Evening star. [volume], July 26, 1931, Page 3, Image 19

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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GERMAN POLITICAL FUTURE
OFFERS LITTLE OPTIMISM
Government Unlikely to Present World
Assurance of Domestic Order and Unity.
Time Needed for International Acton.
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.
IN view of the turn the German
crisis has taken In recent days, the
question of the domestic political
situation within the Reich becomes
one of general imporlance. For
there is here involved the problem as
to whether the present chancellor. Dr.
Bruening, can hold the reins of govern
ment Indefinitely. If he were to stav,
it Is clear that his country would profit
by the confidence he has earned for
himself abroad—a confidence which
eertainlv rivals that of the late Gustav
Btresemann.
Stated in the form of Reichstag seats,
the situation of the Bruening govern
ment is this: In a Parliament of 576
members it is supported by a coalition
of many parties, counting in the aggre
gate Just under half of the total. This
coalition consists of the Social Demo
crats, the Center (Bruening’s own
party), the Bavarian Peoples party,
(closely associated with the Center and
similarly a Roman Catholic group), the
Peoples party (Stresemann's old camp),
the States (formerly th" Democratic)
and a tiny rump of Moderate National
ists. All told, this coalition counts 285
seats, and of these the Social Demo
crats and the two Catholic parties count
143 and 87, respectively.
On the other side, the two opposition
parties, united only by a common pur
pose to pull down the Bruening govern
ment, namely, the National-Socialist-
National combination, and the Com
munists. count 225 votes —106 to the Hit
lerites, 44 to the Nationalists of the
Hugenberg stripe and 76 to the Social
ists. Between the government and the
opposition is a middle ground occupied
by a number of so-called “splinter par
ties” which have frequently supported
the Nationalists, but never with enough
unanimity to bring down the govern
ment
Bruening Majority Shown.
On the face of the figures, therefore,
Bruening can today count on a slight
but still real majority. His difficulties,
however, arise from the fact that there
is no common basis of union between
his own followers beyond the desire to
prevent the incoming of a Fascist re
gime. The Social Democrats and the
Peoples party, which is a party of the
great industrialists, are at daggers
drawn on all economic and social issues.
All the underlying sympathies of the
Peoples party are with the enemy, in
so far as the question of national do
mestic order is concerned.
As for the Social Democrats, their
situation is wholly analagous to that
of the Liberals in England, they are
supporting a cabinet dominated by
bourgeois influences as the British
Liberals are backing a government of
Socialists, solely because an election
now would mean a tremendous party
disaster. But. like the Liberals, they
are losing strength in the country very
rapidly, because the rank and file of
the membership do not understand the
present alliance.
Thus nothing is more likely than that
• disintegration of the Bruening bloc
may take place at any moment and
over any issue. For the profound
weakness of the German character lies
in the infinite capacity of Germans to
divide over academic nolltical questions
even at moments of national crisis.
Today, when the stability of the Reich
economically and financially is at stake,
it is not possible to bring about a gov
ernment of public safety, such as was
constructed in France in a similar
crisis in 1926, because the opposition,
not only the Communists, but the
Fascists and Nationalists as well, are
solely occupied with their fight for
power and are thus ready to further,
rather than arrest, economic and finan
cial disaster.
Coalition Wants Power.
The Nationalist-Fascist coalition
wants power at any price measured in
German misfortune. It sees clearly |
that if the present economic and flnan- ;
cial crisis continues indefinitely, bring- j
ing in its train domestic suffering, i
public opinion in the long run will turn
In its direction. It is thus deliberately j
trading on the misfortunes of its owr.
country to the end that it may obtain
power. That is why President Hoover s
intervention was even more roundly de
nounced in Nationalist and “Nazi’’
newspapers in Germany than in the
most extreme press in France. For a
moment the opposition was fearful lest
Germany might be saved and thus its
own aspirations thwarted.
The key of the political situation in
Germany is not, however, in the
Reichstag door, alone. Control in this
house means control of the army and
the civil government, but even more im
portant is the control of the Prussian
police and this rests with the Prussian
Parliament. Here, also, a similar coa
lition rules and two strong men. Braun
as head of the Prussian state and
Severing as master of the police, con
stitute the real foundation of the pres
ent regime in Germany. Moreover, tire
Socialist-Center control in this house
has been uninterrupted since the revo
lution and in these years it has been
possible to build up a republican police
force which can be relied upon to de
fend the existing government in the
Reich equally against the Hitlerites and
the Communists.
But the present control of the Prus
sian Parliament must face a new elec
tion in a few months. And in such an
election there is the gravest danger
that the Nationalists. Hitlerites and
Communists would together get enough
aeats to turn Braun and his associates
B-.it, In that case the control of the j
police would be lost, the existing force
would be shot to pieces and the real
barrier to revolution would be abolished.
No one who has not been in Berlin in
the past 12 months can appreciate what
this means, but actually the city—and
•11 other large towns —have been practi
cally under martial law. Policemen are
everywhere, machine guns and tanks
•re in constant evidence, and fighting
has been going forward uninterruptedly
•nd with many casualties.
Flaying Waiting Game.
Both the Hitlerites and the Com
munists are at the moment playing a
waiting game Both count on the
eventual collapse of the Bruening gov
ernment as assured. Were there any
prospect of its succeeding at its task,
then both the Communists and “Nazis"
would take the field. But they see
Winter approaching, the number of
unemployed little diminished, the new
financial crisis imposing fresh hard
ship* and additional tax laws bringing
further burdens. Thus they are satis
fied to let the fruit ripen and drop into
their waiting hands.
The real strength of the position of
the opposition lies in the fact that the
German people as a whole are exhausted
by the successive hardships of the war,
the revolution, the Ruhr occupation, the
■world economic depression, which hit
Germany very hard, and finally this last
financial breakdown. Progressively for
years they have been coming to the
despairing conclusion that the peace
treaties alike in their reparations and
financial clauses were designed to de
stroy the German people. They are
* both hopeless and hysterical, dominated
by a sort of mania of persecution result
ing from their sufferings.
What the outside world has not even
row comprehended is how terrible these
sufferings have been and how com
pletely whole classes of the German
nation have been wiped out. Nor has
there been appreciation of the extent
to which the younger generation which
has come on since the war has been
•fleeted by discovering that the door of
. opoportunity was bolted and padlocked
•gainst it. One has only to investigate
for • moment the situation in German
Universities—which were, by the way, all
closed the other day to preserve order—
to recognize the peril which comes from
young Germany.
There are a handful of courageous
men who are staking their lives—not
their political lives alone but their ex
ist enc.\ for the assassination of Rathe
nau and Erzberger shows what they
have to expect if they fail—in th? fight
to save their country. Bruening, Cur
tius, Braun and Severing ere the most
conspicuous, and the two former led
machine-gun detachments In the war,
an ultimate test of courage. But thse
men—and Luther, the head of the
Reichsbank and former chancellor, must
be counted in the same number—stand
on very fragile scaffolding, and, indeed,
can survive politically only because they
have the support of the President, which
enables them now to rule Germany by
decree law —that is, without recourse to
Parliament.
But Hindenburg’s term is running
out and, as in the case of the Prussian
Parliament, a new election is imminent,
and there is the double doubt as to
whether the old marshal, now over 80,
will stand again, and whether, even if
he were a candidate, he could be re
elected. And here, after all, th? de
cisive factor must b? the economic con
dition of the country during the next
I few months. And there the prospect is
pat ntly bad.
For even if it were conceivable that
Germany could save herself, it is not
less clear that the effort would involve
still greater sacrifices and suffering on
the part of a people which is literally
dominated by despair. The gulf which
psychologically separates the German
from all other peoples now is just as
profound as that of the war era. Today
the mass of the German people believe
that the rest of the world must come to
its aid, that what it suffers 1s the result
of the moral wrongs done it in the
peace treaties, and that if the world
does not now intervene it will suffer far
more than Germany.
But once it be made clear to th? mass
of the German people that the world
is not going to intervene, that it is not
going to abolish, not merely postpone
reparations payments, lend billions and
agree to the revision of the Eastern
frontiers, then the Communists and the
Nazis believe their time will come. But
as both will strike for power at the
same time, the result must be a civil
strif?, provided things go as they now
calculate. And in such a civil strife
the victory of the Nazis would be
assured.
Lack of Ability.
Unhappily, there is not. however. In
the National-Socialist or National party
any man of even moderate ability, and
the larger fraction are youths of little
experience and with a judgment better
suited for service in storm battalions
than in a national cabinet at the mo
ment of an international crisis. The
program of th? National-Socialists is a
quaint mixture of Chauvinism. Commu
nism and jew-baiting. and its pledges
begin with the promise instantly to
abolish the treaty of Versailles both in
its financial and territorial clauses.
The fatal weakness of the Bruening
situation lies in th? fact that it has
never had the loyal support of big busi
ness. The money which financed the
last campaign of the Hitlerites came
from the industrialists and even some
of the big banks. And the explanation
lies in the fact that these interests are
more occupied with their purpose to get
rid of the Social Democratic influence
upon the government and repeal the
long program of post-war social legis
lation than with any larger considera
tion. They favor a Fascist control be
cause they believe it would take a Mus
solini tone, and they have displayed a
true German disregard for what might
be the international consequences of
such a change.
In sum. then, the German domestic
political situation is too incoherent and
the condition of the German people too
weak to warrant any extreme optimism
as to the future, if. as seems likely now,
weeks or even months must Intervene
b fore there is any international action.
I In France, when Poincare took the
; helm at the moment of the franc crisis,
| he was able to rally behind him not
I only the mass of the members of the
Chamber of Deputirs but all the finan
cial, industrial and business elements
of the country. His very coming re
stored confidence, and confidence, of
course, was then, as now, the main
thing lacking.
But there is no Poincare in Germany
and no basis for national unity. With
all their many great talents, the Ger
mans have never yet learned the lesson
of putting party or class consideration
aside in a crisis: and by class I mean
economic not social distinctions. Thus
th? root difficulty is not impossibly go
ing to be the inability of any German
government—and that of Bruening is
actually the last chance—to present to
the world any assurance of domestic
order and unity which will convince
American, British and French bankers
of th? wisdom of risking billions of
money in a salvage operation.
(Copyright, 1931.)
—— •
Snake Found in Coffin
Hermetically Sealed
ROME.—This is a real ghost story, fit
to give the children nightmares.
Workmen in the little town of Cassino
were recently employed to disinter a
body which had lain in the local ceme
tery, lodged in an hermetically sealed
zinc coffin, for several years. After re
moving the earth from above the coffin
the workmen were suddenly startled by
a strange sound coming from within
the box.
Other workmen and the chief of the
cemetery were called, and after a brief
consultation the coffin lid was sud
denly flung open. Hands flew up in
amazement, and every one spontane
ously took to flight when a giant snake,
18 feet long, emerged from the box and
crawled away across the ground.
Finally some one had the presence of
mind enough to follow the snake to a
decrepit piece of garden wall where it
took refuge. Eventually it was killed
and exhibited to the open-mouthed pop
ulace. The most ghastly fact in con
nection with the story is that the coffin
was completely sealed, and that the
body of the dead man was entirely in
tact. How the snake managed to make
his way into the box will be a matter
for conjecture in Cassino for genera
tions to come.
Count Albert Apponyi
Is Honored by Hungary
VIENNA. —Count Albert Apponyi,
grand old man of Hungary, celebrated
his eighty-fifth birthday anniversary re
cently, and all Budapest rose to salute
him. He is well known all over the
world as the chief Hungarian “elder
statesman,” particularly at Geneva,
where his tall figure and spade-shaped
white beard are famous.
He speaks publicly in any of seven
languages. He looks exactly like por
traits of Confederate soldiers in our
Civil War. The Hungarian parliament,
meeting in special session to honor him,
offered him a national gift of 250,000
pengoes (about $45,000) and a pension
corresponding to that of a prime min
ister for the rest of his life. This is
particularly notable, because Count Ap
ponyi throughout all his career has
been a member chiefly of opposition
parties.
The government has asked him to
write the memoirs of his political life
for the use of future historians. Count
Apponyi has sat in the Hungarian par
liament from the constituency of Jasz
bereny for 50 years without a break.
THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JULY 26, 1931—PART TWO.
Peru Liberated 110 Years Ago
Progressive Latin Republic Now Experiencing One of the Most Interesting Moments in Her History.
a •—'— 1 • ~ d
I "* ' ■■ ■■■■"■■—
THE PASEO DE COLON, LIMA, PERU.
BY GASTON NERVAL.
NEXT Tuesday 1s Peru’s national
day. On July 28 the inhab
itants of one of the most pro
gressive Latin republics to the
south celebrate the 110th an
niversary of their liberation from the
Spanish yoke and their constitution as
an independent, sovereign state.
This year her birthday anniversary
finds her in one of the most trying and
Interesting moments of her history. The
country is undergoing a critical period
of restlessness and political uncertainty,
a logical result of the violent change
which took place about a year ago in
the government of the nation.
Last August the autocratic and
absolutist 11-year rule of President-
Dictator Augusto B. Legula was brought
to a dramatic end by the armed up
rising of the southern military forces of
the country. Overwhelmingly supported
by the people, the rebellion had no
major difficulty in rendering Leguia
powerless and in sending him from the
Pizarro palace to the national peni
tentiary to pay for his political errors
and maladministration of the public
funds.
Change Was Welcome.
The change was warmly received in
the country, which had suffered 11
years of arbitrary despotism, and
abroad, where the fall of the dictator
! ship was seen as the Initiation of a
more liberal and happier era in Peru
vian politics. Soon, however, the Peru
vian people found that in their country,
as in any other, the overthrow of a
long, personalistic rule means more
than a mere substitution of the men
in power. . . , ,
Accord*ng to the laws of sociology
and the experiences of history a period
of unrest, disorganization and often
anarchy usually follows a change from
an old, strong-minded, single-hand?d
regime, which has kept the political
forces of the nation inactive for a num
ber of years. The Peruvians were wise
enough and fortuante enough to avoid
anarchy, but they have not been able
to sidestep the laws of natural react*on
which must follow the breakdown of a
long-established system.
Since the ousting of the aged dicta
Eminent Minds in France Now
Are Serious Devotees of Magic
PARlS— Eminent minds in Prance
of late years have been turning to the
magic arts, not as a society fad, but
in all seriousness. Some are alchemists,
others astrologers, yet others see evi
dences of scientific truth in fortune
telling. , . .
These men include retired officers of
the army and navy, engineers and ;
laboratory workers and several former
students of the Polytechnic School,
which ranks first in this country for
the study of mathematics. When Theo
dore Steeg, the former premier, accepts
a portfolio in a cabinet, one of his
attaches is Paul Vincente Piobb. who
Is an authority on Nostradamus, the
French astrologer of the sixteenth cen
tury, and who is well known as a lec
turer on the divers manners of fore
telling events. These men publish a
monthly review and write many books.
All are in dead earnest. The alche
mists among them contend that modern
dlscovaries —radio-activity for one—go
to show that alchemy and not chemis
try is the true science. Such a one is
Jollivet Castelot, a leader with many
disciples, so many disciples, in fact,
that there has been founded in Paris a
Society of the Friends of Jollivet Caste
lot "united for the defense and the tri
umph of the doctrince of the unity
of matter.”
Jollivet Castelot is president of the
Society of French Alchemists. Blessed
with a sufficiency of means, he is able
to devote all his time to such whimsies
as the Pythegorean theory of numbers,
the fourth dimension and the divina
tory arts. He makes concessions to
modernity. For one thing, he does not
wear a pointed hat or a flowing robe
adorned with cabalistic signs.
Like many another alchemist, Jollivet
Castelot claims to have made gold.
Like many another alchemist also he
has failed to awaken the interest of
more orthodox chemists, who even re
fuse to assist at his experiments. Nev
ertheless, he claims to make gold from
silver and tin, and his disciples are
loud in his praise. To carping critics
they point out that the great Descartes,
the glory of French philosophy, was
not above dabbling in the magic arts.
Among students of astrology the
Observer Finds 1930
Good Year for China
HONOLULU.—China’s civil wars and
banditries have not prevented 1930 and
the early part of 1931 from being a very
prosperous period for most of the
country.
This’ is the conclusion of H. Paul
Douglass, expressed in Honolulu on his
return from a visit to the Chinese re
public as a member of the fact-finding
commission of the Social and Religious
Research Institute of New York City.
Mr Douglass says that up until the last
few weeks there had been no real war
in China since last August, that the
famine disasters have been mostly over
come, and that whenever there is a lull
in fighting the Chinese people recuper
ate amazingly.
He pays high tribute to the work of
young Chinese engineers, which, he says,
is technically skilled and well organ
ized, one result being a great improve
[ ment in roads and in municipal works.
; Town in South Africa
Claims to Lick Creation
i
JOHANNESBURG.—There is a little
town in South Africa which claims to
• lick creation. Name most any record
, ' you like, and this little place will go
one better Volksrust is its name,
i' Venderful Volksrust they call it in
South Africa, and it certainly does live
up to that reputation. Sunflowers—
i thev grow from 28 inches across in
Volksrust. Snakes, pumpkins, fish, pigs'
i litters and everything, right down to
the daily milk output of the average
cow—all these things mean records for
• Volksrust. It is doubtful, however, if
all or any of the claims would stand
. investigation, but they certainly do keep
Volksrust on the map, which is apt to
surprise anybody who has seen the
place.
tor. Leguia. an atmosphere of restless
ness and constant political effervescence
has been prevalent In Peru. Three sub
sequent armed rebellions have resulted
In an equal number of changes In the
executive of the nation, and other
minor uprisings have been, and are j
still be'ng, suppressed In various parts
of the country.
Big Job Ahead.
Fortunately, now that the general
elections have been called by the pro
visional government, and the different
political parties are reorganizing their
lines, the end of this natural period
of transition seems near. Whoever
merts the confidence of the Peruvan
people, however. In the forthcoming
presidential elections will have a big
man’s Job in evolving a normal, lawful
and democratic rule out of the chaos of
changing conditions.
The first idea that ccmes to mind
in thinking of Peru Is the legend of
the marvelous Inca Empire which
flourished throughout that region when
America had not yet become America.
No matter how many centuries may
pass after the last descendant of the
Incas has ceased to tread the Peruvian
mountain trails, the name of Peru will
forever evoke pictures of that wonder
ful civilization. They are so intimately
linked that it would seem impossible
to attempt any discussion of modem
Peru without going back to those long
gone days when Peru was a land of
Incalculable wealth and splendor, the
s’at of an Indigenous civilization un
rivaled In the southern continent.
Fine New Civilization.
When the Spanish conquerors whom
Columbus landed In America reached
the heart of the continent, they found
In the region now occupied by the re
publics of Peru. Bolivia and Ecuador
a vast empire of bronze-skinned men,
speaking an unknown tongue and pos
sessing extraordinary cultural attain
ments; an original type of civilization,
very different from that of EuroDe.
The Incas had so complete a knowl
edge of astronomy, geometry and cer
tain branches of mathematics, as well
as of arts and crafts, that they astound- |
ed the European Invaders, who had i
I
leaders in France include Paul Chois
nard, who ranks high as a matheme
tician and who has written books on
“Astrology and Heredity,’’ and Lieut.
Col. Caslaut. a graduate of Polytechnic,
whose chief Interest resides in electro
magnetic Induction of the celestial j
bodies. Dr. Georges Lakhovsky of the ,
Pasteur Institute also devotes much
time in research connected with astral
Influence. He asserts that such influ
ence has an effect on microbes, and
that epidemics are closely connected
with “the interference of cosmic waves
by astral influences,” which Impart
more or less virulence to bacteria. He
has sent to the Academy of Sciences a
report on the influence of the moon on
the sterilization of water, different pe
riods coinciding with shorter or longer
lives for the microbes.
More and more do these astrologers
and alchemists of modern times believe
that they are following the right path,
and that the so-called magic arts will
be proved to be as scientific as ortho
dox methods.
A Quick Millennium
BY BRUCE BARTON
WHEN I was In London
I read an interest
ing, and rather pa
thetic, newspaper ar
ticle by the “baby member” of
Parliament. His name is Frank
Owen.
He recalled his maiden
speech, in which he pro
claimed: “High hopes brought
this Parliament into being.
We will make it a Parliament
of high endeavor.”
He had been full of fine
plans in those days. For one
thing, the timber men were
to have higher wages. We
got them another Is 6d a
week/’ he says, “and then the
state sacked some of them.
“We looked forward to the
debates on unemployment
and agriculture and the
mines,” he adds, and spoke
from the back benches when
the heavy guns were at din
ner ”
He was 23 in those days.
Now he is 25, and wiser. His
hopes have faded.
He thought he was going
to play a large part in chang
ing England and the empire.
Instead of this he is “spend
ing his time answering letters
issued by organizations or
dering us
“(a) To vote for humane
slaughter of beasts, (b) to
vote against it.
“(a) To open cinemas on
Sunday, (b) to close them.
“(a) To prohibit sweep
stakes (b) to extend them.”
He has about reached the
conclusion that all effort is
futile and that the world is
on its way to perdition.
(Copyright. 1»S1.)
thought themselves the only civilized
peopl? on the planet. In Tiahuanacu,
for example, the Incas had constructed,
in the “Oate of the Sun,” a system of
measuring time, based on the solar
movements, more perfect than those in
use today.
Communications Rapid.
By means of a marvelous system of
signals, the orders of the Inca emperor
were transmitted to points throughout
the empire with incredible rapidity, as
it seemed to their conquerors, who
spent months in communicating with
other groups of explorers. The Inca
buildings were masterly products of
engineering skill, revealing artistic feel
ing and good taste. Most surprising of
it all, the Inca empire had long existed
under a social system far beyond any
thing known at that time, with laws as
to property, the rights of the commun
ity. and the organization of labor that
gr;atly resemble our modern theories
of Communism. All this showed a de
gree of culture remarkable in a people
dwelling completely isolated from any
other civilization, and unknown to the
rest of the world.
However, modern Peru’s prestige and
wealth rest upon more solid founda
tions than the memory of those days of
bygone splendor, of which there remain
only ruins and a few million people,
intermixed with the Spanish, scattered
through Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.
The prosperity of Peru depends today
upon its immense natural resources and
upon the enterprise of its people. The
native Peruvians have long since defi
nitely transformed their country to the
standards of European civilization, cul
tivating arts and letters to a notable
degree and developing, through material
progress and industry, a land that is
becoming more and more picturesque
and prosperous.
Peru is today a republic, governed
under its constitution by the usual
three branches—the ex?cutive. adminis
tered by the President and his minis
ters: the legislative, composed of the
Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and
the Judicial, composed of the various
I courts throughout the country. The
j republic dates from 1821, when 12 years
I of armed struggle culminated in lnde
Japan Gains Market of India as
Boycott Cuts Trade of Britain
CALCUTTA, India. —The report that
an eminent Japanese sculptor is coming
to India to do a large bust of Mahatma
Gandhi is rather amusing when consid
ered with an eye on the figures for In
dia’s Imports during 1930 and the early
months of this year. Those statistics
submit that Japanese mills are now en
-1 joying what was formerly the British
1 lion’s share of India’s yarn, cloth and
piece goods business.
Continued picketing and the renewed
zeal of the boycott have so much re
dounded to Japan's benefit that com
parative import percentages of British
and Japanese materials are now nearly
the reverse of what they were two years
ago. While the new tariffs have gen
erally lowered India’s buying capacity
for the present, and the imports in many
items have diminished, the Japanese
percentage of what trad? there is shows
steady advancement, while the British
portion continues to suffer a devastating
decline.
Even the Bombay Mill Owners’ Asso
ciation recently gave ponderous recogni
tion to the fact that "Japan's dominance
Some of us who are older
can tell him from our own
experience that he is now at
the age of greatest discour
agement. We, too, came into
life full of determination to
set things right instanter. We
were frankly critical of the
bungling of our predecessors.
There should be no more mis
takes and no delay!
In a couple of years we, •
too, were in the depths of de
spair, deeper depths than we
have ever been in since.
It is not clear to any hu
man mind just what is the
whole purpose and plan of
human life. But two things
are reasonably apparent.
First, it does not seem to be
any part of the program to
have the millennium come
quickly or easily. Gain is won
only as a result of sweat and
blood, and time.
Second, as we get older we
see more clearly how destruc
tive it would be if all the gc.od
ideas of youth were allowed
to become immediately effec
tive. The first two Great
Reforms in whose service I
myself labored were both suc
cessful. I think now that
both were bad mistakes.
So in our later years we give
up the idea of a quick mil
lennium. Some of us do it in
deep discouragement. Others
say: “I cannot lick the world,
but there is one part of it I
can lick, namely, myself. I’ll
see what I can do with that.”
It’s a good sporting propo
sition. And who knows?
Maybe the spread of that
simple Idea is the real plan.
pendence from the crown of Spain after
a domination of four centuries. Prom
that time, aside from two major events—
a temporary union with Bolivia, forming
the Peruvian - Bolivian Confederation,
and the War of the Pacific, In which
Chile deprived her of great extensions
of territory—the history of Peru as a
republic was marked in Its first decades
by Internal disorder and revolutions,
none of lasting importance, and In its
later period by material and economic
progress under more stable regimes.
Wealth in Agriculture.
Peru’s greatest wealth Is in its agri
culture and mines. In agriculture the
outstanding products are sugar, culti
vated along the coast and In the lower
valleys, although not on so large a scale
as In Cuba, Porto Rico or the Philip
pines, and cotton, the plantations total
ing at present about 150,000 acres.
Corn and rice as well as other grains
are produced in considerable quantities.
Tobacco, potatoes, coflee and cacao are
also produced, but in lesser amounts,
rather for local consumption than for
export.
As for mineral resources, the moun
tains of Peru contain inexhaustible
treasure. Copper is most plentiful, the
principal mine, Cerro de Pasco, being
one of the most famous In the world.
Some of the gold and silver mines
worked In the time of the Incas are
still productive. Coal Is mined In con
siderable quantities, and for some time
the petroleum fields of the north have
been under active exploitation.
Industries In Peru, as'in the majority
of Latin American countries, are little
developed. The textile Industry is grow
ing. as is tanning and the manufacture
of low-grade shoes and panama hats.
However, it is still necessary to import
practically all manufactured products,
the United States being its principal
source of supply, Just as it Is the great
est buyer of their exportable raw
materials.
Considering the area of Peru—ap
proximately half a million square
j miles, which is more than France.
Germany and Italy combined—her
population Is small, being but slightly
• Continued on Fourth Page )
In December. January and February
transactions makes it abundantly evi
dent that although the new duties and
the boycott heavily have depressed the
interests of the United Kingdom in In
dia, these circumstances are acting to
the profit and advantage of the Japa
nese importing agents." Little delibera
tion should be required to arrive at that
conclusion. According to the newly
released import statistics for last year,
Japan's volume of trade with India by
December had increased 22 per cent
over that of 1928. while Great Britain's
imports over the same period had fallen
82 per cent. Japanese sales now lead
those of Great Britain in practically all
important competitive lines of the
clothing industry.
For example, in December, out of
Indian imports of 24.000,000 yards of
what are called ‘‘gray goods” Japan
claimed over 20,000,000. The United
Kingdom sold but 3,000.000 yards, a
contrast especially arresting as com
pared with two years ago and before,
when British materials in this category
amounted to from 60 to 70 per cent of
the total purchases from abroad. The
imports of British bleached goods during
December were less than half, and
Japan's more than double, what they
were a year ago. In yarns the total im
ports were 251.000 pounds, out of which
the United Kingdom furnished 22.000
pounds, while 228,000 pounds came from
Japan and China (the latter mostly
from Japanese-owned mills).
During January, February and March
of this year Japan increased its hold on
the market in the above lines and strode
ahead in others. In January, for the
first time, the sal's of Japanese piece
goods were more than double those of
products from the United Kingdom.
Out of a total of 13,600.000 yards of
cloth Japan furnished 8.200,000 yards,
against a little more than 4,000,000
yards of British materials. This is per
haps the severest blow to the European
rulers of India, who in the past have
always regarded preeminence in the
piece goods trade as their exclusive pre
rogative. Two years ago England was
doing about 70 per cent, of this busi
ness.
9 ■ • -
Budapest Sees Play
Duce Helped Write
VIENNA, Austria.—The first per
formance of “Campo di Maggio” outside
Italy was given recently in Budapest at
the State Theater, under the title of
“The Hundred Days.” The play is by
Giacchlno Forzano of the Milan Scala
Theater, but it has been known for
some time that Mussolini helped to in
spire it, and in Budapest the Italian
dictator was advertised as coauthor.
Various social lights and members of
the Hungarian govemmant attended
the premiere, among them Countess
Margit Bethlen, wife of the Hungarian
prime minister, and Count Klebelsberg,
minister of education in Hungary, sent
a telegram of congratulations to Mus
solini the next day. The play de
scribes various episodes in the life of
Napoleon after his return from Elba
and before his exile on St. Helena.
One scene is at the battle of Waterloo.
Mussolini is supposed to have given his
views on the Napoleonic drama through
the play.
Wants Canada to Help
Maintain King George
OTTAWA, Ontario. —Armand La
vergne, deputy speaker of the Canadian
House of Commons and fiery French
Canadian imperialist, wants Canada to
subscribe to the maintenance of King
George and members of the royal fam
ily of Great Britain.
Lavergne told the house that this
country should give a more tangible
recognition of the King. He praised
the benefits of monarchy and main
tained that all of the dominions should
pay the butcher and baker for King
George.
No member followed Lavergne's sug
gestion.
MEXICO HAS PLAN TO AID
NATION’S TRADE FUTURE
Architect Heads Group Trying to Guide
Handicraft Culture Into New Chan
nels Allied to Industrialization.
BY STUART CHASE.
FROM Father Hedalgo's call to rev
olution, which marked the begin
ning of Mexico's independence
from Spain, to the fall of Porflrio
Diaz was Just 100 years. It was
a century of hell. Two more decades
have passed over Mexico, more turbu
lent and bloody than those which went
before, but with the underlying purpose
of liquidating the lost century.
For the moment peace and stability
have been achieved; the liquidation,
however, is not complete. The most
that we can say is that the last few
years have shown a declining red bal
ance. The account may be cast up in
the following categories. Under Obre
gan and Calles, Mexico finally achieved:
An increased national consciousness,
based on th; conception of continuity.
An Initial solution of the land
problem.
A status for Industrial labor.
A small breach in the wall of tri
umphant militarism.
A small gain in the struggle against
disease.
A considerable gain in rural education.
A definite sovereignty over her own
natural resources which foreign capital
has been forced to recognize.
The divorce of the church from eco
nomic and political power.
A renaissance of the arts, particularly j
painting, and a new regard for the
handicrafts.
Change Is Unlike Russia’s.
As contrasted with Russia during the
same period, these gains and changes
seem slight enough. At the present
time, indeed, the two revolutions are
headed in opposite directions.
We can set down parallel after par
allel, but a major cleavage outweighs
them all. Russia has definitely aban
doned handicraft culture and welcomed
industrialism to the tune of thirty
billions of new Investments in her five
year plan. She has opened her arms to
mass production and the machine,
though on her own terms of social con
trol. Mass production languishes in
Mexico; industrialism is not making
marked headway on any terms. Handi
craft culture is more sturdy today than
under Diaz, with more land, more dig
nity, more intelligent recognition. While
Russia runs to mechanical horsepower,
the burros, newly blessed, foot their way
over the mountains to Mexico's village
markets.
The handicraft economy of Mexico
is economically stable and self-suffi
cient. There are no rich, no poor, no
paupers, no sexual inhibitions beyond
the reasonably tolerant folkways.
Community Spirit Is Strong.
There is no local government worthy
of the name, but a strong community j
spirt, finding expression not in after- |
dinner speeches and paid advertise- j
ments, but in helping a neighbor har- !
vest his corn and repairing the town
water supply. In such communities pe- ;
cuniary standards do not apply and
integrity is not a luxury. Men are gov- i
emed not by clocks but by the sun and
the seasons: recreation is not a matter ;
of paid admissions or forced disciplines,
but as spontaneous as eating. The in
dividual to survive must learn many
useful crafts; he does not atrophy his
personality by specializing on one.
Costs are lower for many articles *
than is conceivable under the most
efficient methods of mass production, j
and all work is directed to specific
function with a maximum economy
and a minimum of waste. Overpro- 1
duction is as unthinkable as unem
ployment. Life in a handicraft com
munity is to be lived, not to be argued
about, to be thwarted by economic j
conditions or postponed hopefully until
one has made one's pile.
Illiteracy Appalling.
On the other side of the ledger we
find that the price of stability is the
absence of progress—whatever "prog
ress” may mean. New methods are in
frequently invented; new aspirations,
new desires, new material wants are
all but unknown. The standard of j
living, while adequate, is very low, and !
the death rate per thousand, particu- ]
larly among infants, is scandalously j
high. Illiteracy is appalling, though j
millions of Mexican villagers speak two :
languages.
The assets of a handicraft economy i
are great, but its net worth, after al- 1
lowing for liabilities, is a lower figure; j
a figure, however, black, not red . . .
If we could but take the manifest assets :
of Mexican villages and the manifest as- j
sets of Middletown and combine them. I
. . . Meanwhile there is much dis- ;
cussion of Middletown’s exporting both
its assets and its liabilities to Mexico.
It is widely held that industralization
is inevitable, handicraft culture doomed
and a balanced consideration of its
virtues and failings a purely academic
question, if not a total waste of time.
Precisely why is mass production in
evitable in Mexico —or anywhere else,
for that matter? Machine civilization
proper is still incomplete over the I
United States; the map is spotted with
great uninfected areas in the South and
West. Cases may even be found in the
New England States. It is now moving
into North Carolina, accompanied bv
storms of protest from embittered
Southerners. How long will machine
j civilization require, at the present jerky
rate, to crawl from North Carolina to
Guanajuato? The distance is 1,800
miles.
Rests on Early Laurels.
Mexico introduced the machine into
North America early and briskly with
the falconets of Cortez. She followed
by printing the first book on the conti
nent in 1536, and the first newspaper
in 1693. Then she rested on her laurels,
Bnd has been resting ever since.
In 1926 there were 2.877 manufac
turing establishments in the country,
employing 95.775 workers, with a total
investment of $1,700,000,000. The State
• of Texas in 1925 had 3,606 factories,
► employing 106,792 workers, not includ
l ing light and power plants, which are
included in the Mexican figures. Mex
ico, with richer resources, three times
f the area and three times the popula
tion of Texas, is the less industrialized
. of the two —not relatively, but abso
lutely. Texas is but one State in the
Union, and, with the highest respect to
regard it as an industrialized area is a
• quaint conceit.
. With an Industrial population of only
, 250,000, labor problems in Mexico sink
. into relative insignificance compared
with agricultural problems. The rise
: of the labor movement since 1910, how
ever, has been dramatic, and, in a po
’ litical sense, important; it deserves a
t word.
Cost of Living Rises.
Organized labor first became a
. power after the split between Villa
5 and Carranza in 1915. ‘‘Red bat
i tallons” of workers saved Carranza's
tottering standard. Article 123 of the
Constitution of 1917 was their reward.
At the time it was the most progres
sive labor code ever drafted by any
nation. In addition, Carranza turned
' over to the unions the management of
the telephone and telegraph lines. In
1918 the C. R. O. M. was founded, a
sort of Mexican A. F. of L. Until
i recently It has wielded great political
i power.
i Today the C. R. O. M. is in eclipse.
Wages have been rising steadily
since 1910, but the cost of living has
been rising even faster. Real wages
i show no appreciable advance and thus
s run contrary to the curve of real
l wages in the United States. A study
■ made in the federal district in 1928
I set a necessary minimum wage for a
; laborer's family of five at 3.36 pesos
a day. Actual wages averaged about
■ 1.50 pesos—less than half the re
quired minimum. Undernourishment,
on a calory basis, Is all too common
among industrial and urban workers.
Capital Scared Away.
What do we actually find in Mexico
at the present time that makes for in
dustrlalizatlrfn—meaning not the cul
tural penetration of the ‘‘Yankee Inva
sion” but Massed factories, blast fur
naces, slums—the Pittsburgh sort of
things? precious little. We find tier
on tier of mountain ranges bisected with
frightful barrancas, as inimical to iron
horses as to huge supplies of dependable
fuel and water, without which mass pro
duction cannot function. We find mti»
purchasing power, no stable pecuniary
demand, no vestige of mass consump
tion, failing which mass production has
no rhyme or reason. We find 15,000,000
Indians who are not to be capsized over
night by super-salesmen. When their
simpli wants have been met they go to
a fies*a or they go to sleep. They have
no itch for acquisition; their sales re
sistarr:e is superb.
Th# machine needs capital—millions
of it. Mexican citizens have very little
capital, and foreigners are still in fear
of Article 27. Until the full implications
of that amazing document are made
clear—a matter of decades perhaps—
capital simply will not flow into the
country in sufficient quantity to finance
industrialization. Mexico might, like
I Russia, lift herself by her bootstraps and
create capital out of natural resource*
and labor but that requires a central
ized socialism beyond her grasp at th#
present time.
Have National Plan.
Most Mexicans cannot read. To op
erate machines or consume their prod
ucts on a #cale profitable to the man*
jfactuner requires a literate population—
which is Why Russia "liquidated illit
eracy" before she inaugurated the Five-
Year plan. It will be many years before
the little white school house liquidates
illiteracy ir Mexico, even to a prac
ticable minimum.
The future for industrialism in the
sense of mass production is not rosy,
for which we may thank whatever gods
there be. As a result Mexico has un
paralleled opportunity to evolve a
master plan whereby the machine is ad
mitted only on good behavior, and not
gulped raw «s North Carolina now gulp*
it. Fortun?tely there is a definite
movement ih this direction. I have re
ferred to a g*oup of intellectuals dubious
j about mass production. I can go
' farther and present the National Plan
i for Mexico.
Architect Heads Plan.
Carlos Con'-reras, the driving force
behind the plan, is an architect edu
cated at Columbia and the Sorbonne.
He started his agitation eight years ago.
In 1925, he presented to President
Calles “A Nati<«al Planning Project for
i the Republic of Mexico.” In 1927 he
| published a magazine, Planification.
jln January. 1030, the first national
planning conference was held in Mexico
City, under the auspices of the Minis
try of Public Works, with some 50
j papers by engineers, architects, econ
! omists. doctors. The keynote read:
; "Our object it to plan a united, ho
mogeneous and beautiful Mexico —and
an independent, respected and prosper
ous Mexico, in vhich the life of man
i will be complete, filled with noble in
; terests. dignified and as happy or hap
-1 pier than in any other part of the world
j . . . Know in order to forsee; forsee in
I order to work.”
Meanwhile Contreras had been given
] a program department in the govern
-1 ment with a staff of engineers and
i draftsmen. His first work was the re
| organization of the port of Vera Cruz.
I President Ortiz Rubio has promul-
I gated a of General Planning of
. the Republic” wiich provides for a
central conning tower in the govern
ment, comprehending and co-ordi
nating topography, climate, population,
social and economic life, national de
fense, public health.
Programs Listed.
Under its mandates Contreras and
his staff are endeavoring to set up the
following specific programs:
! 1. The division of Mexico into natu-
I ral economic regions, or functional
! zones, determining the best crops, the
j best industries for each area,
i 2. A master plan for the federal dis
j trict.
| 3. A plan for the future develop-
I ment of railroads, highways and com
l munication lines.
j 4. A plan for the hydrographic sys
! tern of the Valley of Mexico,
j 5. A plan for seaports.
6. A plan for airports.
7. A plan for the use of waters,
primarily in the interest of irrigation
(Mexico has very few navigable rivers).
8. A plan for afforestation and na
tional parks. •
9. A plan 9° r federal buildings
throughout the republic.
When a project is worked out by
the program department, it is pre
sented to the President. If he ap
proves he has the power, without
i legislative check, to condemn prop
| erty and put the project into imme
diate operation. No government
| agency, furthermore, can undertake
i any major work of construction with
i out the approval of the program de
j partment. Contreras dreams no
longer but has double-barreled execu
tive sancition behind him. At a nod
from the President his blue prints can
be turned into cement, breakwaters,
irrigation ditches and tall pine trees.
Mexico has the framework of a
genuine machine to control the ma
chine; to strain industrialism through
a sieve of just enough and no more.
(Copyright. 1931.)
■ •
Europe Plans Institute
To Study Current Topics
HONOLULU. —The success of the in
stitute of Pacific Relations, founded in
Hawaii, is such that a similar organiza
tion is proposed for Europe. This is
the news received by the local office of
the institute from the League of no
tions. The Institute of Pacific Rela
tions is a non-official, non-political and
non-controversial group for the study
and discussion of current political, so
cial, economic, educational and religi
ous problems.
Two conferences have been held in
. Honolulu, one in Japan and the fourth
will be held this Fall in China. The
chief task of the institute is the thor
ough research of experts and report of
. their findings prior to discussions, after
which an effort is made to draw con
clusions based thereon. This research
program is now becoming a vast in
ternational inquiry, backed by consid
erable funds.
American College Girls
Plan to Visit Germany
BERLIN. —A great number of Ameri
can college girls will visit Germany this
Summer, according to a recent an
nouncement made by the German
Academic Foreign Bureau. The coeds
ate to be recruited from several lnsti
! tutions of higher learning in the United
| States, Including Connecticut, Cornell,
l Wells, Winthrop and Colorado.
Four groups of English students rep
l resenting the National Union of Stu
, dents in England also will make a
i Summer trip with groups of German
; students. They will make joint hikes
as well as canoe trips, stopping nights,
, It la planned, In German youth Inna.
4
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