Volume 144

"Mutual" Cancellation

EWTON D. BAKER'S state

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ment explicitly advocating cancellation all around of the Allied debts is the honest expression of an individual's opinion. We doubt whether it is anything more. If Mr. Baker's views are those of responsible Democratic leaders with influence in the party counsels, it is not likely that the Republicans will have any cause for anxiety, for there seems not the slightest prospect that a campaign based on the proposal that all debts be canceled, and that therefore the United States pay the German reparations, would find a very hearty response from the voters of the country.

What Mr. Baker objects to is, not that America should ask her debtors to pay all that they can pay, but that America should ask her debtors to pay anything. He explicitly says that it is quite certain that "the generation in Germany which did not cause the war will not mortgage itself and its children for two-thirds of the century." He also says that our allies dislike us because we asked them to pay what they can. His conclusion, therefore, is that the future generations of Americans shall pay for the war which they did not cause. Just why he expects Americans to be more ready to pay the cost of the war than Europeans he does not wholly explain.

As he said, there is not one penny of these debts which would have been lent by us except for the war. He therefore dismisses as unworthy any attempt to distinguish war debts from those which were contracted after the war for purposes of commercial rehabilitation. He calls all the debts war debts and would have them all "mutually canceled." Of course the mutual cancellation of these war debts means that America does the canceling, for we have borrowed from nobody.

The real force of his statement lies in his argument that it would be better to have markets rather than to have these debts paid. Fortunately, he does not propose what others have proposed that we try to purchase disarmament of

September 8, 1926

Europe or some of the other things that we may want by canceling the debts. His whole argument is based on the idea that we do not want dollars, but "a reconstructed international order."

It does not seem likely that Mr. Baker's proposal will find a place in any National party platform.

Can the League Become European?

Percantile Librar CINCINNATI, OH

League of Nations gathers for its sixth annual Assembly session, is the admission of Germany. This calls for an adjustment of the dispute that began last spring over permanent seats on the League Council. On the outcome depends the fate of the long endeavor to make the League truly representative of Europe by admitting Germany to the Council, in which the Allies have controlled the balance of power.

Spain has appeared to be satisfied with a scheme for the rotation of seats on the Council, instead of pressing her earlier demand for a permanent place. Poland, so insistent last spring upon securing a permanent seat, has recently securing a permanent seat, has recently been significantly quiet. Brazil, which also sought a permanent seat, has dropped out of the contest, discouraged partly by the opposition of other LatinAmerican republics. Disarmament, the terms for adherence by the United States to the World Court, the Spanish demand for control of the international neutral zone of Tangier, and other matters take second place behind the issue of bringing Germany into the Geneva organization on a basis which both she and its present members will accept.

In the Council, working in common with the Dutch and Scandinavian spokesmen, the German representative unquestionably would act as a counterbalance to the Allied group. And Germany and Great Britain probably would find themselves voting together frequently, in contrast to the "Latin bloc." A new period of post-war political combinations would be inaugurated.

Where this might lead, and what it

mies in the Communist Party. Two years ago, with the assistance of Kamenev and Zinoviev, he caused the downfall of Trotsky. Now, with the assistance of some other allies, he has caused the downfall of Zinoviev and Kamenev. He occupies no governmental position; but, being the boss of the Communist Party, he controls the Government. All Government Ministers-that is to say, People's Commissaries are now his supporters. Including the weak and insignificant Premier Rykov; People's Commissar of War Voroshilov; the new chief of the dreaded Cheka, Menzhinsky, who has replaced the late Dzershinsky

all are his friends and allies. He is now the only real ruler of Russia.

Stalin's political program is not new. Its basis is faithfulness to Lenine's traditions. That means he advocates the middle course between communism and capitalism.

This is not, however, the end of the story. By his assumption of power Stalin has roused opposition. The crack that appeared in the Communist Party two and a half years ago has become a chasm. The "iron solidarity of the Communists is gone.

Among the leaders of the Opposition are Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Karl Radek, G. Rakovsky, Sokolnikov, S. Medvyedev, and Lenine's widow, Mrs. Krupskaya.

The Opposition itself is divided. The left wing, in which are Zinoviev and Kamenev, insist upon a partial return to uncompromising Communism. The right wing, in which, for instance, is Medvyedev, advocate contrary methods, such as the giving of nationalized industrial en

terprises in concession to foreign capitalists, and the abolition of the Third Inter

interests and citizens. The landing of Marines at Bluefields was reported to

agree on two points their hostility to Stalin and their demand for democratization. They both want the right to form factions within the party and elect their leaders. Stalin's followers answer that factions will unavoidably develop into distinct parties, and bring to an end the existence of the Communist Party as such and the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The natural leader of the Opposition is Trotsky. It was he who demanded the democratization of the party two and a half years ago. He was then ousted from the party, but now he has around him an influential group of men. Thus in Russia now it is Trotsky against Stalin.

Our Marines in Nicaragua Again

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NITED STATES Marines are back in Nicaragua. That is the fact which most concerns Americans in the news from that perturbed Republic of Central America. What the landing of our forces at Bluefields may mean it is too early to say as this interrupted chapter of our policy in the Caribbean is resumed.

The Marines were withdrawn from Nicaragua last year, after a stay of more than twelve years in which they were the main factor in maintaining an imposed order. Their departure was followed without much loss of time by a regulation Central American revolt against the Government headed by President Solorzano, who had taken office as the result of elections supervised by the American forces of occupation. Leading the revolt, General Chamorro compelled the President to quit office in his favor and installed himself in power. He then sought recognition in Washington, which the United States refused. Lately came news of an uprising against Chamorro, centering around Cristanto Zapata, Cristanto Zapata, which was followed by reports that the trouble had been quelled. Evidently it did not stay quelled, for a few days later two American gunboats were despatched to the Nicaraguan ports of Corinto, on the Pacific coast, and Bluefields, on the Caribbean coast. This was done at the recommendation of American diplomatic agents for the protection of American

H. M. S. Implacable

THE British believe they have the most beautiful war-ship in the world, H. M. S. Implacable, which was originally the French Duquay Trouin, built in 1789 and taken four days after Trafalgar by Sir Richard Strachan. The

Keystone

Mrs. Clemington Corson

and a bank in which American capital has a considerable stake. It also possesses a possible alternative route to the Panama Canal.

The situation suggests the need of some concerted policy in Central America. Attempts have been made for cooperation by the United States with Central American republics to sustain constitutional governments. This policy has obvious merits, since it does not involve the United States alone in policing Central America in the interests of its nationals only. Thus it does not lay the United States open to Latin-American suspicion and antagonistic propaganda.

The policy of intervening in Central American affairs and backing out and going in again has led and is leading nowhere. The logical consequence of the situation in Nicaragua, perhaps, would be to set up a protectorate, but that is not a course which the American people are prepared to support and follow through. Our aim, therefore, ought to be to establish a basis of working in common with the Central American states in a mutual program of keeping the peace.

expected with the years. "Punch" recently started a subscription to restore and preserve the vessel. Nearly $100,000 has been subscribed, and it will need but $25,000 more to place the veteran in full repair. Already the hull has been made sound below the water-line, and Lord Beatty, who is managing the matter, means to make a seamanlike job of all that remains to be done. The movement parallels that on this side of the water to save the Constitution.

The New Channel Records

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HE newspaper humorists are having great fun over channel swimming as a new form of summer sport and the cartoonists represent the English Channel as crowded with record breakers and aspirants for fame.

Hardly had the rejoicings and celebrations for the fine achievement of Gertrude Ederle died down, when another woman succeeded in crossing the Channel, although she required fifteen hours and twenty-eight minutes for the passage, while Gertrude's record was fourteen hours and thirty-one minutes.

The second woman to swim the English Channel successfully was Mrs. Clemington Corson, the mother of two children. Mrs. Corson is a native of Denmark, but an American by marriage and a New Yorker by residence.

Gertrude Ederle's supremacy in the time record was over men as well as women. But following almost immediately on Mrs. Corson's exploit came the news that a German swimmer, Ernest Vierkoetter, had made a new and superlative record of twelve hours and forty-three minutes, almost two hours better than Gertrude's time. It is true that he was specially favored as regards the chances of weather and sea, but the achievement is in all ways a remarkable

one.

The interest in long-distance swimming developed by these swimmers' exploits has increased enormously. All sorts of proposals are made to bring the three successful Channel swimmers of

this season together in long-distance contests. Among the possibilities are races around Staten Island, which is over twenty miles, we believe, around Manhattan Island, from Los Angeles to Catalina Island, and across one of the Great Lakes. What will actually take place in this field of sport is quite uncertain.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

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IKE many another of Jules Verne's forecasts, the round-the-world trip of his underseas boat is well under way for accomplishment. When the Dutch submarine K-XIII tied up at San Francisco's Navy dock a few days ago it had behind it some 10,000 miles of the way.

The big book of the marine department of the Chamber of Commerce here, says our Pacific coast correspondent, writing by air mail from San Francisco, contains a remarkable entry. It runs something as follows:

Arrived August 24 Dutch submarine K-XIII, Van der Kun, 90 days from The Helder, via Mazatlan, in ballast.

forces of nature, the shift of waters and air, both under and above the ocean may give us a first hint of the seat and the origin of those terrible tremors which exact from us such a toll in life and property."

And so when its work is done off the Californian coast this sturdy little ocean

The ballast is a strange one, for it Keystone consists, in part at least, of many unusual scientific instruments, the equipment of the submarine's commander, Dr. Vening Meinesz, and his associates, who have undertaken this remarkable enterprise in the hope of discovering the origin of earthquakes, or at least of throwing some light on the subject.

Dr. Meinesz contends that six miles or more beneath the earth's surface is a mass of molten matter, "like a lake of hot tar," and that on this lake there floats, not only the world's continents, but the world's oceans and seas. If this theory proves true, the age-old secret of the cause of earthquakes may, he says, be revealed.

While at San Francisco the submarine I will dive to the bottom of San Francisco Bay, will make underseas voyages off the coast, and take measurements and make calculations with the delicate instruments, many of them new inventions, with which the expedition is so well equipped.

"Our studies," declared Dr. Meinesz, in the course of an interview, "may

throw light on the cause of California's earthquakes. This will be the first time a submarine has been used for such work, and our study of the play of the

Ernest Vierkoetter

waif, which, ninety days out of The Helder, Holland, had crossed the Atlantic, visited Dutch Curaçao, and passed through the Panama Canal into San Francisco Bay, will set out across the Pacific en route for Honolulu, Guam, She will arrive at Yap, and Manila. Surabaya, Java, on December 12, and then will leave for home by way of the Indian Ocean, Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean Sea.

It is a great adventure, truly, but everything has been thought out with Dutch thoroughness. The submarine is designed to stay under water four days at a time, special machinery having been devised to supply the crew the needed amount of oxygen while submerged. Storms therefore have no terror for it. If the surface is troubled, K-XIII simply dives beneath it, and keeps on diving until all things are still.

Closing Jewish Wine-Shops

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OECAUSE the withdrawals of so-called sacramental wine have greatly exceeded actual needs, the wine-shops in New York City which have heretofore had permits to issue wine for use in

Jewish religious ceremonies will be eliminated. It was evident that under the guise of providing wine for these rites a great deal of wine was withdrawn from the storehouses for purposes that had nothing whatever to do with religion. Hereafter authenticated rabbis will be expected to go to prohibition headquarters to get the wine that they need.

It is really not accurate to speak of this as sacramental wine. The idea of the sacrament is not a Jewish idea. In the Roman Catholic mass the wine, according to Catholic belief, is changed by the intent of the priest into the blood of Christ. Similarly, according to Tertullian, the water of the baptismal font is supposed to possess the vis sanctificandi by the descent into it of the Holy Spirit. The wine used by Jews for religious purposes possesses no such additional virtues and sanctity. It is wine pure and simple; one may drink it or leave it, or spill it into the sink. It serves only as something to say grace over, just as the turkey on Thanksgiving Day may serve as an occasion for saying grace.

In the Bible the religious use of wine is mentioned only along with sacrifices, and with the abolition of the sacrifices such use was discontinued.

So the modern use of wine by Jews in connection with their ceremonies cannot be properly called sacramental.

The rabbis did not introduce the

drinking of wine as a religious custom, but simply gave a religious sanctification to the use of wine which before their time had been drunk in a secular way. This religious use of wine has been, therefore, in conjunction with a meal.

The Ceremonial Use of Wine
THE

HE use of wine at Kiddush will serve as an example. A special prayer called Kiddush was made to be recited at the beginning of the festive meal with which the Sabbath was opened. Since the prayer preceded the meal, it naturally came just before the drinking of the wine. By custom the grace over the wine, which is pronounced whenever wine is consumed, was incorporated into the Kiddush. This Kiddush is thus said to be "pronounced over wine." In the absence of wine, however, the grace over wine is replaced by the grace over bread, as is done to-day in poorer homes that cannot afford wine.

Since Orthodox Judaism permeates

the entire life of the Orthodox Jew there are many festive meals. The religious use of wine is considerable, therefore, but not so much in quantity as in frequency. On the night of the Passover four small glasses for each individual, although seldom used in practice, are required by custom. Otherwise, on most of the occasions one cup for a family or for every adult male is sufficient. The farewell to the Sabbath, which is given with the Habdala, is another occasion for the use of wine. Receptions and farewells, like those attending the Sabbath, are tendered most holidays, and at these and other ceremonies, such as circumcision and marriage, blessings are pronounced over wine. Some of these uses of wine go back possibly two thousand years.

At first the prayer over wine was limited to the home. In time, some of these prayers have also been introduced into synagogues, not without the opposition, however, of some of the authoritative rabbis of the age. In some cases poverty has done away with the festive meal, but the prayer over the cup of wine has persisted.

The wine used for religious purposes among the Jews is bought in the same Jewish wine stores that sell the wine for secular purposes. The rabbi has nothing to do with it. It is not even he who pronounces the blessings in the synagogues over the wine, but usually it is the cantor. The rabbi buys his wine in the same way and place as any other Jew.

The Rabbis and Prohibition

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N the United States the Prohibition Law gave the rabbi supervision over the so-called sacramental wine. Every member of a synagogue is permitted to receive from his congregation sufficient wine for his religious use at home. The congregation is supposed to buy all the

wine necessary for its members. The sexton is the man that is to distribute the wine and the rabbi is the one to supervise the distribution, so that none but members get wine. The Prohibition Law made of the rabbi and the sexton the individuals through whom a Jew may receive wine for his religious use.

The use of a substitute for wine in the several religious ceremonies requiring wine has been discussed at various times by rabbis of note. In the Talmud there is an opinion that, in the absence of wine, beer may be used in "countries

where beer is a national beverage.' Whisky is a substitute that is generally looked down upon. According to Rabba, one may squeeze the juice of a bunch of grapes and recite the Kiddush. Recently Louis Ginzberg, Professor of the Talmud in the Orthodox Jewish Theological Seminary, discussed the problem of a substitute for wine. After extensive scholarly discussion, he concluded that "from the point of view of the Jewish law and custom there is no preference to be given to fermented wine over unfermented wine; both are of equal standing. . . . The custom of using unfermented wine of raisins was widely spread in northern Africa in the fourteenth century, and is prevalent in our time in Lithuania. Further, grape juice may be used for Kiddush the same as was other unfermented wine." With these views of Professor Ginzberg other rabbis disagree, but to them they have failed to reply.

Concerning prohibition Jewish opinion historically is divided. In Jewish law there are such statements as "Wine helps to open the heart to reasoning," and "Where wine is lacking medicine is necessary;" but, on the other hand, one Hebrew word is said to mean "lamentation and wailing" and another to mean "you will be poor."

Evidently the new regulations of the Prohibition Administrator are not such as to afford any occasion for remonstrance on religious grounds.

Theosophy and "World Teachers" HE visit to this country of the young THE Hindu, Krishnamurti, in the company of Mrs. Annie Besant, who is International President of the Theosophical Societies, naturally suggests the question, What is Theosophy? In the broadest sense and philosophically speaking, it is defined as follows by the Encyclopædia Britannica:

A term used to denote those forms of philosophic and religious thought which claim a special insight into the Divine nature and its constitutive moments or processes. Sometimes this insight is claimed as the result of the operation of some higher faculty or some supernatural revelation to the individual; in other instances the Theosophical theory is not based upon any special illumination, but is simply put forward as the deepest speculative wisdom of its author. But in any case it is characteristic of Theosophy that it starts with an explication of the Divine essence, and endeavors to deduce the phenomenal universe from

the play of forces within the Divine nature itself.

There are several separate associations in various countries which study and teach Theosophical ideas. They are not in full agreement. The Society (or societies) founded about fifty years ago in the United States by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott (notable figures in their day and both charged by nonbelievers with trickery in physical manifestations of divine or spiritual guidance), and by William Q. Judge, put forth as their objects: (1) To establish a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity; (2) to promote the study of comparative religion and philosophy; (3) to make a systematic investigation into the mystic potencies of life and matter, or what is usually termed "occultism."

There are at least two American Theosophical Societies now existent; one, called the American Theosophical Society, accepts Mrs. Besant as a world leader; and it is under the auspices of this Society (and those of a well-known lecture bureau) that Krishnamurti is here; the other is the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, of which Katherine Tingley is leader, with headquarters at Point Loma, California. This latter-named Brotherhood not only refuses to indorse Mrs. Besant, but one of its members, purporting to present the views of the Society, attacks the teachings of Mrs. Besant.

Krishnamurti the Modest

TH

HE personal impression made here by Krishnamurti in his talks with reporters has been that of a modest, pleasing young man. He disclaims any

desire to be called a Messiah. One reporter records him as saying: "I am just an ordinary young fellow," and another describes him as shy, silent, and the flower of courtesy. So far as Krishnamurti has uttered any "message," it is that America is neglecting the spiritual for the material. He has said: "We must cultivate both body and spirit. The ideal is a fine harmony. In India we have neglected the body for the benefit of the spirit. In America you have perhaps neglected the spirit."

Nothing that Krishnamurti (often called Krishnaji, or even Krish, for short) has said seems to confirm the pretensions and mystical announcement made, as reported, by Mrs. Besant: "The World Teacher has not come