International Tariff Truce Seems Assured — Progress OE of the busiest men in the world these days is Norman H. Davis, American ambassador-at-large in Eu- rope, and it would appear that he Is doing his multifarious Jobs very well, It was up to him to persuade the British govern- ment to accept the proposal of President Roosevelt that there be an international tariff truce pending the outcome of the world economic con- ference in London. This he accomplished, according to an an- nouncement by Prime Minister Mae Donald in the house of commons, al though Great Britain made important reservations providing that the trade pects now being negotiated by Britain should not be affected. The text of the agreement between Davis and Mae- Donald was cabled to Washington for the final approval of the American government, which was promptly given, France, Italy and Belgium have ac- cepted the tariff truce, the two former stipulating that it be based on the present dollar valuation and that a superduty can be imposed if the dollar depreciates further. Favorable re sponses were expected In Washington from Japan, Germany, Holland and China. N. H. Davis RIME MINISTER MAC DONALD in his speech to parliament also took up the subjects of war debts and world disarmament, throwing considerable light on the negotiations between his government and President Roosevelt, He declared that the world economic conference cannot be fully successful unless the war debt difficulties have been removed before it comes to an end. He said that on this “there Is complete union of opinion.” The pre mier asked parliament to hush up dis cussion of this question and not ask embarrassing questions concerning his negotiations with the United States. He sald that if the world disarma- ent conference was to couie to any- thing like a satisfactory conelusion, the United States would have to take part In a consultative pact, “the ef. fect of which would be to increase the security of European nations and the safety of threatened nations against war.” The United States, he said, had so agreed and an announcement would soon be made in Washington to that effect. President loosevelt presumably agrees with MacDonald concerning the necessity of settling the war debts. He sent to congress a message asking that he be given authority to deal with the other nations in settling the debt issue, at least temporarily. Secretary of State Hull admitted that the debt matter would be taken up concurrent. ly with the issues before the economic conference, but both he and MacDon- ald insisted it would not form part of the conference discussion. MacDonald sald the June 15 due date on debts was “an awkward hurdle” and asked parliament not to make it harder to surmount by premature debate. France hopes for a moratorium or its equivalent on the payment It owes June 15, and the cabinet confirmed its decision not to pay the nineteen million odd defaulted in December un- less it is granted, rejecting Herriot's proposal that the debt interest due he pald immediately. In Washington it was said the administration felt strongly that no consideration should be given France on the June 15 pay- ment unless she first paid up the sum that was due in December. In his message to congress President Roosevelt also asked for a grant of blanket power to negotiate tariff re visions so he can carry out his pro- gram for stimulating world trade by breaking down high tariff barriers. ae URNING back to the matter of world disarmament, we again find Norman Davis active. He had a long talk in London with Dr. Alfred Rosen. berg, who is Chancellor Hitler's chief adviser In foreign affairs, and is said to have told him flatly that the United States is utterly opposed to any in- crease In armaments by anyone, and that America regards Germany's pres. ent policy of demanding a larger army as an obstacle to the success of the disarmament conference. He let the "German know that the United States government thinks Germany is tend- ing to become a disturber of European peace. Rosenberg in return, it is said, dis claimed any Intention on Germany's part to disturb peace, but reiterated Germany's claim to equality of arma ments, preferably to be obtained by disarmament of other nations to the present German level than by Ger many's rearing to their level. The Wheeler resolution, urging American delegates to the world economic conference to work for an agreement to remonetize silver at 16 to 1 with gold, was approved by the senate. The resolution merely calls on the delegutes to “work unceasingly for an International agreement to re- monetize silver on a basis of a definite fixed ratio of not to exceed sixteen fine ounces of silver to one fine ounce of gold” HE international wheat conference opened in Geneva and the Ameri can delegation was on hand, its mem- bers Including Henry Morgenthau, Sr. : George C. Haas, member of the federal farm board, and Frederick E. Murphy, publisher of the Minneapolis Tribune. HE Simpson price-fixing amend- ment to the farm bill was rejected by the house by a decisive vote—283 to 100—because Chairman Jones of the agriculture committee declared the President was opposed to it and Ma- Jority Leader Byrns urged the house to stand behind the administration. The senate agreed to the report on the measure by the conference com- mittee after vain protest by advocates of the price fixing amendment. [It also yielded to the house by agreeing to broaden the power of the secretary of agriculture to Initiate and approve agreements for marketing farm prod- ucts, without regard to the anti-trust laws, and to license the handlers of agricultural commodities. Under the bill as finally passed the secretary may include under these provisions not only the seven basic commodities em- braced by the benefit and production control portions of the bill but all ag. ricultural products processed and mar keted in this country, RESIDENT ROOSEVELT contin. ued his economic conversations with foreign statesmen, and the most colorful of his visitors was T. V. the youthful appearing minister of finance of China, who was presented by Min- ister Alfred Sze. Doctor Soong ally was interested In what stand the President might take in the Sino-Japanese quar rel. and he stated in detall the position of China, No informa tion was given out Indicating Mr Roosevelt's Intentions in the matter. but press dispatches from Washington were received in Peiping quoting Soong as saying he had been assured of American Intervention in China if Japanese troops captured Peliping. These dispatches probably were mis leading If not entirely false. Viscount Kikujiro Ishii is on his way from Japan to Washington, and when Soong, nature. CRP inlly T. V. Soong be concerned mainly with the Ameri- can attitude toward the Far East em- broglio. He is prepared to defend the Japanese conquest of Manchuria and will urge American recognition of the puppet state of Manchukuo. One of his important tasks will be to learn how tar the idea of a consultative pact to implement the Kellogg Briand anti-war treaty has developed. As was said above, Mr. MacDonald told parliament that the United States had agreed to take part In such a pact. Others who consulted with Mr. Roosevelt “were Dr. Hjalmar Schacht. president of the Reichsbank, who brought up the questions of German equality at arms and boundary re- visions; and Albert J. Pani, finance minister of Mexico, OING ahead with the President's program for federal regulating of most things, the senate passed the ad- ministration bill for the control of se curities sold in interstate commerce. Differences between the senate meas- ure and that already put through the house were mostly slight and easily compromised. The former, however, contained an amendment offered by Senator Hiram Johnson of California setting up federal machinery to ald holders of foreign bonds that are In default. °* Under the bill, the federal trade commission will become the governing body of the securities trade. Persons or corporations about to sell securi- ties in Interstate commerce and agents of foreign governments about to sell foreign securities must register each issue with the commission, together with detailed information concerning the issue, Large groups of securities ard ex- empt, such as short term commercial paper, government, state, and muni- cipal bonds, securities of raliroads and other utilities subject to federal regu- lation, national bank securities, and securities issued by educational and benevolent organizations, WAR dgainst Bolivia in the Gran Chaco dispute was formally de- clared by President Euseblo Ayala of Paraguay, the peace negotiations con ducted by neutral South American na- tions having failed. The warfare has been going on unofficially since June, 1032. Neither nation shows any signs of yielding. The Paraguayans hailed their President's action with joy, and the Bolivians sald they were ready to fight. UMNER WELLES, the capable new American ambassador to Cuba, was received at the dock in Havana by a few officials and about 100 other . persons who were per- mitted to pass through the strong gunrds es- tablished by the gov- ernment to prevent a demonstration, Along the sea wall drive on his way to his hotel he was cheered by thousands who hope he can help in restor. ing prosperity and peace In the island republic, In a state- ment handed to local newspaper men the ambassador referred to the his toric bonds between the United States and Cuba. “1 will give my most earnest con- sideration to the fundamental problem of regenerating the healthy flow of trade between us,” he said, “1 hold the sincere conviction that It is the prime interest of Cuba. as well as to the Interest of the citizens of the United States. that there be con- sidered at an appropriate moment the bases for an agreement which will stimulate the advantageous Inter. change of commodities to an equal extent between both countries” Concerning the Cuban political sit- uation, Mr. Welles said: “The govermment of the United States reiterates the (Elihu) Root In terpretation given to the Platt amend- ment In 1001; that is, that the Platt amendment is not synonymous with Intermeddiing In the domestic affairs of Cuba.” Sumner Welles to EPORTS from Washington that President Roosevelt planned to provide emergency rellef to avert a food shortage In cities were ignored by the National Farmers’ Holliday as sociation at Des Molnes, and an ap- peal was issued by It to every planter and cattleman in the country to join In the farm strike, Mile Reno, president of the assocla- tion, sald that when the house of rep resentatives kilied the Simpson amend. ment to the farm relief bill, which would have guaranteed prodoction costs, all of cancelling the strike were shattered. The other four points of the assoc ations demands are: Settlement of mortgages on a low-interest, long-term basis, lower property taxes, free silver and payment of the soldier bonus, Meeting In Montevideo, Minn. mem. bers of the Minnesota Farm Holliday association voted to joln In the strike. They demanded that the Presi dent remove Secretary of Agriculture Wallace from because he op- posed the amendment. The 4.000 delegates they would not pay interest, taxes or other debts until the dolinr became an “honest measure of value.” The association de manded federal operation banks and other credit agencies and a tional Presidential moratorium on farm, city home and personal proper. ty foreclosures, and other relief mens ures. R. L. Rickard, president of the Oklahoma Holiday association, dicted that 50 per cent of the farmers of Oklahoma would withhold thelr products from market, hop ® also office Simpson decided of ARVARD adds itself to the list of universities with young presi dents, the corporation having selected James Bryant Conant, forty years old, to succeed A. Lawrence Lowell. He is Sheldon Emery professor of organic chemistry in the uni- versity and is widely known among sclen- tists for his research work In special fields, Born at Dorchester, Mass., March 26, 1803, the son of James Scott Conant and Jen- nett Bryant Conant, Dr. J. B. he entered Harvard Conant college In 1010, after preparing at the Roxbury Latin school. Completing his college work in 1013, after three ors, Conant was graduated with the degree of A. B. His degree of Ph. D. was conferred In 1016 and the next year he received an appointment as instructor at Harvard. After serving during the war with the bureaus of chemistry and’ mines, he returned to Harvard in 1010 as as sistant professor of chemistry. In 1925 he became an associate profes — Washington,—As the special session ; quitting, it seems Experimental to me that interest Legislation c¢¢vters chiefly on two pleces of legis Singularly enough, each must I re- fer to the farm bill, with its inflation powers, and the measure designed to transform the Tennessee river valley into a gigantic laboratory for develop- perimentation with theories, with the Muscle Shoals nitrate and power plants as the center, The special session has worked at top speed. Seldom has so much been accomplished, if the measure be by vol- ume, as has resulted from the labors of congress under the lash and com- plete domination of President Roose- velt. But we are concerned now with an aftermath, with a continuing force. Hence, the two enactments mentioned stand out, for the effect of the farm bill will be direct and that of the Ten- nessee river experiment may mark an economic milestone in the nation's his. tory. President Roosevelt declined to as- sure success for the farm bill, He termed It a gigantic experiment, an effort offered in search of relief for downtrodden agriculture, a hope for better conditions, The so-called Mus. cle Shoals legislation is experimental by Its own language. The provision of the farm bill dele gating to the President authority to use Inflationary measures with the currency is, of course, vital to every one. It has been analyzed In this col umn heretofore and while every one is Interested In what the President may do with those powers, it does not par- take of the same conditions or eirénm- stances as the farm or Muscle Shoals legislation. While each of these measures is de. signed to aid agriculture, there is a point of striking dissimilarity be- tween them. The farm relief measure is designed to have an immediate ef- fect. No such thought is entertained respecting the Muscle Shoals develop ment proposal. Tt purpose is pre dicated on a belief by those who fos. tered It that it will be of lasting bene. fit to the human race. If the theories prove workable and partially tried plans can be carried on to sucecessfol conclusion, the hope doubtless can be realized, * 0 President Roosevelt told congress when he asked enactment of the farm relief bill that he A New and deemed it emergent- Untrod Path ly necessary to take constructive steps in ald of agriculture, “Deep study and the Joint counsel of many points of view.” the Presi. dent sald, “have produced a measure which offers great promise of good re. sults. I tell you frankly that it is a new and untrod path, but I tell yon frankness that an un. precedented condition calls for the trial of new means to rescue agricul The President added that If It failed and advise We The first principle of the bill 1s most It would have cotton farm. i and which will be held by the secre. : i i purchasers until 1035, if they desire. The purchases therefore can be made on credit, The purpose of this, of course, is to reduce production and thereby reduce i tract. The farmers cannot buy the sor. His present position of Sheldon Emery professor dates back from the year 1020, ENATOR GLASS produced a new banking reform bill that was ex- pected to have the backing of the ad- ministration. It was approved by the senate banking subcommittee after that body had made an Important change which would require private bankers to abandon either their busi. ness in deposits or in securities. The bill is designed to curb the use of fed- eral reserve credit in speculation and to insure deposits In federal reserve member banks through a $2,000,000,000 corporation, Lp by the budget bureau, the navy agreed to cut its expenses £63,000.000 in the next fiscal year, As a part of the economy move, officials tentatively have decided to place one third of the fleet on the “rotating plan,” or inactive status. Recruiting and training at the Norfolk, San Diego, Newport and Great Lakes train. ing stations also will be stopped tem. porarily. Tt was understood a 1.000 reduction in officer personnel is con. tempinted, ©. 1933, Western Newepaper Union. a resulting decrease In acreage. Sim. ply stated, then, this principle is de kigned to shorten the supply and cause &n Increase In price. Of course, the farmer takes the chance that there will be no increase In price, but here again, It Is “a new and untrod path” The second section of the measure has been attacked by Its critics as “robbing Peter to pay Paul” It gives the secretary of agriculture authority to lease agricultural lands, pay. ing the owner agreed sums as rental, to accomplish a reduction in acreage by removing those lands from erop productive use. That, as is readily discernible, will be an expensive proposition. The government could not do it without having funds come from somewhere to make such pay- ments, So the sponsors of the bill laid a tax on the processors of agricultural commodities to obtain needed revenue, It hardly need be sald that the processors—the packer of meats, the miller of flour, the spinners of cotton, ete. ~are going to fight this section. . * » Then, this complex plece of legisla. tion also provides for use of the allot. ment plan, and other Consumers taxes on the pro cessors and use of Will Pay the tariff against im. ports to drive the prices of farm commodities higher, This section like the others has been questioned as to its constitutionality, and it has per- haps the strongest array of opponents, for the consumers will help pay the bill in a big way. That is, all except those who are unemployed and with- out funds. They cannot buy now, and charity or public relief sources will pay the added costs, The amount of the tax to be levied on the processor, and paid the farm- ers who agree to reduce acreage—and that agreement must be made—is a thing which must be worked out by the secretary of agriculture, Never before, as far as my research has dis- closed, has an official of government in this country had such wide pow- ers. But the President justifies them on the ground of the necessity for preservation of agriculture. - . * The processors’ tax is to be added to the price the farmer receives for that portion of his crop consumed in the United States, Normally our ex- ports as a whole are only about 10 per cent of the total, The bill, however, is not applicable to all commodi- ties, It takes In cotton, wheat, rice, tobacco, sugar beets, sugar cane, milk and its products and hogs, but the secretary of agriculture has power to make It inoperative as to any one or all of them If market conditions are such as make the ug= 57 the law inad- visable, The processors’ under the guise “parity of prices.” It Is the purpose to lift the returns which the farmer receives to a bugis where compensation for his labor shall be proportionately levied cailed is being what Is {ax of pays for things he buys, as the ratio between the sale and purchase stood in 1814. That is involved, It Is com- plex in the extreme, But there i8 no need of services of a soothsayer in pointing to the tre mendous organization that ig going to be necessary in carrying out such leg- Islation. A thousand and one things must be considered, Ingpected, guarded, negotiated enforced. Government em- ployees must do that work. The ma. chine can be click and in smoothly, say supporters of the plan. It is the most gigantic political ma- chine in history, say opponents of the program. Whichever view is correct, it remains a8 a fact that there will be government agents In every county to tell farmers who enter into the agree. ments on acreage reduction what they shall do and what they shall not do: there will be inspectors galore In processing plants and accountants checking books when necessary, and there will be taxes collected In what ever amount the secretary of agricul ture decrees to be needed to pay the cost, It is In the appointment of the per. sonnel for carrying out the act that made to the greatest danger. They hold that it will be Impossible to obtain men and women who will construe the law In discretionary power to the same ex- tent. ee » * Now to give consideration to the Muscle Shoals legislation: Renator Norris, of Muscle Shoals Nebraska, has been : promoting a program Experim ent of development of the Tennessee river since the national defense act of 19168 provided for an experimental production of nitrates with water power at Muscle Shoals. The late President Wilson obtained legislation In 1917 for construction of two dams there, and for power plants and laboratories for the fixation of nitrogen from the air. That was for military purposes, but as soon as that need passed, the atmospheric nitrogen was to be used for fertilizer. Senator Norris has argued for years for utiil- zation of the country’s water resources in development of electric power, and the use of that power In providing cheaper fertilizer for farms. He is known as an especially bitter foe of power companies, and times unnum- bered he has charged on the floor of the senate that the power companies are a trust. He has accused them of constantly bleeding the public who have to buy those products. But the present Muscle Shoals pro- gram, as enacted into law, goes far beyond the original Norris dream. It is, indeed, the dream of a future Tennessee valley ag a man-made para dige, a laboratory for the good of the human race, a public benefaction on the part of the government, In’ addition to completion of the nitrate plants and the great power program, the new law prescribes con. tinued tests of various kinds, improve ment of navigability of the river ftealf, reforestation of the cutover hillsides and “proper use of marginal lands” In that later authority, it is conceded, lies permission to accom plish a great many things. Marginal lands is, of course, an economic term. It means lands, the use of which for certain crops is questionable. De. termination of the proper use of such Iande, therefore, Is undoubtedly a mat. ter of great moment. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the oficial name of the government-owned corporation that will direct the great experiment, can and probably will find wayk and means of using marginal lands © 1931, Western Newspaper Union Watching Out The Alarm Bell The Youth Movement By ED HOWE OVE of wives for husbands 1s oft. en said to be a very unstable thing, but Silerius expresses the be- flef In his memoirs that it is more stable than the love grown children show parents, Silerius mentions with approval and thankfulness that his third wife once #éald to him that the blunt regularity with which he was called on dally for money with which to pay household expenses, and the hard way in which he was compelled to earn all his money, excited her pity, and caused her to resolve to be more frugal in her expenses, Sllerius adds a note (page 82, 2nd vol), that none of his grown children ever said an equally agreeable thing to him. * . * Another Great Man has gone to the dogs. The trouble seems to be he didn't watch out on his way up. In climbing, one must be constantly careful: see to it that every round above Is as sound as those below which carried him safely. And such care Is always easier than a fall I do not believe Samuel Insull was a rogue, but became careless as he climbed, and developed dangerous con- celt, 1 cannot understand how any man, Intelligent enough to fully realize what a man necessarily Ig, can become con- celted, - * - In youth and age only natural things have impressed me, And natural things have Impressed me only because of the power behind As =n ashamed young man | was often because of youthful incom- judgment ;: because those demonstrated more capa- of the older men In under- of able of to Youth been Confidence I have the never \ - » 1 met an luxuriously. The other day old fellow had long He seemed “about all In” as the saving I said the had ever found was yeelf., His reply im- iy lived “Yes.” he sald, “I know about that, but I did not begin early enough” I send out another general alarm to lost in the magnificent errors of today. Most live like greedy children until something serious hap- people One should begin taking care of him- long before forty or fifty. The alarm sll began ringing very early in my : 1 believe it does in the lives of We frequently hear exclamations as World. 1 think it is the dullness, in- efficiency, carelessness and dishonesty of adults who are permitted to run at large, bear children and vote, although they refuse to learn the simplest les sons we birch children for not prac ticing. * * * Men who are careless, not honest, and do not pay their debts, have bad judgment in other respects: It has been discovered that one-fourth of all automobile drivers having collisions are listed as dead beats In their com- munities, * . . As moving an Incident in life as 1 have ever heard is this: A young gir) of average good family in my town married at seventeen, and had five children In seven years. One day she disappeared and has never been heard from since, except a letter she wrote her mother from a distant town, which sald she couldn't stand the burden of being married. She found no faolt with her husband saying he was as great a martyr as she had been. “You may be sure,” she added, “there is not another man in the case; the mandack in my life has been completely satis fled.” * » - One of my greatest humiliations is the manner in which politicians make a fool of me; my helplessness In pro tecting myself from the harm they constantly do me. 1 frequently work myself into a frenzy about it. and splutter to others who are also angry. and hurt, but we get no relief out of our exchange of indignation. . » 0» Some one excited us long ago by de claring we were not being treated right. . . . The people were never promised, by any real authority, any thing they are not getting. I lately tried to read a book about Abyssinia, the author having traveled extensively in that strange country But he lacks judgment: he devotes most of his pages to “Jokes™ , , | Mark Twain, best of our moders hu morists, was frequently dreary while trying to be “funny.” Books of hu mor are almost as rare now as books of poetry, so many serious things hav. ing developed requiring serious consid. eration, © 1933, Ball Byndlcate.—WNU Bervioa \ Le Pi
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers