The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1924-04-04

Bush of the bureau Of mineralogy of
the state of California.
u REPRESENTATIVE LANGLEY of
N Kentucky and five other men
were indicted in Washington for con
spiracy to interfere with the operation
Of the prohibition law and to defraud
the government.
lust as plans for the peaceful set
y Element Of the reparations and
other postwar troubles Of Europe
were beginning to move steadily
toward accomplishment, M. Lasteyrie,
French minister of finance. pulled a
boner" last Wednesday and compelled
Premier Poincare and his cabinet to
resign. There was considerable dis
may in diplomatic circles, but this was
allayed when M. Poincare, after con-
sulting the presidents of the senate
and chamber Of deputies, yielded to
the request of President Millerand
and consented to form new ministry.
The incident. after all, turned out adj
vantageously, for the premier was en-
abled to get rid Of several ministers
whose unpopularity has hampered him.
Lasteyrie's failure to control the
financial situation had made him the
object of frequent attacks, and when
on Wednesday he demanded an imme-
diate vote by the deputies on the gov
ernment's pension bill the chamber
sent it to committee for investiga-
tion. Lasteyrfe thereupon called for
a vote of CONFIDENCE parliamentary
blunder-and this was refused, 264 to
271. The resignation of the cabinet
followed as matter of course. Poin-
care, however, felt that he must retain
the reins of government until the re-
port Of the committee Of experts has
been published and also believed he
should carry on the series of CONVEX
sations with Prime Minister MacDon-
aid concerning French security. There
fore he undertook the formation of
new cabinet.
THERE seems to be ground for the
L hope that the Anglo-French con-
versations will lead to an agreement
giving security to France and, in con-
junction with the Dawes plan, to a
settlement Of the reparations prob
lem. It is taken for granted that Ger
many will accept the experts report,
but, it will urge that the German rail-
ways be heavily mortgaged and put in
the control of board of trustees in
stead Of being internationalized. The
Berlin government announced that the
agreement between the Ruhr indus
trialists and France, which provided
France and the allies with coal, in
exchange for which the manufacturers
were allowed freedom of operations,
could not be renewed on April 10.
when 1t expires, because the govern
ment could no longer pay for the prod
ucts delivered. The Association of
Rhineland Industries therefore offered
the following basis for a new agree
ment:
The German industrialists viii; de-
liver 1917 per cent of the coal output,
as called for in the previous agree
ment, provided France and Belgium in
turn facilitate Ruhr production by re-
ducing the reparations coal tax and
the cost for the transportation of
freight, on the Franco-Belgian con-
trolled railway system in the Rhine
land and Ruhr.
Poincare, according to Paris dis
patches, has an ambitious program by
which he hopes to save Europe. If a
pact for French security can be ar
ranged with Great Britain, he will
soon meet Premier Theunis of Belgium
to consolidate their positions, and
then will call three great conferences.
The first will include the allies, the
second the allies and Germany. and
the third, intended to make COM
plete settlement Of the European
tangie, will include the allies, Germany,
the United States and the larger neu-
tral nations.
Prime Minister Macdonald appears
to be working along the same lines.
for it Is stated that he hopes, soon
after the experts report is submitted,
to bring about new allied conference,
in which the United States would be
asked to participate.
a T THIS writing the incomplete re-
"A turns from the South Dakota pri-
maries indicate that Hiram Johnson
has defeated Coolidge for the Repub-
lican preference by small majority.
Belated reports may change this. but
in any case the Coolidge campaign
managers profess Indifference. They