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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.) ... _