New-York tribune. [volume], December 20, 1921, Page 8, Image 8

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BJct? ?JotK (BrUnmt
First to Last?the Truth: News, Edi?
torials?Advertisement?
Memlxsr of the An.?it "Pun-su r>f Otrxnilntipn?.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1921
<***-ntKt by New Torfc T-lhune Tue . - New Tt?l
'"Vrporat'on. Putdbhcd dally. Os**)?"* Rr-'1- ???**
dent: O. Tesrnot Roper?, Vtee-PiwtMwt! H***.?***
Urttrcrs ReM. ?--v-etar*-; It. K. M-.-UVM. Tr-aMirer.
Addr-wi. Trttmn? BiiiU!**--*. 1*4 Nwsau Street. New
Tetk. Te'.<Th<*--e. TlrVitian ?000.
""rBSfRrPTIilN KATES ? Br mat",. tm**i idling
rosta*?. IN" Till- VMTK?> STATES:
On? Sb One
ft- Msll. P08tp_kL Tw Mnntha Mpntli
nail- ?id Sur.d&j .$12.04 $U.OO $!.<><?
O-.o week. Wo.
O-ll? only . 10.00 S 00
Or-? week. ZSo.
?"iiii.lajr only . 100 ?.-5
?jiiudior O?ily. Cmmil*. 6.00 8.?8
roRKiON rates
Pa!*-* asd "*_-*dis--.1-6.0* ?1S SO ?3.40
Datl* wsly . 1? 40 -*?"? i?
Puna*? only . 9.7S 6.1J .88
Entored it th? r^toffr?. ?t New Turk as SevonJ
Ow M-'.'. Matter.
GUARANTY
You ***** mir-***,-!?:. mrrchMitlls? ?livertlsrd In THE
TRIBUNE with -linel-te safety?for l( *Ujsatl*.fac
?lon results In any MM THE TRIBUNE iuar-in
tees to Day your monry back lu?an reqtieat. No re?1
ta?.. No oulbb'inp. We make ocixl promptly II
th? ad vert Is er dors not.
\fBMBF.R OK THU ?kSSOClATED PRISS
The Awodatsd Pwes is ?-"ru**"-"**. entlNc** to
the use tot re*v.?b*k-??lon of ?ill news iUnr-.iu.i-?.
credit?! to It M not otherwiio credited In tilla
p*JXS*. ar.il e:*r> the local now? of ?ponUoeoU?
n-icl'i Dubllshed herein
All ShoTof whi_11c_Uoo of all other matter
herein a'.s.* ?re *******er****d. i
On a Back Track
The first query raised by the pro?
posal of the Meyer committee to
scrap the Board of Estimate is, What
is to be left for the Charter Re?
vision Commission to do?
Under the provisions of Chapter
343 of the laws of this year, the
Governor was authorized to appoint
a body of fifteen distinguished
citizens to draft and submit to the
Legislature a new charter. The
Governor has acted. The commis?
sion met and organised on Decem?
ber 3. But before it has time to get
to work along comes the Meyer
committee with a recommendation
which if adopted would revolution?
ize the city's government. Why
rush in with a hasty and necessarily
not thoroughly digested conclusion?
But even though the Meyer com?
mittee had not beta practically
superseded with respect to charter
revision its proposal is not alluring.
It would separate the executive and
appropviative powers of the city
government, it would croate a
finance board of nine members, three
elected every year, to have charge of
the city's finances, to determine tax
levies and make appropriations. In
a word, the scheme is to go back to
: ho old balance and check system,
which our municipal reformers have
struggled against for a generation.
It would divide control and restore
the conditions when no one could be
held to responsibility.
What New York needs is more
rather than less centralization of
authority. The borough and county
governments, concessions to local
sentiment, linger on and duplicate
expenditures. But the Meyer com?
mittee is apparently not interested
in ending them. Instead of greater
simplicity it would introduce com?
plexity?would have a charter under
which the power once possessed by
the Board of Aldermer, would be
vested in a Finance Board.
The abolition of the Sinking Fund
Commission, as proposed by the
Meyer committee, is well enough by
itself. It could with equal reason
advocate the elimination of the City
Chamberlain's office. Both the
Sinking Fund Commission and the
City Chamberlain are useless limbs
and outward flourishes of the
executive plant. 'Neither is worth
its cost.
But as to larger municipal mat?
ters the greater the city the great?-*?*
I the need for simple and direct
I methods of administration. The
f very politicians who the Meyer com?
mittee thinks will be eliminated by
its proposal would rejoice to see
it put into effect. To them more
boards mean more offices, ami more
offices mean more opportunity to
take care of themselves and their
friends at the public's expense.
Dealing With Co*mr.unists
The information now coming out
concerning the genesis of the Wall
Street explosion, which hurled thir?
ty-nine passersby into eternity,
raises the old question: "How shall
Communists be dealt with?"
Taking advantage of the hill in
public vigilance, the sentimentalists
have resumed their parlor activities.
Why be hard, they inquire, on the
poor fellows who so love their fel?
low creatures .that they would blow
them up? Aren't they sincere
don't they wish to make the world a
more ideal one? Be tender of such.
When this appeal fails and Com?
munists are jailed, another one is;
heard. It is that in their cases the !
sacred rights of speech or assemblage \
have been microscopically infringed
on, and this, it is declared, is a ter?
rible wrong. Wonderful solicitude
for the law's, processes is displayed
by those who are against all law.
When juries exercise common sense,
as juries are supposed to do, and
decline to be fooled by technicali?
ties, the sympathizers with a Com?
munist defendant become the strict?
est of legalists.
But what is to be done with Com?
munists? They should be treated
like other enemies of the human spe?
cies. Murderers in their hearts, with
them there can ba no compromise.
They advocate what ig called "direct
action"?a practice which, when
?tripp?d of all its aliases and dis
guise?,, is that one man may club
another into subjection to his will. |
This is not merely the negation of;
civilization, but implies a return to
the law of the jungle. A tigerish
spirit can be met in the only way
that has influence with a tiger.
Our constitutions grant freedom
of opinion and belief, but within
limits whoso existence is taken fox
granted. There is not freedom to
believe in assassination, The fram?
ers of our organic law did not mean
to protect such a cult as that of the
Old Man of the Mountain, under
which secret murder was a merito?
rious act. Nor did they mean to
tolerate Communists of the L?nine
school, who hold that it is within
their right to kill all who do not
slavishly accept their rule.
M. Briand's Concession
Secretary Hughes's frank and di?
rect diplomatic methods have again
brought results. Premier Briand,
appealed to in London through Am?
bassador Harvey, has consented to
waive the recent French capital ship
building proposals, which would
have vitiated the 5-5-3 ratio. France,
it is announced, will accept a per?
centage of 1.70, allowing Italy 1.68.
The French government deserwes
much credit for a prompt concur?
rence, which saved the naval limita?
tion situation at Washington. M.
Briand, on November 12 last, ac?
cepted the Hughes limitation plan
"in principle." But that plan con?
tained a paragraph which read:
"In view of certain extraordinary
conditions due to the World War
;: frecting the existing strength of the
navies of France and Italy, the
United States does not consider
necessary the discussion at this
stage of the proceedings of the
tonnage allowance of these nations,
but proposes it be reserved for the
later consideration of the confer?
ence." j
The French delegates were well
within their rights in calling atten- j
tion to the fact that the war had I
compelled France to stop work in <
1914 on her naval building program |
of 1912, and to suggest compensa
tions based on these acknowledged
"extraordinary conditions." The
proposal to construct ten super-!
dreadnoughts of 35,000 tons apiece ?
was, however, in essence more of i
a political gesture than an expr?s- j
sion of military policy. Frenchmen i
who were in a position to know said l
after Mr. Hughes's plan was offered i
that France didn't need more capi- j
tal ships, but needed more fast ?
cruisers and auxiliaries. The super- ?
dreadnought is a great deal less of
a naval asset than it was when the I
French naval program of 1912 was ;
framed. Many naval experts hold ?
that money spent on ten new ships I
of this type for any navy would be !
largely wasted.
M. Briand has shown a concilia- j
tory and friendly spirit in answer?
ing Mr. Hughes. He is a neighbor- ;
ly statesman whose good will and
cooperative spirit ought to be gen?
erously reciprocated. His only great
weakness is a tendency at times to
over-bargain.
Scraping Off the Yellow
The ex-Kaiser has selected the
ticklish moment when the Wirth:
government is negotiating for rep?
aration delays to raise the question
of German war guilt. In his letter
to Hindenburg ho tries to whitewash
himself and at the same time to ex?
cite prejudice against the republic,
which in order to get peace at Paris
was obliged to admit responsibility
j for bringing on the war.
The exile of Doom is far from the
i heroic figure he thinks he is. He
| seeks to excuse himself for bolting
; to Holland and for not submitting
' to trial on the issue of his own guilt
i and the guilt of the imperial govern
; ment. "I cannot recognize the penal
; legal verdict of any earthly judge,
[ be he never so high," says this still
' unshaken believer in his own divine
right. That belief is useful to him
: now, if only because it may help to
I save his skin,
Wihiam claims that he left the
fatherland in November, 1918, solely
because it wa3 represented to him
that thus alone "would it be possible
?to obtain more favorable armistice
conditions for our country and
spare it bloody civil war." The fact
is that he didn't abdicate volun?
tarily or with any lofty patriotic
intentions. The Prince Max of
Baden government announced his
abdication without even consulting
him. It didn't care, apparently,
whether he absconded or not. The
generals at Spa told him that they
couldn't insure his personal safety If
he remained in Belgium, so lie
started hot foot for the Holland
frontier.
This flight lie describes as "a sac?
rifice" vainly made for Germany.
The ex-Kaiser's disposition to make
sacrifices for his country was limited
to seeking personal safety outside
its borders. He fought tiie republic
for months to retain all his personal
and family fortune and to make j
good every claim he had en the tier
man revenues. He withdrew all his
portable wealth. Ho lived in luxury I
in Holland while the German people
faced food blockade conditions dur?
ing the armistice.
The reactionary politicians are glad
to exploit the ex-Kaiser's lamenta?
tions to their own advantage. They
lu;to the peace treaty, although they
knew that they couldn't break it if
they came into power. But even
they aro sufficiently conscious of
William's yellow streak to admit the
impossibility of his ever returning
? to the throne.
"Waging Neutrality"
In the January installment of the
Pago letters being published in
? "World's Work" the curtain Is fur?
ther lifted from pre-war mysteries.
I The Washington Administration
i
came near to rushing this country
\ into war with Great Britain.
? As early as October 3, 1914, Colo?
nel House in a letter to Ambassador
Page speaks of a dispatch which
had been prepared by tho State De?
partment which, if forwarded,
? "would have been almost a declara
I tion of war," and that if "by any
! chance the newspapers had got hold
| of It, as they so often get things
| from our State Department, the
greatest panic would have pre
> vailed." This, at least, was the
opinion of Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the
I British Ambassador at Washington,
? and Colonel House does not contra?
dict his conclusion. Even as amend?
ed the dispatch created a grave
crisis.
"The President," writes Mr. Page,
his close friend, "started out with
: the idea that it was a war brought
on by many obscure causes?eco
! nomic and the like?and ho thus
' missed its whole meaning." He
? couldn't or wouldn't see that tho war
, was "at bottom nothing but the ef?
fort of the Berlin absolute monarch
! and his group to impose their will
< on as large a part of the world as
' they could overrun." Mr. Wilson
! read "The New Republic." not wisely
but too assiduously. Ho may be ac- j
i quitted of having desired to assist
! Germany, but his early course had ?
tho practical effect of helping Ger- j
| many. Mr. Bryan, his Secretary of
State, was a great advocate of peace,
but he was politically conscious of
the German and Irish votes. En-1
tangled, it took Mr. Wilson two and !
one-half years to disentangle him?
self.
The secret history now being un?
folded explains many things that
baffled the public. If the present
rale of disclosure continues the his?
torians will soon be equipped to
enter final judgment. Sound was
the popular instinct that was
alarmed by the scattered bits of in?
formation that came out during the
first years of the war. To use the
phrase of Mr. Page, it was necessary
to "wage neutrality."
The Disgrace of Bad Schools
Children do not ask to be born.
Neither do they ask to go to school.
Unhappily, we cannot always com?
pensate them for compulsory birth
by surrounding them with comfort
able living conditions. But we can
make school, if not always delight?
ful, at least comfortable and safe
for them.
Recently this has not been done
in New York and, according to a re?
port of an investigating committee
of women, it is not being done. This
committee has informed President
Prall of the Board of Education that
while some schools can show im?
provement the buildings are still
generally in bad condition. In only
one of the schools criticized in a
j previous report has there been
an improvement in fire hazards.
' Twenty of the twenty-throe listed as '
i bad remained unchanged after the j
j summer vacation.
Even if the administration begins ;
j work immediately upon the ninety
1 oi more new buildings promised in
j ihe campaign they cannot be fin?
ished before next fall. The only !
j ?.hing that can be done is to make
I the present buildings safe and put
| them in a condition that will not be
a menace to the health of the
children. ,
Taxpayers will not begrudge the
money spent for this purpose if it is j
' intelligently spent and accomplishes
its object. If only a part of the
j children in the city can be sent to
| school on full time these children at !
| least should be capably looked after.
J Insufficient schools ave inexcusable. !
Schools in bad condition are a dis-;
I grace. The election did not dispose ?
| of the school problem. Conditions
i become steadily worse. j
| College Women and Marriage
The college-bred woman of to-day :
j does not shirk marriage and mother
? hood, says Dr. Thelberg, of Vassar. '
"She marries as naturally and in
just a? large numbers as other girls |
in her class and station. She has i
| as many children as her non- j
college friends." This is contrary
| to the popular belief, but; Dr. Thel-I
j berg, in her capacity of resident j
physician and professor of physiol-j
ogy and hygiene, has had ample op- j
portunity during the last thirty-five j
years to study this much-mooted;
question.
She admita that the first college!
women generally did not marry, but |
points out that they were much !
older than the freshmen of to-day j
when they began their studies and !
had given up marriage as a future |
prospect. So they went to college j
to prepare for a career. They are
Btill included in the statistics of to
i dav, with the result that the per- j
? centasre of married women graduates i
! is lower than it would be were |
i only statistics of the last decade j
j considered.
The fact that the collego women '
of an earlier day were not mar-!
rying women had really nothing!
to do with the college. In most
cases they would not have been
marrying women anyway. In?
stead of repining and settling down
into hopeless old maids, as they were
expected to do, they reached out for
rornethlng definite and worth while
with which to occupy themselves.
Tho colleges represented the oppor?
tunity for self-development, grudg?
ingly offered at first, to be sure, but
tho bluestocking would not be
daunted.
Young women go to college now
as young men do, not renouncing
marriage, but putting it off to Its
proper time. ?So far from casting
marriage out of their reckoning,
Vassar women prepare for it in
their study of the problems of ma>"
riago, maternity and the care of
children.
A Nicely Timed Crime
Commissioner Enright was still on
the rolling deep when robbers en?
tered the Capitol Theater, held up
the employees and made off with
$10,000. Tho adage of "when the
cat's away"-was thereby beau?
tifully illustrated. The Commis?
sioner is at his desk again. And
burglaries and robberies and crimes
of violence will of course cease,
even as they ceased in times past,
when he has announced the prac?
tical non-existence of crime in the
city.
Of course there may be fifty or
sixty highway robberies or bur?
glaries or hold-ups every little while,
as there have been at other times
when the Commissioner was on the
job?but nothing that you could
call crime.
Now and then, worn by his official
duties, Mr. Enright is compelled to
seek the recreation that is granted
by an ocean voyage to the sunny
isles of the West Indies. At such
times it is well to look out. But
when he is on duty a feeling of
security descends on the citizens.
They know if crimes are committed
when he is here it is because he
cannot help it. If bandit or bur?
glar or hold-up man asked him for
permission to commit a crime he
would say "No! a thousand times
no!''
Then, if they went, out and com?
mitted the crime anyway?well,
how could any reasonable person
blame him for that?
Future Footpath Ways
Separate Thoroughfares Foreseen for
Pedestrians and Autos
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Several letters have- appeared;
recently in your columns voicing the
plaint of both pedestrian and motorist.
They all seem to have beaten around
but failed to touch tho main point In |
tho argument, which is this: During!
the last twenty years we have brought
to perfection many inventions which
have passed into everyday use. One
may cite the automobile, wireless teleg?
raphy and the airplane as examples.;
Mentally, however, we have failed to
keep pace with such rapid development.
This is demonstrated by th? gray
haired young men and women on our
streets and the crises of nervous
breakdown and loss of memory filling
our hospitals. Automobile accidents
are yet another instance.
One does not hear, as formerly, o?
ghastly carnage where a modern bridge
now supplants the old-fashioned crimi?
nally negligent grade crossing. As
long a3 pedestrians and automobiles
occupy i he same street level accidents
will occur. Unquestionably the futuro
will either see certain streets set apart
for each kind of traffic, or, what is moro
likely, an elevated road for pedestri?
ans.
One cannot altogether blame the so
called "jay walkers" either. Pedestrians
antedato all other kinds of trailic by
a few thousand years in the world's
history, and, amazing though it may
seem, there are still people who walk
for pleasure and exercise! So far, no
one has said what shall be done to the
"jay drivers" who dai'y run past tho
signals nt crossings unless an officer
is there to enforce them.
Tho traffic situation in New York
City is sufficiently serious to warrant
a co-operative conference between
acknowledged experts on civic plan?
ning and officers of such an institution
as tho Automobile Club of America
and this without delay.
VICTORIA WILLIAMSON.
New York, Dec. 18, 1921.
Germans' Christmas Reading
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The following extract from
"Th- London Times" of December 3
seems to indicate, that propaganda is
now being spread in Germany by the
old military clique:
The first of two works recommended
by a German publisher as "Christ?
mas books for the German people"
is entitled "What We Lave Lost,"
the frontispiece being a picture of
Strasbourg Cathedral. The hook
deals with Alsace-Lorraine, Eupen
Malrnedy, Posnania, Silesia and Aus?
tria, and the introduction is signed
by Hindenburg. The second book
bears the title "What the Enemy
Has Done to Us," with the sub-title
"The Book of the Brigands' Peace."
Hindenburg, Ludendorff and Mack
ensen have contributed articles.
J.
Englewood, N. J., Dec 17, ?021.
Anagram
To till- Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Eamon do Valera: Reveal a
mad one. R. II. COWAN.
Kitchener, Canada, Dec. 17, 1921.
A Golden Silence
(From Th.9 Chicago Daily Kews)
Forty-one superfluous government
publications have been suspended by
the government and now the Creel era
is nofhing hut a memory.
The Tower
"Think," write? Mr. II. 0. Wall?, in
liis concluding article, "of tho morn?
ings thut will sotne day come when men
will wake to read In the papers of
something botter than tho gr?nt E-6-3
wrangle, of tho starvation and disordor
of half the world, of tho stupid sexual
crime?' and greedy dishonesties com?
mitted by tho adulta with the unde?
veloped intelligence of vicious chil?
dren, of suggestions of horrible plot?
and design.?" against o?ir threadbnre se?
curity, of tho dreary necessity for 'pre?
paredness.' Think of a morning when
tho newspaper has mainly good news?
of fine things discovered, of fino things
dono." What we think of when we read
that expression of a dream far from
impossible of achievement is whether
Mr. Hearst's Boston American, which
ii running the Wells pieces, will elide
that paragraph. For In a world of
such mornings, what would the Hearst
papers do then, poor things?
Tho Motorists' Bartlett
Flow gently, sweet Apperson . . .
I shot a Pierce Arrow into the air . . .
Parking is Buch sweet sorrow.
Oh, for a Dodge In some fast . . .
The anark was a Bulck, yon see!
Just for a Hupmobile Sedan ho left us.
As *?he sat in her Wills Sainte Claire,
Tho cop at tho crossing there
Didn't do as he ort
And smashed up a Dort
As she sat in her Wills Sainte Claire.
Or, if that should ?eem too violent,
this?
As she sat In her Kissel Kar,
The man at the turnpike bar
Nev?r asked for her license
Or even for fl* cents,
But waved on her Kissel Kar.
S. M.
? ? ?
In the bright Lexington of youth . .
j Twinkle, twinkle Kissel Kar,
j How I wonder where you are.
.Did they take you near or far?
i Twinkle, twinkle Kissel Kar.
G. H. S. JR.
? * ?
I am tho master of my Eight?
I am tho captain of my Cole.
T. CRABTREE.
And. If motorcycles are not excluded,
K. P. offers, "Loathe the poor Indian."
But it transpires that the line about
"t'other dear Chalmers" isn't ours at
all, but Heloise's, and we printed it
herein four years ago. And that line
about the Mutsu and the Jeffsu was
thought of by Neal R. O'Hara and
printed by him in The Evening World
a week before it appeared in this de?
partment. If anybody else had done
these things, we'd say it was no mere
coincidence, but we happen to know we
are blameless.
Yesterday we caught oursclf driving
with somewhat k>3s than our usual
carefulness. It was, we analyzed, be?
cause we were casting about for ad?
ditions to Tho Motorists' Bartlett.
That, wo thought, would be a poor ex?
cuso to submit to the policeman who
handed us a summons, or to Magis?
trate House, or even to Magistrate
Cobb, so we abandoned the pursuit of
belles-lettres and concentrated on driv?
ing. Still, if the Magistrate had said,
"Can't you work in your office?" our
reply would have been, "Well, Your
Honor, it's far quieter and lonesorner
driving in Fifth Avenue traffic.**
Although the tax on theater passer,
is to be rescinded on January 1, most
of us have to pay our fares on tho
subway, so it will continue to be de?
batable, now and then, whether the
evening was worth tho investment.
There will be, we understand, a
Xmas matinee of "Anna Xie."
Fifty-two out of fifty-nine leading
lawn tennis players, answering R. Nor?
ria Williams'? question, said they were
in favor of the seeded, or selected, as
opposed to the blind draw in the na?
tional championship. And still we j
favor the blind draw and see no reason ?
why Tilden and Johnston, ranking No. i
1 and No. 2, should not play their [
match in the first round if the draw so !
decrees.
But the proposed law to make ten- ?
nis players stop writing is one wo hope ;
will pass. Its real motive, thinly dis?
guised, is benevolent, the thought be
hind it being that we don't, enjoy writ- |
ing anyway, and that hereafter we may
devote our entire time to the perfect?
ing of our backhand drive.
Now that the blind draw in tennis !
is about to be abolished, how about? I
the query is directed to Mr. R. Clifford ?
Black, Chairman of the Tennis Umpires !
Association?the annihilation of blind i
linesmen?
Wei!, we win our bet. The cupping
referring to "the Hale brown guy," in j
i! i. Turret of December 7. was sent to j
Little, Brown & Co. by Albert Romeike i
& Co., Inc. |
Small wonder Keats was inspired to
write his "Ode to a Grecian Vase.''?
McCreery's advertisement.
Small wonder he wasn't.
Speaking of the egg's triumph, it
was, we assume, a glorious victory for
the lino-typer and the proofreader to
make us refer to Shorwin Anderson in?
stead of Sherwood Anderson.
1 hese cigar stores should put signs
on their safes for the guidance of
cracksmen?"Not To Be Opened Till
Christmas."
This is the wo?k when you tet tha !
kind of janitor and elevator service
you pay for in your apartment house
rental.
To-morrow is the year's shortest
day, and we're glad w? don't work ?
u?i?lits any more. , F. P. A.
BESIDES, IT DOESN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE THE LEAGUE?
NATIONS ''
'?opyrlKht, 1021, New York Tribune Inc.
. . . ____ ?
Germany's Financial Debauch
French Analysis of the Progressive Depreciation of the Marl??
The Road to National Impoverishment
By Roger Fougeray
(From Le Figaro)
Not a day passes but we hear vaunted
the profits derived by Germany from
her depreciated exchange. The mone?
tary deterioration, it would seem, is
an irresistible means of industrial and
commercial expansion. M. Briand, in
his speech at Saint Nazaire, seemed to
lend to this hackneyed theory the sup?
port of his high authority. It is even
declared that by practicing inflation
without limit and deliberately resign?
ing themselves to the depreciation of
their exchange our neighbors beyond
tho Rhine have discovered and shown
to others a way to real prosperity.
If such were the intention of the
leading minds of Berlin, and it were
followed by success, nothing would be
moro discouraging to those who seek
in patient and arduous efforts the sub?
stantial foundation of success. It is ex?
pedient to examino the facts.
Inflation
The notes of the Reichsbank, not in?
cluding substitutes, amounted at the
end of 191S to over 22 milliards. They
reached 75 milliards on June 30, 1920,
and 91 milliards at the beginning of
November, 1920. It is evident that the
inflation, continued with a certain suc?
cess during the war, has not since then
ceased to develop, without any -serious
effort to stop it.
The fall of the mark shows a no less
striking progression. From about 70
centimes the day following tho armi?
stice it has fallen to 22 since the begin?
ning of 1920. It must be recognized
that the Reichsbank lias exerted itself
in a meritorious way in combating this
evil. On July 1, ]921?that ?3, eighteen
months later?it still held the rate of
exchange up to 16 centimes, but, after
exhausting in this fight more than four
milliard marks, it gave up the ?ame,
and the mark fell dizzily down to the
rate of'five centimes in the last few
days.
The amplitude and continuity of this
decline brought into play to the utmost
the famous bounty on exportation. The
action of the Reich had worked in
the same manner in retarding and lim?
iting the compensating rise of domestic
prices. Multiple subventions, the chief
of which bore on food and transporta?
tion, have been necessary to make tol?
erable conditions of existente which
otherwise would have become perfectly
ruinous, and to permit the maintenance
of salaries and the relatively moderate
costs of production.
Any gambling policy can be main?
tained only by inflation. If the gov?
ernment had pretended to pay the cost
of this expansion through taxes the
country would soon have perceived the
deception practiced on it and would
have rejected the policy. It was there?
fore by the ever-increasing emission of
banknotes that the state had to covei
the enormous losses which it had itself
assumed. Thus there arose from tin
very efforts to palliate the natural con?
sequences of the monetary indation ?
new cause of depreciation, and the va?
riance between the home and foreign
market, which the economical laws
tended to level, wa* artificially kept up
Add to this that these absolutely
unique conditions were offered to s
vigorously organized Industry and
commerce which had long since turned
toward exportation, established upon
a very rich sub-soil, having at their
disposal skilled labor, an intact pro?
duction and competitors, all of whom
were weakened by the war. It is dif?
ficult to conceive a more splendid oc?
casion of proving the benefits of an
exchange depreciation. Germany ought
to have flooded the world with her
products, beaten all former records,
and promptly acquired a considerable
credit balance.
German exports in 1920 did not
amount to one-third of the tonnage of
1913, nor, expressed in gold money,
half of its value before tho war. The
known results of 1921 are even more
unfavorable; and far from striking a
balance to its advantage, the compari?
son of purchases and sales shows a
deficit thnt becomes aggravated from
month to month: 928,000,000 papei
marks in May, 941,000,000 in June, 1,
368,000,000 in July, 2,735,000,000 in
August.
These, it will be said, are statistic
made in Berlin. Are they invalidated
by the information furnished from thc
custom houses of the Allied countries!
These questions are followed with in?
tense interest. In a much agitatec
meeting held the other day at White
chapel the British Chancellor of the
Exchequer declared that during th<
first nine months of 1913 Great Brit
ain received from Germany goods t?
the value of ?58,000,000; in 1920 ?20,
000,000?that is, practically one-third
and in 1921 ?15,000,000?i. e., a littl
over one-fourth. And these unsatis
factory results have been obtained i?
a country that should have been par
ticularly exposed to the "dumping o
the exchango," because the leaders o
British finance, in reducing expenses
increasing the taxes and tightenini
credit during many long months, hav
more energetically than all other
tended toward a return to a gold stand
ard.
A Ruinous System
To tell the truth, there is in this
paradox only in the eyes of super?ci:
observers. Simple common sense e:
plains it. Exportation is remunerati?
only on account of the buying pow<
which it procure? in the foreign ma
kets. To sell abroad at low prices b?
cause of the economy through labe
being paid in paper money and the sa
rifice imposed by the public treasui
in view of lowering artificially the co
of living is perhaps a means for son
individuals to enrich themselves, b\
it is surely a system in which the who
nation gets impoverished and final
.-ices its power of production decrease.
Since the end of October all sales
foreigners have been interdicted in t!
Rhineland. On November 17 the Mi
ister of Public Economy demanded
the Reichstag a general application
this measure and denounced the inv
sion of 121,000 Danes who had come
carry away merchandise through t
opportunities of the depreciated mai
It will be well to await the develo
ment of events and to be careful,
such a complicated subject, not to foi
lash conclusions. But is it not a liti
too 30on to cite Germany to us as
example and m air] ?
More Truth Than Poetry
By James J. Montague
Poor Butterfly
A ?dentist lias succeeded in exiendmf the
life of a butterfly from ?oen dayt f?
ttueni'j-frve.
Time wa3 when from your chrys?
alis
You seared across the hills.
You found delight, and tasted
bMss,
And knew ecstatic thrills.
The work! was lovely to your gat?
As you went winging by,
For, though you lived but seven
days,
You were a butterfly 1
For you no love's ingratitude
Or benefits forgot?
The morning honey-dew yo_T
food,
The rose your fairy grot
You fluttered round the rainbow*!
rim
Amid the scents of spring,
And ciied before the dust gr-3***/
dim
Upon your shining wing.
But now, alas, comes envious man
Most basely to contrive
To lengthen your allotted span
Of days to twenty-five.
So you must Linger on the stnga
Till life, once ireo and fair,
Is turned by stern and chilling agi
To sorrow and des]
Three weeks! when one was quit?
enough
To flit through sun and shade,
And feast upon the flli y stuff
Of which delight is n ade.
To wane, to droop, to fear th?
cold,
To view the world awry?
A beaten thing, infirm and old,
Alas! Poor butterfly!
Merely a Bouquet
America doesn't cue who write!
the laws of tho nations so lorg as
she can right their wrongs.
Eventually?
Sooner or later E,u bat"?
to accept a policy of golden rule of
ruin.
Human Nature
Most of us would ?a, .. inc i;8
tax with a lot better Errace if ??
didn't susnec-t our neighbor? ?'
dodging theirs.
(Copyright by James J. Monta**--*',
Calendars for Prisoners
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The chaplain o? Clinton Prison,
at Dannemora, N. Y., write? me ?--king
for a supply of calendars to
uted to the men in that prison. H?
says: "I do not want to disappoint the
men this year, as to many of them a
calendar is the only remembrance they
get at this time, and it occurred to m?
that you might possibly be in uuch
with some source from which a nurabur
of calendars might be sec -
There are upward of thirteen h-11'
dred men contined in this prison, ?ad '
should very greatly appreciate having
any concerns or persons who would
care to comply with this request s?*?
them direct to the chaplain, Clinton
Prison, Dannemora, N. Y., and ?dvi?*
me by letter at 15 Dey Street, Ne*
York City.
There also is a great need at this
prison for books published in the Ital?
ian language. A number of the men
confined there are unable to read tft
Englir.'
J. S. KENNEDY, Conir.u-sion??,
New York, Dec. 17, 1921.