Evening Star Newspaper, March 9, 1923, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. o itooetutn /st S WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY .March 9, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES......Editor The Evenifig Star Newspaper Company Iul-—mou'e:.' Juh 8t. and Pecnayivasis Ave. The E; 3 T EiriSt e i S, 8t 80 cents per month; datly only. 48 cente pov B et Sl e ot 8000, Cotlvcrion ts” made’ by esrriers ot 36 ead of each month. — Rate by Mall—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1 yr., $3. ity only. 1y, Bunday only. Member of the Associated Press. The Aswociated Press fs exélusively entiffed %o the use for republication of all mews R Ty 1ished hereln. % oe:llbl’l'fll All Eecisl Siupaiéhes Nerels ure slsh rosorved. The Poison Traffic. In legislative actlon already taken or about to be taken whereby the sale of polson liquor which causes death is to be punished as murder or manslaughter, flve states of the Union Lave taken a long stride toward up a monstrous and dan- gerously prevalent traffic. The sale of liquor in any form is a degrading and illiclt practice under the existing laws of the nation, But such ad- Jectives become inadequate when ap- plled to the man wty, pandering to uncontrolled appetites, deliberately places in the hands of anothet a dead- 1y and skillfully disgulsed poison with the exhortation to “drink hearty.” The prevalence of this murderous traffic throughout the nation may be estimated from its demonstrated prev. alence here in Washington. Some months ago The Star, in a series of special articles, undertook to apprise the local public of the menace to which any purchaser of bootleg liquor subjected himself. The campaign, which included photographs of bottled poison then being sold as liquor, to- gether with 4nalyses of the same, and indicated the ease with which the paraphernalia incident to disgulsing poison as bonded whisky, gin or liquers could be obtaified, was pro nounced to be a material assistance by the local enforcement agents. Yet the polson traffic, here as eise- ‘where, continues. Its extent s, to all intents and purposes, the extent of bootleg liquor traffic. Prohibition of- ficials are authority for the statement that they have attained a nearly com- plete control over the sale of genuine Yiquors. It is the fake product, the stuff manufactured and disguised near 1o the area of distribution, which baf- fles them and is today doing its dead- ly work throughout America. For every drink of such material is polson to a greater or less degree. Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan and Towa are to be congratulated upon thelr logical move toward breaking up the poison traffic. The first conviction obtained under the laws in question will mark the beginning of the end of fake liquor sales. The District of Co- lumbla would welcome the addition of such a law to its statutes, Trash Fire Dangers. The trash fire tragedy should carry its lesson. The fate of the unfortunate victim causes profound grief to her family and friends, and the aceident should be a warning to many persons. There is always a great deal of neces- sary cleaning up in spring. Grass plots and other bits of ground are burned over and fire is set to rubbish pilee. These fires are interesting affairs. They are in the nature of bonfires, and the bonfire for time out of mind has ‘been an interesting thing to humans. There is‘always danger In the trash fire. Children play around and some- times thelr clothing catches fire. ‘Women of the household often take a hand in collecting the litter and in heaping it on the burning pile. There 1s always the chance that a woman's dress will catch fire. There is also the chance that the fire will get out of hand. There will be hundreds of these trash fires this spring, and great care should be taken against injury to per- ®on or property. ——————— England is no doubt remembering the pertinent lines of her poet son, John Gay: “Those who in quarrels interpose Must often wipe a bloody nose.” ——————— A German wireless station says that Paris interferes with its dbroadcasting of *“Deutschland Uber Alles.” Even in the air they find it difficult to put that sentiment uher. ——— Puebiv inwans are forbidden the #nake dance, but the “smart set” re- mains free to go the limit. It {s st Poor Lo. President Harding finds Florida’s greatest solace is that the office seeket troubleth not. v . ———— Balfour Versus Harvey. A few months ago the joint debate being staged by the Barl of Balfour and Ambassador Harvey on the sub. ject of Britain’s debt to Ameriea might have been productive of great harm. Conclusjon, of negotiations for funding of the debt now have rendered the topic largely academic, and if there is irreconcilable difference of opinion ¢n the subject it will be with- eut practical effect on relations be- Stween the two countries. . Lord Balfour oontends that Great Britain was forced to borrow money from the United States only beosuse of British loans made the European allles; that had she not been called upon to extend this help she would ‘have been able to finance her own war,, neceesitles. That is & statement no one probably will care to dispute: Some of these loans were made in the early part of the war. Had the war was Decause the war was unexpectedly prolonged and costly that Great Brit. ain, finding herself ov(rextonded by reason of loans to the allies, was com- pelled to come to this government for money. Many & perfectly solvent busi- nees concern is forced to borrow money because of unexpected demands in a time.of overextension. But no business concern ever pretended that such borrowings were on & peéculiarly different basis from loans contracted under ordinary circumstances, or that such loans were not made to it, but to those to whom it loaned part of the proceeds. But if it is helpful to British esteem to paste an altruistic label on that country’s debt to this, we should not be greatly concerned. The essentlal fact {s that Great Britain intends to Pay & debt that, so far as we are con- cerned, is solely her own, and not the guaranteed debt of somedody else, and that the American government has shown every reasonable consideration in, arranging the terms of payment. To this latter fact even the Earl of Balfour pays tribute, amerting that the. “uncontestéd and incontestable” rights of the United States could not have been enforced in & manner less likely to injure the happy relations which prevail between the two peoples. The Clerks Carry On. ‘Washington in the doldrums; 'tis a md picture in spots. NO flag files over the White House, betokening the presence of the master. Bare are the staffs over the House &nd Senate wings of the Capitol, and the tiled corridors echo only to the féet of an occasional sightseer; for even the sea- son of bridal couples has not set in, and the guides sigh in vain for the sight of hand4n.hand shy swains end sweethearts. In the office buildings on Capitol Hill spcretaries @nd clerks are tear- ing up files of two years' acoumula. tion, ruthlessly destroying ¢ommuni- cations held invaluable up to the point the last chest can hold no more. These are getaway days for the stragglers after the main body has flown home. ward. In the departments officials and undersecretaries, chief clerks and heads of divisions are no longer button- holed by the pestiferous congressman doing odd jobs for his constituents. Nine months without Congress! How can {t be, after a0 many years of almost continuous presence of the august body in the capital? Maybe they ‘can live througX the recess, is probably the consoling thought of most of the officials staying on the Job in the executive déepartments;any- how, *they will try to survive. Wash. ington has become 80 used to being the focal point of the map in recent years that perhaps there is a tinge of jealousy in the possibility of sharing the spotlight. Yet the great mill of the depart- ments will go ahead grinding out busi- ness for the benefit of the nation at large. The government of the United States is the largest going concern in the world's business, and if the legis- lative dranch suspends temporarily the plant continues to function. There is not & hamlet in the country-wide that is not in some way affected by the operations and administrations of the departments in Washington. The per- severing Joyal women and men who operate the departments keep ever- lastingly at it, end the mass of their endeavors is titanic. They have one thought to cheer them, however—that if the Reclassi- fication Board maintains the stride it has struck they can look forward next year to reaping benefits well earned and too long deferred. So it is back to the desk for them to keep up the lick. They are &8 much part and parcel of the government as any con- gressman, and form essentfal links in the chain of governmental effective- ness. Russian political exiles are ready to co-operate with the bolshevik gov- ernment whenever it recognizes pri- vate property rights and guarantees it will cease to be a bolshevik govern- ment. These are the days when a fellow hardly knows whether to make a date with his girl to go canoelng on the Potomac or skating on the basin. French soup kitchens are becoming popular in the Ruhr. French cookery may win where their bayonets have fafled. The “wireless battle” between Ger- man and French broadcasting stations is a sané substitute for more perilous frenzies of patriotism. ‘The réparations muddle lends force to the contention that debt is at once the child and the parent of folly. Compulsory Registration Tags. | The compulsory registration of out- of-town cars in the National Capital, with the proposed metal registration tag, has brought criticism from motor organizations and from certaln mo- torists in the. District. They claim that the plan savors of *“Prussianism” and war-time methods of examination; that it eériously endangers local re- ciprocal relations with other states, and that it annoys end harasses the legttimate visttor. Proponents of the plan claim that it renders valuable assistance to the policé department in the checking-up of all,cars in the city and that in case an out-df-town car figures in an accident the police are in a position immediately to identify it. - They also claim that many Washingtonians are “taxdodgers” in the matter of auto-|Of big improvements they'd some day | “Secretary mobile licenses and that in many casés cars with outoftown tdgs are, in cars belonging to~ District residents: 5 The real “taxdodger” should be ap- prehended. He ehould be mede to buy his tagsin Wadhington if he drives his car here. He should not be al- lowed to buy tags of other states to avold buying e District and Maryland tag. If this plan is the most effective for his apprehension it should be con. tinued, but if some other plan can be devised which will deal effectively ‘with the local man and not embarrags the legitimate visitor it should be substituted. who Buys ome to swindle the District, §f, reciprocity is grant$d with Mary He can then purchase the looal se and travel anywhere in the United States. Jhe visitor to the city should not be made to suffer for the delinquency of the local dtiver. He 'should be treated with all courtesy and consid. eration, and it is unfortunate that the present and proposed regulation in. cludes him in its attempt to get the local “tax-dodger.” When reciprocity with Maryland comes, which is an event of the near future, the main cause of avolding the purchase of a District license tag will be removed and perhaps other regu- lations can be worked out for the out- of-town driver which will be less irk- some; but until then, if compulsory registration s necessary to meet the situation, it should have the support of local taxpayers. ——————— uan. Prompt defense of the Occoquan workhouse or work farm comes from social service workers acquainted with conditions at the farm. If there is need for an investigation it will be ordered by the Commissioners, but it would seem that thers is some mis- understanding or exaggeration of al leged evils at Oocoquan. ‘The District has believed that it has there a model penal institution, where prisoners are given plenty of wholesome food, where they have a comfortable place to sleep end where each convict has & manual task in the open Air suited to his capacity. There is no reason to change that belief. There has never been & penal or correctional institu. tion that has not been the subject of attack. In many instances the attack has been justified, but in most cases the contrary has been found. Often the attack or criticism is due to good motives. Sometimes a visitor, moved to compassion for prisoners, feels that not enough is done for their welfare, and exaggerated tales of evils at the institution come into print. Perfection is as hard to attain in running a renal institution as in doing other things and the best to be hoped for 1s an epproximation of perfection and that the bodily and spiritual needs of prisoners will be well taken care of. When the change was made from the old lock-up workhouse to the present work-farm system it marked a great advance. Not long ago workhouse con- victs, or the “chain gang,” worked on the streets, under supervision of armed guards, and returned to the locked-in cells after the day's work. The penal farm was a change for the better, both for prisoners and the public. Very little, it any, complaint has been heard that prisoners at Oc- coquan are underfed or overworked, and there are no charges of brutality toward the convicts. The work-fatm is probably not a place where virtuous citizens would choose to spend & va- cation, but it 15 to be accepted as a fine penal institution until the con- trary 18 proved. —————— The Central Union Mission is pla ning, in connection with its bullding campalgn, to eell bricks for $5 apiece. According to what the contractors tell us about bullding material prices they may have to take a loss at that. ——————————— The Chicagoan who made two un- successtul efforts to drown himself be- cause of an unfortunate love affalr should henceforth adopt as his slogan that gallant phrase, “You can't keep a good man down. Is it just coincidence that the earliest date set by republican Treas- ury officials for a possible break in the nation’s business revival is 19247 SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. A Sense of Bereavement. 'Tis true the buds will blossom soon, ‘With fragrance soft and sweet; 'Tis true we'll see the golden moon In radiance complete. i H personal liberty. When it does that | But, though the joyous bird will frame | Diversified Views on Harding Its "customed matin’ lay, The country will not seem the same ‘With Congress far away. And we shall see the base ball nine For glory oft compete, - And the electric lights will shine Adown the stately street. But though men hail with loud ao- claim % The circus bands that play, The city will not seem the same ‘With Congress far away. B Aye, we may don our Easter gurb, And wéar & springlike smile; But there will be & loneliness ‘Which nothing can begiille. And though we speak in persifiage - And carol songs tull gay, ‘Wé cannot carol from our hearts, ‘With Congress far away. At the Crossing. Now, man he hoppeth Itke a flea, And feareth for his life, And raileth loud since he myst be In such a vale of strife. He pulleth o'er his ears his hat, And holdeth tight his breath, And acteth like e person that Is going to his death. ©Oh, wherefore déth this person drop Into & mood so N7 Because the cars will never stop Just where he thinks they will. The. Drawback. 1¢ 1 didn’t have nothin’ at all t6 do, There's lots 0" schemes that I'd soon put through. 1'd turn my lelsure to good account An’' s'prise the neighbors by the amount view 1t T &idn't have nothin’ at all to do, I¢ all this work I could clear.away ‘That haunts an® holds me from day to day, = T'd buckle down with the best of cheer, Ackeepin’ busy the livélong year. 1'd shew 'em things that they never knew % 1t I didn’t have nothin’ at all to do. But where's the use? Wheh I look around, So many tasks in my way abound That I clean give up an’ my spirits sink And I can’t do nothin’ ‘But sit and think \ gm—uflm T4 parsue &’ mwunru “0Old Home Trees” Again—Civil War Forts—Artificial Rainstorms An edfforial printed mot long ago in The Star on “Old Home Trees, touching in a general way on pecan, fig, mulberry and other trees growing near Washington, has elicit. ed letters asking for more spe- cific information. Up to the time of the civil war fig and pecan trees were numerous In the gardens of Washington and Georgetown and on farms in the Potomac and Patuxent valleys. It is not {o be expected that any one should know all the places where these trees are growing today any more than that one man should know all the places where bass ere to be caught, or where pepaws are to be gathered in the fall. ' In the matter of fig trees there are some growing inside and outside the Iron fence surrounding the monument on the site of the house George Wash- ington was born in between Popes and Bridges crecks in Westmoreland coun- ty. These are no doubt offsprings of fig trees that grew near the house when the Washingtons lived there. A colony of fig trees grew near the ruin of the Fairfax house on the old Lee property of Leesylvania, on Freestone point, at the confluence of the Poto- mac and Neabsco creek. A fig bush grew for many years in the rear of the Tracy house on I street, which was taken over by the City Club, and the club took pains to “‘spare that tree.” A fig tree grows Ih the back garden of 3147 19th street northwest and bears fine fruit every autumn. No doubt hundreds of fig trees are growing in the District. In the matter of pecan trees two very old and large were growing a year or 0 ago, and very likely still are, on the former Rozier farm on the Maryland side of the Potomac about & mile south of the District line. Pecan trees grew on the farm called Bryan Hall bDetween Surrattsville and Pls- cataway, ‘but it may be that those trees have passed away. Black mul- berry trees, native to this region, may be found in a number of places. Up to & few years ago two very old ones were growing on the Talburtt farm on the Eastern brangh. There is & grove of Kentucky coffee trees at Ripon Lodge, on the Wash- ington-Fredericksburg automobile road betweén Occoquan and Dumfries. In the matter of holly drives there is a relic of & once filne one near the O'Hare house off the junction of the Riggs and Blair roads near the site ot Fort Slocum. There is a splendid holly drive at Montpelier, the old Snowden estate In Prince Georges county, and the relic of a long holly hedge on the property of the late Ad- miral Ammen at Ammendale. Old “cherry walks'” are numerous. L ‘The Btar not long ago published an article on the civil war forts and fort sites in and near Washington, saying: “In connection with the revival of the plan for extending the highway sys- tem of the District through the sites of old eivil war forts encircling Wash- ington, it was revealed today that the coast and geodetic survey has records pertaining to the location of the forts, many of which have been virtuaHy ) lost sight of, enabling the survey to establish accurately the position of the historic sites” Military maps made by the Engincer Corps of the Army, and which are preserved, show the location of all the defenses of ‘Washington, and the reports of Gen. J. G. Barnard give a technical descrip- tion of most of the works. The forts built first were those at the Virginia end of the Long and Aqueduct bridges and on the ridge west of Alexandria. These were hastily bullt and later enlarged and strengthened. The crossing of those bridges dnd the landing at Alexandria were made by Union troops early in the morning of May 23, 1861. Earth- works were later bullt at & number of places generally overlooking the principal wagon roads leading into Washington from Maryland and Vir- ginia. ‘The Secretary of War, October 25, 1862, appointed @ board to examine and report upon a plan of the present forts and sufficlency of the present system of defenses of Washington. That board consisted of Gens. J. G. Totten, Montgomery C. Meigs, W. F. Barry, J. G. Barnard and G. W. Cullum. From the few works covering bridges, roads and few other points was developed a connected system of fortification by which every promi- nent point st intervals of 800 or 1,000 yards was occupled by a fleld fort, avery important approach or depres- sfon of ground unseen from the forts was swept by & battery of fleld guns and all these positions were connected by rifle trenches, which, Gen. Barnard says, “were, In fact, lines of infantry parapet furnishing emplacement for two ranks of men and affording cov- ered communication along the line,” while roads were built wherever neces- sary that troops of all arms could be moved rapldly from one point of the periphery to another and under cover from any position that the enemy might occupy. P We are hearing again of artificial rain, Perhaps rain will be forced or coaxed to fall, droughts will be broken and wilted crops be saved. That is, if there are clouds nearby, for clouds are necessary In the new rain-making process. With a cloud at hand it can be forced to give up, or give down, its moisture. Years and years ago men used to bombard the sky for the purpose or with the hope of causing rain. If rain fell within @ week the bombardment was a success. If it did not fall In time to save the crope the bombardment had not been continued long enough, or there was something wrong with the powder. The theory was based on the fact that many battles were ac- companied or followed by rain. Bat. tles were also preceded by rain, but it was the rain that followed battles that counted. Meteorologists, measuring the average time between rains in spring, summer and fall—which were generally the seasons in which old- fashioned battles were fought—said that the rain would have fallen if there had been no battle. The new idea is to go up in an eir- plane and attack a cloud from above. It is surely a fact that clouds never thought until & few years ago that & man would get at them from that posi- tion. It is seriously and credibly re- ported that “precipitation has been caused and clouds have been made to disappear in a series of experiments conducted at McCook Flying Fileld, ac- cording to announcements made by Prof. Wilder D. Bancroft of Cornell sniversity and L. Francis Warren. The experiments were made with the co-operation of the Army air service.” It 1s said that the clouds were made to disappear and precipitate their moisture by the dropping of electrical- 1y charged grains of sand upon them from airplanes. A good many scientific achievements are announced that do not achieve, and an anxious people will watch for more tnformation about changing clouds into rainstorms by sprinkling them with electrified sand. The world moves and science goes marching on. | EDITORIAL DIGEST Cabinet Changes. Although thé political tinge enters into the general discussion of the latest changes in President Harding’s cabinet, there is a general sugges- tion that, so far as Dr. Work was concérned, he was entitled to pro- motion. “From the public point of view, the changes should work out well,” the New York Tribune (republican) holds, while the Washington Post (inde- pendent republican) feels “two im- portant ends have been accom- plished,” and the Post Office Depart- ment will be “administered by a head who knows what the people want,” while the Interior Depart- ment will be “maintained at its pres- ‘ent high efficiency.” The Brooklyn Eagle (independent) declares: “Mr. New is personally honest and exécu- tively capable. We submit, never- theless, that a cabinet job in Febru- ary for a ‘ticket-knifer’ of the pre- ceding November is going some. Such precedents are like chickens. They come home to roost in the long run.” So far as Mr. Work is concerned, the New York Post (independent) says: “His appointment is & fresh rec- ognition of his qualit; ‘The change strengthens & weak spot in the cab- inet. Senator New is named not be- cause he carried Indlana for Mr. Harding, but because he did not carry the republican primary.” The Baltl- 'more American (independent repub- 1lican) feels that “Mr. Work has views on the public domain and natural re- sources more {n harmony with those of avesage Americans than those of Mr. FAll” while “Mr. New is well tpped for the huge and compli- 3é‘ogpbullnon of the Post Office De- tmeént.” In the opinion of the x:uloke World-News {democratic), ‘Work will more than like- 1y make the ?cp&ruulnt of the In- terior count for more than it h ted under Secretary and ‘80 far ms the new Postmaster Gen- al is concerned, it suggests “the the United States could, of people of ve no. possible objection to ESthis Saverng pothle shicior i | man 'holl; the people of Indiana !“!h Senate. thém in the 5 After reciting the opposition "back home” to Mr. New ‘the Newark News (independent) recalls that “New could have had p cabinet place at the be- inning of*Mr. Harding's term, and, fater, when Wiil Hays resigned. From the President's standpoint what he e duck than to press % along hes wanted and the Indiana elec-. The promotioft a man he all now finds, thanks t torate, ‘disengaged.’ EE SRS resigned. wae &rm as | wort! ow to represent |j Beorstary of the g Becretary. 1 President showed himself loyal to an 0ld friend,” as the Philadelphia Bul- letin (independent republican) sees it, and the promotion of Dr. Work “sat- isfles the political tradition which gives the Interior always to a West- erner. Both appointments “will be com- mended,” the Pittsburgh Gazette- Times (republican) inststs, and_‘for the country it is enough that Pres! dent Harding will have in the cabi- net circles, as he has in the past, men of high character and capable.” The New York World (democratic) feels that “nelther appointment adds strength to the administration. The only way it stands to gain {s through the disappearance of Secretary Fall.” While it 18 a fact that, so far as the New appointment is concerned, ‘“this resuscitation of the political dead will be a bitter pill for a certain element in Indlana to swallow,” the Evansville Courier (independent) feels that, eliminating the _things hind the appointment, “New should maeke a very able executive in the Post Office Department.” It is, how- ever, the opinion of the Wheellng Regfster (republican) that “the cabi- net changes do not appear destined to evoke any greater harmony durin the next two years than has existe at Washington the last two.” This is also the opinion of the Boston Globe (independent), which thinks “the ap- pointment brings no political strength to the net, but rather weakness. Inasmuch as '“the members of.the cabinet are the President's advisers, and his official family,” the Muncie Star (independent republican) feels the President had every right to make the appointments The ~ Springfield Republican pendent), on the other hand, insists that under Mr. New “the Post Office Department will funotion in support of the President. There has not been a President seeking renomination in the past forty years who has not been very materially alded by this great department, in which the postmasters are still largely the political product ¢ our party system.” Dr. Work is “promoted by right of being the dis- covery of the Harding. administra- tion.”” the Cincinnati Times-Star (re- publican) asserts, and is tion of the requirements of the off and the qualification of the man. This also {s very much the opinion of the Atlanta Journal (democratic), and it sees both appointees “of high 90 It 18 the view of the Clncinnati En- quirer (independent) that “there be. no doubt that the President will have stréngthened the ocabinet }J by these nominations.* e 0o Tribune (republican) holds that “the radicals ma: oud and long, but the Presidenteis but following the rules of the game.” Because of the unrest inside of the n.flz it is the decision of the Mil- waukee Journal (independent) that “the new appointments have not add- ed any oll to the bearingsy’ Which brings from the Reading Tribune (in- dependent republican) the suggestion that “Sen~tor New.” the bone of col tention, “has all of thé qualifications for nhn‘\odmu cabinet job.” Direct i the ntat ; the c'n'n'.."-ru-htlnc pourlni in crl ) Plea for Christianity. Decadence of Today Blamed to Lack of Faith in Holy Teaching. To the Editor of The Star. Dr. Percy Btickney Grant, Prote: tant Eplscopal rector of New York city, who has become prominent by his denial of the divinity of Christ and the Biblical account of man’s origin, says, as quoted, that he had “rather be on the upgrade with the descendants of the ape than on the downgrade with Adam as represent- ing the degenerat® son of God.” Upgrade or downgrade: which road is the hugpan family traveling? While the controversy centering around Dr. Grant 1s on, it may be a fitting time to raise this question. If evolution has lifted mankind from the lower levels of life up to the plane of civilized existence, 1t has played a mean trick on the human race by deserting it at this point. For it cannot be denied that history shows a process of degeneracy going on among the civilised peoples of the earth from the very earliest time ‘What has become of the great na tions and civilizations of antiquity? What happened to Egypt, Babylonm, Assyria, Greece, Rome, and-all the rest? They flourished for a time, at- tained power and wealth, then came luxury, degeneracy and oblivion. The great nations of today are going the same course, only at a more rapid pace. Civilization, as represented In Europe, seems bent on committing sulcide. No one will deny that the world is desperately in need today of some uplifting force; but it is plain that evolution cannot be depended on to supply the need. The world cannot ‘wait & million years, or even a thou- sand years, for salvation from the ills which recently deluged it with blood, and have plunged the nations into political, financial and indus- trial chaos. Evolution offers no rem- edy for the hatred, greed and law- lessness which are dragging the world downward into barbarism. It is human nature to want to get something for nothing, and the evo. lutionary hypothesis doubtless ap- peals to some minds because it offers enorrgous returns of conjecture from a trifing investment of fact. But it we are to be guided by what {s ac- tually known in human experience, s far back as the fecords of history £0, must we not admit that the only evolution from a lower to a higher level of life that has ever been witnessed has been accomplished by the workln{ of that mysterious but all-powerful Christianity which 18 based on the Bible declaration of man’s fall in Eden and his consequent need of a Savior from sin? N A. SMITH. History of Old Tree. Mr. Keller Tells Interesting Tr dition of Locust in D. C. To the Editor of The Star: Permit the writer to be given space in your paper for a faw lines concerning the remains of a once flourishing lo- cust tree, the remainder of which ap- pears to have defled the ravages of the decaylng tooth of time. On the west side of 17th street, a few steps trom H street northwest, thers may be seen the remainder of what was once a proud old locust tree, which has been topped. evidently with a view to prolonging Its life. This tree (or what remains of it) was one of those Which were brought from the Holy Land by the late Judge Buckner Thruston of the Circuit Court, who was known as the “hon- est judge,” 1809-1845. Originally, there were two of these trees flank- ing the old red brick house which was occupied by Thruston, the one to the north having been removed when the more pretentious house was erected for the late Mr. Shellebarger, leaving the remaining one standing where it was originally planted. Family tradition has for years as- serted that the trees were obtained by Thruston from beside the River Jordan, and one of the three trees was planted upon the land owned by his father in Frederick (now War- ren county), Va., near the village called Middale, the homestead being known as Mount Zion. The father of the judgeé was an Episcopal minis- ter and figured in the revolutionary war as Col. Charles Wynn Thruston, “the warrior parson.” as stated by Howe in his work vAntiquitles of Vir- sinia.” It strikes the writer that what re- mains of this once proud and stately tree should have its place in & niche in the hall of fame dedicated to the memory of the old trees of our city. | It is not precisely known just when the trees spoken of by the writer were procured by Thruston, whether “dn 1805, when judge for Orleans terri- ry; United States senator from Ken- | to tucky, 1806-9, or during the years in which he served as judge, United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, 1809-45, the presump- tion, however, being that this tree has at least reached the century pe- riod. CHAS. S. KELLER. Likens Pharisees of Old to Reformers of Today To the Editor of The Star: While reading the other night a most exquisitely written book en- titled, “By an Unknown Disciple,” I came across a passage &t page 26 that called to mind most vividly.the reformers and uplifters of our own time, and how in the days of Christ they had their counterpert in the Pharisees of the olden times. The following words, attributed to Christ in the passage referred to, could be said today with fitting pro- priety of that large class of busy- ‘bodies in our own country who are zealously intent upon making all men good by law, but who succeed only in making them most migerable: The Pharisees seek to tle all men down by their own rules,” He sald, and Luke questioned: “Are there to be no rules?” ‘Rules forced upon a man against his will from without must be or his soul is lost,” sald Je the rules to which a man consents within hi 1f can stand. The Phar- isees make for all, and so lay burdens toz heavy to be borne upon the shoulders of men. They do not wish men to be happy” A. S. LANIER. “PDistrict of Jefferson” Urged as Capital Name A concurrent resolution providing for the submission of an amendment creating the District of Jefferson, sim- flar to the District of Columbia, was introduced today by Representative Edwards of Dunklin county. The district would comprise the territory withiff ‘the four-mtle radius ot J‘ho 'he 14w/ 0:&‘0!— T governing t| t he® general E City CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS Eugene V. Debs draws a doleful pleture of John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world, who, Debs alleges, 18 a prisoner in his castle, in spite of, or because of, his great wealth. Of course, the picture is a fake, for Mr. Rockefeller, at the very time Debs grew pathetic, was prob- ably making the eighteenth hole upon a Florida links, and even giving & bright silver dime to his caddle. Nevertlieless, Orator Debs touched upon a principle which is not new, but which has not yet been puné- tured: .Wealth i{s not synonymous with appiness. A scientist of London announces that with radium rejuvenation, the life of man may average 125 years. Owing to a discovery of radium in the Kongo, the market price has Just fallen a little over $29,000,000 a poufd—a sum significantly paral- leling the famous fine of the Standard Oil Company by Judge Landis—hence there is hope that Mr. :Rookefeller may save enough tips to buy a few pounds before he be- comes hopelessly aged. Octogena- rians may become youthful and vigorous; John D. Rockfeller, then, should leap and frollc as & young athlete, and even Ns silver dime tip should become as strong a# & quarter, It s astounding to read of the glands, and now of the radium, which can add decades to life, and never see their pretensions indorsed by the Rockefeller Institute of Scientific Re- search. Science added fifteen years to man's life since 1860; but that was without monkey glands or radium. On with the deomdes; let joy be unconfined! Man may not have de- scended from monkeys -but if the glands and radium hold out he will ascend the tallest tree with the most agile of them. L Is the great law of compenmation operating to offset man's Increasing ability to overcome the reaper, death? While the average death rate has not increased, the rate of births, in America, for the first nine. months of 1922, has been only 22.8 per 1,000 population, as contrasted with 25 during the corresponding' period in 1821, If mankind is going to live longer, is nature going to cut down the supply of new babies, lest we overpopulate the carth? £k % % The secretary of the social wel- fare committee of Winnipeg made a speech in that city a day or two ago, expressing regret that the poor have | S0 many bables, and he advocated making it more difficult to marry. By ralsing the price of marriage, he thinks he will institute a sort of pro- | teétive tariff on bables. Strange idea, since protection is llke charity—it be- gins at home, Why begrudge to the poor the joy of famiiles, since the adage is true, that it is but three generations from ehirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves? Such an embargo would have barred Amer- ica of its rail-splitter, its tanner, and towpath driver; and the White House would have had far less worthy tenants. * ¥ ¥ * ‘The Johns Hopkins University has discoyered another scientific astonish- er. “A day or two ago it startled us with the news of the Wmdwess of white flour in relation to teeth. Now it announces that the United States ls—or are—not America, and we! Americans are only Unistatians, “for | short.” That eounds too much like a rail- | De Forest, Grandson BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. Maurice de Forest, popularly known in London by the nickname of “Tootie,” who has just arrived in America from England on board the Ryndham, has been wrongly de. scribed as “baron.” For he surren dered in 1920 this Austrian title, which had been bestowed upon him by Emperor Francis Joseph in 1899. He is the grandson and principal heir of the one-time celebrated Baron Hirsch, ratlroad buflder, racing man, financier and philanthropist, who, when one of tne smartest clubs In Paris blackballed him, promptly made use of his milions to purchase the superb premises occupied by the club, and to institute measures with a view to canceling its lease. He is chlefly remembered, however, as the !man who built and financed the Ori- {ental raliroads, traversing Austria, i Hungary and the Balkan states to Constantinople, and as the philan- thropist who enabled many thousands of his coreligionists in Russla to emigrate and to settle in_South America, Old Baron Hirsch had an only son, to whom he was devoted, namely, Lucien, and when the latter dled prematurely he adopted not only his natural daughter, but also his two boys. When old on Hirsch died he left the bulk of his colossal for- tune to his widow, who was a sister of the Belglan banker Bischoffsheim. She became very fond of these grand- children of hers, and when she in turn passed away'it was found that she had left most of the property be- queathed to her by her husband, as well as her own wealth, to the two boys, | the elder, Maurice, receiying among other possessions the huge estate of Eichorn, in Bohemia, while the young- er, Raymond, recelved the other Baron Hirsch property of St. Johann, in Hungary. Both boys were in 1899 created barons of the Austrian em- pire, with the name of De Forrest- Bischoftheth, in ition of the enormous charitable bequests of the late Baron and Baroness Hirsch to Austro-Hungarian charities. EE R Maurice married as his first wife the dsughter and heiress of Eugene Letelller, founder and owner of the great Parisian newspaper Le Jour- nal, and widow of Albert Menler, the well known French chocolate manu- facturer. The marriage did not turn out happily, was annulled alike by the ‘courts and®by the church, and thereupon Maurice de Forest took up his residence in England, where he had received his education at Eton nd Christ Church, Oxford. After curing letters of naturalization and 2 commission in the militia, he even- tually succeeded in winning the hand of the Hon. Ethel Gerard, only s ter of the presenty Lord Gerard. It cannot be sald thal this second mar- rage of Maurice de Forest turned out very well. It seems that the for- mer Miss Gerard and her relatives took exception to what they described as his foreign ways and to his alleged inability stom himsclf to English ethics, traditions and preju- dices, in spite of his Eton and Oxford training. Finally, in a moment of aberration, due to her ill health following the birth of her youngest son, she fled to the contfnent, foliowed by one of her most ted admirers, the late :‘:ufidufl: of the ogim mo énd of ) copple of densational law. recel owing to a road stopping point—a unfon stations —but Johns Hopkins can’t tell us where to get off at, like that. Maybe, it the Government takes over the raflroads, we may have to come to it, but until then they can't “unista- tion” us, * % % Scientists tell us that Washing- ton’s street lights are blinding the Inhabitants of Mars, instead of mak- ing a milky way for Washington chaufteurs, At least three-fifths of the beams of the street lamps point upward or toward the horizon and bave no effect whatever In illumat- ing the earth. It is proposed, there- fore, to hang a horizontal ~mirror over each light to reflect the beams earthward. The only objection to the plan 18 that it may attract all the Narclssuses around the lamp-posts Iike €0 many foolish mothe purning out thelr lives in futile fiight. * % ¥ Miss Mabel T. Boardman, on behal? of the Red Cross, appeals for nickels, dimes and quarters, until they amount to $250,000, with which to build a marble edifice in memory of the women of the world war, &s the main Red Cross buflding 1s 2 memorial to the patriotic women of the civil war. Congress has started the fund with an appropriation of $150,000, to waich the $250,000 {5 to be added. Perhaps’ Miss Boardman's suggestion that the butlding he erected with nickels and dimes means a tort of Woolworth bullding for Washington, after the New York model * % % * National Commander Owsley of the American Legion is talking quiter freely of the so-called Americaniza° tion program of the American Legion: just as if the program had been dis- cussed and adopted by the million or more members of the leglon. In fact, it would be difficult to discover any pronouncement whatever that has ever been discussed in_the legion posts by the members. Hence there is a growing feeling amongst leglonaires that no officlal is justified in assuming to express the sentiments of the mass of the organization until the mass has had a voice in indorsing the policies proposed. * X ¥ ¥ In general, the American Legion stands for 100 per cent Americanism, but has not gone on record as to im- migration nor the reform of Ellls Island. Nor has the legion declared that it could or would undertake tq pay the cost of maintaining night, schools or day schools throughout the land. It may urge that the communi- ties sustain public schools, but the egionaires ask, in surprise, how the poste are to take the burden of con- ducting leglon schools, even for so worthy a cause as teaching Ameri- canization to aliens. There are no funds visible for such an undertak- ing. ~All that the legion can do is tu develop public sentiment, to back the cause. P ’ F Senator-elect Edwards of New Jer sey diagnoses the case of congress- men who patronize bootleggers as * the same class with criminals, hu: the congressional offender 1Is the greater. Nothing could do more to undermine respect for the law t its flagrant violation by men who make the law.” Many a physiciur has diagnosed his case clearly, bt his prescription has killed the patfent Because the congressmen and their accomplices. the bootleggers, di ? gard the law—well, that is the la fault, according to Senator Edwarc and he wants to perfcrm a maj surgical operation on the law s will regain its health and the respec even of congressmen. (Copyright, 1023, by P. V. Collins (i of Baron Hirsch. Surrendered Title Given by Austria’ suits. The one was brought by | Knollys, King Edward's secretur: agalnst a London newspaper whi had mentioned without the slightes warrant the name of his then u: married daughter as the lady in t! case. and he newspaper was mulcted well deserved, very R in very hea en, fater on. Maurice d ¢ brought a suit for libel ag:ml:frlc\‘, mother-in-law, the widowed y Gerard, and " her brother, Harry Milner, for having slandered him. In connection with that suit the entire story of the baroness' flight to the Balaric Islands, in the Mediterranean w-g‘algnu; b:gught to light. ving to the prejudice against D Forest, 45 a foreigner, and tha difm. culty of his securing testimony support of his allegatiohs from the Earl of Derby and a number of other Prominent personages in English so- clety, whom, greatly to their disgust, he had subpoenaed, he was unable to establish his charges. A few months afterward, to every one's amazement. 253‘::‘::“ reconciled to his wife. and ce they have b v o veris y have been living t * % k% De Forest, after his marriage, c1- deavored to make a success in politi- cal life. He managed to get himself elected to membership of the London county council, and later on as mem.* ber of Parliament, for the suburban metropolitan division of West Ham But here again he fell afoul of his wife’s tory relatives. For he identi- fled himself with Lloyd George, and became one of the latter's most ag- gressive adherents in the ex-premier's new chancellor of the exchequer’s rev- olutioriary reforms In the own and taxatiog of land. And when, 1 Lloyd George proposed him ard ¢ Winston Spencer Churchill seconded Rim for election to the Reform Club, the stronghold of the liberal party. and he was blackballed there, both of his sponsors resigned, only rejoin- ing the club some years later. During the great war, De Forest se- cured a commission as lieutenant commander of the Royal Naval Volun- teer Reserve, and was also attach but was prevented by his parliamen ary duties from doing_any extensive service at the front. 1 need scarcely add that he has long ago abandoned tho faith of his forefathers, and hus belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, in which his two sons—the eldest of them now eighteen years old have been brought up. Maurice De Forest has a strain of American blood in his veins. For his mother was a Miss De Forest of New York, though no connection whatso- ever 'of the well known De Forest family of which Robert De Forest, the president of the Metropolitan Mu- seum of New York, is the chief. Maurice De Forest and his brother were at Eton and at Oxford under their mother’s name, and when they- o adopted in the first place by Baron Hirsch, and then by his wife, they assumed the baroness’ malden name of Bischoftsheim in addition to that which they owed to their American mother. Indeed, the patents of the baronies conferred upon them by the late Francis Joseph, and since dropped by Maurice, were made out in the name of Maurice and Raymond De Forest Bischoffsheim. Maurice, by the by, rold before the outbreak of the great war the great Bohemian estate of Eichc which' he had inherited from Ba®n ty nt, and although “pilled” by the Club, is a member of the ‘he | Mariborough ~and several other Lon- don clubs character, / of a soclal and political —