Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-14
HOWE MADE HAPPY
BY ART OF LOAF|NG
Former New York Immigra-
ton Head Sees More in
Soul Than Gold.
By JESSIE HENDERSON,

Special Correspondent Of The Star.
NANTUCKET ISLAND, Mass, July
13.-At SiaSconSet, on the farthermost
tip of America, where the town pump
still stands comfortably remote from the
young Chinese, the young Turks and the
ancient regime of the Old World, We
sought DR.. Frederic G. Howe and solu-
ticn Of the perplexities which keep
Europe, Asia and the United States so
hot and bothered.
AS former United States commissioner
Of immigration for the port of New
York, as former member of the Ohio
Senate and as aide to President Wilson
at the peace conference in Paris, when
the troubles of Turkey, Armenia and
Syria loomed large, DR.. Howe has spent
considerable thought upon world prob
lens, In addition to writing II text
books on these and allied subjects.
Worried queries as to Russia, Italy,
Chinese nationals trembled upon our
lips Fred Howe lit cigarette, smiled
at the illimitable Atlantic and talked
about the art of intelligent loafing. 1t
is an art not SO far removed from the
solution Of world problems as might at
firSt glance appear.
School for Elders Needed.
''There ought" said Fred Howe. ITO
be university devoted to the education
OF men past so. Its student body would
be composed of men who have tried to
make money and men who didn't
achieve the great regulations they
contain some place where political
bosses, also statesmen, could meet to
laugh at the things they meant to do
and the crooked things they did. To
learn how to live seems to me now much
more important than to be able to settle
the affairs of the world. want to be
an intelligent loafer. possessed of
myself"
When last We saw DR.. Howe. in Paris,
the glamour and clamor of the peace
conference, its distinction and formal
1ty, still lowered In the air. Today,
Fred Howe, In shirt sleeves and knick-
erS, was beSieged by several little ma
tons OF carpenters, maSons, gardeners:
and heck with the riff and Irridenta,
but yoickS for the Summer school of in
tellectualS which he has established UNI
der the name Of the School of opinion.
To this school. by the way-housed in
tique stagecoach at the door-have come
from all over the country round hun
dred lecturers, literari and collegiateS.
1T wasn't" Fred Howe explained,
because Of establishment with the
Paris peace or the dishonesties of
diplomacy that drifted to Nantucket
Island from New York It was rather
my life with my friends, to live by the
sea, to do something with my hands; in
short, to do and be what 1 wanted to
be and do from day to day.
Soul Possession Pleasant.
Life is an amusing thing If you don't
take It too seriously. It is far pleas
anter to possess ones own soul than to
possess political power discovered
late In my career that plants and flow
erS are more interesting than law books,
and that reading books written by my
friends Is more profitable than writing
books myself"
He ought to be able to write several
more, nevertheless. He spends every
Winter abroad, and Is just back from
many months in Vienna, Berlin and
Wiesbaden. But he'd rather grow mas
turtiumS.
II guess left politics." he resumed,
because politics are crooked. Not
crooked in the ordinary sense and not
more crooked than business; but, for
example, could never be elected to
ONCE If people knew what I really be- |
lieved or wanted to see done. believe |
In liberty. What I want would make |
this country q better place to live in, |
but 1t would disturb a lot of people, |
especially those whom 1t would benefit |
most. I'm an absolute free trader; I'd |
abolish all the custom houses and let |
the wealth Of the world come into
America as freely as people used to
come. The biggest thing of all, I'd let
people get their feet on the soil with
out ground rent, as the birds and ami
mails do. And think the Government
ought to own its own water power, gas
and electric plants, as the owner of a
Skyscraper owns the plumbing and
other fixtures in 1t.
Gold Rules America"
america Is passing through an
epoch, as other countries have done,
in which gold rules the lives and opin-
ions of men. We worship it as did the
worShipers of Mammon; everybody
bows to it, including the Government.
In 10 or 20 years, enough people will
see that there isn't anything
to that game and that the majority of
lis don't profit by it, and then the
country may become interested in the
Idea of a government for the people
rather than for privilege.
when this idea percolates, America
will begin to build the most marvellous
civilization the world has ever known.
She will build houses for her people,
insure her workers, protect her aged.
She will do lots of things with this
wondrous wealth of ours that is now
in the hands of a few people who don't
know what to do with 1t.