Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-14
COST OF EDUCATION
WILL Be REDUCED
Wisconsin Governor Plans
Survey to Eliminate USE
less Expenditures.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, February Phillip
La Toilette, Wisconsins 33-year-old
Governor, has started of well. He
has secured the cooperation of the
railroads whereby the railroads and
the State share the expense of making
safe the railroad crossings throughout
Wisconsin.
This will greatly increase the number
Of workers in the State. At the same
time, it will accomplish what every
State, in the Union must eventually
do, eliminate dangerous railroad grade
crossings on the main automobile lines
of travel.
The young Governor has also decided
to scrlltinize all the expenses Of the
University of Wisconsin and cut out tbs
useless expenditures He is convinced
that too much educational machinery
not only wastes money, but actually
inpairs the welfare of education.
There is always danger that educa-
ton will become perfunctory and pas
sive: where professors and employees do
the work for a hving-instead OF Tor
Inspiration
Everybody seems to agree that there
Is something wrong with educational
methods today; that it is not doing the
Job that it should be doing-of supply
ing well developed sense of relative
values"
Import Duty Reduction Asked.
The British governments note to
France Italy, Germany, Denmark,
Norway, Sweden and Poland yesterday,
suggesting a reduction of Is per cent
in their import duties of various prod
ucts of British manufacture, Is the t1rst
step that has been taken since the
AZ
Geneva which was called to bring about
a better understanding among Euro
pean nations.
william Graham, president of the
British Board of Trade, is understood to
be back of the movement.
Since the war, tariff schedules in
European countries have increased
from so to 100 per cent. Great Britain
IA the only free trade country left.
Can Great Britain stand up under
this increasing tariff movement? Not
unless the various European countries
agree to cooperate with British manu-
facturers by favored nation agreements.
in this field.
The British Labor government be-
lieves that Great Britain can survive
as a free trade country II 1t receives
any kind of cooperation from other
nations. In this, the Liberal party. led
bv LLOYD George, substantially agrees.
But the Conservative party, led by
Stanley Baldwin, is practically unan-
inous in the opinion that Great Britain
must about-face, put up tarin walls
as high as other nations and trust TO
luck to come out on the right side OF
the ledger.
That's a simple statement of very
complicated problem. For Great Brit
aims supremacy has been due largely
to her free trade policy, backed up by
very shrewd banking and business
genius.
German Preparations.
Germany at the moment is in a diff
ficult position over the heavy repara-
lions she is paying. She knows that
she must continue to pay under the
Young plan to the limit: Stih her
5000, 900 unemployed and her con-
tinued business depression may lead to
q situation which will allow Germany
no alternative than to suspend repara-
ton payments.
Should this occur, and it is very likely
to occur this Spring, it might preclpi-
tate a European credit crisis, which
would be of major concern to the whole
world.
yet no government wants to give in.
No government wants to admit it can
not pay. Still it is generally believed
in Europe that war debts and repara-
lions will have to be pruned down a
lot. But no nation wants to take the
initiative and bring it to head. There
is one institution which can do much
to assist in bringing this about and
that is the Bank Tor International Set
Elements at Basic.
Federal Bond Interest.
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
ogden L. Mills told the New York Bond
49, s1,, xlloN taa holisUG
$1,000, O00, 900 of United States Govern
ment bonds could be sold under per
cent, or 81 500 10000 at less than Az
per cent.
The question as to the rate of in
terest the bonus bond issue would have
to carry in order to be successfully
floated in the United States is largely
a question of how much assistance the
Federal reserve banks would extend in
the financing.
1t can be recalled that in wartime
financing, money was cheapened for the
Government by the. Federal Reserve
banks directly purchasing Government
bonds themselves, and by rediscounting
member bank loans on Government
bond collateral.
If the Federal Reserve banks could
be enabled to extend such similar help
at the present time, the rate would
be very materially reduced. ' So the
question Of the interest rate could be
answered by saying-it depends upon
how much help the Federal Reserve
banks will give to such an arrange
ment.
Huge transactions can hardly be ex-
pected to be handled without Federal
Reserve cooperation.
Needs of Employees.
H H. Swift, vice president of Swift
& Co. Chicago meat packers, which
company employs $1,000 people in its
various activities thinks the large en-
pIoyers of labor should be extra sensi-
tive right now as to the needs OF en-
ployes."
I'VE ought to be careful when we lay
off people" says Mr. Swift These
are hard, tragic times for the man to
be laid of. / am perfectly willing TO
admit that we have to do 1t, perhaps,
now in a good many instances. But we
ought to have reluctance about 1t,
and we ought to see whether we can't
transfer our men from one department
to another, instead of laying them on
When we take on new people. we ought
TO try awfully hard to get previous
Swift employees, If they have been
worthy employees and are out of work
We have some responsibility to them
We ought to wait day or two IN
building up our gangs to get previous
employees II we can, rather than taking
on new persons"
Mr.. Swift is one of the five active
brothers of the Swift family associated
with the company, which has $4,000
shareholders and sales Of over $500
900 900 annually. Still the Swift family
does not have a voting control in the
company.