency period be ended not on November 1, 1922, but on Septem ! ber SO, 1922. It would certainly i be more convenient to everybody if j the restrictions should cease at the ! end of the usual leasing year, in? stead of running one month into a new year. The board also raises the point that a tenant who contests dis? possession after a rent increase I ought to be obliged to pay the ex? isting rent for the time he holds over. If this provision was omitted from the Lockwood bills it must have been through inadvertence. ! Tenants who inasst on staying on will probably be duly grateful for I that privilege. It isn't likely that I a court would pay much attention i to their complaints if they were us j ing the law merely to avoid paying ? any rent. It is true also that the restric ! tions will operate unequally as be ! tween landlords who were fore? handed in boosting rents in 1918 [ and those who didn't get the fever until October, 1919. It would be ; mere satisfactoi*y all around if the L glaring; profiteers alone were reached | and penalized. But the housing ; bills are not constructed on the j theory of reaching and penalizing ' profiteers. They are not retalia? tory. They are drawn to meet a i grave public emergency, and as an ' economic discrimination are justi | fied only on that ground. The idea is to stabilize the situation for at ; least two years, while new construc : tion is in progress. The tenants 1 who are in are to be protected, in ' order to avert the disaster which would follow the uni'estricted op? eration of the law of supply and demand. In an abnormal situation, created by the war, individual interests must be subordinated to the general welfare. Most landlords forget that the war hasn't legally ended. Con? gress passed a law for the District of Columbia forbidding increases of the rents of tenants in possession and forbidding dispossessions. It is still in force. Such a law is a hardship to real estate owners. But the war has caused enormous eco? nomic readjustments, affecting groups and individuals unequally. , That is one of the inevitable evils ? of war. Till we get rid cf war con , ditions, such incidental evils will have to be faced. The only fair test to apply to the housing bills is whether they do or do not serve the larger interests of the community for the limited period in which they are to be applied. France's New Policy Soon after the Millerand Cabinet took office it received an equivocal vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies. The government won be | cause a very large group abstained ' from voting. On Saturday Millerand ? was sustained by 518 votes to 70 , after a spirited debate on French I foreign policy. The French public has been quick ! to sense the meaning of recent de ; velopments affecting the relations of ! the major Allied powers. France , has been drifting toward isolation. The failure of the United States tc ratify the treaty with Germany and 1 to enter the league of nations has ? pushed far into the uncertain future a realization of the British-French American defensive alliance against Germany. Italy was alienated by France's support of President Wil I ? son's Fiume policy. Great Britain ? | has shown a tendency to punsue a Continental program of her own anc to favor a relaxation of the economic provisions of the treaty. ' ; Millerand has taken a firm stand II against any modification of the ? treaty. He is being backed up by \ ex-President Poincar?, the French | member of the Reparations Com i mission. In his speech to the Cham ? I ber the Premier said bluntly that I the Treaty of Versailles was not ; ?: being fulfilled, but would have to be : j fulfilled. He added that when a ! memorandum recommending revision ! of the treaty was presented to the : Peace Council the other day he tele? graphed to the French Ambassador : in London that France would not ? agree to such action. M. Barthou, one of the most for ; midable of Millerand's critics, bit? terly attacked the government for ! its negative and drifting foreign I policy. But he made little impres? sion on the Chamber, because that body was easily convinced by Mille? rand that from now on France was going to stand aggressively for the execution of the treaty?now about the only solid guaranty against Ger? man aggression which remains in French hands. * The Millerand government has re? organized the army, which had been allowed to disintegrate after the armistice. If force is needed to compel Germany to livo up to her obligations, it is now evident in Paris that France means to supply that force. The army reorganiza? tion, a necessary consequence of the weakening of the bonds between the major Allies, undoubtedly gave rise to President Wilson's recent charge that the^new French government had turned back to "militarism" and "imperialism." Such an imputation was unjusti? fied. For France is merely reinsur? ing her own rights and safety. Tho Allies have been acting for months on the theory that they were power? less, in a military sense, to impose compliance with the treaty on Ger? many. The French government and people are determined that this theory shall not hold good any longer so far as France is con? cerned. What is happening in France is not "a renascence of militarism." It is merely an awakening of the French people* to the fact that they must be ready to enforce the treaty | by military action in case Germany j persists in evading and nullifying it. The Two Parties To those of our readers who are puzzled for an answer to explain I their party allegiance we commend the exceedingly suggestive prize let? ter appearing on our Platform Con? test page to-day. As this writer suggests, there is no question that parties and issues are at present in a state of con? fusion. Yet the outstanding fact of ? our political life is that despite this \ confusion the parties are still vigor ! ous and the great bulk of Americans | ?at least nine out of ten, let us say ! ?have a strong feeling of "belong? ing" to one great party or the other. When a visitor asks us "Why?" we may be stumped for a ready answer. Also, if our party put up an objec? tionable candidate, we should be more than ready to vote against him, so considerably has the spirit of independence permeated our politics. But the fundamental fact, | of allegiance remains. How ex j plain it? It is the fashionable talk of cer : tain radical intellectuals to assert that habit plus the trickery and i cajolements of politicians is the only cause for the perpetuation of the ; parties. The Neiv York World in its burst of enthusiasm for Her? bert Hoover suddenly reached much the same conclusion. There would be more force in The World's plea for non-partisanship were it not for the suspicion that The World plunged for the Republican Mr. Hoover in the laudable but highly partisan hope of saving something from the wreck of the Democratic party. As for the theory of the radicals, it insults the capacity and sense of everybody. If true, if the voters are so stupid and inert and easily led by the nose, why have ? popular government at all and where | is the hope of anything better or j different so long as it lasts? The fact is, we think with our ! correspondent on the platform page. : The people are not fools. As she ' well says, "Fundamentally, the two parties are as definite as ever." Their differences are confused by passing personalities and changing issues, by local problems. Allegiance ; to one party or the other may be ; weakened by this confusion, but it still persists for the very good ? reason that it is based on fundamen? tal differences in outlook, in prin I ciple, in method, in character, which I j have, roughly speaking, always ! i separated the two major parties in J America and probably always will : ! separate them. ; Our correspondent quotes Patrick ! Henry and Samuel Adams as the ! two prototypes of the two groups : " 'Give me liberty or give me death,' ' | said Patrick Henry. ' j " 'Let each hamlet and town elect a > | c?***mmijttce of representatives and let ! them evolve some judicial way out o? . j this difficulty, the small committees ? > then uniting in a general one for each r colony,' said Samuel Adams."? . i The argument would place the t ; theorist and idealist, who is quick on II the trigger, with the Democratic 1 j party?with Patrick Henry and with : ; Thomas Jefferson. It would place i the slower working out of progress [ ithrough the practical evolution of a ! system of representative government ? with the Republican party?with i Lincoln, the practical idealist, as its . highest exemplar. Our correspond ? ent is not far wrong in classifying ; old Sam Adams with the latter ; group; for, despite his opposition i to the extreme Federalists, he was , essentially a man who thought of i political philosophy in terms of men i and events. Party lines have been drawn more ? and more sharply about President ; Wilson's administration, and for one good and fund? mental reason. This Democratic President at home and abroad has, to the Republican mind, seemed typically devoted to the idea ?it was "competition" in domestic business, it was internationalism at Paris?and typically uninterested , and impractical in carrying his ideas into effect. And despite the j very practical Democrats and the k highly impractical Republicana that can be cited, and despite the obvious exceptions which must be made be? cause of local issues (as in the South), we think the fundamental truth is with thi3 broad distinction. Tho Republican party has often fallen far below its Lincoln?who combined the ideal and the practical in unique perfection. The Demo? cratic party has risen to heights of achievement 'and public service. Their tendency is to diverge, much as our correspondent indicates, and as the divergence is along a funda? mental cleavage in human nature, there is the soundest reason for that allegiance which most Americans still feel for the parties of Jefferson, ! Calhoun and Wilson, on the one hand, and of Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt, on the other. An Appeal from the Dead - i What Three Men Who Were lo Be Electrocuted Wrote To the Editor of The Tribune. Sir: Five years ago last month three men went ?to tho electric chair in Sing Sing. Three days before they gave to me, their warden, the'letter of which I inclose a copy. As the abolition of capital punishment is again being pressed you may wish to print it. I need not dwell upon its fire and elo? quence; it speaks for itself. 1 had expected to read it at the hearing held in Albany on March 17, but at the last moment found myself unable to attend. Possibly the last appeal of these men, now dead, may reach the hearts of some who will not listen to the living voice. T. M. OSBORNE. Three doomed men in the deathhouse of Sing Sing appeal to the people of the State of New York. The three men doomed to die in the early morning of February 26 in the death chamber of Sing Sing make this appeal from the brink of the grave. Are you, as humane members of this commonwealth, justified in taking human life because we did? Did two wrongs ever make a right? There is not one of us who would not willingly die if it would restore to life those who died by our hands. Owing to our acts, remorse, sorrow, ignominy and shame have been our companions day by day through the long, sleepless nights. We realize keenly that we will suffer least by our own death, for we know full well that some day, some time, all of us must pass beyond that mysterious veil of eternity from whose bourn no traveler has ever returned. Wo make this appeal to you not so much to save our lives as because our ignominious death strikes beyond the grave and will bring sorrow, woe and care to those near and dear to us and who will suffer most by our untimely end. Picture this! Think of this! Then if 5'ou can, by word and pen, demand from your representatives at Albany that capital punishment, this relic of ancient times, this stain on humanity, be wiped out from the stat? ute books. Only a few months ago our President appealed to the people of this countrj of all nationalities to attend their vari? ous places of worship, there to pray and plead to the Almighty that the mur? der, carnage and slaughter in Europe might cease. Is the cause for our destruction any greater than that between nation and nation now engaged in bloody warfare? Therefore we appeal to you not only to pray for us, but to demand the abolish? ment of legal murder. If we believed that our slaughter would act as a deterrent to future murders we would willingly render up our lives to society, if it would erase from human nature the causes which tended to our crimes. Can you recall a single instance in all your lives where the horror of the death penalty stayed the hand of a murderer? We know we never gave , it a thought. Murder is mostly the result of two ' great human passions, that of uncon trollable^ and insane jealousy or a devouring anger roused by the demon daink, both of which so blur the human mind as to make the persons tempo? rarily insane. Jealousy and anger , roused by drinking were the causes ! of the tragedies in which we three men were involved. If this is to be our last word, we j send it forth in the hope that if it i avails us nothing it may perchance aid ? some brother who may fall by the way j side. | In conclusion we offer up our prayers l that you will not cast us aside into ; utter darkness by disregarding our > plea from the shadows of the grave. We admit our sins and pray to God s for forgiveness at the hands of our ; brothers and the Almighty. VINCENZO CAMPANELLI, ROBERT KANE, OSCAR VOGT. I February 23, 1915. ; What Miss Ennis Meant to Say To the Editor of The Tribune. f Sir: The sewers of Europe are dumped over here in the form of Com 1 munism, Anarchism, I. W. W.-ism, and, in the parlance of the day, it is up to the public school teachers of New York City to help stamp that out. You can't stamp out that menace without teach? ers and you won't have teachers unless you pay them a salary sufficient for them to Jive decently. The defendant rests. ISABEL A. ENNIS. Brooklyn, March 28, 1920. The Unkindest Cut (Flom The Los Angeles Times) The Germans are preparing a list of Allied atrocities as an offset to the , blacklist of the Supreme Council. They wish to show that war is two-sided, even in barbarism. But the greatest of? fense of Marshal Foch's forces was | tho fiendish manner in which they , chased the Kaiser's noblo supporters j from their comfortable, steam-heated j trenches. That was a nanghty trick. The Conning Tower \ Horace, Book HI, Ode 19 "Quantum distet ab Inacho" You trace the annals of our'nation From Washington's administration To Wilson's reign, and talk of men Who served* the state with sword or pen, Nor Bcant us tales of battles won At Ch?teau Thierry or Verdun. A moment's pause?-I'd like to ask When I may fill my empty flask, Where I can find a house for Tent, The landlord's profit?what per cent? Manhattan's breeze is chilly. How Can I keep warm? You're silent now. Pledge me a glass! Oh, fill it soon! A bumper to the wet new moon! To Cuvillier a bumper more, Who augurs wetter days in store! Let him who courts the Muses nine Drink three times 3 per cent light wine, And others,?since the Graces fear A stronger brew?three-fifty beer. But, Muses' vassal, Graces' thrall, I'd drink, impartial, to them all Why hang the lute and lyre byt Why mute the pipe? The coun? try's dry. Voice me the hope of happie* hours, And say it?lavishly?with flowers. Come, let our joyous revels rouse Old Prohibition and his.spouse, Fair Temperance, a charming girl, I Sadly allied to such a churl! i Marion Bush. Most of the Presidential aspirants have spoken in favor of their 100 per cent Americanism. Probably that, like many other things, is a question of definition. Our conception of it is one thing; yours another. For the best definition of 100 per cent Ameri? canism we offer the choice of one copy of any of Harold Bell Wright's books, one copy of the American Magazine, one of Dr. Frank Crane's books, one song by Carrie Jacobs Bond, one por? tion of rice pudding, one record of "Was There Ever a Pal Like You?" or one bottle of champagne ginger ale. Perhaps Eve's ululations about the high cost of living antedated John Taylor's. But, Octopus discovers, in 1614, in "The True Cause of the Watermen's Suit Concerning Players," he said: "The statute was made in Queen Mary's reign for our fares, and the price of all things is raised except poor men's labours." Homer Aids Boston to Conquer Giants.?Times headline. Yet the universities are abolishing Greek. And There Was the Thistle?"Built Like a Watch" Sir : Your recent mention of your "Barnes White Flyer" brought to my mind the vari? ous bikes of a bygone day. In making my selection about that time I didn't know whether to get a Columbia, a Rambler, a I Dayton, a Steams or a Lovell Diamond. Finally ?"father bought me a Keating?"See that hump." Them was the days of real sport. John H. McGocgu. Yes, but there never was so much { real sport as there is to-day. In the ; '90s most men said farewell to sport, j except the vicarious kind, at the age : of twenty or so. Now men call up Columbus 8200 from the golf links or i the tennis court. . . . In the in ! terests of accuracy, it should be stated that before we rode a Barnes White Flyer our mount was a Monarch? "Ride a Monarch anfl Keep in Front" ?with ram's horn handles. It is no astonishing thing that the farmers are opposed to daylight sav? ing. The average farmer doesn't yet believe in open windows; and he still thinks the Night Air Is Bad. ROUNDEL Your comlnsr is my springtime. What I feel 13 so apparent, there's no use of mumming. Bright eyes and heightened color all reveal Your coming. You set the pulse? in my temples drumming. You are the cause, yet you alone can heal The malady that set3 my blood a-humming. When with you I am happy just to kneel Close to your feet ; the joy is wellnigh numbing. Oh, lover! Life is love, and love is real. You're coming 1 Janice. The esteemed, in a manner of speaking, Evening Telegram quotes i Mr. Charles Dana Gibson as saying: ! " 'T"he Moon and I,' which was my first picture to be accepted, was sug \ gested to me by the song 'Three Little j Maids From School,' which Yum Yum | sings in 'The Mikado.' Yum- Yum comes out and looks at the moon as she sings it." We prefer to think that Mr. Gibson was incorrectly quoted; if ho wasn't, w? protest against tlje revision of Gilbert. Speaking of revising Gilbert, do you | think a letter addressed to Getty I Square, Basingstoke, would reach its | objective ? . . . Humphreys, whom she says earns upwards of $10,000 a year.? : The American. "'Whom are you?' said Cyril." The rising tide of the high cost of living, otherwise known as the Perma? nent Wave, threatens to knock us all over, And the profiteer's message is, If you know of a better universe, go to it. With aD hour more of daylight, it should be easy for the police to find Nicky Arnstein. At the moment of sliding to press, Nighthawk, Wash., has not declared for daylight saving. Nor has Daylight, Tenn. ?. P. A. Retribution ?u Ftanh H. SimnnAs It is essential in forming any judg? ment upon events which aro now tak? ing placo in Germany to keep in mind certain facts. Instinctively Americano, like Englishmen, sympathize with the so-called Majority Socialists and see in the Spartacists the imitators of that, minority which becamo tho Bolshevist masters of RuBflia. Within limits this is not an inaccurate assumption, but it is well to recognize some of the real grievances of the Minority Socialists and something of tho actual situation in Germany. Tho revolution which overset the im? perial edifice of Germany came natu? rally and inevitably from defeat rfhd from tho conditions which preceded defeat. Ira its more violent aspects it was manif-stly akin to the Russian revolution, but it was suppressed only nominally by the Socialist majority, which in name, at least, took control of tho government. Actually the German I revolution in its final form consisted in j a violent suppression of the thorough ! going Socialists by the soldiers of the old r?gime. Ehert a Cover The Ebert government was little more than a cover, a concession to public sentiment aroused against the mili? taristic and imperial control. Behind it many of the old elements continued to exercise great influence and the leaders of the German Junkers awaited the right moment to throw off the I mask. The repression of the revolt | was conducted with a brutality beyond ! words. The murders of Liebknecht ; and Rosa, Luxemburg were shameful j incidents. Both were murdered by ! German officers, who thus perpetuated ! the traditions of German atrocities in France and Belgium. Moreover, tho very Socialists who ! came to power had been the passive ' tools of the German militarists threugh ? out the war. They had by their votes j supported the government in the ! Reichstag, thu3 betraying their own | principles. They had fought the small ! but gallant minority, which had de ! clared against German crimes in the ' war; in a word, during the whole ; progress of the struggle they had sur I rendered to the Junkers their votes, established their position; they were as much accomplices of the military offenses as any other element in the German electorate. Finally, to preserve even that sem? blance of power which came to them after the revolution, they were com ! pelled to permit the military element ? to deal with the Spartacists in true | Prussian spirit. The military estab I lishment, which was created to defend ! the new r?gime, was thus in reality no more than the old, bearing a new ; name, but containing the familiar ele? ments of the monarchial army. Noske, who figured largely in the public prints, i wa3 in reality compelled to give such hostage to the reactionaries that his j own freedom of action was destroyed. ' Sham Lib?rala What one actually had in Germany, I therefore, was a sham "liberal" gov | ernment, called to power actually by i the reactionaries for the double pur ! pose of deceiving tho conquerors and | the masses of the German people, who were in arms against the unsuccessful i government which had led them to de ! feat and ruin.. It was the hope that i the Allies would be deceived by this ( semblance of democracy and thus mod , erate their terms, it was the expecta i tion that popular wrath would soon pass and then the old gang would take hold. The first of the hopes was not real? ized. The Allies were not deceived into resigning the fruits of their vic? tory, and the Treaty of Versailles in This Different World To the Editor of The Tribune. Sir: Several years ago the country rang with praises of the strenuous life. The chief exponent of this idea was Theodore Roosevelt and the energy ex? pressed in this thought became our national ideal. We were a people im? bued with the notion that we should work hard and play equally hard. The growth of our ideals had been gradual and we accepted conditions with a cer? tain calm feeling that affairs would work out satisfactorily in the end if we but gave them time. Suddenly the world was engulfed in ? a tragedy. Stunned at first, we awoke I to the realization that we were more | than mere flotsam. There was a duty ! to be performed and we were respon? sible for its execution. Now the ob? jective has been gained, tears have been dried, grief has been forgotten, j or, if that be not possible, at least hid | den in the hearts of the bereaved, and man again finds himself his own master. Trutly his own master, but in a dif? ferent world. Where formerly happi? ness had existed in humble surround? ings, dissatisfaction is now found. Emerging from the abyss of horrible suffering we demand silken luxuries. Many salaries are mounting, million | aires are multiplying and the steady | plodder who worked and saved finds i himself an insignificant item in the ; book of the world. Each new slogan finds an army to I bear it aloft. "Foreign Commerce," shouts some one, and at once we are plunged into an orgy of unlimited pro? duction; "Let us dance," cries another, and unbridled gayety rushes on the i stage of life. "Old men with long white I beards would be brushed aside in the : mad rush of to-day, but should we go ? to the prostrate form of an aged sage ! and ask his counsel we would hear the i one word oft repeated, "Repression," S "Repression." J. CARLISLE SELL. Washington, D. C, March 24, 1920. Tangled Policies (From The Memphis Commercial-Appeal) The .Constitution provides that the I Secretary of State stands third in suc? cession in the government, so if any? thing should befall Mr. Wilson and Mr. Marshall we would have Colby, a Bull Moose Republican, at the head of a Democratic administration. eluded terms which disappointed the German expectations. Incidentally, these terms served to discredit the sham liberal government, and thus sup? plied the reactionaries, the Junkers, with an opportunity to strike for their ?old position. Against such a blow the Ebert government was helpless itself, because its military establishment was, in fact, in the hands of the old mili? tary element. Masttes? Complaints How far the EberjVgovernment as a whole was a party to the recent stroke of the reactionaries is a matter of con? jecture. One may recall that Kerensky was reputed to have"" agreed to the Korniloff rebellion and to have lost his courage at the last moment and thrown himself into the arms of L?nine and Trotzky, thua insuring the ruin of Korniloff, but insuring the immediate collapse of his own rule. In any event, Ebert at the final moment seems to have followed a similar course, and pro? claimed the general strike. This weapon once unsheathed produced the situation which in Russia precipitated the deluge, for it called into power exactly the elements which had never accepted the Ebert government, never ceased to denounce it as a sham and never hesitated to allege that behind it was the old gang, awaiting a favor? able moment to "come back." Of the masses, who are now repre | sented by the communistic and soviet ! leaders, it is necessary to remember | that they have v^ry grave and just com i plaints. Their leaders were massacred | by the old militaristic element, with the passive consent, if not the active approval, of th?S/ Ebert government. Their brothers were shot down by Prus? sian soldiers, the real reforms they sought to bring about were prevented, and following the bloody repression there has come in due course, as they forecast, the counter revolution, de? signed to restore the Prussian system : and not impossibly some Hohenzollern to serve as the necessary figurehead. Revolution Before Progress Exactly like Kerensky, Ebert has in his final despair unchained a real revo? lution. But is not a real revolution the necessary prelude to any real prog? ress in Germany? Instinctively we are all shuddering at the thought oi Bolshevism now appearing on the casi bank of the Rhine, but is it quite cleai that the safety of the world will b( more assured if 'he alternative?and il is the alternative?namely, the restora tion of the junker element to power, i; finally accepted by the German people' Underlying all else is the fact tha' the Ebert government was a sham, s camouflage, to cover the monarchisti | until their hour should arrive. If the ' counter revolution, which the Eber government permitted, if it did not par ! ticipate in it, had been successful w< should have seen Ludendorff, Tirpit: and all the notorious figures of a pre [ vious r?gime shortly seated in thei i old position. We should have beei ? back in the atmosphere of 1914 and a the beginning.of a new period of prep aration for a war of revenge. Conceivably, Allied influence may no*. I avail to restore the Ebert governmen ' to power, but it cannot restore it t ; popular confidence. The masses, wh ? have repudiated it as the tool of thei junker tyrants, may consent to swallo* Ebert on their bread if there is n ; other way of getting bread, but eithe ; their submission will be tempor?r i and a new uprising come in due cours j of time or the junkers will be able b j using the color of Allied approval t regain absolute mastery of German and resume their old methods and pui sue their ancient objectives. (Copyright, 1920, by the McClure Newspapt Syndicate) Ervine on Prohibitiot To the Editor of The Tribune. Sir: It is discourteous and bad tast? to put it mildly, for St. John G. Ervini the Irish author of two plays whic have had successful runs in Americi to speak slurringly in an interview i | last Sunday's Tribune about an Amer can law. Mr. Ervine showed that h knows nothing of the history of proh bition in this country, nothing of th rise and fall of the saloon as a soci. and political factor in American lii j and nothing of the tremendous an farreaching effects for good whic have already followed the advent c prohibition. We take it that men and women wh are sufficiently interested in human b? ings to make them a subject of stud; in plays and stories, are also interestc in the race as a whole and in its prol lern. It is natural to assume tl modern writer to be a person who. grasp reaches beyond to-day and who? gaze penetrates the future. If Mr. Ervine is sincerely intereste : in human problems, surely he shou have sufficient breadth and sincerit or at least curiosity, to urge him wh? he comes face to face with an epocl i marking social revolution to pause ar consider it, to study its various ar amazing new angles and to try to di cover its effects. But no; Mr. Ervin instead of doing this, has adopted tl cheap New York City cant abo ".fanatical reformers" and their attac on all the joyous things of life. 1 would show himself in a better light he would really strive to discover t! social and political background behii this great reform and take a peep in the lives of thousands, nay, millions, people who are singing "te deums" their hearts to-day because of t change that has been wrought by wh ho is pleased to belittle and regard | the subject for cheap humor. MARGARET DODSON. New York, March 25, 1920. Kept for Change (From The Indianapolis News) As the zenith of non-production h; j according to Mr. Barucb, been reach? I and the nadir of the dollar'? purch. ? ing power is pretty close, accoidi to the observations of the rest of ? it seems as if we were about due i a tarn-over. The Da?ryJ>roblem A Farmer Explain? Wh* Many Are Selling Oui To the Editor of The Tribune. Sir: Perhaps the city r_ih. eon, sumer would like to know where ft drop in price of milk for April cc**^* from, and why the farmer protest! against a reduction in price wh*?? th cost of production is higher than it ?.* been for the last six months. Retail feed price?. Dec. 1919. u._..,4 AVheat bran..... $45 per ton ts? A1'1? muten feed. $68 " ?? V?\ ** U? Ground oatn. $58 " " tel ? '* Hominy meal... $65 " " $7? ? _ I have a dairy of twenty cows that averaged 9,000 pounds of milk for th? year 1919, and employ one man to behj by the year. Extra help to cut en,?. l?ge costs 50 cents an hour. Oar wor' is 365 days per year and from ten to twelve hours per day. If we are not paid the ?ost of pr9. duction can you blame the dairy fana? for going out of business? My co*5 I have been milked about seven months. j and daily production for March is 50c. ; pounds of milk (3.7 per cent butterig' | which, at $3.78, amounts to $18.90. Cost of production. ?200 lbs. feed . ... i 600 lb?, ensilage. '; \ ; 600 lbs. hay .\\\\ :?*? One man.'.'.'.'.'. ; ?I Total ."Hum A deficit of 60 cents per day, with my own work, three horses and an invest ! ment of $10,000 not counted. Now the April price has been ?a nounced, 81 cents per hundred lower which makes an actual loss of $4.65 per day, which will continue till about the | first of June before there will be grasj i enough for pasture to make cost of i production less. Why the price of milk should be lower for February, March and April the farmer has never been ab!e to u. derstand. ,/I-ere New York City is prodccir.j : milk at some of its institutions i_ ; Orange County it costs 12 cents per quart. Many farmers are selling their dai | ries. There were fourteen sales?about j 500 cows sold?in a ten-mile radius ? during the last ten days. If this keeps ? on long there will be no surplus. C. M. HOUSTON. Wisner, N. Y., March 26, 1920. Produce! \ Sympathy for the Farmer and Advice for Other Workers j To the Editor of The Tribune. Sir: As the son of a farmer, th? 1 grandson of fanners and the brother [ of farmers?Iowa farmers, all?and an ! editor merely from choice and acn ; dent, I am forced to agree with much ! that Mr. Coddington, of Smithland, i Iowa, is quoted in The Tribune of March 27 as saying. There is no obligation resting on the farmer to work twelve and sixteen hours a day?as I have done through? out the busy season in my own younger days?that the automobile worker, the shoemaker, the plumber and window cleaner, the city garbape man and others may have cheap food and plenty of it. The farmer's indus : try is an essential one. But the world i would move along some way if the | average eight-hour a day man at a dollar or two an hour, who is agitating: for a four-hour day and $4 an hour, were to be permitted to remain idle. To a certain extent the automobile industry is an essential one, bat probably 90 per cent cf workers cou'.d be put to farm production without any real damage to the country. 0f course, in that case Mr. Coddington , and his neighbors would not be able : ?hard-working farmers that thev are ??to ride to town in their high-pov. I ered limousines?something that I, i after twenty years of city occupation, I cannot afford. When, however, Mr. Coddington tells i of the losses he has sustained, another ! question arises. We ail Know?no one ! better than I, for obvious reasons? that many of the farmers of the Middle West have not been working on the job much in the past couple ef i years. They have been speculating in i land, which has jumped from $40 to I 5400 or more an acre in the course of ; the past twenty years?and hers, ! again, I speak with deep personal feel* ? ing, for I myself might now be riding? i in an expensive car and kicking about the high cost of living had I been a little wiser in my generation. Doubtless, it is upon this $400 an | acre land that Mr. Coddington bases his assumption that he is losing money. But is there any excuse for this $400 an acre land? What has he done to entitle him to the $-00 an acre which his land may have ad? vanced in the last two years?for the 1,000 per cent increase in twenty years. Because speculation has brought land to towering heights and made the original owners rich beyond the dreams of us editors, if not beyond the dreams of avarice, must the world be taxed to pay dividends on that land? If- the farmer increases production it will not be because he is urged to do so, but because he finds it profitable to do so or because it is necessary to do so in order to live. The sooner workers in other lines come to the conclusion that their salvation is ,n" creased production?not in decreasing the day's work from 1,600 to 480 brick? at four times the former wage?the sooner will the world get out of the ? doldrums. Labor of all kinds is no? demanding twice what it produce?, nn while there seems to be s general W** 1 position to meet this demand, the I practice cannot be kept up indeft ! nitely. As an unprejudiced observer, ? j seems to me that the answer to the | whole question is bound to be found j in a financial panic such as the wor.d ; has never known?a panic which w" J destroy most of the gains that labor ? has won and which, apparently, it " i unable to appreciate. When that tir.-.e comes I am wiHinfl ?and I hope, able?to return to the soil from which I came to do my bit something; which a large part ef *?" called "labor" is evidently totally in? capable of doin-ff. A. M. ADAMS. Brooklyn, March 27, 1920.