Evening Star Newspaper, April 10, 1923, Page 6

JTHE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY........April 10, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES. The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. ‘New York Office: 150 Nassau St. Chicago Ofce: Tower Building Buropean Oftice: 16 Itegent St., London, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning -edition, s delivered by carriers within the clty 8t 60 cen daily only, 45 cents per 20 cents per month. Or- ail, or telephone Main Collection i made by carricrs at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1 $8.40; 1 mo. Daily onl. 1yr., $6.00; 1 mo. Sunday only 1yr., $2.40; 1 mo. All Other States. Dafly and Sunday..1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo,, S6¢ Daily only. .1yr., $7.00; 1 mo., 802 Bunday only. 1yr., $3.00;1mo. 25¢ Member of the Associated Pres: The Associated Press fs exclusively entitled 2o the use for republication of ail news dié- _patches credited ta it or not otherwise credited In this paper and also tl local news pub- dished “herein. Al 1ights of publication of 1 dispatches hereln are also reserved. = : Revaluation Decreed. The Supreme Court of the United States declares invalid the section of the public utilities law which makes it the tribunal of final resort in the valuation of public utilities for rate- fixing purposes; but sustains the re- viewing Jjurisdiction of the District Supreme Court and the Court of Ap- peals. This decision sends the case back to the Court of Appeals, as if no appeal to the United States Supreme Court had been made. The Court of Appeals decision, which is thus by indirection sustained, reversed the decision of the District Supreme Court sustaining the valua- tion of the electric power company made by the Public Utilities Commis- sion. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court (and the Utilities Com- mission) erred in not ascertaining the value of the company as of “the time of said valuation” in accordance with the direction of the law. The commis- sion had found the value of the prop- erty as of July 1, 1914. The date of the valuation was December 31, 1916. The uncontradicted evidence showed, the Court of Appeals says, that there had been a sharp rise in values between the two dates. The Court of Appeals hold: hat the present cost of reproduction is one of the necessary elements for con- sideration along with other relevant facts in fixing the fair and reasonable value of the property. * * * It fol- lows that the decree must be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.” Evidently a revaluation of the prop- erty must be made on the corrected lines laid down by the. Court of Ap- peals. The impounded funds must apparently be held until the fair rate of charge based on the corrected valu- ation is finally ascertained, and is com- pared with the rate that has been ac- tually charged and collected. The making of the revaluation and the struggle over it in the courts will clearly spread over a long period. As soon as Congress is in session the capi- tal community should press its legisla- ture to cancel the legislative prohibi- tion of the employmene of special counsel by the Public Utilities Com- mission, and to appropriate to pay sioh counsel. The motives of Congress iy, ‘énacting this prohibition are not wisely or justly to be slurred. But Comgress and the capital community wish only American fair play between the Washingtonians who own stock in the electric company and the other more numerous class of Washing- fbAians who pay for electric light and power. It is in the interest of fair play and the welfare of the community as a whole that the District's able counsel should in the revaluation proceedings be reinforced by special counsel au- thorized by Congress. No Changes in the Post Office. The new city postmaster, William M. Mooney, who takes office in suc- cession to Mr. Chance, announces that he does not contemplate making any changes among the administra- tive officers. In connection with this announcement he speaks of the offi- cféncy of those who are to be his as- sistants and of the fact that they have come to their supervisory posi- tlons by “working their way up.” It was expected that a man who has been 80 long in the postal service as Mr. Mooney and who understands what experience and team work count for in handling the mails and in di- recting the men who actually handle mail would deliver himself of an ad- dress of this tenor. It is pleasant to hear him say it. The Washington office has been in good hands, is in good hands and will continue in good hands. The people of the District wish Mr. Chance the best luck in the business field; they wish the best luck to Mr. Mooney, who takes office on May 1, and extend their best wishes to Assistant Postmaster Haycock, who 18 now in charge of the office. ——— Obregon asserts the Mexican consti- tution is a better document than the treaty of Versailles. Is that the best he can say for it? —— Could the value of the recent dis- coveries made by Harvard astronomers on the Bruce telescope be described as largely nebulous? ' Lamp-Posts. ' *There may be a lamp-post war. Very 1ikely the average man has no idea of the seriousness with which artists and certain of the municipal authorities g0 at this lamp-post matter. To most persons a lamp-post is only a lamp- post, the main mission of which is to sustain e light that will do something toward driving gloom and shadow from the street at night. To many other persons & lamp-post must not only perform this function, but must «lso be & work of art. When the pres- ent model lamp-posts were set up we ‘were given many accounts of their grace and symmetry, and most per- .Editor | only serious charge against them is!Britishers cooked up, &nd they" did that the lights they uphold are poor the posts are important, because; they must be seen by day as well as night and should be artistic in design, the light is the main thing. A controversy is on, or threatens to come on, in which the average layman, on whose opinion of art no very high value is placed, would do well not to mix. It is a controversy in which only the artists and the lamp-post specialists ishould have speaking parts. It will be recalled that a good deal of pub- licity has been given to a new model of lamp-post, the design for which was under consideration by the Commis- sion of Fine Arts a few days ago. Reports indicated that the commission thought well of the new lamp-post, and it was said that a favorable re- port on it was expected. The com- mission may make a report next month. Now, however, former District Commissioner Johnston voices vigorous objection, and says that the present modern lamp-posts are highly satisfac- tory from the artistic viewpoint, that other cities have set them up and call them “the Washington lamp-post, that they represent ideas and work- manship of the late Francis D. Millet, a1 one time a member of the Commis- sion of Fine Arts, that to the initiated they are known as “the Millet post,” and that if the District authorities in- tend to stick to a spindle shaft with a globe on top they cannot do better than to retain the present style of } post. Whatever may be the outcome of the controversy Washington is as- sured of having handsome lamp-posts, and perhaps at some time will get everywhere effective street lights. ————————— The Minimum Wage Decision. Yesterday's decision of the United States Supreme Court that the mini- mum wage act of Congress—applicable only to the District of Columbla— and, inferentially, similar laws enact- ed by several states are unconstitu- tional, is the last word on the subject. The restraining hand of the Constitu- tion has been laid upon Congress and legislature alike, and the country will obey. Yet, it is probable that while yleld- ing assent to the legal decision in- volved, a moral sense will continue in those places where the law has been in practice to hold that the principle of the legislation in question is bene- ) ficial and in the interest of humanity, and to carry out the spirit of the law in the treatment of employes affected. All this is now a matter subject en- tirely to the individual pleasure of employers and to the extent to which they are influenced by the moral sentiment of their respective com- munities. In the District of Columbia, for in- stance, it has been established that the community at large favors the betterment of conditions affecting the 12,500 women and minor children and supports the principle of a decent liv- ing wage. The employers, generally speaking, of Washington have shown sympathy with this idea, although there may have been cases where the law worked, to say the least, inequali- ties. 1t fs hoped, and confidently antici- pated, that a friendly attitude toward the interests of the specified employes will be maintained by their employers, even though uncompelled by the spur of the law, and that, no drastic re- ductions in wages ensuing, relations will continue in the main along the lines hitherto stipulated by Congress. —_——————— Potomac Park Barracks. The Potomac Park barracks are to stand. No time has been set for re- moving them, and there is no telling how long they will be allowed to re- main. During the war these build- ings, quickly constructed, were bar- racks for infantry. The word “bar- rack” at first meant a hut for the shelter of soldiers or laborers. Usu- ally such a hut was of tree branches. Then the word came to mean a tem- porary building for the use of soldiers and generally one in which soldiers slept. Later it came to mean a per- manent building for the lodging of troops in garrison. These decaying structures in East Potomae Park were parracks and are now storage places for furniture and miscellaneous arti- ‘gator, and an hour after it arrived it cles used by the departments during the war, but for which the govern- ment seems to have no further use. The structures are already old and ex- ceedingly shabby and are popularly called an “eyesore.” It was hoped that they would be removed as soon as possible after the departure of the troops they sheltered, but the hope {was not fulfilled. They ought to be removed, but let us remember that Rome was not built in a day and that Potomac Park was not made in a day. There are so many things to be done that they cannot all be done at this time. Potomac Park is a beautiful Park and is being made more beauti- ful year by year. The old structures will pass. Hasten the day! ———————— Petrograd is hysterically convinced that the end of the world is at hand. Retribution for the excesses of red Russia will probably, however, be achieved without blotting out the bal- ance of the earthly sphere. P —— The British medium who is credited with foretelling the war in Europe would greatly oblige if she would tell us now when there will be peace. - ————————————— Apparently the league of nations, if some people have their way, is to sup- plant Bryan as the political issue of the next several decades. Rubber Has a Snap Back. One of the characteristics of rubber is that when stretched too far it will break and snap back, with chances that the stretcher will be stung. Brit- ish rubber interests, which had planned so to stretch their control of that necessity that it would pay off the British debt to the United States, are beginning to worry already over the possibilities of the snap back and its unpleasant consequences. They are coming to a realization that the so-called Stevenson scheme for an ex- port tax on rubber sales to foreign purchasers may have the effect of kill- not a little chortling over their own and feeble. This is no fault of the | cleverness. Funding of the British posts. Many persons hold that though | debt to America, with provision for ennual payments, made it necessary that Great Britain find somewhere huge yearly sums. Why not, it was asked, find them in the United States, where huger sums are available than elsewhere in the world? Casting about for ways and means, they hit upon the automobile and its insatiable appe- tite for rubber. The United States has more automobiles and uses more rub- ber than any other country in the world, and has no rubber supplies of its own. The British control a large proportion of the world's output of crude rubber, and in connection with the Dutch they have almost a monop- oly. So it looked like a simple matter to form a combine and compel for- eign purchasers—particularly Amerl- can purchasers—to pay an export tax, thus deriving huge revenues and at the same time fostering the British in- dustry of rubber manufacture. So the combine was formed, the ex- port tax imposed and the British and Dutch sat down to enjoy the usufruct. But their serenity was short-lived. The Americans did not take it at all ac- cording to Hoyle; in fact, were down- right contrary about it. Instead of cheerfully assenting to the program that they should dig into their own pockets for the money to pay off the| British debt to themselves, they began to look around for their own sources of rubber supply, and this looking around met with such responsive en- couragement from Brazil and other countries in tropical America that the British and Dutch awoke suddenly to a realization that they had overlooked a bet. They are in a panic now over thought of what will become of their own plantations if in a few years they lose the American market, which con- sumes 70 per cent of the crude rubber produced. ——————— Treatment for Foster. Organized labor refuses to regard Willilam Z. Foster, central figure in the Michigan communist trial, either as a hero or a menace. In a state- ment given out by Matthew Woll, vice president of the American Federation of Labor, it is asserted that Foster's influence in the American trade move- ment is nil, that “that which he at- tempts to teach is old, tried and re- jected.” Mr. Woll thinks the Michi- gan trial, in which the jury disagreed, had the best possible outcome. He argues that to retry Foster would be to make something out of nothing. ‘Were he to be acquitted he and his as- sociates would set up the cry that their prosecution had been persecu- tion, and were he to be convicted Foster would be heralded the world over as a “martyr” to the cause of freedom of conscience and speech. In having disagreed, Mr. Woll observes sagely, the jury has left Foster no- ‘where. ‘The federation vice president is un- able to subscribe to the belief that Foster is a dangerous radical. “Any one who knows Foster,” he says, “knows that he is simply an oppor- tunist riding on the crest of any move- ment that holds out for the time being an opportunity for private gain and public notorfety.” And he would base future treatment of Foster upon this analysis of the man's character. To ignore Foster now, he contends, is to destroy the great monster that has been made up of mere tissue of capi- talized propaganda. To disregard him is to inflict the greatest punishment that can be given him. —_——— The Pollyanna theory that every creature upon our earthly sphere serves a happy purpose may now be extended to cover germs. It has been discovered that the malaria bug has an insatiable appetite when it comes to paresis germs. ——————————— Somebody sent Laddie Boy an alli- died. The evidence is, of course, pure- ly circumstantial, and Laddie Boy has wisely declined to make any statement until he consults the Attorney Gen- eral. ———————————— ‘With its threats of a “blood bath” for Jews, Austria is in a fair way to alienate the world's growing sym- pathy for the misfortunes of that country. ————————— American claims against Germany amount to a billion dollars—not pay- able in paper marks. —_———— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. An Example. De fros’ come nippin’ in de spring, De white folks, dey turn pale, Each year yoh hears de same ol’ thing: “De fruit crop gwinter fail.” But dat ain’ no concern of mine. 'Tain tetched de watermillion vine. 1 l | Of all the fruits dat grows so sweet An’ temptin’ an’ immense, De watermillion hab 'em beat Foh simple common sense. He won’ staht till de weather’s fine. He's foxy, dat ol’ 'million vine. Dem gemmen out to cultivate De booms for office high, Dey knows it's better foh to wait Until de fros’ go by— Dey's slow 'bout gittin® into line, Jes’ like dat watermillion vine. Modern Measures. Away with the lilies and roses, Away with the birds of spring, Away with a lot of the silly rot That the poets used to sing. For the modern muse cannot enthuse In a mere idyllic dream; She builds her rhymes in these push- ing times On a practical modern theme. l | | So here is for sugar and Standard Oil, And a ballad of railway shares, And a villanelle of the stuff they sell To the lambs caught unawares. Or a sonnet fine on a copper mine, Or a rondeau on real estate, For the bards who sing of the budding spring Are hopelessly out of date. The Course of Events. The world will wake to vernal glee And sing e glad refrain; sons belleve that they made good the | ing the goose that lays the golden egg. | And next the mourntful news we'll see, S@im that they were besutiful. The It was a lovely scheme which the “The peach crop’s failed again.” BY WILLIAM PICKETT HELM. Every day there rumbles out of the Treasury, under heavy guard, a wagonload, or more, of money gone wrong. Over the smooth roadway past the Monument it rolls at eight- nee miles an hour, up the gentle in- cline, around the sharp turn to the left and Into the great white build- ing where the green lights shine at night on Uncle Sam's new-made money and stamps. ‘That brief ride Is Its last. For our money' gone wrong is on its way to destruction. Big bills, little bills, bills of every kind of issue of every denomination, all find their way at last to the graveyard. Most of it is dirty money, greasy and grimy and without trace of the crisp crackle of its youth. All of it is worn-out money. What a tale each bill could tell! Some of it has sped quickly from one spendthrift's hand into another's, gayly, carelessly, without a thought of tomorrow; some of it has known the depths of the saving sock; some of it has meldew- ed through the years spent under- ground. All of it has reached the stage where it must be withdrawn from circulation. The bills have served their purpose. They are destroyed and others issued to take their places. On rush days the load that rolls over the winding way to the end may be split into several lots and may weigh as much as_ 10,000 pounds. Think of 10.000 pounds of greenbacks bound for the graveyard. The money to be destroyed is pick- ed out, generally, by employes of the Treasury as they count it. Did you ever see them count money at the Treasury? “The hand is quicker than the eye” and one cannot follow vis- ually the quick and accurate process. One of the women counting the money may be speeding along when— Flip! " Out flutters a badly worn bill, dog-eared, its fibers broken, its color faded, parted. Then another, and another, and more still. Presently there is quite a pile of such bills, Mostly they come from the south, though other sections contribute goodly representation. They are gathered, placed in bun- dles of 100 and mutilated. They are in bad shape when they are marked for destruction, but when mutilation sets in thelr condition becomes aw- ul Four holes—four wounds that can’t be plugged-—are punched in every bill. Then the poor bill is cut in half. Tru then becomes a fifty-cent dollar, and with two holes in it, at that. great gaping One would think that such a jail dress would bar any bill from min- gling with respectable curre: but not so. On one occasion, a Walling- ford picked up a few bundles of mutilated money, amounting in its EDITORIAL DIGEST Gen. Goethals Sounds Warning Which Should Be Heeded. In retiring from the position of coal administrator of New York state Gen. Goethals made some pointed re- marks which editors generally ap- prove as not only timely but war- ranted by the facts. They insist that the lesson of the last twelve months, characterized as ‘“coal's worst year" must be learned and that a similar situation never again must be per- mitted In this country. Regardless of Goethals or any other element in the case at the present mo- ment, the N y declaring, what shall be {ts epi insisting the only be result will be “only if, applying the lessons it has taught, we make sure that the nation shall neve in face such another. Gen. Goethals, retiring as New York fuel aiministrator, sayvs we need close federal control. He probably voices a common conelusion. Even so, methods and means are to be found. But the main need is a lively public demand, not to be lulled into forgetfulness by the happy warmth of summer, that the coal dis- ease of the nation be cured. If that demand is strong enough, persistent enough, determined enough, the coal year that is dead may vet be worthy of a monument—in commemoratio of its contribution to a better future. The Goethals assault on the hard coal barons of Pennsylvania is as- sailed by the Philadelphia Record, which insists six of the nine corpora- tions dominating the anthracite in- dustry are controlled by New York capital and_argues Goethals could and should have reached them under New York law. e have troubles enough of our own,” the Record con- tinues, “without having any unwar- ranted impositions placed upon us,” which impels the Springfield Repub- lican to add that “it must have been an exasperating season for the man who built the Panama canal. But just how, under the circumstances, he Wwould bave dictated to the coal barons Is not made clear. Ho would have had the railroads to dea! with after finishing the barons. If official Washington lacked courage, it can at least be said that it did not attempt to0 much. The net result as of April 1 is a good freeze, the winter's ex- perience, and a federal commission of investigation.” The general did one good thing, though, as the Boston Globe sees his utterances, In that “he does not mince matters as to who is to blame. The administration’s lack of activity in dealing with the fuel famine Gen. Goethals attributes to political cow- ardice. His comment on the mis- handling of the fuel crisis will be echoed approvingly wherever folks who were lately shivering stoop to pick the shale from their grates.” Added emphasis Is laid to his charges by the fact that “he is no politician,” adds the Utica Press. “He is merely one of the capable and practical men the politicians summon when they find themselves in a mess.” Because this is the admitted fact it is the opinion of the Boston Post that,‘the people have a right to expect official Washington to take notice of his blunt charges. There is nothing of the mollycoddle In his statement. Gen. Goethals sees a head and hits it. The President's coal commission might find it most instructive to give the general a hearing. It may be un- timely to prejudge the expected re IN A FEW WORDS r is dead and then efit’ which can The people of America should in- terest themselves in the affairs of the government, not for what the government can give them, but for an give It. L what they con SIDENT HARDING. e have tried the policy of isola- tion and there are signs that we are getting tired of it. Men thought we could have political isolation with- out isolation in trade, but from that e awakening. d—“‘l‘%“és‘l’sE‘{lT LOWELL (Harvard). o “rum-running” fleet exists only 1 e minds of the bootleggers. They concoct these tales of long, low, Takish craft in order to dispose of Their doctored, synthetic overnight Staff to an amazingly gullible public 3s “real imported” liguor. ' COMMISSIONER HAYNES. ral forces of our country l;l;h.nez.(?ed as much dtoéijly :9'11“" ‘ces were neede: n 5 G —GEN. PERSHING. its usefulness obviously de-| v the dollar, prime to $66,000, and faded quickly from the spot. = Later he tried his hand at passing some of bis crippled currency. He was detalned. Politely, at first, then forcibly. His detention ripened into a seven-year sojourn at Atlanta. Another time a man tried to have a mutilated bill redeemed at the Treas- ury. He explained that he found the bill on Pennsylvania avenue. Maybe he did, but aside from considerable trouble, he didn’t get anything for it at the Treasury. It used to be that dirty bills were laundered by the government, but all that has been changed. The govern- ment has gone out of the money- laundry business. The money marked for destruction is taken, after mutilation and halving, to the bureau of engraving and print- ing, where it is placed In a macerator especially designed for its peculiar task. A group of officials known as the destruction committee superin- tends the work. Some of the money—the bank notes _is destroyed at the Treasury, but most of it goes into the macerator. A queer machine is the macerator. Although a large closed metal cylin- der, it is first cousin to a vat. It has cruel knives which revolve and cut the bills into small bits. While the knives are getting in their fine work hot water, soda ash and other chemicals and compounds, having beon previously introduced into the macerators internal econ- omy. act as reinforcements. The money may have becn misspent quring its life, but It never roceived treatment the like of that. The demo- cratic dollar bill mixes in a perfect blend of soupy texture with the aris- tocrat of four or five figures Al identity of the various billa is The macerator is closed a4 up for twenty-four hours, its knives and s y. Then it is opened. If there is the slightest recognizable thing left other than pulp the macerator is locked lagain for several hours more. When the job is completed it is a thorough job. All this is done with the greatest c: Although these macerating ma chines are somewhat like the ma- chines used in paper mills, the pulp- ing of old money and the pulping of old paper are vastly different proc- esse The pulp has value when the macer- ator's work has ended. It 13 used for making cardboard. Relief maps and the familiar models of the Washin ton Monument, pucchased in the city sauvenir shops, in some instances are made from the pulp of old money. In the open market it fetches a price tof about 2 cents a pound. Recently the forest products labora- tory of the forest service has begun an investigation of possible methods of removing the ink from the pulp, S0 that its value as a base for paper may be ablished. A consignment of 150 pounds of pulp w: sent to the laboratory the other day. 1 asked one of the officials the worth of this consignment. “In_its form as pulp.” he replied, “about $3. In its original form as currency, about $2.500,000.” of the commission, but it is not alr to expect an answer in that report to this direct charge of goug- ing and that further charge of cow- ardice both so boldly made.” fully meets the approval of W s-Barre Record, which reiterates that the government must act strenu- ously to prevent another such ex- perience, because that “it is incon- ceivable that millions of people should ain be plunged into fearful anxie nd suffering. If the two sides can- not settle differences that may aris {1t will certainly be the duty of the federal government to take the affair in hand. ‘The charge that the ‘“Interstate Commerce Commission did notht prevent cheating and gouging” one for investization, the Buff News insists. “The fideral govern- ment has tried to keep out of the coal business. It has left to the operators and the miners the adjustment of af- fairs. But if things are in the con- dition they are represented to be by Gen. Goethals, the government can- {not hold off longer. If the coal in- | dustry will not put its house in o | de then Congress must set up ma- ichinery for proper control. The pub- |lic cannot be left to the tender mer- | cies of the operators and the miners. | The public should not continue live in the fear of being frozen ou | The general “has performed a pub- lic service well worthy of the fame and achievements of the builder of the Panama canal in his rcbuke of the private greed. the legislative in- adequacy and the spinelessness of some of the officials in Washington which made the coal famine assume famine intensity.” the Buffalo Times points out. 1is statement is a warning against letting the condi tions continue which have made the fuel situation during the recent win ter a public tragedy., His comments exemplify both reproof and construc- tiveness—he diagnoses the disease and points out the remedy.” The statement by Gen. Goethals that “there {3 no job which 1 have ever taken - greater pleasure in_quitting brings from the socialistic New York Call the retort that “he may be a: sured that this pleasure is shared by many others. Both the federal gov- ernment and the state government did nothing more than offer gestures in the matter that involved the health and comfort of millions of people. In winding up their affairs it would be well for them to report, if figures are available, how many people died of neglect, incidentally Informing us what profits the masters of the coal industry have accumulated since the coal industry was made safe for the Capt. Kidds who own them. Death and dividends always go together.” The general “isn’t the first man who has said these things suggests the Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune, *but he 13 possibly one of the best quali- fied to say it advisedly. Certainly he has qualified amply as an expert in economic engineering and govern- mental supervision. By the same token Gen. Goethals will be regarded as ong speaking not without author- ity when he adds that the people are constantly ~ being frozen, starved, gouged by extortionate prices and made to suffer by an unequal dlvision of supplies because there Is not enough courage in official Washing- toh to dictate to the coal barons, and, incidentally, to other cormorants, cor- porate and’ individual, who prey on them at will. Not that the head of the government {s not willing and anxlous to mend these matters, but that the bureaus and commissions created to regulate them function for politics and not public policy.” Replies to Challenge of Rev. Father Tondorf To the Editor of The Star: I would like to make a reply to the challenge of the Rev. Father Tondorf in the article on vivisection, which was printed in The Evening Star a few days ago. I take it that the Rev. Father Ton- dorf is famillar with the teachings of | Jesus Christ, as his prefix would im- | ply, and I challenge him to point out one place in His teachings when He glves the strong the right to take ad- vantage of the weak. True, He gives us power and dominion over the birds of the air and the beasts of the fleld, but with this power we are also given great responsibilities. He gives us the power and glory, and how do we use it? We eat, we drink and we are merry, all to an excess, and when our bodies rebel at these excesses we tor- ture and cut up animals to try to find out what is wrong. ‘We are, indeed, a ltflni& people. MARY CLARK. port, sun to is to 1 ; ! | l 'APRIL 10, 1923. THE EVENING . STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, THE WAYS OF WASHINGTON NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM THE FARINGTON DIARY. Joseph Farington, R. A. George H. Doran. Joseph Farington? Painter. Mem- ber of the Royal Academy about a century and a quarter ago. This scant outline would have been about all for Joseph Farington had he not, along with his painting, acquired the habit of keeping a journal. Now the jour- nal clearly proves the man to have been a prime gossip, whatever poster- ity may have had to say about the quality of his art. Therefore, from the tepid interest of a handful of artists in his half-forgotten work Farington moves out here into the open day of general interest and ac- ceptance. For, say what we may, deny it vehemently as we all do, everybody likes gossip. And this Is a natural liking, deeply personal to the individual, since it gives one many vicarious adventures that he does not .possess the courage to take on his own account. Without doubt the psycho-analyst could make it clear that love of gossip does not rest upon a perverse satisfaction over the short- comings of others, but rather that it enables one to envisage and in a sense to embody some of the secret outfarings of his own heart. By way of this book Joseph Farington is sure to come into a certain permanence of recognition and popularity corre- sponding, in a measure, to that of Samuel Pepys. And, like Pepys also, not through his established profes sion, but instead by way of a mere diversion from the routine and ardors of that profession. * ok k% And what, In that long-gone day, could an Englishman have put into a diary that would be likely to prove of intérest to Americans today? What and where were we a hundred and twenty-five, or thirty ears ago? What were our_cont with the English folks who come and go so swiftly and in such numbers here? George 1II was King of England when the diary was written. We had fought a successful revolution. Wash- ington was serving his first term as President. The United States was no more than a sparsely settled line along the Atlantic coast, with only a rare pioneer settlement across the mountains in Kentucky and Tennes- We were farmers and fishermen and small shopkeepers. We had no manufactures. We had only the roughest and most laborious means of communication. We had no litera- ture. We read English books, wore English clothes and still carried the glish habit of mind. In race we re overwhelmingly English, and England was, In many respects, still home and gasier to reach than were the separated parts of the straggling United States. The same blood, the ame speech, the same mental timber and moral fiber, despite the vears and the changes, have perpetuated a com munity of feeling between the t countries that makes England a real part of our o history Therefore, Joseph Farington's book about well known Englishmen reads as one would about our own early celebrities. ts * k ¥ X Naturally, in this diary there is a good deal about the Royal Acad The R. A. formed a large part of the life of Joseph Farington. Not a great artist, this, though he did_do some finely faithful things. Farington was, by nature, a masterful man who came to be something of a di tor in the proceedings of the academy. It is_rather shocking to us now to find Turner and Constable and other famous painters keeping a weather eve out for the favor of the auto- cratic Farington. These records show, amusingly, much concern over pounds and shillings for the transfer of pictures. Either they were more attentive to that point then than we are today, or we have developed a seemly reticence about the alliance of art and the dollar. And they quarreled, those artists did, and looked askance at other theorles a_nrl methods than their own in a quite up-to-date fashion. Now and then here we are permitted to go with one painter or another to great country houses here noble beings, some- times royal ones, are planning to hand themselves over to futurity by way of the usually flattering brush of the artist. The best of these places. so we think, is Strawberry Hill, where Horace Walpole lived. Near his end then, but the old eyes were still shrewd with the wisdom of life, the same crooked mile and stinging words of disillusion. ' After this trip_to Strawberry Hill we take ] the Walpole “letters” again, to retaste their pungent flavors. * % ¥ ¥ politicians, soldiers, artists, rulers and mere men come and go here. Pitt, Fox. Burke, Nel- son, Howe, Boswell, and another and another. One day, with Boswell and Farington, we sit In at the trial of Warren Hastings—an hour or so in that seven-year trial, with acquittal at its end, despite the impassioned hostility of Burke to the defendant. Of Burke, on this particular day, Far- ington says, “Burke was very dull ous. He was abusive, with- wit or entertainment, spoke Statesmen, very uninteresting and dull” Anoth- er side to the elogquent Burke upon whose surpassing _qualities public schools have, since his day, depended for model and emulation. * % % % An Instant of surprise takes one over the fact that things talked about and thought about over a hundred vears ago differ almost none at all from the concerns of the mo- ment—save, of course, those that spring from the amazing march of sclence applied to practical life. The Irish question was as red hot then as it is now. The tariff had its ardent advocates and its bitter op- ponents then, too, all talking pre- cisely as do our immediate econ- omists and politicians. “An acct. was clrculated that Ypres had been evacuated v. the garrison’—no, not the world war, the date is June, 1794; the war, one between England and France. The working folks then were in a familiar brew of discon- tent, with an undercurrent of elght- eenth century bolshevism no differ- ent from our own vintage of that particular ism. Even the dress of the women received attention then, too. “Lady Melbourne brought Madam Recamier, the celebrated Parisian beauty, to Hoppners a few days ago. He does not think she is at all re- markable in that respect. Her dress was very bare, both back & front, but she had a large veil over the head, which she occasionally used as a screen—such {s the latitude of female dressing.” And, to be sure, no gccount .of this period would be quite complete without the story of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamiiton. Farington gives it here in piece- meal fashion—a nibble here, a morsel there—but one finally gets the whole story, which certainly ends in a minor key. ‘“Hamilton (R. A.) came to tea. Sir Wm. Hamilton and Lady— Lord Nelson, several French emigres. Lady Hamilton in the evening dis- played her attitudes. She is bold and unguarded in her manner, is grown fat & drinks freely—" ' Here and there are interesting comments on America, on “the moral qualitiea of ‘Americans,” with war debts still in the balance. It is impossible to men- tion more than a few of the innumer- able topics touched here. But you can see that this diary includes about everything in_English life that was near enough the surface to catch the eye of this conscientious journalist. Lifelike as today, intimate as one's own sult of clothes, haphazard in its course as is any one day of the average man's life. * ok K K Farington suggzests Pepys, of course, - But Pepys has humor, this man has not. He is too serious about himself, too impressed with his own dignity to seo the fun of himself. Pepys is a bit of a sinner. Farington is as upright as a well set post. Pepys is a dramatist— knows the stage business of setting and arrangement and high points of importance. Farington is less keen to these externals. Nevertheless, this is a _most interesting record of the period that it covers. It is hard Iy fair to measure any other diarist by that incomparable and fascinating scalawag, Samuel Pepys. L G. M. CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS Senator Ladd fs an agricultural chemist. For many years he practiced | his profession of chemistry in the North Dakota College of Agriculture. He 1s an authority on fertile soils and pure milk. : During the last few years North| Dakota farmers have given thought to socialistic schemes to cut out mid- | dlemen and make closer connection between producer and consumer. They organized the Non-Partisan League— the most partisan party in America— a farm bloc based on single tax and ysocialism, which took over the state government and most of the powers of the state and county; started a state bank to handle all state and county funds, bought a state mill to grind wheat, and subsidized a string of county papers to grind public opin- lon, and bought or built state elevi tors to store grain. There were other state activities, but practically all failed, banks went into bankruptcy, mills ceased to grind at a profit, ele- vators elevated costs rather than grain, farmers' taxes were increased morethan public service corporation taxes—and then Chemist Ladd, one of the prime movers in the state “econo- mies,” was elected to the Senate. * x k x Now Senator Ladd wants all the churches of Washington and else- where to reform—quit talking so much about religion, for that is too old & story, and take up economics, which he finds more novel and thrill- ing. Recent converts are often most zealous. The senator points to the alleged fact that in Washington 200 churches arc attended on Sunday by a total of 8,000 worshipers, while 40 moving pic- ture houses draw 35,000, That proves, to his mind, the failure of the churches, “Our men in the pulpit,” said Sena- tor Ladd, “need to put more time and energy into a study of the economic |situation now confronting the nation, 80 as to understand the problems of the people to whom they must minis- ter.” * k k% “The church will have no just cause |of complaint of lack of attendance until it preaches great moral ques- tions of the day in an intelligent man- ner,” declares the chemist. Presumably, then, when the preach- ers cease to discuss the sickness of the soul and take up dlagnosis of the ills of statecraft and business and in- ternational diplomacy, they will be offering the hungry public the en- lightenment it needs. Then, if the public fails to appreciate it, so much Ilhe worse for the ignorant public. The preacher will have done his part, and if the public, even then, prefers Jackie Coogan or Douglas Fairban's, they don’t know what's good for them, and well deserve their fate. What the public should crave i{s a pulpit lecture on economics—like a Senate tariff debate. “For strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it.” . * ok ok % It is suggested that only a man Wwho has spent vears of research and study In chemistry Is fitted to teach chemistry. The preparation for the ministry involves as many years of devoted study to the fundamentals of religion as does the study of chem- istry. 1In the final analysis of life, which study s of greatest weight? Imagine a preacher going into the North Dakota Agricultural College and announcing to the assembled classes that what farmers need is not a knowledge of the chemistry of the soil, or of their growing crops, for all that was known of chemistry a century ago is now cast aside as error or half-truth. Not until the college chemist throws out his mortar and pestle and retort, and gets down BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. Capt. the Hon. Inigo Freeman- Thomas, who arrived in America the other day from England to visit friends in New York and Washington, is the only surviving son of Lord Willingdon, governor of Madras, and of Lady Willingdon, who is no other than the “Marie Brassey,” who figures on almost every page of that still popular and fascinating volume en- titled “The Voyage of the Sunbeam in which the authoress, the late Lady Brassey, portrayed the life of her hus- band, the first Lord Brassey, on board what was until the close of the great war, the most famous steam yacht afloat. It was while steaming from Bom- bay southward to Australia on the Sunbeam that Lady Willingdon, when the yacht was two days out, lost her ‘mother in so myvsterfous a fashion. Lady Brassev had left her husband and her daughter on deck to go below for an after tifin siesta. She was in_the best of spirits and in perfect health, while the weather was ideal and the sea as smooth as glass with not a breath of wind. No one ever saw Lady Brassey again. There was nothing to show that she ever reached her cabin. No one heard or saw her fall or jump overboard. Yet she must have done either the one or the other, since no trace of her could be found on the vacht, where the discipline was as severe as on board a man-o'-war and the watches strictly kept. * %k X *x An equally remarkable, though far less tragic mystery of the sea, on an earlier voyage of the Surbeam when Lady Willingdon was on board was the discovery on the surface of the Indian ocean, thousands of miles away from land and hundreds of miles distant from the track of the ocean liners, of a_ beautifully rigged toy sailboat, such as one sees on_ the ponds and lakes in Central Park, N. Y., and on the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London, or on the Round Pond in_Kensingdon Gardens. The boat, without any name of its maker, or anything that could give a clue to its ownership beyond its' American schooner rigging, was sailing along without even any sign of being weatherbeaten. How it ever came there or how long it had been there, neither the first Lord Brassey nor his daughter, Lady Willingdon, were ever able to discover, and it hangs today as one of the strangest of relics from the celling of that perfect museum of curios in his house in Park lane, mostly gathered during the cruises of the Sunbeam and which on his death he bequeathed to his daugh- ter, Lady Willingdon. Lady Willingdon lost her eldest son in the early stages of the great war, in which he took part as an officer of the Coldstream Guards, He, too, like his grandmother, the first Lady Brassey, was reported as ‘“missing,” for he vanished from sight in the battle of the Alsne in France on September 14, 1914. He was last seen leading his company in its attack upon the German trenches, advancing over open ground and under a heavy fire of shrapnel. He was seen to fall, badly wounded, and one of his ser- geants went to his assistance, but was ordered by him to leave him where he lay, and to go on with the remnant of the regiment. * ok K K No trace of him was ever found again, although many thousands of pounds sterling were spent by his parents, and by his grandfather, the first Lord Brassey, of whom he was a particular favorite, in a vain en- deavor to ascertain his fate. He was not discovered among the wounded or to the serfous things of life, such as the science of socialism or the theories of taxation, need they, as farm stu- dents, feel conscience-stricken whes they cut the chemistry lectures. Many a student finds the movie more attractive than a problem of moleculea. * x ox » “It {sn’t enough to know that one mission here in Washington fed 18,000 people in a single year. It's more important to find out why 18,- 000 needed to be fed in a single year,” says the scnator. 1s it not the prerogative of states- men, rather than amateur economists who have spent years in other di- rections, to ascertain the why of cconomical conditions? Even states- men differ much in thefr analyses of such problems; how, then, can preach- ers settle the social conditions which baffle the great of the Congress? And after all, which is the more important—the theory of the why, or the food for the hunger? Go tell the shipwrecked sailor upon the raft that the salt of the ocean came from dis- solved rocks of the mountains. Or throw out a life-line and save him from despair—which act will serve him better? “If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, “And one of you say unto them, ‘Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled,” notwit ¥ not those things which are n the bod. what doth it profit In place of a sermon appealing to men to live true, and in place of food for the body, the senator would give a discourse from the Congre onal Record on the tariff on wheat. e Upon a great marble portico Continental Hall—the headquatters of the Daughters of the American Revo- lution—over forty flags had just be presented to as many troops of Boy Scouts. The boys, dressed in th khaki uniforms and drilled diers, had stood at salute as cited their obligation of p: and loyalty to the flag. Th and bugle call had been giv flags were massed and th were erect, with s ~front and sparkling in martial pride. The flags represe d tokens of appreciation the Boy Scout services at the time o: the disarmament conference, whe they had acted as ushers and a guard of honor. The flags were given by the various chapters of the D. A. R., in whose hall the conference had been held, and the principal speaker after the ‘presentation was the man who had presided over the conference— Secretary of State Charles E. Hughes spirited and eloquent speech tary Hughes expressed the hought that in the midst of the cares which weigh hard upon adults who are active in life's work, it is re- freshing and inspiring to look upon the Boy Scouts, who repre: o wel the pure patriotism, unselfishness and helpfulness on which the future of the nation must rely. There was an earnestness in his de- livery of that sentiment which ca not be so well expressed in type. To the minds of his hearers there must have come the picture. in contrast, of the grafters of the war, and of the recent treason talk here In the capi tal by plotters who openly taug revolution and anarchy. The District of Columbia is proud of the fact that it possesses more Boy Scouts per capita of population than does any one of the forty largest cities of the country. One of the flags—a beautiful silk one—was given in memory of Scout Edward Theodore Comegys of Wash ington, who fell in battle in the gonne ‘advance, aged fifteen. It was presented by Mrs. Larz Anderson, wife of the famous diplomat. Mrs Anderson herself is a croix de guerre heroine of the world war. A hero at fifteen! Boy Scouts are “refreshing” to the Secretary of State in the midst of his cares and grave responsibilities. They are the hope of the nation. (Copyright, 1923, by P. V. Collins.) Son of Owner of World-Famous Yacht, Lord Willingdon, Comes to Washington dead upon the battlefleld, and the then American ambassador at Berlin, James W. Gerard, instituted the most searching inquiries in all the hospi- tals, internment camps and prisons 11 +In Germany on the chance that he might have been picked up by the Germans and carried off into captivity It must be remembered that in th bursting of the shells. many of th attacking party, and sometimes th wounded lying on the ground, were literally blown to pieces to such an extent that it was impossible to re- constitute the fragments of human remains, or to establish the identity of the dead. It is probable that some such cause as this that led young Gerald Freeman Thomas to be first gazetted as “missing.” and then two years later to be judicially pronounced as_dead. His_brother, Tnigo, served during the clos the great war, and who is now twen- ty-five years of age, is the only sur- viving issue of his father who be- longs to a family that has been set- tled for about 130 years in Sussex to enjoy the big fortune derived fro large states in Antigua, and other islands of the West Indies. In fact, Lord Willingdon's family ha been established at Ratton Hall in Sussex, not far from Eastbourne, since the latter part of the eighteenth century. Lord Willingdon's father was an offl- cer of the rifle brigade, and his mother, a_daughter of that first Viscount Hampden. so long speaker of the house of commons, and who was also twenty-fourth Lord Dacre. e Lord Willingdon, who must now be a man of about fifty, is very rich on his own account and also through his mar- riage, and is a great cricketer, having captained both the Eton and Cambridge University elevens. He was A. D. C. to his_father-in-law, Lord Brassey when the latter was Governor of V toria; served as major of the Susse Yeomanry throughout the South Afri can war of a quarter of a century age was raised to the peerage by Edward VII; was appolnted to be a lord-in- waiting to King Georg: on the nomina- tion of Premier Asquith, and has now been serving out in India_since 1913— first of all as Governor of Bombay, with its population of some 30,000,000, and after that as governor of the still more densely populated and difficult Presi- dency of Madras. During this decade both he and Lady Willingdon, the for- mer Marle Brassey of the “Vovage of the Sunbeam,” have entertained with the utmost hospitality, alike at Bombay and at Madras—not merely hundreds, Dbut even thousands of American visitors to India, some of whom will be therefore interested to learn of the arrival of young_Inigo Freeman Thomas in the United States. There are many of the readers of the +Voyage of the Sunbeam"” who will wish_to know what has become of this world-famed yacht of that enthusiastic yachtsman, who founded, edited and published, = regardless of cost, that standard work among shipping men known all over the world as the “Naval Annual.”” At the outbreak of the great war Lord Brassey put the Sunbeam at the disposal of the government, and the venerable yacht and its veteran master were engaged in hospital service across the channel, taking out medical stores to France and bringing home the wounded. Then Lord Brassey took her out for Red Cross work service to the Dardanelles, where she was actively en- gaged in transporting the wounded of the disastrous Gallipoi expedition to the hospitals of Malta and Egypt. Finally in 1917 the old earl, then in his elghtieth vear, navigated the yacht out_to Bombay, and, concluding his yachting_days were over, he made & gift of the boat to the Indian govern- ment for use as a hospital ship. As such she is still afloat, conveying medi- cal stores and the wounded and sick be- tween Bombay and Mesapotamia, or rather, should eay, up to the northern end of the Persian 3 who likewise ng yvears of