Evening Star Newspaper, February 18, 1923, Page 40

THE EVENING STAR, <, With Sunday Morning Edition. 1WABEING’!‘ON, D.C. SUNDAY......February 18, 1023 ipdnoxn W. NOYES. ...Editor 'i'hc Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 150 Nassau St. Chicago Office: Tower Bullding. European Office: 16 Regent St., London, Bogland. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, s delivered by carriers within the city A0 cent: ‘month; duily only, 45 cents per A nonth; Sunday only. 20 cents per month. Or- t By mail or telephone Main is made by carriers at the Eate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Iily and 1yr., $8.40; 1 mo., T0c Ay only 1 yr.! $6.00; 1 mo., 50c Sunday onl, 1y, 32.40; 1 mo.. 20c e All Other States. .1yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ .1yr., $7.00; 1 mo. e unday oniy 1yr., $3.00:1mo., 2e Member of the Associated Press. The Assoclated Press is exclusively entitied th the use for republication of all news dis- ptchies eredited to it or not otherwise crediteq inthis paper and alxo the local news pub- el lEhTS of ppblication of re_aind reserved House and District. It is distressing to learn from the chairman of the House rules com- nfttee, who is in large degree the rbiter of the legislative program in 1he lower branch of Congress, that there is little or no chance for another District day there. Already demands for special rules have resulted, he sa¥s, in a situation in which it will be impossible to grant such a dispensa- tion to the District for the sake of nging up even such meritorious ngeasures as the teachers' pay bill which practically vhody favo: would quickly be put in the of final passage. n Campbell blames the Dis- trict committee for having “frittered " for two sessions. The 1an and members of the District «oinmittee biame the leaders of the House for denying, it time when, it Las been ready to proceed. Appar- Iy the District suffers from having 1ebody strongly disposed in the House 16 give it a chande in the only legis- lature it has and in which it is not represented. Two weeks remain of the session. Despite Chairman Campbell's gloomy view of the prospect, is there mot a chance for the District some after- rwon, when the conference reports are ing for acti when the items are not in the way n Of course, everybody clse wants w bit of time for some specal object. Nearly every member of the House has his own pet project that he wants put upon passage. And it has been noted in the past that in the day periods many of these special bills are railroaded through, «ften dozens of them in a day. That i« because somebody in direct interest is benhind each of them and is watch- ng an opening when the rules permit. ‘But there is nobody who is vital concerned in this teachers’ pay bill orithe Fourteenth-street-extension bill or the other measures already ap- proved by the District committee that await attention. The members of the comamittee are kindly disposed toward thém, would be gratified to see them pags. would take advantage of any chance 1o get them up at the right mément. But they have others in whigh they are more intimately con- ved. They are representatives of own districts first and of the District of Columbia second. Take this teachers’ pay bill, for an fliustrative case. It is urgently need- ! to put the District schools on the ht basis. It is the flrst substantive v schedule law proposed since the For nearly ars the schools have gone ahead on a patchwork basis, getting now and then a bit of corrective legis- through appropriation bills. hi® measure represents much work 1pr ration, much careful thought . school authorities and legislators, who have taken a direct hand in suirdy situation and framing iive bill, passed it will put an end tion that is seriously af- ing the efficiency of the school sys- 1: will relieve the next Con- of & burden. For it is inevitable such bill must be passed Why not now? —_————— a three-thousand-year retire- King Tutankhamen finds him- o'clock a 1 f t at some ment eif the admiring center of a § tea, gathering in his own tomb. ——————————— . once content with announc- 0 many years, now makes the declaration that she is on the verge of destructi : ———— s out well ahead of the fiedd in & Luropean race for debt- paying hon ———— Five-Cent Fares. For the second time in a few days the Senate yesterday negatived a pro- to reduce street - fares in the 10 5 cents by the na w Tndoubted!ly this vote a strong sentiment in the upper neh of Congress that at hand, n at hand, when the ca on on car fares must be lowered to normal | from the heights to which war-time expenses forced them. But it is gravely to be doubted if | the car fares can be brought down Ly any such drastic means as a straight-out command by Congress, swithout precipitating a disastrous con- dition affecting at least one of the Jocal transportation companies. Un- Jess the Public Utilitles Commissionts information is all at fault it would be-impossible for the fare to be low- oréd to the pre-war rate withowt in- volving the possibility of bankruptey. i the commission’s information is wibng, if the earnings of the less + @ffjient company are mow sufficient 10 Jneet overhead and fixed expenses aml to yleld a reasoneble profit to 1he stockholders, then assuredly the time is at hand for a reduction. In {he discussion of,the matter in Con- gress nothing has been advanced to defonstrate such a condition. Washingtonians want the fares re- duced. They are paying the present yafes under protest. They hope to see some method found wherdby the conditions affecting the two corpora- this second | vote of 371 indi-| the time is! tions can be equalized, by merger or to ‘taxes, if’ not by the adoption of the equitable zoning system, which, despite its obvious merits, has been rejected by the public. Injudicious financing metheds in the past may have brought about the present conditions, in which the higher rate of fare is requisite to enable one of the companies to earn its expenses and to yield a small dividend, while the other company, in better condi- tion, reaps a large profit. But the arbitrary curtailment of the fare rate will not cure those ills, nor will it be just to the present owners of the system based upon the lines brought into unity by the manipulations of the past. The Public Utilities Commission has, In the light of all the knowledge of conditions it can secure, decided that the present rate of fare is just. The Senate, by its repeatéd. votes on the five.cent-fare proposal, justifies that decision. Plans for merger have been before Congress for a long period, but without action. Perhaps at the next session this aqdestion will be taken up with a purpose of fimling the most equitable ‘means of bringing about normalcy in the carfare rate without inflicting inequitable injury upon any interest. The local car- riding public earnestly hopes that this will be done. Prosperity and a Warning. Accumulating evidences of a return- ing era of national prosperity have reached a point where informed stu- dents of business conditions no longer hesitate to predict that this country has before it every prospect of a long period of good times, with the bene- its so distributed that all may share equitably in the fruits thereof. Already unemployment, which a year ago was one of the most menacing of Ameri- can problems, has all but ceased to exist and, with the revival of building operations and agricultural activity in the spring, there promises to be an actual shortage of labor. «Every barometer of trade seems to be indicative of fair weather. Steel mills are operating almost to maxi- mum capacity, with domestic orders s0 heavy that they have little surplus for export. Cotton and woolen mills are being forced to night operation to keep up with their orders. Automo- bile tire @manufacturers predict an output of 55,000,000 tires this year, and the output of automobiles is ex- pected to break all records. Manu- facturers of rallway equipment are sharing the increased earnings of the railroads, and the market for lumber and other building materials ig ex- periencing an activity which assyres an enormous volume of construction. That even the farmers, so short a while ago in the slough of despond, are beginning to sit up and take notice is evidenced by reports of hea: orders sbeing received by manufac- turers of farm implements and ma- chinery. Cotton is selling at a price which spells prosperity for the south- ern planter, and prices of other farm commodities are reaching a level which will speedily abolish the com- plaint that the farmer is unable to realize a profit. With the better credit facilities now at his command, when 2 new crop has been grown and har- vested the farmer will again be in the market as a buyer and with increased ibuying powers. And prosperity will be given a new impetus when the agricultural community has the money with which to supply its depleted household wants. Now, before we are too busy reap- ing the benefits of prosperity, is & proper time to take thought as to how it may be safeguarded. Rising prices are a natural accompaniment of good times, but high prices do not of themselves constitute prosperity. They are not even an evidence of | prosperity when they are the result 1 of excessive profits. On another page view with of the bureau of foreign and domestic commerce, in which he gives a warn- ing on this very point. He urges moderation in profittaking, to the end that prosperity may be enduring and iits benefits distributed fairly. In other words, Dr. Klein advises against { killing the goose which now is ready to lay golden eggs. This applies to 1 than to the manufacturer and mer- chant. As between the laborer and the farmer, the former owes some consideration to the latter. At the time farm prices were so violently deflated there was no corresponding decrease in the wages of labor, and {labor, when it had employment, reaped a disproportionate benefit. { Fairness now demands that the farm- ifer have a chance to catch up & bit { before labor .begins to complain of V'the cost of living and to agitate for higher pay And it is to be expected that labor will be reasonable, for the llesson has been pretty thoroughly {learned that no prosperity can be per- i manent which is onesided and takes belongs to another. The traffic authorities find enough Gifficulty in providing standing room for taxpaying motors without admit- ting strangers as deadheads. Kidnapers who render their victims unconscious are introducing new varia- tions into the drug menace. Flight Records. Airplane records do not last long. They are broken so often that one might be warranted in saying that an airplane record is @ most fragile thing. One can scarcely open his newspaper | without reading of something that has happened to a flight record. Some- { times it is an altitude record. Man keeps going higher and higher, until the height is now measured by miles. Again, it is the long-distance non- stop record that is smashed. Then it is the record for remaining longest in the air. This time it is the speed record. That record since last October has been held by a gentleman who is well known in Washington, William Mitchell. On October 18 last he traveled at the speed of 224.05 miles an hour at Selfridge Field, near Chi. cago. Now comes a.Frenchman, by name’ Sadi Lecointe, who, at the fly. ing fleld near Marseille, traveled the appointed distance, 4,000 kilometers, at the rate of 234.06 miles an hour, or i of today's Star is published an inter-| Dr. Julius Klein, director the farmer and the laborer no less! from one group that which rightfully | THE SUNDAY close upon four miles & minute. It ? | by some legislative action in regard | seems not long ego when'the rate at which Dexter trotted ‘was the limit of speed. Then, news would come now and then that a locomotive with a baggage car and one passenger coach had traveled at the amazing speed of a mile a minute. “Mile a minute™ for years stood as a synonym for high speed. "And here come men in “flying machines” cutting close upon the rate of four miles a minute, and perhaps the time is not far in the future when a four-milea-minute airplane will be scornfully spoken of as a slow coach. e - - Home State Auto Tags. It is carrying the “old home" spirit pretty far when automobile owners in ‘Washington, resident here and em- ployed here for many years, send their cash back home to buy a license tag instead of taking out a District license. It is a curious form of state pride, or state patriotism, and the assumption is that it saves money to the auto owner. One plausible reason for many of these home state tags is the atti- tude of Maryland toward the District. The neighbor state *'reciprocates” with other states in automobile tags, but not with the District of Columbia. Therefore a man carrying an auto tag issued by the state of Oklahoma *gets by"” with it in Maryland and the Dis- trict, whereas if he showed a District tag he would also have to buy a Mary- land tag or be “pinched” on crossin the line a few miles outside of the city. The District traffic bureau belleves that close upon 5.000 motorists “have been using the streets of Washing- ton year after year by purchasing license plates from their home states.” After March 1 an automobile carrying a state tag must also carry e small tag to show that the car has been registered at the local traffic bureau within three days after arriving here. This regulation, it is thought, will bring to terms the Washington motor- ists who are using “foreign” tags. The time in which actual non-residents must take out a District license varies from ten days to six months, the terms of automobile reciprocity being differ- ent in and between different statesand the District. Little Aethra. & The interesting news is cabied from London that Acthra has been found, and that the diseovery, or rediscovery, ‘was made by a man at Algiers. Acthra is a little planet or a planetoid or an asteroid belonging to our own system or planetary family, and which spins in an irregular orbit around our sun. James Craig Watson, astronomer at Ann Arbor, found this bright little traveler through the heavens in 1873. Then it became lost to view, it bear- ing not even so great a relation to i space as a drop of water does to our seas. If Aethra truly has been found its orbit or path around the sun will probably be determined so that a tele- scope may be turned upon it at will. No doubt there is scientific rejoicing in all astronomical observatories. There are two great observatories at Wash- ington, the Naval and Georgetown, and one can easily appreciate the thrill carried to those wonder places by news that little Aethra has been found. —————————— Physiclans who advise people to walk instead of using street cars may prompt a number of people to start a movement to have business offices lo- cated near the suburhs. —_——— Congress is perhaps more criticized than any great body of performers on earth, but it never weakens so far as to demand a self-protecting censor- ship. ———————— business faster were it not for a great deal of outside interference brought to bear in every morning's mail. Poland 4s lucky in being able to borrow money instead of hdving to figure on meeting accumulated obliga- { tions, A world argument now and then is 1 hopefully contemplated as a means of averting another world war. ———— SHOOTING STARS. ‘NY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Misplaced Ambition. Zeb Stubbins lingered to admire The acrobat who walked a wire. He vowed that he the trick could do And show the neighbors something new. He needed tights that fitted well, A balance pole, or an umbrell, A clothesline stretched from fence— With these he thought he'd be im- i mense. | Zeb had 'em all. He stubbed his toe. The ambulance was not so slow. With all his aspirations fled, Unto the hospltal he sped. No acrobat could hoe a row, As well as Zeb, the folks all know. | So, wasn't it a pity that Zeb tried to be an acrobat! Eloquent Persuasion. “Have we some silver-tongued ore- tors?" inquired Senator Sorghum. “A few,” replied the faithful as- sistant. “Well, don’t waste 'em on public | speechmaking. Put ’em to work get- ting campaign funds. Jud Tunkins says he longs for the Kkind of pie his mother used to make, *specially the mince.” Musings of a Motor Cop. The price of gas went up a cent. Hortense is unforgiving, As she expresses discontent ‘With the high cost of flivvering. Bad to Worse. “The noble red man was.ruined by liquor.” y “Yes,” commented Piute Pete. “This continent has been having rough days with the Demon Rum. Firewater gave | and left us white men to struggle with the bootleg stuff.” “I know a man,” said Uncle Eben, ‘dat has redd de Bible through three times an’ de mos’ it 'pears to have done foh him was to make him argu- mentative Congress could undoubtedly transact | gl STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, FEBRUARY- 18, 1923—PART ~ Crossed Wires, Short Circuits, Confusing Religious Thought BY THOS. R. MARSHALL. Former Viece President of United States. N the earlier years of the ap- plication of electricity to sup- plying the comforts and con- veniences of life it was the custom to string the transmission lines on poles. As the use of this subtle influence grew, these lines were found to sag, strike each other, create short cireuits and disorganize things generaily. Out of this condition of affairs was evolved the idea of running the lines underground in tubes or Joining them In cables to secure transmission dlrectly from the initial source of the power to the point of utilization. This change helped amazingly. Another de- volpment of advantage to both producer and consumer was a plan to hook up many little plants into one. This still further les- sened the chance of interruption of business. Quite recently the American people have had oppor- tunity to observe a striking in- stance of the crossing of lines of though, a short-circuiting of brain current, which may have put many of us temporarily in the dark. Fach age discovers what it thinks ‘to be gomething new, al- though it may prove to be the re- discovery of a forgotten principle. Dr. Coue braved the storms of the Atlantic to convey to us his re- discovery of the principle of au- tosuggestion. Every day in every way the lame and halt are getting limberer and limberer. Who am I to say that they will not continue agile to the very grave? Yet I remember seeing & man pro- pelled in a wheelchair to a wagon, where an alleged doctor was scll- ing a sure cure for rheumatism. 1 saw the remedy appliod, the rheumatism disappear, the chair abandoned and the man walk home. I saw him again the next day with most of the outer skin off his body and his rheumatism as bad as ever. He had had too much liniment and not enough autosuggestion. € % ¥ ¥ - I knew a man who graduated from a poultry wagon Into the medical profession. He claimed to have obtained from the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter of an Indlan princess at 777 7th avenue, some city, a mys- terlous glass and a marvelous cake of soap. This glass placed upon the human anatomy enabled him, he said, to look inside a per- son and ascertain what ailed him. It was a sort of medical radio. His theory was that disease was caused by different kinds of blood which made different kinds of spots on the bones. The method of cure was revealed in a law- sult—somewhat like this: A big iron kettle was partly filled with milk of a temperaturo as high as the body of a human could bear it; the cake of moap was low- ered. th incantations unde- scribed, into the milk, into which had been placed the hulls from walnuts of the first crop: the patient was then boiled therein for a_ definite period of time. Marvelous cures were ®eport and generous sume were pald for opportunity to come under the be- nign influence of this “quack.” Iven conservative doctors ob- served many cures, actual and permanent, whether the result of the milk, the soap, the walnut hulls, the suggestion of the doc- tor, resulting in the autosugges- tion of the patient, or of plain old-fashioned faith, I do not pre- tend to say. * k% X Dr. Coue, evidently resenting criticlsm of lack of faith in a Supreme Being, declared -he was not engaged in a crusade against any religlon on earth. He sald all religions were useful and val i Jacob Stein has a little grocery store set snugly between two big houses in a fashionable residence tion. To his store every morning come the ladies and the ladies’ maids, to get & {loaf of bread, or some bacon, or the butter that should have been secured yesterday—but wasn't. If every household were run the way it ought to be, Mr. Stein—which, by the way, fsn’t his name—would have to go out of business. You see, his little store is a sort of neighborhood convenience. Not far away are many bigger {stores, “chain” affairs, where one can {buy everything from bottled ginger lalc to cabbages, and at_cheaper iprices. But they do not bother Stein much. i Everybody has his place in this blg !world. [Every store has its proper | niche in the community. That is the theory Mr. Stein goes on, whether he puts it in 50 many words or not. It is not always necessary to understand the why and where- fore of a thing to make it go. If we did, we would have to give up elec- tricity and autosuggestion, ana many {more good things. .1 When you come into his store, he igreets you with a smile, and when vou go away he sends you away with another wholesome grin. He i oblig- ing. When it Is rainy, and some youseholder phones him for a box of crackers, no matter how busy he is, he sends those crackers around. The others wetfe too busy, really, to attend o their own trade *® ¥ That is why Mr. Stein has plenty of money to put in the bank. That explains why he might hve been seen recently wending his way down town, a whole week’s recelpts in his wallet, and a smile of content ion his face. His wite was in charge of the store during his absence. Mr. Stein is & busy man. He doesn't get to go to the “movies” very often. ‘So that morning, passing a big pic- | ture palace, he thought that he would indulge himself before going on to the bank. Enteringthe theater, he found his way through the darkened house to a good seat. He sat down with re- ilef. This was a treat, indeed. It was a good show, just the kind he liked. The swift gliding scenes intrigued his whole interest. He settled down to_an hour or so of solid enjoyment. But he kept his hand on his pocket- book. Mr. Stein is nobody's fool. He had worked eighteen hours a day for that money and he meant to keep it. Two hours later he woke up! Lulled by the comfortable seat, darkness and music, Mr. Stein had gone to sleep. He had missed the whole show, but that wasn't what was bothering him. Startled, sitting bolt upright, horri- ble tales of robberies fiitted through his mind faster then any motlon pic- tures trickle across the silver screen. Hi WI:t afraid to put his hand on his_pockstbook. zoh-lfl a premonition that it wasn't there. Cold sweat ran down his brow. Gen. | the Indlan & comparatively easy finish | He had worked so hard, and now it was gone— Slowly he felt for his pocketbook. | His arm trembled as his hand stole along. Then light broke. He pulled out his pocketbook, in- vestigated to see that all its contents were there, then tremblingly got up to go. o"‘N.ur again!” he murmured to himself. groping his way into the light. CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. | Heard and Seen }Fifty uable, and that the addition of a religious belief to his autosug- gestlon would do no harm and might do some ‘good. While the pharmaocist of Nancy was making this interesting admission, a dis- tinguished clergyman of & recos- nized orthodox church was preaching a sermon im which He declared that the really intelligent Christlan no longer bellaved in the miracles of Jesus of Nazareth. We were- gravely informed that ersons who thought they were eneficlaries of divinity ,were in reality the reciplents .of the :fl’l-ndm influence - of autosugges- n. 1 myself am one of those old- fashioned Christians who take the Bible, Jonah, whale and all. My puerile mind would rather believe in & God who could create a man big enough to swallow a whale than to doubt that there was a God who could make a whale big enough to swallow a man. T may be wholly unworthy of assoclating Wwith men who are tearing the ark of the covenant to pleces just to determine whether it was put to- gether right or not, but the fact remains we are short-circuited by these two theories, because of crossed wires, Any man has a right to belleve if he wishes to that auto- suggestion is the surgeon, and God is the nurse, bui it would throw much light upon the subject if the currents proceeded from the initial source to the point of utilization. 2 * o x x To my mind, the trouBle about the doctrine of miracles through the ages is that we have been try- ing to reduce them to a scientific explanation, or to put them among the secrets of religion. Even the Master who performed them recog- nized the most susplclous attitude of mind. He eaw clearly that many of the recipients of His bounty were actuated merely selfish motives; that it:was not His will which they desired be done, but their will. Tt was not so much for the glory of God as it was for the welfare of man. Why can't we bave these thought lines in tubes or cables? Why should we be in constant doubt whether the clergy believe the gospel they profess? Why must scientists remain uncertain wheth- er thelr views may not be con- sciously or unconsciously added to or abstracted from by the fnfluence of a power which their science does mnot recognize, but which it is not brave enough to say does not exist? Why is it that the tail al- ways {nsists that it wags the dog. or, if not that, that it should wag the dog? What credence can man put in professed leaders who dis- pute most of the creed of the or- ganization to which they belong? Why dosn’t a man get out of a political party when he no longer has falth in its principles? Why will he wear the badge when he is ashamed of the tenets It stands for? Why will men remain in a church while denying its cardinal doctrines, thereby injuring {2 If scientists wish to revise the Bible, why not have the courage of Jef- ferson and revise it? 1 would sug- gest that_clergymen, who believa in sclentific religion should organ- ize the Scientific Christian Church in America, and promote and de- fend it. * ¥ ¥k % Ve had some really old-fashioned religion when theologians quarreled over how many angels could dance on the point of a needle. We would better return to that benighted condition of mind than to have an everlasting crossing of thoughts, short-circulting of ideas and dark- ness while repairs are being made. 1¢ & man believes In an omnipotent God, he has no right to deny that - that God can work a miracle. Let that be one thought never fo be short-circuited by the dropping across it of the sclentific thought that in the beginning immutable Jaws by which miracles were wholly impossible were made. (Copyright, 1023, by Thomas R. Marshall.) Years Ago in The Star. Half a century ago Washington was pestered and mulcted by numerous *‘gift enterprises,” A Move to Check thriving upon : . the credulity of Gift Enterprises. ;. pupic ana the desire to “get something for noth- ing." The Star, in its issue of February 10, 187 said: “The Senate committee on the Dis- trict, at their meeting on the 31st ultimo, agreed to report favorably the bill recently passed by the House pro- bibiting gift enterprises in the Dis- trict, but as yet the Senate has taken no action. It will doubtless be passed if it can ever be reached, but cannot something be done to bring it up speedily? The swindling operations which It is intended to suppress are going on daily, and the persons en- gaged in them are only waiting for the Senate to act upon the bill to put up their shutters and take their de- parture for fresh fields and pastures new. They have already done s large amount of mischiet in our midst, and have Indirectly encouraged crime by robbing the Door of their scanty wages and leaving them to beg or steal the necessaries of Iife.” » * Robert Roosevelt, a member of Con- gress from New York city, attacked the District in the House District ... in its issue of February 13, 1873, thus referred to the “As usual with Tammany Congress- man Roosevelt, after making one of bis tirades against the District gov- ernment, he reserves his speech ‘for revision,” which means that he wants to take it to New York and get some- body to doctor his blundering figures and put his scurrilous billingsgate into presentable English. Mr. Roose- velt is like some other men who have money enough to buy their way into Congress, but when there find them- selves without the brains or standing to give them any weight. It is a mat- ter of profound astonishment that the great commerctal metropolis sgould e represented in the councils of the nation by a person of the caliber of Robert B. Roosevelt. His term of of- fice has been an unmitigated failure. He has not originated or advocated a single measure of public utility, or said & word or done a deed to which his constituents can refer with pride or satisfaction. They do well to with- draw him peremptorily from the posi- tion he is so incompetent to flll. He has neglected national interests and the interests' of his constituents to devote himself to the work of oppos- ing District improvements and break- Ing down the District government purely for revenge, lLe., because his riker, a person for whom he asked & position under the board of public works, failed to get the soft thing he expected. This striker of Roosevelt's threatened, as was testified to by his fellow clerks, to bring the vengeance of his patron down upon the board of public ‘works for faillng to comply with his wishes. He seemed to speak by the card as to the program ar- ranged between himself and Roose- velt, and from that day to this the latter has kept up his malignant and interested aseaults upon the board of puplic woiks.” fifty years ago. The Star,,| N 2. Capital Sidelights . BY WILL P, KENNEDY. Embossed stationery is getting very scarce in all branches of the govern- ment service instead of a luxury once 80 ‘generously enjoyed by even the lowliest clerk. In faithful compliance with ‘2 ban placed on embossed let- terheads and envelopes by the bureau of the budget and the permanent con- ference on printing—an interdepart- mental organization—the number em- bossed by the government printing office for the various departments and establishments of the government dropped from 2,479,800 in 1921 to 877, 402 in 1922, a decrease of 1,602,398 for the year, with a saving of more than .| $10,000. The cost of stationery embossed for the departments and independent establishments in 1921 was $16,490.99 and in 1922 it was $6,050.72. The embossing of stationery at pub- lic expense for memberd of Congress and committees of Congress was dis- continued nine years ago by order of the joint committee on printing, * X % % Political bees are buzzing—and that reminds Representative Stephen G. Porter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the House committee on foreign af- falrs, of the anguish that needs to come but once in a lifetime to be re- membered forever. While Porter was making campalgn speeches in Ohio, helping to elect Harding, he happened to have an engagement in Salem. The thought occurred to him that having for long cherished the hops of re- turning to his birthplace, Hard- scramble, that was his chance. So he bired a horse and buggy. The driver didn’t know the road, but Porter re- membered it well enough to steer the course. He located the place where he was born and spent his boyhood days, although the surroundings were much changed, He well remembered a church on the mext cormer, but there Was no church in sight, ‘but he finally found an old resident ‘who recalled that the church had been moved. The old man- slon that he had pictured in his mind's eve turned out to he a dilapidated place. Things had changed much in the thirty-five years Porter had been making his way in the outside world. When he rapped at the door it was answered by a barefooted boy about ten years of age, and Porter's mental vision gazed back over the years and saw himself at that same age as he left the ofd home. He walked to the side-yard fence and looked over into the fleld bevond.” How well he re- nbered playing in that feld, an ling in the pool of water that was there. bumble-bees’ mest around hers now?" he asked the boy, feeling £till how he had been stung in that field. “Yes replied the boy, with a note of sad displeasure in his voice “Ever been stung?’ again Forter asked. “Onct.” said the boy in a tone which said plainer than any words— alized that the boy had spoken his own secret thought, and frequently since in listening to loquacious fel- low members of Congress orating he has wished most fervently that they could take a few lessons in vocal ex- pression from that boy who spoke so succinctly and with o great perspi- cacity. * % kK When Col. C. R. Forbes, director of the Veterans' Bureau, started on his trip to Europe, he was reminded of his first voyage, when at the age of nine he shipped as an apprentice before the mast on the old square-rigger Nor- wood, out of Maitland, N. ‘The crew was shanghaied. The boy had never seen anything like that before, though he has many times since. As they. hoisted the men over the side with block and falls, dumping them on the {deck where they were kicked aside by the burly mate, young Forbes' ire aroge and he attempted to mix in on the side of the shanghaled men. The mate forthwith clipped him across the head with a belaying pin—and Forbes bears the scar to this day. Since those days Forbes has voyaged all over the world, being interested in engineering development. Finally he drifted to the South Sea Islands and there met Jack London. They made a few expeditions together and some !"dirlerem.“ pictures of Jack are among Col. Forbes' treasures. * % % It's a wise politician who knows the Himits of his own bailiwick. Repre- I sentative Allen T. Treadway of Mas- sachusetts, who recently has been administration champion for the ways and means committes on the floor, | when he first ran for Congress was making a speaking tour through his gistrict, composed of many small towns in Berkshire. Rowe and Franklin coun- ties. Tt was Treadway's first trip through the district and he was accompanied by the candidates for district attorney and state senator, Their campaign of ac- tion was as soon as they reached one town to telephone alicad to the post office or general store or railroad sta- tion in the mext town telling them they were on ther way and to get a crowd ready to hear them, At last they were bound for the | town of Heath, and had phoned to the {village storekeeper, who promised to Fet & good crowd together. They Sere a long time in reaching Heath, Dut as they Tode along whenever they [ g tew workers in the flelds they would stop and make a little speech, shake hands, pass out & couple of ci- gars (very occasionally). When final- Iy they pulled into Heath there was no crowd on hand and the storekeeper didn't seem particularly pleased to see the ‘Where have you been— what took you so long?” he asked. He explained that he had a goodish crowd corralled to hear them, but when they were overdue and the farmers were impatient to get their crops in, the gathering refused to sit j around and wait, but went back to ‘ work. Representative Treadway says he was much chagrined to find that they had wandered entirely outside of his district and that he had been cam- paigning over in Vermont. * ¥ K ¥ TUncle Sam is now operating an ink mill of his own, in which forty-nine dif- ferent kinds of ink were made last year at much less cost than the commercial price for similar grades. This ink mill is part of the government print- ing office. There practically all of the ink for 160 presses is made. This mill produced 105,855 pounds. of printing inks last year, not including nearly 19,000 pounds of old ink bought by the Army as & war material which had to be remixed before it was fit for use. The total expenditure for ink made during the year was $4,- §70.48 less than for the preceding year, when 7,175 less pounds were used than in 1922. * k % % Chief Justice Taft has brought out the interesting fact that Thomas Jef- ferson prepared for Patrick Henry a paper sattaining end directing to shoot at sight a robber and a bandit. The draft was never passed, however, and it was this same Thomas Jeffer- son, Chief Justice Taft points out, who was an advocate and author of the clause in the Constitution that no person be deprived of life, liberty and the pursult of happiness without due process of law, nor that any person be geprived of the equal protection of the laws. * ® ¥ R Brighter days are in store for the Senate next Congress. During the interim the skylight over the Senate chamber is to be overhauled, the chamber- is to be painted, the elec- trical work gone over and the air chamber tiled. An appropriation of /more than $31,000 has been made avallable for these improvements. The flogd of new light on the Senate will come from forty-elght paneis of ewelmy-fqur electric light bulbs in each, MEN AND AFFAIRS BY ROBERT T. SMALL. HE splrit of Lincoln hovered over Washington this past week, shedding its solace and < mfort in the high places as well as tae low. President Harding, who has found, as Lincoln did, that it is impossible to please everybody, no matter how hard one may try. has sought soothing consolation ir the calm philosophy of the martyred President. Secrotary Hughes like- wise has harked back to Lincoln to seek the comfort craved by those who are criticized alike for what they do and what they do not do. The average person has little or no conception of the volume of unsolic- ited advice which pours in upon men in the high places in Washington. The art of letter writing was not so widely practiced in Lincoln’s time as it Is today. Nor were the postal facilities at that time so swift and keen as now. So it is safe to say that where Lincoln received a singie letter_of sympathy or advice, Presi- dent Harding and Seoretary Hughes receive & Score. The letters may be divided into two classes—those that begin with the expression of the greatest sympathy and end with the Ereatest amount of advice, and those which are frankly critical and fault- finding all the way through, with a single slash at the Gordian knot like “Why don’t you do this or that?’ tacked on at the finish. Lincoin painstakingly answered most of his correspondents, treating them tolerantly always, but crushing them, as a rule, -wilh inexorable logic. For President Harding to an- swer All of the letters that pour In upon him with various and varied suggestions of national and interna- tional panaceas would be beyond the capacity of any hiiman being. A few are answered now and then by the President, but mostly there is but a polite note from Secretary Christian or one of his assistants acknowledg- ing receipt of the epistle. There is one Lincoin letter in par- ticular which makes a direct appeal at this time and has a bearing, per- haps, on the present temper of the administration. It was written by Lincoln to Carl Schurz November 24, 1862, at a most trying time In his ad ministration. It deals with “advice, and perhaps for thoss who care to Tun and read” it may convey a poignant hint. In any event, here Executive Mansion, November 24, 1 Gen. Carl Schurz. 3y dear Sir: 1 have just received and read your letter of the 20th. The purport of it is that we lost the Jate elections, and the adminis- tration is falling because the war is unsuccessful, and that I must _not flatter myself that I am not justly to blame for it. I certain- 1y know that if the war fails, the administration fails, and that 1 will be bldmed for ‘it, whether 1 deserve it or not. And I ought to he blamed if I could do better. You ink I could do better; thereforn ou blame me already.’ I think | could not do better; therefore | blame you for blaming me. T un derstand you now to be willing to accept the help of men who are not republicans, provided they have “heart in it." 'Agreed. I want no others, But who is to be the judge of hearts, or of “heart in it"? If | must discard my own judgment and take yours, I must also take that of others; and by the time 1 should reject all T should be ad- vised 1o reject, I should have none left, republicans or others—not even yourself. For be assured, my dear sir, there are men who have ‘heart in it” that think, you are performing your part as poorly as you think I am performing mine 1 certainly have been dissatisfied with the slowness of Buell and Mc- Clellan; but before I relleved them 1 had great fears I should not find Buccessors to them who would do better; and I am sorry to add that 1 have seen little since to relieve those fears. I do not clearly see the prospect of any more rapld movements. 1 fear we shall at last find out thal the difficulty 15 in our case rather than in particular generals. I wish to disparage no one—certainly not those who sympathize with me: but I must say I need success more than I need sympathy, and that ] have not seen the so much greater evidence of getting succese from my sympathizers than from thoee who are denounced as the contra ry. It does seem to me that i the field the two classes have beer very much alike in what they have done and what they have failed to do. In sealing their faith with their blood. Baker and Lyon and Bohlen and Richardson, republi cans, did all that men could do but did they any more than Kear- ny and Stevens .and Reno and Mansfield, none of whom were re publican&. and some at least of whom have been hitterly and re- peatedly denounced to me as seces sion sympathizers? I will not per form the ungrateful task of coim paring cases of failure. In answer to your guestion, “Has it not been publicly stated in the newspapers and apparently proved as a fact that from the commence- ment ef war the cnemy was con tinually supplied with informatio: by some of the confidential subor- dinates of as important an office: s Adjt. Gen. Thomas?’ 1 must say *no” as far as my knowl- edge extends. And 1 aqd that if you can give any bie evi- dence upon the & 1 wil thank you to come to this city and do so. Very truly your friend, A. LINCOLN. WHAT GREAT NATIONS DO FOR De- in (From argument of Theodore W. Nor fore Joint congressional fscal commit 15.1 . We have now considered the lessons to America of the world's capitals under the six queries of our table. The example of Argentina and Brazil is of peculiar interest to the United States, because these nations have each a national capital in a federal district, adopting in their constitu- tions the provision of our own on this subject. We may with advantage | consider very briefly what these na- tions specifically suggest to us in respect to wise capital building. If the examples of Argentina and Brazil were followed (1) the United States would have been, and for the future will be, far more wisely liberal in capital creation and upbuilding on purely national lines. With us these expendisures are provided In other bills than the District bill and are made solely from the national rev: nues, to which Washingtonians con- tribute on precisely the same basts as all other Americans. The United States Is and always has been under obligation to make this kind of capi- tal expenditure for purely national purposes, irrespective of its agree- ment ®&s to municipal maintenance under the half-and-half plan. The existence of this plan affecting mu- nicipal maintenance has had no logi- cal or reasonable tendency to re- strain the United Statas from appropri- ate national expenditures on the capi- tal In emulation of the example set' by Argentina and Brazil, and has not, in fact, restrained it The nation, while it has of recent years done much on exclusively na- tional lines in capital building, has! not. it is conceded, attained the high standards in this respect set by Ar- gentina and Brazil; but the half-and- half plan of municipal maintenance obviously has not held it back, and just as obviously {t is not necessary to destroy the half-and-half plan in order that in respect of purely na- tional outlays on the capital the Unit- ed States may compare more favor- ably with Argentina and Brazil. Example of Argentina and Brazil. 2, Tn respect to municipal malnte- nance of the capital the example of Argentina and Brazil suggests (a) that the nation, Instead of crippling the capital industrially, commercially, and In every means of local self- support, should foster in it every possible taxable resource, so legis- lating for it as to make it prosper- ous and able to meet substantial mu- nicipal taxation; (b) and that in ad- dition the nation should make defi- nite and substantial contribftion to municipal maintenance, either through continuation of the half-and-halt plan, with any modifications which may have become necessary or equi- table, or through the substitution of some other plan which shall provide for an equally definite and substan- tial, proportionate contribution. Ar- geniina does not pay a specified per- centage of the maintenance expenses of Buenos Aires, but it meets from the national treasury (as we have seen) certain large Items of munici- pal expense, like the police depart- ment, fire department, docks and har- bors, water supply and sewer system, the more important works of public sanitation, and the greater part of the expenge of public education. There is nothing whatever in the examples of Rio and Buenos Aires to suggest the equity or wisdom of destroying the half-and-half plan. Its continu- ance is essential in order that under the head of municipal malntenance alone we may compare favorably with Argentina and Brazil. 3. 1f we follow the examples of Argentina and Brazil we shall not “nationalize” all American rights and privileges out of the capital commu- nity, consigning executive control of it 16 a bureau of a federal depart- ment and denying it even a distinc- tive District day for consideration of its legislative concerns by a leg- felature in which it is unrepresented. On the comtrary, if the example of these nations is followed, Washing- tonians will have, like other Ameri- cans, representation in Congress and the electoral college, d, without disturbing nmational cenmtrol of tl rger parti THEIR CAPITALS ment of the questions how much and by what methods and for what pur- Pposes they shall be taxed. Three Classes of Capitals. Tn the final analysis of this table the capitals of the world separate on broad lines of division into the fo! lowing groups: (1) Those which nation financially are treated by the and politically en the same lines as the other citles of the nation, except that the municipal taxable resources are indirectly made strong Ly the nation and except that the nation, because the national in- terests are greater at the capital than elsewhere, makes larger national expenditures for national purposes than in any other city. Some of the citles classified under this head are London, Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Brussels, Copenhagen Ath- ens, Tokio, Christiania, Bern, Ottawa Cape Town and Pretoria. (2) Those which are financially spe- cially favored by lavish expenditures for national purposes and by speoific cbntributions toward municipal main- tenance. In respect to them, on the other hand, the national government exercises special control politically. pating in but not exclusivel: exercising municipal government and allowing the capital full representa- tion in the national government. These capitals are Buenos Aires Rio de Janeiro, Mexico and Paris (3) That capital ich has received since 1578 the reasonable liberal na- tional expenditures of the first clasx and (since the same date) an quate specific municipal contrib of the second class, but which | been erippled by the nation 1 government and all repre- * sentation in the national government. This capital 1s Washington. While many nations surpass the Tnited States in lgvish expenditure of national money 'In the judiclous development of their capitals, and while some nations contribute sub- stantially toward the municipal main- tenance of their capitals, approximat- ing in this respect the wise liberality of the Unitca States under the act of 1878, there is no other nation of the world which denies its capital com- munity all voice in respect to its taxes and its municipal affairs in gen- eral, and also bars it from representa- tion' in the national as well as the local government. United States in Class Apart. ‘These reperts and this table alse show that no nation in the world, ex cept the United States, discourages the material development and pros- perity of the capital along commer- cial, manufacturing and industrial lines, and bars the local community from employment in many of the na- tional local industries, thus reducing to & minimum the city's taxable re- sources and the means of self-support offered to the city'’s growing youth. In most other capitals the nation has legislated and acted discrimi- natingly in favor of the capital, fos- tering fts commerce and its manu- factures, increasing local means of self-support and enlarging equitably its taxable resources, and rendering it attractive in every way to ts resi- dents as well as to visitors. Even when the nation does not thus favor the capital over other cities, but treats all the citles alike, it does not discourage in the capital its materia development and prosperity and the resulting accumulation of taxable re- sources. These comparisons show that, while no nation in the world is under such strong and pecullarly binding equita ble obligations to develop its capltal no other nation in the world.so dis courages the development and mate rial prosperity of its capital. It Washington's ‘case there is a maxi- mum of obligation and in the pa:i'' ular indicated a minimum of nation:.l response. But however it fnay have fallen short fn other respects, as an annual contributor to municipal maintenance in a definite and liberal amount the nation has, since 1878, under the wi and fair legislation of that year, sur- passed other nations in this form of patriotic expenditure. The result has been to reytore the nation's welf-re- spect ax a'fulfiller of capital obliga- tions, and to bulld up the capital of today, in which every American has a proprietary interest and in respeet 10 which every American mow feels a proprietary pride. Will the nation repudiate and de stroy its legislation which duced such results?