Evening Star Newspaper, February 16, 1923, Page 6

50 long as the electoral college does no harm to anybody and serves faithfully as a register of the people’s will, why not let it remain? Senator Norris takes the former of these views. He does not propose a constitutional amendment to eliminate the “appendix.” The electoral college, |@s such, is in truth the creation of the states, under that paragraph of the Constitution (Clause 2, Section 1, Article 1) which provides that ‘Each state shall appoint. in such manner as the legislature thereof anay direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in Congwess.” Let the legislatures, urges Senator Norris, change their laws to provide that after the general election it shall be the duty of the governor, to appoint presidential electors, who will pledge { themselves to vote_ for the candidates { who have received the highest number of votes. What would such a body, however, = be other than an “electoral college™? . Member of the Associated Press. |1\ would it differ from the present? e A e ton ot etnciial | The fidelity of its members to their patches cradited to'it or not otherwise credited | plogges would be no more assured 1 than is that of the electors of today to their unspoken oaths to cast their | put lished “herein. Al rights of pudlication of special dispatelies hercin are also reserved. votes only for the nominees of their j parties, voted for at the polls. — If the electoral college is to be elim- inated a definite system of direct vot- 15 for party nominees or independent 'vumli.]fl:n-u should be devised, uniform {in all the states, so that the people can | cast their ballots for the individuais esidential offices, THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY - .February 16, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES.......Editor y 1 The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th 6t. And Penns New York Office; 150 Nasaan St. Chicago Office: Tower Building. Ruropean Ofice; 16 Regent 8t., London, England. The Erening Star, with the Sunday morning dition, is dellvered by carriers within the eity &t 60 cents daily only, 45 cents per month; Sunday only. 20 cents per month. ders may be sent by mai:, or telephone Main £000. ~Colléction 13 made by earrlers at the end of cach month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance, Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1yr., $8.40; 1 mo,, 70¢ Daily only ~1yr., $6.00; 1 mo., 5ve Sunday only 1yr., $2.40; 1 mo., 20¢ | l All Other States. Daily and Sunday..1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo. Daily only. 1yr., $7. Sunday only. 1yr., t The Reorganization Plan. In transmitting the proposed plan of departmental reorganization to Con- | ress at this late hour in the final se: sion President Harding expresses 1 gret that delays inevitable in such a vast undertaking should have caused 5 the postponement of the recommenda- | they prefer for the Hons e enson. whon there 15 | even as they now cast them for those SUpENSH S, A © 51 hey prefer as senators and representa- The proj- | e (m If the electoral e is sl . Iy useless as it appears now to be rather than for immediate adoption. | (4% e | . _{and is to be climinated, let us go the | For many years the inconsistencies “ . A bsodlnrenineng whole way and get right down to di- of the government’s organization have rect voting. been evident to any person who has made the least study.of the situation. 1t has been, indeed. a veritable patch-| work, with many overlayings. In the A factor of importance to be con- beginning there were only four de:|sidered in connection with the pro- partments, State, Treasury, War and | posal advanced by State Superintend- Navy. Each had its definite and dis-{ent Finegan of Pennsylvania to the tinct function, The Attorney | joint committee on the District public wase added as a legal adviser, without | schools, that the board of education @ department at first. and the Post-| should be appointed by the President | master General was next created as|and be made independent of all mu- the officer in charge of the mail serv- | nicipal influences. is perhaps more ice, also without cabinet seat. Befor keenly appreciated by the people the Interior Department had been es-! the capital than by any one else, how- tablished these other two officials were | ever eminent in educational work and given cabinet ran Then came Agr competent to judge of a school sys- tem on its merits. Such an organiza- ulture and finally Commerce and bor, which soon was divided into two | tion-as Dr. Finegan proposes would departments the | remove the schools even further than number of executive branches up to! they are at present from contact with ten. the present number. In the steady growih of t new fu { i H i | ! so little chance for action | ol therefore. is submitted for study ¥ ect, | H | -—r————— The Schools and the People, St of eeparate bringing { lished and maintained, and whose in- terest in them is direct and intimate. | One of the chief complaints today on | the part of the Washingtonfan is that ] the board of education, named by :mi justices of the Supreme Court of the District, is not sufficiently amenable | to public feeling. The court is a rela- tively inaccessible body. Its selections are made in the best of faith and with the most sincere endeavor to represent the community upon the governing board of the school s¥stem, but it is by { virtue of its major office necessarily ! held aloof from public importunity and from touch with the community. To vest the appointment of thel board of education in the President of the United States would intensify this | condition. He would have to relegate the actual seleciion to somebody else. | He is too busy with the gravest nf" matters to weigh properly the qualifi- catfons of the numerous candidates ! and proposals for the annual vacancies | on the local educational board. He | could not see delegations in behalf of | federa business a ed they we ctions were igned” to different departments, as scemed at the time most suitable. Thus under the Treas- | ury were gathered the supervision of | lighthouses as well as the collection «»f customs, navigation and life ving aervice, and at one time the marine hospital service. The creation of the Commerce Department permitted the | relief of the Treasury of many mis-| cellaneous bureaus that had thus been allotted to it. Now it is proposed to reallocate the government services, according to a broad scheme of organization. The most marked chauge is the merger of the War and Navy departments un- der the title of National Defense, a consolidation which in the light of the | recent experiences in the great war is | much to be desired, and will doubtless work to the material improvement of both branches of the service. A new department s to be created, that of Education and Welfare, hecom- ing in a sense the miscellaneous | individuals regarded by sections or branch of the service. From the In-| neighborhoods or groups of District | rior Department will be shifted sev-| people as best qualified or most repr(-—; eral hureaus, such as patents and | sentative. i mines, which properly go to Com-: Through presidential appointmentof | serce, while Interior gets the Federal | the board the schools would be re-| Commission, now independent. | moved even further from the reach of | Without doubt this proposed plan |the people than they are at present. | will be subjected to objections. It is | Experience has shown how difficult it | inconceivable that any plan could be|is to effect a change in the personnel devised that would meet with univer-| of the board when occasion has arisen. sal approval. But at any rate a def-| It would be even more difficult upder inite proposal is now before Congres: proposed method of selection. | a working plan upon which careful | Vested with presidential authority the thought has been expended. Disinter- | board would have a tendency toward | ested minds have weighed contending | autocracy that is the antithesis of a{ factors, and have finally proposed a |satisfactory school edministration. stem which at least reduces to a| Appointment by the District Com- minimum the inconsistencies And | missioners is much to be preferred to | wasteful duplications that now prevail | either the present or the proposed the government's administrative | mode. The schools are an integral part organization. of the municipal organization. They This plan offers a job for the next ! require 27 per cent of the total of this Congress, one that is most important | year's budget of appropriations. They Aespite the fact that it has been long | most directly interest and affect the in the framing, and that it presents [daily lives of the people, of all the the makeshifts and compromises of | branches of the local government. many yvears. That it will yield a greater { They 8hould be kept.close to the com- degrec of administrative efficiency and | munity, by the most direct and in- effect a substantial economy in cost|timate means of seleeting the super- 1s plain, regardless of any differences | visory body, which in turn is made of judgment that may exist on the| definitely a part of the municipal sys- score of this or that feature. tem. ———e—————— ——— Whenever trouble arises in any part| President Ebert is the first president of Europe Uncle Sam is immediately | of a new republic, but as yet events «xpected to regard it as & world calam- | have not so shaped themselves as to ity instead of a local incident. promise him remembrance as the e George Washington of Germany. : ——— 5 e E‘Ieetoml el France in selecting-a debtor on Senator Norris, author of the con- stitutional amendment that has just] WEO™ the Senerel mystem of repay- gone through the Senate with unpre.| MeNte should depend does not feel it vedented approval and expedition to| UnPetriotic to adopt the motto, “Ger- effect a change in the dates of con.| "anY above all. gressional assemblage and presidential R inauguration, now comes forward with | SMUBEINg has become one of the & proposal to eliminate the useless | °ading industries which resent cen- electoral college. This institution, he | S7SPIP- declares, “has no more excuse for its existence in a democratic form of gov- ernment than has the appendix in the human body.” agers of the Associated Charities ap- Sverybody knows that the electoral { provel was given to the plan to extend college ceased to be a veritable func- | the time limit set by Congress for tion in our political affairs more than | closing alley dwellings. Practically «a century ago. It lasted, indeed, but a | everybody in the District understands little while as an independent factor of that the time is not favorable for selection. From time to time protests | turning from 7,000 to 9,000 persons out have been made against its continu-[of their quarters, even though those ance, but they have not availed be- | quarters are in the dlleys. Next June cause, although merely a reflecting | is the time now set by law for closing hody, the electoral college is not in|alley dwellings. There is no sentiment any manner or degree harmful or dan- | in the District favorable to the alley gerous. It is simply the recording|dwelling as a permanent inititution. agency whereby the votes of the peo-| The law prohibiting the use of alley ple cast in November are translated [ houses as dwellings was enacted In re- into terms of preference. sponse to public opinion here. The Objection to the electoral college is | war, congestion of population and the therefore rather an academic than a | housing shortage have made it almost practical matter. There are those who | necessary that the alley dwelling would like to see it swept away as|should be tolerated a while longer, or useless lumber. And others feel that it | until the housing situation clears up. is somewhat of e monument of the|The alley dwellers would suffer great- past, and, furthermore, that there may | er bardship than is now their lot, he risk in changing the laws lest & | Those who would be fortunate enough yge} menace develop. In other words,{to find accommodations elughm} A Pow the in i | Alley Dwellers. At a meeting of the board of man- ‘would have to pay considerably higher rent than they now pay. Even alley rentals are much higher than they used to be, and as a general rule are as high as alley dwellers can afford to pay. New houses are building in most parts of the District and con- tiguous parts of Maryland, but with building materials at a high price level and the wage scale far above what ‘was considered normal before the war the cost of houses is high. The steady construction of these houses may take some of the pressure of population off the older sections of the city, but such effect is not now noticeable. There is no perceptible decliné in rentals. With the housing situation as it is, all the alley dwellers would have difficulty in finding shelter, and it is felt that,a large proportion of them could not find shelter at all. ———— Parking. It is announced that the District Commfissioners have practically de- cided to approve the proposed new building regulation permitting room for the storage of automobiles “under office buildings and similar large structures.” The news is that “A regulation covering these basement parking places will be written into the new building code, now in process of revision.” Something of significance may be read into this. Wil it become the cus- tom that office buildings will furnish day-storage at a reasonable price for the cars of their tenants? Will office buildings have auto-storage space in the basement or the basements, or in a superstructure on they give up one storage of autis? O uing of the time when great structures, public or private, for car checking and car storage by day? Reason points out that some such de- velopment must come. An end must come to all-day parking in the streets. So many car owmers are finding difficulty in getting park- ing space in the streets that sentiment against all-day parking is rising, and as the number of cars increases that sentiment will become stronger. Peo- ple are finding increased difficulty in transacting “downtown while using an auto. It becomes harder and harder to find a stopping place where the car may be left while the owner makes a short visit to an office or a stor If the car owner has a chauffeur the question is not so perplexing, because the car ean be kept moving and can be brought back to pick up the owner, floor to is this the day the begin- busi the people for whom they are estab-!but relatively few car owners have|lection chauffeurs. Difficulties of traffic are muitiplying for drivers and walkers, and the time must come when all-day parking in any street will not be al- lowed. —_————— Psychologists profess ability té meas- ure a man's intellectual capacity. A difficulty presents itself in the fact that it varies in the individual accord ing to the subject to which mental effort i8 addressed. A master mind in some lines may be that of a moron in others. ——————— So long as the whole world is asking credit from the United States govern- ment the Amerfcan farmer does not | see why he cannot have his share of consideration. —_——————————— The grave of an Egyptian king re- veals 8o much treasure that there is likely to be a rush of scientists to the | Nile comparable to the dash of miners some years ago to the Klondike. ‘The fascisti are now powerful enough to announce & policy that will render membership a more or less ex- clusive privilege. . The New York Stock Exchange has scarcely time to point to & rising mar- ket as an evidence of prosperity be- fore the profit-takers cause a setback. England and America evidently re- gard cordial business relations as one of the most reliable elements of a good understanding. Treland is one nation that dves not incur suspicions of insincerity by try- ing to convince the world that she desires peace. In diplomatic relations Lenin dis- cards all suggestions of a reign of ter- rorism and adopts the motto, “Safety Pirst.” Among the epithets now used by Germans in mentioning the French is that of “coal baron.” SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. B Uplift. Though for the uplift I am strong The hope but feebly clings Of rescuing all rogues from wrong By sudden growth of wings. Though men to heights may not be led— In joy we need not lack, If we can simply go ahead Upon a level track. Before the News Broke, “Were you married before you be- gan your political career?” *Yes,” replied Senator Sorghum. “My wife would never have accepted me if she had gotten a chance to read all that has been said about me in the newspaper: Jud Tunkins says that ignorance is bliss is proved by the boll weevil, which would ‘surely fade away 1t knew how unpopular it is. An Egotistic Inquiry. Why is it what I have to say Seems such a serjous matter, While thoughts ofothers on display Appear but idle chatter3 Tdentification Demanded. “Did you receive any valentines?” inquired the bashful man. ! “Only one,” answered Miss Cayenne, looking him stréight in the eye. “I threw it into the waste basket. I never pay eny attention to anonymous communications.” “I can’t my mind fum sus- piclons,” said Uncle Eben, as'he locked the coop. “T's getiin’ better every day, Bt sois dem chickeng.” A ~ 4] % . NESAET R the roof, or will | there will be | WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Americans recently returned from the Philippines bring glowing ac- counts of improved conditions under the governor-generalship of Leonard Wood, They say he has cleaned up the islands, politically and morally, much as he cleansed Cuba while military governor at Havana. Amer- fcan authority was never more firmly established throughout the archi- pelago, nor native Filipino sentiment toward the United States more friendly. The inhabitants of the islands have decided to commemorate thelr esteem for two Americans to- ward whom they feel a senwe of spe- cial gratitude. A monument is to be erected in honor of Francis Burton Harrison, governor general of the Philippines from 1913 to 1921, and a new bridge has been named after former Representative Jones, author of a bill in Congress which proposed to bestow independence upon the Filipinos. * % ¥k Senator Frelinghuysen of New Jersey takes his enforced retirement from Congress with invincible good nature. A democratic colleague was badgering the senator about his de- feat this week, and said Jersey | democrats in laying him low last November felt very much like the humane big game hunter who hated to shoot so beautiful a specimen of the animal kingdom as a moose, but couldn’t resist the temptation to bag #uch a trophy. “Well” retorted Frelinghuysen, “the moose is at least endowad with instincts denied to a pelitic nt danger in advanee Frelinghuysen. | who rs. Frelinghuysen is isaying geod-bye to genatorial friends t a series of two evening partie will resume his business headquar ters in New York city after March 1 “I'm only a lap or two ahead of Carmi_ Thompson,” Frelinghuysen says, “in respect of the number of federal appointments for which rumor has slated me.” The ministership to his ancestral Netherlands Is one of the jobs which Frelinghuysen saye has been tendered him by everybody excent the President. v * % ¥k Three women in the United States are deeply interested in this year's centennial anniversary of the Mon- roe doctrine. They are great-grand- daughters of James Monroe. and his only living lineal descendants. Two of them—Mrs. Roswell Randall Hoes, widow of the late Capt. Hoes, United States Navy, and Miss Maud C. Gouverneur—live in Washington, and the other, Mrs. William Crawford Johnson, is the wife of a Maryland physician. Mrs. Hoes, who has writ- ten and spoken pablicly on Monroe | for many vears, and, with her sisters, {15 the possessor of i remarkable col- of letters, documents and other data associated with our fifth President, hopes ways and means | may be foynd of establishing in 1% the unauebtionable claim of Monrc to authorship of his doetrine. Many ! i her dinner was to be Americans have forgotten the claim is in some question. Certain his- torical partisans of John Quiney Adams, who was Monroe's Secretary of State, have alleged that “James Monroe held the trumpet, but John Quincy Adamd blew the blast” that signaled “hands off” South America to the powers of Europe a century ago. * *x % ¥ One of the veteran Bureau of en- graving and printing experts dis- missed by executive order a year ago and just reinstated In rank.Js snap- ping his firigers at his tardy rehabili- tation. For more than six months he has been a resident of England, draw- ing the salary Uncle Sam pays to an ambassador—$17,500 o year. When he found himself suddenly thrown out of employment and cast about for a mew job, friends called his atten- tion to a managerial position vacant in London at the plant of a great bank-note engraving establishment. He looked into the proposition and accepted it, at a figure more than four times his government wages in ‘Washington. x ok ok * This week’s night sessions in the Senate are playing havoc with Wash- ington's social calendar. Many smart dinner party during the win- ter season, now at its zenith, Is built around th presence of senators. When they're ubsept, it's like “Ham- let” without the gentleman in the ti- tle role. #ecdnesday, when Senator 8moot threatened to hold the Senate for the night to vote on the British debt-funding bill. five senators in a bunch telephoned eleventh-hour re- grets to a celebrated hostess, ho narrowly escaped a spasm over news at reached her half an hour before erved. in a Two young men-in a midwestern city noticed one of the seductive Lill- board signs advertising for recruits for the United States Marine Corps. The poster is emblazoned with tha in- signia of the marines and their fa- mous motto, “Semper Pidelis.” One of the twain asked what “Semper Fi- delis” means. Rejoined the other: “It means ‘Treat 'Em Rough.'” * k% % Prof. Rofiert McNutt McElroy of Princetgn, who censored Secretary Hughes' rebuke of the Chinese gov- ernment read to the China Ly's dinner in New York this week, is a Kentucky republican. He is pro fessor of American history at Prince- ton and in 1916 was an “American exchange professor” in the far east lecturing wpon government and edu- cation in leading cities of China and Japan. For the past three years. in "\v“h‘;lf ion with the widow of Gro- ver Cleveland, Prof. McElroy has been engagad upon a monumental “life” of the great democrat who twice Wus President of the United States (Copyright, 1923.) WHAT GREAT NATIONS { . ! DO FOR ! [From argument of Theodste W. Noyes be-| fore foint congressional fiseal committee in | 1915.1 | . The sixth question is- s there any special equitable obli- gation upon the nation to develop or maintain the capital? Washington's answer to question nl recognizes a peculiar national obliga- i“n” in equity toward the capital, a !double obligation, extraordinarily {heavy under each head: (1) That arts- {ing from the circumstances of the | creation of the capital, and (2) that | which is coupled with and measured { by the nation's absolute control of the nation’s city. The nation's ob- ligation to Washington under the first head is not duplicated in the case of any other of the world's cap- itals included in this table, except Canberra, the capital-that-is-to-be of { Australia, which does not yet exist. {In respect to a few other capitals { (Mexico, Paris, Rio, Buenos Aires, I Athens, Rome) a national obligation of the second kind is recognized, measured by the degree of peculiar | control exercised over them in each case by the nation. This equitable obligation is substantial in the case of Mexico and of Paris and much {slighter in the case of Rio, Buenos Aires, Athens and Rome. But even Mexico and Paris fall far behind Washington in the height and breadth {of this obligation. { The true basis of this nation's ob- ligation of proportionate contribution toward the maintenance and develop- ment of the eapital is not solely or primarily untaxed ownership of Dis- trict real estate, though a substantial and continuous obligation does arise in connection with such ownership. The strongest obligations resting upon the nation are equitable iny their {nature and based primarily on the ioircumstances of the capital's cre- jation, and the treatment of the cap- {ital by the natlon ever since the birth jof the nation's city. By this special obligation T mean an obligation over and above that which is imposed solely by the fact that a city is a capital. The Nation’s Intentio: The general government, by the fact of planning & magnificent capital, covering a large area and character- ized by broad streets, avenues and reservations to an extent unsuitable for a self-supporting commercial city, {and by founding this capital in a {place comparatively uninhabited, as well as by the terms of the bargain with the owners of the Soil, and by the declarations of its representa- tives at the founding of ‘the city and afterward, showed an Intention to build up a national city, at the na- tion’s expense, on_a grand scale, irre- spective of the future population of the District. The capital was to be primarily 'a center of federal action, and the occupation of the ground by settlers was merely incidental to this great purpose. It was to be a meeting place for the use, convenience and eéntertain- ment of the people of the entire ‘Union, and the expense of its-support and adornment was not to be limited by the scanty resources of what per- manent population it might acquire. ‘The original owners of Washington donated five-sevenths of the city’ soil and yielded the right of self-gov- ernment to the nation on the under- standing and implled sgreement that the nation was to bufld up here a magnificent capital at its own ex- pense, reimbursing itself from . the proceeds of the sale of donated lots. A pretentious city was planned and Jots were sold by the government on the strength of this understanding. For three-fourths of a century the nation violated or neglected. the obli- tions which it _hagd thus incurred. Eu‘n the goveriiment, which had in the begi implledly undertaken to meet i upon private B, , f nin :Il flu expenses of capital and the ‘then shifted. hfll‘zz {upon which THEIR CAPITALS cided that justice required » pay one-half of the District’s expenses. W ington's Two Equities. From these facts two equities in favor of Washington's people and against the nation arise: (1) For the payment of much more than one-halt | of the local community’s capital-mak- ing expeditures from 1790, based on the natlon’s undertaking to meet these expenses {tself at the founding of the city: (2) for the repayme Washington of whatever its p. had paid more than the United applying to the past the half-and- half prineiple of the organic act Study of the equitable foundations proportionate contribu- tion toward capital maintenance by the nation is based brings the con- vietion that no fAixing of that propor- tion can be just which ignores na- tional neglects of obligations in the past in determining the equitable measure of proportionate contribu- tion for the future. While the nation up to 1878 exact-| ed an_excessive and oppressive con- tribution from the local taxpayers to- ward the upbuilding of the capital, and since that date has required all that could be equitably demanded, it has failed to carry out fully its own obligations toward the capital, hav- ing neglected these obligations for three-fourths of a century and mot offering now to reimburse payments made on its account during the season of neglect nee justice requires that the gov- ernment should pay a certain propor- tion of District expenses now, both {justice and consistency demand that it should pay the same proportion of the expenses of the years of its ind | ference and neglect. Obligation Follows Power. The second obligation, that which is coupled with and measured by the degree to which the nation controls its capital, is, as I have noted, ex- traordinarily great in Washington's case. The teaching of these comparisons, based on the answers to question 6, is that obligation is coupled with power; i e, financial obligation is coupled with political power. “If the nation controls, it pays; and to the extent that it controls, it pay: Washington is the the world in which, if certain pro- posed policies prevail, the nation would do all of the controlling and none of the paying. Paris wants France to pay without controlling; me men would have the United States control without paving. In Canberra, the new capital-to-be of Australia, as supreme national control of the capital may be exem plified as in the case of Washington but if so. this condition will result from the fact that the nation will se- cure and retain fee-simple title to all the land in the federal district and will ‘simply lease to individual resi- dents. It will logically couple na- tional government ownership with national government control in an in- teresting socialistic experiment. In Washington, if certain theories pre- vail, the nation will retain exclusive and’ complete control of the capital, equal to that of Canberra, without ex- tinguishing by purchase all individual title to property -and without even recognizing and meeting the obliga- tions which arise from partial owner- ship and full control. The Nation Pledged. The organic act took away terri- torial representation in Congress and territorial self-government and self- taxation from the District and pledgod the nation to meet one-half of the approved expenses of capital maintenance and upbullding on .a scale worthy of the nation’s city. The assumption and exercixe of ab- solute and exclustve legislative power were coupled with recognition of a pre-existing and continuing fipancial obligation. The nation cannot equi- tably repudiate its fimancial obliga- tion and retain or exereise its despotic and exclusive power to tax and to sovern. The nation should not repudiate its Balf obligation in respect to, capital maintenance, for the logical sequence of such action is surrender of all péwer and exclusive jurisdietion in respect to. the District of Columbia and the destruction of the nation- controlled capital conceived and cre- @led by the [T only capital in "Favors ‘Mammy® Statue ’ i Step Regarded ‘as Begitning of Recognition by South. To the Editor of The Star; The proposition to erect at the Na- tlon's. Capital a monument in com- memorations of the service of the "black mammies” of the sodth before the civi] war does not meet with uni- versal approval by the colored: people of Washington. Viewing the matter from a certain angle, it may appear that there is an attempt to circum- scribe thg sphere in which colored People must be employed in order to Teceive plaudits’ and get recdgnition from the south and, for that matter, from the rest of the country. Taking that view of the subject, the propo- sition is repugnant to the sensibil- itfes of the progressive group of eol- ored citizens, But, viewed from another angle, there is a phase of the question that merits consideration. If the motive In erecting the proposed monument ’*‘_Drfilnnlvd by a m festation of gratitude for the invaluable service rendered by the “mammies” in days of yore, it shows an awakening in the south that is commendable in the highest degree and a recognition of the fact that there is something in the former slave that is worthy of emulation and should be handed down from generation to generation. I am willing to take such a view of the matter, for jt gives me a l’nuntlu(mn' on which to build my dream of the fu- lure of the colored people in this | sountry. It should be borne in mind that there is a growing tendency through- out the country to agckpt the south- €rn white man's appraisement of the colored Amerfcan and that the solu- tion of the racial problem, from the Very nature of the case, Is dependent on the ability to find a ‘common {€round on which the white people of jthe south can stand: on which th‘l white people of the north can hlunrl' and upon which the colored people Ilhr"lsv!\ s are willing to stand It may w, be that the building of this black mammy” monument at th Nid- tional Capital the first step the white people of the south are willing Lo take in considering the solution of the racial question. There must be a starting point somewhere, and may We not accept that as the beginning of recognition on the part of the south? A very large majority of colored people live in the south, and is it not the part of wisdom and common sense 1o cultivate friendly relations with {their neighbors, the whites of the south? {ht.rgt Mason of Virginia, George Washi ton and Thomas Jefferson, our wisest southern statesmen, were in fu\ur_ of a gradual emancipation of the slaves, and Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator, was of south- jern birth. For a Jong time there has | been leaven working at the south, and {it may be that the south {s now pre- paring the way for an adjustment of the racial issue, in a manifestation of gratitude for the loving, pain {taking and faithful service rendered }) the “black mammies,” which serv- {ice appeals to the southern people as | {0 other deed of the black race does. | | Nothing should be placed in the wa: of people trying to show their appr clation for “decds of kindness. The | JESSE LAWSON, | fon should be approached wi {opdf minds, Tree Trom it pretuice | Inspects Luxor Photos i 1 ! Star Reader Points Out«Fea(urc*s! in Pictures. H itor of The Star: ' constant reader of The Star 1 !'ra the | As s | rotogravure section of ful discoveries in the V. {Kings and {Tutankham, the alley of the | Nile of the tomb of Kiigj en. | Since their publication I am pleased {10 note that every one I met in the {elty saw and examined the same pic- tures with much curiosity and fnter- ! lest. They {dents of history along ancient {and every ona seems grateful itheir publication For onse, 1 noticed several points of | {inter in the relios as shown by the photographs which may have aped the eyve of the casual observer, and which may, if attention s led | the: o, lend a little Ided interest to the study of the same. I was foreibly impressed over the photos with a magnifying | glass to find the five-pointed star was | tused by th rtists of those days i {the decorations of some of the arti- cles used by the king. Another interesting served was the so-called stralght- diagonal bridging or bracing used and seen on all the chalrs, stools 3 treasure boxes upon the urder sidc—a | jform of bridging that was used by | our early American wooden bhridge builders—and it was gratifving to| cbserve that nome of the diagonal| bracings and supports had vielded in the slightest degree ta the burdens| they were carrying during the long | tapse of time in"that rock chamber on | the Nile. One other feature observed which ! may be of Interest was that ever article of furniture as shown by the! { photographs had small legs*or feet, | one under each of the four corners o the articles shown. There was evi-| dently a reason why deslgners of these various articles of household effects at that early period made them 50 as to rest on these supporis above the floor and not directly on the floor, as do our trunks of the present day. It will repay one to use the magni- fying glass on these photographs for further study and examination. FREDERICK D. OWEN Easter Date Ruled Mnes | for | | 1 looking | feature T ob- i ! : i By Imaginary Moon! To the Editor of The Star: In the second century a dispute arose as to the proper time for cele- | brating Easter between the eastern| and western churches. The great mass of eastern Christians celebrated | Easter on the fourteenth day of the | first month or moon, considering it to be equivalent to the Jewlish Pass-: over. when Christ was crucified. The | western Christians eelebrated it on| the Sunday after the fourteenth, hold- | ing that it was the commemoration | of the resurrection of Jesus. The| Council of Nics, AD. 325, decided| in favor of the western usage. At the time of the introduction of the Gre- gorian calendar it was debated whether Easter should continue as a movable feast or whether a fixed Sunday after the 21st of March! should not be adopted. In deference ' to the anclent custom, the ecclesi- astical authorities decided to adhere to the method of determining the day by the moon. It must be understood. however, that it is not the actual moon in the heavens, por even the mean moon of the astronomers, that | regulates the time of Easter, but an | altogether Imaginary moon, whose periods are 8o contrived that the new (calendar) moon always follows the real new moon, sometintes by two or even three days. The effects of this is that the 14th of the calendar moon, which .had from the time of Moses been considered full moon for ecclesi- dstical purposes, falls generally on the 15th or 16th of the real moon, and thus after the real full moon, which is generally on the 14th or 15th day. With this explanation, then, of what is meant by “full moon,” Viz that It is the 14th day of the calen dar moon, the rule is that Baster day is always the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, i. e., the full moon which happens upon or next after the 3at) ol Marelip_audiic (6 £t moon bappens on a Sunday, Easter day. is sy axtars v e ALICE M. CONNELLAN, League of American Pen Womens, | House and Tthe royal {1¢ comprises a famous golf course at CAPITAL KEYNOTES A BY PAUL V. COLLINS. How wealthy the farmers must have felt when they learned that the total value of their crops of 1952 amounted to $14,310,000,000! Thgt is two billion more thah the value of the 1921 crop, and 46 per cent more than the market price of the 1913 crop. What is all this we hear about the struggle of American farmers to make expenses? In 1919 the crop value was 152 per cent higher than in 1913. How misleading is only one side of a ledger? In spite of the increased crop value, as measured in dollars, the purchasing power, as measured in com- modities which the farmer has to buy, Las fallen to 89.9 per cent, as com- yared yiith 100 per cent in 1913. The cost of raising the crops, due to high- er wages and higher cost of machinery, wipes out all the value increase. * %k X % Now that the House has passed an accountancy bill, to appoint a board of accountants to examine and certify to the accounting ability of “expert ac- ccuntants,” hope revives that the Dis- trict of Columbfa will eventually prove its claim of several million dollars of cash overrun. It is hard to keep cash in balance when the expert has a sau- cer into which he tosses the surplus when cash runs over, and from which he makes good when cash is short. The House is filling a long-felt want. Bad practice A To the new congres Hon. Mrs. Mae Ellen speak 4 welcome to our city. thrice welcome to our Congress. voman, the olan, we be- Welcame, 1| needs the civilizing touch of femininit and while Aunt. Alice has held the keel | pretty level, it needs more and more. | Why, even though “three’s a crowd,” Congress needs veritable mob of | en like the tiree it now possesses. ( ongress does not play fair with | You, you come and tell the papers. 1 Shakespeare or Bacon may have | known the women of their day, but | what did they know about twentieth | century congresswomen? Shakespeare wrong—wrong as a hedgehog. He posed as a weather prophet and said: ‘Two women placed together make cold weather.” Weather bureaus even know more ahout the storms of tomorrow than | the British debt settlement has ot Shakespeare did, hundreds of years ago. Why worry? o+ e bl introduced by Senator Nor-| ris, republican, of Nebraska, amending | the Constitution so that newly elected | congressmen will not have to wait a | ear and a month before a session of Congress, has passed the Senate. It is & progressive measure, intended to bring Congress Into closer touch with the.-popular will. Public sentiment may be overwhelming as to some spe- cial cause, and 50 express itself at the | polls, yet if the holdover Congress con- trols’ the situation more than a year ifter the newly elected are selected, the will of the people is defeated. The zmendment now goes io the if agreed to by two-thirds of the members voting, it _will then &0 lo the several states for three- fourths to ratify. Hence there is no possibility that the amendment will affect members clected 1ast November and they pursue the even tenor of ! their way until next December, Yt The resignation of Nr. William helps Eno from the board of traffic commissioners is most regrettable. | | ' |had great pleasure in examining the | He has given valuable service to the -ause of saving accidents and saving lives in the present chaotic state of Washington's highways. In his res- ignation he points out that since his abpointment, last’December 23, there | hav | accidental 1 injurie mission hesitated out what to do. fatalities s, wWhile and” and the com- deliberated been | has the power to do T politics, Bothy'pedestrians and drivers con- tinue to complain of the practice of traffic policemen in turning their semaphores while pedestrians and machines are In the midst of the street, and are thereby trapped. Therp should be some rule by which tue trafic going one way could clear after the turning of the signal, hefore the liberty of Starting in the cros way takes effect. The present pi precipitates a clash, for which neithe the traffic nor the officer is to blame the trouble is with the system. The semaphores are too Inconspicuous Why not make them fifteen or twent feet high and of bright colors? ke When an expedition fs sent o the arctic to locate the magnetic poic the ship contains no iron nor stec lest the metal affect the needle the compass. It is a novel ti however, for sclence to do witl progress’ of mankind. “Owl have interfered with learning; fore owl cars must stop and “owls” will, ride home in motor busses, if their course takes them by the bureau of standards. * x ox * ¢ # It is hard to keep a good voter’ down. Washington not in the Unfon, when it comes to the fran- chise, and there probably 200,000 perfectly good votes which are never cast at any kind of election, We might have all the “tea parties” we want, and they would eall forth no sympathy from Congress. But ther. some 50,000 voters who are ! Washington, but not of’ it. Thes may vote in their legal residence if they been careful to main- re in the st when t is have legal sm whence t came Pre: An organi: may round up these 50,000 voter insiruct them how 16 veote thouwh Jiv in the heart of the freest public in history. If the 50,000 votes couid be martialed for self-protectior they might be a “balance of power. ¢ which would have a mighty influcnce on restoring civil Tights as American citizens even to_all of Washingion Willlam Tyler Page, chief clerk of the House, is the president of the State Voters’ Assoctation. * % % * While, at the moment of writing b cierk which has been formally voted upon in Con- gress, there is no doubt as to iis acceptance, and already there is talk of combined action America & Great Britain in pressing settlemme upon the other debtor nations. Tl union of Great Britain snd America holding the purse-strings ~of t world, will stop war, as notbing el Nationg witl out money nor credit cannot m: war. We loaned Great Britaln o about half as much as she logned her allies. Let the English-Amer can umion say to the world: “Pa up, or stop your squabbles” President Harding concedes worid peace, dependent upon fina: cial adjustment of the internationa! loans, is of more importance than that | ship subsidy, so he consents to side- measure of subordinate it was démonstrated, that both measures would hardiy coms to a vote at this session. Al all statesmanship—in fact all the problems of life, except t! great moral principles—are compro mises. The American Constitution itself—*"the greatest piece of work ever struck off by the hand of m according to Gladstone—is the m 7 conglemerate compromise ever together by practical politiclans ‘That, in substance, is what Lord Bryce says of it. There 1s some dif- ference between “manly firmnegs” and “pigheaded stubbornness.” The first is when we agree with the firmness ) and the second Is when we disagrec (Copyright, P. V. Coliles, 1523.) track that consequence. are most interesting 10 <o | ROYAl Favors Shown Lloyd George Since Resigning Premiership ‘ BY MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. gland’s reigning family has sinc Lioyd George's sensational abandon- ment of the premiership (as the re- alt of a defeat in the house of ommons, but of a caucus of the mal- coptents of his party in the Carlton Club from which a number of his close adheren excluded) taken many opportunities of showing its very kindly regard both for him and for the members of his family. On the day following his resignation, the Prince of Wales went out of his way at a great public function in the city of London to make a display of | friendship and even of affection, pat- ting bim on the back and whispering a few words to him which brought tears to the little Welshman's eyes. and when the Lloyd Georges had com- Dleted their recent sojourn in Spain, Wiere by the direction of King Al- fonso they were treated with the utmost distinction by the local au- thorities, Queen Ena, who was an English princess, sent a charmingly worded invitation to Miss Meagan, the favorite daughter of the ex- premier and his constant companion, asking her to stay at Madrid with her for a week or ten days as her guest at the roval palace. Miss Meagan's father is said to have béen deeply touched by this gracious and unusual compliment on the part of the Queen of Spain, and in view of 201 the abuse to which he has been Subjected by his political adver- Sarics in England, and by so many of his former friends—people upon whom he has lavished favors—he is not likely to forget the kindness of spanish couple. . * x x % Slains Castle in Aberdecnshire and (he estate associated therewith, em- bracing some eight thousand acres, was until a few years ago the an- cestral home of the Larl of Erroll, twentieth of his line, and as heredi- tary lord high constable of Scotland outranking all the dukes of the orihern Kingdom. It was sold four ears ago by Lord Erroll to Sir John Ellerman, the great shipping mag- nate. Sir John, however, does not weem to have got on weil with his fenantry. For nhe has placed it on the market once more, and has offered to dispose of it for any sum around| $40,080. Yet it should have no diffi- cully in finding a purchaser at a very much larger price. It is a magnificent | old stronghold, the park stretching 2long the Aberdeenshire coast for! eight or ten miles and presenting &/ wonderfully picturesque appearance. 1t was granted to Sir Gilbert Hay, the ancestor of Lord Erroll, by King Robert Bruce, six hundred years ago. | not | were Gruden bay, where ex-Premier A Quith on a memorable occasion was Violegtly assaulted by militant suf- GraRetLes, ot n sxtremely preoip: ous Yook overlooking the 'North sea. 5 * ok kK Dr. Johuson on his famous pilgrim- age through Scotland was hospitably entertained there by the Earl of Er- roll of the day. He made but a sorry return for the kindness which he had received by complaining bitterly in print of the bleakness and coldness of the atmosphere, and of his inabil- | ity to sleep a wink owing to the roar of the waves under his window and the fishy smell of the seafowls’ feathers | its most interesting relic, known as | “The Curse of Scotland.” 1t the | playing card, the uine of diamonds, on which the Royal I of Cumber- land wrote his memorahble order t no quarter should be given or pr cners taken at the battle of Cullo- den, fought on the 15th of April 17 The. order was given by the duke on the night before the battle, As the general to whom it was com municated realized that the duke wa; in his cups, he insisted upon having& the order in writing. To satisfy him the duke is said to haye angrily snatched a card—that is to say, the nine of diamonds—from the table at which he sat gambling, and to have written the order. The instructions of the du'.‘o were put into execution on the following da and but few of the adhere Charles ' Edward, the ~youug 7 der. escaped to tell the tale « defeat. The massacr! indeed that what the battle of Culloder degenerated into at the end, excit 4 in dignation aAd horrer—-not onls throughout Scotland, but also in ¥ land, and won for this uncle of K George UT the lasting nickname of “The Butcher of Culloden” by which he is now known in bistory to this day. * Startled by the spectacle presented of the shocking state of repair Into which. the historic Palace of Versailles had been allowed to fall, and which was revealed to many people for the first time in a series of tell-tale pho- tographs recently published by Paris Illustration, the French chamy bers have at length voted a sum of 7,000,000 a year for the term of five e amely. $35,000,000 in all—for the restoration of the grand old pal- ace where King Louls X1V held his magnificent court and where the fair and frail ladies of Louis XV fluttered like gorgeous butterflies through the beautiful gardens created by the enius of Lenotre. . & he money has been voted just in the nick of time. For the acres of roo had long ceased to protect the price- less art treasures and historic relics preserved there from the damp and rain, while the wonderful fountains in the gardens, the statuary and the balustrades of the terraces were lit; erally crumbling to pieces. Versailles is unique in its way. There is noth- ing in the world quite like it. It would have been an irreparable loss— not only to France, but also to the entire world—if it had been allowed to fall into decay and ruin, Which would assuredly have been its fate, had not the government and the na- tional legisiature of France taken the matter in hand, in_deference to popular sentiment, and at a time when the money for the purposs can {1l be spared. e o R Lord Hardinge’s only daughter, the Hon. Diamond Hardinge, wha because of the death of her gifted and popu- lar mother was called upon to do the honors for her father during his terd of office as British ambassador in Paris, is about to marry Capt. Robert Abercrombie of the Scotts Guards, posthumous son’ of the late Sir Rob- ert Abercrombie and stepson there- fore of his mother’s present husband, the Earl of Northbrook. He is the only brother and next heir to the an- cient baronetey and extensive estates in Bannfshire and in,County Cork of Sir George Abercrombie, who com- manded a battalion of the Gordon Highlanders during the great -war Winning the D. §. O. His mother, Lady with which his pillows were stuffed. t is gaid that Sir John Ellerman, Jlowing the example of Tord Erroil will’leave to the mew purchaser of Slains Casye by way of wn atiraction o 3 { Northbrook, was a daughter of the late Eyre Coote, member of a rumv?— which has many interesting. Amer{- can connections dating from the co- lonial era. ’ ) { / \|