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Published weekly by The Outlook Company, 120 East 16th Street, New York. Copyright, 1926, by The Outlook Company. By subscription $5.00 a year for the United States and Canada. Single copies 15 cents each. Foreign subscription to countries in the postal Union, $6.56.

HAROLD T. PULSIFER, President and Managing Editor
NATHAN T. PULSIFER, Vice-President

ERNEST HAMLIN ABBOTT, Editor-in-Chief and Secretary ARTHUR E. CARPENTER, Advertising Manager LAWRENCE F. ABBOTT, Contributing Editor

Volume 142

Senator Wheeler in Legal Good Standing

U

NITED STATES Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of Montana, has scored another, perhaps the final, victory in the effort to clear himself of the charge of unlawful conduct in connection with oil-land manipulations. The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia has dismissed the conspiracy indictment against him on the ground that it fails to charge a violation of the laws of the United States.

Legal proceedings against Wheeler began when he was pressing the investigation of Harry M. Daugherty, then Attorney-General of the United States. Wheeler and his friends have always claimed that revenge for what he did to Daugherty is the motive back of the prosecution. It has been a hard-fought contest, and the score is now three to nothing in Wheeler's favor-exoneration by a Senate committee of which Borah was chairman, acquittal before a Montana court of a fraud charge, and now dismissal by the District of Columbia Court of an indictment charging conspiracy to defraud. While an appeal would lie from this latter decision, it appears fairly certain that Senator Wheeler did not commit a criminal offense by his oil-land dealings.

Unfortunately, the question of whether or not he committed an ethical offense cannot be determined. That he was associated with men who did commit offenses is certain. Gordon Campbell, named with Wheeler in the conspiracy indictment just dismissed, was convicted on a fraud charge in a Montana court and sentenced to serve two years in the penitentiary.

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January 13, 1926

grounds. The Court sustained the demurrer on one point, without considering several other points upon which Wheeler relied for acquittal perhaps more than on the one sustained.

The Court held that the law does not limit the number of prospecting permits that may be issued to one man. The regulations issued by the Department of the Interior do, however, fix the limit at

International

Senator Burton K. Wheeler

Number 2

a single permit. The Court rules that this regulation is not in conformity with the law, and is therefore void. In the opinion of the Court, the Department of the Interior confused prospecting permit with development lease, and, since only one lease may be granted to any particular person under the law, the Department concluded that only one permit may be granted. The Court pointed out the error in this conclusion by showing that wherever, as in Alaska, Congress intended to limit the number of permits it did so expressly.

There is a significance in the decision in the Wheeler case which goes beyond its effect upon Senator Wheeler.

If it stands, the Department of the Interior apparently must modify its method of dealing with the prospecting-permit situation. A number of Western Senators and others are greatly pleased with the decision for this reason. Members of the Public Lands Committee, who toured the West last summer, are quoted in the daily press as saying that this is only one of a number of points on which the Department of the Interior has gone outside the law in issuing restrictive regulations. Senator Oddie, of Nevada, is quoted as seeing in the decision a means of escape from "law by bureaucracy" and of correction of "a great deal of bungling by the Interior Department in administration of the land and other laws."

Coincidentally with the dismissal of the Wheeler indictment there came another echo of the scandals that shook Washington and the Nation for a year. The United States Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of Coloncl Charles R. Forbes, former Director of the Veterans' Bureau, and ruled that he must serve the sentence imposed upon him by the trial court.

The Shenandoah Findings

HE loss of the Shenandoah was "part

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of the price that must inevitably be paid in the development of any new and hazardous art." Nobody was to blame. It was, as the old law writers used to say, "an act of God."

This is the finding of the Naval Court of Inquiry, submitted to Secretary Wil

bur after long and careful consideration. The Court recommends that no further proceedings in connection with the wreck be prosecuted. More significant, it recommended that development of lighterthan-air craft go forward with even increased vigor.

While the Navy Department and the

commander and crew of the Shenandoah were cleared of any negligence or lack of caution, the findings of the Court indicate that some things were not entirely as they should have been. The report discourages for the future anything in the nature of exhibition flights unless under decidedly exceptional conditions. It praises the discretion and courage of the dead commander, but it indicates that if he had followed the advice of his meteorologist to change his course, the track of

the storm might have been avoided. It holds that the strength of the ship had not been impaired by changes in construction, but that the reduction in the number of automatic gas valves from eighteen to eight was inadvisable. It refutes most of the arguments of structural weakness, negligence on the part of the crew, and misconduct on the part of superiors made by Captain Anton Heinen, Colonel William Mitchell, and Mrs. Margaret Ross Lansdowne.

The findings of the Court were unani

mous.

The Alien Narcissus Taboo

THE

HE restrictions on the entry of narcissus bulbs, authorized by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace three years ago, went into effect without modification on January 1. Secretary Jardine made his ruling on the next to the last day of the year, after having the record of the hearings under advisement since early in November. The effect of the quarantine is that, for commercial purposes, narcissus bulbs may not be brought into the United States. They may be imported, in limited numbers and under strict supervision, for experimental and certain other purposes, such as increasing by propagating in this country from imported stock the supply of any variety of which there is a shortage.

Bulb importers and bulb growers have been at war over this question, the former, of course, insisting that narcissus bulbs be admitted and the latter that they be excluded. Secretary Jardine holds, however, that neither of these groups has an interest that is compelling.

He admits that the quarantine acts as a protection for the domestic bulb industry, but insists that this is incidental and not to be considered in determining the question. The compelling interest, he holds, is that of agriculture in general.

It appears that narcissus bulbs are hosts of three insect pests-two bulb flies and an eel-worm. One of the bulb flies is destructive of onions and the eel-worm

Wide World Photos

Henri Berenger

of alfalfa. It is admitted that all of these pests already exist in the United States, but the Secretary holds that not more than a small fraction of one per cent of domestic narcissus plantings are infested and that eradication is possible

wherever infestation has occurred. The

evidence brought out at the hearings, he holds, shows the danger of general infestation from imported bulbs to be such that "no one charged with the safeguarding of American agriculture could do other than restrict the entry of these bulbs." He regrets that "in protecting our various crops against pests and diseases some interests must suffer."

There is some consolation for the importer and the user of imported bulbs in the fact that of the nine classes of bulbs originally marked for exclusion eight are exempted for the time being, at least. These are glory of the snow, snowdrop, squill, crown imperial, guineahen-flower, grape hyacinth, ixia, and winter aconite. The Secretary holds that the evidence has not disclosed a risk which would warrant exclusion at this time. Further investigations are to be made, however,

and importations of these bulbs will be subject meanwhile to inspection and such other safeguards as may be thought necessary.

Many a layman-and horticulturist too, for that matter-still finds it hard to understand why, if the peril was so great, the doors were deliberately left open for three years (long enough to admit countless flies and worms); and why, if the peril was not so great, the doors needed to be closed at all.

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Clean Shows Win

A

YEAR ago there was a great to-do about obscene and risqué plays in the New York and Chicago theaters Producers saw themselves getting rich by putting on a drama a little more shocking than the last. A year's experience has pricked that bubble. They have learned that the public as a whole wants clean shows.

New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia turned a profit for plays such as "The Ladies of the Evening," "The Fire brand," "Desire Under the Elms," and "The Demi-Virgin." Whatever the dra matic merits of any one of them may have been, each of these was the subject of discussion because of its capacity to shock the common sense of decency; but when they went out "on the road" and attempted to draw crowds in the smaller cities the box-offices registered deficit after deficit, and the totals began to show up in red ink on the producers books.

On the other hand, plays like "Ligh nin'," "The Bat," "The First Year," "Turn to the Right," and "Seventh Heaven" were not only solid successes in New York, but they are still reaping large returns from tours into every cor ner of the country. Salaciousness on the stage draws a certain few, but the wise manager will heed the experience of others; that is, that Americans in the home towns prefer wholesome plays.

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a newspaper man, though his work has been that of the statesman for the past thirteen years. Prior to that time he was successively editor of "La Raison," "L'Action," and "Le Siècle."

M. Bérenger entered Parliament in 1912 as Senator from Guadeloupe. He was Permanent Reporting Secretary of the Army Committee from 1914 to 1917.. In the latter year Clemenceau appointed him Commissioner-General for Gasoline and Fuel, and he served in that capacity until the end of the war. Since 1921 he

has been General Reporting Secretary of the Senate Finance Committee. In the Senate he was classed with the Democratic-Radical-Socialist Left.

Washington's acquaintance with M. Bérenger does not extend back of last September, when he was a member of the Parliamentary Committee charged with advising the Minister of Finance, Caillaux, in the abortive negotiations for settlement of the French debt. The impression he made, despite disappointment over the outcome of the negotiations, was favorable.

In diplomatic circles, and therefore in the life of a capital, the wife of an ambassador is almost, if not quite, as important a personage as her husband. Mme. Bérenger, daughter of the famous bibliophile Alidor Delzant, is herself a lover and collector of books. She has long maintained one of the well-known literary and political salons of Paris. Social Washington looks forward to her coming with something more than the ordinary pleasurable expectations. The Tacna-Arica Deadlock

PRESE

RESIDENT COOLIDGE has apparently not given up hope of reaching a final settlement of the historic and heated dispute over the provinces of Tacna and Arica. As arbiter of the dispute between Chile and Peru he is exercising utmost patience. So important is the right solution of this issue to the maintenance of

peace and amity among the republics of this hemisphere that it is well worth while for him to exhaust every known device of statecraft to attain the desired ends.

When General Pershing went to South America some months ago, it was hoped that by this time the plebiscite (to be supervised by the Commission of which he is chairman) would be under way or completed and the question as to the nationality of the two provinces would be

settled. As yet, however, no definite date has been fixed for the plebiscite, and General Pershing is returning to the United States. According to official announcement, the trip is necessitated by the state of his health. In the meantime the Chileans, who have had some sharp differences of opinion with General Pershing, have appealed to President Coolidge. The extent of Chilean authority in the provinces during the voting period has been in question. has been in question. This will be the

International

General John J. Pershing subject of briefs to be filed by the two sides with the President.

Chile and Peru having solemnly agreed to settle their controversy through the arbitral assistance of the President of the United States, it is still believed that the two nations will hold the plebiscite according to the President's award of last March. Though Chile has appealed to the President from the Commission, she has not shown any intention of declining to abide by the President's decision. She has appealed against measures to be adopted in carrying out the plebiscite, but not against the plebiscite itself. The very fact that she has appealed to the arbiter shows that she is willing to observe the arbitral convention which she signed, reserving her right thereunder to object, as she has done in this

case.

There is still hope, therefore, that a method will be discovered for reaching a satisfactory end to the ancient TacnaArica dispute.

The Shanghai Riots

A

COMMISSION Consisting of three men-American, British, and Japanese has held an inquiry over the events in Shanghai of May 30 last, a day which a correspondent from China reported in The Outlook as having been called by a Chinese orator the "Lexing ton of Chinese history." Ten Chinese were killed by volleys fired upon the mob by order of a British inspector or sergeant of police after vain efforts to dis perse the "demonstrators" who were cry ing "Kill the foreigners!"

The inquiry by the three men (each a judge of some court) was made at the request of the foreign diplomatic repre sentatives, and the majority and minor ity reports were sent to the Dutch Min ister in Peking, M. Oudendijk. The American, Mr. Justice E. Finley John

son, who presided over this board, dif fered from his colleagues as to the con duct and responsibility of the police officers of the Shanghai international set tlement, holding that a larger force of police should have been on duty and that firing on the mob might then have bee unnecessary. Judge Johnson said tha the Shanghai police officials failed to se the gravity of the situation and to tak proper precautions. Specifically, h blamed the inspector on the ground and the Police Commissioner, who left th city in the crisis for three hours, althoug he was informed of the menace.

The British and Japanese members o the board of inquiry exonerated the po lice officials from blame and declared that they could not have acted otherwis than as they did.

It is quite easy to see that differen views may honestly be held of the con fused and excited events of a riot. Th American judge was less affected by an close concern of his own country tha were his colleagues, and his view is there fore likely to be accepted as just by Americans generally.

A Queen of the House of Savoy UEEN MARGHERITA, the mother o

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the King of Italy, was one of the most gracious of royal persons in ou day. Like Queen Alexandra of England whose death preceded hers by less tha seven weeks, she united in her person outward beauty with a character of en gaging qualities.

It was not, however, the attractivenes of her personality that made her belove in Italy and respected in Europe; it wa

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