Show EVE EVENTS OF 1923 PASS IN REVIEW Happenings at Home and Abroad During the Twelve Months That Have Just Closed PRESIDENT HARDINGS GS G'S DEATH Futile to Settle Attempts to Settle German Reparations Rep Rep- Problem France Occupies Occupies pies the Ruhr Ruhr- Turkeys Ruhr Turkeys Turkey's Diplomatic Diplomatic Diplo- Diplo matic matic Triumph Terrible Earth quake In Japan American Prosperity and Politics By EDWARD W W. W PICKARD WIth the exception of Germany ruined by her own acts and Japan shattered by the forces of nature nil all the world was better off orr at the close of at 1923 than at Its beginnIng This Is especIally true of at the United States Italy Finland Czechoslovakia Turkey lurkey Tur- Tur key and probably Russia though the information coming from the land ot of the soviets has been so colored that It It was difficult to determine true condItions conditions con con- there Economic recovery of the world was retarded as It was durIng the prevIous previous ous twelve months by failure to settle the matter of the German reparations reparations repa- repa rations and by the steady decline of G Germany toward the poInt of absolute collapse The occupation of f the by byJ J France and the resulting disputes wIth Great Britain brought on repeated re- re ted peZ crises each of which seemed to threaten the final disruption of the entente cordiale Several proposals for fat commissions to determine Germanys Germany's capacity to pay were made but each of at them required re- re q Ired the participation of at the United States and each time th the American government found unacceptable the restrictions InsIsted upon by Premier PoIncare of France As the year drew toward Its close however the reparations commission was preparIng to appOint two committees of experts t help work out the problem and President Coolidge approved of the appointment appointment ap- ap of Americans on these committees com com- Purkey gained power and prestige through the Lausanne peace cont re r- r e ence ce and the resulting treaties with the allies and with the United States Late In the year ear she added herself herselt to the list of republics with Mustapha Kemal Pasha as her first president Under the leadership ot of General Primo Rivera and other army officers and aristocrats there was a housecleaning house house- cl cleaning aning In Spain that resulted d In the turning out of at the crowd of politicians thi that bad for years been battening on the spoils of misgovernment Th The so- so called democratic government was overthrown and a dictatorial council substituted president Hardings Harding's death In San Francisco threw all the United States and Indeed all the civilized world world- Into irto mourning Vice President dent Calvin Coolidge succeeding to to tot t r. I the chief magistracy carrIed on In general the policies of his predecessor f Mr Harding had bad been considered the t certain nominee of af the Republican ix I In 1024 and hIs demise threw oren the lists and made the political f contest Intensely Interesting |