Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 216, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 January 1930 — Page 4

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Other Law Enforcement Faced with cnarges that his allocation of Boulder dam power ando r " not comply with law, Secretary of Interior Wilbur has obtained a legal opinion from his solicitor, approving !n every respect the plan outlined by Wilbur several months ago. It is a remarkable opinion. If the courts find it to be sound law, then congress must rewrite the federal water power act. Furthermore, congress is going to have to find new words to make clear its meaning. Words which had seemed unmistakably plain no longer are adequate. It Is doubtful whether any solicitor but the present one, E. C. Finney, who for more than thirty years has helped secretaries ol interior do what they wished, could have written the opinion on Boulder dam power. This is the situation. The Boulder dam act says the r- eretary of interior shall divide the power generated at the dam in conformity with the policy expressed in the federal water power act. And this is the act: “The commission shall give preference to applications by states and municipalities, provded the plans for the same are deemed by the commission equally well adapted, or shall within a reasonable time be fixed by the commission to be made equally well adapted, to conserve and utilize in the public Interest the navigation and water resources of the region.” Wilbur already having decided to give approximately one-fourth of the power to private power companies, Finney interprets this section in the following way. He passed over the clause about states and municipalities and goes to the words “public interest.’ ‘Public interest,” he says, ‘is one of those broad terms like public policy, capable of different legitimate interpretations In the discretion of the officer called upon to administer it. The interest referred to is primarily the government’s responsibility, financal and otherwise, to all the people of the United States . . , Hie primary public inteiest is in the soundness of the contracts and the solvency of the contractor, not in the corporate or municipal character of that contractor.” Farther on, in reply to a question from Secretary Wilbur as to what discretion he is permitted by the act, Finney says, in efTcct, that, the preference clause means nothing whatever. Finney then attempts to read into the act a requirement that power must be available to a’l adjacent areas, whether publicily or privately served. These interpretationo would confer on the secretary of interior authority to do exactly as he pleases, regardless of the law. Whether wilfully or not, they tend to cloak law violation with the sanctity of legality. If these interpretation arc not challenged, they will establish a precedent threatening a future danger worse than the wrong for which they pave the way at Boulder dam.

City Manager and Bosses Cleveland’s city council has fired the city manager, William R. Hopkins. The Republicans acted on the orders of Maurice Maschke, local boss. Six years ago Maschke named Hopkins to office, the first city manager in the largest city ever to attempt that form of government. Maschke now lias removed him. Maschke also has named Daniel E. Morgan, Cleveland lawyer and state senator, to succeed Hopkins. As soon as the formality of a public hearing for Hopkins is out of the way, it will be City Manager Morgan. For those who thought the city manager plan put the parties out cf business, Cleveland’s experience will be a disappointment. For those who think city managers always are experienced administrators, it also will be a disappointment. There is no doubt that the firing of Hopkins was discreditable, and on flimsy evidence. There is no denying that it was done by purely political means. But the fact remains that Hopkins first was named politically, and that he gave the city six years of high-tvpe government, marred only by the misdeeds of a corrupt ring of hold-over councilmen. It also is true that the new manager. Morgan, will be an able executive, judging from his past record. In both cases, the political naming of the chief executive went on as it would under a mayor plan But In both cases, a better man was named than, nine times out of ten, would be named under a mayor plan. Tiffs experience also has demonstrated that public influence can be brought strongly to bear on councilmen. In naming a manager. The pretest over the firing of Hopkins in Cleveland forced the boss, Maschke, to name not his first choice, but his second or third, and a much better man. Cleveland’s charter is not ideal. It has weak spots, and some unpopularity, as recent close votes on amendments have shown. But Clevelands experience this week has not injured the city’ manager cause in that city, nor weakened the charter.

Judge Sabbatino Expounds Americanism Recently there flashed forth in Brooklyn an enthusiastic devotee of virile Americanism. Magistrate Sylvester Sabbatino was addressing a young Communist. David Weisse, who with his sister had been arrested for soliciting funds to aid the defense of the Gastonia strikers. The magistrate made no effort to conceal his passionate devotion to Americanism or his notions of civics and pedagogy. Addressing Weiss, he said: “What you need is for me to have you in a two by four room. What would I do to you? I'd blacken your eyes and give you some real American spirit." The magistrate may have been a little careless or hasty in choosing the dimensions of his proposed classroom, but of his fine spirit there could be no doubt. Magistrate Sabbatino just has been interviewed by a representative of the press and induced to elaborate his conceptions of Americanism. Starting off in good Mayflower style, he chronicles the struggles of his forefathers to realize the ideals which they later embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. “Americanism.” he says, "is the strict adherence to the ideals imbedded in the Constitution of the United States and in the Declaration of Independence.” Asked what he believed to be the best method of instilling Americanism into the youth of the land, he declared his preference for education. Going further, he asserted that the chief defect m education today as an agency for inculcating the ideals of

The Indianapolis Times i A tCKim-HOtfABO NEWSPAPEB) uwoed snd published dallv <eic*pt Sunriuyi by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos., 214-220 West Maryland Street, Indianapolis. Ind Price in Marion County. 2 cents a copy; elsewhere 3 cents delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. HOVl’t GCRLEY. ~ BOY W. HOIVAKD. FRANK O. MOKRISON. Editor President Business Manager PHONE- It 1 ley ft.V.l ___ BATURDAY, JAN. 18, 1930. Member of t ntted Press. Scnpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way”

Americanism is to be found in the lack of religion. "This is the primary menace to Americanism.” So much for Magistrate Sabbatino’s dclared belief that he is for Americanism of the brand of the Declaration of Independence. Let us see how his conception of Americanism in action conforms to the ideals of the author of that document. In one of his most famous statements, Jefferson asserted that he had “sworn eternal enmity to every form of tyranny oyer the mind of man.” Magistrate Sabbatino’s threats of nose punching and his epithets of “mongrel” and “moron” come dangerously near to mental tyranny. But there is one classic passage from the writings of the sage of Monticello so cogent and timely that it almost might have been written as a civil liberties report on the Sabbatino case: “To suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles, on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all liberty, because he being, of course, judge of that tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own. “It is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order.” Nor will the magistrate measure up more successfully to his religious test for sound Americanism. We assume that he is a Christian. If so, his nose-punching propensity hardly squares with the admonition of his Master to turn the other cheek. Nor will his “mongrel” and “moron” line up too well with the slogan, “blessed are the meek.” “The Whip Tradition” "We must bear in mind the Whig tradition of a right to revolution.” What is the significance of those words from the report of the Hoover commission on law observance and enforcement? How do they square with what Hoover himself said in transmitting the report? The answer is, they don’t. Hoover said: “While some sections of the American people may disagree upon the merits of some questions involved, every responsible citizen supports the principle that the law of the land must be enforced.” As opposed to that philosophy, there has prevailed In this country since its beginning the “tradition” to which the commission refers. Nicholas Murray Butler didn’t invent the idea of “higher lawlessness.” Though it is January instead of July 4, let’s dust off a well-known document. We quote from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” There’s your higher lawlessness, your Whig tradition. Had it been otherwise, had the idea of dumb, docile and unquestioned obedience to all laws prevailed, we would still be subjects of Great Britain and there wouldn’t be any eighteenth amendment. Hum runners dragging sleds, covered with white sheets, have been “ghost-walking” across the ice of the Detroit river. It’s a spirits’ racket. A headline says “Smart Girl Hides Brains to Win Men Friends.” One divorce is granted every fiftyfive minutes in Chicago. He who fights and runs away usually is caught by a traffic cop anyway and given a ticket for speeding, resisting an officer and careless driving.

REASON By FR S K

THERE'S a great deal of discussion because Gladys Moon Jones, Washington lobbyist and press agent, wrote a speech for Mrs. Piatt, member of congress from New York City, but it’s not sufficiently unusual to merit extended reference. It has been quite the thing all through our national life for many of those in public station to hire somebody to write their speeches. a a a Many of our Presidents have done this. For instance, George Washington was benefited by the literary genius of Alexander Hamilton and many of his successors purchased or rented brains from unknown writers. Secretary of State Seward suggested a minor change or two in Lincoln's first inaugural address and Secretary of the Treasury Chase suggested two words in the emancipation proclamation, but the rail splitter needed no help. a m n BANCROFT, the historian, wrote some of the sturdy s'.ate papers which Andrew Johnson sent to congress when he and it were at death grips and as the years passed by the practice of having a finished writer around the presidential premises was adopted. Mr. Harding and Mr. Coolidge, without batting an eye. delivered speeches which were prepared by others. nun Amusing stories are told of the pride which different Presidents have felt because such speeches went over big. there being no perceptible diminution of their satisfaction because someone else did the work. Possibly a fellow thinks he wrote it after he’s been complimented half a dozen times, just as a fellow gets to believe the story he tells over and over. a * a i~\F course, nobody wrote the speeches or state papers of Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson. for while m technical matter they may have employed the suggestions of experts, neither of them needed any literary aid society, they being the ablest writers in the White House since Lincoln. Lincoln’s gifts in this direction are the more remarkable when you recall that he never went to school one whole year, all put together. a a a However, he read always and gained much of his clear and simple style from hi* reading of the Bible He was far from being the uncultivated man his enemies painted him, having read many of the great authors with delight, particularly Shakespeare, from whose plays he was able to quote by the page and concerning the proper rendition of which he argued with the great actors who came to Washington.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy S A YS:

If Disarmament. Were Real, the Nations Would Be More Concerned With Airplanes and Poison Gas. PREMIER MACDONALD is wrong in proposing to scrap battleships. They ought to be kept as museum pieces. But let that pass. Even though nations are not in a mood to destroy their up-to-date engines of war, they may gain something by junking those that have become obsolete. If disarmament were real, it would be more concerned with air planes and poison gas, as H. G. Wells points out. Those who expect it to be real at this stage of the game, however, expect too much. It is only within the last twentyfive years that we began to talk about disarmament as a possibility. How long ago was it that people began to talk about the possibility ; of Republican government? v ’ a A pact outlawing war, but providing no method to keep it outlawed: a world court to settle International disputes, with no way to make its decisions stick; a League of Nations, with a council, assembly and secretariat, but not a policeman on the beat. Indeed, one can pick out a lot of flaws in the performance, but to what end, or with what logic? Revolutionary ideas are not put into action over night, and never have been. The power of tradition is too great, and what tradition lacks is more than made up by fear. Humanity still is sold on nationalism as a system, and still afraid of world peace because of the surrender of sovereignty it involves. a a a Cause for Worry TiO judge by the headlines, Justice Hughes’ declaration that the Interests of this country wei’e safeguarded made a far deeper impression than did his explanation of the world court and its work. What worries the American people and the people of all other contries for that matter is the possibility that they can’t get back, thing that they can’t get back. Their attitude in this respect is j rooted in history and fertilized in the schoolroom. a a a "H. G. Wells rails at the “flimsy : Utopianism about peace now so current,” meaning the idea that it can be had by signing treaties without force, and establishing courts without power, but is not his conception of the problem just as insane? Does he suppose that people would consent to an international police force, wjthout a thorough understanding of its authority and their rights? And how could they arrive at such understanding, except through creation of courts and gradual development of international law? a a a Hurry Is Dangerous INSTEAD of being discouraged at the slow progress of the peace movement, we should be thankful that it is not developing any faster. To hurry it would be to run the risk of making irreparable blunders and creating such violent reactions as might destroy it. In this connection, the world Is not dealing with the simple proposion of drawing pictures on a clean slate, but of substituting a gigantic scheme for one which has been woven into the habits, customs and thought processes of the human race. a a a The task of outlawing war. or adjusting international disputes by peaceful means, and of putting civilization on a co-operative basis is more stupendous than was that of converting the western world to Christianity. While it is true that we have developed a capacity for doing things quickly, only fanatics could believe that we have made enough progress to accomplish in a decade what still is incomplete after two thousand years. a a a Proportion Sense Lost THE peace movement suffers no worse handicap than the nonsensical expectations of those who look for it to mature in an unreasonably short time. Their preposterous criticisms serve 1 no purpose so distinctly as to dis- j gust normal people. Sometimes it seems as though they had lost their sanse of proportion, and as though they expected the greatest drama in human affairs to come to its climax within the space of hours. To all intents and purposes, their attitude is much like that of the prohibitionists back in 1917. and every one knows what happened because of that. Where are the state universities of Colorado. New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Utah located? Colorado, Boulder; New Mexico. Albuquerque; Arizona. Tucson; Texas, Austin; Wyoming, Laramie; Nevada, Reno, and Utah, Salt Lake City.

Waterproofing Cellars Many householders are troubled with cellars that are not waterproof. Our Washington bureau has prepared, from official sources, a bulletin of practical suggestions on construction methods for making a cellar dry in anew house, and for various methods that may be adopted for waterproofing an old cellar that is damp and wet. If you have a problem of this kind, fill out the coupon below and send for the bulletin: CONSTRUCTION EDITOR, Washington Bureau. The Indianapolis Times. 1322 New York avenue, Washington, D. C. I want a copy of the bulletin. WATERPROOFING CELLARS, and inclose herewith 5 cents in coin, or loose, uncanceled. United States postage stamps, to cover return postage and handling costs. NAME STREET AND NUMBER CITY STATE I am a reader of The Indianapolis Times.

\ K-M'M- / \ * 3>r*ACKf —>> I'LL i SPLENDID SAY TOKIC^J 1

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE If You Get ‘Winded,’ Have Heart Test

BY DR. MORRIS FISHIBEIN. Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hyrcia. the Health Magazln*. THE heart is a muscular pump, pushing the blood around the body through the arteries and veins, and back into the heart again. The blood is sent through the lungs where it receives oxygen. It goes on and on through many years of life, producing enough work to lift the weight of the individual thousands of feet in the air. It receives its own nutrition through the blood supply that goes to the heart directly. When the tissues of the heart are attacked by infectious disease, or when poisons carried in the blood bring about changes, or when too much continued strain is put upon the organ, it revolts, as w'ould any other mechanism, and it responds in various ways. Some infections weaken the tissues so that they are stretched beyond repair. Others produce growths upon the valves which in-

IT SEEMS TO ME "S’

JUST what I have done is not specfied, but the Observer of Charlotte, N. C„ seems to be incensed. I am honored with an entire editorial in the first column. The leader is called “Occasion for Silent Contempt,” and reads as follows: “Now and then from different parts of the country friends of the south are sending the Observer clippings of the fulminations of the writer known as Broun, w’hose specialty is the casting of slime toward the southern people. “Os course, they want the Observer to ‘burn him up,’ but notoriety is just what fellows like Broun court, and eagerly. The more notice to themselves they are able to attract, the better it pleases them.” n tt * Harmless THEIR writings, however,” continues the Observer in its silent way. “are harmless, for it Is very well understood that they are not taken seriously by the public they reach, and are meant mainly for consumption around bootblack stands and hotdog corners. “They are of proper discount among all intelligent readers over the country, and the people have come to receive them with amusement, rather than indignation. “If controverted, the opportunity for continuation is developed, but with fulminations of the kind persistently unnoticed, they would soon expire and be heard no more. * “Controversy with fellows of this kind only serves to keep their ammunition chest supplied. The ’silent contempt’ treatment is the sort that kills.” That may be well enough as far

Everybody Happy!

terfere with their proper opening and closing. In the vast majority the changes that take place are insidious and the individual seldom is aware of his danger until considerable damage has been done. In discussing the future of medicine, Sir James Mackenzie emphasized particluarly the importance of detecting the symptoms of heart disease in their earliest stages. This detection is not the sort of thing that the physician must do primarily. The patient must come to him before he can apply the special knowledge that he possesses. When the heart has been damaged it gives evidence in several ways. The physician accustomed to recognizing the normal sounds of the heart can detect changes in their strength, their frequency, their order, and any unusual sounds, such as murmurs which are not heard over a normal heart, He can count the heart beats before and after effort and see if the heart responds prmoptly and properly to unusual work, and how

as contempt goes, but it seems to me a pretty poor piece of silence. Here I am one-third through my column and with no work entailed except to do a little paragraphing and punctuation for the Observer. a a a Slipshod EVEN the contempt, I’m afraid, is a shade slipshod. For instance, the phrase “the writer known as Broun,” is a complimentary way of putting it. Asa rule only the great in letters are mentioned as single name men. We speak of “Shaw” and “Shake-

Questions and Answers

Can pen names be registered in ; the United States patent office? No. How many persons graduated from universities, colleges and professional schools in 1926? 71.529. What particular President of the United States is referred tc in Fan- | nie Hurst's book, “A President Is Born”? It is a work of fiction, and no ! particular President Is intended. Her | purpose is merely to tell a story of j American rural and home life, and |to depict the kind of a boy who might make an ideal President. What is the meaning of the name ITedwig? It ts German and means “war refuge.” Where is the University of Washington located? Seattle, Wash. When were buffalo nickels first coined? In 1913. What Is the meaning of the word "mondawmin”? It. is an American Indian name meaning corn. What is the religion of William Howard Taft? He is a member of the Unitarian church. Is it correct for a man to wear a wrist watch with formal evening clothes? No. Why has the sea not bored a hole through the earth? Because the interior resistance of the earth is greater than the pressure of the water. Has there ever been a Soc : al'st Governor in the United States?

quickly the rate returns to normal after the effort is discontinued. He can determine how much effort is required for the individual to become short of breath. Realizing the importance of these studies, special tests of heart function have been elaborated by which the trained physician can determine how capably the heart responds. The tests are simple. They may be simply repeated standing and sitting, hopping a given number of times, bending over and straightening up a certain number of times, climbing a certain number of steps and similar efforts. Pain is not always, and indeed not usually a symptom of heart disease. Serious breathlessness following slight effort, unusual fatigue after brief exercise, a sense of constriction in the chest, may be far more serious as symptoms than occasional pain. The first sign of heart failure, as Mackenzie emphasizes, is frequently merely a sensation of distre* when the individual undertakes some effort that he was previously accustomed to perform in comfort.

Ideals and opinions expressed In this column are those of one of America's most inter* esting writers and are presented without record to their agreement or disagreement with the editorial attitude of this paper.—The Editor.

speare,” “Goethe” and “Dickens.” Lesser folk appear in fuller form. No one speaks of the “novels of Wright,” even though they have sold into the millions. He is always “Harold Bell Wright” and his great rival is referred to as “Zane Grey,” never as simple “Grey.” Even Mencken is generally identified by his full title—“ Henry L. Mencken.” Accordingly, the Observer would have been much more efficiently contemptuous if it had said “a writer named Heyw'ood Campbell Broun.” This would have indicated that no reader conceivably could recognize the fellow in question unless he were stretched out to the fullest extent possible. “Known as Broun” is in itself singularly inept because it concedes the fact here is a rogue who has succeeded in capturing some portion of the public attention. To be sure, his kingdom later is limited as being restricted to “bootblack stands and hot-dog comers.” a a st Admiration A ND even here the country editor betrays a suppressed, unconscious admiration for the great metropolitan journalist whom he attacks. Without apparent hesitation, this man. who calls himself my foe, concedes me some of the busiest havens in this whole humming land. I am much too modest to make any such far-flung claims for myself. Indeed, I must draw back and say, “Sir, I fear that you exaggerate.” Inevitably there must be remote sausage shops where the name and fame of Broun are quite unknowm. Nevertheless, it is a pretty compliment which the Charlotte editor has paid me with his traditional southern hospitality. He seems to say in his courtly ! way that his free associations with ! the phrase, “It Seems to Me,” are sustenance, polish and mustard. Even the humble kraut is known ! by now to contain the vitamins by \ which men live, and a small glass j ivery day will keep the doctor j urther away than any one who can < throw an apple. (Copyrieht. 1930. by The Times)

Daily Thought

This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.—l Timothv 3:1. a a a No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him.— LowelL

JAN. 18, 1930

I SCIENCE By DAVID DIETZ Theory That Man Is Not Descended Directly From Apj-Like Ancestors Creates Stir Among Scientists. TWO events of the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science continue to receive extended comment in the editorial columns of the nation's newspapers. They are the contentions of Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn that mankind Is more than a million years old and not descended directly from apelike ancestors, and the contentions of Dr. Robert A. Millikan that the ; future of man is safe in the hands Sos science. j Dr. Osborn’s theory, perhaps, is | receiving the greater amount of attention. In view of this fact, therefore, it is of interest to examine the evidence in this interesting field of research. J Fortunately an excellent summary has already been made by Dr. Gerrit S. Miller Jr., curator of the United States National Museum. As Dr. Miller points out, only two finds have been made which can be considered in the nature of “missing links.” They are the skull, teeth and thigh-bone found at Trinil, Java, constituting the so-called Java man or Pithecanthropus, and the skull, jaw and nasal bones found at Piltdown, Sussex, England, and constituting the so-called Piltdown man or Eoanthropus. All discussion therefore must be based chiefly on an interpretation of the age, the physical and the mental characteristics of these two specimens. That there should be no general agreement upon the subject, is not surprising. nan Java Man JAVA man was discovered in 1891 by Dr. Eugene Dubois, and first described in a pamphlet published in 1894. Writing in the annual report of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Miller says of this pamphlet: “Throughout the scientific world it was read immediately and commented on with intense interest by zoologists and anthropologists alike. “But the fact soon became apparent that the only point of universal agreement among these readers was their interest; their opinions differed to an astonishing degree. “Some accepted the belief of Dubois, that the remains came from lon individual; others regarded the circumstances of the discovery as giving no support to it. “About the skullcap some agreed with Dubois, that it clearly represented a transition stage between ape and man; others pronounced it human; still others w’ere as fully j convinced that it was simian. “In April, 1896, Dubois gave a summary' of the opinions of nineteen writers; five regarded the skullcap as simian, seven as human and seven as intermediate. “The controversy which thus bej gan has not yet ended.” Coming to present-day opinions | about the Java man. Dr. Miller writes: “There is only oi>e point on | w'hich all writers agree, namely, that i the skullcap is strangely different from the corresponding part of i other known mammals, both rej cent and fossil. In striking contrasts j we find that there are not less than i sixteen points of disagreement.” a a a Differences DR. MILLER proceeds then to list a summary of these sixteen ] points of difference. I will under--1 take to give an abridged summary of Dr. Miller’s summary’: The deposits in which the remains were found were of glacial age. According to the first view. the remains are less than 500,009 ; years old; according to the second, at least 1,000,000. The way the bones were deposited supports the view that they belong to one individual. The distance between the bones as found would indicate they belong to different ones. The remains came from one animal. They came from two, one a gibbon, the other a man. They came from three animals. The thigh-bone has human characteristics. It has those of a gibbon. The skullcap is human. It is intermediate between man and apes. It is simian. It has the characteristics of a gibbon. It has the characteristics of a chimpanzee. The creature had powers of speech. The creature was an imbecile. The skull gives no evidenca as to mental capacity. The creature was a true transition form between man and ape. The creature had a structure which removes it from a position of direct ; *uman ancestry 7. The creature was a gigantic gibbon. The creature wa* a T, dawn man.” The theory that Java man was a “dawn man” is Dr. Osborn’s theory. It w’ili be seen that there Is no agreement betwen Dr. Osborn and other anthropologists.

i^aggTTTrvTS&a. -’tqdAyhß'THe

VERSAILLES CONFERENCE Jan. 18 ON Jan. 18, 1919, the Versailles peace conference formally ( opened. Out of this meeting came the treaty of peace signed by representatives of the allied powers and Germany, marking the close of the World war. Versailles is a town in northern France, capital of the department of Seine-et-Oise, twelve miles southwest of Paris. It has been the scene of many other historic events, including the signing of the armistice between Great Britain and the United States in 1783, and was, for a time, the capital of France. 1 Today also is the anniversary of the institution of the United States departments' of commerce and labor, on Jan. 18, 1993. i On Jan. 18. 1775. Georgia elected delegates to the continental congress. On Jan. 18, 1782, Daniel Webster was bore.