New-York tribune. [volume], July 19, 1921, Page 8, Image 8

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Ntw Dark STribime
First to fust?the Truth: News??Edi?
torials?Advertisements
'ftamaaa of til? Audit Kuroau of Circulation*.
TUEvSDAY, JULY 19, 1921
t??nett hy New York Tribune. We., a New Tor*
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tareln al?o are reserved.
Japan's Hesitation
Many conservative Japanese
statesmen are shying at coupling
discussion of the question of tho
Paciftc with discussion of the
question of naval disarmament.
They say: "Why not also discuss '.he
Balkan question, the Anatolian
question and the Silesian question
and their repercussions on disarma?
ment?"
The Japanese rejoinder would
have more weight if naval armament
figured materially in the settlement
of the Balkan, the Anatolian and
the Silesian questions. In Europe
to-day there is only one great naval
power?Great Britain. Naval, con
rtruction competition has ceased.
The German and Russian navies
have been wiped out. France and
Italy do not seek mastery on the
seas.
What naval competition there is
in the world is ktjpt alive by the un?
certainties of the Far Eastern situ?
ation. The United States, as a Pa?
cific power, has to consider its ca?
pacities for self-defense in that
ocean. We have the Philippines and
Guam to protect. We have also the
Open Door policy to maintain. Japan
has her national interests to care
for and her economic future to con?
sider. She has a fleet about half as
strong as ours on paper, but nearly
equal to ours when her advantages
of position are taken into con?
sideration.
Japan also has a defensive al?
liance with Great Britain? That
alliance, both signatories say,
i? not directed against the United
States and will never become opera?
tive against us. The British domin?
ions fronting on the Pacific?Can?
ada, Australia and New Zealand
all oppose a renewal of the alliance,
Canada unconditionally and the
other two except with modifications
agreeable to America. The Union
of South Africa favors a Pacific
concert which will include the
United States.
Great Britain, Japan and the
United States?the three great na?
val powers?are thus vitally inter?
ested in an examination and adjust?
ment of their relations in the Pacific
sphere. The size of their respective
naval establishments is determined
at present by the Pacific situation
and will continue to be determined
by it. General relief from the bur?
dens of naval expansion can come
only from an agreement based on a
k clarification of the policies of these
I three powers with regard to the
/' Chinese Open Door, to Siberia and
| Mongolia and to the economic de?
velopment of the backward regions
of Eastern Asia.
All the powers invited to the
Washington conference, Japan ex?
empted, welcome a genuine examina?
tion of the causes of dissension in
the Far East, now more of a trouble
center than the Balkans. Japan may
hold out against discussion of the
real obstacles to naval disarmament.
But if she does so she will invite her
own Isolation and will reduce any
scheme of disarmament agreed on
for the three chief naval pow?
ers to a mere gesture of surface
- diplomacy.
The MacMillan Expedition
Arctic explorers never quit.
Donald B. MacMillan, who but for
frozen feet would have stood at
, the North Pole with Peary, and
who later headed the expedition to
: "Crocker Land"?which turned out
to be a mirage?has sailed once
more for the top of the world. In
the good ship Bowdoin, which will
"tread" ice rather than cut it, he
and his small crew are off for Baf
iin Land, which is practically terra
I incognita?its interior is unknown
I and 1,000 miles of its coast line are
| only guessed at.
MacMillan loves the polar adven
'?| ture, it goes without saying, but if
v the thrill and hazard were all he
^ would have had enough already.
Facts he is after now. "I hold,"
if lie says, "that we should explore
? every land, however remote, how
1 ever desolate; that we should lay
down its coast line accurately, in?
form ourselves of its physical char?
acteristics, study its bird life,
..classify its botanical species, know
its people; that we should substi?
tute facts for Ifrnorance, conjec
?
ture, guesswork and absurd
theory."
Just plain, scientific, field work
under the light of the aurora
borealis. And it will take up all the
time of MacMillan and his col?
leagues. Roald Amundsen was
amused the other day when some
one asked him if he wasn't bored
by the winter-long Arctic night.
He was so busy, he said, that he
hardly had a chance to rest on
Sunday.
Scientific polar exploration is a
part of the world's work, and the
rarely equipped few who are quali?
fied to do it are not shirking the
job. When MacMillan comes home
it is certain that Baffin Land will
be planted solidly in geography.
The Sims-Daniels Report
That Josephus Daniels served for
eight years as Secretary of the
Navy was due to President. Wilson's
genius for the mis-selection of pub?
lic servants. If he had been a
good Secretary, with the interests
of the navy and its need of round?
ing out as h fighting machine at
heart, he could not have remained
in office any longer than Mr. Wil?
son's only competent Secretary of
War, Lindley M. Garrison, was
able to do. Mr. Daniels was a
j pacifist, and up to and even after
I our declaration of the existence of
a state of war with Germany he
was completely in sympathy with
the "he kept us out of, war" and
the "peaco without victory" theory.
If he had been a good Secretaiy he
would have devoted himself to pre?
paring the fleet for use, while let?
ting the President wrestle with the
question of employing or not em
ploying it.
The report of the majority of
the sub-committee of the Senate
Naval Affairs Committee, which in?
vestigated Admiral Sims's charges?
of inefficiency in the conduct of the
war, takes note of the political pre?
possessions which caused Mr.
Daniels to shy at preparedness and
to hold back from an aggressive
policy against Germany in the first
weeks of the war. The Secretary
erred in his own field through
negligence and incapacity in let?
ting the navy drift into the war
without provision or proper tuning
up. Yet he also erred because he
tangled up naval management with
the Administration's anti-war diplo?
macy. To that extent he was the
victim of the failure of the Wil?
son-House negotiations with Ber?
lin for American mediation in the
winter of 1916-'17 and of Ger?
many's brusque decision to force
the United States into the war.
Mr. Daniels was a fantastie
Secretary. He opposed naval ex?
pansion up to the eve of our entry
into the war. After the armistice
he became an irreconcilable
expansionist, whom Congress had
to restrain. His record is ludi?
crously vulnerable all along the
line, and he was never more mis?
guided than when he went on the
witness stand to try to break the
force of Sims's reflections on his
management of the war. The sub?
committee naturally finds these re?
flections justified. That was s
I foregone conclusion. The ma?
jority's pamphlet of 136 pages ii
I a skillfully drawn document of per
mancnt historical value. But Mr
Daniels had already been definite
I ly appraised by popular opinion.
Movies
It is apparent that England has
not taken hold of the movies as we
have in this country. The Amer?
ican has a genius for the passion?
ate exploitation of anything new. j
The-movies are no longer new, but
they have a long start in the United
States. The London Times in its
recent review of three British
films, "The Broken Road," "Money"
and "Uncle Bernac," says:
"Within limits all three were suc?
cessful. It is still a matter of de?
bate whether the cinematograph is
working out its own salvation in
the best way by relying on the
ready-mado plots of others, but
whatever one may think of the
method by which they obtained
their stories It must be admitted
that all three did the utmost."
This mental reservation with
which the movies are mentioned
in England is swept away entirely
by Mrs. Kendall, who, going much
further, declared that the cinemas
were "an insult to God" because
they took away the voice. The pity
of the movies is that they fail
to reinforce the educational power
of the legitimate stage in voice
culture?practically the only in?
fluence we have to train the voices
of people.
It is also true that the movies
lend themselves in a very peculiar
way to vulgarity. But admitting
all this, it still remains that within
their scope they have introduced us
to an entirely new sensation, closely
approximating to the highest art
?namely, their astonishing power
to show real human beings in ac?
tion. The boundless freedom of
activity which the movies alone ?ive
to human beings?for they have all
outdoors to work in?enables us to
view these human beings as they
never have been viewed before. The
story or plot often spoils the*effect
of this. But if one can, in looking
at the screen, divorce himself from
his own kind and fancy he is look?
ing from another planet upon these
?
diverting creatures, he will get a .
f rosh viewpoint upon a great con-1
tribution to the proper study of
mankind.
t#
A Disturbed Reader
Says a disturbed reader of The
Tribune :
"Why do you blamo Wilson, who had
only one trial against a world of op?
position, for creating tho league cove?
nant with forty-eight nations rather
than forty-nine, while you praise liar
ding for not being able, after many
trials, to prevent Wilson's success
from forcing us into tho mutilated
imitation of a twentieth of the leaguo
covenant, with or.ly a few of the forty
eight nations?"
The foregoing may be submitted
as evidence of the queer way a hu?
man mind sometimes works.
The common complaint against Mr.
Wilson is not that he sought to put
us into leagues, but that he kept us
out of any. The record is that he
preferred aloofness rather than to
consent to modifications of his plan
which secured the independence of
this country's future action?modi?
fications whose reasonableness the
whole world now concedes.
No conceivable amount of explo?
sive assertion or casuistry is able to
obscure the plain fact that Mr. Har?
ding while a Senator voted twice to
enter the Geneva league, while Pres?
ident Wilspn said that he would put
the league covenant into a pigeon?
hole unloss ratified in the exact way
he said it must be.
As to a league of forty-eight or a
league of five opinions differ. Our
own preference is for the smaller
and more compact organization, es?
pecially in view of the fact that
power is, and promises to be for a long
time, in the possession of the five.
But that there are vital differences
between the policies of the two Pres?
idents and that the one has not
warmed over the policy of the other
are sufficiently attested by the cir?
cumstance that Mr. Wilson took us
out of the Supreme Council of the
Allies, while Mr. Harding promptly
put us back in.
Making the Bachelor Pay
Bachelors in France are much
stirred up over the tax that has
been levied against them. Whether
it will worry them into matrimony
remains to be seen. Just now they
are concerned about how to pay and
keep their freedom. Not the spirit
of romance, nor pity for the match?
less female, but a falling birth
rate has moved the French gov?
ernment to try to draft the bachelor
into the ranks of family men. But
whether or not the footloose male
finds it cheaper to marry than not
to marry, the intent of the new law
will be accomplished, for with mali?
cious wisdom the tax collected is to
form a baby bonus fund for those
who are adventurous enough to as?
sume family obligations. Large
families are to be encouraged to
make up for no families, and the
men who refuse to contribute chil?
dren of their own to the nation
must help to bring up the children
of other men.
No wonder the bachelors are
worried. Even if they elude the in?
stinctive pursuit by the female of
the species there is no escape for
them. A relentless government
hunts them down. If financial cau?
tion and selfishness are responsible
for the avoidance of marriage the
government may win by battering
down the defences of the crabbed
eld bachelor. At any rate, the ex?
periment of making a man pay for
the privilege of remaining single
should clear away the mists sur?
rounding -the bachelor and show
him in his true colors.
'The Best Minds"
The story of Michael J. Nolan,
while not only extremely interesting
but highly creditable to this remark?
able soldier and citizen, need not
alarm those more humble among us
who despair of ever attaining any
distinction in mental efficiency. The
head of the psychology department
of the University of Washington,
who has had opportunity to make a
, careful study of Mr. Nolan, asserts
that he has one of the twenty-five
most brilliant minds in America. He
was able to pass the Alpha army
test, the hardest intelligence test we
have, with a score of 211 out of a
possible 212, the best previous rec?
ord being 207, made by a Yale
professor. He did in less than two
minutes what it took a college pro?
fessor nearly two hours to do, and
did it much better. Yet in 1919 Mr.
Nolan was only a discharged soldier,
i.pplying for vocational training.
Since then, in an educational way,
he has passed everything in sight.
Apparently his extraordinary mental
powers did not develop until five
years ago.
There are numerous recorded in
, stances of unusual mental powers.
It is significant that mathematical
prodigies are not uncommon among
negroes. Every once in a while a
boy prodigy becomes prominent, and
those of us who struggle along with
mediocre abilities are ashamed to
think how little we know. Last
autumn we were entertained by the
youthful chess player, Rzeschewski.
Recently a young boy in Columbia
attracted great attention because o?
his precocity.
With due respect to Mr. Nolan
and his prototypes, we may say, how?
ever, that it takes more than menta!
ability to make a man and more thar
the qualities that ara supposed tc
mako for success to make success
Itself. It is not so much what a man
knows, or his ability in applying it,
as it is in what he is himself.
There lurks in some human be?
ings, in overflowing measure, that
subtle something termed personal?
ity, which is likely to carry them
much further than anything else.
Probably character, courage and de?
pendability aro the three greatest
assets. Theodore Roosevelt in his
own biography writes of the two
kinds of success, the one being the
rwrult of natural gifts, tho other be?
irg acquired slowly, and adds: "I
need hardly say that all tho suc?
cesses I have ever won have been of
the second type. I never won any?
thing without hard labor and the ex?
ercise of my best judgment and
careful planning and working long
in advance ... I was as a young
man at first both nervous and dis?
trustful of my own prowess. I had
to train myself painfully and la?
boriously not merely as regards my
body, but as regards my soul and my
spirit."
Ship Mastery
Further Comment on the Marine
Engineer's Subordination
To tho Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: It is evident to me that the
writers of the letters on shipmasters
r-.nd marine engineers were educated
in a school that taught them to look
through the reverse end of the
binoculars.
"Son of an Old Shipmaster" Bays his
grandfather could navigate a ship with?
out having to go to school to learn
navigation. The said ship must have
sailed on tho Erie Canal, where they
used mule power and navigated with a
tow line.
"Throttle Valve" says "we are enter?
ing a new era and the engineer is here
to stay." That was the opinion of the
engineers that were employed by the
elevated railroads some years ago.
They were superseded by motormen,
and, in my opinion, that will eventual?
ly be the fate of the steam engineer
v/hen every vessel becomes electrified
and the non-executive complement will
be cut down two-thirds. I want to
tell "Throttle Valve" that the old "bine
nose skipper" and his "bucko mate"
didn't do as much to sailors as some
engine room officers did to the firemen.
That's a story still untold.
Bert Collins mentions the "traditions
of the sea." There is no such thing,
to my knowledge. But there is an
international fundamental law that
recognizes a master of a vessel as the
supreme authority outside the three
mile limit, but subject to the laws of
his own country or a foreign port of
entry inside that limit. "One Who
Served in the Navy" ought to go back
there, because his,letter indicates that
he has a lot to learn. The navy has
two distinct branches?the executive,
which is the seaman's end, and the
non-executive, tho mechanical end, that
har. command of all machinery but is
subject to orders from the bridge.
It is not my intention to disparage
the qualifications of the marine en?
gineers, for they are necessary to the
steamship. But when they intimate
that the only requirement necessary
to become a master is to put on a uni?
form with gold decorations it is time
to let them know where to get off. I
would like to place "Old Shipmaster"
in a boat with a sail and an oar. for a
rudder, his compass and quadrant; and
his traducers in a similar boat with a
full equipment, of machinery and a
w'relcs3 operator, tow them both tp.
?the middle of the Atlantic, start them
off and see which one would arrive in1
New York first. I have not the least
doubt about the result. It would sKpvv
the improvements that have advanced
navigation to a science, by intrepid
seamanship, without the aid of engi?
neers. JAMES FOREMAN SR.
Passaic, N. J., July 16, 1921.
Without Fireworks
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The present national Adminis?
tration has been in office less than four
months and a half. Notwithstanding
that, carping critics whose letters have
appeared from time to time in your
columns have complained that the Ad?
ministration didn't declare its policy
with reference to the safety of world
democracy, world peace, the League of
Nations.
Tho correspondents wanted words,
words, words, and they got no words.
They wanted a printed program forth?
with?a program full of fine phrases.
They didn't get it?they haven't got
it yet. What a disappointment to these
gentlemen it must be to realize that
deeds at last have supplemented elo?
quence! What a strange situation to
find this Administration actually dig?
ging into the details of accomplish?
ment!
To get together and disarm?what a
disappointing outlook! True, it may
stop the burden of war taxation?the
I cost of armament in peace. True, it
may prevent future wars. It may do
what all the common people want done.
It may do it without fireworks. It may
do it without giving the Chief Execu?
tive a chance to become the ruler of
the world. But it isn't very "classy,"
is it? There's no great, stirring prin?
ciple to it, is there? And how is the
world going to become safe for democ?
racy in this way if somebody doesn't
make the announcement in advance?
? COMMONER.
! New York, July 16, 1921.
The Duty on Spices
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: JDoes anybody know whether
the prsr*o ^? increase in duty on spices
scheduled in the Fordney bill is to
come under the head of a tariff for
revenue only or be classified aa a pro?
tection of our infant industries, or,
peradventure, just another levy on our
food supply in appreciation of the in?
exhaustible patience of a credulous peo?
ple who recently expressed at the pollg
an almost unanimous sentiment on the
desirability of more taxes on food?
WILLIAM N. TOSHACH.
Brooklyn, July 16, 1921.
The Conning Tower
The Irish Question
They've reduced the Isle to ruin and
beggary,
But long live the works of Lady
Gregory! R. C. BATES.
a * t '
Of politics I don't know n thing,
But I feel the magic of J. M. Rynge.
Well, Old Charley Delano, the
gifted colyumist of Tho Amityville
Record, is one of five of ?O?** pro?
fession to contribute a fifth of
&),000,000 to tho cause of disarma?
ment. Charley sends us his check
for $10, which, invented in Victory
notes, will, he says, bo $655,000 in
200 years.
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY
(As J. M. Kerrigan thinks J. M. Synge
might Intve done "Proine-ean aitgua
S cane en" from tho Gaelic) ?
It's great talk the poets used to
be making of Frankie and Johnny,
and them the finest pair of lovers
you'd sec walking the roads of ths
world. And it's often I heard Owen
Roe O'Sullivan, God rest his soul,
telling how he seen them many a
shiny evening at the butt of a ditch,
and they making mighty speeches
of the great women there used to
be one time?Beatrice from the town
of Florence in Italy, and Helen of
Troy, with her flaming head of yel?
low hair, that brought ruination on
the sons of men; and Neysa Mc
Mein, that hadn't her equals for
c^caeliness in the seven parishes.
IktirJ Frankie used to be saying it's
great women they were surely, and
it's no lie I'm telling you, but none
of them had the equal of the love I
have for you this day, Johnny; for
didn't Helen herself renege in the
heel? And it was a great and pow?
erful wrong she done her man, and
he trusting her, God help her.
But a widow woman that had gal?
lons of gold, God forgive her, came
between them; and one Samhain
night she stole Johnny off to her
little cabin at the foot of the rising
hill and left poor Frankie sitting on
her veranda, as lonesome as the
moon of dawn, and with great rage
and bitterness tearing at her heart
till at last she could stand it no
longer, and she took down a blunder?
buss that himself used to be amus?
ing himself shooting peelers with of
a summer's evening the time he'd be
after telling her stories of the saints
and holy men of Ireland, and you'd
hear a late thrush, or maybe a black?
bird, singing its praises by the holy
well, and off she went to the widow
woman's house, and she making
mighty oaths that would take the
edge off an oak board you'd have
built in a door, and when she seen
the pair of them she let a hideous
and fearful screech out of her, "And
to think it's you is the man I'm after
lacing to my heartstrings since
Shrove-tide was a year. Well, it's
a cruel and bitter wrong you have
done me this day and it's the truth
I'm telling." And with that she let
him have the full of the two barrels;
and he stiffened himself out the like
of a dead sheep, and never overed it.
Ah, they were great lovers surely,
Mister Honey, and you might travel
from the Moat of Knockshedan to
the hills of Annamoe and never find
their likes, mebbe.
I Fame moves in a mysterious way;
and somo have fame thrust upon I
them. When Jack Johnson arrived
in Chicago last week "an auto
whisked him to the home of his sis?
ter, Miss Fanny Rhodes, 36-12 Grana
Boulevard." We lived in that house
for sixteen years, and if self-con?
sciousness exudes from us now, please
do not blame us.
Its headline?the Syracuse Herald's
?was "Girl Trampled by Picnic
stricken Crowd," and so the proof?
room let it stand.
THE DIARY OF OUR OWN SAMUEL PEPYS
July 16 ? Lay late, what with long
and futile gaming last night, as fool?
hardy and weak a thing as ever I do,
and that no faint praise neither, and
so in my petrol-waggon, and drove
Mistress Lynn Fontanne to Great
Neck, a wise, pretty lady and a fair
spoken; and I played a few tunes for
her on the piano and she was asleep
after two of them. To Mistress Pearl
Swope's for dinner, and much gaiety
during the evening what with cha
radeB, and guessing games, and much
ri.g, tag, and bobtail.
17?Wroke early, and found Capt
F. Tuohy in my room, awake, and
complimenting mo upon tho quietness
of my slumbering. So up with hin
and for a swim, not very pleasant, ji
being T{\w tide; and then I trying t(
do somo scrivening, but it seemec
poor tinsel stuff, so I tore it up. T?
play some lawn tennis with F. Fox
and acquitted myself not well, and s
drove Lynn to the city again, and
home and worked till past midnigh'
and to bed, the earliest I have been :
a sevennight.
18?Early up, and to the office, an
finished my stint, and so to Traver
Island to play tennis, and took Mis
tress Anne Bunner with me, and the
I home and writing all the evenini
but distrait over the loss of my walle
with a poem In it, and a check for ?25
and some money, too.
Just because Mignon ran second i
Auteuil, France, R. W. wants to kno
whether she's a filly.
"Porte Rieo Englishman, now res
dent above" advertises in The Journ
of Commerce. Boy, the oui ja board!
We expect to be the first purchas?
of a gun that shoots 300 miles.
That we may train it on the Ac
rondack resorter who is "sleeping u
der three blankets" the3e nights.
' F. P. A.
A NICE LITTLE SUMMER OUTING FOR CONGRESS
Copyright. 19-1. New York Tribun? Inc.
The Navy's Needs
Bureau for War Plans?Full Public Discussion
To the Edltor of The Tribune. .
Sir: What is the navy's greatest!
present need? Some will answer air?
craft, others airplane carriers, others
cruiser submarines, and so on indefi?
nitely; but no one seems to have any
exact or authoritative data on which
to base his reply. Does not this di?
versity of opinion therefore really in?
dicate that the navy's greatest present
need is, above all, an organization ca?
pable of making comprehensive war
plans and then clearly presenting to
Congress and the public the facts in
regard to the most efficient and eco?
nomical tools for carrying out these
plans, together with the reasons why
these tools are best?
Doubtless a certain degree of secrecy
is necessary in regard to war plans
and the reason for selecting certain
tools for carrying them out, but if the
amount of data in regard to our sup?
posedly secret naval matters which are
at present known to the naval au?
thorities of all interested foreign gov
ornmcnts were equally available to the
people of the United States at large
there would be a much clearer compre
! hension of naval matters among the
voters of the country. Moreover, most
of the published interpretations of the
data made public in regard to naval
matters must under the present regula?
tions be made by persons with rela?
tively little naval knowledge or experi?
ence.
?nform the People
This brings up the second greatest
need of the navy?namely, the removal
of the present restrictions which have
so long prevented public dL^cussion of
naval matters by the class of people
best qualified to discuss them intelli?
gently?that is, naval officers them?
selves. Even if certain secret and con?
fidential matters were made public as
a result of such discussions^ the harm
done by this publication of secret and
confidential matters would in all prob?
ability be far more thnt? offset by the
benefit derived from this unrestricted
public discussion. What the navy gets
from Congress depends only partly on
what the Secretary of tho Navy asks
for; the rest depends on what the
people of tho country, aa expresse?:
through their representatives in Con
gress, think the navy really needs, and
the people of the country are badly ir
need of accurate information and in?
telligent, well informed guidance ir
forming thoir opinions..
Both these needs of the navy hav?
already been many times pointed oui
by our greatest living naval officer, Ad
mirai Sims. But since a reorganiza
tion of the administrative department!
of the government is now under con
sideration, if not actually under way
the present appears a particularly ap
propriate time for all friends of th?
navy to agitate by every means for i
reorganization of the Navy Depart
ment.
During the piping times of peaci
many of us forgot our past military er
rors as shown by the tests of war. W
forgot how lucky we were during th'
last war in being able to hide behin?
the British navy until "we were read;
to act ourselves, and how even thei
the British navy bore the greater par
of the burden of the war at sea. Un
doubtedly we helped, and helped ma
terially, but our navai forces were th
indispensable reserves rather than th
main body.
Just as in times of prosperity s<
many e? our buainess ?m* ?eel tha
prosperity will continue forever and j
make no adequate provision for the
period of financial depression which
seems inevitably to follow such a pe?
riod, so most of us feel in time of
peace that there will be no more war,
at least for us. Yet, somehow or other,
financial depressions and war3 have
continued for generations to occur at
intervals, and their occurrence has each
time been unforeseen by the majority of \
the people affected. Just as so many
business men in times of prosperity
are so occupied with the immediate
details of their business that they
fail to make proper provision for
meeting the contingencies which will
arise in the following period of
depression, wlrfch always seems so
! far away until they find themselves
| in the midst of it, so with our present
? naval organization most of the respon
I siblc officers are in time of peace so
I occupied with the immediate details
of naval operation and maintenance
| that they fail to make any adequate
i plans for meeting the contingencies
which will arise in time of war.
The most nearly satisfactory remedy
for this condition appears to be to create
? in the Navv Department a bureau
?
I charged by law with the sole and
specific duty of preparing plans for wat
and for war training. This bureau must
be superior to all other bureaus; it
must be allowed sufficient personnel to
permit it to carry out its duties ef?
ficiently, and its activities must at the
same time be hedged about with such
legal i 'gulations as to prevent it as
far as possible from becoming merely
an organization for carrying on the
peace-time routine of the navy or a
soft berth for deserving and super?
annuated rear admirals.
Report to Congress
This object has to a certain ex?
tent already been accomplished by the
creation of the office of naval opera?
tions, but the planning section of this
bureau is at present inadequate and
there is constant friction between this
planning section and the General
Board. The latter should be abolished
and all its powers and duties should be
transferred to the office of naval opera?
tions. Moreover, it should be made a
: lei>-al requirement that the annual re?
port of the Secretary of the Navy shall
j in all cases be supplemented by a full
I and unabridged report direct to Con?
gress from this bureau in regard to the
status of war plans, the personnel und
material desirable in connection there?
with and nil other strictly military
matters affecting the efficiency of the
navy.
In order to keep this bureau up to
the mark and to prevent the Secretary
of the Navy from virtually assuming its
powers by filling it with his dummies, |
as was done in so many cases by Mr.
Daniels, the present restrictions in re?
gard to the public discussion of pro?
fessional matters by naval officers
should be removed, and such public
i discussion should be encouraged. The
j publication, of naval secrets may be
bad, but dry rot is worse; and dry rot
is the greatest enemy of any military
service in time of peace. Publicity and
public discussion are the best antidotes
for dry rot. H. L. ABBOTT,
i Late Lieutenant Commander U- S. N.
Flushing, N. Y., July 18, 192L
Strange, but True
(From The Washington Star)
It is only a matter of half a dozen
months before the. cold wave will be !
holding the attention now devoted to j
the heat wave.
Changing Coiffure
Mere Man Doubts That Bobbed Hair
Has Come to Stay
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Anent C. L. F.'s letter on "Th?
Short-Haired Girl" in to-day's Tribun?;,
I venture to remind that writer that
women's fashions are governed by no
rules. To go back only to the '60s, the
ladies?God bless them!?could not be
tempted to wear anything but hoop
skirts. A little later they wore their
hair in "waterfalls."
Does C. L. F. think that lasted? Oh,
no! Not so many years later they
"banged" their lovely locks, and many
an elderly lady who followed that fash?
ion lived to regret it, for the bang
sometimes stayed and nature would not
repair the damaged front locks. Later
it was the fashion to wear Psyche knots
?they had come to stay, then "rats"
were used to make the maidens' lovely
hair stand out like a solid aureole.
Ladies, ladies, don't be impatient!
I am a mere man and my chronolo^
is wrong, I have no doubt. It is t?s
charming vagary of your fair sex I am
referring to. No laws of the Mede?
and Persians, that alter not, govern you
in fashion, and you are right, as you
were in the days of Sesostris, of Louis
XVI, of Queen Anne, of Victoria, and
as you are in these days of President
Harding.
As for bobbed hair?why, bless yon,
sir! it is not fifteen years since they,
as little things, bobbed it, and why
not? Next year it may be ?nirl??an?
other year 'twill be braids. Yes, ladies,
you used to admire them, though they
had to be eked out at times. C. L F.
is a materialist, Mr. Editor. He thinks
that because suffrage is here the ladies
have changed. The beauty of the fair
sex is its changefulnc-ss.
AN OLD TRIBUNE READER.
Passaic, N. J., July 16. 1921.
Dead Letter "Postage Due"
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Within a fortnight two mis?
addressed letters have been returned
by the Dead Letter Office at Washing?
ton. Such communications, as I re?
call, used to come in buff envelopes
marked "Official Business" and entail?
ing no expense.
Each of these two, however, was In
a 3-cent stamped envelope and each
bore '". cents in due stamps, this amount
being required by the carrier upon de-?*
livery. .
Is there a new ruling whereby e'iar(T?
is made for such service? If not, why
should there be a levy for "official
business" or, at any rate, why should
3 cents be assessed as in war time,
when 2 cents carry other letters now?
adays? JERSEY.
Patcrson, N. J., July 15, 1921.
A Wilsonian's Parallel
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Your editorial on "The Wicked
Lloyd George" is very suggestive. The
constant nagging of the British Pre?
mier by bis political foes and the per?
sistent efforts to handicap him in all
his movements show that they plata
political exigencies above the p?aee of
the world.
But is the British politician peculiar
in this respect? Most decidedly, no.
We had a striking example of the ??ame
thing in our own country. When
President Wilson, in^the performance
of a duty laid upon him by the Con?
stitution, was negotiating the most
difficult and important treaty in the
history of the world his political foe?
worked overtime to handicap him ana
to thwart his efforts.
ALFRED WELLS RICHARDSON.
New York, July 17, 1921.