The Nation

FOUNDWT)

1Rfi5

~~

VOl. CXLI

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1935

Contents
. . . .
.
.

EDITORIAL
PARAGRAPHS
EDITORIALS:
Geneva Stands Firm
The President Completes t i e Recorh
National Defense and Thouaht . .

. . . . .
. . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
~

. . .
. .
. .
. . .

.
.
.
.

.
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. .

awrord

309

312
313
314
314
315
316
319

III. THE A~XERI:

320
rood Krutch
323
COLONY: B Y Maxwell S. Stewari
324
326
:NCE
326
S TO THIS ISSUE

. . . . . .
. . . . . .
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Id Broun
B y H. L Mitcdell
ahd J R:
Butler ,
On the Alabama frodt. B; hdertJackson . . . . . . . .
BOOKS.
An Interview with Paul ValCry. By Dorothy Dudley
Little
A
Freedom Pleasel By Alexander Crosby
The World of Hdrst Wessel. By Edgar Ansel
Mowier
,
.
Another, Secret Germanv Bv T,nrlv;~q Lore . .
Euripides in Harlem. By Phllip Blair Rlce

328

. . . . . . . . . . . 328
329
. .. .
..
. . . . .

.. .
. .
. .

331
332

334

335
336

~~~

BOARD OF EDITORS

JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH

PREDA KIRCHWEY
RAYMOND GRAM SWING
AS5OCIATE EDITORS
MARGARET MARSHALL
MAXWELL
DOROTHY VAN DOREN

s.

STEWART

OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

CONTRIBUTING
EDITOR

SUBSCRIPTION RATES-DOMESTIC:
on; Year $5; TWO Years $?
Three Years $ll. CANADIAN. 50 cents a year additional. FOREIGN.
$1 a year addltional. THREE
WEEKS
NOTICE
AND T H E OLD
ADDRESS AS WELL A S THE NEW ARE REQUIRED FOR CHANGE
O F SUBSCRIBERSADDRESS.

No. 3663

same. His murder appears to have been a deliberately politicalact, one of thevery few in its category in American
experience. Thus we havehad a laboratorydemonstration
of a dictatorship-of its good intentions, of itsimmoral
practices, and now of its vioIent ending.

1T IS

C H A R A C T E R I S T I C of dictatorships that Long

should not have left a politicalheir to whom Louisiana
can loolr to maintain orderly government. H e did not invite
the close collaboration of gifted men, andhetreated
his
subordinates with amixture of vulgartyrannyandcordial
comradeihip. There was no crownprince; so nowthere
will be dozens of claimants. Whether the Long machine will
breakup without violence only timewill tell, but that it
will collapse appearscertain.Louisianawould
be happier
if this promised the coming to power of a competent opposition. It does not. T h e anti-Long
forces
are
corrupt,
anti-social, andhalf paralyzed. Were thisnot so, Long, of
course, never could nave risen to the heights he occupied,
His deathundoubtedly means troubled times in Louisiana.
Nationally,
however,
the
poIitical situation
is
simplified.
Now therewill be no formidablethird-partymovement
in
the South threatening to wreck the Democratic Party.
With
the death of Long the field of demagoguery is left to Father
Coughlin, of whom one need be much less afraid.

C O N S U M E R S RESEARCH, refuke of theultimate

consumer, is the last source from which we should have

expected labor
trouble.
Yet
Washington,
New Jersex,
where the plant is now situated, is the scene of a strike and
alockout complete with all thetrimmings,including
a yelTHE NATION. Published weekly at 20 Vesey St.,New Pork. Entered low-dogcontract,alarge
picket
line,
sheriffs
deputies,
and
as second class matter December 13. 1697, at the Post Office atNew York.
N. Y.. and
under
the Act of March 3, 1579. Copyrlght, 1935, by the
charges
of
agitation.
T
h
e
immediate
issue
is
the
dis
Nation; Inc.
Muriel C. Gray, Advertising Manager. Walter F. Gyuenlnger, Circulation charge of three employees all of whom had apparently been
Manager. Cable Address: Nation. New York.
in high favor with Mr. Schlinkand his fellow-members of
-~
the board of directors until they became active in the union,
HE ASSASSINATION of SenatorHueyLongwill
Local 20055 of the Technical, Editorial, and
Office Assistimmediately arouse sympathy for his memory that could ants Union, affiliatedwith the A. F. of L. T h e union does
notbe feltforhimwhile
he lived. Politicalmurder is a notquestion the technical rightof Consumers Research to
vile crime, and w e sharetheregret
and shame felt by the fire its employees at ,will-the yellow-dog provision takes
country that he was defeated by a bullet and not in an open care of that. T h e principal object of the strike is to reduce
political contest. W e also give himthe credit he earned thelaborturnover.
T h e strikers point outthatthe
privifor pushing throughreforms inLouisiana,simplifying
an lege to discharge at will in thefirst six months of employantiquated state machinery, redistributing the burden of tax- ment has been exercised so liberally that
the
numation, andstimulatingtheinterestin
education. Nor shall ber of employees who have left Consumers Research during
we question that his championship of the poor was as sin- the last two years exceeds the number of its present staff, and
cere asanythingin
his equipment of distorted passions. thatonly six of those originally on the staff whentheorGivinghim
every advantage of sympathetic consideration ganization moved to Washingtonnow remain. Theyare
does nothowever raise him to thestatus of martyr. Huey also demandifigreinstatement of the three dischargedmen,
Long was Americas first dictator. His was a little dic- recognition of the union, and aminimumwage
of $15 a
tatorship in domain, but it was grim and vengeful in spirit, week. T h e paradox of labortroublein
Consumed Reand it wasa sensational challenge to democracy. Having search goes back to anothermorefundamentalparadox:
set up a regime of fear he had to live in it, and went about the success of the organization, both financially and as a sochis home state, and even his country, closely guardedto
cial force, is dependent upon the mass support of consumers,
avertthe disaster which now has overtaken him. T o those yet it has consistentlyfailed to cooperate withother CORunfamiliar with LGuisiana the deed may appear on a par sumers groupsand has steadily moved in the direction of
withthe
assassination of otherpolitical
figures, of which autocratic control, which is not usually concerned with emthere have been many in our history. Butitwas
not the ployees rights. T h e strikers look forwardto along siege.
~~

310

The Nation

Their best hope lies in enlisting the support of subscribers

to Consumers Research, who are being summoned, in New
York City at least, to attend a mass-meeting to discuss the
strike.

[Vol.

141, No. 3663

had every right to say so. If he felt bitterly about the

Nazi regime, it would have been better for him to have said
as much in his private capacity as an American citizen
exercising his rights of free speech in Madison Square Garden, where he would have been assured of an appreciative
audience.

HE RECENT TRIP to Havana of Senators Wheeler

and Nye in the interest of the Chase National Bank
indicates the confusion that afflicts many American liberals.
HE EXTENT
to which Japan has consolidated its poDoubtless both men believed that they were acting for the
litical and economic suzerainty over North China is
benefit of the small investor, who ,has been the victim of porevealed in a number of recent events. The Japanese have
litical and economic developments beyond his control. While
even gone so far as to demand that a Chinese who is acnot condoning the action of Wall Street bankers in issuing
cused of murdering a Chinese official be handed over to the
securities which they knew to be worthless, the Senators felt
Japanese military for punishment. Another Chinese official
that the small man should not have to bear the brunt of the
who is alleged to be involved in the affair is being held ilbig mans errors. Sincerity, however, is a poor cloak for iglegally in the Japanese Embassy in Peiping. A demand has
norance, especially when the facts are readily available. The
been lodged with Wang Ke-min, pro-Japanese head of the
$40,000,000 loan of the Chase National Bank, the interest
Peiping Political Committee, that the demilitarized zone be
on which Wheeler and Nye were seeking to collect, was
separated from Hopei Province, and that a new government
ostensibly advanced to the Machado government for public
be set up for the five northernmost provinces of Chinaworks. Actually, what money remained after the bankers
Hopei, Shantung, Shansi, Chahar, and Suiyuan. In purdeducted their commissions and the Machadistas filled their
suance of this project Japanese military officers have flown
pockets, went into the construction of a military highway
their planes to Paotingfu and Taiyuanfu, provincial capand a $20,000,000 gilt-domed Capitol, originally bid out for
itals hundreds of miles south of the demilitarized area,
$3,500,000. Machado and his followers are known to have
where they have outlined their scheme for placing the whole
made $6,000,000 on the deal. The bankers were well aware
of North China under a puppet government. As a result of
that the Machado government was corrupt and unstable.
this improvement in Sino- Japanese relations, the Tokyo
They knew that in Cubas impoverished condition there was
press reports that Japanese residents in the northern Chinese
serious risk that the money would never be repaid. Yet in
provinces are to be given more privileges, including busidisposing of the bonds to the public they represented them as
ness and residential rights. In industrial and business essound investments. Unfortunately for the Chase National
tablishments foreign and Chinese employees, particularly in
Bank, no market could be found for 60 per cent of the
the higher-salaried ranks, are being gradually replaced by
bonds. We gravely suspect that pressure from the owners
Japanese. Since the Chinese government is not allowed to
of this 60 per cent rather than from the small investors who
maintain troops north of the Yellow River, and all Chinese
hold 40 per cent is really responsible for the Senators trip.
political activity is rigidly prohibited there, the distinction
Whether this is the case or not, the interest which is due to
between supposedly autonomous North China and the puppet
the small investor should be paid not by the Cuban people,
state of Manchoukuo is difficult to define. In contrast to
who received no benefit from the loan, but by .the great
Manchoukuo, however, the Chinese abdication of sovereignty
banking concern which has amassed millions by deception.
over North China has been made virtually without protest.
AGISTRATE
LOUIS I. BRODSKY, in dismissing For the sake of retaining a tenuous hold on Central China,
charges of unlawful assembly brought against five Chiang Kai-shek has passively allowed 80,000,OOOof his felmen in connection with the riot on the German liner Bremen low-citizens to be absorbed in the Japanese Empire.
on July 26, based his decision on the contention that since
HE $90,000,000 loan by the RFC to the Dawes
no evidence of premeditated concerted action to tear down
bank in Chicago continues to serve as a parable for all
the swastika flag was adduced-the act, in the opinion of
the magistrate, being evidently a spontaneous act of dis- students of things as they are. General Dawes had been
head of the RFC, but retired in time for his bank, the
orderly conduct not named in the indictment-no
unlawful
assembly in fact took place. With this legal position it is Central Republic Bank and Trust Company, to receive a
This demonBut when Magistrate Brodsky, loan nearly as large as its entire liability.
not possible to quarrel.
in presuming to set forth the sentiments of the defendants strated the truism that those nearest the trough get the
which urged them to commit what was in effect an act of deepest drink. Congress then passed a law prohibiting furviolence against a nation with which the United States is ther loans to institutions whose officers had been directors
on diplomatically friendly terms, proceeded in his official of the RFC. The entire Dawes loan had been allocated
capacity to describe that nation in highly UnSomplimentary before the law was passed, but $50,000,000 of it was dislanguage, one may question not only the diplomatic policy bursed six months later. Before making this disbursement
but the judicial propriety of such a procedure. It is the the RFC took the precaution of obtaining four legal opinfunction of a judge to uphold and interpret the law; it is ions from leading Chicago law firms as to the double lianot his function to make political speechesfrom the bench. To bility of the banks stockholders. One of these firms was
the German government the case must seem very simple: that of Winston, Strawn, and Sh+w, of which Silas H.
an act of violence was committed ; it was not only not pun- Strawn, a former president of the American Bar Associaished, but a local official took occasion to utter caustic and tion, is a member. Mr. Strawn and his associates, for a fee
bitter criticism. If Magistrate Brodsky felt that under the of $500, assured the RFC that the stockholders were liable
law he had no recourse except to free the defendants, he under the Illinois law for double the amount of their share-

.T

September 18, 193.51

T h e Nation

holdings. So also did Pam and Hurd, thoughas counsel

of the bank they received no fee. Now both these firms are
appearingforsrockholderscontestingtheirliability.
The
RFC so far has collected some $25,000 of the twice $14,000,000 to which it has been assured it has alegal claim.
T he lesson here demonstrated is that opinions of law follo&
the fee, no matter how eminent the lawyer. But this does
notexhaustthe parable. John A. Lynch, vice-president of
the bank and signer of the application for the loan, certified
that the banks assets were suEcient to repay the government
loan. NOWhe issuing to preventanyrepayment
of the
$50,000,000 on the ground that it was disbursed in violation
of the R F C act. T h e moralhere is thatthe government,
in bailing out abank, oughtnot to expect repayment as a
matter of ethics. Bankers should be rescued and the taxpayers should foot the bill.

311

stand unflinchingly for union labor, adequate unemployment

insurance, public ownership of utilities, and complete academic freedom. Under competenteditorshipsuch
a paper
can do much to crystallizethe vague liberalsentiment reflected in Sinclairs 800,000 votes into a powerful, intelligent
radical movement capable of placing California once mere
in the ranks of the progressive states.

SOME

YEARS AGO Messrs.Menckenand

Nathan
devised a scale by means of which the seeker after selfknowledgecouldmeasure
the closeness of his approachto
the ideal of 100 per cent Americanism. If, for example, he
believed all Germans-this
was just afterthe war-liked
to skewer babies, he got five points ; if he took cheese with
apple pie, he got two more, and so on. Now, without acknowledgment and with all the seriousness of which a mental
tester is capable, a professor at WashingtonUniversity has
just presentedto the American Psychological Association a
similar method for asserting how conservative or how radicalanyindividualshouldbe
called. Accordingtothe
account in theNewYork
Times thereareseveralhundred
questions, bout the few that are
cited seem sufficient to give
the idea. If you assent to the proposition, Alimony for
divorced husbands is as logical as alimony for divorced
wives, you arevergingtowardthe
pink. If, on the other
hand, you agree that it is bad foramarriedman
to take
another mans wijetothe
movies, you arejustthatfar
qualified for membership in theLiberty League. There is
no suggestion of what it should be taken to indicate if the
subject says in both cases, Well,itall
depends. Perhaps he should be rated Normally Intelligent.8

E G O T I A T I O N Sf o r tariff reciprocity between the

United Statesand Canada have made little progress,
if we are to judge by the correspondence between Secretary
Hu ll and W. D. Herridge, Canadian minister at Washington, recentlymadepublic
by theStateDepartment.AlthoughtheCanadian
government is known to have approached theAdministrationintheearly
days of March,
1933,- with a proposal toinstituteimmediate
negotiations,
formal diplomatic discussions appear to ,have begun only
about a month ago. T h e delay is the moreunaccountable
in view of the fact that the Administrations tarif-bargaining program stands or falls on its ability to obtain an agreementwithour
neighbor tothe north. As the chief source
of Americanimportsand,
next to Great Britain,our best
customer,Canada occupies a more important place inour
46
E HAVE NO RIGHTS whichanyone need retrade than the whole of South America, Africa, and Oceania
spect. These words,which
we quotefromthe
combined. T h e difficulties involved inreachingan
agreearticleinthe
present issueby H. L. Mitchelland J. R.
ement are admittedly serious. Canada is particularlyinterested infindingmarkets
for itswheat, timber, copper, cat- Butler, indicatebetter than whole volumes of statistics the
tle, dairy products, and coal-all of which compete to a cer- desperatecondition of the Souhern share-cropper. I n the
of the
tain extent with American products. T h e concessions which past eighteenmonths the New Deal,intheform
it may offer in exchange for possible Americangrants are acreage-reduction program, has come to the plantation, only
in
limited by the Ottawa agreements. Nevertheless, Mr. Her- to intrench the landlord and reducetheshare-cropper,
ridges letter, written last November, indicates a substantial many instances, to thestatus of a day laborer.Appealsto
Washington have been worse than useless, forakhough a
basis formutual
concessions. If theAdministrationhad
genuineinvestigation
was*#
secured, thusraising
hopes or
been sincere in its efforts to break down existing trade barredress,
the
report
of
that
investigation
was
suppressed
and
riers, it would have taken the Canadian proposal as ground
it was one factorinthesensationalpurge
of the AAA, in
for immediate discussion and
attempted
to
bring
about
the course of which any friends the share-cropper might have
further mutual tariff reductions.
counted on were summarily dismissed. Butthe New Deal
has had one good effect. I t has taught the share-cropper the
E H E A R T I L Y WELCOME thenews thatCalinecessity
of cooperation with his fellow-sufferers, both black
fornia is to have a genuinely liberal newspaper, sponand
white,
and
it
has established on a. firm basis such orsored by a committee of prominentSanFranciscocitizens
ganizations
as
the
Southern
Tenant Farmers Union, which
and backed by a number of the leading labor unions. There
is no state in theunion wherethe forces of reaction are centers mainly in eastern Arkansas, and the Share-Croppers
more deeply intrenched, and none where the progressive ele- Unionin Alabama. The Tenant FarmersUnion, by a n
ment is more desperatelyin need of courageous and sane overwhelming vote, has decided to strike f o r the pitiful wage
picking cotton. T h e terror,
leadership.California
is in a sense aprovingground
for of $1 a hundredpoundsfor
official
and
unofficial,
which
they
may confidently expect ,to
fascism in theUnited States. If the irresponsible vigilante
meet with is all too well revealed in the report from Alamovement can be checked there,theentirecountrywill
of
breathe easier. If, on theotherhand,the
influence of bama (which also appearsinthisissue),wheremembers
Hearst and his allies should go unchallenged, there would be theShare-Croppers Union are already on strike. It hardIy
serious danger that fascism would sweep like a plague over needs to be added that any contribution, from one dollar up,
thecountry.
For this reason we hail a paper that promises will be joyfully received. T h e Nation will be glad to forto oppose vigorously all restrictions on civil liberty,and to ward such contributions to the organization designated.