Evening star. [volume], December 31, 1933, Page 3, Image 15

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
IT ALY’S GLORY REFLECTED
BY LEADERS IN AMERICA
Mayor-Elect of New York Latest Son ofj
Immigrants to Win Hi"li
Place Here.
—
BY CHARLES EDWARD RUSSELL.
PROFITABLY we may remember
now that if certain hard-boiled
and gloom-ridden racial fa
natics could have had their way.
Fiorello La Guardia would be
not mayor-elect of New York, but a
pardener. perhaps, or something like
that in the obscure by-paths of Italy;
Ferdinand Pecora would be an unsung
toiler in the fastness of Sicily; Mr. Tos
canini would be as alien to New York
as the Sultan of Sulu; and even the
great Balbo would have h en received
here with frozen face and icy hand—
if at all.
If we have any thanks to give, let
us give them that Nordicism run mad
did not have all its way. Long it had
carried on an intensive campaign to
make the United States exclusively—
and disastrously —• an Anglo-Saxon
country. To achieve this, it pointed to
the terrible menaces to our life, liberty
and pursuit of happiness involved in
the flood of immigration from what was
called "Southern Europe.” The term
was merely dishonest camouflage. What
was really meant was Italy; what Nor
dicism really desired was to shut all
Italians from our shores. Glory be that
the attempt only partly succeeded. If
it had gone the limit, not only would
Congress have missed cne of its most
interesting, courageous and dynamic
members, the Senate Committee an in
genious and skillful investigator and
music in America its most popular ex
positor. but the great, composite, many
blooded America would have missed a
most valuable plrmpnt.'the element that
in the eventual mixture will help to
salvage all the rest.
For there Is no blood like the Italian.
We cf the proud and arrogant Nordic
strain are always unwilling to admit the
fact, but there it is. incontrovertible, in
history. When we rant and roar
against the lowly, despicable "South
European” we are biting at the hand
that sated us. Our shaggy ancestors,
or some of them, skin-clad and staring
wild-eyed through masses of low-grow
ing hair, came down in hordes from the
jungle and supposed they had con
quered Italy. They did but dream It
was Italy that conquered them, over
whelmed them, led tlitm as vassals and
bondmen to the foul tain and com
pelled them to drink. Physically, they
overran the country: intellectually and
spiritually, which alone count in any
lust estimate, they were ihe vanquished.
To the strange, mystical, wonderful, in
domitable. persisting spirit of Italy they
surrendered language, customs, culture
and even psychology; yes, as they gave
un their skin clothes and rude hatchets.
Italy did not become Goth, Gothland
hoeaniP Ttal’an
Italy’s Influence.
There is nothing in history or phil
osophy mere wonderful or more in
structive. when we stop to thii:k of it.
Vet it is only Lhe beginning of the
storv. Out ot the southern periphery
cf Europe sticks a peninsula of no
great size nor phvsicial importance,
largely tilled with mountains, a stretch
cf land in no way better than many
another terrain, end. compared with
the continent's bulk, a thing inconsid
erable. Yet oat of that little peninsula
has come a force that has dominated
til entire Western world and made
th. world what it is.
or the whole cf what we call Wtst
f . civilization is, in its or.gin, anatomy
r l essence, the ancient Reman em
r . >. To its remotest bounds, wherever
v may L . our civilization is chiefly
a ■’:•••
Curse the damn' dago," was the
1 ..tie cry cf the furious Nordic, ob
: .sod about what he was pleased to
c .1 his Anglo-Spxon inheritance. Well,
i;i culture, in art. in ’etters. in law. in
institutions \v? are ail "damn' dagos."
T.ie spirit of Italy. thn indomitable, the
mystical, the strangely persistent,
spreading through Northern forests,
cro ing seas as easily as rivers, radi
ating out cf the insignificant Campagna
to the Farallons and beyond, is the
substance of the best we have—aside
from soup bones and frankfurters.
Like it or not. there is no escaping
the fact. Hew do you account for it?
Other nations have arisen and shone
and made a loud noise in the world
and vanished—"risen from eastward,
fallen to westward and forgotten.”
sings Swinburne. This Italy alone
shines on from century to century,
spiritually undimmed amid the wreck
of empires and the clash of thrones
p.nd that fort of thins. Bad govern
merits and good governments, dictator
ships and democracies, absolutism and
freedom, trampling armies and crooked
smte'men have not quenched nor es
sentially changed it. Now on the map
a nation, now oartitior.ed among inter
national bandits: now. in Metternick’s
conical phray "a geographical expres
tion." and now united, free and in the
front rank of battle, and all the time
intellectually, culturally, esthetically
one thing—the first cutural influence
of the world.
Empire of Mind.
And not by anv mixture of force of
films, at that. The physical structure
of the Roman empire that once cast1
its shadow over the known world went
long ago with Osymandyas. “king of
kings." Dwell on that fact. O blether
ing imperialist, and try to be wise
Nothing else is so fragile and so evan
escent as these glittering empires you
build out of so much blood and pil
ferings. The human highway is lined
with their fragments and heavy with
their dust. But the true empire of
Italy was never physical: it was mind
and spirit, and nothing is better worth
the world's attention than .iust this fact
of the bewildering vitality of that em
pire.
Let us see some of its mast promi
nent phases, remembering that it is. in
reality, not geographical but universal.
We think much of our form of govern
ment. It is the Roman Senate and
Forum. We base our government upon
the ballot: we got the ballot through
Italy. We think highly of our common
law. It came from Italy by way of Eng
land. We cherish the names of heroes
who have died to establish the princi
ples of human freedom. The principles
for which they strive were developed
largely though not primarily by way of
Italy.
X skim a few of the high places: to
catalogue all would require a book.
Think for a moment of the cultural
aspect. Where did the renaissance
come from? Italy. Who taught, in
spired and led the painters of Flanders
and Holland. Germany and France? :
Italy. Who organized modern music 1
and sent it on its baneficient career
around the world? Italy. Who found
ed the whole temple of English letters?
Italy. Whence came the inspiration of
Father Chaucer? Italy. Who supplied
the plots of most of the Elizabethan .
diamatists. ronspicu msly of Shake
speare? Italians.
If you are a nrckian. you deem the
symphony to be tl highest expression
of the soul of man. I. , amo from Italy.
You like the opera. It was developed
by Italy out of the miracle plays of the
Middle Ages. If you cherish good
literature you adore the sonnets of
Shakespeare. The sonnet was invented
in Italy. Keats. Longfellow, de Vere,
Aldrich, Fawcett. George Sterling, every
master of the sonnet form has been
diligently copying Petrarch and Guit
tone. Possibly you prefer prose
romances. The modern novel came
from Italy.
'lake Ciood Americans.
Or turn next to phases of the rub
ject that may have more intimate ap
peal to a more mater ^listic sense.
How many times maxing the western
passage, have sputtering Nordic? stood
forth to blast—with words—Italy,
swarming there in the .steerage. "Think
of trying to make Americans out of
these!" cried Nordicus. bursting with
rage. Well, v.e did it. We made
Americans of them and in most in
stances did a first cki-s job. There are
no better Americans today than second
generation Italians. I had rather take
my chances with them any day tiuill
with an equal numb r of the descend
ants of the marred M ‘vflower; much
rather. I never hear a second gener
aiion Italian deriding the country of
his birth or sneering at democracy or
intimating that the American Revolu
tion was carried on by a gang of
rascals. That kind of imagery, in m
ob ervation, has been confined to mem
bers of our pure old Nordic ancestry.
O*lit v peoples come over brre and hold,
often with rigid persistence, to the tra
ditions and psychology of their fore
bears. Second generation Italians can
respect the land of their forebears with
out in the least interfering with their
whole-souled devotion to the kind of
their birth. Jh
The plea of the NdRlie extremist was
that these chattering, strangely garb, d
people massed in the forecastle could
never be ass milated. In my observa
tion they have proved, of all immi
grants. the most ea ily assimilable I
have known hundreds cf Englishn. n
who have lived in this country all their
lives and ha\e fiercely dn-lined to bo
naturalized. Italians seeking their first
papers crowd into the naturalization
cflice almost as soon as they land I
have known Englishmen who reius'd to
allow th°ir children, born on this soil,
to give the school pledge of loyalty to
the American flag. I never knew an
lianan oi mac aisposuiun.
Naturally Democratic.
One reascn why Italians are so easily
adaptable to our ways is that they are
in spirit and by inheritance among the
best democrat: in the world. Yet. even
now. misled temporarily in acceptance
cl' an absolutism, the old Italian spirit
of democracy is still there. Other peo
ples acquire it more or less, the Italians
are born with it. Live for a time in
an Italian town. mingle with the people,
note the'r kindly ways and genial
psychology, their delightful absence of
seif-consciousness, their nat'vc friend
liness to strangers. You wi-l see what
I mean. Just as the i i:v of snob
bery clings to the Anglo-Saxon, the
urge of demcrracy. inheritance from the
Forum, is native in the blood of the
genuine Italian. And now the sen of
an Italian immigrant has rhmbtd into
the mayoralty of Nov York.
Our stupid immigration law. with its
perniciou and ill-founded quota ar
rangement. was hailed by fanatics as
a boon and salvation. Rather it should
have been mourned by r'l others as
a calamity It has effected it; purpose
of reducing Italian immigration, but
that is an injury, not a benefit, for it
has mide virtually an end of the mures
of supply most valuable to the America
that is to be. In the racial chemistry
from which we are to evolve here a
Nrtion of enduring and unimpeachable
worth, we really had no need of more
of the indurated Nordic material. Of
that element we already had enough,
and if the events of the last four years
demonstrate anything, we had far too
much.
Expert about many things, of one
thing the Nordic has no command. He
can build fortunes, plan skyscrapers,
capitalize railroads, invent machinery:
but he cannot live. Of the whole art
of living in its true sense, the art of
gaining from the earthly passage some
profit of jcy for the spirit, lie is as
ignorant as a child. It was this ele
ment that Italy was contributing to us
and this that our club-fcoted immi
gration law excludes.
Spirit Reappears.
To think back over th • achieve
merits of the ever curious Italian spirit
is to be filled with as much wonder as
pleasure. Age after age it has reap
peared. What was manifested in the
medieval epoeh through Aligheri. An
gelo. Da Vinci, was in. the nineteenth
century Mazzini and Aurelio Saffl,
Cavour and Manin. Verdi and Bellini:
in the twentieth. Marconi and Tos
canini. Outward and visible signs of it
mav change with the times; at heart it
is one.
In some way. by some inscrutable
provision, some combination of sun. at
mosphere. soil or what else, the shores
of the Mediterranean had produced
among men this singular spirit that
presses toward notable doing, now along
one lino, now another, but always
pushing forward. Now it invents new
arms and uses them, now it creates a
nation of an immortal opera, now it
breeds a great discoverer, now it cleans
up its cities, now drains the pestilent
marshes, now produces a great con
tender in the lists for democracy, now
wins New York by a thumping plural
ity. now explores the North Pole, now
conquers the air, now builds greet
steamships, while generation after gen
eration after generation shows to the
world the infinite capacities of art and
beauty to cheer and sustain the strug
gling race of men. I think just one line
has compressed the whole extraordinary'
storv:
"Italia—mother of the souls of men!”
Two Austrian Concentration Camps
Prevent Aazis From l)oin<r Any Harm
VIENNA—Keeping the Nazis on ice
through the Winter is the function of
Austria’s two concentration camps for
political prisoners.
Thousands of Hitlerites already have
been sent to jail for periods of two
weeks to seven months, but many of
them have not taken their punishment
seriously, in a tew instances making a
sort of sarcastic pageant out of their
entry inte jail and a triumphant parade
1?jt of their home-coming later. So a
few have been isolated in the concen
tration camps at Woellersdorf, not far
from Vienna, and at Finstermuenz,
near Mauders on the Swiss-Tyrolese
border.
The Woellersdorf camp is too invit
ing. The prisoners are housed in old
barracks formerly occupied by workers
la the war-time munitions plant there.
At, Finstermuenz they are far more ro
mantically—and far more uncomfort
cbly—quartered For the concentration
c?mp there is an old fortress 3,000 feet
Above sea level, surrounded by glacier
capped mountains, built during the Ka
! poleonic era, the fortress had been
standing empty for decades when the
! Tyrolese director of public security
chase it for a prison camp.
Only about 100 Nazis were listed on
: the Wocllersdorf roll at the beginning
! of December, and still fewer were try
ing to keep warm at Finstermuenz. De
spite the small scale cf these operations
compared with the thousands of po
litical prisoners sent to concentration
camps in Germany, the Austrian gov
ernment discouraged requests of news
paper correspondents to visit and pho
tograph them, even after Woellersdorf
was distinguished by the arrival of
Prince Bernhard von Sachsenmein
ingen. a distant relative of former Kai
ser Wilhelm, who was jailed in Carin
thia some weeks ago for Nazi activi
I ties.
In addition to several thousand Nazis
serving brief terms in various iails.
more than 2.200 have been disfran
1 chised for anti-government activities.
Confidence, Then Trade
That’s Stalin’s View of Possibilities in New' U. S.-Soviet Relationships-Discusses Many Questions.
IJY WALTER IH RANTY.
n n OSCOW —Joseph Stalin, gcn
/l/l CIa‘ 5ecretary of the Com"
I \l I munlst pat ty. received me at i
11 \ p m. on Christmas day in his
Kremlin office for an hour's
interview I began by a-king him would
Jos, ph Stalin f'lid a message to the
Amiran pi op! ’ He repli d:
-No Prcsiuent Kalinin has already
done that and I do not want to tres
pass on his prorogate es. Naturally. I
am pha^d b; the : esuir.pt :cn of rela
t , 1 - winch is an act cf paramount Un
co.tone. -politically, b 'cause it im
prove tile chances cf main airing
P'acr: econi'n'ically. because it enab.es
,ur two countries to get together and
discntc. questions between t li in without
ivard to extraneous ren' iderat ions.
F nullv. it opars the way to mutual co
operation ” , ...
Cutwardlv M Stalin has changed ht
tp. sinre I talked with him three years
ago there is. perhaps, more erav in
ill- hair end mustache, and his face
Ir •• be a trifle thinner, but his figure,
in a khaki tunic button d up in the
(Pin. kl'.a’ci breeches and black boots—
>... were no d corations or tabs on his
uniform—is erect and strong and his
hand; hake firm.
But he seems to love mellowed, and.
if cr.,. in .v say so. he seems more human
During the previous interview I was
r-irtiruVrU strutk bv the low toneless
i f M S'.-.Ii; \s voice—as if he felt
the i ed - f < nst rvir.g every at m of
energy for his gigantic task. Now hr
: news more animation and less restraint.
Sim larity to Lenin.
He reminded me greatly of Lenin,
whom I i. ver m"t personally, although
1 lv ;■1 d him speak .several times There
is the fame trick of using colloquial,
homely phrases; the some flashes of
hrm, r the same quick, cutting gesture
it th : lrht hand to stress a point
’ :’r-e t. mu too. M. Stalin lias a way of
, u carliei subj ct to explain
; nd cm e it heme.
I do net for a moment suggest it is
a d •!:!* rate imitation, but I believe
>!m l as so trained himself to ask
vumt Lenin would have done in a given
v'r.rture and to think along Lenin's
lines that unconsciously he has adopted
many of Lenin's mannerisms. I asked
M. Stalin his opinion about American
Soviet trade and he replied:
■ what Foreign Commissar Lltvmon
said in London still holds good. We
are the greatest demand market and
are readv to order -and pay for—large
q unlit it s of goods. But we require
factory conditions cf credit, and.
v. hat is more, we must have the assur
ance that we can pay.
"It is impossible for us to import
unless we <an export, because we will
not place orders unless v.e know we
can pav for thcr.i when the time ccmes.
Every one has been surprised that we
are paying, that we do pay and that
v.e can pav. I know it is not customary
to pay ciibts nowadays, but we do it
Other nations Tenig- on their debts.
The 1’r.inn of Soviet Socialist Re
publics di es not 'renig.' They thought
we could not pay. that we had nothing
to pay with, but we showed them and
they had to admit it."
Gold Sources Developed.
I asked about Soviet gold produc
tion M. Stalin said:
•■\Ve have m:;nv sources of gold sup
ply .;nd they are being developed last.
Already our production is nearly double
That of czar is’ times—more than .00.
COO.OOO rubles. In the last two years,
especially, we have improved methods
of investigatire new cold reserves and
have found vast supplies. But our in
dustry is young—not only in gold, but
in iron, steel and copper.
-All cf our metallurgy is young‘and
our industry is not yet able properly
to help gold production. Our tempo
is fast, but our volume is still too small.
We could quadruple gold production in
short order if we had more dredges
and "machines. We advance rapidly,
but not nearly so rapidly as we wish.”
Then, like Lenin might have done. M.
Stalin came back to his previous point:
Our more rapid development of
foreign trad" depends on conditions
and the amount of credit. We have
never failed to meet our obligations.
We might have claimed a moratorium
like the rest of them, but we d:d not
because we did not want to break con
fidence. And confidence, as every one
knows, is the basis of credit.
"What I mean is that the volume of
our trade with America for the time
being must be measured by the degree
of confidence America puts in us—and
this by the volume of credit.”
To Pay Debts Next Year.
I asked what was the total of Soviet
foreign obligations at present, and M.
Stalin said:
"Not much more than 450.000.000
rubles now—we have paid off a lot in
The ra'-t. two years. Two years ago It
was 1.400.000 000 rubles, but we have
paid it off. and we reckon we can whol
ly clean up the present obligations by
the end of next year or early in 1935.
as they fall due.”
I Interrupted to say:
"All right, let us admit there is no
longer any doubt about Soviet willing
ness to pav. But w hat about Sot iot
capacity to pay?"
M. Stalin caught me right up. rep.y
11 "Today there is no difference between
the two. because we will not take on
cbligaticns that we are not sure we ear,
meet. Look at cur economic relations
with Germany.
"Germany has declared a moratorium
cn a large part cf her foreign debt, and
we might have used Germany’s prece
dent to do the same to Germany. But
we didn't. Today we are no longer so
dependent as we were before upon Ger
man industry—we can make our own
equipment.”
"And what do you think of America?
I asked, adding: "I hear you had a long
talk with Ambassador Bullitt the other
night. What do you think of him? Do
you still think, es you told me three
years ago. that our depression is not the
'last crisis’ cf capitalism?”
Liked Bullitt “Very Much.”
M. Stalin smiled and said:
“I and my comrades liked Ambassador
Bullitt very much. I had never met
him before, but I bad heard a great deal
JOSEPH V. STALIN.
about him from Lenin. who liked him.
too. What I like Is tnat he does not
talk like the average diplomat. He is
straightforward and .'•ays what he means
He made a very good impression here "
There was r.o mistaking the sincerity
of M. Stalin's words, nor the sincerity of
the compliment he twite paid to Presi
dent Roosevelt, of whom he said. “By all
! appearances a decid 'd ar.d courageous
political leader " He added:
"There is a philosophical system
called ‘solipsism.’ which means you do
not believe in the reality cf anything
outside of yourself, but only in ycur
own personality. For a long time it
looked as if the American Government
was “solipsist’—it did not believe in the
China Not Reaping Profit Exported
From $40,000,000 l . S. Cotton Loan
SHANGHAI. — The United States
S40.000.000 American cotton loan to
China thus far has not proved to b?
the bmunza that former Finance Minis
ter T. V Soong had hoped. Although
1I1? finance ministry ha.s not made pub
lie actual statistics, it is known that the
volume of American-loan cotton ab
sorbed to date by the Chinese market
is substantially below the expectations
of the government. The sluggish move
ment of loan cotton is not due pri
marily to econr.mic causes, but may b"
attributed largely to the present status
cf Sino-Japai.es? relations.
Under normal prices American row
cotton car not compete in the Chinese
market with Indian and Chinese cotton
in The cheaper manufacturing field
American ccTton. on the other hard, has
a monopoly cf the high-grad** product.
Japanese Mills Chief Consumers.
Japanese-owned mills in China have
a virtual monopoly cf high-quality cot
ton manufacturing and during an aver
age year ob'orb from 65 to 75 p°r cent
of all the American raw materia! im
ported. Accordingly. Japancs0 mills
should be The heaviest potential buyers
of Amoiican-loan cotton—sheu’d br if
only economic requirements were con
sidered.
But. as o matter of fart. Japanese
owned mills are not purchase g loan
cotton in larg-- quantity, and the expla
nation is that the mill owners are afraid
cf adverse criticism from certain politi
cal and military groups in Japa. When
the American cotton loan was first an
nounccd. a high military officer in Tokio.
according to the Jap nrse press, warned
the cotton mil! owners against purchas
ing American-loan ertten lest the pr>
c^cds of the lean be utilized by the
Chinese for armaments to be used
against Japan.
American C otton Taxed at Port.
Under the present plan of distribution
and price fixing it is fallacious to
assume that the ioan will increase the
consumption of American raw cotton in
China I*oan cotton is subject to the
same oust ms duties as eotl inch -
pendentlv imported and is sold at the
market price prevailing at the time eon
traded for. No special credit facilities
are rfTorded. all sales being transacted
cn a cash bisi'-. No cottor shipments
are made frem the United E’atcs until
orders are in hand
So long as the foregoing conditions
nrevail the cotton loan will have no
material b an: g on the ..mount of
American raw cotton consumed in China.
(Copyrigh . lM.'S.J.)
A Double Life
BY BRUCE BARTON.
k—±—m-— a —' _ _ : ia , _ ,
WHENEVER the city begins to tread on my heels
and all the “advantages" of modern life seem
like just so many annoyances. I have an antidote.
I go up into the country and spend a day and a
couple of nights. Through the open window of my sleeping
porch not a single sound comes in. If snow falls during
the night 1 wake up to find not one footstep in front Oi
my door. There is a telephone, but it never rings. There
is a radio, but I never turn it on. There is an automobile.
but I prefer to walk uptown to get my newspaper and my
pipe tobacco. , , ,
I read books like “Walden, by Thoreau. who built a
shack in the woods of Concord and lived there a whole
year for a cash expenditure of little more than $27. I
talk with very wholesome people and I reread these sen
tences of Tolstoy:
"The more I examined the life of these laboring folks
the more persuaded I became that they veritably have
faith and get from it alone the sense and the possibility of
life . . . Contrariwise to those of our own class, who
protest against destiny and grow indignant at its rigor,
these people receive maladies and misfortunes without
revolt without opposition, and with a firm and tranquil
confidence that all had to be like that, could not be other
wise. and that it is all right so. . . . The more we live by
our intellect, the less we understand the meaning of life. . . .
There are enormous multitudes of people happy with the
most perfect happiness, although deprived of what for us
is the sole good of life. Tnose who understand life’s
meaning, and know how' to live and die thus, are to be
counted not by twos, threes, tens, but by hundreds, thou
sands millions. They labor quietly, endure privations and
pains' live and die. and throughout everything see the
good without seeing the vanity. I had to love these people.
The more I entered into their life, the more I loved them;
and the more it became possible for me to live, too."
Tolstoy was a philosopher, and I am not. My lot is
cast in the city, and the only way I can make a living is
by staying there But I am glad I have a double life to
the extent of being able to get up to my farm at least
once in a while. When I am there I find myself very little
interested in the speeches of politicians. My general attitude
is that pretty nearly everything politicians do is done
wrong. They make wars. They erect tariffs. They hold
out promises which cannot be fulfilled. All I ask, in the
country, is that they should let me have a roof over my
head simple food, old clothes, cheap smoking tobacco and
peace. When they berate me for not “buying now" I am
merely annoyed. When they tell me that if I will turn out
one set of them and put in another set everything will be
all right, I pay no attention.
I note that the trees grow slowly, that the streams still
refuse to run uphill, and that the stars do not seem to have
been affected in the slightest by all the worries I have
encountered since I was a boy. These are important facts
to bring back to the city-half of my double life.
(Copyright. 1933.)
| existence of the U. S S R But Roose- ;
J veit is not a supporter of that strange j
! theory. He is a realist and knows facts I
as they are."
From Lenin's chief cisciple there,1
\v. ulci be no higher praise. Regarding
the depression. M Stalin said
i It shattered them badly, but unless J
T am mistfkm bu.>ine,c is beginning to;
' improve. I think the lowest point, per
haps. is already past. 1 do not i) lirve j
. they will reach the heights of 1929. but 1
with seme fluctuations a transition
tov-.rd a revival is not only pos.-ible, but
probable "
M. Stalin asked me what was the atti- I
lude cf Ann rican intellectuals at present !
toward the American situation ana what
had become of Representative Fbh at.d
the “dumping scare" and ether phases
of opposition to resumption of Soviet
American relations.
Uncertain of Advice.
I rrp’.ied cautiously that the intel
lectuals seemed'to b< playing a b.geer I
: role than heretofore in American affairs, j
1 but that the "man in the street”—not;
only in Wall Street—was net quite sure]
that their advice and theories were ,
wholly practical.
Mr. Fish. I said, had talked cn the'
radio, but his speech did not seem to
affect the course ni th.r Soviet-American
neg tiations In Washington, while other
phases of oppesi:; >n had. one gathered. I
oMiu" h.arc:> to chase nowadays—mean-!
mg. I added, tile American Federation ]
of Labor, which. I said, had gained
much strength < l late. but was so in
vi lvi d in hi me affairs that it no longer
undertook to direct the foreign policy of
the United States.
M. Stalm grinned appreciatively and
hts eyes crink.ed tip at the corners just j
the way Lena.'.; u.-ed to do when his
audience veiled as he made some ver- j
nacular wisecrac k.
M. Stalin :p.ke most seriously about
Japan.
"We should like.” he said, "to have
friendly relations with the Japanese, but
unfortunately that does not depend on
us alone. If the more reasonable ele
ments end more prudent counsels pre
vail in Japan our two countries can live
in amity, but we fear that the militant
faction may push saner policies into
the background.
“There is real clanger, end we are
forced to prepare ourselves to meet it
because no nation ran rerocct its gov
ernment if it does not foresee the dan
ger of attack and prepare for self-de
fexise. It sc ms to me viia Japan would
be unwise t.) a tark r. Her economic
position is not so;;:id. and she has
points of weakness—Korea. Manchuria
. and China.
Sympathy far Germany.
“It is uncertain. too. whether she
would get support for such an adven
ture from ether powers. But good sol
diers are not always good economists
and do not always appreciate the differ
ence between the force of arms and the
force of economic laws. I repeat that
there is grave danger. and we cannot
but prepare to meet it. "
This brought the conversation to Ger
manv—that ether danger point on the
world poa-e horizon. M. Stalin rx
1 pressed ryrmo.thv : r and appreciation
of the German pr pie. About Britain
' he v.:■ s more copris".
“I thin!-: a rotnmercial treaty will b"
signed with England." he said, ' and
that economic relations will b- devel
i pec! becr.u e tlv ruling Conservative
j party must realize it has nothing to
gain by barring trad? whh us. al
I though.” lie added significantly. "I
m * d ubt whether in the present
circumstances tl-*? rritual advantage
wiU bo so great r.s might bo hoped.”
I asked what tlr Soviet attitude to
ward the League of Netio-.s—v.as it ex
clusivelv negative?—and to the Italian
.suggestions cf reforming the I_c?gue. M.
Stalin said:
“We received no proposals from Italy
cn the subject, ai'houeh our represent
ative discussed the question with the
Italians.'’
H* looked at your enrresponde-'
rather quizzically and continued: "I
do net think you quite understand ou"
viewpoint. We not always and In all
I conditions take a negative attitude
toward the League. Despite the Ger
mnn and Japanese f'xit from the Leag ’*'
—or. perhaps, because of it—the
League may well become a brake to
retard or hamper military action.
"If that is so if the Leazue ’s onlv
the tiniest bump"—he used a Russian
slang expression—“somewhat to slow
down the drive toward war and help
peace, then we are not against the
League. In that event I would not say
we would not support the League. I
would sav that if historical e vents were
such that the League became a brake
upon or on obstacle to war. it is not
excluded that we should runport the
League despite its eollesal deficiencies.”
Distribution Is Trob'eni.
T asked Statin what he thought were
the most important internal prob’ems
of the Soviet Union. He replied with
out hesitation:
“Development of the distribution of:
consumers’ goods between town and |
country, and *he improvement of tran*- !
port, espccial’y the railroads. This is
not so easy to solve, but it is easier
than the problems tv? have solved be
fore. and I am eonfiden' we ran solve
it. We have already solved the prob
lem of industry and of rollecti vising
the peasantry—that was the most diffi
cult. but we can nctv consider it solved.
There remains the problem cf transport
and distribution."
It is here worth remarking that
throughout 11?? interview M. Stalin
showed the same complete assurance
and confidence in the future that
characterize:; everv Soviet executive—
and the rank and file for that matte?
—in the Soviet Union trdiy. From
high to low they feel they have
“crossed the divide” and that, although
the road ahead may not be easy. It will
be easier than the road behind them
was.
(Copvrifbt. 1033. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance and the New
York Times.)
Greere and the Sams.
From the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.
As between Sam and Uncle Sam the
Greeks seem to have made the proper
decision.
&
1933 MARKS DEPRESSION
LET-UP IN LATIN AMERICA
Change for Better Is Recorded for First
Time Since 1929—Political Record
Is Considerably Improved,
BY GASTON NERVAL.
IN Latin America, as in the United
States, 1933 will be remembered as
the turning point in a period of de
pression and general discontent
which lasted for over three years.
No “new deal" seems to have descended,
as yet, upon the inhabitants of the
Southern republics, and Queen Depres
sion still reigns, bu. the year just ended
has seen the halting of the downward
trend and has recorded, for the first
time since 1929. a change for the bet
ter in Latin American domestic condi
tions.
As could only be expected, the wide
spread discontent brought about by the
depression had been expressing itself
in Latin America in popular unrest and
political upheavals. During the past
three years governmental stability in
the Southern Hemisphere had been at
a low ebb. And students of Latin
American history knew that this in
ternal instability was Inseparable from
the sad state of economic conditions.
By the same token, the considerably
improved political record of 1933 should
be interpreted as an indication that the
worst of the economic depression in
Latin America is over.
With the single exception of Cuba,
where the last of the Latin American
pre-depression dictatorships was abrupt
ly brought to an end, the past 12
months have only witnessed two presi
dential changes south of the Rio
Grande, and neither of them was the
result of open revolution. In Ecuador.
President Martinez Mera was lorced to
resign by congressional pressure, and a
provisional government peacefully con
ducted elections tc find a successor,
In Peru. President Sanchez Cerro was
assassinated by a political fanatic, but
without any interruption of the public
order. G n. Benavides, chosen by Con
gress. took the reins of power and kept
the wheels of government going. In
Brazil. Honduras and Ecuador minor
outbreaks were reported at various
times, but they never assuimd serious
rrnnnrtinnc
Talles Plan Prepared.
This record compares very favorably
with that of the past three years, each
of which were marked by at least half
a dozen violent revolts and an even
larger number of presidential changes.
Comparatively speaking, the Latin
American political record of 1933 seems
rather uneventful.
In Mexico. President Rodriguez com
pleted the first year of his administra
tion. undisturbed by party rivalries, and
prepared the ground for the launching
of the Calles six-year plan, which is to
top the social, economic and agrarian
reforms the country is undergoing.
In Guatemala, President Ubico,
though no longer enjoying the support
of ail political sectors which permitted
his unanimous selection for the presi
dency, was not confronted by any
serious opposition, and added to his
achievements by the conclusion of the
long-standir.g territorial feud with
Honduras.
Honduras, itself, after suppressing an
unsuccessful attempt to prevent the
inauguration cf the duly elected Chief
Executive. Gen. Cartas, saw another
orderlv and constitutional charge of
government, even though this meant a
change of the parties in power.
Ir. Nicaragua. President Sacasa. In
the first few weeks of his administra
tion. brought about the complete
pacification of the country, a task
which three previous regimes and the
Marines of the United States had
failed to accomplish. As a result.
Nicaragua has had her first peaceful
year since 1926. and President Sacasa,
though embarrassed by difficult finan
cial problems, has seen his personal
prestige enhanced both at home anc
abroad.
In Costa Rica, where the year before
internal peace had been interrupted for
the first time in a long period, popu
lar reaction in favor of law and order
were so strong in 1933 that President
Jimenez felt safe in denouncing the
Washington tr-atics which forbid rec
ognition of revolutionary governments
in Central America.
This is also true of El Salvador,
where President Martinez has definitely
consolidated his transitional regime and
obviated juridical objections to the
same. A large sector of public opinion
is now demanding that he present him
self as a pre^dential candidate for the
next regular term.
President Trujillo of the Dominican
Republic finds himself in a similar
position. The achievements of his ad
ministration. both politically and eco
nomically. have been such in the past
two years that opposition at home hae
given place to a strong movement m
favor of his continuance in power
when his present term is over.
Domestic peace was also uninter
| rupted in Haiti during the year which
| ends today. President Vincent in
| creased his following by the conclusion
of the executive agreement with the
1 United States, tending toward the sup
pression of American interference and
then by his request to President Roose
velt that the aims of the agreement
be fulfilled at once, without waiting
for the time provided therein.
Big Disturbance in Cuba.
The support which President Arias of
Panama always enjoyed among all
classes of the Panamanian people was
continued throughout the year. If any
thing. it was increased by his trip to
the United States, Mexico and some of
the Central American nations, and his
conferences with President Roosevelt,
which resulted in a gentleman's agree
mi nt to improve the present status of
Panamanian-American relations.
In Cuba, of course, took place the one
major disturbance of the year in Latin
American politics. But here. too. the
outbreaks of violence and the unrest
prevailing even now may be more prop
erly described as the consequence of
conditions which had been accumulat
ing since 1928, when President Machado
had himself re-elected — conditions
which only sheer violence and skillful
diplomacy had kept from exploding be
fore August. 1933. Moreover, the relative
leniency of the civil strife in Cuba af tr
the peaceful withdrawal of Machado,
the mild reaction of the masses after a
dictatorship of several years, is rather
surprising to the person familiar witn
Latin American political emotions. Re
member only the most recent case be
fore Machado; remember how many
chansos it took Peru to secure a stable
government after the fall of Dictator
Leguia.
In South America the record of 1933
is also remarkable compared with that
I of the depression years In Colombia,
President Olaya entered the last year of
, his administration with strong parlia
mentary support and his popularity en
hanced by the dignified manner in
conflict with Peru.
To Venezuela peace in 1933 was noth
ing new. A few days ago she celebrated
the completion of 25 years of continual
stability. This is, of course, an unusual
i record in Latin America. But then,
too, Venezuela has an unusual man at
the helm. Under the leadership of
Gen. Gomez the Venezuelan people re
mained during the year peacefully de
voted to the development of th::r
culture and natural resources.
In Ecuador various revolutionary
plots were reported during the year, but
none materialized. Not long ago Presi
dent Martinez Mera tendered his resig
nation. confronted by bitter opposin'.n
in Congress. But even this failed to
provoke disorders or renew the civil
struggles of 1931 and 1932. Presidential
elections were orderly conducted a few
weeks ago and the man constitutionally
| chosen to head the new government will
| soon be inaugurated in office.
The assassination of President San
chez Cerro of Peru also failed to plunge
! that country into the internal anarchy
at which the perpetrator of the crime
was declared to have aimed. The
Peruvian Congress quickly selected Gen.
Benavides to fill the vacant post, and
the libera! measures he immediately
adopted rather weakened the opposition
which the government had confronted
under Sanchez Cerro.
Interest Centered in Chaco.
In Bolivia, as well as in Paraguay,
internal politics were naturally rele
gated to a second place by the Chaco
conflict, which only now has been
brought to a halt. The external situ
ation strengthened the position at home
of both governments, though its final
outcome may equally affect them in
the months to come.
Argentina and Chile had also a
normal year, politically speaking. No
major interna! crisis distracted the gov
ernments of President Justo and Ales
sandri from their efforts at national
reconstruction after the disturbances of
previous years. The same was true
of Brazil, where a minor outbreak w'as
easily quelled and the way paved for
a return of the country to a consti
tutional status through general elec
tions
Finally, in Uruguay, it was the Presi
dent. and not the opposition, that en
1 acted a “coup d'etat" in order to in
trench himself in power and dispose
of the council of administration, his
most powerful opponent. Despite the
threat of a civil war the dissolution of
the council was carried out smoothly
and President Terra was able this
month to set aside political worries to
entertain the delegates of 20 American
republics to the Seventh Pan-American
Conference.
(Copyright, maa.)
1 ■ i
To President Roosevelt
<Continued From First Page >
looked to me more like a gold standard
on the booze than the ideal managed
currency of my dreams.
Administration Persists.
You may be feeling by now, Mr.
President, that my criticism is more
obvious than niv sympathy. Yet truly
that is not so. You remain for me the
ruler whose general outlook and atti
tude to the tasks of government are the
most sympathetic in the world. You
are the only one who sees the necessity
of a profound change of methods, and
is attempting it without intolerance,
tyranny cr destruction. You are feeling
your wav bv trial and error, and are
felt to be. as you should be. entirely un
committed in your own person to the
details of a particular technique. In
my country, as in your own. your posi
tion remains singularly untouched by
criticism of this or the other detaii.
Our hope and our faith are based on
broader considerations.
If you were to ask me what I would !
suggest in concrete terms for the im
mediate future, I would reply thus:
In the field of gold devaluation and
exchange policy, the time has come
when uncertainty should be ended. This
game of blind man’s buff with exchange
speculators serves no useful purpose and
is extremely undignified. It upsets con
fidence. hinders business decisions, oc
cupies the public attention in a measure
far exceeding its real importance, and
is responsible both for the irritation and
for a certain lack of respect which exists
abroad.
You have three alternatives. You
can devalue the dollar In terms of
gold, returning to the gold standard at
a new fixed ratio. This would be in
consistent with your declarations in
favor of a long range policy of stable
prices, and I hope you will reject it.
You can seek some common policy
of exchange stabilization with Great
Britain aimed at stable price levels.
This would be the best ultimate solu
tion: but it is not practical politics,
at the moment, unless you are prepared I
to talk in terms of an initial value j
of sterling well below $5 pending the1
realization of a marked rise in your
domestic price level.
Recommends a Course.
Lastly, you can announce that you
will control the dollar exchange by i
buying and selling gold and foreign
currencies at a definite figure so as to
avoid wide or meaningless fluctuations,
with a right to shift the parities at
any time but with a declared inten
tion only so to do either to correct a
serious want of balance in America’s j
international receipts and payments or
to meet a shift in your domestic price
level relative to price levels abroad. 1
This appears to me your best policy
during the trensitional period. You
would be waiving your right to make
future arbitrary changes which did not
correspond to any relevant change in
the facts, but in other respects you
would retain your liberty to make your
exchange policy subservient to the
needs of your domestic policy—free to
let out your belt in proportion as you
put on flesh.
In the field of domestic policy, I put
in the forefront, for the reasons given
abode, a large volume of loan expendi
ture under Government auspices. It
is beyond my province to choose par
ticular objects of expenditure. But
preference should be given to those
which can be made to mature quickly
on a large scale, as for example the
rehabilitation of the physical condition
of the railroads. The object 1s to start
the ball rolling.
The United States is ready to roll to
ward prosperity, if a good hard shove
can be given in the next six months.
Could not the energy and enthusiasm
which launched the N. R. A. in Its early
days be put behind a campaign for ac
celerating capital expenditures, as
wisely chosen as the pressure of cir
cumstances permits? You can at least
feel sure that the country will b? better
enriched by such projects than by the
involuntary- idleness of millions.
The Upturn in England.
I put In the second place the main
tenance of cheap and abundant credit,
in particular the reduction of the long
term rate of interest. The turn of the
tide in Great Britain is largely at
tributable to the reduction in the long
term rate of interest which ensued on
the success of the conversion of the wrar
loan. This was deliberately engineered
by the open market policy of the Bank
of England.
I see no reason why you should not
reduce the rate of interest on your long
term Government bonds to 212 per cent
or less, with favorable repercussions on
the whole bond market, if only the Fed
eral Reserve System would replace its
present holdings on short-dated Treas
ury issues by purchasing long-dated
issues in exchange. Such a policy
might become effective in a few months,
and I attach great importance to it.
With these adaptations or enlarge
ments of your existing policies. I should
expect a successful outcome with great
confidence. How much that would
mean, not only to the material pros
perity of the United States and the
whole world, but in comfort to men’s
minds through a restoration of their
faith in the wisdom and the power of
government!
With great respect, your obedient
servant. J. M. KEYNES.
^Copyright, 1933, by North American News
paper Alliance. Inc.)