Britain at The Hague

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Britain at The Hague
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 9 (No. 12) December 1929
Year: 1929
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Fulltext: 6 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER ^ummaRCETJOURNAL December, iy'29 Britain at The Hague By the RIGHT HONORABLE PHILIP SNOWDEN From the Times, London, Independent Conservative Daily Even in the extended time for a wireless talk which has been kindly offered to me it will be impossible to do more than give a scanty outline of the momentous happenings which have taken place at the Hague Conference during the last four weeks. Perhaps 1 had better begin with a brief statement of the events which led to the calling of the Conference. Ever since the end of the War the questions of reparations and kindred debts have caused considerable trouble. A great many international conferences have been held on these matters, but hitherto no final conclusion has been reached. The Peace Con ference met at Paris after the War in an atmo sphere still chaigcd with War passions. Fan tastic ideas were then entertained as to the possibility of compelling the defeated nations to pay the whole cost of the War. These ideas were soon found to be impossible, and successive conferences made efforts to reduce reparations to the limit which might be found to be within Germany's capacity to pay. Each of the suc cessive plans was soon found to be impracticable. Three years after the end of the War some wiser heads began to realize that the whole idea of receiving reparations and discharging intcrAllied debts was financially and economically impossible without inflicting injury on debtor and creditor alike. The British Government made the proposal that there should be an all round cancellation of debts, but this proposal did not meet with approval from the other powers concerned. Practical experience has proved the soundness of the belief that the receipt of reparations and the payment of debts have disastrous consequences on the financial and economic systems of debtors and creditors alike. Reparations were finally paid only in goods, and the payment of reparations to Britain by Germany immediately after the War in the form of ships inflicted a most serious injury on the British shipbuilding industry, from which it has not yet recovered. Payment by Germany of reparations in kind likewise did grave injury to the British home and export trades, partic ularly our coal exports. Five years ago a strong effort was made to place the reparations question on a more satis factory basis. A Committee of Experts was appointed to devise a scale of payments by Ger many which might be found within her capacity, and which might be expected to inflict the mini mum of disadvantages on the recipients of the reparations. The report of this Committee, which is known as the Dawes Committee, was considered at an international conference held in London when the Labor Government was previously in office. The plan was finally put into operation. It involved serious interference by the creditor powers with the economic and commercial affairs of Germany. And even those who fixed the scale of annuities to be paid had grave doubts whether it would be possible to transfer the payments to the creditors without seriously upsetting the international exchanges. Five years of experience of the Dawes Scheme have shown the need for a drastic revision of its provisions. At the Assembly of the League of Nations last September the Germans raised the question of the evacuation of the Rhineland, and the French Government insisted that this matter could not be considered apart from the final settlement of the question of reparations. It was then decided that another expert committee should be set up charged with the duty of pre paring a plan for the final settlement of German reparations and the liquidation of all financial matters left from the War. This Committee of Experts had been four months in Paris dis cussing this difficult matter and finally presented a report, which has become known as the Young Plan. The Hague Conference was called for the consideration of this report. It is important to bear in mind that, so far at least as the British Is peace more difficult than war? Four years of tussle kept Germany from win ning the war, and ten years of interna tional diplomacy have not made it sure that she will not win the peace.—The Dawes plan of reparations is scrapped for the Young plan, to run 59 years, a period too long to be a good gamble, and in the preliminaries of ratifying the Young plan England is placed in the position from which Sir Philip Snowden has to extricate her in the way he tells about here—and tells very vividly. All the nations involv ed are nominally devoted to the doctrine of peace on earth, good will to men, save Japan; and Japan’s envoy is a mediator! While this goes on, they are voting in Germany on a project to renounce all reparations and have done. The reader will see that this would have been Eng land’s will, and, very interestingly, for enlightened selfish reasons. Government was concerned, there was no obli gation to accept the recommendations of this Committee, but the other principal creditor powers—France, Belgium, and Italy—gave their unqualified adhesion to the report, because each gained very considerably at the expense of Great Britain. I will now try to make as plain as possible the objections of the British Government to the proposals of the experts’ report. It is a very difficult and complicated matter, but 1 will try my best to make it clear. The experts’ report fixed the amount of pay ments to be made by Germany at an average of £100,000,000 a year for the next 59 years. This was a very considerable reduction from the annuities under the Dawes Plan. I made it clear in my first speech at the Conference that the British Government not only accepted, but welcomed, the proposed reduction in the amount of the scale of the reparations and annuities which Germany under that plan would be called upon to pay. We welcomed also the proposal to abolish the system of control of German internal finance by the creditor powers. But the experts had gone beyond their terms of reference and made proposals which altered the agreed percentages in the distribution of the annuities between the creditor powers. Though the British Government would welcome a proposal, if it were accepted by all, to wipe the slate clean of reparations and debts, we took up the position that, so long as reparations are paid, they must be fairly distributed between the different creditor powers. This question of distribution was hotly debated by the creditor countries for two years after the War. At the conference at Spa in 1920 a scale of distribution was agreed upon, and at all subsequent revisions of the amount of German reparations this scale of distribution has been maintained until the Young Committee proposed the altered per centages, to the grave disadvantage of Great Britain. The distribution proposed by the Young Committee would have reduced Great Britain’s shares by £2,400,000 a year for 37 years. Great Britain’s loss was to be distrib uted between France, Italy, and Belgium, the major part of the advantage going to Italy. There was another feature of the Young Report to which the British Government took strong exception. It was proposed to divide the German annuities into two classes, called conditional and unconditional annuities. About one-third of the total annuities was to be placed in the category of unconditional, and was to take priority of payment over the other twothirds. Five-sixths of this priority was allocated to France; Italy was to take two millions or so; and the remainder, amounting to less than two millions altogether, was to be distributed between the other creditor powers. These were the two principal matters to which the British Govern ment took strong exception. The purpose of dividing the annuities into two categories, giving absolute security for the receipt of the unconditional part, was to enable the countries receiving these payments to mobilize or find them into a capital debt against Germany. France would be able to capitalize each portion of her annual claims upon Germany by transforming them into an international loan. At the opening of the Conference I stated the British objections to these two proposals, and gave reasons why we could not agree to the adoption of the report unless the percentages of the annuities which it was proposed to alter to the disadvantage of Great Britain were restored. The objections of the British delegation appeared to come as a surprise to the Confer ence. It certainly came as a surprise to me that the other delegates to the Conference should have been so ill-informed as to what the attitude of the British Government was likely to be. Indeed, it came out in the later stages of my innumerable interviews with the heads of the other principal delegations that they had never fully realized what Great Britain was expected to sacrifice. The great sacrifices which Great Britain has made in the various debt settlements “Look For The Blue Tin" SOCONY LONG LIFE OILS Make Any Motor Car Give Better Service IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL ul ■HimLivi Ln/ijuoan ur ^uivnnan^ja juurzifm/ 7 Britain at The Hague By the Right Honorable Philip Snowden From the Times, London, Independent Conservative Daily with Continental debtors had never been ade quately appreciated. I told the Conference, when the foreign delegates talked of the sacrifices they were making, of the burdens which the British taxpayers were bearing for their benefit. As a matter of fact, there is not a single one of the countries that were engaged in the War that has made anything at all approaching the financial sacrifices which Great Britain has made. We have a War debt now of £7,500,000,000, which is more than double the War debt of any other nation which was engaged in the War. The taxation of our people is about double, per head of the population, that of any other country. We have to provide, I told them, 125,000,000 francs every day of the year for the service of our War debt. I had to remind them also of the generous and magnanimous character of our debt settle ments with our late Allies. We had settled a debt owed to us by France of £600,000,000 for £227,000,000. In the case of Italy we settled a debt of £500,000,000 for a present value of £78,000,000, and, if the proposals made in the Young Report were carried into effect, we should have to sacrifice to Italy another £30,000,000. In addition to all these sacrifices, which placed a permanent burden of £60,000,000 a year on the British taxpayer, we were now asked by the terms of this Report to sacrifice a further £2,400,000 a year. “The limit of concession has been reached,” I said. “I am as anxious as any member of this Commission to come to an agree ment which would be mutually satisfactory, there can be no settlement unless it is a settle ment based on justice. It is not merely a ques tion of some £2,000,000 a year. It is more than that. It is a claim for the maintenance of inter national agreements for fair dealing between nation and nation. We have been asked to look at this question from the wider view of the pacification of Europe. We do that. Great Britain has made unparalleled sacrifices for that purpose, but the time has come to say that other nations must make their contribution to this desirable object, and we cannot any longer agree that every step forward in European re construction should be made at the expense of the British taxpayer.” This frank assertion that Great Britain was determined to assert her just rights fell like a bombshell on the Conference, and at the con clusion of my speech it was moved that we should BANK OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS THE OLDEST BANK IN THE PHILIPPINES (Established 1851) Authorized Capital - - - - P10,000,000.00 Paid-up Capital - - - - - 6,750,000.00 GENERAL BANKING OPERATIONS Telegraphic Transfers, Commercial and Traveleis’ Letters of Credit, Travelers’ Checks, Drafts, Collections, and every description of exchange and banking business. All kinds of administration, fiduciary and trustee business. Safe Deposit Boxes for Rent Interest is Also Allowed on Current Accounts, Time Deposits and Savings Accounts Correspondents: Branches: Thruout the World Iloilo, Cebu and Zamboanga Head Office:. No. 10 Plaza Cervantes, Manila P. O. Box 777 Cable Address: “BANCO” adjourn for two days to enable the delegates to recover from the shock. After two days it was realized that no agreement was likely to be reached by formal debates. We refused to agree to the setting up of formal committees until we had received satisfaction on our three main points. It was agreed to set up a formal committee of Treasury experts. For three days during the next week-end these experts met, but made little progress. At no stage did the representatives of the other creditor powers make any offer. After a week of this futility I addressed a let ter On the first Sunday of October, Gustav Stresemann, Germany’s foreign minister, was accorded the honors of death; at 51, his incessant efforts during seven years to rehabilitate his country and its industries and establish practical permanent rela tions with her wartime enemies and her oldtime provinces and neighbors, had killed him. Hindenburg, at 82, marched in the funeral procession; and Clemenceau, France’s outstanding hero of the war, was still alive to read the mourning reports in the quietude of his retreat at Vendee. Men give their lives for their countries in peace as well as in war; and they have their victories, as Stresemann did—for out of the ashes and ruin of remorseless cam paigns he made another and a better Ger many rise Phoenix-like, and proved the experiment in republicanism to be sound. He joins the shade of Bismarck, Disraeli and Alexander Hamilton—the stalwarts of the Meiji movement in Japan, too—the builders of nations from the vestiges of war. to M. Jaspar requesting that a definite decision on the points I had submitted to the Conference should be reached at an early date, and that the matter should be placed in the hands of the other creditor powers, and I promised that, if they so desired, I would’submit my proposals to them. I said, “The time has come for a definite decision; 1 expect this within the next two days.” The representatives of the other creditor powers went into conference, and two days later we received from them a letter setting forth their offer. In the meantime, many conversations had taken place between myself and M. Jaspar, at which tentative proposals were made. When we received the offer of the creditor powers it was found to be so meagre as to be wholly un acceptable. This I communicated to M. Jaspar, and from that time onward the meetings became hectic. The meetings of the Conference were still suspended, but informal meetings of hourly occurrence were held. Mr. Adatci, the principal Japanese delegate, was very active in tlie offers of conciliation. He arranged a tea-table interview in his room be tween M. Briand and M. Loucheur, the principal French delegates, and myself, at which w'e had a very friendly talk over the situation. Imme diately after this conversation M. Loucheur called on a member of the British delegation to say that M. Briand had been gratified at the friendl.v character of the conversation and deeply impressed bv the determined manner in which the Chancellor had insisted that he must have satisfaction as regarded the Spa percentages. M. Loucheur intimated a concession which indicated an advance, but did not guarantee to Great Britain more than one-half of the loss. For days things dragged on. Private inter views continued, and occasional meetings of the heads of the principal powers. On Thurs day, the 22nd, a meeting of the other four creditor nations was held, at w'hich it was decided to make a fresh offer. Toward midnight M. Jaspar called on me to communicate the nature of the new' offer. It show'ed practically no advance on the offer we had already rejected, and M. Jaspar was informed that it was quite unacceptable. The possibility of a dead-lock seemed now more likely than at any time since the Conference began. I asked M. Jaspar if I must regard his latest offer as the last word of the other creditor powers. While not com mitting himself to that conclusion, he expressed grave doubts as to whether any more substantial offer would be made. The British delegation came to the conclusion that it was necessary to take steps to bring matters to a final issue. I addressed to M. Jaspar a communication asking that wre should have the proposals of the other creditor powers in a final definite form in writing without further delay. The next tw-o days w'ere spent by the other creditor pow'ers in constant session, and at the end of their deliberations w'e received a memorandum. We considered it, and it was decided that I should write a short note express ing our regret that it wras altogether inadequate. It seemed in the interests of the Conference as a whole to send a short reply and at once. An interesting sequel to the receipt of this last offer wras a call upon me from Mr. Adatci, the head of the Japanese delegation, who in his quiet and plaintive voice came to explain that he had attended the discussions of the other creditor pow'ers as an observer, and had offered his advice, but did not take part in sending the memorandum, nor did he associate himself with it. He had explained this to the other creditor pow'ers, and had obtained their consent to making this declaration to the British Gov ernment as a matter of loyalty. Matters had now apparently' reached a complete deadlock again. Substantial progress, it is true, had been made on the political side, the agreement to which was almost complete, provided a settlement could be reached on the financial side. The matter of deliveries in kind, which was in the very' able hands of Mr. Graham, had also made some progress, though our requirements had not been completely' met. On the financial side, however, the position w'as the same as it had been for tw'o weeks. Nothing approaching an adequate advance had been made tow'ard us. In these circumstances, the British delegation decided to ask that afternoon for the summoning by the six inviting powers of a plenary' conference on the following morning. When this request was presented to the other delegations w'e found that the French, Belgian, and Italian delegations had just made a similar request. The French delegation had actually reserved accommoda tion on the Paris train. This meeting, which marked the decisive turning-point in the fortunes of the Conference, assembled at five o’clock. Each delegation (Please turn to page 12) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 12 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, iyz9 The Fairies of Mount Banahaw (Continued from page 5) grave of their mother, waiting their father’s return with Santa Claus! The blankets of the night wrapped them round, perhaps God shield ed their innocence and helplessness. Near midnight, deep sounds emerged from the crater of the volcano, like the first notes of solemn sacred music, the sounds gradually changed into a soft melody, as of a Christmas anthem sounding low and far away. The chil dren dreamed. From the blossoms at the grave, and the blooming orchids swinging from the tree branches, emerged a troupe of gayly trip ping sprites not larger than a man’s finger. They are the fairies of Mount Banahaw, and they formed a circle round the sleeping children and danced their fairy measures with gayety and grace. The tempo of the crater’s music quickened, and the fairies changed their step with it; they danced rigodons and quadrilles, then they had a flower dance and threw handfuls of fragrant roses over the children—never once waking them. So the night passed. At the false dawn, just before Aliwayway, goddess of the rising sun, heralded the morning, the mountain hushed its music and there stepped forth from the grave of the children’s mother a figure all of loveliness and young beauty-clad in white, with flowers in her hair and a girdle of orchids round her waist. Halting momen tarily at the edge of the grave, which closed behind her, she gazed tenderly upon the children, then stepped softly toward them. Bending down, she kissed them on the lips; and then the fairies came and danced once more and sang a beautiful song; the shrouded lady wept as she took the children in her arms and carried them into their father’s cottage. It was past sunrise when Juan, all anxiety and solicitous concern, at last reached home. But could it really be home, his home? He stopped in astonishment when he reached the clearing, for the rambling thatch cottage, no more than a rude mountaineer’s hut, was gone, and in its place stood a neat little wooden house—as good as a rich man’s in town. Juan rubbed his eyes vigorously, to make sure he had not fallen asleep and to dreaming, then hurried on across the gar den and into the house. He expected it to fade into the unseen things of hope, but lo, it remained just as it was! And in a clean new white bed Silva and Alejandro were fast asleep. Toys, candies, and clothing for both boy and girl were spread upon a fine table in the center of the room, under a Christmas tree brilliant with candles aglow and burdened with garlands of fruits and nuts. A sob escaped Juan. Sinking to his knees and leaning his tired head low, he kissed the branches of the tree. For he had recognized it—the little pine sapling be had found on the very crest of Mount Banahaw and had brought down and planted at the grave. He realized that Maria had returned from Eternity that night, and made the sapling into this radiant Christmas tree. At the head of the grave, where the pine had stood, Juan set the vase from the Chinese tra der’s store, and no day passes that the children do not fill it with the choicest wild flowers the forest knows. As he gathers rattan for their wants, Juan wonders at the mystery. He is sure it was Maria who visited their lonely chil dren that night, and he thinks perhaps she will come again—perhaps at some other Christmastide. Perhaps she will. Britain at The Hague (Continued from page 7) outlined its own point of view at some length. For a time it looked as though the breakdown of the Conference was inevitable. M. Briand made an impassioned plea to put the interests of Europe before any paltry financial considera tions. I said that I agreed, and that, so long as conciliatory measures were likely to be fruit ful, we had been willing to continue. We had, however, waited three weeks. There had been no progress, no decision. The British delega tion had been most anxious to give every oppor tunity for conversations that might be fruitful of results. All through the British delegation had manifested great patience. For days we had had to sit idle, and now, as a final offer, we were asked to accept one-half of our legiti mate claims. The end of the Conference seemed at hand, but developments were imminent which showed once more that the darkest hour is that before the dawn. The room was insufferably hot, and it was suggested that wc might adjourn for ten minutes to get some fresh air. We split into little groups, and then the bargaining process began. The British delegates remained in one room, while the others went into another room. M. Jaspar acted as intermediary. M. Jaspar returned within five minutes to say that his friends would advance only sixty-six per cent. I at once rejected this, and at eight-forty-five I described on half a sheet of note paper the five heads of our minimum demands, and this I handed to M. Jaspar. Half an hour later he returned with an offer which showed some advance but was still un acceptable. I begged him to continue his efforts, and pointed out that in half an hour he had advanced £100,000 a year, and at the same rate he would come up to the minimum demands before midnight. He returned in a quarter of an hour with a further advance of £50,000. “You are doing first rate, M. Jaspar,” I said. "Be not weary in welldoing.” In the next two or three hours further small advances were made, and by eleven-thirty they had come within £240,000 of the British claim. M. Jaspar was in despair. “I cannot do more,” he said. “You have emptied all our pockets.” “Go through your pockets again,” I said very kindly, “and I am sure that you can find enough to cover what remains between us.” “You told me you had a very kind heart,” he said, “but we have never met a man like you.” I assured him that it was out of the kindness of my heart that I wished him to continue his efforts, as I was sure that he would succeed. Then someone had a brain wave, and the hitherto undiscovered means of giving us the sum we needed was discovered. At midnight our demands were accepted, and the Conference was silved. At 2 o’clock in the morning we left the conference hall. Outside were hundreds of journalists, who had been waiting all through those hours and had en livened the tedium by making a bonfire of the Young Report in the square. I had now better explain just what our per sistency has gained. We claimed, in addition to our annuities of £2,400,000, a fairer share of the unconditional annuities and some sub stantial improvement in regard to deliveries in kind. The agreement we reached on the first of these claims gives us an increase in our guar anteed annuities of £2,000,000 a year for 37 years. This is guaranteed to the extent of £990,000 by the French and Belgian Govern ments and £450,000 by Italy. We receive in addition at once a lump sum of £5,000,000, which is equal to an additional annuity of £360,000 a year. In addition, by the rearrange ment of the dates at which debt payments are to be made, we gain an additional sum of £200,000 a year. This brings the total gains under this head to £2,000,000 a year. And there is the further advantage of considerable value that, of these sums, ninety per cent are guaranteed and are therefore placed in the cate gory of unconditional annuities, and we should continue to receive them in the event of any postponement. This may be regarded as full compensation for the small sacrifice we made in the total of our original demands. In regard to the second point, we obtained a larger percentage of unconditional annuities. Under the Young Plan there was available for us a share of the undistributed unconditional annuities which would not have amounted at the outset to more than £850,000 a year. We are now receiving, in addition to the guaranteed annuities, a further unconditional payment of £2,750,000 a year. On the third of our claims —namely, delivery in kind—a very substantial improvement was secured by the agreement with Italy. They have undertaken to buy 1,000,000 tons of coal a year for the next three years. These three matters constitute our gains in the financial and commercial sphere, but the British delegation has been equally successful on the political side. Agreement has been reached between France, Belgium, and Great Britain on the one hand, and Germany on the other, by which the evacuation of the Rhineland is to be effected by the end of next June. The withdrawal of the British troops will begin at once, and it is expected that our evacuation will be complete before Christmas. May I now briefly summarize the results of our four weeks’ strenuous efforts? It has been commonly asserted in the foreign Press that the British delegation were fighting only for some sordid material gains. It is quite true that we were determined that our just rights in the matter of the distribution of reparations should be respected. These were bv no means unimpor tant, although a sum of £2,000,000 a year is an infinitesimal part of the enormous financial sacrifice which this country has made for the benefit of our Continental debtors. When we decided to resist the call for further sacrifice we desired the world to know that we had reach ed the limit of our generosity and that we could not allow England any longer to be regarded the milch cow of Europe. But beyond this, and of far greater importance, was our assertion of our international rights and our determination that international agreements should be respected. I am convinced that our stand will make a profound impression on our future relations with the other countries of Europe. The rights and the influence of Great Britain in international diplomacy have been reasserted, and there will be no reversion to the spineless policy of recent years. We have won the respect of the nations with whom we have been in acute, but friendly, controversy in the past four weeks. I made it a condition at the outset of the Conference that Great Britain would not accept any concession to her just claims at the expense of the smaller powers or of Germany. This condition has been maintained. After the final agreement had been reached I voluntarily sacrificed some share of the uncon ditional annuities to which we were entitled in order that they might be divided among the smaller nations, and this concession has won for us their ardent gratitude and respect. Through out the Conference the personal relations between the British delegates and those of the other powers have been of the most cordial and friend ly character—a striking contrast with the bitter ness of the personal attacks which have been made on me in some of the Continental news papers. One of the mildest characterized my self as the reincarnation of the man who burned Joan of Arc, beheaded Mary, Queen of Scots, and banished Napoleon. I cannot conclude without paying a warm tribute of respect and admiration to the leaders of the other delegations. M. Briand’s wise statesmanship and conciliatory spirit have con tributed much to the success of the Conference. Animated by an earnest desire to bring the Con ference to a successful end, he made concessions which I am sure his own countrymen will on consideration heartily approve. Herr Stresemann, the leader of the German delegation, who has his own internal political difficulties, showed a willingness to co-operate which was highly commendable. M. Jaspar, the Belgian Prime Minister, filled the difficult and often very unwelcome task of negotiator between the parties. His tact, his humor, and his patience were in a very large measure the means by which a satisfactory outcome of the Conference was achieved. I would just like to make one further acknowl edgment of our gratitude, and that is to the unanimous support of the British Press and of British public opinion. Without this it would have been quite impossible to achieve our object. At twelve o’clock on Saturday the Conference ended amid universal congratulations and satis faction. It was the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands, to whose Government the Con ference was deeply indebted for its hospitality. As the delegates finally left the conference hall the band assembled in the square played the stirring old hymn, “Now thank we all our God.” December, 1929 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 13 It was a fitting end to the Conference, which I am sure has done much to liquidate the legacies of the War, to liberate the countries of Europe, and to enable them, to pursue more actively their economic reconstruction. Above all, I believe it will be seen that it has brought a new spirit into international policy which will help to bring that peace so abundantly desired by the people. Tropical Landscape Architecture (Continued from page 9) for instance, sweet alyssum—is singularly effect ive. Pilea may be used for this purpose, and AUernanlera is also frequently employed in a similar way. Climbing plants may be divided into three classes: the woody semibush form (requiring a wooden frame upon which it is trained), of which the bougainvillea and allamanda are good ex amples; the herbaceous, twining, or tendril-bear ing climbers, such as the many species of Ipomea, Convolvulus, and granadilla; and the climbers that attach themselves to the object upon which they climb, such as Bignonia venusta, Pothos aurea, and several species of piper. The first-named class can be used to the best advantage in screening unsightly objects. A frame should be built upon which this class of plants may climb. The more vigorous species of the second class may be used in a similar way and those of medium vigor are particularly well adapted as porch climbers; the third class is The Ikugan or The Men With Tails By Ivon Gruner Cook bince, in this modern civilized age surgeons have occa sionally found the spinal bone of man lengthened into a tail-like appendage; and Darwinian theories as well as missing links have caused many heated arguments, it is not surprising to find among the Manobo tribes of the upper Agusan near the mountain fastness of Mount Apo stories of men with tails. The old warrior, A may, hunched closer to the fire as the chill night air swept down the valley from the mountainside. Flames threw into relief the wrinkled face with its prominent cheek bones, its high forehead, small black eyes that glittered like iridescent bits of coal, and lips reddened from the juice of the betel nut chewed by filed teeth which had been darkened to an inky-blackness. The sun had only a little while ago dropped behind Mt. Apo and children were still playing and laughing together. Several of the boys resting from a strenuous game kept glancing toward Amay, and whispering among themselves. Amay, though now an old, old man, was a Bagani lipus; that is, one who had killed in numerable men (more than one hundred) in cluding other Baganis, with his own hands. He commanded great respect not only for his deeds, but also because he was still a fierce man in spite of his age. He alone of the whole tribe was entitled to wear the costume of black, embroidered in red, and the magenta kerchief turban with the yellow spots. Finally one lad, bolder than the others, crept near to his side and questioned him: “Tell us, Oh, great Amay, why the earth and trees swayed and shook yesterday, until I felt a great fear in my heart and a strange sickness in my head and stomach.” The others drew closer. The warrior sat stern and silent and no one moved. Suddenly Amay shot a gory spurt of betel juice into the fire, which flickered and sputtered from the deluge. Then he began to speak. "The earth is as square and as flat as the floor of yonder house; beneath it are four great columns which hold it in the air. Sawa, the great snake-god, lives between those supports. When he shakes and twists against the posts, the earth trembles.” “But why does he shake and twist?” the boy questioned. “When the blood of men is spilled upon the earth, Sawa smells it, but he cannot reach it on account of his position beneath the earth, he particularly useful in covering walls or the trunks of old trees; they succeed best in shade. A very attractive form of gardening is the rockery, which may be built over a heap of re fuse and rubbish in a shady situation with enough good soil in the crevices between the stones on the surface to support and nourish the plants Ferns and Selaginellas, begonias, tradescantias, various aroids, and similar plants, as well as terrestrial orchids, arc particularly appropriate in a rockery. If water is available for a small pond, the rockery as an island in the center with a simulated ruin can be used with telling effect, the pond being planted to water lilies and lotus, with here and there a clamp of Cyperus on the shore. Bamboos, coconuts, reclining palms, plants of weeping habit, and tall grasses may be planted in the proximity of a pond. Hanging baskets always add distinction to a house, be it large or small; and etery house should have a few, either of the bird-nest fern, orchids, or combination baskets of orchids and various ferns. Fern baskets made of strong galvanized wire are most satisfactory and last ing. Coconut husks make very picturesque receptacles for ferns and orchids, and securely wired with copper, or galvanized-iron wire last a long time. For small plants, split bamboo joints are attractive and serviceable, but they decay rapidly. Neglect to utilize native plants in connection with ornamental gardening is not confined by any means to the Philippines or the tropics, but (Please turn to page 25) becomes infuriated and lashes his great tail with violence until sometimes our houses fall, trees crash, and even the earth cracks open. “In his anger, he orders Makabuntasay, who lives beside him and governs the fields of the earth, to create a famine so that people may suffer as he has suffered. To appease him the goddess casts a spell upon the earth so that neither pili nor camotes will grow, and the people of the world must live on such roots as they can dig from the ground. “Busao, the God of War, lives at the side of Sawa also. Greatly to be feared is Busao for he can take the form of any animal, fish or tree and thus learn which men are cowards, which stir up mischief, and which are brave. Watch, too, the birds that fly by night, because, though you may not dream of such a thing, one of tlierfi' may be Busao.” A solemn hush fell over the group as the old brave’s voice fell silent. Gradually they began to whisper to each other in wondering tones. Finally one youth, who had remained on the outer edge of the groups, sidled nearer to the veteran. “Sumagayan says that there were once men with tails.” His voice trembled at his own daring. "Sumagayan! Huh!” grunted the old man, with a disparaging shrug. Sumagayan was only a Bagani ayo-ayo, one who had killed not more than eight persons, and who was entitled to wear only the red kerchief turban. Why, he did not amount to as much as a Bagani hanagan, or a Bagani tinabugan who had killed fifteen and twenty-five men respectively. What right had he to tell ancient folklore to these boys? That was the duty of the prophetic dancer. This must be corrected at once. “For the present, no more! Tonight when the moon rises high in the sky you may sit in the rear of the warriors’ circle and listen to the dancer’s tale. Go now to your homes. ’ He dismissed the boys and with a jubilant shout they rose to their feet, and rushed to tell their parents the glorious news. The hour was late when the moon finally reached the highest point in the heavens and flung her misty robe over the dark forms of motionless trees. 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