Evening Star Newspaper, June 19, 1923, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY....... ne 19, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES........Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Businens Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 150 Nastau St. * "Chieago Office: Tower Bullding. Puropern Office: 10 Regent 8., London, Eagland. The Evening Star, with the Sunday moraisg edition, delivered by carriers within the city at 80 cents per month; daily only, 43 cen sflr month; Sunday only, 20 cents per month. fers may be sent by mail, or telephone M: 6000. Collection by carriers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1 yr., $8.40; 1 mo., T0¢ Daily only. Sunday only. AN Other States. Daily and Sunday..1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 88c Dally only. $7.00; 1 mo., 600 Sunday only. $3.00; 1 mo.. Member of the Associated Press, The Associated Press is exclusively entitled fo the ‘use for republication of all mews dis- atches credited to it or mot otherwise credited n this paper and also the local news pub. lished herein. ~All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. Etna's Eruption. ‘Etna’s eruption promises to be one of the most destructive in its recent history, though perhaps not in terms of human life. It is thus far taking toll mainly of property, the lava flow covering a large area. Three small towns have been completely destroyed, 30,000 people have been rendered homeless. Two separate lava streams are flowing, one toward the sea at Giarre, which has 20,000 inhabitants. This stream is two kilometers wide and fifty feet deep. The other stream is flowing more to the northeast, and at latest accounts had practically sur- rounded Linguaglossa, a city of 16,000 inhabitants ten miles from the crater. This eruption, which is the most se- vere for many yeal started with a violent explosion which sent forth an enormous quantity of debris and at the same time opened cracks in the cone wall through which the lava streams poured. Warnings had been ziven sufficiently, so that the people were out of the range of the first ex- plosion, and there was no such dis- aster as that at Pelee, in Martinique, when the convulsion occurred with such suddenness and force as to de- v thousands. a singular fact that in all vol- canic regions, despite repeated warn- ings and disasters, the people persist in clinging to their homes on the very verge of deadly menace. This is par- ticularly true in Sicily. Etna has erupted many times and has taken tremendous toll altogether in human life and in property, but again and again the people have returned to their little holdings on the slopes. They always seem to think their chances are greater than those of the volcano. They place themselves be- tween the old lava flows and assume the risk of a new one coming their wi But the danger is not alone from lava. It arises from ‘the showers of scoria blown from the great vent by the gas explosions in the nether cham- bers of the earth, from the gas itself and from the finely powdered par- ticles that fall as ash. In the museum at Pompeii are dis- played figures of human beings taken from the ruins there in a remarkable state of preservation. Evidences in- dicate that these people were not killed by the flames or heat from Vesuvius in the grea' eruption that destroyed that city, cated by gas and ashes. In some cases theiy postures are such as to show that they were overtaken by death in their sleep. Vesuvius, however, did not emit lava toward Pompeii on that occasion, and the tually in ashes, At Etna, on this occasion, the erup- tion has been of greater violence than usual, and the amount of lava has been enormous. A stream two kilo- meters wide by fifty feet deep, such as that reported as approaching Giarre, is a tremendous volume of moiten, matter. Millions of tons of rock must be melted in the incalcula- ble heat of the earth’s furnace to form this flow. The spectacle presented by this awful force of nature in activity is beyond description. Those who have witnessed an eruption of this char- acter are never able to reproduce it in words. —————————— There would be a tremendous up- roar if the statesmen who might be considered as democratic candidates were all to speak at once. The year preceding election year is the great season for modest reticence. Many a man has spoiled his chances by calling attention to them. Having fined five German mine di- rectors over fourteen million dollars, the French will proceed with their al- ready difficult problem of making prompt collections. B Soviet Russia is willing for outsiders to take e hand in its finances on cer- tain terms, but encourages no efforts 1o help in its diplomacies. A glance at the files showing last vear's bathing sults warrants the con- fident assertion that this year's will not be any shorter. Howard University Endowment. The endowment which comes to Howard University gives great satis- faction to the friends of this useful and in many ways remarkable insti- tution. Friends of this university are not all in Washington, but are scat- tered throughout the United States, for the institution has a reputation wider than the bounds of the District, and its usefulness to the negro race and its usefulness in that way to the ‘white race are acknowledged wherever the work of the university is known. The money goes to the medical school of the university, which is doing a practical and splendid work in train- ing physicians, dentists and pharma- cists. The negro race has great need for qualified physiclans and dentists. It is hard to estimate the use which the correctly trained negro physician can be to his own people. He can carry enlightenment as to hygiene, sanita- tion and correct ways of living into millions of poor homes which might but were suffo- | was buried vir- ! with otherwise be overlooked and in which the white physician’could not carry as potent influence. The negro physician can do his race and the world ines- timable good In preventing disease, checking it and in healing men af- flicted with those maladies recently believed to be hopel but now classed as curable. The negro phy- siclan ought naturally to get into closer touch with his race than thej white physician can. ‘The medical school of Howard Uni- versity has been doing great service for many years, but this rich endow- ment and the corresponding fund raised” by subscription will enable it to expand and reach a higher degree of usefulness. The school, according to the news, Is-to receive $500,000, half of which was pledged by the gen- eral education board of New York, with the provision that the university ralse a similar sum through public subscription by July 1. The Interior Department, which has supervision of the university, announces that the university has raised $246,940, leav: ing only a trifie over $3,000 to be raised within the time set. The money is not to be all immediately available, but, according to the endowment terms, will become available at inter- vals until July 1, 1926. The spirit which the alumni and other friends of Howard University have shown in subscribing a sum equal to that allotted by the general edu- cation board of New York is evidence of their faith in Howard. —_—————————— Be Careful, Henry. Henry Ford is quoted as saying. "1 have no desire to be President of the United States. I am too much occu- pied with my- own affairs to become the next President, and I do not intend to run. All this you hear about my name being associated with the presi- dency is newspaper talk. There is nothing in it.” : Interesting, but unconvincing, in the face of the propaganda being con- ducted in Ris behaif by politiclans who are evidently not amateurs in the art of skillful management. His state- ment lacks the essense of finality, and is of the stereotyped form of the am- bitious who display shyness at the proper time and want to be “urged a little.” It is a well recognized pre- liminary in the game of candidacy, one of the first steps. The public will so appraise his utterance, stick its tongue in its cheek and wink the other eye. It always does so in this phase. There is only 100 per cent, simon- pure variety of dodging a nomina- tion, and that is by saving, “I will not have it and will not accept it if offered me.” Theodore Roosevelt ap- lied it the night he was elected in 1904. He afterward lived to regret having done so. That fateful utter- ance haunted him later, but it had been couched in such emphatic lan- guage that he could not go back on it So Mr. Ford should be cautious in these disclaimers of candidacy and stick closely to the accepted formula, which leaves the door still open to the possibility of graciously bowing to what may seem to the managers the public demand for a nomination at some psychological moment. He must not hamper them with a chance ex- pression which will leave them out on limb, there to be “‘sawed off.” Royalty and Public Golf. The Duke of York and his bride have subscribed to the new municipal golf course in Richmond Park, near London, each paying three guineas for annual tickets. This course has re- cently been opehed to give people of moderate means an opportunity to play golf at a reasonable cost. So the duke and duchess, if they play there, which is close to their own White Lodge, will have to take their turn the artisans and clerks who throng the public links daily. The present royal family of Engiand is extremely democratic, and its mem- bers Go not “put on side,” though maintaining a proper degree of dignity and distance. The Duke of York's elder brother, the Prince of Wales, is a free mixer and interposes few bar- riers of restraint between himself and the public. A contact between the Duke and Duchess of York and the people on the golf course will be wholesome for both sides. The game is a leveler. Any player who flubs a shot has a strong sympathy for any player in the same class, and any one who makes a good stroke, a long drive or an accurate putt is admired, whether he be in one class or another. There is, indeed, no “class” in golf, that is. in the real game, the game that is played for the | game's sake. There is just one line of distinction, and that is between the amateur and the professional, and it is only a technical line at that. Without doubt the Duke and Duchess of York will have a jolly good time on the course at Richmond Park, and they will be cordially received by the devotees of the ancient game. These young people will probably ask no dispensations or extra courtesies, taking their chances with the others. ———————————— A statue of the late John Wana- maker has met with unfavorable criti- cal comment. The important con- sideration is the sentiment behind the work. It is a well known fact that very few great men can be judged by their statuary. —_——— Any one who doubts that the old Pharaohs were a reckless lot has only to glance at the fashions anneounced for the coming summer. A Flow of Language Lava. Mayor Hylan of New York, secure in his second term of four years, has a way of taking chances in his office as the chief executive of Greater New York, chances that he would never have taken in his first term because an ebullition of official temperament is likely to cost in terms of votes at election time. ‘“His honor” has just erupted like Etna, with a considerable flow of language lava in the direction of the controller of the municipality, Mr. Craig. The mayor and the con- troller have been making faces at each other for some time, and the strain became too great yesterday, when at a meeting of the board of estimates the explosion came. The controller said something about grand larceny, and taking money from one set of = ; ; ' THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, TUESDAY, JUNE ‘19, 1923. e e e A b Aot RSt SN e e e, e e Sttt ) ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic J. Haskin citizens to give it to another set and paying political promises with appro- priations. The mayor sald something about the contioller's veracity, ex- pressing himself in the shortest and ugliest word known for that purpose. The controller rejoined that the mayor could not call him by that word. The mayor demonstrated that he could by icalling him by the same word again. The controller asked the mayor to step outside in the hall and “settle it."” The mayor arose, but not to go outside, and the controller applied the short, and ugly word with embellishments, and referred to certain recent court experlences of the mayor. Friends of the two then got between and checked the hostilities, which finally died away with variations of the “fighting talk" and references to “yellow” and to the propriety of having folks examirfed by allenists, The episode was lively" while it lasted, which was perhaps five minutes. A lot can be said in five minutes, enough to make history. Manhattan's history is full of those peppery five-minute periods. —_———— “Parking.” Growth and change are always go- ing on in the English language. Changes have, indeed, been coming over language ever since men began to write it, and presumably changes were going on before men learned to write it. Here we come upon @ new twist in the words park and parking. “Park” itself is old enough, having meant in other centuries an inclosed piece of private land. Long ago it be- came a military term, and when army wagons were lined up at the end of a day’s march they went “into park.” It became very easy then to say that the wagons were parked. With the automobile “‘park” came into general use, Where to park, at what angle to park, how long to park and where not to park were phrases in every- body's speech. Now it is said that some ocean liners to conform to our prohibition laws are “parking” their liquor at Halifax, and that other ocean liners are using Bermuda as a park- ing station for their stores of liquor. Perhaps after a while the checkroom of a hotel may be called a parking station for hats and coats, and we may see in restaurants such signs as | “*Not responsible for hats and umbrel- | las unless parked.” On the door of one’s hotel room may be a notice that the hotel will not be responsible for the loss of jewelry, etc., unless parked with the cashier. —_——— While abroad Secretary Mellon will study economic conditions. A thorough course of study on thess lines will prevent the journey from being a pleasure trip in any sense of the word. Europe's economic conditions have caused more brain fag than any sub- Jject before the public. ————— Boardwalk strollers express fears of injury by stray shots from craft pur- suing rum runners. This adds a touch of novelty to the numerous perils al- ready in walt for the innocent by- stander. —_——— The fact that there is no limit to the possible iength of a decimal fraction disposes of any apprehension that quotations of German mark values will become too small for mathemati- cal expression. —_——— The idea of holding the democratic national convention in New York city is indorsed by Chauncey M, Deapew. In his genial career, Mr. Depew has not heretofore figured conspicuously as a solicitous adviser of the demo- cratic party. A good booster for the old town does not allow himself to be hampered by partisan restrictions. The farmer, struggling to renew a mortgage, is naturally going to won- der how anybody, even a Wall street broker, can get in debt for as much as $11,000,000. Scientists are now represented as fearing that certain lines of experi- ment are likely to result in an explo- sion that will wreck the universe. At least poor old Wilhelm Hohenzollern will not be blamed for thls catastrophe if it comes to pass. Old John Barleycorn, as a con. sistent mischlef maker, threatens mutiny at sea as well as rebellion on land. Having Jaunched the biggest under- sea ship in the world, England will renew her, assurance to European diplomats that the best way to avoid trouble is to cultivate peaceful policies, SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Fascination of the Obscure. Ofttimes, when life grows grimly trite, For mystery we long; 'Tis then I turn with much delight To some symbolic song, Which, spurning sense and rhythmic laws, ‘Toward the sublime careens. 1 sigh and love it more because I don't know what it means. I journey till my legs are stiff, A catalog in hand, And worship some queer hieroglyph I cannot understand. I seek a foreign bill of fare, ‘Though fond of pork and beans. I love to read what's written there, I don’t know what it means. Whenever some new game comes out I learn each mystic phrase, And am more pleased, I do not doubt, ‘Than one who reaily plays. I'm fond of Latin phrases pat; To slang my fancy leans; I make no choice, provided that I don’t know what it means. A Luxury Missed. The man who never makes mistakes Must forfeit much delight; He cannot feel the sweet surprise Of sometimes being right. A Strange Custom. ©Oh, lady fair, why do you go Unto the matinee And weep, when griefs are plenteous For which you need not pay? % R { find satiefaction In the dectsion, Q. What are the stone markers for that are decorated with flags along the curb of 16th street? O. C. H. A. These are memorial stones for the District boys lost in the world war. They were erected by the American Legion Post and commem- orate only the soldlers who dled or ere killed In service between® April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918. They are decorated each year by the legion on the Sunday before Memorial day, but any one who desires-may place wreaths or flowers upon them at any time. Q. What gardens have taken the place of the war glrden! down on the Speedway? F. 5. A. People were given the privilege of making gardens on the Anacostia flat. long the bank of the Anacostia river. This reclaimed land is very rich. A report will soon be read: which will make a comparison WIIK the Potomac Park gardens possible. Q. In what way are the six marble pillars near the east front ground entrance of the Capitol unique? B. P. s A. THomas Jefferson designed them, using the corn stalk as the motif of decoration. He hoped to establish an order as characteristic of the United States as the Dorlc, Ionic and Corin- thian are characteristic of Greece. There are no other pillars like them. Q. How can golf records be com- pared when they are made on dif- ferent courses? J. K. A. All championship golf courses must approximate certain standar as _to length, hazards, et ords made on such cours: parable to a large degree. although not so exactly as are distance events as funning. walking, swimming and o like. .G What does helium gas cost? A. The government plant at Fort Worth, Tex. is extracting helium from natural gas at a cost of ap- proximately $80 per thousand cubie eet. Q. Can a very young baby hold its own welght by its hands? 3 > A. Dr. Louis Robinson made a se- ries of careful experiments which demonstrated that an weeks old could support its own weight for over two minutes holding horizontal bar. “in many he said, “no sign ot distress is evinced and no cry uttered until the grasp begins to give way.” infant three | Q. What are the cardinal numbers beyond thousands?—G. A. C. A. Those in general use are: Mil- lions, billions, trillions, quadriilion quintillions, sextillion: urtllllnn octillions, nonillions and decillions. Q. What is a star route?—F. G. H. A. The Post Office Department says that & star route is a mall route that is let by contract—usually from a rallroad town to some inland post office through sparsely settled terri- tory. It got its name by the use of a star in the Post Office Departrment records to distinguish it from olhK mail routes. As population grows the territory of these atar routes, rural delivery is substituted. Q. How many cables are ther across the Pacific to the Orfent?— L. E. D. A. There are two. One Is from San Francisco to Japan, and the other from British Columbia to Australla, and thence to the orient. These two cables cannot handle the business to the orfent, and the Department of Commerce has asked Congress to ap- propriate money for another. Q. How much brighter is full day- light than full moonlight? F. M. A. Recent experiments have proved that full daylight §s about 600,000 times as bright full’ moonlight. Q. How were the diamond fields of South Africa discovered? N. P. A. Dr. Silverman of the University of Pittsburgh says that the South African flalsl were discovered accl- dentally by the curiosity of a farmer concerning a bright pebble with which some Boer children were play- ing. The stone subsequently was sold in Pacis for £50 Q. How long does it take to make the best grades of leather in a mod- ern tannery?—J. E. 8. A. The Department of Agriculture says that it takes about 150 days. ! Q. Why are the Stake called?—8. P. A. Various reasons are given for | the name. One is that the name is derived from lines of stakes set up to guide travelers. Another is that | the stalks of the yucca plant found | there resemble stakes. Plains so (Any reader can get any available information by writing to The Star Information Bureau. Frederic J. Has- kin, director, 1220 North Capitol street, Washington, D. C. Advice on legal,' medical and financlal matters cannot be given.) EDITORIAL DIGEST Kansas Industrial Court Seriously Crippled by Supreme Court. When Gov. Davis of Kansas an- nounced his intention of killing the Kansas industrial court there was wide discussion and divergence of opinion as to whether or not he could achieve that purpose. Now, asserts the Brooklyn Eagle, “the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Chief Justice Taft writing the opinion, accomplishes the task for him. The law is dead.” However, there is considerable editorial dis- sent from that conclusion, although it Is generally accepted that the court decislon, as the Knickerbock- er Press (Albany) says, “seems to shear the Kansas tribunal of so much power that it may as well be listed among the experiments which have failed.” Most people, the Pittsburgh Gazette Times thinks, “while deploring another failure to devise a scheme assuring the peace of justice in industrial relations, will and the Boston Globe agrees that al- though the decision “marks another failure to get our industrial troubles ettled by the courts” thete will robably be little regret.” “At the time of its defeat,” how- ever, “it would be ungenerous.” the New York Herald feels. “not to rec- gnize the fine ideal which former Henry J. Allen sought to real- ize” through the Kanras industrial court. That ideal, as the Springfleld Republican expresses it. was the “hope of establishing a definite right of ‘the public in all serious putes between organized labor and concentrated capital.” But “the Su- preme Court, with its fetish of ‘free- dom of contracts,’ bars the way,” the Duluth Herald declares, and “employ- ers who, to be free to buy labor as cheap as they can, regardless of the human needs of .the workers, will re- Joice. Labor leaders who want to be free to invoke at will the arbitrament of industrial war will rejoice. The public, which disagrees with both these views and wants industrial jus- tice with peace, IS puzzied. and won- ders which way to turm next.”” In- deed, obwerves the Philadelphia Bul- letin. “Mr. Gompers and the trade unionists and the large employers of labor might properly shake hands, after the manner of the belligerents from the opposite corners of the squared circles. They are to be allowed to fight out thelr disputes.” The Kan- sas experiment “was a sincere effort to avert strikes and lockouts,” the Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock) concedes, “but in the hopes of doing this it ran afoul of the Constitution of the United States” and while “strikes are highly objectionable,” the Indianapolis News remarks, “the Supreme Court is of the opinion that it is possible to pay too dearly for immunity from them, and that Kan- was paid too dearly.” Refutes Booth Story. D. C. Man Says Lincoln’s Assassin Buried in Baltimore. To the Bditor of The Btar: 1 rise to correct a statement pub- lished in The Star of today, June 13, by E. H. Sampson of Moline, IlL, in which he states he is the only man in the world who knows where John Wilkes Booth is buried. This is quite a broad assertion and without foun- dation. 1 base my ertion on the following statement: My grandfather (James L. Gallagher), who was at the time of Lincoln’s assassination one of the greatest actors of those days, was |’ in the cast which was playing at Ford’s Theater the night Booth shot Lincoln. Due to the close friendship that existed between my srandfather and Booth's brother, Edwin Booth, my grandfather was invited to attend Wilkes Booth's funeral in Baltimore, Md. My grandfather took my mother with him to Greenmount cemetery at 10:30 the night Booth's body arrived in Baltimore from Washington, and there, in the presence of several act- ors and actresses, saw the casket of Booth opened. Booth’'s hair had grown the full length of his body. My mother, who still lives in Baltimor has often told of this strange coincl dence and stands ready to refute Mr. Sampson’s statement that he is the only one who knows where Booth is buried. I may mention that my great- uncle, John E, Owefis, was also pre: ent. You will no doubt rememl that Mr. Owens was,one of the grea est tragedians at that time upon th American stage. 1 can mention at Mr. Sampson’'s request the names of all the other actors and actresses who were present at Booth's funeral in Greenmount cemetery, Baltimore, Ma. Mr. Sampson might have witn great deal of this horrible crime. but when he makes such a bold state- ment as printed in tonight's Star 1 must say he Is “all wrong.” Should you wish further proof of my state- ment 1 should be very glad to com- pile full dnlfllrnn mly mo‘!.;:er,'"- well as geveral old actors 0 8t live. A. L. VOGLE. All of this, however, deals more with opinion of the value of the in- dustrial court than it does with edi- torial surmise as to the effect of the decision on the future of the court. On this matter there is an interesting divergence of opinion. “The whole i8sue” as the Newark News sees it, “depends upon a clear line of demar- cation between what constitutes an essentially private business and what is an essentially public business.” and “the highest court cannot reconcile with the constitutional freedom of contract the idea that ‘the common calling are clothed with a public in- terest merely because one makes com- modities for and sells to the public. ~ Thus, in the opinion of the Spring- fleld Republican, “the Kansas court is shattered in the vital points of its structure in the firat test of its va- 11dity under the federal Constitution.” But this position is emphatically refuted by the Wichita Beacon, ex- Gov. Allen’s paper, which - says that “the court is not abollshed by the opinion, nor is it seriously affected.” 1t “still has the power to fix wages in the business of transportation and the production of fuel. It still ha: the power to restrict strikes in e: sential industries. It has all the prowers it had before, with regard to the general operation of the court.” Unfortunately, the paper adds, “the decision follows the recent minimum wage decision of the same body and deprives labor of what a ver)y' great body of American people beileve is a very much needed protection in the form of wage fixing.” At the same time, replies the Kansas City Star, “without the power to fix a temporary wage scale, the Kansas court would have no basis for ‘ action in forcing an agreement that| would tide over a strike.” and, more- | over, “the court's decision that the packing industry is not affected with public interest to the degree that it would give the state the right to assume police powers over it prac- tically removes all industries includ- od in the Kansas industrial court measure.” There are intimations, ao- cording to the New Orleans Times- Plcayune, “that other _industries sought to be regulated under the act may escape that regulation because they are not sufficiently ‘affected with public interest’ to warrant super- vision by the industrial court.” “Out- side the realm of transportation, light, heat, power and irrigation com- panies.” the Norfolk Virginian Pilot finds it “dificult to imagine a busi- ness that is" so affected, and the Milwaukee Sentinel sees in the de- cision & warning against “the tend- ency to overwork the ldea of public utility.” The primary purpose of the law the regulation of the mining industry, the St. Louls Globe-Demo- crat points out, and if the inter- pretation of the Supreme Court can be accepted as applylng to mining “as directly as to food, the effect of the decision is to make it practically inoperative.” That is the result which the Topeka Capltal predicts, for if it is held “that fuel or clothing cannot be separated in this way from ordinary ‘business, the law would fall to pleces.” |British Show Poor ‘ Taste By Knocking A London dispatch to the New York ‘World declares that “certain English lnempnpen eem to delight in poking fun at American customs” an®® man- ners and proceeds to quote from the writings of some unmentioned hu- morist who finds a kick in announc- ing that “cuspidors are being with- drawn from countless American draw- ing rooms; chewing gum is being scraped off parlor chairs; several mil- lion Americans spend hours dally In practicing the correct pronunciation ‘clerk,’ ‘derby’ and ‘adver- In other words, some Journalists are doing just what some of our cheaper publishers are doing over here—exhibiting a nasty temper through the medium of inexpensive ridicule. It is difficult to see how an inter- national crisis can be worked up on such provocation. other is the most pernicious habit that has developed in America. Watching for frayed cuffs; watching for improper advances toward finger bowls; watching for the verdicts of “nice pedple” on pronunciations, the morality and social standing of other people and whether to say “Excu me” or “Sorry”; watching for every- thing except fine-edged intelligence, genial humor, the calm irony of sophistication, the exhibition of gen- erous and humane Impulses. The Broadway manager may have exag- erated the but he knew the nited “States it visits the me- is. ickens and Trollope and other British travelers have lampooned us in the past and we have shown our amateurishness by getting in a wax about it. It is usually a “boom town" that resents good-natured joshing. We are old enough now to take these Jibes for what they are worth. After all, the great British peaple are not without features at which one may be amused.—Hartford Times. ‘Watching each’ NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM BY CAMEL AND CAR TO THE PEA- COCK , THRONE. E. Alexander Powelll The Centliry Company. We are off again with Alexander Powell, whose “Where the Strange Trails Go Down" of & year or 80 ago megde complete capture of readers generally. This time, however, the “trails” are, in fact, broad highways stretching back through many cen- turies of great history, casting intri- cate patterns over a land of surpas! ing geographic interest and charm. True, disuse through historic periods of diverted interest has faded these highways-—here to no more than & tangled path, there to flattened desert ways swept trackless by the shifting sands. But the modern day of science and industry and what we call prog- ress is breaking upon this reglon, and under its spell the old highways are brightening and hardening again to the uses of the age-old human traffic. * * X ¥ We are, in the company of this way- wise guide, bound for nearer Asia, that corner of the earth that links up the Mediterranean and the Casplan. This is the anclent gateway through which Tatar and Hun overran Europe in a fierce flame of warfare which, only five short years ago, presented again an atavistic and woefully be- lated recrudescence. This corner hag been from time immemorfal the bat- tleground of Asia, jast as, much later, the low counptries became “the cock- pit of Europe” Out of it rise the names of great warrlors—Thbtmes at one end of the line, Napoleon at the other. 1In between are Tiglath-Pile- ser, Nebuchadnezzer, Alexander, Cae- sar, Omar, Saladin,’ Tamerlane, and another and another. And what is it all about? And what are we doing here? We are merely going along with this modern knight- errant, who, obviously, finds himsalf quite unable to resist any call that adventure may send out from any part of the world. Ready at hand, he has a very special reason here for this outfaring. Looking up and down the earth Mr. Powell can see no quar- ter more promising for his business of sheer adventure than that of nearer Asia, no corner more sensitive just now, none more likely to tip either this way or that under the urge of new ledas and the conflicts of new agencles and rivalries. Here are Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Persia, all deep in the highly potential fer- ment of modern politics and industry. Yet, there remains to thls region a far background of gorgeous history— faded now, to be sure, save for occa- sional peaks and summits of great achievement or commanding per- sonality. to the drab squalor that centuries of lost and forgotten gran- deur impose upon exhausied peoples. What better place than this for such an adventure? None keener than this traveler to the picture of a country, to the externals of its personality. None keener, besides, to the implica- tion of these externals in the history of a people. A good deal of the artist, something of the scientist, here.” But, from top to toe, this man is a modernist, alive to the politics of any situation, in touch with the currents of modern Influence. And these qualities and powers, in a good blend of keen appreclation and com- petent management, he puts into fine use throughout this adventure in the western borderland of Asia. e The situation, so filled. on the one hand, with ancient history, and so im- pregnated, on the other, with the modern outlook, suggests the method of contrast for the seizure and repro- duction of this picturesque and sig- nificant region. And that is the method which, throughout, Mr. Powell uses in striking effect. Indeed, tifis method looks out from the title of the book. pointing to the most anclent and then to the most modern means of locomotion. An admirable teacher, this man, who has caught the funda- mental truth that interest is the one essential element in delivering any sort of mental goods to another. And, moreover, that interest responds more promptly and keenly to the near than to the remote. So, in pre- senting one and another of these divisions—Syria. Arabia or another. Mr. Powell begins, invariably, where he sets his feet and with the things that are at hand. His first activity in the towns is to arrange for caravans to promote his further journeyings. This activity brings him up against many of the natives of all grades. Some of, them talk about their new status under the mandate imposed at Paris. Not discussing it, mind you, just letting out their feelings about it. They are disappointed. What they had looked for was independence. If subordination, why not %till under the Turks. their co-religionists, much easier and more overlooking than the highly trained French? Yes, the French are gradually yielding more of local self-government. But they want. autonomy. The Syrians—and these are Syrlans—are a high-spirited people, with a proud history behind them. Tt is along this easy and natu- ral route from the present back-into the past that Mr. Powell passes In a brief sketch of the history of Syria. In this passage, for illuatration and emphasis. he uses the things around him—anclent quarters set off against the new to make sharp the contrast between modern usage and immemo- rial custom as these are recorded in the work of men’s hands. Then this traveler goes somewhere else—over into Arabla, maybe, or up into Meso- potamia. Whether he rattles along over the whole or only over parts of these diverse ways ‘in a decrepit Ford. or in the incredibly decrepit but pic- turesque way of camel back, he Is unfailingly pictorial, setting out every circumstance 'and situation that by its nature Is calculated to contribute to the realism of the ad- venture itself. - A wealth of detall comes In here—the facts and technic and disillusionment of caravan travel; the heat and what to do about 'it: the water, more precious than gold and diamonds, the look of the desert and how it behaves to the allen traveler; these and innumer- able other elements combine to make the great picture that each day un- folds from the reel of desert travel. Then, another destination reached, the e vital way of delivering it over, *bodily, follows. And, so, we complete with him the historic cir- cuit—Syria. Palestine, Transjordania, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Kurdestan, Persia. * K K % What do we—the general readers— get out of this adventure? First, facts. Some of them new, some of them known, some of -them half- known. And here these facts stand in compact bodies, In a business-like co-ordination of parts that makes them easy of selzure, tenaclous of hold. These facts range through modern politics. social relations, economics, industry—all depending for their immediaite future upon the political development that is already at hand, a development that will de- termine the place of this region in the partnership of the world. And be- hind these facts there s spread, in éach case, the sumptuous history be- longing to the country. Then, too, there s the personal adventure of the author himself and his companions, this contributing materially to many of the most interesting detalls that help to complete the picture of near- er Asia in Its modern attributes. Over and around it all is the glamour of romance and the lure of the un- familisr. That's about enough for one book—don't you think? L G.M. |risge last spring to Mme. Marguerite' Memorial Executive Committee, Idellre to extend the right of search * % ok i WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE Any number of urgent situations may develop in President Harding's | absence to require an emergency meeting of the cabinet. Mr. Harding's assurance that he will see no “usurpa- tion” of executive authority in such procedure is therefore not so academic as It seems. If Secretary Hughes, making use of the privilege Wood- row Wilson denied Robert Lansing, | should summon the cabinet, his main difficulty will be in counting a| quorum. Aceording to present {ndi- cations, midsummer is likely to find only the Secretary of State, the Post- master General and the Secretary of Labor in Washington, Mexico, Turkey, the Ruhr, the twelve-mile limit, war omens in the Balkans and China are a random half-dozen “incidents,” each one of which might suddenly flare into “cabinet rank.” * K K * Sir Auckland Geddes has made such a satisfactory recovery from the re- cent affection of his eyesight that he will ehortly start on his projected trip to England. The British ambas- sador will sall on the Cunarder Beren- 8aria on June 28. He is sure to have 2 busy time in London. It is long since there was such a crop of Brit- ish-American diplomatic incidents as the past six months have churned up. With the closing of the British debt negotlations the way was paved for a crop of lesser incidents, though sev- eral of them bristle with ugly diffi- culties. The Newcastle consulate squabble is unsettled. No decision has been reached on the British denial of our right to impose a non-bootlegging pledge upon purchasers of American ships. The gravest isaue of all—our at sea to twelve miles—probably will remain open a long time. Premler Baldwin is sure to want exhaustive advices from Ambassador Geddes on all these controversial questions. American prohibition developments are being closely scrutinized by the British. Geddes will be expected to | bring ‘authentic tidings from the | world's dryest front. * % k% Lieut. Mina Van Winkle. Washing- ton's woman police chief, making an inspection of her night force this week, and stopped for a cheery word | with one of her officers on patrol. | “Anything stirring?” Mrs. Van Winkle | asked. “Handsome man in a-limousine | Just tried to pick me up,” was the re. BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. Count Louis Salm-Hoogstraten, now in New York for a prolonged stay, was formerly in the Austrian army and is the eldest of three brothers. one of whom, Otto by name, married Some ten years ago Miss Maud Cos- ter, daughter of the late Charles Coster of New York. Mrs. Charles Coster having been Miss Emily Pell. The remaining brother is Alexander, who achleved so much success in this country as a crack tennis player dur- ing the year immediately preceding the outbreak of the great war. Al- though all three brothers fought against the allies in that conflict, two {in the Austrian cavalry and the other in the Prussian army, in which their father had served in the German in- vasion of France in 1871, yet none of them belong to the German, nor yvet to the Austrian nobility. Their titles are Belgian, and that is why their names are not to be found in the of- ficial “Graefiicher Taschenbuch,” or Annual. in which all the German, Hungarian, and even the Austrian counts are still enumerated, though all_Austrian nobility distinctions and hereditary honors have beén abolish- ed by law and prohibited. Nor yet are their names to be found in the equally authoritative “Almanach De Gotha.” in the pages devoted to the German princes and Altgraves of Salm. The fact is that the three brothers and their father are descended from a morganatic union on the part of Prince Constantine of Salm-Salm, of | the mediatized or formerly petty Sov- erolgn German dynasty of that name, who, in 1810, contracted a left-handed jmarriage with Catherine Bender, a | German, bourgeolse. By her he had five sons, who were created Belgian |Counts of Hoogstraton by his friend, {King Leopold I of Belgium, in July, 1847. The fourth of these sons, Count Albert Hoogstraten, married the daughter of Charles Count Bohlen; their son Alfred, in turn, married Adolphine, daughter of Baron Victor Erlinger, the mother of Counts Loul: Otto “and Alexander Hoogstraten, Wwho usually prefix the name of Salm to that of Hoogstraten. They have, therefore, in the past been somewhat handicapped in Austria-Hungary and in Germany, from a soclal point of view, first of all by the morganatic ancestry of their father; then, too, by the fact | that their mother was an Erlanger—that is to say, a lady with Semitic blood in her veins—and also by the circumstance that the princes and altgraves of Salm- Salm, of the mediatized dynasty of that name, who have always been very pow erful, numerous and influential, have resented the action of the counts of Hoogstraten in making use of the an- clent and historic name of Salm in con- Junction with their relatively modern B%lnn title. - though their mother, like her sis- ter Ida, who married another of the counts of Hoogatraten, inherited some money from her father, the late Baron Erlanger, yet the thrée brothers are far from rich. their possessions be- ing limited to Trautenberg, an Er- langer place brought into the family by their mother and which they owned—at any rate until the begin- ning of the war—near Reichenau, in lower Austria. If still in the family, it will belong to Count Louls Hoog- straten, now here, and who last came into the public eye through a violent personal altercation and exchange of blows with Count Michael Karolyi, at an hotel in Switzerland, where they had happened upon one another. Count Michael Karolyl will be re- membered as one of the first prime ministers of Hungary after the de- thronement of the Hapsburgs, for which many hold him responsible as' one of the authors of the revolution, * * x % Count Alexander Hoogstraten made many friends in America during the nine months that he spent on this side of the water, participating in the various tenniy tournaments before the graet war, and as neither he nor his eldest brother Louls have much inducement to remain in Austria and Germany, they might do worse for themselves than follow the example of their brother Otto, and, llke him, each marry a well dowered und charming American girl and establish their future homes in the United States. The three Belgian counts are not without family connectios in the United States through their Erlanger mother, for Mi New Orleans, daughter of that Se: tor Slidell of Louisiana who was sent by Jefterson Davis to champion the cause of the Confederacy in France, became the wife, in Paris, of the well known German financier established there, Baron Emile Erlanger, and their half-American son iy Baron Frederick Erlanger. a naturalized Englishman, who divides his time be- tweéen the London banking busine of his family and his work as a mu- sical composer, and {s the author of a number of fairly successful opera including “Tess,” which has been pre duced at Covent Garden, in London, and at San Carlo, at ples. Then there is, of course, Baroness Robert Erlanger, widow of Peter Cooper Hewitt of New York, the well known inventor, and before that the wife of Pedar Brugulgre of San Francisco. * ok ok Sir Edward Naylor Leyland's mar- thilde Blidell of | ply. “Did you take queried the chief, feigning ofcial gravity. “No,” the trim young cop said. “I was so flustered over getting a Iittle attention that I didn’t notice it.”” Which proves that even a police- woman is human. % & W John W. H. Crim, assistant attorn general, among the many arrest statements in his recent William a Mary College address, called striking attention to the amazing prevalenc of fraudulent use of the mails. “In recent survey,” he said, “we foun that to try all of the suits now pend ing in our federal courts u mail-fraud statute alone w quire approximately all of th of all of the trial judges of United States courts for one year.” his number? * X % ¥ Vice President Coolidge is one of th trustees of Amherst College, whers the fate of President Meiklejohn on the “liberalism” jssue is being decided today. Coolidge was graduated fro: Amherst ini 1895. There is a numbe of distinguished Amherst alumni a Washington. They Include Rober Lansing, Speaker Gillett, Gilber! Grosvenor, the Rev. Jason Moble Pierce, Representative Treadway and Interstate Commerce Commistioner Joseph B. Eastman. Coolidge has not had time during the past three vears to devote himself to Amherst affairs. and is not implicated in the pre=ent turmoil among his fellow trustee T A place on the bench of the United States Supreme Court is demanded hy the South Dakota branch of the Na- tional League of Woman Voters. T lutions to - that effect were recent adopted at a convention in Sioux Fall They were instigated by Supreme Court’s decision declaring _unconsti tional both the child labor law and minimum wage for women in the D trict of Columbia. The resolutions u-g- | the appoinment of a woman lawyer the nation® supreme tribunal *in orc that women and children may have advocate in our highest court."” i These junketing hours are responsil for an atrocious pun now circulating i Washington. It takes the form of ar inquiry as to whether one is going twa._ the Alaska or the Al-Lasker expeditior Count of Former Belgian Nobility, Who Fought for Germany, Now in U. S. de Belabre. daughter of Belabre of the French dip! service, after being jilted by Kathleen Hastings, daughter Earl and Countess of Huntington. | been followed by the sale of il:de Park House, which has been the Lon- don home of his American mothe cver gince her marriage to the ) Sir Herbert Naylor-Leyland som: v nnd thirty yvears ago. The ansion which has been the scene of man brilliant hospitalities at which mier bers of the reigning house wer, 8! ally to be found, is one of the at liest and most s Ing residences the British metropolis. It stands o the left side of the Knightsbridge er trance to Hyde Park, and has exact counterpart immediately opp site, which, for more than sevent Yyears, has been the headquarters of the French embassy in London. | deed, the two mansions standing th on either side of the entrance | Hyde Park, from Knightsbridge. con vey the idea of the two pillars of Hercules that guard the western en trance of the Mediterranean. *The house is full of art treasures, hunz with old tapestries from France ant from Rome, and lighted by exquisii» Venetian glass chandeliers. Indeed was an appropriate setting for of the fairest American women w have ever married abroad Jea Chamberlain, deughter of the la Willlam Selah Chamberlain of Cle land, Ohio, has retained to an ext ordinary degree the beauty for wh she was 8o celebrated at the time her marriage, as well as her gra fulness of figure and her charm. X American woman married to an Eng lishman has ever held a higher pla in the regard of the entire Brit royal family, especially of Qu Alexandra, d King Edward w wont to declare that Lady Nayl Leyland was the only American won an wedded to a Briton whom h« never heard say an ill-natured th about her countrywomen or about hr native land. The two houses at Hyd. Park gate, namely the French n bassy and that so long the home «f Lady Naylor-Leyland, were built in the third or fourth decade of the las’ century by Hudson, the great railroac king of his day. * kX x That young Sir Edward Naylor Leyland, formerly attached to the British embassy at Paris, should have seen fit 8o soon after his marriage to sell Hyde Park House over his mother’s head, and thus compel he to place all the enormously valuab contents of the mansfon upon market, has created a painful pression in London, the more so as it is known that she was not favored by the will of her husband, wo. toward the latter part of his it became morose and difficult to it along with, his character having b embittered by the tragedy of father's death. For he had the n fortune to shoot and .kill the gentieman accidentally by mista him for a stag while out deer stali ing In the Highlands. The affs was_terribly tragic, but somehow never appaared to appeal to the fri lous and worldly society in that 11k In fact, people were actually inci to make a joke of the affair and dowed Sir Herbert with- the . nickname of “Bag-Dad,” which stu. to him to the end of his days. \ though he left a very large fort in addition to a couple of cou seats and Hyde Park House, va at considerably over $1,000,000, yet . that he bequeathed to his widow an annuity of $15,000 a year, cc tional upon her not’ marrying axu and a further allowance of $20,0 year for the use of his two boys ing their minority. The younger 'y was killed during the great war 1 now that the elder one is marrie poor Lady Naylor-Leyland has be reduced to her pittance of $15,001 « year. Grave Fund Wins Thanks of Veterans To the Editor of The Star: The memorial executive commitice of the Grand Army of the Repubii-, conslsting of numerous member: that organization and representatives from all allied veteran organizatio: in the District of Columbla, thro the colymns of your valuable pa wish to express io you their heartfc thanks for the noble assistance i« dered them {n obtaining funds for purpose of defraying expenses curred on Memorlal day, May 30, 1 in decorating the graves of soidier sallors and marines in the nationa cemeteries at Arlington and Alexar- dria, Va., and in all cemeteries in ti District of Columbia, and in holdii= appropriate services in loving remen brance of these, our country's dead. Furthermore, through the columns of your paper, the members of this gon- mittee wish to tender their thanks to those who generously responded to Baror their appeal for financial assistance in this matter. . JOHN W. REID, Department Commander, Chairman of § ’