Evening Star Newspaper, June 23, 1923, Page 6

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THE EVENING STAR, W——— THE EVENING STAR, -With Sundsy Morning Edition. .WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. ...June 23, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES........Editor Thé Evening Star Newspaper Company Susiness Office, 11th St. and Penusylvania Ave. A R < u aropean Office: 16 Regent Bt., London, England. iThe Evening Star, with the Sunday mornlag Ml“:-, L':&f'QM 'by carriers within the city at 80 cents per month; daily only, 43 cents per b A R i Teat by ‘mail, " ottection. 16" made by carrlers 8t the nd of each month. Rate by Mall—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. ily and Sunday..1) .40; 1 mo., 70 g:n.v only. s fi.nn: 1 mo., 50c Bunday only 1yT., $2.40; 1 mo., 20c All Other States. Dafly and Sunday..1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Daily “only. o - 1yr. 3700 1 mo.. 800 8unday only ‘1yr., $3.00; 1 mo., 280 Member of the Associated Press, The Associated Press is exclnsively to the ‘une for republication of all news ais- rllrhn credited to it or not otherwise credited In this paper and also the local news pub. Hshed herein. " All rights of publication of special dispatches herein also reserved. Speculation Versus Manipulation. Secretary of Agriculture Wallace has signed and promulgated rules for carrying out the provisions of the grain futures act of Congress, the ob- ject of which is to prevent manipula- tion of the grain market by unscrupu- lous dealers, the dissemination of mis- leading statements by men bent upon fleecing the farmer and the trader alike and to make a reasonable and safe market in which to deal. Secre- tary Wallace, in His explanation of the effect of the rules he has laid down, takes pains to point out that they do not forbid “future trading” on the rise and fall of the market, but that they are designed to shut out the crook as far as possible. He declares it to be his purpose “'to put a stop, if possible, to the circula- tion of unfounded rumors set afloat by designing operators to deceive un- wary speculators, and further, if pos- sible, to put an end to unfair price maripulation. Legitimate operators need have no fear of unwarranted meddling with their business.” The method of accomplishing these purposes is explhined to be to require reports to he made giving information eoncerning operations on future trad- ing murkets which will make it pos- sible to make a systematic study of the manner in which grain prices are registered in these markets. Present conditions in the New York stock markets would seem to suggest the query whether it will’be possible or advisable for the government to apply a similar system of check and inquiry there. The precarious condi- tion of the markets in the past week or ten days, reaching such a stage that the leading banking interests were compelled to get together and agree to stabilize the market, is in part ascribed to practices which the grain futures act seeks to prohibit in the grain market. Speculation will never be abolished in the nature of man and things. It should be safeguarded, however, if it can be done, against the raids of crooks. The attempt being made un- der the grain futures act will be fol- lowed with interest. ———————— A Proposed District Economy. A centralized motor transport sery- fee for the District government has heen proposed as a means for effect- ing economy. The plan calls for a con- siderable “first cost.” but it is put forth as a means for saving public money the long run. Under the present arrangement each division of | the engineer department maintains & separate fleet of trucks and other vehicles. The hauling activities of the District government would be cen- tralized in one division, and very re- spectable economies are figured ‘out on paper. Maj. Besson, in urging.the single motor transport corps, has sald that the plam should be adopted, not only because of possible economy, but also hecause of the necessity for taking care of those District services which have until recently occupied government reservations which are =oon to become part of the new Botanic Garden. During the current fiscal vear motor transportation for the District government cost $381,119, @istributed “in a score of appropria- fions for different departments.” The plan has been submitted to the board of District Commissioners, and the re- aponsibility is theirs whether to em- body the estimates for the plan in their recommendations to Congrese. Centralization and co-ordination are | the order of the day; and public money Should he saved wherever it can be without impairing the operation of government. A plan which proposes to improve service and save money should be carefully gone into, and there is no doubt that the Commis- sioners, if they believe that the cen- | tralized transport plan will save money and promote efficiency, will strive for its adoption. in —_—— ' For a time the students will avoid all anxieties about the possibility that a school book may conceal ulterior motives and create historical preju- dices. ‘Water Supply. Washington cannot cast & stone at those Montgomery county suburbs in our metropolitan territory whose water supply system has broken down. The capital, in consequence of tardi- mness of congressional action on the subject, has gambled with fate a g0od many years in placing its sole dependence on one conduit for the supply of the city reservoirs, &and for a long time this conduit has worked at or so nearly at capacity l"h!y-l four hours a day that it could not be cut off and unwatered for inspection, and If a serious break in it had oc-| curred the city would have been in danger of great suffering, conflagra- tlon and widespread disease. The lesson which the present emer-. gency teaches the large body of peo- ple who have drawn their water sup- Pply from Sligo creek through terre cotta pipes will not be 16st upon them. They will rebuild better and stronger, will provide for a greater margin of gafety in their water supply, and théy rlay .construct a dual system of sup: ply so that if one goes out of commis- sion the other can be set to work. The District of Columbia is not yet free from the danger which it has faced for meny years. The second conduit is being built, and new reser- voirs and expanded filtration facilities will be at hand in course of time. It is a source of gratification that the work 18 proceeding as repidiy as pos- sible. With the District's increased water supply it mey be that District water mains will be connected Wwith those built and to be bullt in the metropolitan territory beyond the District lines. This will make for the comfort and security of thousands of people who are virtually Washing- tonians, but who live across the line in Maryland. ‘With the increase in the water sup- ply from the Potomec at Great Falls will come & very large increase in the consumption of water. There will be an extension of mains within the Dis- trict, and very likely water will be served ‘to many thousands of sub- scribers outside the District. On com- pletion of the new conduit from Great Falls it will be time to take up the proposal to utilize the upper Patuxent as an auxiliary water supply for the District. This project, which many engineers have reported on as feasible, would supply the Maryland towns north and east of Washington and in- crease the supply of the fast-growing District. Because of these factors it might be a project in which the ni tional government and the state of Maryland would co-operate. Rail Merger. The administration’s plan for solv- ing the transportation problem is re- vealed by President Harding in his Kansas City address. In the main, he proposes the merger of the raliroads into several great systems, the stronger roads with the weaker, 8o to bring about greater efficiency and economy, with a resultant—and hoped for—reduction in rates. The country as a whole undoubtedly would favor greater efficiency and economy in railroad management. Partlcularly it would favor a reduc- tion In rates. The President's proposal has in it much merit. Such consolida- tion as he proposes should bring re- sults. But the difficulties of bringing the mergers suggested into efféct are recognized. Under the existing transportation act, the Cummins-Esch law, permis- sion is given to bring about the merger of the railroads into greater systems. But when it comes to compelling such a merger it is doubtful that Congress could do so by direct legislation with- out first having the government pur- chase the railroad properties. On a small scale the transportation problem of the people of the National Capital is on all fours with-that of the people of the country. Here the prob- lem has been to bring about a merger of two street railway systems, one oc- cupying a stronger position than the other. Blils in Congress have been ad- vanced giving permission for such a merger. But the two companies have shown no signs that they could reach a basis of adjustment, even if that permission were given. If these diffi- culties of adjustment are found so great in & single case, such as that presented by the street railway lines of the capital, what hope may be held out that with thousands of railroad in- terests throughout the country pulling this way and that agreement for mergers may be reached? It bas been proposed in Washington to levy an excess profits tax on the operating income of the street rail- ways as a means of putting the roads into a better frame of mind for ad- justing their differences over a merger. Possibly such a scheme might be ap- plied to the interstate raflways of the country in an effort to force them to reach an adjustment. Another lever which might be ap- plied to bring about consolidation is the proposal that unless the mergers were consummated the alternative would be government ownership and operation, the nightmare of the rail- roads. President Harding in his speech has dubbed government ownership and operation a ‘“colossal blunder.” In this view he will be joined by millions of his fellow citizens. But if the roads are to remain in private ownership selfish interests must be laid aside. —_———————— An unsuccessful stockbroking firm gets wide publicity. Millions of people go broke individually without attract- ing any notice whatever. In addition to being ultimate consumers, the un- organized citizens are also the ulti- mate contributors. ————— Whatever his ideas of personal grandeur may have been, King Tut never suspected the extent to which he and his family would figure fashion leaders for the world. ———— e Summer Sufferers. With a temperature here in Wash ington Thursday of 98 degrees, and with a practically breezeless night fol- lowing, this city may be said to be in the grip of a heat spell of trying qual- ity. It is idle to discount the temper- atures above the 90 point. It is al- ways hard to éndure them, easier ‘when the winds blow and harder when | there is no air stirring. A sure way to suffer at such a time is to make the heat a topic of com- plaint and to fuss about it. Grouch- ing will not lower the thermometer by the width of a hair, and will only raise the personal temperature. Hot weather suggestions are more or less futile. Everybody follows his own bent in such cases. We all know that it is bad to hurry in the sun, or anywhere, indeed, when the tempera- ture is in the nineties. We all know that it is bad to drink iced liquids copiously, especially while we are heated. We all know that it is un- wise to eat heavily while excessively high temperatures prévall, and par- ticularly to éat strange mixtures that are likely to cause fermentation and disorder. Then thére are many more things we should not do. But we do thém all, going ahead blithely with cur customary procedure without the least régard for the words of wisdom that have Beén pouréd upon us. The wonder is that wé survive. Perhaps we do because we are tough. because the heat is good for us, perhaps because some of these things against which we have been warned are after all not so bad. But whether good or 1{ll, the summer comes in its due rotation and steams and sizzles and fries humanity, and somehow the human race prevalls over nature's attacks. There is one thing which we all re- member, and all should do; that is, all who are in a position to do. We should remember those unfortunate ones who are city-bound in the hot spell, who have no means to get away, ‘who cannot leave home for the coun- try because they must keep on the job, the working job outside or the home Job. For such as these summer camps have been established and maintained by the donations of generous citizens. As we sit in the blast of electric fans and contemplate the weather, some of us might write checks for these sum- mer camps and insure that some at least of the real sufferers are rescued, even for a little while. ——t——— e Political ambition has never asserted itselt strongly in John D. Rockefeller. His interest in the professions turns to medicine rather than to law. A na- tion hygienically sound would un- doubtedly be well on the way toward @ state of mind that would make toleration and fair dealing the univer- sal rule. —_——— ‘The chairman of the republican na- tional committee naturally desires to see the party equipped with policies which he can put across with enthu- siasm. The necessity of defining them in advance adds considerably to the duties attached to the already highly responsible position. — It may become a delicate matter for a college to decide just where it must draw the line between an education which impresses basic principles and one which undertakes to equip the student with a ready-made set of theoretical opinions. —— Though no longer controlling stock- holder of the Marlon Star, ‘it is safe to say that President Harding will have that famous journal's influ- entlal support during next summer’s campaign. ——— A few political leaders in European circles of unrest might be more willing to submit questions to the league of nations if they could be sure in ad- vance of what the answers would be. —— Alaska Is a great and growing part of the country, whose economic condi- tions, though involving no hint of des- peration, are well worthy the study of American statesmanship. The regularity with which the re mark “fair and warmer" is repeated arouses the suspicion that somewhere in the weather bureau forces there is a parrot. ————————— Agitation in Italy is occasionally varied by a volcanic instead of a politi- cal disturbance. Etna and Vesuvius carry forces which even Mussolini can- not tame. —————— Like other politicians, Wilhelm Ho- henzollern strives to keep before the public by offering dissertation on topics he does not know a great deal about. ———— New York bricklayers have been granted a twelve-dollara-day wage. This liberal compensation may help to explain why it costs so much for rent. It is argued that the Olympic ought to be perfectly safe in prohibition waters provided the sealed lockers can be prevented from springing a leak. Any pictorial publication now re- veals the fact that the beach authori- ties have given up the idea of trying to regulate bathing suits. There are many staid and conserva- tive New Yorkers who will resent the suggestion that Manhattan cannot be happy without beer. Release of political prisoners should not necessarily involve a correspond- ing release of reckiess soap-box orae- tory. People who go away from home for the summer at least succeed in hiding their discomforts from the neighbors. A comparatively short period of drought can be relied on to explain a lengthy season of high prices. It is regarded as easy to change the personnel of the German government, but not the financial policy. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. A Career. Bhe said it was her mission plain To elevate the stage; A reputation she would gain, And soon become the rage. But strange to say, though night and day, She studled at her art, Her talents she couid ne'er display Save in & minor part. From older heads advice she took; They told her what to do. She cast aside her little book And started in anew. A score of milliners she hired, And got her a divorce— She's universally admired. 8he 18 2 hit, of course. —_— Good-Natured Philosopher. My fellow men deceive me oft; I'm sometimes glad they do. This world would be a fearful place If all they said were true. The Invariable Protestation. Tach politician that you hear This self-same song doth sing: “The rest aré imitations queer, But I'm the real thing.” A Sensible Division. Life must hold both joy and sorrow, Smile today and smile tomorrow. Let the future all bé gay; 5 Leave the tears to vesterday. WASHINGTON, D. C, : SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1923. —_—— ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic J. Haskin WASHINGTON BY FREDERIC One of President Harding's fare- well cogitations {n Washington con- cerned the number of brass bands he'll have to listen to on the western trip. The only obfection Noble Harding had to the 110 bands that filled the alr with melody during Shrine week was the sameness of their repertolres. In the west the President hopes to get away from “Dixte,” which was the Bhrine fa- vorite, but he may have no better luck than Gen. Sherman experienced on a trip to Europe. For years after the civil war “Old Tecumseh” couldn’t move anywhere in the United States without having “Marching Through Georgia” blared at him. He fled over- one summer mainly to escape it. His steamer landed him at Queens- town late at night. At b o'clock next morning the general was roused from his sleép by an Irish band beneath his hotel window, vociferously pound- ing out the old tune. * * % *x Reminiscences of political and so- cial New York and Washington are shortly to appear between the cov- ers of a book by Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, one of the great hostesses of the Wilson administration. They will deal with an exceptionally varied public career, dating from 1906, when Mrs. Harriman became manager of the New York state reformatory for women. Mrs. Harriman was the only woman member of the Federal Industrial Relations Commission. Dur- ing the war she was a colonel of the District of Columbia Red Cross Motor Corps. Nowadays, when not on_the wing in America or abroad, Mrs. Har- riman presides with uncommon grace over a popular political salon in her old-world home in the residential end of F street. Critics who have seen her memoirs in manuscript predict they will attract wide notice. If the author goes in for political revela- tions, they ought to contribute to the spice of the times, for she has enjoyed exalted sources of information. * o ok “Jack™ G. O'Brien, until recently a Washington newspaper man, has en-| tirely against his will been salling under false colors in and around Hollywood. O'Brien was rescued from journalism last winter by Gen. Charles G. Dawes and is now, in con- nection with the former budget di- rector, an amateur oil magnate southern California. At luncheon in a Los Angeles hotel the other day a party @t an adjoining table heard O'Brien introduced, and. as ‘“Jack” is not wholly devoid of pulchritu- dinous charms, jumped to the con- clusion that he must be Eugene O'Brien, the movie star. an elderly lady mustered up courage to address him and expostulate how much she had enjoyed him in “The Voice from the Minaret.” The mi ! take rich to clear up, wher: upon obligingly handed his i’Scared Chancellor BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. That the socialist government of Austria, which had possessed itself of suprems power at Vienna after the proclamation of the republic and the dethronement of Emperor Charles, made a frantic appeal to Great Brit ain in March, 1919, through its then ehancellor, Dr. Renner. still a mem- ber of the soclalist party in parlia- for the military occupation by he English army of Vienna has just been publicly revealed during the course of a devate in the national council of Austria. The appeal was made in March, 1919, when the peace congress of Versailles was already in cession, and was made by Chancellor { Renner. who traveled all the w-; to tle of Eckartsau, where Em- :ll;;nfa(s‘hnrlen and Empress Zita were Then residing, in order to present it fo Col. Strutt ana Col. Sir Thomas Cunninghame, whose names [ men- tioned in these letters yesterday af {having been assigned by the Britls government, and esnecially by r‘\';g | &oege. to take all the necessary measures for the protection of the former Austrian ruler, with his con- <ort and his children. ‘from the tragic Zate that had overtaken the czar and osarina. If Chancellor Renner applied o). Strutt and Col. Sir Thomas it was because he had every reason to belleve, and very justly so, that they enjoyed in a marked degre the con- fidence of their king and of his gov- 0 T Then Count Czernin. the last chan- cellor of the dual empire. made this charge In the nationalist council against his soclalist successor, Renner, he was Violently denounced as a liar. But his itatement has been publicly confirmed Py Col. Eaward Lisle Strutt. C. B. E. and D. S. O.. himself. in a letter from the Travelers’ Club, in London, dated the 5th of May, 1923, and which has since been made public in Austria and spread on the records of the natlonal council %o the effect that Chancellor Renner did make the appeal, and that. too, in a Very abject manner, and fthat it had been spurned by the two British colo- inels at Fckartsau Castle, with “N:n- tempt, Col. Strutt declaring: “You are only asking for British troons | pioause von are afraid of vour life. Yand for that of vour friends. Your country does not count in the mat- ter” Col. Sir Thomas Cunninghame added to Chancellor Renner: "It jsn't so much that you want to pro- tect the people from terrorist out- rages, as it | vour anxiety to sup- | bort vourself and your political ad- herents, and maintain vourself in of- fice through the aid of British sol- dlers. You want to render Great Britain reaponsible for what vou've done and_are now doine.” Tn fact. the two English officers literally drove Chancellor Renner from thelr presence scorn. "g:n it was because of the craven fear which the chancellor manifested o¢ the terrorists obtaining the upper hand, and of his virtual confession of nowerleasness, that Col. Edward L. ‘Btrutt and Col. Sir Thomas Cunning- hame came to the conclusion that the Castle of Eckartsau was no longer a pafe refuge for the ex-emperor and empress, and_spirited them off within forty-eight hours by special train into Switzerland. One can only con- jacture what would have happéned if the two English officers had not seen through Chancellor Renner's ex- fraordinary move and had induced their government to accede to his wishes and had resorted to military occupation of Vienna. * Kk x T have not seen the “Life of the Late Gen. Sir James Grierson,” which has just appeared in London, with the preface by Field Marshall Lord Halg. But as one who knew well this dis- tinguished soldler, who died in such a tragic fashion of aneurism of the heart in a rallroad train beétween Havre and Amiens, on the 17th of t. 1914, while on his way to as- A e®the command of the 2d Army Corps at the front, I.should like to add here the real story of the termi- nation of his_mission as military at- tache of the British embassy in Ber- 1in. A man of such charm, singing a 0d _song, and a most eéntértaining iénd, he enjoyed the favor of the ex-kaiser to a very marked degree, and theré is no doubt that until h 1eft Berlin he was prefudiced in that monarch’s faver. But Grierson's re- gard for the ex-kaiser did not extend to the members of tl.s!mm!‘t tourage, whom he was wont to de- ment, [ in | Presently | OBSERVATIONS . WILLIAM WILE admirer a desired autograph. Since then h n known to his friends ‘Euge: T oxox o Europe’s standard political alma- nac, “Diplomatic Year Book,” now in its 163rd year, is a little confused about Mr. Harding. The 1923 edi- tion, which h Just reached this country labels him the thirty-i enth President of the United States. He happens to be only the twent. ninth. Perhaps the editors of the almanac think Harding will “com back” forty or fifty years hence. Along about 1956 he would qualify for the numerical rank they now sign him. The original publishers of the year book, the ancient house of at Gotha, Germany, 111 {ssuing It. The 1923 volume frontispleces the portraits of Presidents Harding and Ebert. * % x Lieut. Mina Van Winkle, chief of Washington's women's police bureau, once owned a slice of the British will cut mail losses $1,000.000 a year. able island in the south Atlantic, fourteen or fifteen miles off the coast of Miami. Mrs. Van Winkle and her late husband sold the property to John T. McCutcheon, the cartoonist, who changed its name to Treasure Island and occuples it in winter time with his family. Mrs. Van Winkle is often asked how many generations removed her husband’'s family is from its most celebrated ancestor, Rip Van Winkle. A visiting Japanese parlia- mentarian courteously sought information the other day. * ok ok % More than ordinary interest taches to next week's republican state convention In Kentucky, because of the effort which reform elements are making to secure the adoption of & platform committing the party to abolish betting on horse racing. When the Blue Grass region ratified the eighteenth amendment, many of its fieuple thought the age of miracles ad returned, and it remains to bLe seen if the home of the Kentucky Derby now will ban race gambling. | Organtze! reform forces are backing Prof. George Colvin, state superin- | tendent of public instruction, for the G. O. P. gubernational nomination because of his hostility to betting. Representative A. W. Barkely fs be- | ing backed for the democratic nomf- nation for the same reason. . * % 5 % Petty larceny of mail matter and losses due to other causes have been occurring at such a rate that Post- master General New has inaugurated the policy of requiring receipts for special delivery mall. The innoya- tion comps into effect July 1. Its the most sweeping postal departure instituted for years, for it will mean personally autographed receipts for 100,000,000 or more speclal delivery articles a year. During the last fiscal year 74.124.951 apecial delivery stamps | were attached to mailed pleces. First | Assistant Postmaster General Bartlett stimates that receipts for “specials’ will cut mall losses $1,000,000 a year. (Copyright, 1923.) Begged British that at- i Troops in Vienna, Report Reveals i nounce. especially after his return to England, as “‘perfectly poisonous.” He had the most extraordinary storles to tell of confidentlal letters, which the emperor had especially asked that he would write to him, be- ing suppressed before they reached Willlam's hands, and of communica- itions addressed by that sovereign to jfriends never reaching them. The emperor, he declared, was surrounded by a perfect network of people in- terested in preventing him from learning the truth and from holding any communication with those who were likely to open his eves. Time and again fruitless attempts were made to queer him with the kaiser and to turn the latter against him. One day the emperor muddenly re- marked to him. “I am told, Grierson, but T hardly need say that I don't for one moment belfeve it, that you |have given away to the irench all the secrets of our Q. F. artillery. Now, I wish you would find out where that’ statement comes from, and how {1t originated, putting it in the form of an official Teport, And sent Jt to me under double cover through the war department, mentioning on the outer envelope that you are sending it by !'Y!;‘);:D:chl Dersgnal request.” In less ‘week, Bir James it hed originated a SeEoE & certain personage at cour | who had always viewed hi Intimacy with the kaiser with jealousy and resentment. Grierson made his re- port and sent it as directed, going Immediately afterward on leave. * ok ox % he expected, On his return to Berlin and re- porting himself to the kalser, the latter inquired of him why he had never furnished him with the re- port which he had asked for about the Q. F. artillery, and why he had not sent him any reply to the two confidential letters which he, the emperor, had addressed to him. Grierson at once pledged his honor that he had sent the report as directed, urd that the two letters sent to him by the emperor had never reached him, adding tha had probably never been allowed ch leave Berlin. Twenty-four hours later, several of the heads of the war department called in a state of great perturbation on Grlerson, to offer their most abject apologies for the delay in transmitting his report to the monarch, due as they averred to “a most unfortunate oversight.” But after this demonstration of the atmosphere of intrigue by which Willlam was so intimately surrounded. Grierson got disgusted and asked for his_transfer to some other post. When calling to take his leave of the emperor, the latter reproached him with being unwilling to stay at Berlin and adding that he had always endeavored in every way to show QK& warm regard, the confidence and the real friendship which he entertained for him. Grierson thereupon, quite moved, told Willlam with true dierly 'frankness how profoundly he was to part from him personally, that he was well aware and keenly appreciative of the monarch’s senti- ments toward him, and that it was precisely because he was anxious to retain that esteem which he had val ued that he had asked for his trans. fer. being unwilling to expose him- self any longer to the intrigues of those bent on queering him in the imperial eyes, and whom he -de nounced as “rank poison,” and as a positive danger to his majesty. Wil- fam did not protest or deny, but re. marked somewhat sadly that the things .which Grierson had pointed out weré the well nigh inevitable curse with which every ruler had to contend, and then bade adieu to Grier- son with évery demonstration of re- gret and of real sorrow. They never met again. Quite a number of American offi- cers, especially tho: who were in the service a quarter of a century ago, and who took part In the inter- national China expedition of 1000 for tha relief of the legations at Pekin will recall Sir James Grierson as the British officer attached to the staff of Field Marshal Count Waldersee, whom William, it may be remem- bered, éndeavored to impose as gen. eralissimo upon _the international forces. Grierson had the difficult and delicate job of averting any undue assumption of -umornr by Walder- see over the British forces of the international army, and to®obstruet the excessive brutality of the Ger- man_ soldiers in their dealings with the natives in pursuance of the per- sonal commands of the kaiser ‘“to read wheréver it went the terror of the German name. 80 that no Chinaman ‘wbuld ever again ven- ture to look llklntef a German.” 1 l I The Library Table BY THE BOOKLOVER. The possibility of discovering food tabloids which should contain all the elements necessary to sustain life and could be taken like pills with a swal- low of water is one often discussed both seriously and jocosely. To the nervous dyspeptic such a discovery would be a blessing, to the overbur- dened housewife it might be a wel- come means of rellef, but to the epi- cure it would seem like the end of all things. Eating is by no means merely utilitarian exercise; it is also one of the most popular and universal of recreations. This Is 50 much the case that there are few people who do not thoroughly enjoy reading about meals in fiction, & Kok X Dickens is the great gastronomist of fiction. There is hardly a novel of his which does not describe a cosy tea, a steaming dinner or a sub- stantial meal at an {on—and then in addition there are all the drink: Historic all are the inn breakfast at which the kindly waiter helps hungry little David Copperfleld to eat his chop and drink his ale; the bedside teas of Sarah Gamp., which besides the tea and toast and ovitable gin, bit of pickled sal- mon,” “a mossel of cheese” and cowcumber”; the roast goose Aan plum pudding of Tiny Tim's Christmi dinner; as well as the sulphur and molasses meals at Dotheboys Hall and the wretched gruel of which poor starved Oliver Twist wanted some more. * * x & Scott, too, is not averse to meals. It is at dejeuner at a French inn, & dejeuner composed of a pate de Peri- gord, a delicate ragout, a ham of a wild boar, round loaves of white bread, fruit and wine, that Quentin Durward first meets Louis XI. Dandie Dinmont and his wife entertain Harry Bertram, in “Guy Mannering,” at their border farmstead with a couple of fowls, a_huge plece of cold beef-ham, eggs, hutter, cakes and barley-meal bannocks, with home- brewed ale * x x ¥ Shakepeare serves few meals, but there s the famous one which Petruchio takes away from Katherina in the process of taming her. The ladies in Jane Austen's novels and in Mrs. Gaskell's “Cranford” consume innumerable teas always with great delicacy. ~The personages in more modern fiction do not seem to be so well nourished. Perhaps that is why they are less robust physically, mentally and morally. *x ox % In Lucas Malet's last novel, “The Survivors,” is given still another pic- ture of post-war human wreckage. The survivors of warfare are two. Capt. Braybrooke, hopelessly maimed, still finds hope for the future in his adoring love for Lady Aylwin, the presiding deity of the country home hospital for officers where he has been cared for. In her love for him— #he is old enough to be his mother— there is something unwholesome, damaging. The other “survivor" is Princess Zavnitska, a Russian refugee in London. She has been a famous prima donna, with whom Rupert Secker, cabinet minister, has in his youth been in love. Impoverished and aged by the Russian revolution, she comes to London as the pensioner of Secker, who. on meeting her, dis- covers to his own chagrin that of his romantic love for her only a chivalrous sentiment of protection remains. This is perhaps as well, since it turns out later that her Rus- sian husband is alive and has escaped to France. In a sense all the char- acters in the book are “survivors, for all have been deeply affected both mentally and in their way of life by the w * % x % Ignorance of the Bible is so com- mon among the younger generation as to be equally shocking to those who read the Bible dally as part of their religious life and to the students of literature who realize that the Bible s the greatest of all small librarles. A course of study of the Bible as literature should .be part of the curriculum of all schools. for the Bible contains some of the best poetry, fiction, history, essays, maxims and oratory ever written. In his “Confessions of a Booklover,” Mau- rice Francis Egan says: “I soon discovered that it was im- possible to understand the allusions in English literature without a knowledge of the Bible. What would ‘Ruth among the alien corn' mean to a reader who had never known the beauty of the story of Ruth? And the lilies of the field, pervading all poetical literature, would have lost all their perfume If one knew nothing of the Song of Solomon. * * * H who does not make himseif with Biblical ideas and phraseology finds himself in after life with an | complete medium of expression. * * Strike the Bible from the sphere of any man's experience and he is in a measure left out of much of that con- versation which helps to make life | endurable.” * ok ok % Wizardry did not die out with the middle ages. We have our modern wizards, more wonderful by far than those who made wax images of their enemies and then melted the images to cause the death of the persons repre- ented. Marcon!, Edison and Burbank are workers of modern miracles such as the mediaeval mind never dreamed. Luther Burbank has recently been engaged in writing down his fifty years' experience with plant experimentation and discov- . 1t is published in eight volumes, with 380 handsome plates in full colos For the gardener it will be invalu and for the general reader a fairy tale. It tells, for example. all about the mak- ing of the white blackberry, why b terial diseases attack plants which are planted year after year in the same place, how to turn white flowers blue, and how to make bees produce new flowers. Soon after the Philippine Islands came to the United States through the fortunes of the Spanish-American war, the name of Jose Rizal was mentioned, for he had been executed by the Spaniards as a traitor and wi considered by the Filipinos as a hero and martyr and the greatest man of the Malay race. He was, it appear: a rather astonishing sort of univers: genius—a sculptor, & painter, an ethnologist, a remarkable linguist, a novelist, a poet, an educator and an able - civil engineer. He wrote a novel, “Noll Me Tangere,” which laid bare the hideous system of rape, fraud and terrorism by which the Spaniards were governing the Philip- pines; and from that time on his pa- triotic life was devoted to fighting these evils, throughout a career of imprisonment, exile and persecution. The night before he was shot, he wrote & patriotic poem which has be- come the great Filipino classic. It is Interesting to note that Charles Edaward Russell, author of “The Out- look for the Philippines.,” will pub- lish in the fall, in collaboration with E. B. Roderigues, under the title “The Hero of the Filipinos,” a life of Rizal. * X k% Sarah Bernhardt's library, soon to be sold in Paris, contains many auto- graphed presentation coples, among them books of Victor Hugo, Pierre Loti, d’Annunzio and Rostand. All of the volumes contain her bookplate and most are bound in white. LI Though a booklovér, I have never en a collector and set no particu- tore on first editio: 1 found 1n = recent numbér of the o vhor Mogley, who writ o o op) orley, insist on rare books. In tll.1 pres fer them well done. Q. How many people from Wash- ington will sail for England on the Leviathan July 47—1J. R. A. The Shipping Board says that more than fifty reservations have already been made from Washington. The following are listed: Minister from Ecuador and wife, Becretary of Labor Davis, Representative and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, Representative Madden and two, Senator and Mrs. Harreld, Dr. and Mrs. Sawyer, Bo- livian minister, Senator and Mrs. Smoot, Representative Britten, Mr. and Mrs. Dewey, Capt. and Mrs. W. B. Bradfort, Mr. and Mrs. David Law- rence, Miss E. Lawrence, Mrs. E. M. Hope, Mrs. J. E. Billups, Mrs. Thomas Hogan, Mrs. Humphr Gettings party, Ml Harts, Mr. and Mrs. G. Logan Payne and Mr. Payne, jr.; Mr. and Mrs. J. MacMahon, Mr. and Mrs, an Fleet, Mr. Harreld, Mr. and Mrs. Cody and Miss Elizabeth Cody, G. Bryant and valet, G. D. Hope, Mrs. M. G. Forsyth, Miss Virginia Forsyth, Miss Frances Forsyth, Mrs. Turner, Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Matthew and two children, Mr. Harriman, Miss Charlotte Gittings, Mrs. A. Warner, Mrs. J. C. Gittings. Mrs. W. Green and one, Mrs. Robert Forrest Wilson and daughter, G. Bryan Pitts and Samuel J. Henry. Q. What kind of a golf ball did Al- bert MacKenzie use in winning the Middle Atlantic championship?—M. C. A. In this memorable match both father and n, the winner and the runner-up, used a Spalding 50. Q. Have we had hotter weather this Juhe than we had in the same month last year?—F. K. A. The weather hureau says thafon the hottest June day last vear the official high temperature was 93 de- This year that record was broken at the outset. The official high temperature June 2 was 95 degrees. Q. When the government calls in victory bonds before they are due does the owner lose the interest call- ed for on the last coupon?—R. M. A. A. The Treasury Department s that interest ceases on_ victory bonds on the date on which they are called. Therefore those bonds which were called December 1B carried no inter- est after that date, and the interest | coupons for May 20 are not payable. | Q. What is a safe spray to keep files off cows?—D. J. M. A. Many mixtures, particularly of | an olly nature, have some valus as| repellants. but in preparing these care should be taken that they are not too strong, particularly when the animal is exposed to the hot sun, as they are likely to cause overheating and often produce shedding of the hair. A mixture of fish oil, one gal- lon; oil of pine tar, two ounces: ol of pennyroyal, two ounces, and kern- sene, one-half pint, has been found to be effective in keeping flies off live stock when applied lightly and thor- oughly to the portions of the animal that are not covered with blanketsor nets. Q. Isn't there a biblical saying that cheerfulness {s better than meai- cine?—D. C. H. A. In Proverbs. xvii.22, you wil find: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Q. With what material is the Capi- tol'in Washington bullt’—R. W. A. A. The center part is of sandstone, painted white. The wings are mar ble. The dome is of cast iron coat with copper and pafnted white. Q. Is there any way age the distance to an electrical by the flash of the lightning or t ound of the thunder’—W. C. C. A. It can be judged with some ac- curacy by noting the difference in time between the sight of lightning and the sound of thunder. They occur almost simultaneously, and light travels so rapidly that time need not be taken into account. Sound travels only about 1,100 feet per second. The number of seconds that elapse before the thunder is heard will tell ap- proximately how far away the flash was. Q. Why Is the Sargasso sea 80 filleq with seaweed?—M. M. W A. The Sargasso sea is almost the resting center of the whirl of the ocean currents in the north Atlantic The seaweed comes from distant shores, where it has been wrenched offt by the force of the currents There are four other great weed- hampered areas of little motion he- side the Sargasso sea. Q. Where will the mext Olympic games be held and what citles hate had them?—P. I 1. A. _The games will be held in Paric in 1924. In 1896 they were in Athens 1900, Paris; 1904, St. Louis: 1908, Lon do: 1912, Stockholm, and 0. Brus sels. Q. Is the Bagdad railway complet- ed?—T. G. J. A. It is still incompiete and prog- ress is retarded by bands of Arah raiders, who tear up portions of the | track (A1l questions of fact are fres to thoi who send their inquiries. with two cents in stamps for return post age. to The Star information bureau Frederic J. Haskin, director.) CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. In this hot weather, what a delight it would be to accompany the presi- dential party to that far-off arctic re- glon—"Seward's Folly"! There we might joy in unlimited iced tea and slide down the glaclers to our hearts’ content—unless we got sunstroke the first hour. The notion that Alaska is under the shadow of the north pole is a greater folly than Seward was ever guilty of. The climate of Sitka is the same that of Washington, D. C.. and here's hoping that the dis tinguished travelers now headed that way are well supplied with palm beaches and white linens. * % % X The latitude of Alaska is the same as that of Scotland. Less than g cen- tury ago, the great political slogan of the United States was: “Fifty-four- forty, or fight,” which meant that we claimed all of what is now known as British Columbla, and were ready to fight Great Britain for it. A Web- ster compromise gave that region to British Columbia, from 49 degrees up to 64:40, but the latter figures mark the beginning of Alaska. If we had given England the New- foundland fisheries. in exchange for British Columbia, as she wanted, we might now be in full possession of the entire Pacific coast from the arc- tic to Lower California, and some day it may be that we shall purchase the Lower California peninsula, _too. Nelther England nor the United States appreciated the vast value of British Columbia and Alaska—they were too far from civilization. The vast majority of Americans have as hazy notions yet concerning Alaska It'is huge in dimensions. So great is its extent east and west that if it were superimposed upon the states, its eastern boundary would touch the South Carolina Atlantic coast. and its western island would lie on the shore of California. Its northern cape would touch the Canadian boundary in Minnesota, and its Aleutian Islands would trace the Mexican boundary of New Mexico, Arizona and California, while its southeastern extent along the Pacific, down to 54:40, would run through Kentucky, Tennessee, to touch the Atlantic coast in Bouth Carolin The main body of Alaska, with its eastern boundary laid along the east- ern boundaries of Wisconsin and Il- linols, the western extreme of the mainland would lie in Colorado, while the northern point would lie on our Minnesota-Canadian boundary, and the southern peninsvla would touch the central point of the western boundary 6f Texas, covering half of the Dakotas and Nebraska and all of Minnesota, Jowa, Kansas, Wisconsin and Illinois and most of Missouri. * ok x % It will be readily understood from these comparative dimensions that Alaska has gréat variety of climate, and of agricultural possibilities. The main influence upon the climate of southern Alaska is the warm Japan current, similar to the more familiar Gult stream. This so modifies the cold that the climate in that part is often compared with that of Virginia, while farther north it enters the "Arctic zone, and at almost every latitude there are mountain altitudes which bring cold. Altitude has much more to do with temperature than latitude. There is perpetual snow upon mountains in the torrid zone. * ok kX Temperature is only one of the| elements of growth of vegeta. tion. Daylight is quite as im- portant a tactor, and northern lati- tudes are “long” on daylight in sum- mer. Vegetation fairly races in de- velopment in Alaska, because it has so much sunshine. With days of twenty or twenty-two hours, grain and vegetables will grow much in one month in Alaska as in two months in Kentucky or Virginia. The agricultural problems of Alaska, therefore, are not yet fully solved. What will it be, as compared with the same latitudes in Europe, when the COLLINS 45,000,000 board feet of iumber, with- out depleting the forests if it is prop- erly harvested. The biological branch is looking after the rapidly increasing reindaer. which supply both meat and trans- portation. It also has the super- vision of the preservation of fur- bearing wild animals. While the population is less than 30,000 whites, aside from natives the commerce is increasing—has in- creased 238 per cent in the last dec- ade. Imports have decreased 28 per cent and exports have increaced 41 per cent in the last decade. Alaska is becoming self-supporting and cor- respondingly independent. There is a restlessness there, because of that fact, over the long-distance form of government, and the presidentfal party will ‘seek to investigate the situation and perhaps recommend certain measures of greater autonomy. Gov. Scott Bone is a former Washing- ton editor, familiar, therefore, with both ends of the situation. * % % % Wouldn't it be “grand and glorious if the cost of food for civilians could follow the fluctuations of its cost in Army rations? Here are the figures for the cost of the ration, for the respective years * * v It will be noted that the peak the high cost of living in the Army was in 1920. Since then, the ration has falien in cost from 52.63'down to 29.18 cents. (A ration is a whole day's food for one person.) That is a reduction of 42.6 per cent How much has the cost of food fallen for civilians since 19202 Not one cent. Who gets that 42.6 per cent Not the producers. for farm prices ve far from being the 1920 prices The cost to consumers has rlgen. while the compensation to producers has fallen. All the -42.6 per cent. plus all that farmers have suffered in price reduction, sticks to the hands between farm and table. The Department of Agriculture seems to find that the storage inter- ests are getting short on butter. The five-year average of butter in storaxs June 1 has been 17,978,000 pounds. Last vear it stood at 13,202,000, but this_vear. June 1, it stood at o 9,907,000 pounds. * x o % There would not be a pouni of hut- ter in storage today if the commerce had been the same this last vear as in the preceding vear, for fn 1922 wa exported 3,000,000 pounds, and thix year we not only 1id not export anv, but we fmported £000900 pounds. Without that shift of commerce by the 11,000.000 pounds, wa wduld now be short over a million pounds, with none in storage. 1s the explanation that the mas are nOW 80 prosperons that t sprend:ni butter ,n bath & theti bread and boking it in cakes? The futuce looks like bread. As goes the nonsense song. we have no bananas so we have to_eat our bread walle ming: “Yes, we have no butte: We may cheer up, however, with the information that the original song is doomed. Nicaragua is ship- ping us a million bunches of bananas a month. Like the old lady with her first view of the ocean, we may be glad to find something of which there is a plenty. (Copyright, 1923, by P. ¥. Colline.) In a Few Words. There is no path to the millennium other t the path of justice, and if we discard the best attainable instru- mentalities of fustice, to that extent we invite the decisions of the sword —SECRETARY HUGHES Only one kind of disarmament will ever occur in the world in our genera- tion or those which follow—that is, the universal and simultaneous disarma- ment of every world power. —~SECRETARY WEEKS. 1t is only among the illiterate that grains and other farm products best adapted to its naturé are discovered or developéd? * x k¥ Theé agriculture and timber resourc- es are under the management of the Department of Agriculture, and it has fifty-one scientists and other em- ployés there, located at some six sta- tions. The timber covers 20,000,000 acres of forest, with a stand of $0,000,000,000 cublc feet. It can supply, annually, ? the notion prevails that science and religion are in conflict. —ARCHBISHOP MUNDELEIM Robust, vigorous character requires far more than mere appreciative ac- quaintance with great literature and art. It implies devoted personal con- secration to whatever task life has al- lotted us. —PRESIDENT ANGELL (Yale). Wisdom consists In changing the m;fih“ l‘l.lm.lh".%‘; 8{ experdence while retaini e object. PRES[DE;’E LOWELL (Harvard).

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