Secretary's view as being that "the submarine policy of the Navy had been concentrated on improvements in internal submarine construction intended to increase their safety, rather than on utilization of limited space in them for bulky safety equipment which might, or might not, be found available in an accident."

Admiral Rock's letter after the loss of the S-51, is given out by Secretary Wilbur. It argues against the efficacy and practicality of many safety devices, but thinks that new submarines built with more room might be better guarded. Of course, a submarine cannot be built in a day, but meanwhile every conceivable effort should be used to make the old ones safe. The Admiral does not seem to see this.

Here we have the same callousness that allowed the use of the airplanes called "Jennies" while better ones were being built. The death of Curtis Wheeler will not soon be forgotten.

The Dawn, Missing at. Sea

T is the irony of fate that the Dawn, chosen, it is stated, by Mrs. Grayson as peculiarly fitted to prove that the Atlantic could be crossed in the safe and sane way, was turned back by misadventure three times-once when five hundred miles at sea.

Not deterred by these failures nor by advice against undertaking a winter flight, Mrs. Grayson, with Omdal, an experienced Norwegian pilot, Goldsborough, navigator and relief pilot, and Koehler, engine expert, on December 23 left Roosevelt Field, bound, on the first leg of the flight, for Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, with strong hope of reaching England on Christmas Day.

What happened we shall probably never know. If a half-read radio message from the Dawn was rightly interpreted, the "amphibian" must have been forced down somewhere between Cape Cod and Sable Island. But for two days cruisers and other vessels scanned coast and waves in vain, while on Monday the great dirigible Los Angeles, with a much wider range of vision, had no better fortune.

Again the question is asked, Why prove what has already been proved? We know that the Atlantic can be crossed by airplane-it has been done more than once; but we know also that the feat is not merely dangerous, but that, unless it is undertaken with the best possible combination of excellence in engine, type of plane, pilot, and at

Mr. Hoover's Qualifications

POLITI

OLITICIANS have openly recognized that Secretary Hoover's candidacy for the Presidential nomination is already formidable. Of course those who want to keep on the safe side of certainty by not committing themselves have not acknowledged Mr. Hoover's strength specifically; that is not the way of politicians. What they have done is to question Mr. Hoover's eligibility.

What are the Constitutional qualifications that a man must have to be eligible for the Presidency? Most Americans would say that any native American thirty-five years old is eligible. There is, however, a clause in the Constitution which most Americans, we think, ignore. It is that which says that no person shall be eligible to the office who shall not have been "fourteen years a resident within the United States." How did that clause happen to get into the Constitution, and what does it mean?

The provision regarding eligibility as it now stands in the Constitution reads:

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President: neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

As Thomas James Norton points out in his compact book "The Constitution of the United States: Its Sources and Its Application," "many of foreign birth who had helped to create the United States would have been rendered ineligible had not the provision been inserted making eligible those of foreign birth

who at the time of the adoption of the Constitution were citizens of the United States." Of these, as Mr. Norton notes, seven were signers of the Constitution. Among them the foremost was Alexander Hamilton. No record, so far as we know, explains why the requirement as to residence was added; but it is plain that without such a provision a newcomer who had had no part in the Revolution or in the framing of the Government might have been eligible. With the lapse of time that has rendered obsolete the eligibility of foreign-born citizens, the provision as to residence seems to have lost significance. It remains, however, as a valid part of the Constitution.

There is no possible doubt that Mr. Hoover has been a resident in the United States for fourteen years. He was born here (in Iowa), grew up here, was educated here (taking his bachelor's degree at Stanford University).

The question concerning Mr. Hoover is possible only if the provision is interpreted as requiring of an American citizen residence for fourteen years immediately preceding the term for which he is otherwise eligible. That is stretching both language and the facts. The New York "World," whose party affiliations are opposed to Mr. Hoover's, declares the attack on Mr. Hoover is for the purpose of making him appear "a kind of expatriated person," and adds that "nothing could be further from the truth." Mr. Hoover's activities abroad both as an engineer and as a humanitarian have been the activities of an American and have redounded not merely to his own honor but to the honor of his country.

This incident is significant solely as a tribute from Mr. Hoover's political foes within and without his party to the formidable character of his candidacy.

Senator Jones, of New Mexico
IN

IN the death of Senator A. A. Jones, of New Mexico, the Senate of the United States has lost one of the least spectacular and one of the most serviceable of its members. Senator Jones was rarely heard from the floor, but when he did speak it was with deliberation and thorough knowledge of his subject. The record of his years in the Senate is mainly the record of efficient committee work. He had been extremely active in the work of the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Finance, and only a little less active, if at all so, in the work of the Committee on

Education and the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys. He had made himself an authority on questions relating to alien property, veterans' problems, and internal revenue.

The son of a West Tennessee preacher, Mr. Jones began his active life as a West Tennessee school-teacher. He went to New Mexico as a teacher, but soon identified himself completely with the affairs of that State. Though he gave the greater part of his life to the practice of law, he served New Mexico in many capacities. Except as Senator, the only position that he ever held in Washington was that of First Assistant Secretary of the Interior for about a year at the beginning of the Wilson Administration.

Since Governor Dillon, of New Mexico, is a Republican, the death of Senator Jones will probably have the effect of giving the Republicans, for this session at least, the majority which, up to this time, they have lacked in the Seventieth Congress.

But his opponents, the Republicans, hardly less than his colleagues, the Democrats, will miss Jones of New Mexico in the Senate.

Airports for New York

S

INCE Colonel Lindbergh called the flying-field at Mexico one of the most beautiful he had ever seen and superior to any that New York had, the metropolis and chief seaport of the United States can certainly be said to be behind the times in aviation. Indeed, New York City is much less aware of the progress made in air transportation than many an American city of moderate size. Of course, it suffers under the disadvantage of lack of open spaces near its business heart. Nevertheless it has been laggard in providing itself with adequate flying facilities.

Now a fact-finding committee, selected at the request of Secretary Hoover by the two States of New York and New Jersey, has reported recommendations for six airports in the New YorkNew Jersey metropolitan area. For this purpose it has divided this general area into six subsidiary areas. For one of the areas, what might be called the Wall Street-Brooklyn district, the committee recommends unanimously the use of Governor's Island. As those living at a distance from New York may not know, this island is a Federal military reservation lying in the upper bay close to Brooklyn and not far from the southern end of Manhattan. It has the advan

tage of being available for seaplanes as well as landplanes; but has the disadvantage of being situated so that those who land there can reach the business district of New York only by ferry. There is, however, no other place which the committee suggests for this district as even second choice.

There are two alternative sites suggested in the Jamaica Bay district, two alternative sites in Queens, two alternative sites in the Bronx, and in New Jersey two alternative sites on the Hackensack Meadows and one site near Newark Bay. Unfortunately, with respect to one of these subsidiary areas the choice of the committee is not unanimous. The Mayor of New York, Mr. Walker, apparently unwilling to assume any responsibility in the matter, has said that when the committee can agree on recommendations they can "be assured of speedy action on the part of the city of New York." When' a committee of twenty-five is virtually unanimous with regard to the sites of five out of six areas, what more can the city authorities expect?

If Governor's Island is to be used for airport purposes, the United States will have to take some action; for at present Governor's Island is under the authority of the War Department and can be used in the way the committee proposes only with the consent either of the War Department or of Congress.

Dawes ought to be a competent reviewer, He was the first Director of the Budget.

The review took, largely, the form of what many will agree was a deserved attack upon Government bookkeeping and upon Comptroller-General McCarl for his failure to reform it. Bookkeeping methods in use in the Government, he said, "furnish little aid to the Executive or his agent, the Director of the Budget, in determining the relative operating efficiency and cost of the Departments. They operate also to keep Congress uninformed. The present system of Governmental bookkeeping would not be tolerated for a day in a properly conducted business enterprise."

Responsibility for this is placed squarely on the shoulders of the Comptroller-General. With the powers now in his hands, says Vice-President Dawes, "he could inaugurate a reform in the Governmental bookkeeping of the United States which would at once make it a model for the world. The changes thus far have been minor and comparatively inconsequential."

The Vice-President is not alone in believing that real efficiency in Washington would do more to save money than all of the pinching of appropriations, without efficiency, that can be done.

Yale Goes Over the Top

passed the hope of completing the $20,000,000 asked for; it is already over-subscribed by $200,000, and the last word has not been said. Congratulations are due to the subscribing alumni and undergraduates, and to the finely organized body of men who carried on the drive, as well as to the University.

New York will have to make up for lost time if it is to be a great port of the air, as it is of the sea.

Uncle Sam, Bookkeeper

From the class of 1853 on to the class of 1927 and from students now on the rolls have come 20,000 responses to the request for $20,000,000. It is gratifying to note also that non-Yale men have contributed a tenth of the total.

Already, says President Angell, a marked improvement is seen in the morale of the teaching force, in the recognition of the facts that hereafter there will be adequate compensation, that en

book reviewer. But, even in that capacity, his zeal flames for abolition of the cumbersome in Governmental affairs.

The book is "The National Budget System," by W. F. Willoughby, Director of the Institute of Government Research. Of that kind of writing General

der way, and that the future is definitely brighter and wider.

From the beginning the purpose of the Yale Fund has been for a finer, not a bigger Yale, for brains rather than for buildings. Dr. Angell restates this more formally when he says: "We can begin

the

ing

ave

As the map reproduced on this page shows, Great Britain now has dominion or control and influence over a strip of territory from north to south along the enormous length of eastern and central Africa. Crossroads would be as important as the main road. The development of motor trucks and open roads has been so enormous that there is noththing on the face of it impossible in this plan.

ec

Courtesy New York "Sun

BRITAIN'S CAIRO-TO-CAPE

HIGHWAY

The territory shown in white is under British control, giving a clear right of way from north to south

now on foot go through that continent will be no darker than its sister-continents.

Reclamation Politics

in Flood Control

T

Texas gentleman is merely heading a procession. Between Montana and New Mexico literally hundreds of good-sized streams rise which eventually feed the Mississippi. If the object of flood control is to keep the waters of these streams from coming in flood into the main Mississippi tributaries, they must all be dammed somewhere-at least, all residents and land-sale promoters within irrigating range of their banks will be inclined to think so. Congress, therefore, seems morally, or perhaps not always quite morally, certain to be deluged by appeals that the only way to save New Orleans is to dam Lost Raccoon Creek.

HE possibility that there is more politics in Mississippi flood control than has yet been introduced by the controversy over the apportionment of expenses, is suggested by the visit of an Amarillo, Texas, gentleman before the House Flood Control Committee demanding reclamation dams for the Texas Panhandle. As a matter of fact, besides dams, the visitor, one A. S. Stinnett, mentioned "levees, dikes, reforestation, water power, irrigation, and water supplies," and pointed figuratively to half a million acres of barren plains that could be brought into grain production along the South Canadian River alone.

The omens are portentous that the

What makes the situation dangerous is that there is so much practical political medicine in it. Dam and reservoir locations theoretically should be decided by competent engineering talent, and reclamation projects should be created in connection with them only where conditions are demonstrably favorable. But there is scarcely a county in the mountain States, or in the arid western portions of the plain States from North Dakota to Texas, whose inhabitants are not convinced that they would grow rich on reclamation and irrigation development if they could only get the Government to pay for the necessary construction.

The party which will promise the most constructing, or whose politicians are most successful in creating the impression that they can wheedle the necessary appropriations out of their party majority if it wins the next Congress, will have an inside track in carrying mountain and plains Congressional districts next year. In a close election such propaganda may have a decisive influence on the electoral vote of several mountain and plains States.

Since a far-flung Mississippi flood control program must eventually be sanctioned by Congress in any case, the natural tendency in the West will be for rival politicians and party organizations to bid against one another in offering these reclamation accessories. Some of them are unquestionably desirable. If the Government is to dam the Mississippi's head-waters in arid territory, it is economic common sense for it to make provision for the maximum of productive development from its expenses. common sense flies out of the window when politics enters through the doorway.

But

Congress in a Presidential year will need an unusual amount of moral stam

ina and practical engineering advice to keep the reclamation side-show of flood control from degenerating into a scandal of waste and local favoritism.

China-Keep Out!

"W

HAT-no more dinosaur eggs?"

But even China's most unreasoning Nationalists must come to see that resisting scientific study is not a way to advance the position of China as a nation.

Probes in Washington

They

ideal of a prosecutor's duties. rested, however, almost wholly on the testimony of Juror Kidwell, who is said to have talked during the conspiracy trial of his expectation of owning an automobile as long as a trolley car. On this and other points his testimony has

question upon reading that a movement is under way among Chinese scientific organizations to oppose foreign expeditions aiming at research in natural history in China. But the matter is more serious than that.

Nearly every one knows the work that has been done by the American Museum of Natural History, under the direction of Dr. Roy Chapman Andrews, in seeking for evidence of ancient man and prehistoric life in central Asia. Now what is involved, apparently, is an attempt to establish Chinese control of such activities. The shipment from China of scientific specimens discovered by archæological and other expeditions has recently been strictly limited, and research work there is being hampered both by the Peking Government and by the attitude of Chinese scientific bodies.

So marked has the tendency become that "Nature," the British scientific periodical, says in a recent issue:

"In the spring of this year an article was circulated to the Chinese press by Kuo Wen, in which a joint statement was made on behalf of several Chinese scientific organizations in Peking, announcing the formation of a United Association to fight the efforts of various scientific expeditions to search for the remains of ancient man and other evidences of a palæontological and archæological character in China. This manifesto had special reference to Dr. Sven Hedin's journey into the desert region of western China, but it was also undoubtedly aimed at the expedition of the American Museum of Natural History. . . . Since then it has been decreed that no specimens of birds may be exported from China, and only three scientific specimens of any other species of animal or plant life. In view of the lack of museums or reference facilities in China, this decree will obviously greatly hamper identification and research. later barring of Mongolia to the American expedition is ostensibly attributed to military and political reasons."

If what "Nature" describes becomes a settled policy, Western science may find itself facing a Great Wall in China which will effectively block exploration and research.

season with two of its main excitements seething and the third sleep

William Randolph Hearst

ing. The Senate "slush fund" committee had done nothing about Senatorselect-if, really, they are elect-Smith and Vare, and probably will do nothing for some time after New Year's. But another Senate special committee kept quite busy up to the holiday recess with the Hearst-Mexican documents scandal, and the Sinclair-Burns contempt of court scandal was stirred and restirred under the nose of Justice Siddons.

The Hearst-Mexican investigation has not yet reached anywhere near the bottom of the mess. It has, however, revealed the apparent fact that for some time past official documents, like relics of the saints, have been on sale almost everywhere in Mexico and at whatever. price the traffic would bear. It has not, price the traffic would bear. It has not, however, proved anything as to whether the official documents bought by Hearst from Avila were genuine or spurious.

The contempt hearing, after bringing out the fact that the Burns operatives in Sinclair's employ did many things beyond mere shadowing of jurors, turned to charges of coercion against the District Attorney's office, and several circumstances were brought out which were not at all in accord with the

Perhaps the truth in these investigations may be found even if the paths that lead to it are crooked.

Omens for Jackson Day

F the Democratic nomination

I president for

President is not to go by default to Governor Smith, of New York, the Jackson Day dinner, which is to be held in Washington on January 12, may furnish some indication as to the rallyingpoint of the opposition. There is not at this time any such point; the dinner may supply it.

It is hardly conceivable that any of the more seasoned "possibilities" can say anything, publicly or privately, at a dinner that would start a substantial boom; but the inconceivable occurs in Democratic affairs. Then there are the "possibilities" who, from a political standpoint, are unseasoned. Nobody knows just what Presidential timber may have been lying in the log through these years when the party has been alternately in stagnation and chaos.

Not long ago Owen D. Young went to Alabama and made a speech, not political. So favorably did it impress those who heard it that a sizable Young-forPresident boom, regional but real, appeared.

Young or some other-should we say Young and some others?-may make an equally favorable and wider-spread impression by what they say at the Jackson Day dinner.

Incidentally and aside, a race between Dawes and Young, the co-authors of the Dawes Plan, would furnish one of the most interesting spectacles that American politics has produced.

Of course, the dinner, and party prospects with it, may go up in fireworks. No Jackson Day dinner was held in 1924 because of the fear that the mixing of McAdoo and Smith would produce an explosion. As things turned out, the dinner might better have been held. The explosion was simply transferred to Madison Square Garden.

In 1920 a Jackson Day dinner was given and no thinking man came away from it with any hope of success. William Jennings Bryan made a speech