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Show This Week hy ARTHUR BRISBANE Russia, Japan, France McAdoo's Idea ' Dollar Wheat, Dollar Silver No U. S. Cars for Russia Business is much better with us, and the world In general. That Is universally univer-sally admitted. War, on a big scale, is much nearer in the East. That every nation knows. Washington, official worrier for the whole world, worries about it. Russia, as a hint to Japan, makes a great display of military force, as her mechanized army rumbles through the streets. One million workers, hardy, of right age for war, march behind the growling tanks and big guns. Russia wants Japan to know what sort of trouble she is inviting. It would not be any incompetent czar-grand-duke war if Russia started now. The enthusiasm that sent the French revolutionary revo-lutionary armies conquering everywhere every-where animates the Russians today. Japan would meet no army of depressed depress-ed moujiks, half of them without ammunition. am-munition. Roosevelt, acting as arbitrator, gave to Japan the Russian possessions in Southern Manchuria after, the war of 1904, and since then, Japan has spent more than two hundred million dollars in Manchuria. If Russia tries to get back what Roosevelt's decision took away from her, it will be a severe fight. May we, with the help of Providence, keep out of it, minding our own business, as Japan minded her business during the big war. , Briand sends "sharp notes" to Japan ; warning her against starting war. But the French will not find in Japan another an-other "docile America" ready to take suggestions and orders from any one abroad. If Japan wants to fight, she will fight. That she dqes want to fight and gather in Manchuria, now, seems certain. j I W. G. McAdoo writes an extremely interesting book of memoirs, "Crowded "Crowd-ed Years," published by Houghton Mifflin Mif-flin Company. j Mr. McAdoo's years have been very ' crowded, particularly when lie was ' running ' the United States Treasury and the railroads at the same time, j He suggests that there should be no i talk of cancelling foreign debts, and if ! France and Germany can't, or don't want to pay the money they owe, you , might take colonies, "as part pay- ment." Not a good idea, France and England will say. Two things this country needs, could and should have wheat at a dollar a bushel and silver at a dollar an ounce. A dollar an ounce for silver would be a ratio of twenty-two to one, since gold is "worth" twenty-two dollars an ounce. j The existing ratio is above sixty to ' one, although gold production is act-; act-; ually only thirteen to one, as compared j with silver. i President Hoover, Mr. Mellon and others that would like the Republican Party to remain in power are invited to ! consider the "wheat at a dollar, silver at a dollar" program. If the President consults bankers, even as intelligent a financier as Eugene Eu-gene Meyer, Jr. of the Federal Reserve, Re-serve, he will probably see shaking of heavy heads. But not all bankers are unable to realize that cornering gold by France and this country is responsible respons-ible for industrial and commercial stagnation. One of the ablest bankers in the country said, recently: "The bankers want money as scarce as possible, that they may more easily control it and increase their power. But they are short-sighted and must realize soon that gold is too scarce and is actually cornered by two nations, na-tions, leaving the others without 'real money' to carry on the business of the j world." Russia tried to buy nine thousaad railway freight cars and some other transportation materials, at a cost of fifty million dollars, here. Our business men did not feel like trusting the Russians, Rus-sians, and demanded half cash in advance, ad-vance, so the business has gone to Germany. Perhaps that will help Germany Ger-many to pay her private debts owed to our financiers, in a hurry to make commissions, com-missions, and not paying much attention atten-tion to repayment of principal. Those interested in French prosperity prosper-ity will be delighted to hear that the French central bank reported a gold reserve increased, by $30,000,000 in the last week and established a new gold record. In a month the United States has lost- ?700,000,000 in gold, most of it to France. If that happened too often oft-en we might feel It. In the economy wave, cavalry in the United States Army has been decreased, decreas-ed, and there is protest. Modern war makes cavalry useless, and keeping any cavalry, unless to use it against strikers or other mobs, is foolish. Ten modern tanks could plow their way through 50,000 cavalry, as easily as a heavy truck could go through mice. Alexander, with his few men, proved that the Persian "cavalry," long rows of elephants, could do nothing against military science. What could horses do against airplanes air-planes and tanks? (,1931, by King Futurtt Syndicate, lac.) |