Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 248, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 December 1935 — Page 13

It Seems to Me mi) BROUN do you fear me, Nellie?’’ said the villain in ’ ’ the top hat Just after he had failed to push the heroine off the Brooklyn Bridge. A somewhat similar naive wonder is being expressed by members of the Manufacturers' Association and attendant groups because the country hesitates to allow them to take over complete control of the government. Leaders of big business are startled because nobody has thanked them for f heir public offer to instruct employes how to vote in the next election. And

there has been less than tumultuous celebration of the announcement that the captains of industry are quite competent to handle the problem of wages and unemployment in their own counting rooms without any outside agitation. I think I know the answer. The average American has come to feel that business leaders are intent upon overthrowing our traditional institutions without due process of law. He is frightened by their insistence upon violence and puzzled by the fact that many of them seek to establish European forms of leadership which have hitherto

Heywood Broun

been unfamiliar here. bub Can't Understand High Purpose THE middle class American is a pretty conservative person. Naturally, he can not understand the bigh purpose of an organization like the Liberty League when it tries to liquidate certain dissenting groups. It comes as a shock to us of the middle class to learn that the Liberty League has refused to take any action in regard to the case of a Tampa workman who was beaten to death because he opposed a corrupt municipal machine. Perhaps we are too sentimental, but some of us Jn our stodgy way were not amused to hear that at a dinner of public utilities executives in New Jersey the suggestion of a toast to the President of the United States was greeted with wild laughter. Indeed. some observers say that it was maniacal and lasted six or seven minutes. And in our slow way we of the middle class have come to respect those co-ordinate branches of the government about which we learned in grammar ncnool. We de not necessarily respect each individual congressman, but Congress as a body, we feci, has its function to perform in the American scheme of things. Naturally, we are startled to hear the wild words of John W. Davis in which he practically abolishes ■the legislative functions of both the upper and lower House with one stroke of the pen. This singular position was taken by Mr. Davis in a paper, filed by his office in regard to an action before the National Labor* Relations Board in the matter of the Associated Press and the American Newspapet Guild. The merits of the specific case need not concern us here, but the main contention of Mr. Davis is of interest to all Voters and their representatives. Mr. Davis begins: “The Associated Press, not waiving but insisting that the National Labor Relations Act is not in truth and fact a law' and can not be enforced by or through the purported National Labor Relations Board” bub Mle's His Oivn Authority IT is a fact that the National Labor Relations Act, better known as the Wagner bill, was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President of the United States. Under the oid dispensation that was enough to change a measure into a law. But John W. Davis says that doesn’t go any more. What is his authority? Apparently he draws inspiration from the fact that the American Liberty League has decided that the Wagner bill is not constitutional and that employers may ignore it. In other words, John W Davis, who once ran for the presidency of the United States, seems to say that Congress has no legislative pow'er and the President no executive power until the Supreme Court has acted. The most that Congress can do is to suggest laws which it would like to pass to the Supreme Court. That august body of nine can take some and reject, the rest in whole or in part. Likewise the President upon signing a bill must Jnake the reservation that no action can be taken until the high court has had its say. Some of the friends of John W. Davis have complained that Franklin Roosevelt has reduced Congress to a rubber stamp. But under his own theory of constitutional government a Senator or a Representative is no more than a page boy moving disconsolately through the corridors. No wonder John W. Davis didn’t try too hard when he ran for President. If his revolutionary view's are sustained there’s far more pow'er in being a Liberty League lawyer.

Your Health BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN—

CEREALS, rich in starch and containing small amounts of proteins, are the backbone of the nutrition most of the earth’s races. Asa rule, the grain products are the cheapest food fuels obtainable. All have the same amount of mineral ingredients, but their vitamins are not important, unless the germ of the grain is included. Furnishing energy at a reasonably low cost, palatable, and with some dietary essentials, the cereals represent a real contribution to a person's diet. Corn. rice, barley, and oat kernels constitute about one-third or more of the total calories taken into the body. For the world as a whole, rice seems to be even more important than wheat, but in western Europe and in the United States wheat takas the leading place. Many dietary authorities are convinced that it is essential to eat whole grains or dark products, rather than the refined substances. • a a tt THIS claim is based on the fact that it is necessary to supplement the refined products with other foods to make the mineral and vitamin content satisfactory. Such supplementing requires extra thought and additional cost. In the Orient large groups of people get along in apparently good health on a diet in which about four-fifths of all the calories are derived from rice in combination with small amounts of other grains. .It should be pointed out, however, that the rest of their food consists mainly of the leafy vegetables, which with milk are effective in making up for the deficiencies of grain products. We know that Americans who subsist largely on cereal products are likely to prefer the refined cereals and that, therefore, their diets are short of calcium and the vitamins. Any one who lives largely on bread and cereals should realize the importance of supplementing the with plenty of milk and leafy vegetables.

Today s Science BY DAVID DIETZ

IT took fish millions of years to learn to swim. The swift, easy grace of present-day fish was slowly developed with the passage of the ages. The ancestors of the fish we know today were clumsy, grotesque creatures, covered with heavy, bony armor, who crawled awkwardly about the sea bottoms 250,000.000 years ago. These are the conclusions of Prof. Anatol Heintz, noted Norwegian paleontologist, who sets forth his studies of the ancestors of present-day fish in the annual report of the Smithsonian Institution. a a a T TE points out that there are four types of swimXJL ming. First, there is that of the free-swimming fishes which depend upon powerful strokes of the tail resulting from a wave-like motion of the body, to drive them forward. The fins serve as balancing and steering organs. Next there is the method used by marine reptiles and diving birds which is similar to the propulsion of a rowboat, the limbs serving as oars. Sea turtles and penguins use this means, for example. In the third style, a snakelike or wavelike mo*flon of the entire bodv drives the creature through the water. The fourth type, found today only in larval forms, such as the tadpole, depends upon the tail to perform the three functions of propulsion, balancing and steering.

Full Loanpd Wire Service of the United Press Association.

YOU AND U. S. SOCIAL SECURITY

Insurance for Jobless Big Item in Government's Program

How the Federal-*tate mammoth Social Security program will operate, who will benefit, and how the money will be raised and apportioned ii told in a aeries of three stories by Rodney Butcher. This article is the last of the series. BBS B 8 B BY RODNEY DUTCHER (Copyright. 1935. NEA Service. Inc.) Dec. 25.—Eight states and the District of Columbia have adopted unemployment compensation laws. That leaves 40 states which must come in under the wire through regular or special legislative sessions during 1936 if they’re to benefit from the New Deal scheme to foster state unemployment insurance laws by making it a losing proposition not to have them.

A Federal tax of 1 per cent on pay rolls becomes effective for the year 1936 and will be collected in 1937 unless the Supreme Court balks. This tax will increase by a half per cent every three years until it reaches 3 per cent in 1949 and stays there. Its proceeds will go into an “unemployment trust fund” in the United States Treasury. It applies to employers of eight or more persons, with stated exemptions, such as for agricultural workers. When a state has an unemployment compensation law which meets certain standards set up by the Social Security Act, and has been approved by the Social Security Board here, its employers will receive a credit on the Federal unemployment tax for 90 per cent of the tax sum they have paid into the state fund. B B B THE idea is that no state will want to see that money taken by the Treasury when it might be spent at home and that employers would rather pay for compensation systems for tneir employes than give their money to Washington. At the Social Security Board they’re figuring that any of those 40 states which don’t act in 1936 will be just throwing away that 1 per cent tax on pay rolls which will be collected in 1937. The annual Federal tax is expected to run up to $900,000,000 bv 1950. Another inducement offered the states is the provision that the government will pay all costs of state unemployment compensation systems and is appropiiating $4,000,000 for such use in the fiscal year 1936 and $49,000,000 a year thereafter. The Federal tax will be collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue just as if it were an income tax. The state tax in most cases where laws are passed will be collectible in 1937 for the taxable year 1936. B B B AFTER 1937 employers will be granted additional credits under the Federal law whenever

3500 Families Move Out of Territory Behind Norris Dam to Make Way for Huge Lake That Will Provide Paradise for Vacationists

(Editor’s Note—This is the fifth of seven articles on TV A.) BY ERNIE PYLE TT NOXVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 25. It is impossible, I believe, for any one mind to encompass all that TV A means to do. The region is so big—4o,ooo square miles, 2.000,000 people—and conditions in the area vary so greatly, and new things continual-

ly come up and become a part of the program. For one mind's eye to see it all, would be as difficult as for one person to try to raise 2,000,000 children. But for an attempt to illustrate what TV A is. we might take the area around N o r r is

j/ Hr

Dam, just 25 miles northwest of Knoxville. I have driven all over this region, and I believe it al- ( ready bears evidence of most of ’ TVA’s efforts, evidence that you can see. First, there is the big dam itself, the heart of the mechanism that makes all the rest possible. Five miles from the dam is the town of Norris houses, big and small, sitting among the trees and the hills.

SACRIFICING GOOD TRUMP CARDS

Today’s Contract Problem Here is an interesting bidding and playing hand. What would your opening lead be against five hearts by North? With a club opening, how should declarer play the hand te make six? ♦ A 5 VAIO9 8 7 4 2 ♦ 7 4 *B6 *KJ97 Tj US3 V Void w ' c V J 3 ♦ KJS3 w glo9B AKQ 5 4 S _ AAJ 10 9 2 Dealer 7 3 A Q 10 6 4 2 ♦ KQ 6 5 ♦ AQ 6 2 A Void N. & S. vul. Opener—? Solution in next issue. 18 Solution to Previous Contract Problem BY W. E. WTKENNEY Secretary American Bride* Leaeue ON numerous occasions I have explained what is termed a sacrifice play on the part of declarer. This is one whereby de-

The Indianapolis Times

state law permits them to reduce payments to the state fund as a result of a good employment record of adequate reserves, subject to certain Federal restrictions. States are given almost con\plete discretion in setting up their own systems. They may charge the entire cost to employers or divide it with employes or the state itself. They may set up separate individual employer accounts or pool all contributions. The Security Act only demands that, when the state’s employers are to be granted that 90 per cent credit, laws must provide: Administrative methods approved by the SSB. payment of compensation through public employment offices or other approved agencies, fair hearings before impartial tribunals when appeals for compensation are denied, and full SSB access to the books of state systems. BUB 'T'HE SSB may cut states off its -*• approved list if it finds its regulations are not being complied with or if eligible persons are being denied compensation. An individual refusing to work because a job is vacant due to labor trouble, because wages, hours, or work conditions are worse than those prevailing in the locality, or because he would be required to join a company union or quit a labor union, may not be denied compensation. Laws of New York, Wisconsin, Utah and the District of Columbia call for no contributions from employes. Others assess workers as well as employers. Laws of New York, New Hampshire, Washington and Utah apply to employers of four or more and that of the District of Columbia covers employers of one or more. The general rate of compensation provided is 50 per cent of wages, with a maximum payment of sls a week and minimums as low as $5. Qualifications vary, but usually require that the applicant have been employed 26 out of 52 weeks. All states provide a three or four-week waiting period

And dormitories for the single men. Everything is electrical heat, cooking, refrigeration, lighting, everything. The power comes from Muscle Shoals, 290 miles away, but as soon as Norris Dam finished it will come from there. The people pay rent, and their monthly rent checks include what might be called the local taxes—upkeep of police and fire departments, water system, schools. The school is the finest in eastern Tennessee. Norris is a lovely place. People like to live there. And it shows what good environment will do. A thousand persons live in the city, yet there has never been an arrest for a felony! ana BETWEEN Norris and the dam is a TVA nursery. A woman from Chicago said, “That’s another one of those communistic things. The government raising babies!” What they do, of course, is raise baby trees, millions of them, to be planted all over the valley. In Norris is a big ceramics laboratory. They are studying minerals and soils from all over this region. They have found new clays that will make beautiful chinaware. They will give their findings*to private industry, and private industry will put up factories to

Ernie Pyle

clarer must deliberately give up one trick to gain two or more. Today's hand employs a defensive sacrifice play, one very hard to recognize, because you usually can not see its development until it is too late. However, here is one that is easy to recognize. When West opened the king of spades against the four heart contract and East’s jack dropped, declarer won the trick with the ace. The ace of hearts was led and to the great disappointment of declarer. "West showed out, discarding a small spade. Declarer then led the king of hearts. Now what would you play from the East hand? If you play the four spot, you can not stop declarer from making his contract, because then he will cash the ace and the king of diamonds. Lead the queen of hearts and throw East into the lead by playing a small heart, heart, which will force East to lead a club into dummy’s acequeen. This will give declarer an opportunity to discard his two losing spades and r.ll he can lose now is a diamond. What East must do is to play his nine of hearts when declarer plays the king,, retaining a small

INDIANAPOLIS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1935

-itm ii uniiiTT , T*:>? Jss&jJf wa| |ii i.

When these clerks, part of the staff of 2500 working in the United States Census Bureau office in St. Louis, have completed their work, the names of the 75,994,575 people living in the United States thirtyfive years ago will be catalogued. These mammoth lists will be used in establishing rights to old-age pensions under the new Social Security plan.

and the duration of benefits in most cases is 16 weeks. B B B THE District of Columbia is semi-officially considered to have a “model” unemployment law. It provides for a pooled fund, covers employers of one cr more, requires employer contributions of 1 per cent for 1936, 2 per cent for 1937, and 3 per cent thereafter, and provides a maximum contribution by the District of $175,000 in 1938. It establishes the compensation rate at 40 per cent of wages plus 10 per cent for dependent spouse and 5 per cent for a dependent relative with a maximum of 65 per cent, only 13 weeks of employment as a qualification period, a threeweek waiting period, and 16 weeks of benefits. The Federal government went into the unemployment insurance field because states kept out of it on the theory that it would give employers in less progressive states a competitive advantage over their own. The Social Security Act provides uniformity of cost to employers per person employed. The act does nothing for those now unemployed. BUB BESIDES agricultural labor, exempted from the tax are employers of domestic servants, officers and crews, individuals em-

make new things out of this clay, and give the people jobs. Back behind the dam, for miles and miles, the rolling country is bare of anything but weeds. It is awesome, in a land of mountains and forests. No houses, no trees, no living thing. It looks like a battlefield. Thousands of mountain men have been at work for months, clearing this land of all timber, tearing down old houses, devasting it. This is because the area will soon be a lake, and TVA does not want any obstructions under water. Thirty-five hundred families were moved out of this region. The government bought their land. It let them tear down their buildings, and take the lumber. You see where a house stood, and nothing there now but the weird front steps, standing all alone. You come to what was a town. Now there are just a few piles of rubbish, all that is left of the homes after the owners took them away. The University of Tennessee studied all eastern Tennessee, helped these people buy new homes, usually much better than they had. It helped place those who were tenant farmers: It is true that many of these people didn’t want to go, and there is considerable reason for a feeling of sentimentauty about them—that a man ought to have

A9s 4 2 V 6 2 48 3 2 A A Q 10 7 AKQIO 6 Tj I* J 3 w " E V JlO 9 4 V Void w b 3 ♦ 10 975 S ♦ Q 6 *9 8 4 2 Dealer |* K J 6 5 3 AA 7 5 V AKQ 8 7 5 ♦AK J 4 A Void Duplicate—None rul. South West North East IV 1 A Pass Pass 3 ♦ Pass 3N. T. Pass 4 V Pass Pass Pass Opening lead — A K * *8 trump as an out card. In other w r ords, he deliberately sacrifices one of his trump tricks. When declarer continues with the queen of hearts, East must throw the ten spot, again keeping his small heart. Now when he is thrown into the lead with the jack of hearts, he returns the four. This play defeats the contract,, as declarer must lose two spades and one diamond in addition to the trump trick. iCopyrigbU. 1555.. SEA Service, lac.)

ployed by son, daughter, or spouse, children under 21 employed by parents, public employes, and employes of nonprofit institutions. Criticisms of the Unemployment Compensation plan stress its duplication of taxes, the confusion sure to result from varying state systems, its failure to use Federal income taxation for financing, the likelihood of administrative complications, and the fact that the Federal government stands to make a profit. Retaining 10 per cent of the Federal tax, it will pay state administrative expenses estimated at little more than 5 per cent of the tax, indicating a possible profit of 30 or 40 millions a year. Also, when states exclude salaried workers above a certain income level, the Treasury goes right on collecting the tax on total pay rolls. And when a state has no unemployment insurance law, your Uncle Sam profits the whole tax. tt tt tt Employers will contest the Unemployment Compensation and Old-Age Benefit sections of the act in the courts. Are they “constitutional?” All you, I, or any one else knows about that may be expressed in a remark Chief Justice Hughes once made when ne wasn’t on the bench:

the right to live where he wants to. But if you can believe that by their moving thousands of other families will be put in better circumstances, you don't feel so bad about it.

u a ALL these 3500 families in Norris Reservoir are gone now, except about 60 families. These, TVA men say, are definitely sub-marginal; they’re the people who. in good times or bad, simply don't have what it takes to make a living for themselves. They will always be on relief. The Resettlement Administration is going to take care of them. You drive along the roads, outside of the reservoir area, and you see home after home, just newly put up or perhaps half built. These are the new homes of the people who were moved out. When you look at them, and then at some of the few cabins still left in the reservoir area, you feel better. In almost any field outside the

New York Marks Christmas With Happiness, Heartbreak

By United Press NEW YORK, Dec. 25. —Hotel and restaurant owners were congratulating themselves today on a banner Christmas Eve business, but there was an undercurrent of sadness. The 27 locals affiliated with the United Amusement. Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union have threatened to paralyze the New Year's Eve trade by calling a strike of 75.000 waiters, waitresses, musicians and others. They seek union recognition. a a a I -——i——

By United Press NEW YORK. Dec. 25.—“ Calling all cars’’ rang over the police radio system and every patrol car driver tensed for the word that would send them racing to a crime. Instead the voice of Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine boomed out a hearty “Merry Christmas.” It was the first time the system had been used for a greeting. a a By United Press NEW YORK. Dec. 25.—The eminently conservative Union League Club, strong critic of the WPA and other New Deal policies, gave several hundred underprivileged children a Christmas Day party. The most popular feature was a circus by WPA performers. ana By United Press NEW YORK, Dec. 25.—Several hundred WPA workers spent a cheerless Christmas today because they had accepted, without verification. a rumor that all WPA workers would be paid off ahead of schedule this week. Eightyfive thousand WPA men were paid off yesterday instead of today, but officials explained they had no authority to advance the checks oi the other 160,000 workers. Sev-

“We are living under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.” Justice Owen J. Roberts, reading a 5-to-4 opinion, last spring held that the Railroad Retirement Act violated the due process and interstate commerce clauses of the Constitution. He was vigorously disputed by Hughes. Which really means that you can write a constitutional opinion either way on Social Security—and that the court undoubtedly will divide on it. Many New Deal lawyers feel Roberts, who was once considered an essential part of the court’s “liberal majority”—which is nonexistent without him in effect barred himself from approving any national social security measure. It is worth remembering that the act can hardly be tested before 1937, when the Treasury starts collecting taxes. And it one of the five “conservative” judges passes from the picture in the meantime, validation of Social Security will be a good bet. Roosevelt wouldn’t appoint a successor who couldn’t be depended on to uphold it. In any event, that decision is likely to be as far-reaching and important as any the court has made to date. THE END

reservoir, you see rolling farms neatly terraced. From the road you can see hundreds of small cedar trees, planted by TVA. You can see a fine crop of clover on a hillside, where the farmers used to try to raise corn. It's fertilized with TVA phosphate. You drive back up the edge of the reservoir along what will, in a year, be the shore of Norris Lake, and you come into a beautiful, natural woods. It is a park, you don’t know how big. but very big. The government has built cabins, electrically equipped, that you can rent during your vacation. There are bath houses, and bathing beaches, and grills for outdoor cooking scattered around among the trees. Deer will be turned loose in the forest, and the lake will be stocked with fish. It will be a paradise for the vacationer.

TOMORROW Senator Norris’ dream comes true.

eral protest demonstrations were held on WPA projects, but it was understood store keepers had agreed in most cases to advance credit pending receipt of funds. PUBLIC INSTALLATION ARRANGED BY MASONS Entertainment to Follow Ceremony at Prospect Lodge. Public installation of officers is to be held tomorrow night by Prospect Lodge, No. 714, F. & A. M. Entertainment is to be provided and refreshments served. New officers are Paul Armstrong, worshipful master; Bert Mayo, senior warden; William R. Belford, junior warden; Raymond F. Lane, secretary; Frank B. Meyer, treasurer; Harry E. Emmons, senior deacon; Everett E. Beeson, junior deacon; Raymond F. Daily, senior steward; Lester Hoppus, junior steward; Dr. Reiner H. Benting. chaplain; John C. Hoover, tyler, and Clarence Kidwell. trustee. The lodge Is to confer Master Mason degrees Saturday night, preceded by a fish fry.

Second Section

Eitered as Second-Class Matter at I’ostoffice, Indianapolis. Ind.

Fair Enough WESTBROOK PEGLER TV OME. Dec. 25. — Poets of Italy have written many short-order songs of warlike and patriotic character in the current emergency, but up to this time they have produced neither a "Tipperary.' - an “Over There.” a “Madelon” nor a “Mademoiselle from Armentieres." The best attempt is one in which soldiers say they will bring back the whiskers of the Negus and use them to shine the boots of Mussolini. It is reminiscent of the first stanza of “La Cucaracha,”

the old campaign song of Pancho Villa’s sweaty irresponsibies who were always threatening to pluck the beard of Venustiano Carranza and braid it into a hat band for Pancho’s broad sombrero. Incidentally, the meter is such that the name of Marshal De Bono may be substituted for that of the Negus of Abyssinia, and this is a happy convenience, for the dashing officer has whiskers of similar pattern, also suitable for shining the Duce’s shoes. And considering that Marshal de Bono recently was smuggled home from Africa on a tardy train

on a rainy night in the dark of the moon, the idea that his whiskers might be put to this useful purpose is not inconceivable. There has been a strange demureness about the return of the gallant marshal, and it’s hard to understand why Mussolini, who loves a parade, has held no triumphal march for the conquering avenger of Aduwa. The most popular war song is “Little Black Fare.” in which Blackshirt soldiers address themselves sentimentally to the colored ladies of Ethiopia. tt tt tt Take Liberties W ith Poetic License BY exercise of poetic license the author invests the belles of Abyssinia with a certain girlish charm, ignoring much testimony by returned travelers that the little pretties of Ethiopia habitually smear their hair with rancid grease and do not smell nice. “Little Black Face” goes like this: “If now you look from the highlands to the sea, Little black face, slave among slaves, You will see as in a beautiful dream A tricolor unfurl for you. Our law is the bondage of love, But freedom of life and thought. We Blackshirts will free you, Little black-face Abyssinian belle.” The Italians have an equivalent, after all these years, of the American "Good-by, Dolly Gray.” This one is popular in night clubs of Rome. But, unlike “Little Black Face,” is not much favored among school children. It says: “The battalions march to the station. Bravely the line of bold Blackshirts pass. The train leaves. At every window the soldiers Joyously repeat the refrain: CHORUS “Good-by, dear Virginia. I’m off to Abyssinia, But I shall return. I’ll send you a • beautiful flower picked under equatorial skies. Good-by, dear Virginia. I’m going to Abyssinia. Later I shall return. Second Verse “At the side of the ardent young soldier Stands the veteran with medals on his breast. Together they go, full of joy. But the old soldier who can’t go sighs in his heart Because he can not say: CHORUS “Good-by, dear Virginia,” etc. B B B A Rusty Sense of Irony IT TOOK two poets to achieve the romantic illusion expressed in the march called "Africanella, the Flower of Abyssinia.” And no wonder, for this is the chorus: “Flower of Abyssinia, beautiful flower, African maid. In the shade of the tricolor you will be yet more beautiful: Our Italy will your new Fatherland and will protect you. The burning flame of love, African maid, can free your heart of slavery. And in your heart will sound the eternal song of glory and hymn of liberty.” The recent capture of Aduwa, where the Italians suffered an unfortunate mishap in 1893, is celebrated in a stirring number which says, in part: “As brilliant victory gleaming in a golden sky passes by. The drums beat, the cannons cease to boom. How thrilling! Fly and tell the world. Aduwa has been vindicated.” It should be explained that Italians have no sense of irony and that promises of freedom under Fascism are absolutely earnest. Similarly, they are not at all embarrassed by the fact that the socalled battle of Aduwa involved no more action than an ordinary family row. Yet Americans are regarded as a boastful crew, and George M. Cohan's “Over There” is still remembered as the all-time high mark in braggadocio.

Times Books

AN American who wants to know what his country should do to perfect a program that will keep it out of war can do nothing better than read the fifth volume of Ray Stannard Baker’s “Life and Letters of Woodrow Wilson,” just published. (Doubleday, Doran; $4.) This volume covers President Wilson’s activities in 1914 and 1915, and shows how inevitably we were drawn into the World War because we had not, in advance, drawn up any kind of neutrality program. We began by barring loans to belligerents; but we could not prohibit ordinary trade with them—there were neither laws nor precedent for it. So we built up a tremendous trade with the Allies, and to save it we finally had to permit the floating of loans; and at last we were in the war without realizing it, so that our declaration in the spring of 1917 simply ratified what had long since been inevitable. tt tt n MR BAKER shows Wilson fighting desperately, but unavailingly. to save our neutrality. The man was not w r ell served by his aide; Ambassador Page quickly became an appanage of the British foreign office, and Mr. Baker is severe in his strictures on Col. House. The one man who fought the good fight for peace was. indeed, your old friend William Jennings Bryan. He emerges from this book a truly great figure—and a tragic one. The die was cast, Mr. Baker declares, by the end of 1915. Wilson still worked for peace, but his sympathies were with the Allies. His efforts to defend America’s neutral rights had been checkmated. From the start, it was certain that America world ultimately decide how the war should end; by the end of 1915, things had happened which foreshadow ed a decision for the Allies.

Literary Notes

Early in the spring “An Eighteenth Century Miscellany,” edited by Louis Kronenberger, will be published by Putman's. Its purpose is to collect into one volume those classes which best represent all facets of Eighteenth Century life. There will be 10 in all. To the 25 persons who most accurately guess what 10 selections are included, the publishers will present a specially autographed first edition. Letters must be in by Jan. 10.

Westbrook Pegler