Evening star., 1925-03-01

sion was obtained through pacifist
workmen in factories where war ma
terial was being turned out and
through other pacifists. especially
students in the universities, as. to
forbidden military training activities.
United States of America.-Con-
gress has passed the postal pay and
rate bill. 1t provides for about
s6o. 100000 additional annual revenue
against an additional annual expen-
diture of about s6S o00, ,000-that is,
commencing January 1. 1926. For the
present calendar year it provides for
only 100000 additional revenue
against additional expenditure of
$6s, 900, 600.
Maj. Gen. James Harrison Wilson,
Z. S. A., retired, is dead at the age
of 81. He was the last to survive of
the corps commanders in the Union
Army during the Civil War. He was
one of the most brilliant cavalry
leaders in the war. He is said to
have planned the vicksburg cam
paign. Perhaps the pinnacle of his
achievement was his defeat of For
rest and capture of Selma, Ga, in
October, 1864. He was then 27.
Senator Medill Mccormick of ILL.,
nois is dead.
In an address to a national con-
ference on inheritance and estate
taxation at Washington the other day
the President made some interesting
observations which supplement COM
ments made by him on signing the
revenue act of 1924. BY that act the
highest bracket of Federal estate tax
was raised from % to 40 per cent.
When" said the President, "the
inheritance taxes levied by the States
are added to this, substantial con-
flscation OF capital may result. I do
not believe that the Government
should seek social legislation in the
guise of taxation. We should ap-
proach the questions directly where
the arguments for and against the
proposed legislation may be clearly
presented and universally understood.
If we are to adopt socialism, 1t
should be presented to the people of
this country as socialism and not un-
der the guise Of law to collect reve-
nue."
It is, of course, a great question
that calls for just the sort OF discus
sion which was the object of the
conference. AS a matter of fact,
eral estate tax yields not more than
an annual $125, 900, ,000-only about
u per cent of the amount yielded by
the income tax. In Great Britain,
with its very high income tax, the
percentage is 171z. Should the field
of inheritance taxation under peace
conditions be left entirely to the
States, as was our policy prior to the
great war? Or to avoid multiple tax
alton, through conflicts of State juris-
diction, should the States be elected
from the field, the Federal Govern
ment to levy a comprehensive inheri-
tance tax and divide the yield with
the States? Or what should be the
remedy for the present unsatisfac-
tory situation? Certainly, as the
President said, the arguments this
way and that should be presented to
the public so clearly that all may
our theory of democracy is correct
the right solution should emerge.
1t is proposed to abolish the under
graduate department Of Johns Hop
kins and have the university devote
itself solely to graduate study and
research. 1t is proposed also 20 es-
tablish at the university Page
School of International Relations, so
named in memory of Walter Hines
Page, for the study of methods look
ing to the prevention of war and the
promotion of kindly relations among
nations, for the creation of "a SCI
ence Of peace:
X X X
MisceIlaneous.-M. Raymond Poin-
care has issued a completely convinc-
ing defense of King Alfonso of Spain
against certain charges violently
| urged in Ibanez's book, Alfonso XIII
lUnmasked." the gist of which charges
| is that during the great war King
Alfonso played the part OF a German
spy.
The Italian government has de-
| manded that the Egyptian govern
| mont turn over to it at once the
famous little oasis of Jarabub as
properly a part of Cyrenaica. The
Milner-Scialoja agreement calls for
settlement of the Cyrenaican-E -Egyp-
tian frontier by negotiation.
There has been negotiation, but not
| agreement.
| Communist agitation and violence
in Bulgaria (no doubt fomented from
Moscow) appear to be increasing. but
the dispatches do not furnish sufi-
cient data for confident estimate of
the situation.
| Kurds in eastern Turkey have re-
vo!ted and proclaimed a son of Add
VI Hamid, King of Kurdistan. The
Armenians having been eliminated