Evening Star Newspaper, February 8, 1923, Page 6

6 THE EVENING STAR, ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY February 8, 1823 THEODORE W. NOYES.......Editor ewspaper Company and Pennsylvania Ave. York (ffice’ 150 Nassau St. 0 Office: Tower Building. European Office: 16 Regent St., London, England. The Evening Star Busineys Office, 1111, The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, is delivered by carriers within the elty at 60 cents per mouthi; daily only, 45 cents per month; i nl; month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday Tiaily only Sunday oniy All Other States. v and Sunday..1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ -1yr., 0; 1 mo., 60c 1yr., $3.00; 1 mo., Z5¢ Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled fo the use for republication of all news dis patehes credited to it or not otherwise cred in this paper and also the local news pub- Jished “herein. ~ All rights of publication of 1 dispatilies herein are also reserved Dai Sunday only- A Plain Talk to Congress. President Harding's address to Con- sress yesterday was as notable for his plain speaking as it was for the logic nd force of his arguments. When he 1old senators and representatives that there remained of the present session ple time for adequate discussion of the debt-funding and shipa ures he spoke by the cards, his long service in the Senate qualifying nim to pass judgment on the possi- bilities. Had such admonition come from one who had not himself had legislative experience some lawmakers might have regarded it as a presump- tion, but no such resentment can be felt when one insider talks to others. The President’s argument. supple- menting the report of the debt-fund- ing commission, has made the case for ratification of the British agreement #0 plain that no opposing contention can make progress in public cpinion. The President places adjust- ment of the British debt on a plane to appeal to the very best of American thought. He shows that it is a busi- n matter which has been handled in a businesslike way, but with an ntire lack of sordidness in its han- ng. Full credit is given to the high purpose of the British government to maintain the sanctit; of contracts, and there has been taken into account the present difficulties of that govern- mént and the heavy burdens which the British people are forced to bear. any The impracticability of funding on the | lines laid down by Congress having been made manifest and it being shown that the interests of this coun try are fully safeguarded-in the agree: ment as negotiated, Congress is so manifestly right and proper that it becomes merely a mat- ter of correct drafting of the legisla- tion and the bringing of it to a vote in the two houses. That there will be debate is to be expected, but it ought ot to be either prolonged or obstruc- tive in its nature. 1t would be gratifying to record that prospects for passage of the ship-aid bill were equally bright, but such, unfortunately, is not the case. The President does not prestnt any new arguments for the enactment of this measure, but he restates those already | made with force and directness. What he did accomplish yesterday was to deprive opponents of the bill of the contention that there is not sufficient time between now and March 4 to write the administration's program | into law. If it is not permitted that the bill shall come to a vote in the Senate the country will know that it was because of willful obstruction and not because time prevented. c President has made his case with regard to the merchant marine, and has made it 8o convincingly that he has won to his support commercial organizations of all kinds, those direct- 1y and those only remotely interested in shipping. and if present disastrous and discreditable conditions are per- mitted to continue, the responsibility will lie with Congress, not with the executive branch of the government. Turkey dislikes to close a bargain and so terminate possibilities of a long and interesting conversational series, Germany has shown the world aj remarkably well disciplined group of strikers. Washington’s Traffic Needs. Washington's traffic police have a hard problem to solve. They must seek to curb the recklessness of mo- torists and to make all drivers obey the rules. To do this they must arrest all who are -guilty of regulation in- fractions, regardless of the gravity of the offenses. This is the educa- tional process. The result is that the number of arrests increases beyond the capacity of the Traffic Court to handle them. If the traffic police detall were larger Doth minor and major offenses against the rules could be checked. But the ‘Trafic Court, without enlargement, ‘would still be choked with complaints, It would seem from the number of dally trafic arrests that soon every ‘Washington motorist will have been directly admonished as to the rules, unless there are numerous repeating offenders. Surely the rules are known. But the question arises whether the pensities for slight infractions are suf- flolently severs to teach the necessary Jesson of care and scrupulous ob- servance. Forfeiture of collateral is the pen- elty in the greater number of cases. Now an order has been {asued raising the moale of these station-house bonds. Neo longer will it be possible for the minor rule-breaker to leave a few dallars and depart, secure from fur- ther troubls, His deposit will he large enough either to insure his appear- -ance in court te avold ferfeiture or to make him careful in the future to avoid further heavy less, With o many cars in use daily in this city some rule-breaking is per- haps inevitable. People forget the letter of the law in the haste and emergenoies of driving, But there is one yule that must be strictly enferced and that is egainst driving at such el ratification by | speeds that cars are not always in control. Speeding is at the root of the evil, and speeding is & relative term. On a clear, straight street, with little edestrian trafiic, a speed of twenty-five or thirty miles an hour may be safe, At a street intersection !'a speed of ten miles may be excessive. The habit of haste is the cause of most accidents, the desire to “get there” in the shortest possible time. The net difference in time on the average city run between a.perfectly safe speed and a dangerouS pace is at most only four or five minutes. Of what value is such a “saving” of time? Especially with regard for the safety of others? What with necessary stops in cross- ing streets and In overtaking street cars and in getting out of traffic jams, motors are constantly being checked. A disposition prevails to make up for this lost time and it is in these bursts of speed that most of the mishaps occur. If every motorist so planned | that he would have from five to ten ! minutes longer on each run through | the city Washington's traffic casual- ties and collisions doing damage to property would be reduced materially. To enforce this truth more traffic {police are nceded. And to care for the cases that they make a larger Traffic Court. s required. With both of these assured the city will be ren 1 dered comparatively safe for all, afoo | or awheel, provided the infractions of | rute are punished by the imposition | or surely corrective penalties. —————— i Return of the Rhine Troops. “last thousand” came | back from Europe vesterday on the; transport St. Mihiel. a name appro priate to the record of the troops from | this country in the great war. These men have been stationed since the armistice in the American sector on the Rhine, with headquarters at | Coblenz. They are no longer needed there. They perhaps were kept some- | what beyond the time of necessity | possibly of wisdom. The order for! { their return coincided with the orders | {to the French forces to advance| beyond the bridgehead limits into| rmany for the collection of repara was no particular sig- rificance in this coincidence, for the government had for some time been the withdrawal of this ]' America’s i considering foree. | Whatever the political meaning of | | their veturn, however, the troops are back, augmented in personnel by the acquisition of more than half a hun | dred wives acquired during the so {journ on the Rhine, with some chil-! dren. It was a big family party that | touched American shores yesterday at Savannah, happy to reach home. And it was given a rousing welcome, with | a touch of ceremony to add to the! { impressiveness of the occasion. Memory runs easily back to the de-| parture of the firat consignment of troops to Europe after the United States entered the war. Not much | was known about the time and place {of their going, for it was necessary to be secretive, lest the enemy inter- cept the transports and sink them. { But a thrill went through the Ameri- {can people when it was known that | they were gone, advance guard of a great army that was to keep pouring { overseas, thousand by thousand, and | stiffen the French and British and Ttalian and Belgian ranks and to stem the German tide. How would they | | behave, these hastily mustered and drilled troops? There was no serious | question about thaf. Everybody knew ! that, though they might lack in some of the details of equipment and drill. | there would be no lack of spirit and | skill. The enemy scoffed these forces, de- rided them as “lightning-trained.” He held them at a low rating and while | they dribbled into France, at first in | {a slender stream, he viewed them merely as so much “cannon fodder.” | Later he was to know better. At Bel- !leau Wood. on the Marme, at St. | Miniel, in the Argonne. everywhere | they were placed, these men did their work altogether too well for German comfort. They were not to be stam- peded, not to be checked, not to be! { discouraged by the horrible gonditions in which they were called upon to | fight. 1 Now they are all back, the last ofi them. This thousand just returned { from the Rhine has been a guard of {hongr. It has borne itself admirably. | It has made a record in peace as did the greater American Army during; the war. [ f ————— Procrastination is frequently tioned as one of the faults of Con- gress, and America’s great legislative ! body is entitled to consider itself lucky {if criticized for nothing worse. Ob- structing the thoroughfares of legisia- | tion is annoying, but speeding is likely to be more dangerous. Mussolini is still delighting the | Italian appreciation of artistic novelty by showing & type of popular agitator who never suggests the remotest pos- sibllify of having to draw & knife or throw & homb. The Cathedral Plan. Announcement made yesterday that the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral of 8S. Peter and Paul is to be pushed to an early completion is gratifying to Washingtonians of all denomina- tions. For this is to be a national religlous edifice, for the people of all parts of the country, and not merely for this diocese. It may be followed in later years by similar churches of other denominations, for Washington is the natural center for national ex- pression, religious and political, The original plans for the cathedral were purposely drawn upon & scale much larger than the immediate dlocesan requirements, for it was felt at the inception of the great project that such e fabric should be on a scale commensurate with the country and not be confined to a mere local church mentiment, Neceasarily the | cost of & cathedral thus designed | would be far beyond the resources of the people of this community, For some time past funds have been sought from all parts of the country and the present announcement indicates that the plans for financing the work are at a point to insure early results. , Bcrupulous dissociatien of church and state has been the dominating rule in this eountry from its political beginning and. this principle will be | to public initiative. maintaineq throughout the life of the Union. That, however, does not milt- tate against the selection of the Na- tional Capital as the site for great church edifices-of all faiths and de- nominations. The time will doubtless come when each of the “churches” will be thus represented”, with impres- sive bulldings dedicated to worship in various forms, All of these works add richly to the attractiveness and the dignity and sig- nificange of the capital. The cathedral mw rising on the heights north of the city will be one of the superb features of the landscape. Already its beginning looms as a reminder of the unfinished work and forms a con- spicuous landmark, indicative of the splendor of the fabric which, it would now seem, may within a decade be completed. Cathedral construction has In the past always progressed slowly, cover- ing often periods of two or more cen- turli This, however, is not due to inherent character of the work, but to the lack of funds. If the means are available a great religious edifice may rise as quickly as any other con- struction, and hence if the present nation-wide appeal for funds for this purpose succeeds the mew cathedral may be offered to the vision of most of those now living. Keep the Flag Floating! The Ruth Brewster Chapter of the D. A. R. has proposed that a staff be erected on the new Francis Scott Key bridge, named after the author of “The Star Spangled Banner,” and that a United States flag be displayed thereon, with daily ceremonies of rais- inig and lowering as is done at mili- tary posts. This is an admirable idea and it is to be hoped that it will be adopted. It has been suggested that legisla- tion will be necessary for the erection of such a staff and that if an orna- mental staff is proposed the judgment of the Commission of Fine Arts must e secured upon the design. If that is the case the needful resolution | should be put through Congress at this session. There can be no conceivable objection to the erection of a flagstaff upon the bridge that bears the name of the man whose immortal verses are read and sung by all Americans and are in- separably associated with the national emblem. If it is a matter of expense, surely there will be no lack of funds from private sources, patriotic organi- { zations end individuals glad to con- tribute to such a worthy purpose. In- | deed, the chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution that has made the proposal will, it is under. | stood, undertake to provide the means necessary in case the matter is left A morning and evening ceremonial at the raising and lowering of the flag, such as that proposed, would give special dignity to the display of the national banner upon the bridge that by its official designation commemo- rates the birth of the anthem. The bridge is close to a military post and a detail daily for this purpose could readily be arranged. By all means, let this impressive structure be thus dedicated to the memory of the man who has inspired millions of Ameri- cans with respect and affection for the flag of the republic! It would sometimes be cruel to print the speech of a new and em- barrassed member of Congress in the Record exactly as he delivered fit, grammar and everything. Washington welcomed the Chicago Grand Opera Company, conceding at last that her appreciation of vocal talents is not limited to oratorical ex- pression, The soldiers from the Rhine are so glad to get home that they are making no comparisons of the cost of living here and in Germany. Fines will be made heavier for traf- fic violations, in the hope that reck- less motorists will care more for their money than they do for their lives. A February snowstorm is no more than a courteous climatic formality in honor of the ground hog. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Alterations. “Sometimes you've got to snow,” Said Hezekiah Bings. “The daisies cannot always grow While sweet the robin sings. Td like to loiter all the year Through hours of summer ease, Where perfumed breezes wandered near To whisper through the trees. “But we were made to live and learn, To toil as well as dream. Experiences come in turn In life’s mysterious scheme. Sometimes the sky with genial glow A joyous radiance flings; And sometimes we must snow,"” Sald Hezekiah Bings. shovel Value of Contrast. “You don't tell as many stories s you used to.” “Times have changed,” replied Sepator Sorghum. ‘‘Everybody is tell- ing funny storles. If you want to please an auditor now you've got to be serious for @ change.” funny o Jud Tunkins says @ boy has a hard time belleving that fathers were.ever as good s sons are expected to be. Musings of & Motor Cop. Hortense has @ bewitching smile. It 1s no wonder that Her filv we follow many a mile Just for & moment's chat. Unselfishness, “Could you be happy as a poor man's wife?"” “It 1sn’t @ question of my own hap- piness,” replied Miss Cayenne, “Think of how unhappy I'd make the poor ‘man.” “It's mo' fun to shoot craps dan to work,” said Uncle Eben. “But de man dat works has de eatisfaction of befn’ @ sure winner.” - ~ | ! | - Washington Observations BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Although Mexico will not be repre- sented at the great pan-American conference In Chile next month, and therfore Will not participate in the discussion of prohibition, President Obregon is making a herculean effort to combat drunkenness in Mexico. The Mexicans' national drink is pulque. It is extracted from the heart of the century plant. A tre- mendous Industry has been developed around the production of pulque. The cultivation of the century plant for bevergge purposes is on an in- tensive scale. Senor Obregon, like all Mexican men of affairs, 100ks upon the national passion for pulque As the principal source of the country's moral and economic degeneracy. Oth- er presidents before him were zeal- ous in combating the drink evil Madero made the crusade one of the principal planks in his reform pro- gram, * X ok * ¢ Maj. Gen. Enoch H. Crowder, re- cently appointed American ambassa- dor at Havana, has acquired in Cuba the reputation of being not only a two-fisted administrator, but the most inveterate cigar smoker even that classic land of weed users has ever known. Crowder punishes ci- gars from early morn till late at night. Army comrades declare he welcomed the Cuban mission mainly on that account. The Habaneros, who have some local pride In their cigar-consuming capacity, long since awarded Gen. Crowder the palm. He frequently walks into dinner puffing a cigar. “The late Franklin K. Lane was an incorrigible cigar addict. He smoked incessantly during the sit- tings of the most Important commis- sions at the Interior Department % * ¥ The professional feminist group is peeved and pouting over the eleva- tion of Senator Jimes W. Wads- worth, jr., to the assistant leader- ship of the republican majority in the Senate. Wadsworth has been one of the pet aversions of the extremist faction among woman politicians ever since he declined to advocate suffrage for personal political ad- vantage. Nor have they ever for- given Mrs. Wadsworth, the daughter of John Hay. for actively supporting the Woman Patriot, the battling or- E"H of American women who oppose ‘femi; m.” With the full strength of sufiragists actively mobilized against him in 1920, Senator Wads- worth was re-elected in New York state more than half a milllon plurali Pacifist women dislike ‘}udawonh'fi zeal for preparedness. Not many people know that Presi- dent Harding con#iders the young | senior senator from New York one of his particular buddies. * % % ¥ America and the American point of view are now being interpreted to Japanese university students by the Rev. Dr. Herbert H. Gowen, profes- sor of oriental languages and litera- ture at the University of Washington, Seattle. He went to the far east at the invitation of leading Japanese universjties, and soon will accept & similarinvitation tendered by Chinese universities. Dr. Gowen Is likely to encounter cordial receptions in the far east, for in his opening state- ‘ment at Tokio a couple of weeks ago he came out in favor of the natural- ization of Japanese ap’ Ameri izens. He pressed’ the view that “from both:the blological and p! chological standpoints Japanese 'be assimilated in the United Statel He continued: “Eliminating the ques- tion of Intermarriage, it has been demonstrated in the westery states that in the course of several genera- tions the Japanese develop different characteristics from _those which typify the people of their homeland. These new characteristics qualify them in every way to be citizens of the land of their adoption.” * ¥ ¥ There is no more enthusiastic Egyptologist in North America than Mrs. Gifford Pinchot, wife of the new and strenuous Governor of Pennsyl- vania. She is taking the liveliest in- terest In day-by-day developments In the Valley of the Kings, which she herself In days gone by has explored in the course of archeological holl- days. On Capitol Hill, which, like the rest of the cultured world, has de- veloped a sudden interest in the anclent kings of Egypt, perhaps the foremost_authority {s Senator Willls of Ohlo. His Interest in Tutankhamen, it would appear, springs from thi fact that America’s official representa- tive at Calro, J. Morton Howell, is a “Willis_man,” halling from Uniopolis, Ohlo. He became minigter to Egypt in October, 1921. x ¥ Xk ¥ Senator “Joe" Robinson of Arkan- sas, who has bounded into the center of the political arena with his mani- festo anent both democratic and re- publican presidential affairs in 1924, is a fighting parllamentarian of the old school. He conducted & regular rip- snorting campaign against ratifica- tion of the Washington conference treaties during the Senate debate of March, 1922. No more-implacable fos of “Newberryism’ exists in the United States than the pride of Little Rock. Not o long ago Robinson was tell- ing his friends in Washington that he'd just paid off the last installment of some money he borrowed to pay his modest campalign expenses when he first ran for senator in 1913. Robinson has just turned fifty. He was an Arkansas congressman for five terms. and was a member of the House, governor of his state and a senator of the United States all within a period of thirty da; L Lieut. Gen. Nelson A. Miles is un- doubtedly Washington's most invet- erate sleigh driver. He is the first to reach the white-clad streets and the last to leave them. A pair of brightzeved grandchildren are his unfailing companions. In Russian seal cap set jauntily across his head, snow-capped itself, our veteran gen- eral cuts a dashing figure when pilot- ing his favorite vehicle. Although he will be eighty-four in August of this year, Miles is still a martial character, and, in sleighing costume of fur, a picturesque one. (Copyright. 1823.) EDITORIAL DIGEST Status of Unofficial Observer Boy- den Provokes Partisan Discussion. ‘The status of the American un- official observer on the reparations commission and the position assumed thereto by certain members of the Benate foreign relations committee and the so-called “irreconcilables” has renewed editorial discussion of the administration’s foreign policies. The demand that Mr. Boyden be ‘“recalled,” the Brooklyn Eagle (inde- pendent) says, “is significant, because it indicates a distrust of the State Department. The President and Mr. Hughes have shown an extraordinary reluctance to take the public into their confidence. They now find that the Senate, speaking through the for- eign relations committee, condemns the policy of secrecy quite as strongly as public opinion outside of the Sen- ate condemns it. The action of the committee will doubtless embarrass them, but they have Invited embar- rassment and they deserve {t.” The emphasis placed by the State Depart- ment on the fact that Mr. Boyden's utterances “were purely personal” is significant, in_the opinion of the At- lanta Journal (independent demo- cratic), which suggests, “having help- éd to win the war, why did We not help to bulwark and exalt the peace’ The Secretary of State is sensitive, the chalrman of the Senate foreign relations committee is techy, the President, for all his wonted op- timism, is begloomed as the chickens of their diplomacy come home to roost—as ravens.” The varfous con- tradictions in connection with the Boyden episode likewise are charac- terized by the Knoxville Sentinel (democratic) as “smacking of some- thing secret and subtle if not of du- plicity.” The Syracuse Herald (inde- pendent) is convinced, however, that the bitterenders “are pestering the Harding administration as they did the Wilson administration. There is shovel jone way by which the Harding ad- ministration can annihilate the sena- torial enemy on its flank, and that is by adopting and proclaiming, even at this late day, some frank, firm and coherent foreign policy. But so far the hope has been deferred to an ex- tent that ‘maketh the heart sick.’ " “Mr, Harding hasn't said anything about Boyden being his personal representative_ or observer.” points out the Springfleld News (democratic), “Mr Hughes disclaims with Mr. Boyden's remarks. the premises it might not be out of place to inquire just who is re- sponsible for Mr. Boyden's continua- tion in office. If he cannot find a sponsor in America—and he admits he is without any official authority— his predicament Is a cruel transgres- ECHOES FROM EW LEADERSHIP OF JENATE REPUBLICANS. When progressive musio. quick and dovilish, whether “rag” or syncopated, 18 to be played, our friend the junior senutor from Wisconsin (Mr. Lenroot) is to come forward, throw himself in the fray, and dance by it; but when the slow and antiquated regular re- publican musio s to be played in this chamber our friend the senator from New York (Mr. Wadsworth) s to r celve the nod or the beck or the call of the senator from Massachusetts, he is to glide forward and take up the ocudgel of debate.—Senator Harrison, Misstesipp!, democrat. HALF THE ARMENIANS MASSACRED. They (the Armenians) have been deprived of their land. The Turks have absolutely refused to give them any land to live in. Probably half the population’ that existed at the begin- ning of the war has been massacred and their situation is piteous in the extreme.—Senator Lodge, Massachu- setts, republican. WHEN A SENATOR BECOMES A SOLOMON. ‘Why should a man formerly a sena- tor be transformed into a King Solo- mon the moment he is appointed on the bench?—Representative 'Frea: ‘Wisconsin, republican. sion upon his finer sensibilities. Why leave him in Europe to be mocked?” There is no doubt that during the three years that he has been on the job Mr. Boyden has sent much {m- portant information to America, the New York Post (independent) points out. “If there is any one American qualified to give us the nearest ap- proach to the truth about reparations, it is Mr. Boyden. But the American people have been deprived of that advantage. For three years we have had an American source of informa- tion on the reparations problem and only now the Senate is engaged in a campaign to find out what it is Mr. Boyden has seen, and thought, and told the State Department, and what the State Department has done about it. Three vears of unofficial observing on our part has left the American public ‘without knowledge and the European governments with false im- pressions.” Indorsing this view the Lynchhurg Advance (democratic) wants to know. “What is going on? What is our State Department doifg? The American people have been in the dark long enough about matters that corcern their fortunes and their future greatly. So far as the demands for the recall of Mr. Boyden are concerned the Chicago Post (independent repub- lican) savs it “would regret to see the reparations commission deprived of the advice which Mr, Boyden, as an intelligent American of high ch acter, may be able to give it from time ‘to time. From all we can hear of him he is a man who has the con- fidence of the gentlemen on the com- mission and of the statesmen of the Interested countries. But it is open to serious consideration whether the absurdity of unofficial observation, which every now and then becomes irresponsible intervention, ought not ta be ended. We cannot afford to play at being a world power. It is time to act as one or to admit that we lack both the courage and the capacity.” The Peoria Transcript (democratic) also thinks ‘this is the way out and believes ~“If it is the desire of the irreconcilables to make the United States articulate In foreign affairs they will be unopposed by the White House if they amend existing legislation to give Mr. Boyden a speaking part on the reparations com- mission.” * The New York World (democratic) takes the ppsition that Mr. Harding and Mr. Hughes have managed to reduce diplomatic secrecy to @ system. That is apparently the only foreign policy on which the ad- ministration is agreed and which it is carrying ont according to a definite plan. It is unable to say in which direction the ship of state is sailing, Fut it can suppress the log book. That is its outstanding achievement in foreign ‘relations.” CAPITOL HILL NEVER SUCCESSFULLY CARRIED OUT. = The Sherman anti-trust law pro- ceeded upon the theory that monop- oly was a public enemy, and that a monopoly ought to be treated as a criminal. That has never been suc- cesstully carrfed out as a matter of fact—Senator Owen % - Tact (Okla.), demo. A “HAPPY, HOPEFUL POLICY.” I hope the senator (Mr. Harrlson) will not overlook the fact that the present administration has substituted for a “watchful waiting” policy a “happy, hopeful” policy.—Senat. Walsh, Massachusetts, democrat. = COMMERCIALIZING THE SOLDIERS, 1.414 not say the soldiers wanted to commercialise themselves. What I tried to say was that the politicians wanted to commercialize them.— Senator Glass, Virginia, democrat. WHAT THE FARMER GETS— AND DOES NOT GET. The joint commisslon of Congress found that the farmer gets only 87 cents out of-the dollar that the labor- ing man pays for his product, and the laboring men clalm that they get only 35 cents out of the dollar which”the farmer pays for the prod- ucts of labor.—Senator Brookhart, Iowa, republican. The North Window BY LEILA MECHLIN, A couple of months ago one of the leading woman's magasines, in an article on “Pictures in the Home,” mentioned the fact that the American Federation of Arts, which has its headquarters in Washington, sent out portfolios of prints suitagle for home decoration, with the result that with- in four weeks over twelve hundred letters were recelved at that office from women in all parts of the coun- try, making Inquiry concerning this service. Apparently each one of these women wanted to procure plctures for her home, which certainly would €0 to indlcate that plotorial art is not vet quite out of fashion, despite the fact that architects are charged with designing houses in which plctures cannot well be hung, because of the wall decorations; and doctors, it is claimed, have declared pictures in- sanitary, affording hiding places for dust and germs. The truth is that pic- ture od pictures—will never go out of fashlon, and that nothing con- tributes more to the charm of a hom than plctures of the right sort. But there's the rub! What is the right sort? If one has no knowledge of art, how 1is one to make a wise selection? Certainly not by taking the advice of the average salesmzn or the majority of nelghbors. * x % Many have laughed at the trite statement made so often, half by way of excu half by way of confesaion, that “I know what I like, but I don’t know what is good,” yet, atter all, the best starting point is really to know what one likes and get it. Far bet- ter, under such circumstances, is it to procure a poor thing than a good one which one only likes through pre- tence. William M. Chase, ome of the biggest artists that America has pro- duced, and one of the best, sald once that in his boyhood he vastly ad- mired a common chromb; to him, then, it seemed beautiful, and he coveted its possession. The first painting he ever bought was of this order, but that as he grew wiser it was ban- ished from hi In his attic, in later years, was an accumulation of piotures, so he said, which had been retired because he gradually discov- ered their demerits, his own judgment being bettered through atudy and ex- perience as the y@frs passed on. Mr. Chase’s example 18 a good one to fol- in art as in other things, is the best policy,” and if one is and sincere and at the same time one will soon learn. The fact is that good art almost always declares its merit to the un- initiated as well as the initiated. A little boy of nine vears of age stood before a portrait by Raeburn in the Natlonal Gallery of Art recently and; said: “It doesn’t look like paint,” and then, moving on to a portrait by a very capable modern painter, he re- marked: “Now, this is different; in this you can see the peint.” Another 1ad of about the same age some years 2go visited an exhibition of co- temporary art at the Corcoran Gallery, ‘and after passing through the several rooms paused before a Sargent portrait and exclaimed: “Gee, I wish I could do like that.” Neither boy was trained in art nor ex- ceptionally astute. * ko X | A @ooa many people do not nave pictures in their homes because they imagine that good pictures can only be had at great price, but they are |mistaken. Rembrandts and Gains- boroughs, Titlans and Vermeers, are only to be possessed by those of great wealth, but when these artists wefe living their masterpleces could have been procured by thelr fellow citizens for a song. There are artists living today whose works probably will be as eagerly sought and as |high-priced a hundred and more years hence. Indeed. it does not take a hundrad vears to perform this mira- cle. The value of works by some of our American artists in the last twenty vears has increased enor- mously. " Excellent oil paintings by cotemporary American _artists of high standing can be purchased today for from $100 to $500. Water colors of a delightful character and full of enjoyment to those who really love art can be had for from $25 to $200. Etchings of the very best sort are ob- tainable for from $8 to $75, and prints reproducing the works of the masters, both of the past and of today, so ad- mirable in quality that those who know most about art collect them, may be secured for from 50 cents to $20. And the last are by no means to be scorned. Of course, original work, if of good quality, is to be preferred to a reproduction, but a reproduction of & fine thing is far better than a feeble original. Some years ago almost all of the good color printing was done in Germany, but of recent vears excellent work of this kind has been done in the United States. and for this reason admirable reproductions of American paintings are now on the market at reasonable prices. open-minded, * k% % A certain print reproducing a palinting of a French chateau by Jules Guerin, whose mural decorations are in the Lincoln Memorial here, and whose architectural transcriptions are peculfarly decorative and color- ful, was recommended to a lady for her llving room, with the statement that it accorded in tone and color with her draperies. “But surely,” she”exclaimed with some horror, “you would not buy plctures to match your furnishings, would you?" “Of course mot,” was her friend's reply, “put I should take the utmost pains in every Instance to give the pictures that T bought the best possible set- ting; to see to it that thelr environ- ment was becoming and suitable.” You can spoil the best kind of a picture by the most accomplished artist by hanging it In the wrong light or bringing it into competition with inharmonious colors, And in this respect the artists who paint easel pictures are at the mercy of those who purchase them. A real work of art is a precious thing and {should be treated not only with re- { spect but reverence. * * & X Hamilton Mabie once likened art to*an open window in a workshop, obviously meaning that it gave a retreshing vista. Pictures in the home are, if well chosen, just so many open windows through which one gets & glimpse of beauty which is not only delightful and consoling, but uplifting. Perhaps it is for this reason that plctures of roads, lanes streets -and the like, having' per- spective, are most popular. The eye 1s carried beyond the foreground and the imagination led oa. Flower paint- ings today are enormously popular, partly because of the freshness of thelir color and partly because they bring into the homel the atmosphere of the garden. And, by the way, plc- tures of this subject are being better painted today and differently painted from any time in the past. It is field in which our American artl are making & large and worth-while contribution. No, the difficulty today is not, even for those once aptly de- soribed as “comfortably poor,” to find plotures of delightful quality and real merit for the home, but, rather, to find place in the home to properly hang all, the possession of which one desires. This is a problem. But how they add not only to the appearance, but to the enjoyment, of the house one lives in—plctures like good com- rades never intrude, but o] new vistag along the roadway of life, CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS. ‘Where great masters fail, how shall thelr “subjects” achieve? Congress is the ruler of the Diatrict of Colum- bla. Not even as a territory has the District any volce tn its destiny. The government holds its funds in the Treasury, pays no interest and con- fuses the account so that the Dis- trict is temporarily rived of the use of millions, while schools and parks and streets suffer. Congress sets aside one day a week in which to play village council and give its mighty brain the recreation of decid- ing what in other municipalities is thrashed out by ward politiclans in the common council. Then the lead- er of the ruling party forgets to no- tify the Speaker of the House that in- ternational problems are to be laid sside, according to the agreed agenda. The Speaker feels aggrieved that he ‘was not so informed officially and in due time, and he rules “nothing do- ing” on Cross alley. The wheels of state roll on and the city is forgotten —again—yet—forever. * x kX “Taxation without representation™ is a hackneyed phrase, but quickly caught up by Senator Couzens, who finds that the street car companles love the city no more than does Con- gress. He urges that the govern- ment take over the two street car lines, and run them for the ameliora- tion of the condition of its “subject: He does not understand how the citi- zens are going to get rellet any other way. He aches to see the “subjects” relieved. When they are thus rescu- ed from the grasp of the octopus strest car companies, and landed in the lap of Congress as to even the running of their electric caravans, what assurance have we that Leader Mondell will not forget to unlock the stable door, some morning and so may keep all the cars in cold storage. just like those four millions of lost change? Some of us didn't miss the millions, but we surely would miss the street cars, if Congress happened to lock them up and forget the key. EEE Representative Florian Lampert of Wisconsin must be a bright and shining lamp—pert and ready-witted. He sees the situation as to our street cars, as lucldly as if he were a member of -the city council and lived on Main street. He has intro- duced a resolution which, if passed, will simply call upon the street car companies to comply with the maxi- mum limit of a five-cent fare Or Eo out of business, for, he says, neither the street car companies Tor the P. U. C. has any authority whatever to do business outside of the charter authority. “Not theirs to question why, Theirs but to do or die” What a glorious chance this offers for some legel hero, taking the tip trom Mr. Lampert, to board a car, proffer a 'bright, new nickel and, when the conductor demands the bal- ance of his alleged fare, stand upon his rights—even if that act stands him upon_ his head upon the asphalt. Then let him sue for damages to his new spring hat. . (How many a truth is spoken in jest!) * ok x % In all the discussion about forbid- ding or regulating the sale of fire- arms there has been no suggestion 80 reasonable as that made by De- tective Sergt. Sandberg that all pur- chasers of weapons should have their fingerprints registered. Indeed, there 18 no reason why that idea should not broaden to apply to all possessors of weapons, whether recently bought or possessed for years. Honest men would have no reason to object if everybody had his fingerprint record- ed for identification, regardless of firearms. It would often protect the innocent, as well as detect the guilty. Gun-toting_ is usually reprehen- sible, yet thers are circumstances which make the failure to go armed for defense quite as reprehensible. Laws against gun-toting have been pronounced by Chief Burns, head of the secret service of the Department of Justice, to be “bunk,” becauss they will be ignored by crooks of all kinds, and whatever effect they will have will be to disarm honest men and submit them to the risk of rob- bery or murder. A head of a house- hold who does not provide himselr with means of repelling robbers i almost criminally careless as to his obligation to protect his family. * ok K K Utah has. put one over on Mary- land. This has no reference to ths number of wives, nor anything like that It means that it gives diplo- matio recognition to the District of Columbla, without waiting for Prest dent Hdrding to Tecognize Mexico or Maryland to accept a treaty of reci- procity with the District. A District license tag !s good for its face in Utah, but it can't save its face in Maryland. Let's all go to Utah and boyoott the little state east of Wash- ington, until it comes into the Union and is reconstructed. E It 18 comforting to reflect that the prediction of Dr. Wade J. Frost of the Johns Hopkins Hospital that the In- fluenza is to be ‘panemic” in about twenty-five years after the epidemio of 1918, Is going to be simply & “frost* Long before 1943 there will be discovered a cure for that dread disease, since Dr. Flexner of the Rocke- feller Institute has isolated the germ. “Why worry?” * % % * When the early settlers found Indians going through winters with out clothing they wondered how the redskins could stand the cold. “Umph! Injun all face!” wes the explanation. Now comes a civilized Injun, with a olvilized name, James L. Coffey, from the state 8o close to the north pola that it is called the North Star state, and Coffey wants his hot o he is suing his landiord in Washing- ton for heavy damages for not keep- ing his apartment as warm and cozy as a Minnesota forest in January. Besides, he s suing for $500 damages because his landlord turned off the electric lights in daytime, It is hard for modern effete civilization to keep up with Lo. * % ¥ ¥ Thers could hardly be a more glar- ing {llustration of national ineffi- clency than the situation this last fal resulting in the wastage of §0,000,- 000 bushels of potatoes which our farmers had raised and then found to be unprofitable to market. Thousands of bushels wers not even dug. It is folly to say that the farmers ought to do this or not do that, when the means of distribution so utterly ool- lapse that millions of bushels of food waste while millions of people starve. Even the potatoes that wern sent to market often paid the farm ers only 20 ocents a bushel, which is far less than the cost of raising them. * ¥ ¥ X The Department of Agriculture now sends out information by radio, dally. as to market oconditions, but though all farmers might listen in and know that the world was starving for what they are letting rot, it would do no good, unless the farmers would or ganize oo-operative _assoclations which would be national in their soope and ap efficlent in meeting emergency conditions as is the Red Cross Association in its rellef work No government can ever function in such natlon-wide marketing. unless it first destroy individual enterprise and =ubstitute soocialism. We stand aghast at any suggestion of a sovict government—especially after looking upon Russia’s failure, but when ehall v inefliciency of distribution handled except through unity of ac tion, possible only through nationa co-operation. This is far from advo. cating any compulsory laws curtailing personal liberty, hdwever. THE WAYS OF WASHINGTON BY WILLIAM PICKETT HELM. Red tape! How often have you heard those words? Wouldn't you like to have a dollar for every time that sound has smote your inner ear? If & business man addresses an in- quiry to the “Government of the United States, Washington, D. C.” and doesn't get a reply by return mail (scores of such letters come to Washiington from big firms that should know better), then the delay is due to “red tape.” 1t a contractor doesn’t get his check on the dot—nine times out of ten because he doesn’t fulfill necessary requirements—thai's more “red tape.” If an inquirer runs afoul of some regulation similar to that which any ordinary business firm would impose, then—"rep tape. There isn't any such thing in the government service as that unworthy term implies. The government of the United States is the biggest and most complex organization In the world. It runs its affairs on business princi- ples. It has to have regulations. What business concern doesn't? And those regulations, minety-nine times out of a hundred, are clear, brief, made to fit the case, and in ali respects thoroughly admirable. Read on. We're going to explode a firecracker. i During the war the government needed space in New York city. It took over the gigantio properties of a big firm overnight. The head of the firm came down, post haste, the next day, greatly agitated and annoyed. 'm ruined,” he said; “ruined. You've taken over my place. I was extending it and had borrowed money to do so. Now the government has it, the work must stop, won't lend me any more money, and heaven only knows when I'll get any rent” He poured all this and several buckets more of. the same into the ear of anybody who would listen. Finally, someone suggested that he go see the right man in the War Department—for such was the branch of the government that had taken over his property. Gen, Herbert M. Lord, now direc- tor of the bureau of the budget, was then In charge of the War Depart- ment's financial affairs. To him the sorrowing citizen went with his troubles. “How much do you need?’ asked Gen. Lord. » The citizen of sadness (and believer in red tape) didn't really know. Gen. Lord had examined the case and knew that money was avallable to extend re- Uef. “Come around in an hour or s0,” Gen. Lord suggested. “We don't want to work any hardship on you—or any- body. We'll look into the matter and see what we can do.” That time was,used to check up everything in cohnection with the transaction—to make sure that svery- think was legal and all right. = The man was back that afternoon. ° “Here," sald Gen. Lord, “is a gheck on_saccount.” : Our fellow countrymen's eyes pop- - the banks; ped. It was a check for a million dollars. He murmured something and went back to New York that night He doesn’t believe in red taps any more. A mammoth manufacturing con- cern was taken over during the war. It had the usual penchant for forms to be filled out by every one from the office cat to the general manager. “What's this?" demanded the gov- ernment agent, holding up a blank form to the general manager's gaze. “That is our requisition for sup- plies,” the manager answered. “When any of our foremen need anything they fill out that form.” “I see it has to be signed by twelv: persons before the supplies are sued.” the agent sald sarcastically. “That's right,” the manager agreed. “We keep pretty close check on things around here. The agent got hot. He read that general manager the sweetest little lecture of recent years. “That form goes Into the waste- basket from now on.” he ended. “If the government ran its business that way, we'd ‘lose the war.” _That general manager has changed his ideas about red tape. A hot sport at a dollar a vear came out of the west to save Amer- ica. He got a job in Washington—a prince of commerce helping the gov- ernment with his talent and brains By and by he took a trip on of- ficial business. He visited three or four cities and at the end of a week came back. Into the disbursing of- ficer's cubby hole went the expense account. “Expenses of trip to New York Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, $400, the expense account read. No itemizing: no details; no nothing, except $400. That was the way—maybe—he ran things back home. The disbursing officer was in doub! about paying it. He took it up with Judge W. W. Warwick, then con- troller of the Treasury. The con- troller sent it back with a decisior as to why it couldn’t be paid. And the disbursing officer sent it back to the dollar-a-year man. After the armistice the dollar-a year man, back home again, sent the expense account on to Judge War- wick. He also sent a letter with it explaining that his services to the government had been worth at least $50,000 a year. Heo wanted Judge Warwick to indorse across the face of the account why it wasn't paid so that he might have it as a souvenir and show in later years—to his chil- dren how small the government could be. Judge Warwick returned it to him with a copy of the decision given the disbursing officer stating reasons why it could not be pald and with the fur- ther statement that if any person served the government in wartime, for patriotio reasons and because he could afford it, for a dollar a year, it did not matter whether he walued his services at $50,000 a year or more- such would not justity him in taking money out of the Treasury contrary to law. And the bellever in red tape can keep that to show to his children.