Evening Star Newspaper, August 21, 1921, Page 28

2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON. D. O, AUGUST 21, 1921—PART 2. THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY.......August 21, 1921 THEODORE W. NOYES. . ..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Peanaylvania Ave. New York Office: Tribune Building. Chicago Office: First National Bank Bullding. Buropean Office: 3 Regent St., London, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, is delivered by carriers within the ety at 60 cents per month; daily only, 45 cents per month; Sunday only, 20 ceats per month.. OF- ders may be seat by mall, or telephone Main 8000. _Collection fs made by-carriers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. i Maryland and Virginia. and Si ..1yr., $8. . Bl at for. Rt I T Sunday only. All Other States. Daily and 1yr., $10.00; Dulll;?n §umhy yr. 3:9[00 1 mo., 85¢ Sunday only. 1yr. Battleships and Airplanes. ‘The battleship is not rendered obso- lete by the airplane. That is the ver- dict of the jokit Army and Navy board that has studied the tests recently made in the bombing of former Ger- man warships off the Virginia capes. It is true that the ships were sunk— submarine, destroyer, cruiser and bat- tleship. But they were fair targets, ‘without any means of defense. They ‘were merely marks upon the surface of the sea. The tests proved that bombs could be dropped upon or near them ‘with destructive effect, but they did not prove that in actual combat planes could be maneuvered with their deadly freight within sufficient range to as- sure resuits. The board reports that certain points are established by the tests, no- tably that the aircraft carrier is essen- tial to successful offensive use of the plane as a weapon against the major naval craft. The radius of the plane is necessarily limited. It has not yet been launched at sea from a carrier ‘while laden with bombs big enough to destroy a battleship. Aircraft must in action be protected, furthermore, by battleships if used against enemy ships. In short, the airplane as a , Weapon at sea is but an auxiliary of the major craft. For observation and scouting pur- ‘ poses the plane is an efficient agency, the usefulness of which cannot be doubted. These recent tests did not touch upon the value of the heavier- than-air machines as gatherers of in- formation, which had already been established. But in confunction with thelr offensive uses, the tests demon- strate, at least by negation, that until the plane is carried out to sea by a specially designed craft and until with its heavy bombs it can be safely launched from and returned, with bombs, to an unstable landing stage borne by a veseel, it must remain a weapon of defense from the land, which limits its range to & relatively narrow compass. Of course, the battleship cannot equal at its greatest offensive power the seagoing range of a plane. But the battleship fn effective action is mainly & mid-sea weapon. It may take part in bombardments, but its primary function is in the destruction of enemy commerce and enemy naval forces. The side that maintains the greatest offensive power on the sea controls the lanes of commerce in war time. Given two fleets of equal bat- tleship and cruiser force, that one will be superior in action, assuming equal skill in operation, which possesses the greatest destructive capacity. The fleet with an auxiliary force of air- planes, borne by carriers and capable of dropping bombs effectively from greater heights than the range of anti- aircraft guns, will possess that su- periority of destructive power. Hence the ultimate lesson: of the tests is that aircraft carriers are essential to the employment of the bombing plane as a weapon against the major ships. Regardless of the outcome of the disarmament conference, it is now the duty of the designers of naval craft to produce such a carrier, of high speed and maneuvering abllity, with some means of defense of its own against small craft and submarines and air- planes, and capable of launching and receiving safely planes laden with the heaviest bombs required for destruc- tion. The conference may cause a limit to be put upon the number of ships, but it is idle to believe that its outcome will be the scrapping of all the navies of the major powers, and if navies are to be maintained they should be of the highest possible effi- clency. ——— Requiring a stamp on every check will make the day's work a little harder for the courteous gentleman at the window who has to assist de- positors who are entirely unfamiliar ‘with business routine. ————— Managers have organized on e larger scale than ever to fight the closed-shop idea among the actors. ‘The drama evidently needs a referee as much as a censor. —_—tm—————— Music and Movies. There is trouble in the movie world in New York. The musicians are on the verge of striking. Numerous screen houses have already been closed on account of the friction, and more may become ‘“dark™ in conse- quence of a spread of the discontent] with wages and hours. But others may remain open, showing their pic- tures without music, or perhaps with thin aeccompaniments of piano or organ. ‘Which brings up the question of how far music is necessary for the enjoy- ment of the film drama. Lately much attention has been paid to the scores that accompany the depiction of com- edy and tragedy and farce and drama by projection. The music masters of the big houses have devoted them- selves to the rendition of inter- pretive strains symbolic of the emo- tions that are presented on the screens. Every movie fan knows what to expect when the music suddenly changes in tempo. Is takes an e sinister swing. Is the heroine about tc weep for a lost love or & sck child or a successful plot egainst her honor or her liberty? The music begine to throb with woe. Are the lovers about to be reunited after painful separation or complicated mis- understanding? The music swells into sweetness and joy. Is the low comedian about to throw an acrobatic fit in the midst of the thickest of the traMc? ‘The music jazzes erratically and lifts the spectators out of their lethargy. If the musicians quit the movies the plcture public must readjust. That it will miss much of the enjoyment that has heretofore been derived from a well accompanied screen show goes without saying. In some of the larger picture houses the musical program has often been more attractive even than the pictures. And the feet of the public are often drawn to certain @oors by the assurance of good music within, regardless of the posters out. side. Buf probably the trouble will pass, ‘The musicians will doubtless’ go back into their orchestra pits and scrape and blow and tap keys as of yore while the light rays tell their thrilling, comic, instructive tales of life and near-life on the screen. The music- less movie is not yet. A Police Department Building. Maj. Gessford proposes the erection of a building devoted exclusively to the uses of the police department. This is not a new idea, having been broached previously without action. It is, however, particularly timely at present to consider it, for the District building has reached the point of con- gestion at which the municipal busl- ress is seriously hampered for lack of room. It is planned to provide a structure, perhaps adjacent to the District build- ing, in which will be housed the head- quarters of the police, the detective bureau and perhaps the central sta- tion. Such accommodations would greatly facilitate the police work. At present, it is pointed out, prisoners taken to “headquarters” for examina- tion must, if detained, be sent to the first precinct station, there being no facilities at the main office for their care. If a building of this character is provided, it should be made large encugh to accommodate the Police Court as well. At present much time is' lost by members of the force in passing between headquarters and the court. Records kept at headquarters gre not easily available for consulta- tion. A central police building, with room for headquarters, detective bu- reau, @ central station and the Police Court, with the traffic court, which it is hoped will soon be established, also seated there, will be a great advance in municipal equipment. If the police department can be moved out of the main building into a home of its own, the former will serve the needs of the municipal govern- ment for a long time to come. - At present the congestion in it is so se- rious that an annex is urgently re- quired. It would be a measure of economy to provide such an annex in the form of a separate police building, thus at the same time relieving the congestion and equipping the depart- ment with proper facilities for the handling of the growing work of the police. Bergdoll in Switzerland. Grover Cleveland Bergdoll is in Switzerland with an American pass- port, according to a report from Geneva. Perhaps he has unwittingly furnished the basis for an extradition, although the dispatch states that he is “perfectly safe” from such pro- cedure. If he has entered Swiss terri. tory from Germany by means of aj forged document he is liable to ex- tradition under the treaty between that country and the United States. Bergdoll left Germany, it has been hinted, because of apprehension that ‘he might be surrendered to the United States in consequence of the negotia- tions now proceeding for the writing of a treaty of peace. It was first re- ported that he would go into Bavaria, where the monarchical sentiment is particularly strong, and he evidently proceeded into Switzerland through that state, for he reached St. Gall from Munich. It was, indeed, the shortest route. Perhaps he found that Bavaria ‘was not cordial to him, and decided to keep on going. This delectable young man chose an inopportune time to make his move, for the people of this country are just as present somewhat stirred up on the Bergdoll case by the submission of two reports to the House of Representa- tives on the subject of his escape and the responsibility for it of certain offi- cials and individuals. But in any case there will never be any lack of inter- est in the affair. There is a settled de- termination to get him back to serve his time @s a deserter from the mili- tary service. That Bergdoll has been a cause of embarrassment to Germany has been evident on previous occasions. He has made trouble for the Bérlin gov- ernment, and it would be glad to be permanently rid of him. It is doubt- less relieved now to learn that he has gone into Switzerland, and it will, per- haps, take precautions to keep him from re-entering Germany. Lenin is said to be sharing the pri- vations of the common people in Rus- sia. A large amount of Lenin’s press- agent material has not proved reliable. ‘Western farmers who plan to burn corn’instead of coal evidently think the way.to increase the value of their crop is £o have it classified as fuel. . i The distribbtion of food in famine tions against the unscrupulous meal- ticket speculator. ¥ e 2 e Norway is finding the three-mile limit too narrow & boundary of na- liquor smuggling. run into that country in avoidance of the law that the government at Chris. from three to six or possibly even ufl miles, and also to confiscate all craft seized while engaged in smuggling. The Norweglan coast is\difficult to patrol against smuggling. It {s deeply indented with bays and harbors, and “rum runners” who get over the three- mile line can, with little difficulty, Politics at Home|Law Brought Into (fontempt ‘Harding, Editor and Publisher. A press of business will prevent the President from attending the interna- tional press conference called for 'Honolulu the coming fall. ‘ Doubtless he regrets his {nabllity to be present. He takes mueh pride in his record as newspaper editor and publisher, Lord Northcliffe, after his make their way into sheltered nooks where they can discharge cargoes without interference. Extension of the line to six or ten miles will make this practice more difficult. We are having this same experi- ence in the United States, but with the difference that an old statute has already been dug up that establishes a twelve-mile limit against the approach of craft engaged in smuggling. Our eastern coast is not as difficult as that of Norway. It is much more thickly inhabited and is less deeply indented. But it is far more extensive, and its patrol calls for a veritable navy. ‘With the “frontier” pushed out to twelve miles from shore the facility of the smugglers in transshipping car- goes is greatly lessened. The patrol can work inside of the limit and be in a position to cut off the small boats moving between ship and shore. Per- haps this is the purpose of the Nor- wegian government in case it secures the necessary legislation from the storthing. Persistent effort will stop smug- gling. Prosecutions and conflscations will put too severe a penalty upon the game. Not even the immense profits that are to be gained from this traffic recent call at the White House, re- marked on the fact. He and the Presi- dent had talked “shop” and exchanged experiences. The President might have sald to his visitor, and maybe did say, “I used to be & newspaper man myself.” The Englishman observed on the President’s table a copy of the Marion Star. It {s not stated whether he matched it with a copy of the London ‘Times. The two papers lying together, and their ‘owners in confabulation, would have been full of suggestion, with the owner of the paper which until & year ago was unknown outside of a limited circle playing host as the incumbent of the highest office in the world to the owner of the paper which for a century and more has enjoyed a world-wide fame. “The Thunderer” on this occasion would have ylelded first place. Fifty vears ago the most distin- guished editor in America, at the head of a newspaper known far and neer for the vigor of its utterances and its tiania fs about to submit to the storth-| will long tempt men to engage in it it the government continues to over- haul and imprison those who venture within the range of a revenue cutter or the auxillary excise navy and to condemn every craft and vehicle em- ployed in this illegal traffic. ——————— Postmaster General Hays' refusal to undertake a press censorship will not encourage seditious publications. Many of them would have enjoyed closing up unprofitable enterprises with politi- cal martyrdom as an excuse. ————————— Democratic criticisms of the Attor- ney General's appointments are con- sistent. It will be remembered that many democrats were urgently op- posed to the appointment of Mr. Daugherty_himself. ————————— influence, was nominated for Presi- dent and overwhelmingly defeated. Last year an editor, little known as editor, was nominated for President and overwhelmingly elected. Horace Greeley, notwithstanding his long participation in politics, was a poor politician. Warren G. Harding, | on the other hand, had acquired such skill in politics and leadership, he be- came his party’'s best bet at & grave time, and showed the way with ease to victory. A Tiger Hunt. Another tiger hunt is opening in New York. The good people of the town are banding together in another of many efforts to rid the community of what they consider a ravening enemy. That is to say, another mayor- alty campaign is taking shape, with Tammany the object of a fusion drive. Strange about Tammany! It has & noisome record, and deserves its repu- tation. In a long life it has committed many offenses. It has a number of times been killed, but has always re- fused to stay dead. Invariably, after a demise that looked very promising, the old organization has reappeared, contesting ' with vigor again, and sometimes successfully, for suprem- acy. Is it possible to put Tammany per- manently out of business? Some peo- ple—not necessarily cynics—say not. They hold that Tammany is & natural growth; that while the town exists & will exist; that the only hope is in curbing its propensities, and submerg: ing it s often and keeping it under as long as possible. ’ The gossip as to Leader Murphy says that he is making his last fight. 1If he wins, he will be content to retire and give place to 2 younger and finer. spoken man. If he loses, his enemies in the organization will find their op- portunity in his discomfiture and go in and finish him. Maybe. Mr. Murphy's enemies in the organization have had opportuni- ties before, and tried to improve them. But he still lives, and today is a power- ful figure at the old stand. He is not an old man as politicians are reckoned, and next year and 1924 are looming up, with their quickening appeals to those who enjoy playing the game of politics and know how. —_——— Congress and Its Task.® Probably things will go more smoothly at the regular session. They should. By that time members will have become better acquainted; will|- have taken one another's measure; will have become surer and more con- fident in action. * When Congress assembled many new faces appeared on Capitol Hill. The latest appeal to the people had produced a crop of inexperienced men for legislative service. They were not incompetent men, but they had to learn their trade. They have been learning it. They have been engaged on some as difficult problems as ever were presented for legislative solution. If every- mother’s son had been a veteran performer the job would still have been a trying one. No wonder, then, that the start has been a little slow; that the country has expressed some impatience; that the cry has gone up, “Why don’t you fellows get & move ‘on? Do some- thing! The new legislators are geiting & line on the old, and vice versa. They will pull together better after a little more experience. The wheelers and the leaders will come to an under- standing about teamwork, while the man on the box will become more cer- tain of his seat and more expert in handling the reins, The going is heavy and difficult, Limitation of armament is expected to dispose of the anclent theories that Justice and economy may be promoted by encouraging comparatively unin- formed persons to shoot one another. ————tt—g—————— Berlin politiclans who thought of putting Wilhelm back on the throne would probably have difficulty by this time in locating the precise junk heap in which the throne reposes. ———— The fraternal sentiment between England and America is so strong that Lloyd George might introduce the cus- tom of using “brother” as a diplo- matic designation. i Next to the chess mervel who plays numerous games at the same -time, Liloyd George is the most thoroughly occupled gentleman on earth. i A limitation of armament might not avert rivalrous asperities, but it would at least restrain the influence of im- petuous jingolsm. l It may be contended that beer in- stead of being a beverage is entitled to classification as a cheery little pat- ent medicine. by ———— There is no attempt to show that Bergdoll has in any sense been worth the time and money so lavishly spent on him. Limitation of armament has an ad- ditional humane aspect in the possibil- ity of tax reduction involved. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDBR JOENEON. Dreams. In the city, bright and gay, Comes & dream of going ‘Where the rural breezes stray -And the streams are flowing. Underneath the open sky, ‘Where the stars are gleaming, For the city lights you sigh In your daytime dreaming. Dreams forever rise anew, ‘Hope is unabating; For each dream that has come true There's another waiting. Proceeding With Caution. “What are your views concerning the tariff?”” “You ought to speak first,” replied Senator Sorghum. “Why?" “Because you are an influential voter. As a patriotic yet practical statesman it should be my duty, as well as my privilege in this interview, to reconcile my opinions to yours as far as I can conscientiously do so.” Aesop and the Fox. “Those grapes I vainly endeavored to reach are probably sour anyhow,” remarked the fox. ““Their sourness,” commented Aesop, “wouldn’t prevent you from making an interesting use of them if you have a good recipe.” should not be too great impatience. No Congreas was ever faced with a more gigantic task, or had fewer guide- posts. Speed ig out of the question if safety is to be considered. Two old saws are worth recalling at this time: “Haste makes waste.” “Hurry ‘worry. 5 P ] Glory Seeking. The man of sclentific mind . Declares his life a thankless grind, And wishes be could rise to fame By pitching in a base ball game. Jud Tunkins says one of the worst things about unemployment is that it leaves so much time for playing jazs ———————— Many German citizens are devoting' their attention to the future possible under a republic as a means of taking their minds off a dark imperial past. e e ——— O The United States Mall Steamship 'l'he}d.lnflb;\lunn of food. supplies re-| ment to publishing it on account of By Laxity in Enforcement BY THOMAS R. MARSHALL, Former Viee President of the U. 8. HE universal contempt which the people seem to feel for the law, with {ts man-made crimes and misdemeanors, is only greater than their disgust with executives for its non-enforce- . ment, because there are more laws than executives. He would be in serious danger of facing a commission in lunacy who soberly declared that the statutory criminal laws of this country were observed by the peo- ple and enforced by officials. The attitude of the average American 18 “Catch me if you can.” This is not caused by viciousness upon the part of the people. It is the r sult of the legislative attitude of mind. Legislators find it easy to listen. to the entreatles of a buzz- ing lobby and to pass a criminal law, getting rid thereby of the lobby and feeling quite certsin that the law will be enforced only if the people want it; that other- wise it will be forgotten. This is in startling contrast to the Eng- lish system. There gn enactment follows an overwhelming public sentiment, and that sentiment, of course, proceeds to enforce it. In this country any one can get a criminal law enacted and no ome feels called upon to enforce it. * % % ¥ All this was bad enough, but re- cently we were given a spectacu- 1ar reason for contempt of the law. Gov. Small of Illinois—or the small governor of Illinois, as you may happen to view him—was regular)y indicted by the grand jury of S8angamon county. Straightway he rediscovered that the king could do no wrong, and it would appear that he was told by coun- sel that he was above the law. In accordance with his contention, he occupled & unique position. His theory being correct, he could mur- der his enemies, steal the state treasury, kidnap the leutenant sovernor's wife—all with impun- ity. He could not be arrested or tried or punished for any -offense. His official dutles were higher than his duty to answer to an findict- ment. He must be left free to sign the commissions of notaries pub- lc and to pardon partisans from the penitentiary; no one could per- form these grave duties for him. But the judge of the circuit court gave him a lesson in history when he informed him that there were no kings in Illinois; that no one in that state was above the law. Then the chief executive tal. o e e e nienwara ot 1o linois. Surely, the governor did not realise what a frightful exam- ple he was setting to all the vi- clous and lawless elements of s0- clety. E LR O : It seems that in the peculiar situation of Tilinols law the gov- yrnor cotild’ be arrested in somd !o.-q where he might find a judge who would issue a writ of habea$ corpus; that notwithstanding the indictment of the grand jury this judge might discharge him and end the prosecution. In view of that contingency the sheriff of San. gamon county refused to arrest him in any other county of the state. Trained to the practice of law in Indlana, this seemed to me like ene from medieval history. In my state, and I hope in nearlyj every other commonwealth, d com-¢ plete answer by the sheriff to the writ of habeas corpus would have been that he held the defendant's body by virtue of a bench warrant issued upon an indictment regu- larly returned in the circuit court by the grand jury of the county. Realising no doubt that his con- duct was prejudicing him in the minds of people who, like myself, did not know him and knew nothing about the.facts in the case, the governor engaged in a propa- ganda, asserting that the prosecu- tion was by interests which he had opposed in his offcial life. Just what this had to do with his gullt or innocence the common or garden varlety of man could not see. He reminded me of the western con- gressman who went home to face charges concerning his life in ‘Washington. In addressing his constituents he admitted that it was true that frequently he was that he had lost a at g:t he had been involved in scandal with & woman clerk in o of the departments. “But, thank .God,” he fervently exclaimed, “no one has ever dared to attack my moral character.” R R Ordinarily, T am 80 conservativée as to be ashamed of myself at times. But even 80 conservative & man as myself must realise that many reforms may well be put into eftect in the criminal laws of ‘our Telephone Service in the French Capital country. I mention them, not be- ©ause I have even slight hopes that they will come to pass, but be- cause I think they should appeal to the judgment and conscience of mankind. The reason I have no hope that anything will be done is because of the almost fanatical zeal with which English-speaking peo- ple cling to the traditions of the Anglo-Saxon race. We have for< gotten that in the dawnings of our Jurisprudence to be a felon was reslly a felony. It involved the certainty that upon a judgment of conviction one’s estate would be forfeited to the crown, although one might escape with his life. Charged with a crime, the de- fendant stood mute before the ocourt without the power to tell his story and unrepresented by counsel. N No wonder that under such cir- cumstances a people who bad a sense of justice and fair play de- manded that a man charged with & felony should be deemed to be innocent until he was proven - gullty, that he should be convicted beyond a reasonable doubt, that he should not be compelled to tes- tify against himself, that his pri- vate papers should not be searched to obtain testimony against him. So ingrained were these ideas in the Anglo-Saxon mind that within my recollection. Grover Cleveland, as President of the United BStates, compelled the return to a de- fendant of incriminating papers unlawfully seized in his office. * % % % Lawyers quote with unction the maxim of the law that the reason of the rule having ceased, the rule itself also ceases. And, straight- way, they proceed to jnvoke the rule when they know the reason for it has ceased. As the years have gone by in the administra- tion of the criminal law of this ocountry, all the original safe- guards which surrounded the man who was compelled to stand mute before his jud and face loss of life and forfeiture of his estate have been preserved to him, and all the reasons for those safe- guards have from time to time been removed by legislative enact- ments. Within my own time and in my own state I have seen them &0 one by one. ‘The defendant no longer stands mute in the presence of the court or jury. He now testifies, if he so chooses, and the law requires that his testimony shall be weighed in the same scales that are used for other witnesses. is not tried by & jury of his peers drawn from the vicinage of his crime He has the right to be tried by a jury that knows nothing about the circum- stances and that is not prejudiced against him personally and whose members may possess as much emotion and as little intelligence as his counsel can secure. Nay, more, he {s represented always by - able counsel. He can take a change of venue from & judge he may not like end from a county where he may think there is adverse public opinton. He has the right to have the jury told that he is presumed to be innocent until he is proven gullty beyond a reasonable doubt; that it is the duty of the state to furnish that degree of evidence; that the jury must not hold against him the fact that he did not testify, as the laws of his coun- try give him the right to remain silént and to demand that the state shall convict him. Save in the case of a homicide out of which he might become an heir, a con- viction works no forfeiture of the defendant’s estate. * % % ¥ I may want to practice criminal law again, and if sa I should want all the ancient safeguards thrown around my client. But just now when no retainer is in sight I can really see no reason why some of the rules should not be abro- gated. The question in Illinois is not whether Gov. Small has enemies, not whether there are op- posing political rings, not whether certain viclous interests are prose- cuting him—the question is: Did he unlawfully convert to his own use the funds of that common- wealth? With his right to testify, his possession of some of the ablest legal ability of the state, his right to a chenge of venue from the court in the county and his power to obtain a fair and impartial jury, ‘what would be unjust in compell- ing him net only to go to trial but to testify touching the alleged crime and to produce such books, papers or documents as might throw . light upon the subject. ‘There is not much danger that ai innocent man is going to be co: victed. But there i ry Pm.- ect in the present of the aw that few gullty men ever will be convicted. If men were made to tell where they ‘e last night, it lulrt embarrass but they ‘would be at home tomorrow night. (Copyright, 1921, by Thomas B. Marshall.) BY WILLIAM IVY. Baropean Correspondent of The Star. and there need be no surprise, and! PARIS, August 10.—An event of national importance has just hap- pened in France. A new telephone book has been issued. The ‘Paris telephone book is com- monly known as the “Annusire d Telephones.” Of course “annuaire” means “snnual” As a matter of fact, however, this is the first new direc- | tory issued since 1917. Even u.i ] there was much opposition in parlia- cost. they may have the advantage of thi “llzfl“"" by fllunf :hth. telepho! as soon as possible, but not before the lapse of one t‘-‘fiofl“&‘u’u five months before the ;ooknr"""bmh“' but “to6 late for insertion.’ b the other hand, to compensate hg- tln”urn number of subscribers Sttt (b T eavatderasie e o - motn ‘who n.mnlv no be '’ comn | Company was.not as well equipped as :‘z‘ it might have bees in apecial dalivery e faoiiftiess pears, and Pavis tele- | w) rs are 1 be delivered B tselt i- | telophe there too S arire, it s to say the least considerate of the administration to continue their telephone subscriptions. However, repeated calls for Mr. Bolo's number got no response, vr;l‘lre a vols mereyda that the A tells those who ring longer domiciled at entlem: t. Cloud." Americans who are accustomed to ephone direc- tories every few months will perbaps find this sample of telephone service in. France sufficiently annoyins, but fiew and up-to-date t that is not the only complaint may raise. begin with, th charge of 700 fran for the installation of the phone. 1Even then unless one has some con- 5— | tions. jonth. sent telophons waa in- | (o, Tie%e S5Y lieve th record. N Boher, Tt 1a st Ianguage does ot I Heard and Seen/FIFTY YEARS AGO e RO IN THE STAR last week when the workmen were e laint firty ye ags adjusting over the center arch at the about the practices in vogue at the entrance of the Post Office Depart- et ment building the large letters spell- ing out the name of the establishment. Oourt. Sl & sow? The word “Department” went into place first, “Post Office” being put up in more or less reverse order, so that toward afternoon the sign ran: ot cial committee of S o Investigation. ¢ne nouse of dele- gates was named to investigate the matter. The Star in its issue of “ICE DEPARTMENT.” August 15 thus discusses the situa~ The first part of *P g . jtion: 1y “Post of-‘—-‘? um’:fi.m«?’ be ::':‘fn “The report on the Police Court, place, When some hitch occurred in/made by the committee of the house incomplete state for severes mours. " |Of Jelesates yesterday, was to have About this time a couple of sight- | Déen expected from the evidence be- seers happened along Pennsylvania (fore it, and while courteous in its svenue. The man evidently was at-|tone, it i8 trenchant in dealing with tempting to impress his woman com- panion with the greatness of Wasn. | the flagrant abuses proved to be in- ington, for when he happened to see |corporated in the management of af- the sign his arm went up like a flash. | fairs by the subordinates of the court. “See_there!”s he exclaimed, in tones | o 5 of triumph. “Therc's the lce Deparc.|The committee also, while exonerat- ment.: ing Judge Snell and Clerk Grey from o any wrongdoing, censure them for e not glving due supervigon to the le City Postmaster Chance Was | .o, q,c¢ of the subordinates. out on his farm in th this summer he m.aa'.:v:ifdif.fiffi B TR AR S i this rotten state of affairs should small post offices in the vicinity. ca t against th Being from the National Capital, m::: _:::hz:,“:fi;. up g::., v.: his visits took on something of the |, 5us quarters for its entire abolition official greatness which. clothes any- |and the return to the system of police body from Washington, at least in nagistracy. We are inclined to agree, the eyes of the “folks back home.” |hoWever, with an intetligent Corves a2 §reat many places in the west not abandon the Police Court system, = e has to do is say they are from | found in all leading cities to be the ashington to immediately take on|true system, but that we should seek E-;dad importance. Bo Postmaster to reform the abuses in it. As shown % :née found his visits much appre- | by the report of the committee, it is, Slace when properly managed, more eco- ne morning early he stepped up|nomical and efficient than the system ticular type of instrument he pre- ers. In all lands “wrong number” calls|too, and are a source of irritation, but I be- to a small post office in a small vil- lage. It was early yet and the office was not officially opened. All he could sese was a middle-aged woman sweeping out the office. “Is _the postmaster here?” Ml"i‘hChlnca. e woman stopped her sweepin, and looked at him in a rather pemg- barrassed way for a moment. “I am the postmistress,” she finally replied. asked * * * The story ebout Postmaster Chance and the postmistress who had to sweep out her own post office recalls another about two women who went house hunting last week. The house was out in the suburbs, one of the prettiest places around ‘Washington, where the trees are green and the skies blue and other manitestations of nature run true to form. Inspecting newly built homes is always a pleasure, if only to be able to detect the obvious faults which the designers seem invariably to make. “This house,” proudly announces the agent, “was designed by a com- mittee of women.” “I thought s replies the investi- gator. “The person who put the mirror over in the dark evidently never shaves.” This particular afternoon the two ‘women were very enthusiastic over the little house.” While they were discussing its merits a mild looking gentleman appeared on the porch. “Are you the agent?” asked one woman. The mild looking man looked even milder. “No, madam,” he replied, as if em- barrassed. “I am only the owner.” * * x Blessed with many beautiful parks and squares, the people of Washing- ton make all too little use of them. This is the judgment of a dis- tinguished man who is well ac- quainted with most of the larger cities of the country. Nowhere, according to this man, there a city with such fine parks admirably “placed for the use of the people. He did not speak of Rock Creek and Potomac parks, but of the squares, circles and numerous smaller bits of green sprinkled throughout the city. And he was right. Chancing to walk through Judiciary Square, I remembered what this man had told me, and I looked around at the semi- deserted condition of the benches. A pleasant breeze was blowing, the sun was shining warmly, while clouds sailed along. The red pile of the pension office building contrasted warmly with the chaste whiteness of the city hall. sky, they furnished, without stretch of the imagination, the colors of Old Glory. Fat pigeons, tame squirrels, Eng- lish sparrows, busied themselves in the grass. From afar came the chime of some bells, ringing out the morning hour. It was a happy, pleasant scene, but very few wWere there to enjoy it, and, too, few ever come. We ought to use our parks “How I Lost the War.” A bomb of high explosive force, made, 1 not thrown, by Gen. Hoff- man, an enfant terrible of his class and kind, has burst among the cham- pions of the old regime and ‘will scat- Berlin correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph. Gen. Hoffman, who has long been coquetting Wwith the socialists, has now unburdened his heart to one of to belleve with the general’s con- sent—has published his effusions. He dismisses the heroes and hopes of the monarchists and militarists with contemptuous depreclation. His rea- said, that if he did so he would have was not a big military leader, and for the present he did not wish to do that. Ludendorff’s book was an apol- therefore, “stupid, in parts mendacious.” ‘Wherever the writer defended him- self it bristled with errors. As for “good old Hindenburg,” his book was “enough to make a dog howl” The only man who told a straight story and really had something to say was Tirpitz. That was because he was a real ma ablest soldier on the side of the cen- tral powers was not Ludendorff, but the Austrian, Conrad von Hoetzen- dorft. Here it may be interpolated that Gen. . Hoftman believes himself to have been the real victor at Tannen- berg. The war was lost by Germany, he because he was not allowed to have his own way when he was ohief of the staff and virtually com- mander-in-chief on the eastern fn&t. e Falkenhayn, described as “wogst_criminal of the ently because he had the negotistions at Brest-Litovsk by promising Bulgaria the Dobrudja and bits of Serbian territory. Every- body else at Brest, says Gen. Hoff- man, wi without annexa- been played. 288 Givrnin moliified the by telling them that annexations” " was to apply it £mT el Gon. Tiotman, - ter them in all directions. says the their journalists, who—it is difficult = son for not writing memoirs was, he to show the world that Ludendorff CR s R s i & tric been wrecked on L = Bulgarians e formula “no Gen. Hoffman, “they lled, foreign office had iled ez:tfl::i of police magistracy, and even when the management 18 defective it is much more easily reached when the responsibility 1is centralized than when it is scattered among & dozen magistrates. “The recommendations in the way of reform made by the committee and , by Delegate Boswell individually (whose views from his experience as a police magistrate should have welght) are judicious in the main, but we cannot agree with Mr. Boswell in favoring ‘the return to the police magistrate system, with the right of the party to appeal to the Police Court if aggrieved’ This would re- sult in making the Police Court sim- ply a court of appeal, and would com- pel.us to shoulder the double expense of a Police Court and a police magis- tracy, and at the same time carry us back to all the admitted defects of the old system. “The proper course is to appoint !ureful. reliable officers in place of the fast young men who have been running the court machine, and at the same time change any feature in the police system found to be de- fective in its workings. Mr. Bos- well's resolution requiring the court {to hold evening and Sunday sessions and reducing the onerous fees seems to be a step in the right direction. “It seems to us also that valuable hints can be got from the practioce in rolice oourts elsewhere. In the Boston police court, generally eon- ceded to be one of the best in the country, there are no court attorneys. The policemen prosecute their own czses, except the important cases, when the judge designates some at- torney to prosecute. The policemen make the best prosecutors because {they are famillar with the facts. By adopting this practice here nine- )tenths of the abuses shown to exist in our present court system and the most of its enormous expense would be abolished. Then, again, the ex- penses of the court might be greatly reduced by having the policemen act s bailiffs. Other reforms can doubt- less be suggested, but with these the court can be reorganized in a way |to make it a useful and creditable institution having the contidence of the community.” * * % In The Star of August 16, 1871, is @ news dispatch from New York telling of the verdict | Westfield rendered that day by the = % coroner's jury in the Verdict. ouge of the steamer Westfield, the beiler of which a short time before had exploded, killing about eighty persons. The Jjury found that the explosion was due to a flaw in the irom and to the negli- With the blue of the | gence of the engineer in carrying en overpressure of steam. It also charged the company as responsible for the disaster for fallure to have | in service a competent superintendent engineer and mechanic. It recom- mended the district attorney to take action, and scored the government inspection as imperfect. Warrants were issued for the arrest of the president, directors and superintend- ent of the company and the en- |Ster DIGEST OF FOREIGN PRESS Gen. Hoffman denies that at a criti- cal moment at Brest he banged the table with his fist. The loss of the battle of Marne, according to Gen. Hoffman, was the “direct consequence of the incompe- tence of the German leaders.” Ger- many should have won both the bat- tle and the war, but the vacillating command fooled about the partial actions and could not ke up Its mind to a decisive strol Even in 1918, when Gen. Hoffman sent Luden- dorff from the east 1,000,000 men who really wanted to fight, a decisive blow was not attempted. The cam- inst Italy was insufficiently otherwise the central em- pires would certainly have reached the line Venice-Genoa. If in 1914 two more army corps had at once been thrown across to Russia the Germans would have been in Warsaw in a very short time and been able to use all the Russian war stores for them- selves. Island Ruled by a Bandit. The extraordinary history of the Corsican bandit known as the “King of the Brushwood” who exercises feudal sway over an entire depart- ment of the island, has a guard of honor of bandits and a racing stable, and frequents cafes and public gather- lings at Ajaccio, openly detying the police to arrest him, s related In the Parls Matin by a writer who vouches for the truth of every word. This redoubtable character, on whose head there is price, is said to be the author of a score of crimes, Among them several murders. He has thrice been condemned to death by default. Romanettl, as the bandit is kmown, is described as a picturesque figure, courageous as a lion and geserous to his friends, but ebsolutely releatiess toward his enemies. He is unremit- ting in his vendetta agai the pofice for challenging his authority In the rugged district over which he holds sway. Among the inhabitants he is regarded as an “overiord” amd h {ulzl"llh all the ceremony of eu His career as & bandit dates back to 1909, when he escaped from the police by jumping out of a window just as they were about to seize him on a stabbing charge. He was cap- baron. a | tured later, and served three years in rison. When released he became & i3 and was later -:;nua of bush, and ina as a bandit by killing under the noses of the police of Calcatoggio. / income from his farms is esti- population would not iter the notorious ban- detend him should