Evening star. [volume], February 19, 1933, Page 3, Image 23

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VETERAN PENSIONS IS KEY
f 0 U. S. BUDGET PROBLEMS
Cut in Payment of Billion a Year on
Inflated Currency Is Question for
Roosevelt Administration.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
IT Is to be hoped that some one i;
keeping a record of the curren
quips, jokes, humorous stories anc
"wise cracks" about the depression
They constitute, in effect, an ex
pression of one way the American
temperament reacts to trouble. With
successive phases of the depression,
successive descents of the downward
spiral, the type of joke has changed.
Early in 1930 they took the form of
jibes about President Hoover. He was
the "greatest engineer in all history
because in two years he had ditched,
drained and dammed a whole coun
try." The "Hoover flag" was an empty
pocket, which the merry jester pulled
Inside out and flipped backward and
forward. Mr. Hoover and Mr. Mellon
were walking down the street. Mr.
Hoover asked Mr. Mellon for a nickel
Ito drop in a telephone slot so that he
cculd speak to a friend. "Take a dime,"
»aid Mr. Mellon, "and speak to both
of them."
That stream of Hoover jibes dried
Hp. largely, when the depression be
came re?My serious, and it was realized,
about the time of the German mora
torium in 1931, that Mr. Hoover was
fighting a heroic battle against not
merely an American but a world
cataclysm.
But other types of jokes arose, and
the sequence of them, if any one has
kept a record or will now make one,
Composes a cycle of American humor.
The latest of the quips, if there is
Bot a new one by the time this is
printed, is attributed to Owen D.
Koung. I prefer not to stand as au
thority for the assertion that Mr.
Voung really invented it, or that the
tumorous bafflement which is the
point of this jest really reflects Mr.
Young's mind. At any time there are
tew assumptions so subject to doubt as
that which assigns the paternity of
ourrent jokes. It is certain, for ex
ample, that Henry Ford most decidedly
was not the author of the hundreds of
$Ford jokes" which used to be attrib
uted to him some 15 years ago.
In any event, the contemporary say
ing assigned to Ycung as author is to
the effect that he was asked his opinion
about the present state of the country.
The reply attributed to him is "We are
in the same boat with Christopher Co
lumbus. He didn't know where he was
going; when he got there he didn't
know where he was, and when he
got back he didn't know where he had
Veteran Aid Held Key.
To pick out one of the many com
plex conditions that assail us, and say
this one is the most important, is a
daring adventure in relative rating.
Yet it really is accurate to say that
they key to nearly everything, in Con
gress and in public discussion, is com
pensation paid by the Government to
veterans. It is the central explana
tion of the inaction of the Congress
just ending. It is clue to whether the
coming Congress will balance the
budget. That in turn Is the key to
jrhether America is to have or not
to have inflation of the currency.
Doubt about whether Congress will in
flate *or not inflate is what causes busi
ness to hesitate. In short, veterans'
compensation is the keystone to the
whole intricate structure of troubles
that beset the Nation. So far as vet
erans' compensation may not be the
Actual keystone, it is a perfect illus
tration of the other fundamental causes
Of our being where we now are; and
the answer to what we shall do about
Compensation is the clue that will be
the next phase.
To know the elementary facts about
Ktompensation is the first step toward
Understanding what now Is and what is
Jjext to be.
The country pays to or on account
K veterans of all wars roughly a
lion dollars a year. This is more
Jhan one-fourth of the entire amount
paid out each year for all purposes.
.With the value cf the dollar what it
is now, the country cannot pay this
Million dollar?. The country cannot
pay it now, and still less can the coun
try pay in future years, because the
amount rises automatically with large
cumbers of additional veterans going
on the pension rolls. The country
actually does pay, of course, but man
ages to pay only by borrowing money.
And the country can no more continue
to borrow money than a private indi
vidual can continue to borrow indefi
*1 Jffilv
The country with respect to the vet
eran Is In precisely the same position
as the farmer with his mortgage. The
farmer and his mortgage and the price
of wheat is the simplest illustration,
the classic picture of the dilemma we
are in. The illustration cannot be too
often repeated, for it is the one vivid
and easily understood explanation of
our troubles: A farmer, preceding
1929, borrcwed $10,000. At that time
wheat was upward of a dollar a bushel,
and with wheat at that price the
mortgage was reasonable in amount.
With wheat at upward of a dollar a
bushel, the farmer could meet the an
nual interest and take care of the prin
cipal when due. Now, however, with
Wheat at under 50 cents a bushel, the
farmer cannot make his payments. It
is a literal impossibility, as fixed a fact
as that two and two cannot be added to
make five, nor six, nor any other sum
except four.
Fixed Preceding Boom.
So it is with the Nation and the vet
erans. The compensation now being
given veterans was fixed preceding the
boom. With the dollar what it then
was, the compensation could have been
paid indefinitely, although even of this
there is some doubt. But with the dollar
what it now is. the c untry cannot pay
a billion dollars a ytar in veterans'
compensation, any more than the
farmer can pay his mortgage with the
60-cent wheat.
That is the picture of what is.
From the dilemma in which the coun
try is in, with a billion dollars a year
to be paid to veterans, there are twc
ways out, and only two. One is to re
duce the number of dollars paid to the
veterans. The other Is to leave the
' number of dollars paid the veterans
the same as it Is, but to reduce the
value of each dollar. This second way
j is. as every one must by now realize,
Inflation of the currency.
Let us consider the first way out. re
ducing the number of dollars paid to
I veterans. This is the thing which Con
| gress apparently will not do.
In the House are 435 members. It is
doubtful if one out of ten is willing to
i go on record with a vote in a public
roll call to reduce compensation to vet
erans. One would be safe in betting
money that not two out of ten woula
; be willing. All these members will be
I up for renomination and re-election
during a period beginning a little more
I than a year from now. They—a gTeat
I majority of them—simply will not run
' the risk of bringing on their heads the
j opposition of veterans and veterans'
| relatives, and veterans' friends, and
j veterans' organizations.
In the great war were upward of
i 4,000.000 veterans. In any national
election the total of votes cast is under
40,000,000. That is to say, the veterans
are 10 per cent of the electorate. Vet
erans' wives or other relatives are not
only another 10 p r cent, but probably
! 20 per cent. The vote commanded by
j the veterans in an average Congress
i district may readily be as high as 30 per
| cent of the whole. And the veterans'
vote is organized, knows exactly what
it wants and how to get it. Very few
Representatives in Congress are willing
to incur the displeasure of the vet
erans.
With the Senate it is much the same,
except that Senators have terms six
years long and therefore do not on
the average come up for re-election so
soon. But the Senate is almo6t as
much in fear of the veterans as the
House. In the Senate a few weeks ago
Mr. Tydlngs of Maryland addressed
himself to Senator after Senator, Dem
ocratic and Republican, asking, in ef
fect, are you willing to introduce a
bill reducing veterans' compensation?
He found just one Senator willing to
say he would. That was Mr. Smoot
of Utah. Upon Senator Smoot's declara
tion of willingness to be the martyr it
was pointed out that he is one of the
few Senators with nothing to lose, be
cause he comes to the end of his service
the 4th of next month.
It is needless to prove all this. The
proof was laid before the country vivid
ly and spectacularly one day last week
by Speaker Garner of the House. Mr.
Garner, out of caution perhaps, did not
use the word "veterans." But every one
knew what Mr. Garner meant when
he said that Congress has shown itself
unwilling to make those reductions in
Government expenditures which are in
dispensable to balance the budget. The
principal motive and almost the whole
of the motive of the proposal that Con
gress give to Mr. Roosevelt as soon as
he becomes President a grant of power
not unreasonably described as "dicta
torial" was the wish of Congress to
avoid going on record with a vote upon
reducing veterans' compensation.
Congress Prefers Inflation.
The easier way out of the dilemma
of veterans' compensation is to con
tinue to give the veteran the same
number of dollars, but to reduce the
value of each dollar. This is the way
that CongTess would prefer. By this
way reduction of compensation to the
veterans can be concealed from the
veteran. If his pension is $100 a month
he will continue to get $100, but each
dollar will be reduced to a 50-cent piece.
The veteran will be no better off, of
course, with 100 50-cent pieces than he
would be with a straightforward cut
in his compensation from $100 to $50.
The allurement of inflation of the cur
rency is in large part that it fools the
people.
The veterans insist upon being the
one class of persons in the whole coun
try who shall suffer no cut in income as
a result of this depression. They can
no more manage to escape than the
creditor of a fanner can expect to col
lect the full amount of his mortgage.
They can no more escape the common
! lot than any of the rest of us. They can
fool themselves and be fooled by Con
gress as respects the method of cutting
i their compensation. But the cut they
i are sure to have. Either they must ac
! cept a straightforward cut of, for ex
! ample, $100 a month down to $90, or
1 $80, or $70, or what not: or they must
! accept a cut coming in the form of in
! flation of the currency.
ADout tne extent or a cut achieved
through Inflation of the currency no
body can tell. The essential vice of in
flation is that once begun it is almost
impossible to end. In Germany, infla
tion of the currency carried the value
of the mark from 24 cents down to
nothing. In Prance inflation of the
currency carried the value of the franc
down from upward of 20 cents to about
4 cents.
Pretty soon now we shall know the
j answer. President-to-be Roosevelt has
announced that he will bring about a
reduction of 25 per cent in the expendi
: tures of government. That means,
| among other things, a reduction of vet
! erans' compensation by at least 25 per
| cent. It may not mean a reduction of
| 25 per cent in the compensation of each
j and every veteran. One of the proposals
| for reducing the total of veterans' com
pensation is to remove from the pen
sion rolls entirely that whole class of
veterans whose disability arose in civil
life long after the war had ended.
However it be done, if Mr. Roosevelt
as President and as party leader brings
j about a reduction of 25 per cent in Gov
ernment expenditures, the budget will
! be balanced, we shall be on solid
ground, and the country will start off
i again with the value of the dollar ap
proximately v.hat it now is. If, how
i ever. Mr. Roosevelt finds it impossible
to make such a reduction in Govern
ment expenditures, if the Government
j goes on year after year paying out more
! money than it takes in, if the Govern
1 ment continues to borrow money to pay
! the deficits, the end of that sequence
i must be inflation of the currency.
Chinese Breeder Makes Fish Drunk
So He Can Ship Them Without Water
SHANGHAI. China.—You can do it
in Winter, but not in Summer. So
states Mr Moh Nge-tsu, the inventor
of something new, something he is
proud of, and something that should
place his name among the great in
ventors of history.
Mr. Moh is a large man. but a modest
one, and goldfish infatuate him. He
has quite a large collection, varying in
color from red and gold to just plain
White ones. Some of them are valuable
and same less valuable, but they are
all intriguing as they wriggle their,
smooth way around big wooden tubs
about the Moh menage.
Now for the invention. Moh had
Often been troubled, as have the legion
Of goldfish fanciers and collectors be
fore him, as to how to ship goldfish so
that they may reach their destination
in perfect condition and without slop
ping too much water over railroad cars
and ship cabins.
Just as China claims a Chinese in
vented gunpowder and printing, and
a Chinese medico propounded the cir
culation of the blood theory, so now
does Mr. Moh claim to be the first in
ventor of the goldfish that can Uv«
Without water.
Wearing silk gloves so as not to dis
arrange the fiah scales, Moh lifts hii
goldfish out of the tank, he takes twe
•mall pieoes of cotton wool, soaks their
In kiaoliang wine and gently stuffs th<
saturated wool into the two small cav
ities behind the fish's two small fins.
Deeply inhaling the fish gradually ab
sorbs the wine and passes out. This
condition, according to Moh, lasts lor
48 hours. Alter that more wine is
necessary, but you can ship a goldfish
quite a distance through the mail, even
in China, in 48 hours.
Kiaoliang wine is a native wine,
I somewhat resembling rice wine in fla
vor. Moh claims the fish has no hang
over after such a debauch. Cold
weather is necessary if the shipment la
to arrive In good condition. On re
ceipt remove the cotton waste and toss
the fish back into the water.
'Copyright, 1933.)
Many Fake Fire Alarms
Cost London $150,000
LONDON—In the intensive search
to find additional means of economiz
ing in both state and municipal gov
ernment in Great Britain it has beer
ascertained that mischievous jokers an<
nit-wits cost the British capital a lorn
more than $150,000 a year by turnini
in false fire alarms. It is asserted tha
the number of false alarms has In
1 creased to between 2,500 and 3,000 I
year.
(Copyright, 1933.)^
A New Senator From Virginia?
Byrd Seems Destined for High Place in New Administration, Either as Senator or in Cabinet.
BY VIBGINILS DABNEY,
Author of ' Liberalism In the South."
CERTAIN paradoxical facts con
front the student of the career
of Harry Flood Byrd, the
dynamic young man who
seems destined to loom large
in the next administration.
He comes of aristocratic Virginia line
age. being descended from Col. William
| Byrd. 2d, of Westover, founder of Rich
! mond. but he is the most modest and
unassuming of men. Heis wealthy,
but as Governor of the Ofa Dominion
he waged a successful fight on two of
the biggest corporations in existence.
He is a teetotaler and he was the first
newspaper publisher in the State to de
cline liquor advertising, but as chief
executive he had no bitterer enemy
than the superintendent of the Virginia
Anti-Saloon League. He was a recog
nized spokesman for the Democratic
"machine" during his 10 years in the
Virginia Senate, but he succeeded as
Governor in putting through many of
the governmental reforms which the
machine had fought relentlessly for
years.
It would not be fair, however, for any
one to conclude from the above that Mr.
Byrd has been guilty of gross incon
sistencies in his personal conduct or in
his attitude toward public questions.
If he is a lineal descendant of one
of the great landed families of his State,
his demeanor and bearing: are those of
a Democrat, in the original sense of
that word. There is nothing snobbish
or supercilious about him—in fact, he
has one of the heartiest handclasps and
most vigorous backslaps seen in Vir
ginia in a long while.
If he owns some 65.000 apple trees,
the largest privately owned orchards in
the country, publishes two newspapers J
and is actively interested in other busi
ness enterprises of various kinds, he is
liberal in his attitude toward economic
questions. President-elect Roosevelt
doubtless would have applauded the
successful fight he made as Governor
to force the oil companies to furnish
him with their wholesale and retail
prices on gasoline in Virginia and other
States whenever he requested them to
do so, as well as the victorious battle he
waged against a subsidiary of the Amer
ican Telephone & Telegraph Co. which
was seeking to place in effect rates
which he regarded as too high.
And If Mr. Byrd was for many years
a devotee of the noble experiment, he
was a prohibitionist from conviction
rather than in response to the bludgeon -
ings of the Anti-Saloon League. A
total abstainer, he holds no fellowship
with the tribe of amphibious statesmen
«»•«« « w/4 m mf»l« +VlO ntVlOT
Took Over Small Paper.
And finally, If Mr. Byrd trained with
the machine for a decade and then
turned around and hit that reactionary
organization a wallop on the jaw, it can
at least be said that he saw the light
at last. Like "Al" Smith in New York,
he was "regular" over a long enough
period to get himself elected to the gov
ernorship. Once he was safely In, the
"organization" discovered that he had
built up such a following that It would
have to go along with him or be
wrecked.
Harry Byrd was born 44 years ago,
the son of the late Richard Evelyn Byrd,
a. distinguished public figure in the
State. He attended the public schools
in Winchester and then was matric
ulated in the Shenandoah Valley
Academy. But when he was 15 he de
cided to abandon further efforts at
formal schooling and to enter business.
He accordingly took over the Win
chester Star, a small newspaper then
in serious financial difficulties, and put
it on its feet with almost miraculous
speed. A few years later he published
the Martinsburg Journal, and at about
the same time he became interested in
fruit growing, a field of endeavor in
which he has been extremely active
ever since.
At the age of 27 Harry Byrd was
elected to the State Senate For the
next decade he was a quiet, hard-work
HARRY F. BYRD.
—Drawn for the Sunday Star by S. J. Wool!
uig llicriliucx U1 tlidL> uuuy. OlA
after his senatorial career began he
was chosen chairman of the State
Democratic Committee, succeeding his
uncle, the late Representative H. D.
Flood. The following year he took the
leadership of the pay-as-you-go forces
which defeated a $50,000,000 road bond
issue overwhelmingly in a Statewide
referendum. Prom the day of his vic
tory in this fight Mr. Byrd was marked
for political eminence.
Two years later, in 1925, he an
nounced himself for the governorship.
His opponent, G. Walter Mapp, had
been spokesman for Bishop James Can
con, jr., and the "moral forces" in the
State Legislature over a considerable
period, and the politico-ecclesiastics,
tho'igh professing to be neutral as be
tween two such orthodox drys, actually
exerted themselves in Mr. Mapp's be
half. But Mr. Mapp was badly
trounced in one of the most significant
primaries held in Virginia during the
present century. Its significance lay
chiefly in the fact that Mr. Byrd's de
cisive victory marked the end of un
disputed Anti-Saloon League dominance
in the State. The league was still a
power to be reckoned with, but it be
gan sliding down hill at that time, and
it has been sliding faster and faster
ever since.
The youthful chief executive lost no
time in launching his plans for gov
ernmental simplification and economy.
His Inaugural address pointed the way
anu lie eiauoraiea ins views in suust—
quent messages to the Assembly. Al
though he had always bene affiliated
with the wing of the party which had
resisted virtually all efforts to disturb
the status quo, he did not hesitate to
depart from "organizaion" policy when
the time came. To the dismay of "the
boys," whose withers were severely
wrung at the thought of separation
from the pie counter, his program em
braced various reforms which they had
fought bitterly in earlier days.
I But the most unusual thing of all is
that the program went through almost
without a hitch. Measures which had
been defeated time after time when
they had been proposed by others were
adopted with a whoop. The House,
with 100 members, cast no more than
15 votes against any of the Byrd bills,
while the Senate, with 40 members,
could muster no more than six opposi
tion votes at any one time. A number
' of the measures went through both
i branches unanimously.
This extraordinary record can be ex
plained only in terms of the personal
magnetism and widespread popularity
of Gov. Byrd himself. His ability
for handling men is one of his most
noteworthy attributes, and the way he
handled that Legislature in 1926 was
sufficient to convince the most hardened
skeptic. The legislators sat as if hypno
tized. Everything the Governor asked
for was granted at once.
Two years later Mr. Byrd put through
another remarkable series of bill*. Then
a few months later he took the *tump
on behalf of the "short ballot." "This
time he's done for," his enemies
chortled. "The short ballot will never ,
go over."
But Byrd confounded the opposition !
once more. The short ballot, a part of
the new constitution he had had drafted j
for the State, received popular approval,
albeit by a narrow margin.
It is impossible to outline the varied
accomplishments of Gov. Byrd here. j
except in a cursory way. Suffice it to
say that he completely reorganiied the I
State's financial system, consolidated
multitudinous bureaus and divisions
into 12 major departments, greatly im
proved the tax collecting machinery of
the State, provided unprecedently large
appropriations for education and roads,
attracted millions of dollars of new in
dustries into the Sate, and secured the
adoption of the Virginia anti-lynching
bill, which makes lynching an offense
against the State as a whole, subjects
all participants in lynchings to charges
of murder, and authorizes the Governor
to have the attorney general aid in
the prosecution and to spend any sum
the Governor sees fit in bringing the
guilty parties to judgment.
One of the most substantial services
which Mr. Byrd rendered his State, and J
the one which is bearing perhaps the |
greatest fruit of all at the present mo
ment, was his work in 1923 in defeating 1
the proposed road bond issue. He thus
committed the Commonwealth to the
pay-as-you-go policy of road building.
The consequence Is that Virginia not
only has a good highway system, but it I
also has a State debt of only $20,000,
000, and is one of the few States in
the Union now in sound financial con
dition.
Mr. Byrd's record as Governor of
Virginia is convincing evidence that as
a member of the United States Senate
he would reflect credit upon the Old
Dominion. It is anticipated, indeed,
that he would have a prominent part in
the program of governmental reorgani
zation contemplated by Mr. Roosevelt.
Now a Forceful Speaker.
There can be little doubt that Mr.
Byrd -would establish his right to leader
ship in the Senate within a compara
tively brief time. His ability to make
friends, his capacity for work and his
analytical grasp of governmental ques
tions would give him prestige in the
legislative councils at Washington. Be
fore he became Governor of Virginia he
rarely made a public address, but he
has developed of late into a forceful
speaker. Although he is not college
trained he has a good command of
language, and he writes for such organs
of the literati as Scribner's Magazine
and the Yale Review.
Harry Byrd is a family man. He lives ,
with his wife and four children in a !
handsome home near Berryville, and
motors thence to his office in Win- ,
Chester.
He likes to drive his car at a good
clip, and being a brother of Admiral R.
E. Byrd, it is natural that he enjoys fly- j
ing. When the vehicle is a blimp he
sometimes takes the helm, but he has
not learned to pilot a plane.
He enjoys hunting, swimming and
hiking, but he does not smoke, drink
or play cards. On the other hand, he
lias been known to cuss very artistically.
And while he himself has put away the
sins of the flesh, he does not seek to
impose his views upon others.
But if the former Governor still re
fuses to touch the stuff himself, he ap
parently is modifying his position on
the question of prohibition as a mat
ter of public policy. Other than to say
that he is standing on the Democratic
platform and that he will never con
sent to the return of the saloon, he
has made no recent statements on the
subject. But one may be fairly sure
that Mr. Byrd is too sensible not to
realize the dolorous failure of the
eighteenth amendment. It has taken
a good while to bring him around to
that view, but seemingly he has arrived
at last.
♦
Frances Perkins, Crusader
New York's Industrial Commissioner Has Won Recognition as Outstanding Public Servant of Sex.
BY GENEVIEVE PARKHURST.
SOME 20 years or more ago there
lived in the vicinity of Washing
ton Square, New York City, a
group of young idealists. For
the most part they were budding
authors, art students or welfare work
ers. their eyes on the ascendant star
and their hearts aflame with the
avowed purpose of making the world
a fair place in which to live. They
worked in the daytime. In the evenings
they formed a forum for fervent dis
cussion of the road leading to their
Utopia.
It was about this time that Frances
Perkins, now industrial commissioner
of the State of New York, came to
town. No one In the group had much
money, so their pleasures were simple
—a boat ride or a picnic at one of
the quieter beaches, an occasional show,
viewed from the purlieus of the gal
| lery.
One Sunday Prances Perkins, with
! Sinclair Lew-is as her escort, took a ride
I to Staten Island. Returning they no
ticed a girl sitting alone on the boat,
, unsophisticated and quiet. A young
| man in passing spoke to her and she
I seemed bewildered. But she returned
| his smile, and soon he was sitting be
i side her. Prances Perkins watched
: them. There was something wistful
and unsure about the girl's attitude as
the young man became more persistent.
Finally his arm was around her. When
the boat docked and the two walked
off together, hand in hand, they were
followed by Prances Perkins and Sin
clair Lewis, who trailed them into the
subway, out to the Bronx and through
a door of an apartment house.
"If you are not going to do some
thing about this," announced Prances
Perkins to Sinclair Lewis, "I am. That
| lovely girl is not going to have her life
spoiled. That boy's intentions are none
too good. I know."
In no uncertain terms Sinclair Lewis
remonstrated with the young man. The
girl took up the cudgel. What business
was It of his? How dared he, she
asked, interfere with a respectable
young married couple?
But our young reformers were not
so easily put aside. The superintendent
was called in. "Sure they're married,"
said he, "and a fine young couple they
are."
Learns Her Lewon.
This is an Incident which Prances
Perkins relates with relish. "There and
then I learned my lesson," she laughs.
"Never to attack a situation without
first being sure of my ground."
And it is this refusal to accept sur
face values or intuitions and the de
termination to strip a situation down
to the core, to get at facts and figures
before taking action—it is these which
have become her outstanding abilities.
Investigation after investigation, like
brick piled upon brick, laid the founda
tion of the solid edifice of her career.
In 1911, when she was a neophyte
with the Consumers' League, there was
the investigation, in co-operation with
the commissioner of accounts, of the
cellar bakeries in New York, the Joinl
i findings of which put an end by law tc
those dark, overheated, airless and in
sanitary underground fastnesses where
FRANCES PERKINS-SHE GETS DOWN TO FACTS AND FIGURES.
—Underwood Photo.
the city's bread was mixed and baked.
Again in 1911 there was the probe
into safety provisions—or lack of them
—in factory buildings, started by the
fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
in Washington place, in which 146
girls lost their lives. Frances Perkins
was taking tea with some friends in
Washington square when the fire broke
out. For hours she watched the girls
as they clung to window ledges, their
clothing in flames, leaping from the
ninth floor, to be crushed on the pave
ments below. Those who did not jump
were burned or smothered in heaps be
hind a closed factory door. As she
watched she made up her mind that
■%
she would never rest until such condi
j tions were made impossible.
When a Committee of Safety was
formed to make a thorough report, she
was its secretary. Getting down to
j facts, she consulted the engineers of
! the large casualty companies as those
who would be most likely to give her
: expert advice. The result was a suit
against the State Department of Labor
—the very department of which she is
now head—her attorney In the charges
being Col. Henry L. Stimson, our
present Secretary of State. Subse
quently 32 bills involving the prevention
i of Are ant', accident in industry were
presented to the Legislature and passed
by It.
Through the years, first as executive
secretary of the Consumers' League, and
later as chairman of the State Indus
trial Commission. Frances Perkins'
persistent eye and mind penetrated con
ditions not only in factories, but also
in mercantile establishments, tenements,
laundries and among home-work manu
facturers. She co-operated with city,
State and Federal authorities in estab
lishing and enforcing safety standards
ana bringing about better hours and
conditions for women In industry. In
large part she has been instrumental
ill the passage of those many bills which
have revolutionized the entire relation- !
ship between labor and industry In New
York State, bills which have since
served as patterns for other States to
follow.
But it takes something besides the
finding and presentation of facts to do
what she has done. There is the front
line of defense to be held against the
inevitable attack of a strong opposition.
There are emergencies to be met, com
parisons to be made. Any public spirit j
to be effective must have initiative, per- !
sistency. the ability to make and keep
powerful allies, the capacity for seeing
things through.
It was the "fifty-four-hour" bill, regu
lating the hours of working women, i
which put Frances Perkins to the test.
When it was pending she was an ever
present figure in the halls of the law
makers at Albany, talking down the
intrenched armies of the opposition,
rallying support from all ranks of legis
lators. and finally getting the bill out
of committee and Upon the floor of the
Assembly on the last evening of the
session. It was passed, but with an
amendment exempting women and chil
dren in the canneries. For a moment
there was consternation. Frances Perk
ins came to the fore. "B:tter take It
as it is than to get no bill at all," she
said. "At that it is a good step for
ward."
"But it's too late now to get it to the
Senate," declared a down-hearted pro
ponent.
"Nonsense," snapped Prances Perkins,
on her way out of the room to find "Big
Tim" Sullivan, who with his cousin
Christy, also a Senator, was taking the
night boat to New York. She persuaded
him to get the^am ended bill on the floor
of the Senate. But he left before It
was put to a vote.
Without the "Big Stick" several of
his henchmen weakened. Taking the
count. Frances Perkins found the bill
was two votes short of passing. Scurry
ing to the telephone, she called up the
dock, to find that the boat had not
left. A message to the Sullivans brought
them back up the hill. On the way
their taxicab broke down. But on they
came, arriving out of breath. In the
meantime Frances Perkins had urged
the friends of the bill to a filibuster—
a filibuster led by the young Senator
Franklin D. Roosevelt. It held until the
Sullivans arrived, just in time to bring
the "flfty-four-hour" bill to victory. 1
This same year Frances Perkins was
married to Paul Wilson, the well known
ency uglneer. Since that time «hc
(Continued 0*1 Fourth Page.)
TACT SHOWN BY SACASA
IN DEALINGS WITH SANDINO
Uncle Sanfs New Latin Policy Ig Sec
J
oiid Factor in Re-establishment of
Domestic Peace in Nicaragua.
BY GASTON NERVAL.
AFTER six years of almost Inces
sant civil warfare, domestic
peace reigns again in Nicara
gua. Scarcely a month after
the last United States Marine
had left Nicaraguan soil the last rebel
gun was fired.
Newspapers and private correspond
ence just arrived from that Central
American republic tell of the joy with
which the people of Nicaragua, forget
ting for the moment political colors and
differences of opinlqn. have celebrated
the re-establishment of internal peace.
The day in which the peace pact was
signed by President Sacasa, Gen. San
dino and representatives of the Liberal
and Conservative parties, church bells
spread the happy news throughout the
country, bands played in the street of
Managua, and the government an
nounced that it would designate "peace
day" as a national holiday.
According to press reports, the expert
guerrilla fighters who, led by Gen. San
dl:io. fought numerous battles with gov
ernment forces and with United States
Marines in the course of their five-year
revolt, will become peaceful farmers in
Northern Nicaragua. Within a few days
all "Sandinistas" are expected to sur
render their arms in the town of San
Rafael del Norte.
The same press dispatches add that
a discussion of the bases of peace was
found unnecessary, because the parties
were all moved primarily by a determi
nation to devote themselves wholly to
the rehabilitation of Nicaragua. Confi
dential reports, however, which have
reached this writer reveal the extreme
tact and diplomatic ability displayed
by President Sacasa in bringing about
a settlement.
Peace Promise Fulfilled.
It may seem appropriate, in this
:onnection. to recall the statement made
in these columns some time ago, when
Dr. Sacasa. then Minister to Wash
ington, first entered the Nicaraguan
presidential contest, that his accession
to power would give the only assurance
of an early termination of the civil war.
Considering, first, the unique position
of Dr. Sacasa in Nicaraguan politics—
respected by all sectors of public
opinion—and, then, the fact that
Sandino had previously fought under
his orders for the defense of the re
public's constitution, it was not too
daring to predict that of all Nicaraguan
leaders. Dr. Sacasa was the only one
who had a chance to induce the in
surgent leader to give up his fight.
So it has been. Less than 40 days
after he was inaugurated Cttief Execu
tive of Nicaragua, President Sacasa is
able to announce: "With the co-opera
tion of the two Nicaraguan parties,
aided by the good will of Gen. Augusto
Cesar Sandino and his delegates, my
government has been able to effect the
pacification of the country."
Thus falls the curtain on one of the
bloodiest civil wars in modern Latin
American history—one which had inter
national Implications which will be long
remembered in this Western Hemi
sphere. It was during the course of it
that the United States changed almost
radically its Latin American policy and
took the first right steps toward a "new
deal" in inter-American relations; a
"new deal" based on non-intervention
and a greater respect for the sovereignty
of the smaller Caribbean republics.
This is the other factor which made
possible the re-establishment of domes
tic peace in Nicaragua. The first was
the election of Dr. Sacasa to the presi
dency. The second is this changed at
titude on the part of the United States,
this ntw Latin American policy of the
State Department, which, in the last
four years, has been endeavoring to
regain the good will lost on the other
side of the Rio Grande by previous
Republican and Democratic administra
tions.
Pledged Change in Attitude.
Ever since his return from his pre
inaugural tour of South America Presi
dent Hoover promised a change in the
"big-brother" attitude toward Latin
America which under Theodore Roose
velt's "big-stick" policy, Woodrow Wil
son's non-recognition policy and Calvin
Coolidge's theory of protection of citi
zens abroad had given rise to the legend
of "Yankee imperialism."
To prove the sincerity of his promise
President Hoover appointed Col. Henry
L. Stimson his Secretary of State. Col.
Stimson had lived in Latin America
and had succeeded both in gaining the
confidence of the Latin Americans and
in understanding their domestic prob
lems. paramount among which was that
of the preservation of their national
sovereignty. For Nicaraguans, in par
ticular, the presence of Col. Stimson
in the State Department was especially
gratifying, because not long before he
had contributed, as peace envoy of
President Coolidge, to put an end to
the civil war between Liberals and
Conservatives in that country.
Once in office, Secretary Stimson
condemned military interventions, dis
avowed any designs of political hege
mony on the part of the United States,
and announced as the best line of con
duct for the State Department to follow
one of complete aloofness from the
purely domestic question* at La tin
American countries.
Such policy appearetf m evidence In
the relations of the Hoover-Stimson
administration with the majority of the
southern republics, culminating with
the feturn of the State Department to
the old JefTersonian theory of recog
nition of revolutionary governments.
But in Nicaragua and Haiti the situa
tion was n aie more complicated, when
this new Latin American policy was put
in practice, by the existence of treaties
and speriil agreements w-hich required
the presence of United States Marines
there for a certain period of time.
Peace Restored in 1927.
In Nicaragua the United States Gov
ernment was bound by one of such
agreements to supervise the 1932 presi
dential election. Following the mili
tary intervention ordered by President
Coolidge. domestic peace had been re
stored late in 1927 under the good offi
ces of Col. Stimson. Liberals and Con
servatives had agreed to lay down their
aims and hold a peaceful presidential
election under the supervision t>f the
United States. In that elecflfci the
Liberals, who had been fof months
fighting the Diaz government, of dubi
ous constitutional origin, and later the
American intervention sent to support
the same, had succeec>1 in electing
Gen. Monrada President by a substan
tial majority.
Immediately after the election, how
ever. both political parties had requested
that the next presidential contest, four
years thence, would be also supervised
by the United States. The Washington
Government had agTeed, and therefore,
the last remnants of United States In
terference In Nicaragua could not be
done away with until after the 1937
election. Meanwhile Sandino had r®
fused to accept the Stimson peace pa#
and started a new rebellion of his of£i.
Confronted with this difficulty, 5>f
also firm in his decision to take Ch4
United States as fast as po&sible out
of Latin American politics, what Seer*
tary Stimson did was to begin a grad
ual withdrawal of the Marines, leaving
there only the minimum necessary
conduct the presidential election and
complete the instruction of the Nicara
guan National Guard. In the mean
time. he adoDted an attitude of com
plete neutrality and almost indifference
toward Nicaraguan internal politics.
moneaaa .m«tion r am.
This neutrality, and the sincerity of
the State Department's intentions, were
put to a test last year, whm two con
j fiaential representatives of the thee
President of Nicaragua, Gen. Moncada.
came to Washington to seek the support
of the United States for his scheme to
postpone the scheduled presidential elec
tion and to reform the Nicaraguan con
stitution. Thanks to the energetic op
position of the Stata Department to
sanction any such personal maneuver
ing. the mission failed, the Nlacar&guan
political sky was cleared and a large
majority of the Nicaraguan people was
given an opportunity to express itself
at the polls three months aeo and to
elect Dr. Sacasa Chief Executive of the
much-tried Central American state.
Another proof of the sincerity of the
new Nicaraguan policy of the State
Department had been given previously,
when, confronted with renew:d rebel
activities in the interior of that coun
try, Secretary Stimson had refused to
send any United States forces inland
for the protection of American citterns
and their property, who, in his opinion,
should rely on the protection given
them byAhe Nicaraguan government '
and the 1 Nicaraguan National Guard.
Otherwise. Secretary Stimson advisfd
his co-nationals who felt themselves in
danger to leave the interior and to seek
refuge in those cities which were not <
menaced, or in the American warships
anchored in Nicaraguan waters.
In both instances the Secretary of
State reiterated his decision to with
draw all United States Marines from
Nicaragua immediately after the pre6i
, dential election. In the meantime Gen.
| Sandino, the only insurgent leader still
in arms, had sworn to continue his fight
until the last Marine had left Nicara
guan shores.
That Sandino, too. was sincere in his
ideals and in his purposes has just been
shown by his disinterestedness in the
recent peace negotiations after the Ma
rines had leit. His attitude on this oc
casion will cause his name to be in
scribed in Central American history
with characters quite different from
those employed by New York tabloids
and press dispatches which have been
informing the American public of his
"bandit activities" for the past five
years.
Yet it is only fair to say that the
happy conclusion of the Nicaraguan in
ternal strife would not have been pos
sible without the new policy of with
drawal and non-interference inaugu
rated by Secretary Stimson. Just as it
would not have been possible without
the presence in the government of Nica
ragua of a man with the high qualities
and the tradition of honesty of Presi
dent Sacasa and the unanimous sup
port which he enjoys among the Nica
raguan people.
(Copyright. 1R33.>
Buddhist Monks War on Officials
For Taxing of Religious Property
SHANGHAI.—R e m i n i scent of the
now ended struggle between the Pope
and Mussolini in Italy is the present
tension between the Buddhist hierarchy
and the Kuomintang in China. Bud
dhist monks are united in a firm stand
against newly promulgated laws which
require the registration of temples and
payment of taxes.
Recent proclamations issued by the
monks of China's still lingering Bud
dhism, vigorously attack the Kuomin
tang and the government for their
policy of taxing religious property.
Since early times, they point out, tem
ples and shrines have been regarded as
public property, unlike other forms of
government or private ownership.
Practically all temples in China have
been built with funds raised through
public subscription. The property never
has been held in the name of an indi
vidual or a group of monks, but in the
name of the temple and the community.
In this manner the premises are trans
] mitted generation after generation to
l the people.
In Peiping Abbot Pu Chuan, speaking
before a gathering of 2,000 Buddhist
monks from many different temples,
denounced the n-:w government regula
tions which requires that temples be
registered and taxed, with failure re
sulting in eviction of the monks and
confiscation of the property by the gov
ernment.
What measures the government Anal
ly will adopt* if the monks prove ada
mant in their resolve not to yield to
the new demands are not yet revealed.
At present petitions from many mon
asteries are inundating government of
ficials, demanding the rescinding of
the registration and taxation laws.
Several hundred monks are spending
their days and nights reciting the Bud
dhist classics for the purpose of bring
ing about thisjicMcsary repeal. They
assert that theywilNjiot cease till their
implications have pej-suaded the Kuo
mintang o i ways.
Plan to Make Stratford-on-Avpn /
Focal Point of General Culture
LONDON.—What is regarded as a j
step to Increase the cultural activities
of Shakespeare's birthplace has been
taken by the governors of the Shake
speare Memorial Theater at Stratford
on-Avon.
The old Memorial Theater, which has
stood a roofless shell since the disas
trous fire of March 6, 1926. is to be in
corporated in a new conference hall
designed by the architects of the second
memorial. The main hall will provide
accommodation for 400 persons, and
there will be another room of equal size
on the first floor, and space will be
provided for the exhibition of Shake- i
spearean and other objects of theatrical i
Interest.
It has been contended in some quar- i
ters that Stratford-on-Avon should be
a focal point lor international culture,
[Ike Salzburg and Bayreuth, and not
merely the scene each year of tha
Shakespeare Festival. This Is the am
otion of W. Bridges-Adams, for the last
13 years director of the Stratford-on
\von Festival Co.
The Shakespeare season this year,
iccording to the director, will be ex
;ended to 20 consecutive weeks in view
jf the likelihood of increased Amer
can patronage.
In spite of the scarcity of American
Dilgrims last Summer—normally they
form a large part of the audience—
here was a record attendance of be
;ween 35,000 and 90,000, the takings
(mounting to $65,500. The biggest box
)ffice success was "The Merchant of
Venice," the most daringly unorthodox
>f the productions. It was staged under
lie direction of Komlsarjevsky.
(Copyright, 1033.) ... _