Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-09-20
HOOVER SEES Peril
OF SOCIALISM HERE
Warns Business Men OF Failure To
Aid Nation.
CITES RUSSIA AS AN EXAMPLE
Gen. Kuhn Soon To Become Chief OF
Army Staff conferees Angered.


Army Staff Tax Conferees Angered.
The delegates to the war conyen-
tion of American Business Men,, held
under the auspices of the Chamber of
Commerce of the United States, at At
lantic City, were warned last night by
Herbert c. Hoover, Federal Food Ad-
ministraticn that socialism might be
the penalty of the failure of business
men to realize their responsibilities
and cooperate adequately with the
Government. Mr.. Hoover among
other things said:
"One looming shadow of this war;"
he said, lis its drift toward social
ism, for the gigantic sacrifice of life
the world is demanding a sacrifice of
property. We will surely drift to that
rocky coast unless we can prove the
economic soundness and willingness
for public service of our commercial
institutiones. 1t is worth while ex-
amining the developments in Russia
from this point ofview. Here no prac-
tical or effective form of commercial
regulation or distribution was under
taken. In consequence or specula-
profiters and failure in commerce to
serve public interest the condition of
the industrial classes became so in
tolerable as TO steam the hot bed of
revolution. Justifiable as this revolu-
tion may have been, and as great a
cause of liberty as it may result, no
one can deny that the whole trend of
this revolution has been socialistic
and the latest phase is a development
into practical socialism. The strain
in the revolution, | am convinced
from much experience in Russia, was
the reaction from failure of the Gov
ernment and the commercial classes
to meet their public duty.
Gen. Kuhn To BE Chief.
Major Gen. Joseph e. Kuhn, who has
seen more actual modern warfare
than any other man in the American
Army, is to succeed Major Gen. Hugh
l.. Scott as Chief of Staff of the Uni
ted States Army General Scott will
reach the retirement age of GA years
Saturday. Whether General Kuhn,
will taKe up the work of Chief of Staff
as soon as General Scott retires or
will wait until Major General Tasker
H. Bliss goes on the retired list on
Dec 81, is not definitely known, and
Secretary Baker would not discuss
the matter last night.
Major Gen Bliss was acting Chief
of Staff during General Scotts alb
sence in Russia on the Root mission.
1t has been intimated for some time
that when General Scott is retired.
General Bliss will receive a chance to
round out his career by acting as
Chief of Staff until his retirement, and
would thsn be succeeded by General
Kuhn
Major General Kuhn's rise has been
as rapid as that of any other general
officer on the active list of the army.
Only a little over two years ago he
was a Lieutenant Colonel. In 1915
he became Colonel, in 1916 Briga-
dier General and head of the Army
War College, and this Summer was
promoted to be Major-General in the
national army and assigned to active
duty in command of the Seventy ninth
Division Z, Camp Meade, near Annapo-
lis Junction, Md.
Publicity Stirs Tax Conferees.
For a time yesterday it looked as if
the conferees on the $2,406,760,000
War Revenue Bill were hopelessly
deadlocked. Angered over publicity
given the tentative agreement reached
yesterday on second-clsss postage and
other features in dispute the House
conferees, insisting that there was "a
leak" somewhere in the secrecy agree
ment, bolted the conference early in
the morning and went into an execu-
tive session of their own.
The break, which lasted four hours,
during which time the House con-
ferees me-. in room on House side
and the Senate conferees in their FL
nance Committee room, came to an
end late in the afternoon, when the
House men went back to the Senate
side and renewed deliberations Late
last night Senator Simmons, Chairman
of the Finance Committee. plainly
wearied over the long fight, said he
believed the conferees would reach a
definite understanding Friday night
The split, so far as could be learned,
came entirely upon the proposal to put
the zone system of second-class tax
upon publishers back into the bill,
with a compromise between the origi-
nal House schedule and the Mckellar
substitute, which was struck from the
bill in the Senate after having once
been accepted by that body. The
House conferees voted with the Sena-
tors yesterday to reinstate the zone
system, and everything seemed settled.
excepting as to the precise rates to be
fixed.