Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1933-02-23
This Week
by ARTHUR BRISBANE
Roosevelt's Courage.
No Ten Per Cent.
48 Opinions, No Opinion.

TO OplulOnS, mo OplnlOns
The country, rejoicing at President
elect Roosevelt's escape, finds addi-.
tional satisfaction in the fact that
statements by the Miami police show
the shooting was the act of a mailman,
not the expression of any fanatic class
hatred.
The man who fred the shots with
such disastrous effects, but, fortunate
ly, without injuring the President
elect, talked at random, II like Roose-
welt as man but kill all Presidents.
| don't kill police; they work for liy-
ing. After an operation, / have bad
pains in my stomach. / hate the rich
and powerful that Cypress the poor"
! etc.
Admirable was the courage of Mayor
Cermak. Of Chicago, with whom the
whole country sympathizes. After the
bullet had struck him, inflicting a most
dangerous wound, his first words, ad-
dressed to Roosevelt, were: II am glad
it is l, and not you"
Admirable also was the GOODNESS Of
Roosevelt. After FIVE bullets had been
! fired at him, he stood erect in his auto
! mobile and shouted, to reassure the
angry crowd: II am all right" Secret
Service men urged speeding away from
the scene as fast as possible. Roosevelt
| ordered his car to stop, took Mr.. Ger,
max on the seat beside him, and sup
ported him in his arms, on the way to
| the hospital.
| Washington is waiting for England's
proposition concerning the war debts.
Mr.. Rainey of Illinois, says one billion,
or ten cents on the dollar, the most
probable proposition, Is sheer non
sense" Mr.. Rainey must prepare for
another shock, for the proposition may
| include payment in deprecated British
or other currency, and possibly part
payment in silver, at a price about
double the present value.
Would it not be simpler to say to our
European friends: go ahead and de-
fault. 1t will be worth ten billions, plus
interest, to know that your promise to
pay is worth nothing" One thing is
certain-any political party accepting
a ten per cent debt settlement would
not stay in power long.
Without losing his temper Uncle Sam
might say: "You owe us the money.
If you don't intend to pay, don't" We
could then proceed to collect indirectly.
You know the history of the Suez
Canal. Mr.. Van Loon tells it well in half
page in his Geography"
The French planned to dig the Suez
Canal. A dull British prime minister OBJ
jected, saying short cut to India
would hurt the prosperity of England's
colony at the Cape of Good Hope.
But the canal was dug and by that
time Disraeli, Jewish statesman who
made Victoria Empress of India, and
added Cyprus to Britain's possessions,
was in charge of British affairs.
Disraeli, with business sense, said,
'Let the French dig the canal, Britain
will make it pay" and proceeded to
buy control of the canal stock for Brit
ain. The canal earned forty million dol
lars year, paid enormous profits on
the British investment. Disraeli didn't
make any money out of it for himself,
as some others might have done.
| Perhaps we can make extra money
out of the Panama Canal, which we
built, by, allowing other countries to
pay considerably larger toll for using
| the canal.
| Uncle Sam, making that canal q
success, providing the money and en-
cheering intelligence after the French
| failed, has been worth a great deal to
the worlds ships, saving them the
trouble of sailing all the way around
J South America. They would be willing
! to pay well for 1t, especially if they
had to pay.
Two days after his Inauguration,
President Roosevelt will have a meet
ing of governors of all the States in the
White House to discuss "Wha to do?"
Il To let the governors come in, express
their opinions, get acquainted with the
President and each other, is a good
idea. But forty-eight opinions would
mean no opinion. If anything is to be
done, it must be done by one man with
the right ldea and the power 10 make
others accept it.
You can't run newspaper with an
editorial conference, or run a govern
ment with conference of governors.
There is no substitute for ideas and
will power in the individual.
In New York, 1900 march solemnly,
in protest against Japan's war in China.
How does this concern anybody among
the 5000? How many Of them know
that those killed by the Japanese are
largely Chinese brigands that the Chi
nese Government has been unsuccess-
fully trying to kill?
What would the 1000 solemn march
ers have said if the same number of
Japanese had marched around Toxic
in 1917, protesting against our foolish
interference in the European war?
Mr. o. 0. Mcintyre, who wanders UP
and down in the earth and tells what
he sees. describes "Freckles," edu-