Show 1 r rV V SEEN and H HEARD Li k around the tho National Capital CARTER FIELD FIELD gy BY ik Under much or of the Under ington-Under t d r s Ba of tho tele Old lk nICe about bout and ether the telephone telephone I commercial CI 11 wires Ires should be 1 nJ s lies In the mInds of lieuten Heuten I DeJa ta PresIdent a far more im h of the Ot This Is nothIng short of oft plan port Into one unit of all tele t merger erger f the ie wad wireless tomp companies Ie fiS as far fart nm b t r D busIness Is concel concerned ned nedas ti as ID thIs proposal ill are ure Interested not noti corporation directly con coni l call on 1 c i but tin ee departments ot of the i te eDt which Ire a seldom thought 1 ct in In D this connection State connection State IVar and 1 For communications far from being question or of local rates and I andI merely cIs n a mice Ice Is of the vastest Importance 1 sot onlY only from the standpoInt of nation ii or or defence-or in ln time of war but ut or of international maneuvering ering In Inthe inthe the meantime It Is n a er very Important tog COg In nil all phases es ot of International traM trade president Wilson on when hen he was nd ad sting an American merchant mIl ma mIlI maI I tore iDe was fond of that for Amel Amei J lea a to try to sell her lIer goods In foreIgn markets If they had to be delivered In bottoms was like one depart depart- pent store trying to compete vv ith an another other client It the rival did all the delivering With the plaIn Inference that the store doing the delivering deh would see to It that Its products hid the rIght of way wayland 1 land nd any other advantage ad antage which this IJ control of delivery offered Even more Important the Roose eU elt ofU adminIstration believes belle cs Is control of U the Do commercIal CS whIch concern pIes 31 es and deliveries crIes of AmerIcan goods to foreIgn countries If these I are handled by the facilities of competitors for fOl the business It Is isI J I expecting something superhuman to pope hope that our competitors will not take td advantage of the situation situ 1 tion Blocked by Law LawI I At the present moment there Is a of law hw which stands In the thel l I gay 3 or of what the administration would life lIle to see though at the time the law lawI lawra I ra 8 passed ed thIs angle dl did not occur to anyone advocating it This law for for- forbids forbids bids a telegraph company to acquire t l control ot of a wireless company Obviously the law was Intended to prey pre ent the stifling of competitiOn between the theme sue me and the wIreless agencIes It Itis Is true that one telegraph company bas embarked In the v Ireless business on the Pacific coast coast but It got around the law by bull building mg up a new Wireless system It dId not buyout buy out an exIsting ref outlet outfit There Is no real desIre to go back backon on the spirit of that law The govern government meat ment would tike to encourage compe The present attitude howe however er is II that government go regulation of rates and service will mIl solve e that problem But InternatIOnally the need for merging all AmerIcan communications companies Into one so that a united front wIll be held against other and competing countries Is regarded as much more Important For e cample tt at the time many of the present con contracts contracts tracts were made between AmerIcan agencIes and foreIgn governments there was really only one American company So It if the foreigners wanted the business they had to deal with It When these contracts expire It Is feared that terms will be Imposed due to the been heen competition between Amer- Amer AmerIcan lena Ican companIes for the business which Will mil not only be hUI hurtful to American revenues and impose what amounts to toI tos s I foreIgn tax on AmerIcan cables and Wireless Ireless messages but whIch may became be- be become come came actually of grave danger In the event of war hat makes the point ot of more Im- Im Importance importance Is that outside of the United States Elates and Canada communIcations are virtually government monopolies There Is a company In BrItaIn but the government controls It Elsewhere It Is ItIs mostly straight out go government own C and operation Japan does not even permit a foreign cable company to get Its wIres any anywhere here near it Its home home- land homeland AU All messages tt to and from Japan pass through government go channels Moffett Ickes-Moffett Squabble Sometimes victorIes are so costly that tut It would have ha e been better for the victor It if there had been no battle Which old military axiom seems to ap 1111 WIth consIderable force to the re- re rent recent cent nt encounter between Public Works Administrator Director Ickes and Housing DI Di- Di rector Monett Ickes took the sIde of cheap govern went lent to build homes at low cost action disregarding what effect such ae ac tion It on a large scale Ecale would have on Il existing property values on exIst lag g mortgages and hence on Insurance companIes and banks Moffett took the side ot of usIng only private capital for home construction where the tho repercussions would do no harm to the present financial II President te feit Roosevelt sided wIth Moffett WhIch felt fett was a victory But as a tob tobas result seems headed for the toboggan e f fn n 8 heelS Congress will be yappIng nt at within a month as the more ore al alca radical ca 1 ot of the New Dealers are already A And n d Moffett Is handicapped In such h an he I ICh is Ch Chan encountEr by the fact that hopelessly peI tagged With t he e as being allied did Predatory predatory Interests For b be e not betor before e Work for tor the Standard Oil r an any man COrning coming tike the to the government Can heart radIcals demand lu have lue e n a that n t beats Who ho for the plain people 0 once y a corporation t has on as been that contaminated with I wrings Its profits I from the def defenseless Sele g As AI It consumers happens the 1 are par sore J Moffett victory And over this the they hIs head on a sliver t are very apt to get getIs Is most interesting char fi er Which In that In this lIght light view lp ot of the fact so them Moffett angered et a pie l sed ed precisely the theor Roosevelt Roose elt view lew or of O Ol on the 10 most Important economic questions quest on at the moment I Ickes c k kon es May Not Win Foi In the opInIon of nearly nIl all dis observers interested per 11 v ers the I Ickes k os method would defeat Roosevelt's h hope to pe ve the capitalistic t tern em s s Certainly It would be a Ion long ste step In that direction tending to for force e all nfl returns on In investment es t from i whatever 11 they ley may ma be at I present down to mound 3 per pcr cent Roosevelt Hoose has made It clear that personally he favors 5 per cent And nd fiery ery few radIcals believe economists including the e that capital would take any risk at all merely to get a 3 per cent investment In And ob obviously their thele Is a I C amou amount t ot of risk In buildIng n a house to be rented or In placing n a mortgage on that house The fact that Mr Moffetts Moffett's polItical life seems In grave e danger does docs not mean that the Ickes Iches ideas Idels will m prevail Roosevelt Is a very stubborn man about his Ius own Ideas and It may be taken for granted that the Moffett plan having been approved b by him after mature de liberation deliberation and along lines prevIously Indicated by bv hIs 5 per cent statement the President will stand firm on th the Issue But thIs will not b be to save sa e Moffett The radIcals will never for for- gh e a hIm vv Ill III ne never neer er fail to pin the Standard tag on him and will wear hIm down don do n On every Issue present present- presented presented ed from Crom now on AU All of whIch Is complicated by the fact that although In this particular battle Roose elt agrees lS with Moffett and not Ickes actually the Public Works administrator Is much closer to the throne than Moffett There Is Ismore s smore more personal affection There Is a much closer tie on general political and economIc lines Moffett with hIs busl busi- busi business ness background Is only a partial con convert convent vent vert even to the idea Ide of modifyIng the capitalistic s system stem IS as much as Roose- Roose Roosevelt velt eU desires Whereas Ickes Iches was way out In front of Roosevelt Roose elt and still Is Actually there Is only one member of the cabInet whose economic views would lead him naturally to sIde with Moffett This Is Secretary ot of Com Com- Commerce Commerce merce Daniel C Cheap Grain and Flour The loud screams of those objecting to the deluge of cheap grain and flour that has been pourIng into thIs country despite the tariff wall sInce the tho drouth situation became acute were based on the fact that much ot of thIs graIn and flour was subsidized by the governments or of the countrIes In whIch It was produced In some somo Instances the bounty for wheat ran as hIgh as 50 cents a bushel American money So the producer did not have ha to get geta a Very hIgh prIce In America for hIs grain to net Det him n a r ery satisfactory s profit even after payIng the normal duty It appears from what has been hap hap- happenIng happening penIng that this business of sendIng bounty bount paid grain to America has been IncreasIng very rapidly to the great dIstress of AmerIcan millers and farm farm- farmers farmers ers Not al always ays has the charge that the grain Is bounty paid been accurate accurate rate but It has been true In enough instances to justify the campaign that has been brought to WashIngton Strangely enough congress foresaw thIs situatIOn and provIded agaInst It but so far the law has not been en- en enforced enforced forced The power to enforce It has lain with the customs division ot of the treasury but Its teeth were ere not brought Into action In fact up to date It has been a dead letter The la law provided that It if any foreign government subsidIzed the production of graIn the precise amount of the subsIdy should be bB added to the ordinary ordinary nary tariff when grain from that coun- coun country country try was brought Into AmerIcan ports But none ot of these excess tarIff duties have been levied despIte the fact that grain which In some Instances was subsidized by the producing country up to GO 50 cents a bushel has been pouring pour pour- ing in n Sought Sought Feed Abroad When the picture began to loom up In true proportions last year there was quite a movement to acquIre cattle feed from abroad to prevent the sacrIfice of AmerIcan cattle for which there was as no domestic feed Thou Thou- Thousands sands ands of head ot of cattle were moved of course by the government from parched areas to places where teed feed was available But thIs was not enough Also the government Itself In Its re- re relief lIet lief went Into the market marketto and flour amounts of grain to buy large for human beIngs Due to these two complications the treasury was not much Interested In taking any steps whIch would check the inflow of cheap food for man and beast Especially as the existing tariffs seemed high enough In a way the whole problem Is a most cold standpoint curious one from the ot of the economist For It would seem that t it for ex- ex blush at empIe first to foodstuff ff production thus feeding workers In country partly at her expense another she Is handIcappIng ing herself In the fight for world orId markets To take a concrete case assume that subsidizes wheat 50 cents tl a poland be bushel Her trea treasury would then about halt half the cost ot of the bread paying countrIes competing In workers of r be n assumed would w which II c hit it might wight CI therefore be able to pro produce d uce comp competitive goods at a cost so manufactured tive Poland that Poland much 10 lower er than would not be iRet iReta able a GNU to meet servIce their it prices |