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Show NEWS REVIEW OF CURRENT EVENTS Congress Decides an Army of 175,000 Is Enough, Despite "Yellow Peril." HOUSE DECLINES TO GROW Apportionment Measure Leaves Membership Mem-bership at 435 Harding Goes to Florida Without Announcing Cabinet Briand Becomes Premier Pre-mier of France and Repara. tions Conferencs Opens. By EDWARD W. PICKARD. Congress took action on two important import-ant and interesting matters last week. One of these related to the national defense. The senate, which had voted for reduction of the strength of the army to 150,000 men, reconsidered its vote and repassed the New resolution directing the secretary of war to suspend sus-pend enlistments until a reduction to 175,000 men was accomplished. The house promptly passed a similar resolution reso-lution almost unanimously, and the measure went to the President. It was expected, in view of the opposition of the war department, that Mr. Wilson Wil-son would veto it, and that congress would pass it over the veto. This is supposed to be a measure of economy which will save about forty million dollars a year to the government. govern-ment. The senate was restrained from being even more economical only by representations from Secretary of War Baker that the 150,000 limit would upset the department's plans for army They contended that a new census, taken after readjustment was complete, com-plete, would show that the fanning statec Cad recovered their lost population. popula-tion. Always, when reapportionment is In order, the South tears that it will suffer suf-fer through application of the constitutional constitu-tional provision which authorizes the house to reduce representation from any state that denies or abridges the right to citizens of the United States to vote. This time Tinkham of Massachusetts Mas-sachusetts sought to have the provision provi-sion written into the bill, asserting that several southern states denied thei negro citizens the right of suffrage. suf-frage. But nothing .came of it and the South breathed easier. Mr. Harding has departed for Florida Flor-ida without making public his cabinet selection, but before leaving Marion he 3&ld Tie might be able to announce the personnel of his official family after af-ter settling down In St. Augustine next month. He declined to discuss the attempt of certain senators and others to Induce him to substitute Elihu Root for Charles E. Hughes as secretary of state, and indeed he never has said, that he had chosen Mr. Hughes for that place, though It is taken for granted by some of the correspondents. correspond-ents. One rumor Mr. Harding did dispose dis-pose of that there would be a Democrat Demo-crat in his cabinet. He said the members mem-bers would all be Republicans, but would not be selected solely because of party obligations. Fred Uphara, treasurer o( the Republican national committee, is responsible for the statement state-ment that one and possibly two members mem-bers of the cabinet will be from the South. The Republican majority In the senate sen-ate has decided that no more of President Presi-dent Wilson's army and navy appointments appoint-ments shall be confirmed, with the exception of some 5,000'minor officers commissioned under the army reorganization reor-ganization act. The appointments of eleven major generals and of hundreds hun-dreds of high army and navy officials In bureaus and departments will not tie acted on. They will be left for the Harding kdtulnistratlcn to handle. matter of reparations is the most serious, se-rious, arid it was expected Lloyd George and Briand would find difficulty diffi-culty in reaching an accord on It. A story from Berlin that the British and French had arrived at a new basis for negotiating the reparations question, was denied by British officials, who said the "lump sum" policy remained in force, though a plan for five-year annual payments is being discussed. There is no likelihood that any of the pleas of Germany will be granted. The 'official German report on the carrying out of the terms of the Versailles Ver-sailles treaty has been completed, and asserts that the total value of the property so far turned over to the entente is $5,000,000,000. By far the argest single item is the merchant fleet of more than 4,500,000 tons, valued val-ued at $2,000,000,000. Though the story has not yet been confirmed from any source, mention must be made of the report from Berlin Ber-lin by way of Paris that the Dutch government has asked the members of the former kaiser's family to leave Holland. The government is said to have come into possession of documents docu-ments proving that the Hohenzollerns were preparing for a coup d'etat for their -restoration. The former crown prince, it was discovered, was to pass into Germany and enter Berlin at the head of troops that have remained faithful to the Hohenzollern dynasty. The Berlin correspondent of the London Lon-don Times says a Prussian royalist party has been formed and plans to bring the "Orgesch" into line with similar movements In other German states. These stories are in accord with others that have appeared recently re-cently giving in great detail the plans for the restoration of the empire under un-der Wilhelm or one of his sons. Lu-dendorff Lu-dendorff is said to be the actual head of the general movement. There Is no rift in the black clouds that overhang Austria. The Austrian section of the reparations committee, which expects to report to the allied premiers this week, are said to argue that 'the situation must be remedied by stringent measures to bring about the free interchange of products between be-tween Czecho-Slovakia, Roumanla, Austria 'and Hungary, or Austria is doomed to starve, unless the world Is willing to continue to feed it through charity. 1 The workers of Austria, who demand de-mand the stopping of profiteering, also demand a plebiscite on the question of fusion with Germany which the peace treaty forbids. Finance Minister Min-ister Grim in a speech last week declared de-clared that union with Germany would be brought about of necessity, perhaps by means of a revolution, unless foreign for-eign credits to Austria were soon forthcoming. forth-coming. Bishop Cohalan of Cork takes a pessimistic view of the Irish situation, saying he sees no prospect of peace. Nor is there any so long as the Irish persist in their demand for Independence Independ-ence and so long as the present British Brit-ish government lives. The British authorities are making this plain In ,.,. ,oo r.iccthtp Not n dav nnsses organization, and from General Pershing Persh-ing that 200,000 men was the bottom limit of saiety. Of course the senators sena-tors in this connection debated the "yellow peril." Phelan of California asserted the necessity for large garrisons garri-sons in Pacific possessions was greater now than during the war, while Reed and Williams rid-iculed the Hanger and said Japan never would dare to attack the United States without the assistance of Great Britain. It is likely that the latter view Is that generally held in America, except by the people of the Pacific coast, to whom the Japanese peril looms large. It accords, also, with the expert opinion opin-ion of the German Admiral Scheer, who says it would be almost Impossible Impossi-ble for Japan to land an army on American soil. Some people have grown excited over the murder of an American navy lieutenant by a Japanese Japa-nese sentry In Vladivostok., There is no doubt that this affair will be settled set-tled diplomatically, though the sharp note from Washington, virtually questioning ques-tioning Japan's right in the Siberian city, may result In an ueiid exchange. The arbitrary actions ct the Japanese authorities In Vladivostok, which they hold under military rul, have caused Congressional committees are after af-ter A. Mitchell Palmer, with the purpose pur-pose of at least 'giving him an un-. un-. pleasant quarter of an hour. Last week the attorney general was called before the senate judiciary subcommittee subcommit-tee to reply to charges of Illegal and unauthorized practices by the Department Depart-ment of Justice in Its activities against the Reds. Ostensibly, Mr. Palmer was summoned merely to express his opinion opin-ion of Senator France's resolution for a general amnesty for political prisoners. pris-oners. He opposed the resolution because, be-cause, he said, the government was already doing all It could In this line; he favored the repeal of the espionage act, but said there should be permanent perma-nent legislation to protect the government govern-ment from violent radicals. The France resolution strongly condemns the practices prac-tices of the department of justice, and in reply Mr. Palmer made sweeping denials of the charges and produced reports of his agents to prove them unfounded. a good deal of lrrltitl-n but the government gov-ernment In Tokyo too smooth to permit them to lead U hostilities with the United States. - The other Interesting congressional action was taken by the house on Wednesday, when it decided by a vote of 2G7 to 76, that during the next ten years It shall be composed of the same number of representatives as now 435. The plan of apportionment adopted provides that eight states shall gain In representation and eleven elev-en lose. California gets three more members, Ohio and Michigan two more each, and New Jersey, Connecticut, North Carolina, Texas and Washington Washing-ton one each. The losers are Missouri, two; and Iowa. Indiana. Kentucky, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi. Nebraska, Rhode Island and Vermont, one each. Because the population has been drifting from the farm to the city, the agricultural constituencies of the West and South are the ones that suffer $ ost In loss of representation. The congressmen from those regions were the chief opponents of the measure, and their main argument was that the census, being taken during the war period when the young men of the I country had been drafted or attracted o the c'lles bj high wages, was unfuiJS Samuel Untermyer recently accused the attorney general of malfeasance. In an interview Mr. Palmer said he did not know "how far Mr. Untermyer is actuated in his present attack by the recent conviction of his friend and former associate, a member of the New York bar, for conspiracy to violate vio-late the trading with the enemy act. in a case in which Mr. Untermyer very earnestly pressed me to withhold with-hold action at the beginning." Mr. Palmer says that Untermyer was opposed to taking over enemy property and once threatened him when, as alien property custodian, he declined to yield to the lawyer's requests. re-quests. Aristide Briand has been made premier pre-mier of France, has named a strong cabinet and has been assured of the support of all parties except the Radicals, Radi-cals, giving him a majority of about 400 in the chamber. He has himself taken the portfolio of foreign affairs, and on Thursday he read to parliament the cabinet's declaration of policy. This paved the way for the conference confer-ence of the allied premiers, in session this week in Faris. The subjects under un-der discussion are reparations and disarmament dis-armament of Germany, Austria and Turkey, and the affairs of Greece. The without raids In Ireland In which militant mili-tant republicans are captured and arms seized, and on Thursday a number num-ber of Sinn Fein centers in London were raided. Ambushing and slaying of officers hy the Irish also continues, and now the government is making official offi-cial the reprisals hitherto only condoned. con-doned. In Cork two houses where members of the constabulary were attacked at-tacked were destroyed by the military mili-tary forces. The British military authorities au-thorities in Dublin have Issued a proclamation proc-lamation declaring that if bomb and firearm attacks on crown forces in motorcars mo-torcars do not reuse, "known rebels will be carried as hostages for the safe conduct of the occupants of all motor vehicles which are the property of the armed forces of the crown." Lord Mayor O'Callaghan of Cork, who came to America as a stowaway, and whose deport? 'ion was decided on by the State department, despite the opposition of the Labor department. Intends In-tends to carry the case to the Supreme court if possible. Meanwhile he has told his story to the unofficial committee commit-tee on Irish affairs. Another witness heard last week calls himself the "consul "con-sul general of the Irish republic," and the self-constituted committee of meddlers med-dlers carefully so addressed hiu "v tbat title. |