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MARTIN JOHNSON'S STORY, AND HIS NEW PICTURES OF WILD ANIMALS IN

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AMID WESTERN CHINA'S BANDITS IN SEARCH OF EARLIEST ART TREASURES

III. Down the Etsingol to the City of Marco Polo

PROHIBITION AS IT IS

IV. Rivers of Beer on the Atlantic Seaboard

THE PRINCE OF THREE CAREERS (Book Review)

Langdon Warner 646

Rollin Lynde Hartt 661

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Cameron Rogers
John K. Barnes 673

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Copyright, 1925, in the United States, Newfoundland, Great Britain, and other countries by Doubleday, Page & Co. All rights reserved. Title
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The new President of the American Federation of Labor, who was fifty-two years old on March 3rd. He has been active in the affairs of the United Mine Workers of America and the A. F. of L. for twenty-five years, and as a member of the Ohio State Senate he drew up the Ohio Workmen's Compensation Law.

VOLUME XLIX

THE

WORLD'S WORK

APRIL, 1925

NUMBER 6

T

THE MARCH OF EVENTS

HE President's picture of the country is one of great optimism. He feels that in our foreign relations and in our domestic situation there is much that is satisfying and still more that is encouraging. And this picture of the condition of the United States is true. We are a fortunate people. The cataclysm that depressed living conditions all over Europe has left our industrial masses relatively more comfortable than they were before the war, and even our farmers to a certain extent share in this general well-being. In spite of our great taxes the pursuit of happiness in the United States is more encouraging than almost anywhere else in the world. The President happily reflects this feeling He rightly stresses again the necessity of our continuing our world relationships and joining the World Court without too much quibbling. He again rightly urges economy and pictures it in its nobler aspects. And he forbears to remind Congress that, of all the program for the benefit of the country which he suggested when he succeeded the late President Harding, it has granted him next to nothing. But he does remind Congress that

If there is to be responsible party government, the party label must be something more than a mere device for securing office. Unless those who are elected under the same party designation are willing to assume sufficient responsibility and exhibit sufficient loyalty and coherence, so that they can coöperate with each other in the support of the broad general principles of the party platform, the election is merely a mockery, no decision is made at the polls, and there is no representation of the popular will.

Common honesty and good faith with the people who support a party at the polls require that party, when it enters office, to assume the control of that portion of the Government to which it has been elected. Any other course is bad faith and a violation of the party pledges.

When the country has bestowed its confidence upon a party by making it a majority in the Congress it has a right to expect such unity of action as will make the party majority an effective instrument of government.

Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson believed that for effective government a large degree of Presidential leadership was necessary. President Harding preferred to interpret the Constitution to the effect that the President's responsibility ended with his recommendations, unless he saw fit to veto. President

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Persistent Efforts for Economy

Coolidge seems to follow the Harding precedent, for he takes occasion to say that our system of government, made up of three separate and independent departments, needs constant effort and tireless vigilance for its protection and support.

The program which the President has outlined has the endorsement of the public in the conviction that it will add somewhat to the good fortune with which Providence has blessed us. The problem The problem before the President is: How much of that program will become translated into actuality? The country wishes Mr. Coolidge every success.

The President's Next Term

INCE Mr. Coolidge has been launched upon his own four-year term, it is opportune to analyze the program which he presents for the country's benefit.

The President's efforts toward economy have been considerably successful and the public has every reason to thank him for his persistent efforts in this direction. It is interesting, however, to check the actual results which the Government has obtained with well-informed expectations of three years ago. In October, 1921, David F. Houston, recently having left the Secretaryship of the Treasury, wrote:

If we assume that within two or three

years that is, by the end of the fiscal year 1923 or 1924, the ordinary civil expenditures are reduced to a minimum; that the Shipping Board draws much less heavily on the Treasury; that the business of the War Risk Bureau takes a more favorable turn; that the railroads and the War Finance Corporation are out of the Treasury; that special items of military origin disappear; that particularly large new raids on the Treasury are frustrated, and that the appropriations for the Army and Navy, as a result of agreement partially to disarm

or for other causes, are reduced to double their average for the five years preceding the war-and they are not likely to fall below this; and that the sinking fund operates in full measure, we might see an expenditure of about $2,000,000,000 roughly as follows:

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On January 26, 1925, the President urged that, exclusive of $471,000,000 required by law to be applied to the reduction of the national debt, the expenditures for 1925 be kept down to $3,000,000,000. In other words, our effort now is quite far removed from the best expectation for 1925 held four years ago. What happened to change the picture?

The appropriations of the last Congress for the Army and Navy somewhat exceeded Mr. Houston's expectation. The Indian and pension expenses were a little less than his hope. The interest charge was less by 70 million. The chief places where economy has not succeeded are the War Risk Insurance Bureau and kindred activities. Mr. Houston's pious hope that its business might take a turn for the better was answered by the appointment of Forbes. Partially because of this and partially for other reasons the Government's expenses on account of the veterans is about $343,000,000 a year instead of the $200,000,000 he hoped. The items which Mr. Houston expected under the head of ordinary civil expenses to cost $250,000,000 actually cost more than $500,000,000. In that $500,000,000 are such items as 24 million expenses on the emergency fleet and 80 million given to states to aid road building, and 127 millions for the soldiers' bonus. The President did not desire the bonus; but he was not strong enough to block it. The President does not relish the shipping loss. His party's spokesman in the campaign regarded the possibility of the

Government in the railroad business as a menace to the Republic. Presumably the Government in the shipping business is a like danger, not to mention its 24 million a year loss. The President appointed a commission to solve this prob

lem, but it is likely that direct and drastic action on his part must be taken before the Government gets out of this business and this loss.

The President intimated that he questioned the policy of state aid. Here is another great item which provides opportunity for economy. The real opportunities for economy are in the lopping off of such wholesale expenses at the shipping and state aid items. The Washington Conference was the most courageous act of economy in many years, for it prevented an international race in naval expenditure with the United States as pace-maker.

The country endorses the President's general policy of economy and wishes him well in its continuation and amplification, of the difficulties of which he is more aware than is the public.

Part of the President's tax program is a complement of his economy program. He wishes to reduce the direct taxes which arose in the war, especially the supertaxes and the inheritance tax (which the President believes should be left to the states). The maintenance of a high tariff has not much relation to economy. It is the fulfillment of the extreme protectionist theory.

To increase the efficiency of the Government, the President endorses a plan for the reorganization of the executive departments and an extension of the civil service in the Post Office Department. Both are greatly needed. Mr. Hughes advocated allowing the Cabinet members to appear in Congress to explain and defend their policies a step toward a better coördination of the executive and legislative branches. The President was not interested in this. Yet it is at that point that our governmental machinery most often breaks down. Mr. Coolidge has had little coöperation with Congress so far. Time alone will tell how much coöperation he will get under the present system from the Sixty-ninth Congress.

The President believes in the consolidation of the railroads-under government pressure if necessary. Twenty years ago railroads owned largely by individuals

were forbidden to consolidate. Railroads, now more largely owned by the public and operated by men with a keen sense of public obligation, are urged to consolidate. Twenty years ago "trusts" were being "busted," and suits for conspiracy and restraint of trade filled the courts. Combinations were unlawful and even to talk to a competitor about business was dangerous. Now the Department of Commerce invites one trade after another to Washington and urges organization, standardization, and regulation of each trade by itself.

The vast stimulus to business which the Department of Commerce gives under Mr. Hoover's inspiration can hardly be overestimated, and this stimulus to business does not carry with it the dangers to the public which combinations threatened twenty years ago, for both the Government and business have learned much in the meantime.

Interior Development and Foreign Affairs

T

HE development of the St. Lawrence River, the plan for the distribution of cheap water power from Maine to Florida, and the harnessing of the Colorado River have the endorsement of the Administration. This whole hydroelectric program gives great promise for the industrial advance of the United States. It is a most practical application of the doctrine of conservation and use.

The President appointed an agricultural commission, but there is nothing in its findings that promises such help for agriculture as the Department of Commerce gives to business. Yet the newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture is able, courageous, and sound. He is likely to do as much for agriculture as any man could.

The President begins his new term less auspiciously in foreign affairs than in the domestic field. It is no disparagement of Secretary Kellogg's abilities to record the fact that the resignation of Mr. Hughes was a severe loss to the Administration. Added to that, in the last year

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