Evening Star Newspaper, December 30, 1922, Page 6

're THE EVENING STAR, ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. . .December 30, 1922 THEODORE W. NOYES. Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. | New York Office: 150 Nassau 3 Chicago Office: Tower Bullding: European Office : 18 Regent 8t., Londos, Rgte by Mail—Payable in Advance:-. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1 yr., $8.40; 1 mo., i0c Daily only.. 1¥r., $6.00: 1 mo.. B0c Sunday only. .1yr. $240; 1 mo.. 20c All Other States. Dafly and Sunday..1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Taily only {1yr, $7.00: 1 mo., 60c Sunday only $3.00; 1 mo., 25¢ Member of the Associated Presa. The Associated Press fs exclusively entitled o the use for republication of all mews dis. patches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pud- Tiahed ‘herein. AIl rights of pudlication of 1 dispatches h 50 reserved. 1yr., A Better Plan Than Borah's. It having been disclosed that no useful purpose would be served by having the Senate “‘authorize and re- quest” the President to call an inter- national economic conference, Senator Borah has withdrawn his proposal for such action, thereby displaying sood sense and good statesmanship of a high order. Regardless of belief as to the wisdom of the effort which the 1daho senator made, no one now can question the sincerity of his purpose, and he is stronger rather than weaker in the esteem of the people because he has the courage to place public welfare above pride of opinion. ‘With conduct of our international intercourse rescued from partisan maneuverings in the Senate and re- stored to its proper place in the hands of the President and his constituted advisers, there is reason to hope that the delicate mnegotiations which have ‘been under way may be carried to an early and successful conclusion. That these negotiations have back of them sympathetic and informed understand- ing of the obligations which America owes to Europe and of thg direct ma- terial benefits which are tc be derived from discharge of them was discloaed‘ vesterday in authoritative statements | here and in an address gglivered by Secretary Hughes at New raven. The substance of the IHarding- Hughes position is that this govern- ment cannot offer to arbitrate the reparations dispute, for the sufficient | reason that it has not been asked to do so, but the President and his Secre- tary of State will feel at liberty, at the | proper time, to propose that an inter-) rational commission of experts, freed from all political hampering. be ap- pointed to study the problem and re- port on the sums which Germany cani pay without destroying German pro- | Auctivity. The interested governments would be free to accept or reject these findings as conclusive, but the great purpose would be served of taking the fixation of reparations out of the realm of politics and placing it on & basis of economic possibilities. There is good reason to believe. for instance. that the French government would be much more reasonable in the matter of reparations were it not for the im- possible expectations which have been aroused in the French people, and which no government dare disregard. But with the amount Germany can pay fixed by an impartial commission upon which France was represented, it ig likely the government could ac- cept those figures as a basis for set- tlements and still survive the storm | growing out of French disappoint- ment. American representation on such a commission would not involve this country in the political: entanglement of Europe, because the commission ‘would not be a political one, and yet it would open the way for practical help in solving the most difficult of all of Europe's problems, and the one upon solution of which all other prob- lems must wait. When the allied pre- miers meet in Paris next Tuesday the atmosphere ought to be a more hope- ful one because cf knowledge that this mgency is at he. d and ready for use. Tts evolvement has ghoved an impend- ing crisis into the Indefinite future, even if it has not yet wholly removed the peril of one. | i i Automobile reciprocity between Maryland and the District of Columbia is favored by motorists who feel that the time has arrived to consider means of avoiding complications and embarrassments instead of methods of increasing them. ———em——————— Mohammed VI would feel even greater reluctance about returning to Constantinople if Turkey were suf- ficlently modernized to permit the en- tire harem to file suits for desertion. ——e—————— New York’s Bridge Problem. New York has reached a point in its trafiic problem where it faces & verita- ‘ble dilsmma. The movement between Manbattan and Brooklyn has grown to such a volume that even with four | from use. Hence, it is argued that a | pre-war days worth less than 3 cent, bridge is calculated to cause conges-|has been reduced to an infinitesimal tion through decreasing the space left | unit, and the Berlin bankers have re- for business. bridge added to the great city's equip- ment reduces the space available on the rigidly restricted Manhattan Is- land, and thus in a way tends to in- crease the very congestion that it is designed to correct. In other words, every |solved hereafter to Ignore it algo- gether. The latest exchange quotation on marks was 1.63 cents. There- fore a pfennig would. be equivalent to roughly one and a half hundredths jof a cent. It takes entirely too many of them to attain to appreciable value, Whether by bridge or tunnel, how-}and inasmuch as the mark hes be- ever, New York must have more means of access to the east, or com- | munication with the Long Island ter- ritory which is now strictly urban for a long distance beyond the East river. The city spread in that direction is rapid and is certain to continue, most New Yorkers prefer to live with- in the state of their businese occupa-|low has fallen that coin In interna- tion. On the west New York 4s without any bridges. although frequently plans have been advanced for the spanning of the North river. The cost of such a structure, however, has heretofore prevented exeeution. Tubes have meanwhile been' driven under the river, and communication between New York city and” New Jersey has been greatly facilitated. All these conditions, increasing in difficulty decade by decade, tend to make New York develop steadily as a strictly business center with hgbita- tions on the outskirts beyond the wa- ter or far up on the island. It is con- ceivable that the time will come with-} in this present century when the ter- ritory that was once regarded as the ideal site for a city will be one vast shop with transportation lines of every kind crowding business. and residents driven out beyond a radius of several miles. Motor Reciprocity. A movement is reported to beSunder way for the establishment, by @gree- ment, of motor reciprocity between Maryland and the District of Colum- bia. This would be a happy outcome of a long-maintained difference be- tween the two jurisdictions. The mo- torists of the District have been com- pelled for years to take out Maryland licenses, and similarly Maryland mo- torists have been obliged to take out District licenses, for the respective privileges of the use of the streets and roads of the two areas, though between the states of the Union motor reciprocity has prevailed and the licenses issued in one state are recog- nized in others. There is a mutual advantage in a! reciprocal arrangement such as is now belng sought by negotiation. The Dis- trict motorists at present use the Maryland roads freely, being, indeed, almost compelled to cross the boun- dary, while the Maryland motorists find the District’s highway frequently of use to them. It {s difficult to deter- mine on which side the weight of ad- vantage lles. A great many Mary- landers come into Washington daily for the transaction of business, while many Washingtonians cross over into Maryland for both business and pleas- ure. ‘Washington has contributed a large sum in the aggregate, in the form of | motor license fees. to the cost of con- structing and maintaining the Mary: land roads. Similarly Maryland motor- ists have paid large sums into the Dis- | trict treasury in fees. The difference has been that the money paid in Maryland has gone into road funds, while those paid in Washington have gone into general funds, only a part of which has been applied to street upkeep. ’ Recently a proposition wasadvanced in Congress to bring about reciprocity between the two jurisdictions. It would be better, however, if the ar- rangement were effected through agreement, provided it should be put upon a permanent basis. No plan will suffice that is subject to interruption and change. ‘Washington has become & motor objective for many thousands of tourists awheel, who, coming from the north, are compelled to pass through Maryland. They find their way cleared for them into the capital, only to dis- { cover that the people of this city are, save through the procurement of licenses, barred from Maryland. This discloses a situation that cannot be understood by visitors, who have toured without hindrance through many states. The maintenance of conflict between the two jurisdictions creates an unfavorable impression that should be prevented by the es- tablishment of such relations as those that exist generally through the coun- try. —————— At least the Turks have demon- strated that they can attend a confer- ence without being seized with irre- sistible impulses to set fire to some- thing. ———— In the Senate Mr. Borah is confront- ed with irreconcilability from some new angl 5 ———— e Oil often asserts itself as @n in- flammable ingredient in international controversies. ———— e | i The dove of peace continues to be & restless bird that flits from contar-l ence to conference. 1 ———E e { A report that Uncle Joe Cannon has as ! vuble began. come what we in this country call ‘chicken feed” itself, there is no occa- sion for a smaller fraction. Nothing has been heard of copecks for a long time. Doubtless they went | cut svon after the depreclation of the The copeck is the one hundredth part of the ruble, and so tional exchange that it is almost im- possible to express its value. It would | take @ truckload (o buy a shoe lace. . So those Americans who resent the declension of the penny in the west ! may find some comfort in this news from Berlin that the pfennig has gone out of circulation. Whatever the nickel-minimum folks out gvest may think of the humble little brown coin, it is a sturdy bit of cash compared with the German and the Russian juniors of the mints. T William B. Dey. | Onio is @ great Hate, and produces iinteresting and useful men. There is nothing original in the observation. It has been made many times, and as often supported by the record. The latest authority for the declara- tion is found in the correspondence, just published, occasioned by the re- tirement of Justice Day from the Su- preme bench. The tribute paid him by his co-workers of that tribunal was i warm, but wgll deserved. “Well done™ was never more fittingly pronounced on a “good and faithful servant.” The country owed its introduction te William R. Day end he to it to Wil- liam McKinley, whd as an old friend knew his worth and accomplishments, and needing @ man of his quality for an important public station called him to it. The appointee’s work soon jugt!- fled the appointment. Appropriately, enough, the fleld of service was changed from palitics to the law, and the new man was made ¥a member of the Supreme Court, His tastes as well as his talents pointed in that direction, and once robed for work he had nearly a quarter century of it at a time when many questions of great moment were presented to that tribunal. Fortunately for the country, Judge Day is still in kelter, and will still be occupied with public business. Men of his caliber and training are invaluable at this time. ————— The common intelligence has the satisfaction of knowing that if the Einstein theory is correct it is in good working order, and if incorrect some- thing equally efficient is holding suns and planets in their customary courses. —_—————— ‘The restoration of a discredited movie actor is cynically regarded by many movie fans merely as an effort | to give a few slightly shopworn films !a chance at the market. ———— 0ld songs are to be revised by spell- ing reformers to permit reference to Louisiana as * 'way down south where they raise the cotton and the Cain.” ————————— Mathematical ability is required to tascertain how many paper marks it takes“to make something that looks like real money. —————— John Barleycorn has created illicit conditions which call for the bullet- proof vest as well as the copper-lined stomach, ———————— Every international conference is flattering in its assurance that Uncle Sam would be regarded as the life of the party. ———————— The belated Christmas tree invites the attention of the firgman instead of Santa Claus. Kemal {s likely to be remembered in history less as a general than es a firebug. oy 1 SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Poets. Bill Shakespeare wrote some verse great And Milton, too. was splendid. Their writings are allowed to wait On bookshelves unattended, ‘While all the world turns out to read Some bard who blandly blithers, And some such name signs to th screed Y As.“Tracy Dinkin Smithers.” Though Scott and Byron still disclose A majesty of rhythm, In dusty silence they repose. ‘Who cares to bother with ‘em? We cultivate the flaunting weed. The beauteous blossom withers, And all the poet that we read 1s Tracy Dinkin Shithers. Avoiding Obscurity. h v THE WAYS OF WASHINGTON BY WILLIAM PICKETT HELM. ‘Washington is a city of automo- biles. Almost every family h: a car. Indeed, {t {s doubtful if there is another city in the United States that has so many motér cars in proportion to its populatidn. In round numbers the population of Washington at the present time is about 4560,000. This includes a negro population of more than 100,000. During the past year licenses were issued to more than 82,000 automo- Dbiles. This ‘means about two cars for every eleven persons in the Dis- trict. Some of these 82,000 pairs of license tags represent duplications, due to the transfer of cars during the year, and some of them were obtained by in the Union which does not recipro- cate with the District. But nearly 1,000 of the cars thus licensed were owned and operated by | the government of the United States. | These were the official cars, varying from the aristocrats of the White House down to the great trucks of the War Department. ‘Washington furnishes license tags free to officlal cars owned by the government. Up to July 1 last, the latest date for which figures are available, 923 pairs of tags had been supplied to government-owned cars. Nearly every bureau has one or more officlal cars. Every _cabinet officer has a car, of course, When the arms conference was held in Washington the government sought to provide taxicabs for the visiting delegations. The job of mak- ing the arrungements was left to Col. C. O. Bherrill, one of the co-ordinators of the bureau of the budget. Col. Sherrill tried the various private taxi companies. “We need a great many cars,” he reported to Gen. Dawes, then the head of the bureau, “and the cost rohibitive.” s agreed Dawes, looking over the figures. “But, of course, we've got to furnish them. “I have an idea, ed. “Why not commandeer all the official cars we can get our hands on?" Tt was a good idea. For nearly three months official cars owned by the various departments, mostly by the War Department, were diverted to the arths conference. They were placed at the disposal of the foreign delegates. And during that three months official washington, or, rather the Sherrill suggest- | small fry of ‘offelal Washington, walked or used the street cars. When the conference ended Sherrill turned in his report. s “We saved $20,000 by that stroke,” he told Gen. Dawes. Contrary to back-yard gossip, offi- cial cars are uzed almost wholly on offi- cial business. There Is virtually “no misuse of these vehicles. When the busiriess day ends the official ‘car goes into the official gar- e and \the official chauffeur goes home. There are exceptions, of course, where both car and chauffeur are worked overtime. But they are comparatively rare. There is noth- |ing like the misuse of official cars {residents of Maryland, the only 8tate|nat tere was twenty-odd years ago of official horses and carriages. Champ Clark, the writer recalls, on one qgcasion advocated on the floor of the House an améndment to an appropriation bill under which |mules would have been substituted for horses. “Nobody would drive a government mule for pleasure,” he contended, “but everybody seems to be driving government horses.” Representative Upshaw of Georgia was down at the Shipping Board the other day. When he left he saw parked at the entrance a government- owned flivver. “Is this a government car?” he ask- ed the chauffeur. “Yes, »ir; it is,”” the chauffeur re- l sald Upshaw, with & twin- kle in his eye, “I'm a govesnment Iomolll. and I'd like to ride up to the Capital. | This was a new one’on the chaut- ifeur. He looked appraisingly at Up- shaw, whom he'd never seen before, ibut said nothing. E “Yes,” continued Upshaw, “I'm & government offictal, all right. Fact !is, 'm a congressman—one of these ! green congressmen you hear about.” “Yes, sir,” said the chauffeur. “I don't know much about Wash- ington,” Upshaw continued, with great, though undisciosed, enjoyment of the chauffeur's predicament, “but I'm told that a green congressman must have one thing to get along here.” He paused, and the chauffeur asked what that one thing was. “Gall.” replied Upshaw. The chauffeur climbed down from his seat afd opened the door. “Get In,” he sald; “you've got it.” EDITORIAL DIGEST Hope for Irish Free State Seen in Healy Appointment. “Carry on, and the best of luck,” in an unbroken chorus of welcome, is the message of the American press to the Irish Free State and its governor general, Timothy M. Healy, when, at the expiration of just one year, the provisional government passes out, “the Unlon Jack comes down, giving place to the green, orange and white tricolor of the Irish F!ee State,” to quote the Raleigh News and Observer. and, as the New York Herald puts it, “Kathleen na Houlihan enters the house of which. she is mistress at last.” If anything further than the atti- tude of the Britlsh government toward the Irish treaty and its treat- ment of the provisional government under that treaty had been necessary to attest the sincerity of the mother country, it has peen furnished, Amer- jcan editors feel. by the appointment of “that veteran Parnellite, land leaguer and general fire eater, the Hon. Timothy Michael Healy,” to rep: resent the British crown iIn Ireland. Under such an arrangement “nothing is impossible” as one writer ex- presses it, in the development of a government of the Irish, by the Irish, for the Irish. i “Great Britain has kept her word, declares the Philadelphia Public dger, and has emphasized anew. the Brooklyn Eagle thinks, her “de: sire to make it clear to the world that if the experiment with Ireland falls it will not be the fault of the British government.” The romance that seems an inseparable part of Irish politics is not lacking in the appointment of her first governor general under a dominion govern- ment. “Neither Canada nor Australia has ever had a Canadian or an Aus. tralian governor,” the New York Post points out, and in naming as the first Bovernor of Ireland “an Irlsh com- moner, and an_able one.” it would seem to the Hartford Times that “ihe old cry of ‘God save Ireland’ is answered.” Not only is Healy the first national to serve in such ca- pacity, but, the Syracuse Herald notes, he “is the first untitled per- son” to be chosen to repre: the crown in the dominions, a “demo- cratic precedent in favor of Ireland.” which the paper interprets as tending “to emphasize her virtual detachment in all matters vital to self-determina- tion from the British sovereignty.” Certainly “if there is any Irishman deserving of the confldence and re- spect of the Irish people,” it is Tim- othy Healy, as the New York World sees it. “He has large experience in public affairs; he is a man of fine legal abllity and deep learning, of proved courage and personal inde- pendence. As_governor general of The Irish Free State he will stand not as the representative of alien au- | thority in Ireland, but as a loyal Irishman he will serve as a bond of conclliation and good will.” As to his loyalty, the Newark News finds him “more than Irishman, more than ne- tionalist”: indeed, “he is the daddy of them all.” For more than a third “he His the I3 | | of a century, the News relate: has worked for the Irish cause. firs home rule bill down to the treaty by which Ireland finally gained its free- dom. If the position belonged to any one of right, it was Tim Healy, and by his qualities of mind and charac- ter he is fitted to give it distinction.” It is eloquent of the progress that the Irish nationalist movement has made In forty years, as many writers point out, that such an appointment could be possible, particularly at the hands of a tory government. As & special writer in the Toronto Star ex- presses it, “if Healy had.been told years ago that he would be what he is today, he would have laughed his silklest, bitterest laugh. 8till, he long ago learned to expect the unex- pected.” Editorially the paper voice the belief that “peace for Ireland, content for her people, progress for her interests and {ndustries, all seem to be around the corner and within a short day's journey, un ad perate minority can succeed in strl ing a demoralizing blow at a mo- ment's warning.” ‘That danger is, of course, not over- looked in the general feeling of op- timism which colors American com- ment. De Valera and his followers “are now fighting their own kith and kin,” says the Asheville Times: “their hands are ralised against their own peonJe,” since, as the Brooklyn Eagle explains, “rebellion in Ireland” now is rebellion against Ireland itself, a reflection that should force itself upon the prompt attention of Eamon de Valera and the misguided men who are keeping up a violent disturbance | and injuring their people as seriously as EBritish domination ever 4id.” Ire land's greatest need now, the Roanoke World-News suggests, {s for “some good St. Patrick” to come along and “drive out De Valera and the other politi snakes which infest her. “Ireland has & great opportunity to become rosperous commonwealth, and it is the duty of the government to protect the people in the effort to work out their destiny,” declares the Canton (Ohio) News. In the dis- charge of that obligation “the best guarantee for the future,” as the De- catur Herald sees it, is the fact “that the Free State has gone through a hard year successfully.” It has “al- ready made an excellent impression everywher: the St. Louis Globe- Democrat adds, “showing a resolute energy and resourcefulness under the most trying circumstances.” Irre- spective of Ulster's final decision un- der the “self-determination” allowed t is_to the Irish Free State,” says the Boston Herald, “that the ‘world will look for Irish national de- velopnient and for effectual participa- tion in world affairs. No government will be readier than the government of the United States to extend the friendllest recognition to the Irish Free State.” t. The History of Fort Foote. Among the old forts which may be sold by the War Department is Fort bridges spanning the East'rivet there quit smoking makes this New Year a is e lack of safe and convenient room l new leaf record-breaker. on them for the daily travel. With all the tubes and bridges in use, a fifth 5 bridge, it is now belleved, is neces- The Pfennig Passes. sary, particularly as doubt is felt re- Although e legally recognized coin, garding the stability of the old Brook- | the American cent, or penny, is disre- .l)'n bridge. Tentative plans for this|garded in certain parts of the United fAfth bridge have been prepared in-{ States, particularly on the Pacific volving a cost in the aggregate of | coast, where the half-dime is the $42,000,000. But against the plan of a | smallest unit of value. This distaste mew bridge it is urged that tunnels | for anything less than 8 cents is du ‘would be more effective and less ex-|largely to the differing standards in a pensive In the long run, and so a dis- | region where ever since the early days cussion is now in progress on this|of pioneer settlement prices have point, with the prospect that it will | ranged higher than in the east. Euro- be protracted for several years. | pean nations, however, have never, 1t is pointed out that a bridge with | until very lately, been neglectful of ts approaches and with the incidental ( the smaller coins, have, indeed, cher- street changes would take out of use | ished them as valuable and held strict- = large area of land now available for | Iy to them in all business transactions. ‘business. The lands involved in this | True, the farthing of British colnage i | new bridge project are at present as-| has practically passed out of uss, but | marked 8i Simlin. sessed at nearly $15,000,000 and, it is | the centime of France and the pfennig urged, would probably cost the city | of Germany and the copeck of Russia ) more than $20,000,000. In this connec- | have remained in circulation. tion {£ 18 pointed out that the approach Jands for the old Brooklyn bridge cost | nig is to be discarded. German marks aver $7,000,000 and are now worth | have fallen to such & low reting of very much more. Naturally all of this vhlue that the pfennig, the hundredth Now a change has come. The pfen-| his old ones.” 1and is withdrawn from tazation end|part of the merk, and therefors in |biggest causes of unemployment.” . 7 A ; “People are talking about the man- | Foote. This was one of the civil war ner in which you have changed your i river defenses of the capital, and its mind,” rematked the constituent. site is a high bluff in Prince Georges “That's good,” replied Senator Sor-|county, Md., six or seven miles below ghum. “Anybody can change his mind. | the old ferry wharf at Washington The hard part of the trick is to make [and dlagonally across the Potomac people notice that something has hap- { from Jones point, the southern tip of pened.” ‘| Alexandria. The river channel passes close to the Maryland shore, and ships navigating the Potomac would have to pass close to the guns of Fort Foote. The south face of the fort commanded the channel as .far as Fort Washington. Fort Foote, ac- cording to one of the reports made during the cival war by Gen. Barnard, in charge of the defenses of Wash- ington, was built for the purpose of defending, in connection with Battery Rodgers, in the lower part of Alex- andria, the water approach to Wash- ington. The parapets which wers ex- posed to naval attack were from twenty to twenty-five feet in thick- - " ’”, ' arm wi & est iroi Tant atyls,: replisd er Corn- | s o the period. The river face of tossel, “‘every time my boy Josh buys | the fort was 515 tnl‘in" mfl,, rear " f the fort was parallel to the water a new sult of clothes I have to Wear |t and was bastioned and armed with fleld and slége guns for land de- e i fense. There were the usual high, “De man dat expects sumpin} foh | thick traversss fam@iar in the earth- Jud Tunkins says the old saying, ““All the world loves & lover,”.isn’t altogether true. It's mostly what girls think just after they're engaged. Musings of a Motor Cop. Hortense Magee was flivvering fa Rocks fell amid a deafening blast! “I thought it was my tire,” said she. “I'm glad it’s only TNT!" Thrift in the Home. “The nelghbors are talking about how stylish you're dressing,” re- " n, ks of the time. nuffin,” said Uncle Eben, “is-one of de | W2PES %, the, Lne. | ooy l‘o.oto & and garri- r maintained as an armed soned post. but was finally left in charge of a single caretaker, an old sergeant. Later, and for some years, the fort was in charge of a soldier’ widow, and she was several times written of as the only woman fort- keeper in the United States. At the beginning of the great war Fort Foote was a ruin of tumbled.earth- mounds, half-filled ditches grown | with trees and vines, among which | Do: {many of the guns, fallen from their | war-time positions, lay. During our late- war the place was used as a llulfllnl and practice place by engi- | neer troops and its appearance was tmuch changed. i ‘While most .river people speak of the bluff as Fort Foots, many of the iold-timers still call it Rosiers bluft because that was its name at the +breaking out of the civil war and had been its name for a century befor It was part of a plantation belonging to members of the Rozier family, and the Rozier houss, a small and ve! old structure, shaded by Ila mr‘ venerable pecan trees, still stands lose to the river on flat land north o g0 lay exposed for years in th ris of the ruined tun,;ly vault, bll: cemetery of St. John's or Cresk Chureh” sbout two miles un.(. th to the time of the establishment of S of the bluft. Relics of the Rosie who lived and died there many m:: ight or ten years ago th moved and reverently interred in th “Broad oldest church in t ‘Washin, neighborhood, its walls dating fi:fl Church of England ishes in Mary- land. It was the v’:rnnt chlrflrz! t._Paul's, or * Creek Church,” and of other churches north of the THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30 1922, my enthusiasm over reading leads me, In excess of zeal, to start talking of books to unliterary friends. With indulgent smiles they tell me, halt in banter, thinking to tease, that they read only news- papers and an ocoasional magasine when taking a railway journey, but never Books. Of course, I know they paint themselves too black; for, at least, there s the oity dirsctory and the telephone book, probably also the dictionary, and I hope the Bible. But, following up their persifiage, the: almost elaim that books are some- thing apart from life and that the news- paper is the only real thing, after all. Byusy men, they say, have little time for much outside their favorite even- ing and morning papers. Books ar they claim, all right for women and chlldren and literary folks, but mean little to men of affairs. *x % ¥ I half know they say these things to get me started on my hobby. Sometimes I rise to the bait and tell them that, as devoted newspaper readers, they read many books, at least at second hand, which are con- stantly being featured In the news. Once = little group got a rise from me. 1started by asking whether dur- ing the great war, when we were all aghast at the ruthlessness of Ger- many, they did not frequent men- tion of Nietssche, who furnl: philosophic basis of Germany's com- plex; or pf Treitschke, the German historian, who prophesied world do- minion for Germany; or of Bernhard:, the German military strategist, Who reched world power or downfall. 'he ideas of these “supermen” were all set forth in books, and, i{f my non-book-reading friends did not read them at first hand, journalists did and served them up in diluted form for their instruction. * * ¥ % Since the war there have been the great questions of reconstruction and reparations. 1 ed my friends whether they had not seen several front-page references to J. M. Keynes' “Economic Consequences of the Peace,” and one of them confessed that he had got a copy from the library and read it. Another admit- ted reading Frank Vanderlip's “What Happened to Europe,” from seeing references to it on a certaln finan- clal page. When I mentioned Robert Lansing’s “Peace Negotiations” two others said that they had been so outraged by the ousting of the Secre- tary by President Wilson that they had read this book. A Wifson ad- mirer in the party spoke up and told me that he had read serially in the York Times Joe Tumulty' “Weodrow Wilson as 1 Know Him but thought the title wrong and sug- gested that it ought to be called “Me and Woodrow." *x % % When the ice was well broken and the pose of not reading books was forgotten these book scorners admit- ted that the. news had led them to read with interest “The Mirrors of Downing - Street” and its American copy, “The Mirrors of Washington.” he | One boasted that constant reference to H. 6. Wells' “Outline of History” had led him to read that journalistic account of the world's progress. Another confessed to an attempt, which proved unsuccessful, to _read the ex-kaiser's “Memoirs.” That re- called to still another the damaging admissions made in Count Moltke's “Memoirs,” only just published in German and recently summarized in the newspapers. .One man, who had lost a son in the war, said that men- tion in the newspapers of Sir Oliver Lodge’s “Raymond.” ' purporting to contain spirit messages from the scientist's dead son, had led him to read the book. Just before the group broke up one man spoke of President Harding’s reference in a speech or ate paper to Lothrop Stoddard's ‘Risl ide of Color’ and of how he had made a bee line to a book ore for a cop: The little colloquy ended by a books are often red-hot news and the real stuff, after all. * k% % . That I am not alone in think- ing of books as of vital interest in everyday affairs is shown by the fact that the publishers of the Literary Digest, the well known weekly news- paper, finding that books required 30 much more space than they could give in their regular issues, have be- gun the publication of a new monthly Journal called The Literary Digest International Book Review. The editor, in the opening number for December, states it to be his purpose to treat of books ‘“from the stand- point of their intrinsic or news value. For it is this that counts: It is what we call the news value of & book that must determine whether it is ‘to be read only in parts’ or ‘to be read wholly and with diligence and atten- tion.’ = Putting it in other words, it is the news value of a book that{ gives the measure of its vitality, its relation to humanity.” The first number starts off well, with articles h{ Sinclair Lewis, Gertrude Atherton, . Christopher Morley and many other makers of books. * ok % & Sometimes a novel commends lt!elf! to a reader for a reason entirely sec- ondary to the main purpose of the! author in writing it. The author may have worked out an especially in- genilous plot, but many of his readers may persist in liking his book rather because of a certain character, or some taking mannerisms of style, or,, more often, an unusual geographical setting made real by vivid descrip- tions. In W. B. Maxwell's recent novel, “Spinster of THis Parish,” ex- cellent as is the whole book, the part that most of us will remember best is the thrilling account of the dan- gerous journey across the Andes made by the adventurous Victorian spinster, Miss Emmeline Verinder of Kensington, with her lover, Anthony yle, the explorer. , After seei Miss Verinder narrowly escape deat! rom hunger and exposure to the icy Andean winds, when deserted by thelr pack train, and again from the knives of bandits into whose hut they have been trapped, we share her de- pression over the renewal of her monotonous life in her Kensington flat. We even feel that the reading of her banns, after many years of waiting, is a tame affair compared with lrer one year of adventure, g * * % * The recent presentation to the John Burroughs School by the Rhode Island Citizsens’ Association of a i photograph of John Burroughs, taken by Charles F. Lummis of Los Angel only six days before the death of th veteran naturalist and essayist, comes at almost the same time as the pub- lication of a posthumous work by “The Last Harvest" chlefly o up of material written during the last months of his life on the Pacific coast. A large part of the book consists of interpretations of Emerson and Tho: chapters call resu, and there are aiso te od “Short tudles eral admission that| The head of the National Woman's Party, Miss Alice Paul, announces that before another century rolls by there will be a woman President of the United States, and she points to that as an 1déal of feminine progress. Does Miss Paul not realize that there would be neither novelty nor as- sured improvement in woman's status found in making a queen of America There have been woman rulers ever since there have been men upon thrones or as chieftains of tribes. Solomon in all his glory found that the Queen of Sheba had as much power in her own realm as he had in his. Cleopatra ruled Egypt jointly with her brother-husband, and when Ptolomy undertook to depriye her of power, she went out and captiwated Jullus Caesar and returned with her ly to overthrow Ptolomy, destroy Caesar’s self-control and become the head of the Antony triangle. The world has had her Queen Esther. who saved the Jewa and hung their enemy, Haman: her Borgias, her Catharines. her Maid of Orleans, her Victoria and her Wilhelmina. * % % % Even the savages have their Ama- zon rulers, so why must Miss Paul rise to startle America with the prophecy that before 2023 we shall be ruled by an Amazon or a queen? ‘That is old stuff and nonsense. What if we are? For better, for worse? ‘The world has also had her Grace Darling and her Florence Nightin- gale, her Red Cross nurses, her Sal- vation Army lassies—the world has had your mother and mine. What is there new in Miss Paul's prediction?{ It is only retrogression. But it shows a queer ideal for womankind—that all she can think of in dignity and beau- ty of character and usefulness to fel- 1low men {s that woman shall be boss, and that the biggest boss job in the world is that of presidentess of the feminized United States, with some 240 Amazon! representatives and 49 Amasonian senators up on Capitol Hill to carry out her policles, and snub mere masculine statesmien. * % %% Of course, then, the pretended “com- plaint” of Representative Alice Robertson that Congress had never provided her with a feninine cloak- room, where she might go out and powder her nose, will be corrected The whole big dome shall become a beauty parlor. The barber shops will be relegated to the basement, in place of that statue of three women caught in a snowdrift, which now stands there, winter and summer, as if to indicate that it is a cold day when women get into the Capitol. There are differing ideals of life, and there are various ideals of the two sexes. It is nmot true that if the foot shall say: “Because I hand, 1 am not of the body. no truer that woman must get down where the foot is. in order that she may support -the body politic, before she can attain the crown that malkes her the equal of any other member. Never has woman received the honor and respect that she is freely accord- ed in America; certainly never in a country ruled by a queen. Ask a Dutch woman, subject of Wilhelmina. as she tufs in her harness hitched with canine fellow draught animal how she ranks alongeide of an Ameri- can woman, even a hundred years in nce of an American Amazonian presidentess, powder puff and all. Tt would be supererogation to con- trast. further, the supreme glory of the true functions of woman, for they do not lie merely in the restric- tions of her motherhood—glorious as that {s—but in her influence upon all the race. She is not merely a woman, she is, indeed, in her fullest develop- ‘ment. the summum genius of therace. As the addition of adjectives never can enlarge the fullness of & noun, but each adjective restricts and nar- rows it, #0 the Paulites can only carve and mutilate and restrict American womankind and her dignity by fancying masculine or anything but womanly functions for her, whether present or future. * * k¥ . We are closinz the 19224 year after the birth of Christ, and it is nearly 1890 vears since men were first called Christians in Antioch, but one of the {ssues now before the United States Senate is the charge made by Sena- tor John Sharp Willlams that “most of the senators are unbelievers. No partisan charge has wrought so much Indignation and repudiation among the statesmen for a long time as that fiing. given in the course of the de- Victory Started Little CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS. in College Ball Game tbate upon the desirability ‘&:mer- ica’s undertaking further ngle- ments” in the affairs of Eurobg at this time. Men are not prone to falk freely of their religious faith in 1 and reverend ors were shocked at the accusa- tion flung at them, that they were acting like Infidels in not accepting the advice and judgment of the mi- nority. A similar charge might be twisted against the most devout, if one werd to aek them why they eit in comfort in America Instead of going out into all the world as missionaries. know- Ing. as they must, that there is savagery and degradation and suf- teflns. It is alleged that 15.000.000 will die of starvation in Europe this winter. The great question is nnt whether Anrica shail let them die. deliberately and without effort to aid, but how shail the aid be rendered? If thine enemy thirst, give him drink” is a command, but from the same eource came the rebuke to mis- gulded zeal or pretended zeal: “The poor ye have always-with you Paul wrote to Titus: “That the aged mep be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith,’ tn charity and pa tience.” Titus passes that letter on to the Senat genda for 1923. * * % % There 18 going to be a New Jeru salem, yclypt Washington, §f half of the proposed building improvements are carried out in the near future. Private residences and apartment houses are being constructed at double the pace of two years ago. and in addition to the $30,000,000 per- marent exposition bullding to be erected by the Arts and Industries Association, the government will in- vest some $25.000.000 in public build- ings, If the recommendations of the public buildings commission, headed by Benator Smoot, are adopted. The program calls for large and perma- nent structures for archives, for in- ternal revenue and the office of the controller and for the Department of Agriculture. This latter department is now scattered all over the city some twenty-two rented buildings There is no economy whatever in the government’s paying rent instead of raying interest on its own invest- ments in permanent buildings adapted o its own uses; rents run to 10 or 15 per cent on the value of the invest- ment, while the government bonds pay less than 5 per cent—nearer 3. It is to be hoped, ton, that the next Congress will take seriously the proj- ect to improve the Potomac river and make this a seaport The improving of the channel is estimated to cost less than $5,000.000, enabling all bur the leviathan clasy of ocean vessels to dock at Washington, the head tidewater. At least the enthusias! engineers and promoters claim the project ought to have congressional inquiry. * % % % Maryland opposes the establishment of reciprocity as to automobile tazs between that state and the District of Columbia, and a great lobby is al leged to be actively opposing a bill 1o that end. now pending in Congress Constitutionalists contend that the question should never be discussca as a matter of voluntary reciprocity between two states; it is a matter of Interstate traffic, and the Constitution clearly makes that a subject exclu- sively under congressional control The argument, they claim, that he- cause Maryland has partly paid for its road improvement (though hun- dreds of thousands of dollars were also paid by the federal government toward Maryland's road improve- ment), therefore she is entitied to collect “toll” against outsiders. is directly antagonistic to the express provisions of the United States Con- ! stitution. Congress should pass & law, they claim, abolishing all such lefforts of states to evade the Consti- |tution as to interstate commerce, {rather than discuss the Maryland po- sition from the standpoint of mere reciprocity. * * * ok % The greatest element for automobile safety is the adoption of ple traffic rules which will be standardized ana uniform throughout the country, rather than permit each local gov- ernment to make its own rules. Pub- lic education is better than “improved regulations,” according to William P. Eno, Washington's traffic expert Senator Ball's bill, now pending. re- quires a bond of all automobile drivers, not less than $£3.000, for the indemnification of damages and in- juries. It is encouraging to sce that Congress s arousing to its duty to regulate automoblle traffic as it does railroad commerce. Time may come when we shall have a national inter- state sutomotive commission and only Congress-made laws for interstate autos Up the Ladder EPRESENTATIVE EDWARD C. LITTLE of Kansas has dined with kings and princes (when he was diplomatic rep- resentative of the United States gov- ernment in Persia). He has been in batties and had men on both sides of him shot down. He has for six years been In the thick of federal legislation. And PA vet it was a base @il ball game of his youth that gave him “the thrill that comes but once in a tim. “As'l sit quietly at night, about to retire, when my mind reverts to the past and the important events in which I have had some part, my thoughts focus on a base ball game which gave me my real start in life. “As a boy out on the prairie when there were more buffalo than people in Kansas,” Little destribes reminis- cently, “I was a moody youth. It did not seem to me that I had much show in life. I lived iIn a little -town where there Were many cowboys, as- sociation with whom I enjoyed in a way. But I didn’t seem to fit in the scheme of life. 1 didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.” Then Little went to college, and the sophomores chailenged the fresh- men to a base ball game. Little was chosen to pitch for the freshmen. As he stepped out to the box it was his first public appearsnc: in college life, and h an “unxnown"—had no world. in all my life have I had a REP. LITTLE. }nan e m‘m. and tho'rou[th.l‘)" uu actory. ," says Répresentative tle. “With a little inshoot and & fast ball I literally held those sophomores in the hollow of my hand.” He ktruck out the first seven men as fast as the: ed up to the plate. The elghti man was Stuart Henry, Little's long- time friend and seatmate in the Abi- h School, who is now a big man and author in New York. “I thought it would be & shame to make a monkey out of Henry be- fore that crowd. I knew the sort of ball: he wanted, and I gave him one in{just like I knew he would wallop, team I made but in justice to my own 1 " Lirtle “explains. “I put so TRV, CR I 3, N, NS a dozen pitched; Tite- | |much speed into it that Henry couldn’t get his bat around. but the | ball hit the bat and bounded to first | base. Charlie Davidson, now mayor |of Wichita, who has several times | been a candidate for Congress. was playing first base, and muffed it. “That made me fighting mad. and I made up my mind to put them all out as fast ax they popped up to bat.” Here Little stopped to demorn- strate his style as a pitcher. He had a wing that would be barred todav He faced toward second base and de livered to the plate with a full swing and wpward sweep. He noted tha’ Henry wi getting ready to steal second. Ed Meservey, lately corpors- tion counsel €r Kansas City, was playing second. Without changing his_position. Little stopped half way in his swing apd shot the ball aver hand to second, and Henry was ou by five yards. Little struck out the next battef. A fellow named Twitchell was pitching for the sophomores, with Charlie Scott, later a member of Con- gress,” catching. Little had three catchers, who used to alternate, each catching him for one inning until their hands got blistered by his swift delivery. They were Al Perry, now a big”business man and financler in northeastern Kansas: Charlic McCoy and Frank Todd. “Three little runts,” Little recalls. Allle Connor, now of Omaha, had got to second when Little came to bat. Little was thinking about his great success in fanning the opposi- tion, and Twitchell, seeing his mind wandering, shot a beautiful ona square over the plate. Little saw it coming but could not recover in time for a full swing at it. 8o he chopped. The ball cut diagonally clean across the ball field and into a cow pasture: When the distance was measured later it was found to be 500 feet, as against “Babe” Ruth’s estimated rec- ord of 572 feet. Little made a home run. “My whole career traces back to that ba: ball victory,” says Little. “When the game started 1 was unknown and moody. When the game was over every one in college and all the peo- ple in town knew me and wanted to be my friend. People are voting for me ‘today because they saw that That old expression, ‘“He found s strongly to Little. that It was in that ound himself.” I er enjoyed anything more than I) did that game. 1 wasn't moody anv) more. I wasn't discontent or scare i | | of the world. T wasn't a grouch. a 1 would have been if I had got start ed wrong at college.” Representative Little hopes thi: experience of his will be able to con ce some parents that the greatest -0 AP SRS B oo BB bl Beniiich A d o} goad that college does for some boyn is fo be found on the athletic field in good fellowghip. bt et o