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say, will govern the policy of air extension set out in this statement."

for the time being, at least, is probably intended to react on the major issue rather than on actual air armaments."

As the Charleston News and Courier observes:

"It is reasonable to assume that the French policy in the Ruhr is as much responsible for the British Government's decision as is the great fleet of French airplanes itself. British suspicion that the French really intend to stay in the Ruhr seems to be ripening into conviction, and with France permanently controlling that great iron-producing district, the richest in Europe, she becomes a mighty military nation indeed. In the circumstances there is nothing for Britain to do except make herself strong enough to deal with any danger that may come from across the Channel. Her old isolation is gone." "This is the kind of preparedness that has teeth in it," admits the Milwaukee Sentinel. And it goes on to ask:

LOCATION OF AIR SQUADRONS OF GREAT POWERS From an article by Ladislas d Orcy in Aviation (New York, July 16)

Country

Home

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France..

131

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Total 174

United States. Great Britain.

25

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7

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Italy.

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"This announcement marks the conclusion of the movement begun some months ago to have the British air force equal that of the French," says the London correspondent of the New York Tribune. According to figures obtained from reliable sources by Ladislas d'Orcy, editor of Aviation (New York), France has 1,562 first-line airplanes, against Great Britain's 408. The present British air personnel is said to be 29,306, and the French personnel 37,730. France denies that behind its huge air force there has ever been an offensive design against Great Britain. The chief purpose of the great size of France's aerial armada is said to be defense against Germany, or a combination of Germany and Russia. And this, according to Mr. d'Orey, is no idle dream. In reply to those who aver that "Germany has been disarmed," he maintains that Germany is manufacturing "commercial" airplanes at the rate of 100 a month, with the ultimate view of putting them to military use. France's position, briefly, is that in view of the failure of Great Britain and the United States to guarantee her against aggression, she is justified in maintaining the greatest air force in the world. France does not want to engage in a competition in airplane building with England, say Paris correspondents of New York papers, and would like to come to an agreement whereby the air forces of both Powers would be reduced. But France, we are told, will not agree to aerial limitation giving her the ratio which she received navally at the Washington Conference. At present she is supreme in the air, and the French argue that if air armaments are limited as naval armaments were, the race will halt right where it is, and reduction will be effected in proportion to existing strength. "If the Washington rule was good for battle-ships, let it apply now for airplanes," is the way the Paris correspondent of the New York Times states the argument for France.

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"Home" for United States includes the States and Territories within the continental limits of North America; "Overseas" includes all other possessions.

"Home" for Great Britain includes England and Scotland, no British air forces being stationed in Ireland; "Overseas" includes all other possessions exclusive of the self-governing Dominions.

"Home " for Italy includes continental Italy, Sicily and Sardinia with adjacent islands; "Overseas includes Tripoli, Cyrenaica, Erythræa and Italian Somaliland.

"Home" for Japan includes the Japanese Islands proper, with adjacent islands; "Overseas" includes Formosa and Korea.

England's attitude, briefly, is that her island position, invulnerable while the British Navy dominated the seas, is now open to air attack. British naval experts condemn the battle-ship as useless against aircraft, and declare that the vital factor in the next war will be the airplane. "The next war," says one of England's spokesmen, "could be begun and quickly ended by air force alone." Bombed night after night by Zeppelins during the war, Englishmen are now said to feel that the security of the country from air attacks is paramount to all other military considerations.

But American editors have not taken either French or British views at their face value; they have not, as it were, "swallowed them whole.” "Possibly Prime Minister Baldwin's move is only a preliminary to negotiation with France and other Powers for a limitation of air armament," suggests the New York Tribune, while The World hints that France intends to use her aerial forces to obtain diplomatic prestige. In the opinion of the Newark News:

"It must be remembered that Mr. Baldwin's shot out of the blue came in the midst of the present deadlock over the Ruhr and reparations question. There is a strong possibility that it is merely a jolt intended to counteract French extremists. The major question at issue still remains that of the Ruhr and reparations. The injection of the air program issue into the debate,

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"Will the course of events between England and France parallel the history of the relations between England and Germany? The war between England and Germany began long before 1914. It practically began in 1895, when the German Emperor hurled his big Navy challenge across the North Sea. After that, there was no peace, no matter how much the diplomats and the Hague conferences might talk about peace."

The Philadelphia Record, however, does not expect hostilities between France and England in the near or the remote future. But, it reminds us-

'There is no question about the bitter feeling in France because England objects to the Ruhr adventure. And France has objected to the British opposition to Franco-Turkish policies, but in this matter England has yielded a great deal, and France has resisted Turkish demands.

"France is indignant that England would not join in the invasion of Germany. In spite of repeated statements that passive resistance in the Ruhr is weakening, it is maintained sufficiently to drive France to more aggressive actions, and these increase the danger to the peace of Europe.

"France protests that it is not belligerent, and that it wants nothing from Germany except its share of 132 billion gold marks. But Germany is disarmed. Is it necessary for France to maintain the largest army outside of Russia and an incredible number of military airplanes in order to protect itself against Germany?"

It is estimated that a thousand warplanes can be built for the price of a single post-Jutland battle-ship, and this fact in itself indicates to the New York Herald a new danger. Says this paper:

"In one respect the present contest for air supremacy is more serious than the former contest for naval supremacy. The high cost of battle-ships reduced the number of naval contestants; none but great Powers could afford powerful fleets. But airplanes are cheap and the small industrial Powers of Europe are quite equal to building and maintaining large numbers of them. Indeed, even a limited number of airplanes of advanced design would give a small State enormously more military power than it formerly possest, at less cost, and might well make it a troublesome and dangerous neighbor."

The only way out of the present hate-breeding armament race, as the Philadelphia Public Ledger sees it, is another Washington Conference, “to deal with the snakes of the sea and the hornets of the sky." Surely, thinks The Ledger—

"There ought to be wisdom enough in the world to bring about an aerial holiday. If not, then the half, or wholly, bankrupt Old World Powers are off in another and new armament race, and no man living may say what the ending of that race will be."

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TO MEND WAR, NOT END IT

TO MORE IMPORTANT FORWARD STEP for reducing the barbarities of war has been taken, in the opinion of the Buffalo Express, than the formulation by representatives of the five great Powers of rules of warfare governing the future use of wireless and aircraft. In fact, it is the first time that such a code has been drafted. The rules governing these new and vital agencies of warfare are an outgrowth of the Washington Arms Conference of 1921, and the rules now agreed upon by the Commission of Jurists sitting at The Hague, and representing the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, have been framed in a treaty which will be submitted next winter to the Senate for ratification. One of the most important of the new rules will ban airplane attacks "such as the Germans made upon Paris and London for the purpose of ter

A BOOK OF ETIQUETTE FOR HIM
-Spencer in the Omaha World-Herald.

rorization," observes the Washington correspondent of the New York World. In fact, declares the Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph, "the new code governing wireless and aircraft in war will fittingly take its place beside the Washington Conference agreements prohibiting the use of submarines against merchant ships and the use of poison gas in warfare."

The question that naturally arises in the minds of several editors, as they look back upon the World War, is this: Would a convention of this sort be kept in a future war, or would "military necessity" make it a "scrap of paper"? "It is one thing to make a rule, and another to enforce it," notes one editor. "But," replies the Pittsburgh paper, "something is gained by thus putting the nations on record." Furthermore, we are told by the Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, "should there be any prospect of delay in obtaining the consent of all nations to the doctrines laid down, it is probable that the five great Powers will declare these restrictions to be in full force and effect as among themselves." As the Buffalo Express points out: "It will be objected that, when war begins, all such rules will be disregarded. That depends on the civilization of the belligerents. All rules and considerations of humanity were not abandoned in the late war by the Germans, and rules were much more carefully observed by the Allies. But whether any nation

could be trusted to observe these new laws or not, all nations should be committed to them. The standard of correct conduct should be established, whether there is confidence that it will be maintained or not."

The proposals of the Commission comprize twelve articles dealing with wireless and sixty rules governing aircraft of all kinds. No new principles are declared, the object apparently being to apply recognized principles of existing international law to these new agencies of warfare. An outstanding rule in the new code affecting radio provides that no shipmaster can disregard a call of distress without being guilty of perfidy under the law of nations, and some of the most important rules of aerial warfare are the following:

"In time of war any State, whether belligerent or neutral, may forbid or regulate the entrance or movement of aircraft within its jurisdiction.

"No aircraft other than a belligerent military aircraft shall engage in hostilities in any form. No private aircraft shall be armed when outside of its own country in time of war.

"A belligerent non-military aircraft, whether public or private, may be converted into a military aircraft provided that the conversion is effected within the jurisdiction of the belligerent State to which the aircraft belongs, and not on the high seas.

"When an aircraft has been disabled the occupants when endeavoring to escape by means of a parachute must not be attacked in the course of their descent.

"The use of aircraft to disseminate propaganda is not forbidden.

"Members of the crews of such aircraft must not be deprived of their rights as prisoners of war on the charge that they have committed such an act.

"Aerial bombardment for the purpose of terrorizing the civilian population or destroying or damaging private property not of a military character or of injuring non-combatants is prohibited. "Aerial bombardment is legitimate only when directed at a military objective, that is to say, an object of which the destruction or injury would constitute a distinct military advantage to the belligerent."

"This code lays down for aerial bombardment much the same rules as the Hague Convention of 1907 laid down for military and naval bombardments," observes the New York Tribune. "And if the important provisions receive the sanction of the leading Powers, there certainly will be no excuse for a repetition of many of the atrocities that occurred during the World War," believes the Manchester Union, for, reasons the Buffalo News, "it will be to the interest of the smaller nations to follow the lead of the great Powers." The Pittsburgh Gazette Times even goes so far as to hope that eventually the people will be ready sincerely to approach the question of abolishing war altogether. But, says the Milwaukee Journal:

"The chief value of the new rules for the air which nations are drawing up will not be in any assurance they offer that defenseless cities will be spared. It will be in drawing the attention of the people of the world to the horrors of war."

The New York Herald, however, maintains that the new code "does not go far enough in its humane design." "It ought to forbid all bombing from the sky," thinks this paper. And the New York Evening Mail believes that

"The only way to deal with war for the benefit of humanity is to end it. That could be accomplished by international agreement, but the agreement would have to go further than a mere covenant by one nation not to attack another or others. The whole record of history shows that wars are brought about by a comparatively few people who profit by them and leave the actual fighting to others. The first step then toward the outlawing of war is to outlaw all private profit from war, to end, by international agreement, all manufacture of military material except by governments, and to limit even that.

"When President Harding reiterated the other day his dictum that in another war the nation must draft, not men only, but cash, he was on the right tack. Hundreds of millionaires were made in this and other countries by the last war. If there be another, hundreds more will be made while men are dying on the battlefield and women and children are dying of starvation, unless war profiteering be ended."

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WOMEN TO HELP RUN THE G. O. P.

HE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE may rock the boat in next year's political whirlpool if not given a hand-hold on the tiller-at least, that is why some think that Chairman Adams, of the Republican National Committee, has told the National Committeemen to invite a woman from each State to assist the Committee in an advisory capacity. The women of this country, Republican leaders are said to feel, will decide the Presidential election next year. "Much has been said about women holding the balance of power." writes the Washington correspondent of the Boston Christian Science Monitor, "but this time it is going to be more than a figure of speech, and this will be true primarily because of the wet and dry issue." And the Detroit Free Press, while it believes "the influence of women in politics is still open to debate," feels, nevertheless, that "we should not neglect any circumstance which throws light on the question."

Women have had representation on the Democratic National Committee for several years. There is one woman member from each State. This is not the case with the Republican National Committee, but women are represented on its Executive Committee. Says Adams of Eve's daughters in the G. O. P. Eden:

"The next National Convention of the Republican party will adopt the suggestion of the Republican women of the country with respect to what they want in the matter of representation on the National Committee. In the meantime, just as soon as it can be brought about, arrangements will be made to have women named as advisory members of the National Committee, one advisory member from each State. That is as far as we have authority to go, pending action by the National Convention."

The decision reached in Washington after a conference with President Harding marks the triumph of a movement begun three years ago, we are told. According to the New York Times, "President Harding is understood to feel strongly the importance of giving Republican women full representation and equality." In his recent speech at Helena, it will be recalled, the President declared that the work which women voluntarily came forward and performed during the World War "inevitably worked a profound change in the relation of woman to the social and political organization." This recognition by Mr. Harding, and the action of Chairman Adams, believes Louis Siebold, Washington correspondent of Mr. Munsey's New York Herald, “has headed off a row that might have driven many of the women voters into the Democratic party." "The policy of the Demoeratie party," this correspondent goes on, "has been to coddle the women voters; that of the Republican organization to accord them just enough representation to keep peace in the ranks."

ual opportunity. All remaining discriminations against her and her sex must be swept away. Her hours of work must be safeguarded, her opportunities of political and social advancement improved. Her children must be rescued from industrial exploitation through reasonable child labor laws, and the moral environments of her home must be made safe. Thus, and thus alone, will she be won to any political allegiance."

"This recognition of women is not only an act of justice, but is good politics," declares the Washington Star. "There has been no more significant indication of the place women propose to take in political affairs," agrees the Louisville Herald, and these two opinions are shared by the New York Tribune, San Francisco Billetin, Providence News, Grand Rapids Press, and Rochester Post Express. As the New York Evening Mail puts the matter:

These new committeewomen, serving in an advisory capacity, "should prove a stimulus to the men who now make up the National Committee," in the opinion of the Washington Star, while the Philadelphia Public Ledger is certain that

"The decision of the Republican National Committee to give women equal representation with men in its membership is commendable. It is a reward and a responsibility to which women were justly entitled, and which they inevitably would have won for themselves sooner or later.

"Women will bring to bear upon national, State and local politics a new view-point, an emancipated vision and one uninfluenced-or very little influenced-by precedents and traditions. Their admission to full equality in the political councils is certain

"If, as has been proclaimed in certain quarters, it was a move intended merely to stop a drift of women voters to the opposition, it will not accomplish that purpose. Only a sincere and sympathetic study of the things the women of the country really want, and an honest effort to help them realize their hopes will accomplish it.

"If the new alinement means nothing more than the reinforcement of professional politicians of one sex by an equal number of professional politicians of the other, it is an idle gesture. That party will get the woman vote which brings to her an intelligent program of international accord, domestic security and individ

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to come. But perhaps it is wise that there should be an intermediate stage of preparation such as this experimental associate membership."

A sardonic strain is noticeable in at least two editorials regarding the Harding-Adams decision. "It may be noted that Chairman Adams yielded only under pressure," observes the Boston Post; and in the opinion of the Indianapolis News, "the fact that only now, with a national election just around the corner, the National Committee has awakened to the place of women in practical American politics illuminates the sluggish current of Republican party affairs." Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, vicechairman of the Republican Executive Committee, however, has this to say in defense of the G. O. P.:

"While it is true that there are no women on the Republican National Committee at present, they have as much influence and are as freely consulted as in the Democratic party.

"It was the Republican men who gave us the ballot, which was shown by the fact that thirty out of thirty-seven States which voted for the Suffrage Amendment were controlled by the Republican party. The only reason that women are on the Democratic National Committee is that they met after we did and had a chance to act, whereas the Republican National Committee decided on its program before the present situation existed.

"Of course, the Republican women want equal representation on the National Committee. And they will get it in 1924.”

TOPICS IN BRIEF

(An extension of this department appears weekly on the screen as "Fun from the Press")

GERMANY seems worried about everything except what she owes.-Brooklyn Eagle.

The Commoner prospered on 16 to 1, but suspended publication on evolution.-Cleveland Times.

THE trouble with the Volstead Law isn't defective teeth but itching palms.-Austin American.

THE man who has discovered a ray that will annihilate gravity must be a comedian.-Spokane Press.

. A EUROPEAN newspaper correspondent says it is a mystery
where France is getting the money to build her big submarine
fleet. Probably from her sink-
ing fund.-Nashville Southern
Lumberman.

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CHINA Without a government can hardly be said to have deteriorated much.-Denver Times.

WHAT Europe needs is more hardness of sense and less hardness of heart.-Washington Post.

IT is a good thing the hens do not know how much masons get for laying bricks.-New York Tribune.

THE German mark is proving to the world that there is no such thing as absolute zero.-Asheville Times.

"WE have no protest against literature, provided we are not asked to photograph it," says a movie producer. In behalf of literature, humble thanks are herewith returned. - Cincin nati Times-Star.

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IN PLAIN VIEW, BUT

-Sykes in the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger.

that will grow evenly and cheerfully to a certain length and then stop.-South Bend Tribune.

IN angling for support, President Harding has always favored the line of least resistance.-Rochester Herald.

AND the Eighteenth Amendment was designed to take Prohibition out of politics!-Wall Street Journal.

A THIRD party gets its name from the way it generally finishes when an election is held.-Southern Lumberman.

A MAN may live long in Bulgaria if he drinks buttermilk and stays out of politics.-San Antonio Express.

A TWELVE-MILE limit would only give the rum fleet more sea room to dodge the revenue ships.-New York Tribune.

JUDGE GARY hopes for the ultimate abolition of the twelvehour day. But faith without works is dead.-Philadelphia Bulletin.

BARBERS predict dollar haircuts, but when they reach that level many of us will refuse to be trimmed.-New Orleans TimesPicayune.

IN the big cities automobilists are making traffic conditions easier by gradually reducing the number of pedestrians.-New York Tribune.

THAT fellow who has invented a collapsible platform for trucks is a little late. Political parties have been using something like that.-Buffalo News.

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AND only a short time back some of the scientists solemnly assured the world that the sun is losing its heat.-Oshkosh Northwestern.

THE steps which the Germans are taking toward reparations settlements are all goose-steps.-Dallas News.

THE favorite hymn of the good politician is "Watch Me, and
I Shall Be Whiter than Snow."-Brooklyn Eagle.

THE prohi program seems to be-if at first you don't succeed,
dry and dry again.-New Orleans Times-Picayune.
JUDGE GARY might test public sentiment by running for
President on a twelve-hour platform.-Milwaukee Journal.

It will be observed that the Treasury surplus did not appear until after Congress had adjourned.-Pittsburgh Gazette Times.

THE Somewhat wide-spread unrest over Prohibition will, perhaps, make the G. O. P. elephant get a hump on.-Nashville

Banner.

A TWO-YEAR-OLD New Yorker fell five stories unhurt, thereby showing that if you choose your direction you can avoid traffic safely.-Dallas News.

CALL on Doctor Before You Get Sick, Is Plan-Headline But there's too much of that sort of thing going on now.-Louisville Courier-Journal.

WE do not blame Wilhelm for rewriting the Bible. It contains some passages that must worry him considerably.-New Orleans Times-Picayune.

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LITTLE "HEINIES" PEEPING CURIOUSLY AT THE INVADER IN ESSEN, GERMANY

THE VATICAN'S PROPOSAL FOR PEACE IN THE RUHR

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AMING NO NAMES, but manifestly signifying France, Germany and the Ruhr, as the European correspondents plainly declare, Pope Pius XI has written a letter to his Secretary of State, Cardinal Gasparri, entreating those who control the destinies of nations to deal with the world's great problems, reparations included, in "a Christian spirit." The debtor (for "debtor," read "Germany") should display real "goodwill" by letting a disinterested third party look into his affairs and decide how much he can pay. The creditor (for "creditor," read "France") should observe the principles of "justice and social charity" and not require the debtor to pay more than he is able to pay without exhausting his resources and productive power. Meanwhile, the creditor should consider if some other and less painful guaranties than territorial occupation (for "territorial occupation," read "the Ruhr") would not be an improvement upon the present arrangement-or, rather, disarrangement. In short, the Pope invites Germany to welcome a factfinding commission of outsiders whose investigations would show how much Germany ought in reason to pay. He invites France to evacuate the Ruhr and accept other guaranties instead-even "progressive" guaranties-tho he fails to specify what guaranties those should be. However, the failure is not regretted, if, indeed, it is noticed, in Germany; and if it seems to indicate pro-German leanings the Pope offsets this by his demand, in a second message, for the cessation of sabotage in the Ruhr. As the correspondents tell us, the main peace proposal is favorably considered by Chancellor Cuno in an address delivered within reach of French cannon at Barmen in the Rhenish Province. Says Cuno:

"We hope that the Pope's appeal to the world will find willing ears on the other side. I am convinced that they all, even as I read this solemn appeal, are deeply moved. Before the eyes of the Holy Father, embracing time and space and recognizing the sufferings and tortures of the conditions burdening us to-day, we want openly to say that speedy and final liberation from foreign pressure is a moral duty. The most important aims of our policy are directed to justice and willingness for a final just solution of the reparations problem.

"If in th fight against the foe you must daily suffer harder and harder things, so that it often may seem unendurable, bear in mind that rash acts will not bring about a solution of the confliet. We must remain sensible within the limits of passive resistance, and we must employ the weapon of the spirit, the only

weapon we have against the arms of might and violence until a happy ending comes.

"Efforts are under way to clarify the one great question before all the world-What does France want? Does she want economic negotiations? Does France want reparations or does France want annexation? To those who gave their lives for Germany in the defensive fight, to those sitting in jail, to those expelled from their homes without being able to take with them a piece of goods or chattels-to all these we solemnly pledge to remain firm and sensible to a good ending.

"Should France abandon its present plans and recognize Germany's right to live and breathe freely, and should France, in open accord with the Allies, reach a reasonable solution of the reparations problem which takes into consideration the realities of the situation-then Germany will not stand in the way of an understanding. The world needs peace, and every man in Germany will therefore greet with thankful acquiescence the call to peace and reconciliation which has gone forth to the world from the Holy See."

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It is true that the Berlin Kreuz Zeitung, tho trusting that the Pope's letter will cause Mr. Poincaré some embarrassment," sees little hope of practical results. Then, too, the Berlin journal, Die Zeit, remarks: "Following the experiences of recent years, we are not quickly convinced that his words to his one-time 'most devoted daughter' France will have any noticeable result at all, or at least within a conceivable period. Anyway, it is well known that Germany demands complete evacuation of the Ruhr as the goal for negotiations."

But the Socialist organ, Vorwaerts, sees a fairly direct connection between the Sovereign Pontiff's attitude and the "strong pressure of the English governmental press for a settlement of the Ruhr question," and the German press in general applauds the Pope's letter.

In Paris, on the contrary, the effect is anything but favorable. The Journal des Débats, for instance, declares that France is determined to have victory in the Ruhr just as she had victory in the war, and that the Pope's letter of 1923 deserves the treatment given the Pope's letter of 1917:

"The Pope in 1917 could not obtain from Germany a promise to hand back Belgium, and this year the Pope will not obtain from Germany the recognition of her liability for the damages she caused. In 1917 the Pope did not dare pronounce condemnation or impose penitence. He trembled and prayed. He was not listened to by the hardened sinners of Germany, who

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