Evening Star Newspaper, July 27, 1923, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY... .July 27, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES. Editor ‘The Evening Star Newspaper Company Bualness Office, 11th St. and Pennsylyania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Builling. European Oftice: 18 Regent St., London, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, is delivered by carriers within the city at 60 cents per month: daily only, 45 cents per month; Sunday only ats per month. Or- ders may be sent by mall, or telephone Main 5000, ~Collection is made by carriers ut the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. All Other States. Dally and Sunday..1y’ Jeally only 1 Zanday onl. 5 Mezaber of the Associated Press, The Associated Press is exclusively entitled use for republication of all news dis- credited to it or not otherwise credited s paper and also the local mews pub; All rights uf‘puNh'u' n of e o The European pilgrimage of sena- fors of the United States has reached unusual proportions in the last few months. The latest to announce his intention to go abroad Is Senator La Follette of Wisconsin. A complete list of those senators who have already made the trip since the adjournment of Congress, and those who are about to sail, would constitute almost a quorum of the upper house. Many have returned. All of them, efter fixing their feet firmly on Ameri- can soll once more, have expressed their opinions about conditions in Eu- rope, both political and economic. Ap- parently they have found, each and every one of them, just what they set out to find in Europe. We are still waiting for a returned senator who has changed his convictions as to what ails Europe and as to the part the United States should play in world affairs. Preconceived ideas, particular- 1y those of & United States senator, are difficult to upset. And where is the senator who, on March 4, 1923, had not his ideas regarding the European situation? The State Department seemingly overlooked a bet. When, at the close of the last Congress, senators were rushing about making their plans for visiting Europe, the department might have undertaken a summer school on European politics in Europe with well informed students of the problems to lecture to the visiting senators. How much more advisable than to have these “innocents abroad"'—so-called by one of their own number—fall into the hands of the wicked propagandists of soviet Russia, of imperial France, of coldly selfish Britain and other na- tions! Comes a note of warning now from practical “Jim"” Watson, senator from Indiana, to his republican brethren. “See America first,” particularly your own state, county and town, is his ad- vice. Senators of the United States are not going to be elected in Europe a year from now, but right here. Re- publicans have @ big job ahead of them, with the democrats kicking them on the shins and the farmer-laborites pulling their hair. Get down to work in your own home town and preach re- publicanism, he says. If you don't, you'll have plenty of time to travel @broad in 1925. Magnus States His Views. Senator-elect Magnus Johnson of Minnesota—not Hiram of California— has no reticence regarding his views on public matters. But he has his limits which call for admiration. In a statement given to the Associated Press he covers a lot of ground in sur- prisingly few words. For instance, he declares he is “for the bonus for for- mer soldiers, payable out of taxation on excess profits; he wishes to change the federal reserve system and curb the power of the United States Su- preme Court, to do away with five-to- four decisions and perhaps call for unanimous decisions.” Note the “perhaps.” There is con- servatism. Magnus has been called a radical, but there stands the qualify- ing word. He is following along a well blazed trail in his criticism of five-to- four decisions. A good many more ex- perienced statesmen than he have'l tackled that subject and proposed ' remedies. But Magnus—he likes to be called by his first name—will not quite 80 80 far now as to demand unanimity on the highest bench. This dirt farmer from Minnesota will never be President of the United | States. The Constitution prohibits that, inasmuch as he was born abroad. But he is at least going to be heard, and for a while he will be an interest- ing figure in the Senate, where he will sit by virtue of his recent election until the 4th of March, 1925. Doubtless af- ter he has been in Washington for a while he will modify his views some- ‘what. He may quite completely change his point of view. Sometimes it hap- pens ‘that way, and then, agaln, it bappens the othgr way, when a man ot conservative spirit gets off on' a tangent and goes more and more radi- cal. But there is something gbout Magnus that suggests a moderating rather than an aggravating disposi- tion. It is to be remarked that.this latest announcement of his view of things takes the form of a prepared statement, which bears marks of some- body's supervision. That is an indica- tion of wisdom, and may be taken as a hopeful sign. ——————————————— Politicians who expected to concen- trate on the wet and dry issue find the tarif again looming up as an inter- ference. Motor Accidents. Motor accidents are on the increase | in Washington. July already holds the record for fatalities in 1923, and the number of persons seriously injured is large. Twelve deaths have been re- corded to date, and with several badly injured lying in haospitals the death toll may be higher. In the first month of the year there were ten deaths from motor accidents, and then a decrease in fatalities set in, three being record. ed in February, four in March, six in Aprfl, three in May and five in Jume, A | Now we have July, {and many injured. { There have been various changes in traffic regulations. Police are directing craffic at important intersections and exerting themselves to ald motorists and protect pedestrians. The police force in general has shown an increase in activity in arresting violators of traffic rules, and the courts are im- posing heavier penalties. It would seem that there should be fewer ma- chines and pedestriAns on the streets in the midvacation season than at other times of the y&ur, yet, notwith- standing all these factors, more peo- ple are being killed or maimed. No doubt some of the pedestrians killed would not have been struck had they been cautious, and no doubt some of the motorists would not have been killed if they had been driving arefully. Some persons killed and in- jured by cars would not have been struck if the drivers had had their cars under control, that is, if they had held themselves in readiness to make quick stops. How to compel all pedestrians and drivers to practice caution, as caution is understood by most persons, s a problem which seems impossible of solution. The reckless walker cannot be kept under control, and the reckless driver is always present in the streets. The problem is to bring cars passing through the streets down to such a speed that more pedestrians can get out of their.way, and that more drivers can stop on short notice. There are regulations with regard to turning corners, passing cars and crossing intersections, but the ques- tions which the local authorities will be compelled to take up will deal with speed and the ability of drivers not so much to “run” their cars as to stop them. There is much driving on all streets at all times which is too fast for the safety of pedestrians. ————— The Capitol Guides. Yesterday's Star contained an article about the system of guides in the Capl- tol which should have the result of putting an end to a practice that has prevailed for nearly half a century. Back in 1876 provision was made for the appointment or designation of per- sons who were authorized to serve as guides through the building and col- lect fees at a rate fixed by Capitol of- ficials. Under this practice a vast amount of money has been paid by the American public for having the build- ing shown and explained. So re- munerative are -these positions as guides that they are eagerly sought, and the “patronage” of their designa- tion is one of the valuable prerogatives at the Capitol. Of course, anybody can go through the Capitol without a guide and with- out paying a fee. There is no com- pulsion whatever to engage the serv- ices of a guide. The only rule on the subject is that no more than 25 cents may be charged. But there is no rule against tips in excess of the rate. There is no sort of persuasion or pres- sure upon the visitors to join guided parties. Yet the fact stands that in the Capitol, perhaps the chief point of tourist interest in Washington, the government countenances and, in ef- fect, maintains a system of paid guid- ance, whereas every visitor should be guided free. In no other public building is the paid guide system maintained. In some of them official guides are provided, without fees. In the bureau of engrav- ing and printing, for example, com- petent young women escort parties through the establishment and explain the process of money and stamp mak- ing. These guides are paid by the gov. ernment, and likewise in the Capitol the explanatory escorts should He of- ficlal representatives of the govern- ment and not members of what is virtu- ally a syndicate. This matter, it is indicated, will be | brought to the attention of Congress at the next session and an effort will | be made to stop the practice of gov- ernment-aided private guiding and to establish the more dignified and suit- able practice of showing everybody brough the building free. It is de- sirable that the people who come to Washington to see how the United | States works should learn as much as | { possible about the organization and | equipment of the government, with- i out cost. The outstretched palm of the Capitol guide is not calculated to make | the tourists happy, even though the {fec exacted is only a quarter. —_—————————— Mr. Johnson of Minnesota will be & | great disappointment to the popular { sense of the picturesque if he does not tuck his trousers in his boots, carry & snake whip, chew tobacco and say, “By Gosh!” —_——————— A copper still landed in the dead let- ter office. The question may arise, “What is a dead letter?” At any rate | the incident proves that the prohibi- ! tion law is not one. ——————————— Lecturers abroad complain of Amer- ican criticism. The impression has been that the audiences simply ap- | plauded and allowed the lecturers to do all the criticizing. ———— The Leviathan has helped to popu- larize the idea of a merchant marine. No ship is too big for Uncle Sam to run with ease and comfort. ————————— The American Girl. A clergyman is quoted as saying that the American girl “is at the low- with twelve Irmodl est ebb in her history.” He also said ithat the American girl and young { woman drink cocktails, smoke cigar. ettes, that their conduct is shocking, that men despise them and that the whole United States is very immoral now. It is a frighttul indictment. De- spite this clerical indictment most peo- ple believe that the American girl is still & peach, and there is no evidence that men despise her. Quite the con- trary. If the clergyman had said that the American boy is a disappointment, and that he uses his college opportuni. ties for perfecting himself in rah, rahs and slang, the assault might pass un. challenged, but to say that the Amer. ican girl is other than the sweetest thing on earth transcends the limit to which any gentleman should go, and constitutes an attack on our fairest and most beloved institution. It would be interesting to know the age of this man. There comes a time In the lives of a 'few men when they appear for a mo- ment.or 80 to be proof against the charm of the American girl or any girl. Generally the disease does not last long. But they feel that the only girl worth loving was the girl they knew fifty years ago. It is possible that fifty years ago this clergyman ‘was not only more interested)in girls than he is now, but that he more interesting to girls. Perhaps he wore “love-lock™ siders and long dark hair. There was not a wrinkle in his brow nor a line above his eye. He could pay those gentle compliments which caused the lady to tap his coat lapel with her fan coquettishly. Now, perhaps, he is bald, wears specs and $alse teeth, and feels that the American girl is not so sweet and precious and appreciative as once upon a time. He holds the tenderest sentiment for Molly and her captivatigg curls. He thinks of the flowered }summer frock all covered o'er with /flounces which she wore on the picnic to Gly- mont. He remembers the tight-fitting basque and trailing skirt she wore when he hired a hack and took her to Ford's Opera House to hear Maggie Mitchell. He feels sure that Molly wore two petticoats and a balmoral and bustle, in addition to much other clothing. Perhaps he married Molly and still thinks she was and is the finest girl on earth. ‘We frequently hear attacks on the American girl, but neither she nor the American boy heeds them. One feels sure that the American girl is the brightest and most beautiful of girls. ‘The American girl of 1923 does some things which would have stunned the American girl of 1873 or 1793, but the Amerlcan girl in every generation is a peach. —_——t————— A dinosaur is reported to be sum- mering in Nebraska. It is unfortunate that several scientists cannot take this interesting and important matter im- mediately in hand owing to the fact that they have not completed their report on last year's plesiosaurus down in Patagonia. —————— Entomologists say the “assassin bug" will kill the Japanese beetle, the latter being a serlous foe to crops. It is good news, despite the fact that the Japanese beetles appear in current re- port to be the least of the agricultur- 1sts’ troubles. ————— The reasons for inviting eminent Europeans to come to America to speak are perhaps not urgent, when so many distinguished Americans are per- fectly willing to go abroad to get the information. ——— The New Jersey report of a 900- pound swordfish may be true, and on the other hand it may only prove on investigation that the fish fictionists’ pen is mightier than the swordfish. —— Londoners now refer to a glass of ginger ale as a “Lady Astor.” The fa- mous stateswoman will no doubt laugh instead of being angry, and assert that a soft drink turneth away wrath. —_——— Divorces for Americans are growing more difficult in France. Year by year the gayety of “gay Paree” seems to narrow down. Occasionally a prize fighter wins so/ easily that pugilism ceases for the moment to be regarded as rough sport. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Lothario. Of gay Lotharios I've heard ‘Whose fickle minds were lightly stirred To court the winsome village belle And city dowager as well. I saw a gay Lothario once— He looked a rather silly dunce— They read his billy doos out loud In court before a tittering crowd. In jail some time he stayed ‘When alimony wasn't paid. For relaxation now and then Some wife would put him in the pen, And every time he earned a cent Straight after it a lawyer went. A double life he deemed a hit, Then tripled and quadrupled it, ‘With several families large and small He really had no home at all. Lothario! Lothario! Your life is but a tale of woe, In frankness all the world must say Lotharios are never gay! Personal Power. “I hope you are not one of these men who seek arbitrary power instead of the privilege of serving the peo- i ple.”” “I can prove I'm not,” replied Sena- tor Sorghum. “My record will show I've always tried to be a candidate in- stead of a political boss.” Jud Tunkins says when a man prides himself on speaking the truth there always seems to be a temptation for him to specialize on bad news. Variety. “Do you enjoy taking summer boarders?” “Kind o',"” replied Mrs. Corntossel. “It's a sort of relief to hear somebody besides my own man folks complain about the meals Diplomatic Discovery. “At midnight in his guarded tent The Turk lay dreaming”—a mistake Has marred the poet's sentiment, The Turk is always wide awake. Call of Duty. “Don’t you think sitting up till 3 in the morning at a poker table interferes with your regular duties?” “Friend,” responded Cactus Joe, 'when you've lost seventeen stacks in the early evening’ there ain’t any duty that seems more urgent than sittin’ close up an’ tryin’ to rescue your perishin’ fortunes.” Patient Golfer. “What is your favorite game?” “Golf.” never see you on the links.” “No. It takes me so long to get around that I start out with my lunch before anybody is up in the morning and seldom get back till everybody has gone home.” “Sometimes,” said Uncle Eben, ‘“when you meets a man dat has a scheme foh helpin’ everybody at once you gotto watch ‘im to keep 'im f'um CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS .+~ The ‘dead letter office is in posses- sion of a copper still which had been mailed py parcel post to & man In Virginie. The addressee failed to claim {t—for obvijous reasons. \.Vhll now 1s Uncle Sam going to do with it? It would look bad if the prohi- bition officlals should hear about it and rald the dead letter office. Dare the Post Office officials turn it over, voluntarily, to the prohibition offi- ders, or should the Post Office trace the addressee and force delivery, and then tip off the address, in the hope of finding other paraphernalia, which had not been shipped so openly? This is a delicate question of ethics. * k¥ X The members of the Farm Loan Board, the Federal Reserve Board, the War Finance Corporation and-the Department of Agriculture unite in the view that the Farm Bureau Fed- eration's scheme to boost the price of wheat by establishing farm bond- ed warehouses and storing 200,000, 000 bushels of wheat therein, with the government loan of 75 per cent is not sound. The withholding of 200,000,000 bushels would stimulate the price on all other wheat, according to the bureau's theory, but the theory is unsound, say the expert officials, be- cause the market price is never based. on the actual wheat in the market, but on the “visible supply,” and ali that 200,000,000 bushels, ' although held in thé government ‘“bonded warehouses” on the farms, would be still in the “visible supply.” abso- lutely, and most emphaticaliy. The quantity would be known to all the world; ‘it would be available when- ever the market bid for it. and as soon as it would be released, or any part of it. the bear tendency of the market would be active. * ¥ ¥ X If the 200,000,000 bushels could be hidden by the individual owners, and not used as collateral security for government loans, it would not be a part of the world’s “visible supply.” and speculators would fight ea other while guessing or “speculating’ about it. That would raise the price, a while, just in proportion to the un- certainty of its amount, but “visible supply,” under government bond, can- not be manipulated in any possible way to increase prices, say the offi- clals. For individual farmers to hide 200.- 000,000 bushels and keep falth with each other that it shall not reach market is proved by many previous apts to be impossible. Per- need or personal greed will alwavs result In secret sales and de- liveries. * ok ok ok The experts assert the above doc- trine of economics, and point out that the only way the government could force up the price would be to buy the 200,000,000 bushels, and destroy the wheat—an act so wicked, in the light of starvation in many parts of the world, as to be inconcelvable. The government might buy the wheat and ship it as charity, in order to get rid of it, but the expefts sug- gest that that would only open the door to the government's fixing prices, not alone on wheat but on other farm crops. It would convert the government at once into the greatest project of socialism ever un- dertaken in the aworld, not even ex- cepting that of soviet Russia. This would cease to be a government of all the people for all the people, and would become a soviet of, for and by the farmers—one-third of the people. i * K ok * The farmers of all the world have permitted the momentum of wheat acreage, encouraged by the necessi- ties of the world war, to go on, after the reasons for increased wheat acreage had ceased through the re-| turn of the nations to more rormal | peace conditions. In the United| States, in 1923, we have 14,000,000 neres ' more devoted | to wheat | than were used for wheat prior to our | entry into the war. On that 14,000,000 acres excess we have produced an average of fifteen bushels per acre— | a total of 210,000,000} more bushels than our markets, Incldding the ex- port market, can abfdrb. That is why the farmers now \want the gov- ernment to take the 209,000,000 bush- els off their hand: ext year, if the 200,000,000 bushels)were carried by the government, the individual farmers would still think that their acreage In wheat was pot excessive, and we would be asked to pile up in government warehouses another quan- tity, against which bonds would be issued to make loans to the farmers. The solution of the predicament lies in reducing production—reducing wheat acreage—next year. Perhapsy the pendulum will swing the other way, and wheat will be so reduced in 1924" that prices will run up beyond present calculation. This is the teach- ing of the economists of all the boards and the Department of Agri- culture, not one of whom indorses the soclalization of the government as proposed. Y Under the terms of the Volstead law, if a farmer makes and sells sweet cider and the buyer thereof permits it to ferment and become in- toxicating and has it in his posses- slon or drinks it or permits his enemy to drink it, the law holds the original farmer responsible, and he may be fined $1,000 or sent to the penitentiary for ten years for each oftense. Should that apply only to the sweet and rosy apple, or be extended-to grain? If the farmer raises barley or rye and sells it, and later it becomes intoxicating, shall we not penalize the farmer? If he had never raised the grain, wouldn’t he have dodged responsibility? In logical sequence, if the excess wheat and the propa- ganda of the millers induce the pub- Tic to “eat an extra slice of bread daily” and that brings on indigestion or causes obesity, shall we not seek damages from the farmer? s s e In a recent issue, Capital Keynotes made the statement that oleomarga- rine contains no vitamins. That state- ment has been challenged by the sec- retary of the oleomargarine interests in Washington, Mr. J. S. Abbott, who avers that “one type of oleomargarine 1s nutritively the equivalent of but- ter ® * * The other type of oleo- margarine does not contain a measur- Able” quantity of ‘vitamin A, but it does contain about half as much of the recently discovered fourth vita- min, or ‘vitamin D,’ as the best grade of butter.” The writer {s not posted on the ‘“recently discovered fourth vitamin, D,” but bases his state- ment on information gathered with- in the last two years from the head of the dairy school of the School of Agriculture of lowa, who stated: “There {s no vitamin in oleo- margarine.” This is confirmed by Dr. Rogers of the laboratory of the dairy branch of the Department of Agriculture, so far as concerns the plire oleomargarin olls: “They contain no vitamins.” Dr. Rogers states, how- ever, that some so-called oleomar- garines contain a mixture of as high 4s 30 per cent butter, and that the butter, of course, contains vitamins. Also, there is some milk mixed in, which contains vitamins. See Thom- son’s “Outline of Science,” pages 1138 and 1139. The absence of sufficient vitamins in food tends to result in scurvy rickets, though their presence is not assurance of a perfect diet. * ok x X Those were serfous words quoted by Secretary Hughes in his letter to President Gompers regarding recogni- tion of soviet Russia—the country which Senator Brookhart rates as having the most stable government in the world, except one. Mr. Hughes quoted words of Lenin, Trotsky and others, predicting a world revolution involving both Europe and America. Lenin: “The outlook for world revolu- tion will not be good, but excellent.” Trotsky: “That means, comrades, that revolution is coming in Europe as well as in America, systematically, step by step, stubbornly and with gnashing of teeth, in both camps. It will be long protracted, cruel and sanguinary.” How many patriotic Americans are cager for entangling recognition of a regime which avows a purpose to foment an overthrow of this and all | other gogyernments? (Copsright, 1923, by P. V. Collins.) EDITORIAL DIGEST Siddall's Passing Leaves a Wide -Gap in the Magazine Field. The “best friend the aspiring writer” had was John M. Siddall, editor of the American Magazine, who has just passed on, if the united voice of the editors of the nation is to be con- sidered. “Sid” brought to the maga- zine field the *nose for news,” acquired during his years of work as a re- porter and a desk man, and he was very quick to note the unusual, even in crudely written mfinuscrlpls sub- mitted to him. Work was his one passion, work and his magazine, and when the doctors told him that he might prolong his life a possible twelve months by giving up his editing he merely smiled and an- nounced he would die in the harness. “He was never afraid to print an unusual story—in fact, he gloried in the fact that this was exactly the kind of stories he wanted to print” says the Dayton News. “But in the tremendous success which he achieved he lost his health. He worked too hard and too long, a common failure among literary men and successful writers.” In all essentials he was ua ploneer,” the Reading Tribune holds. “He Indulged in nothing recondite, as some of the ‘highbrow’ magazines occasionally do. And he indulged in nothing salacious, as some of the ‘lowbrow' magazines occa- sionally do. What he did was to take the conversation of the average so- phisticated home and incorporate it in a magazine.” His record with the Amerlcan “will stand for vears to come,” insists the Canton News, as “he assumed the editorial direction of this publication eight years-ago, when it had a circulation of 400,000. Today it boasts of five times that number monthly.” Thousands of readers who never saw him “feel that they have lost a personal friend in him.,” the Buffalo Times holds, “for he, possessed a remarkable gift of making his in- dividuality palpable to those he ad- dressed in print. His heroism In bear- ing up against an illness he knew to ba mortal and keeping hard at work in the face of suffering exemplified in his own person his maxim of victory.” “Not all the heroes die on the bat- tleflelds amid the thunder of gun: the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch points out. “In the face of certain death— death that was inevitahle in a few weeks or months—heé went quietly about his work, irradiating the sun- shine of his cheery smile as if all were going well with his world. All honor to such @ man. It is his kind who are the pioneers; to whom the call of duty means more than life itself.” leaves behind a “clean magazine as an asset” the Burlington Gazette points out, “and preference Wwas al- ways accorded to wholesome tale that carried no appeal to sex in- stincts. It is easy to cater to the api- mal in mankind.” There is one lesson in his death. as the Decatur Review sees {t, and that Is “he was worked to death at forty-nine because he did not know how to play. Because he was unable to let go, to get out into the open and to play, this active career is ended. Men owe it to themselves and to their families to know how to play as well as to work. Recreation, the rebuilding of the nerves and body by a_change of occupation from work to play. is needed by all. John Siddall’ epitaph might well be: ‘He kne how to work, but not how to play.’ In life he was interested “only In those stories of success that told of triumph over tremendous obstacles,” recalls the Hartford Times, “but where in the files of the American can be found the story of a man who so successfully carried on under sen- tence of painful death, maintaining all the while these two great and rare virtues of a cheerful disposition and shut mouth? Not even his office as- sociates knew that their chief was reckoning his life’s span by a few more publication days. “Mr. Siddall will enjov that immor- tality that attaches to authors whose writings can be posthumously pub- lished, and ‘Sid’ will continue to s his say for several months to come. He had a “rare faculty of adapting himself to every other man's view- point,” the Watertown Standard holds, because “he had an insatiable curios- ity about human beingsand an almost limitless sympathy. He understood the inartisulate ciy of the human soul groping for light, and he tried to discover that light for his fellow men and women by presenting to them experiences of others who had taced and solved problems common to_the average.” That he fought and worked to the last_indicates “he' was gifted with much of that sort of philosophy which. serves to help a man through the dark places and over the rough spots in the pathway of life’ suggests the Binghamton Sun. “He had courage, and he kept his troubles to himself. No more moving story ever will be printed in the American Magazine than the detalls of his achievements and his tragic ending would make.” Then, again, “some men have jobs. John Siddall’s job had him,” says the Pittsburgh Sun. “That's the differ- ence between what the world, in its best moments, calls sucoess and fail- ure” His monument is “one of the cleanest, most inspiring, most sensi- ble of publications in this day of sentimental slop,” insists the Rock- ford Republic, because as the Louis- ville Courier-Journal recalls it, ‘he made his magazine a kind of month- 1y newspaper." “He was the invincible optimist,” asserts the Grand Rapids Press, “whose view of life humorists liked to mimic with grotesque exagger: tion, and whose philosophy rankl in the soul of Upton Sinclair as a of of the inanity of American ournalism. That ‘people shopld buy such stuff! A million dollars did not impress him rticularly, his friend Heywood Broun) wrote of him, but he never lost the notion that the making of the million was romantic, the most authentically romantic thing In our world today.” Then, again, “his door was always open,” the Utica Press says. “You could drop in at any time to see him. could tell quicker than any man whether the story in- terested him, and, If it did, h say so. Same way If it didn't. But the point is he could be seen, Which may have been one reason for his distinguished success.” To which the Rochester Herald & triumph of the lousy” “his work wul Says Scientists Guess. Writer Recalls Swimming Hole At Walker Hotel Site. To the Bditor of The Sta: I have always had a great deal of faith in scientists, and have often read of some wonderful discoveries by them; but the decision reached by some of the scientists representing the Interlor and Agricultural depart- ments, the Carnegle Institution and the Johns Hopkins University in a recent controversy ls in error, and more llke guesswork. I believe I can prove beyond a doubt that the declaration by a mem- ber of the Assoclation of Oldest Inhabitants, about the swamp de- posits found on the site of the new Walker Hotel on Connecticut avenue and De Sales streets is correct. The writer of this, who is in his seventy-fourth year, can well remem- ber the swamp or swimming hole, where the boys of his day who lived about that neighborhood, would spend their lelsure hours swimming and fishing. This swamp was formed from a small branch from Rock creek, some- where, as near as I can remember, at what ' was then called Kalorama Manor, or just below the entrance gate. This was a beautiful spot in its day, and well do I remember the plenics’ where the school children went each year in May to crown their queen. But' the older boys, after erecting the swings, etc., for the girls, would wander down to the branch mentioned to fish and swim. This branch started at this point and flowed in.a south- easterly direction, spreading out into a swamp at about M street and con- tinuing on down In about the same direction. I am now at what Is at present 22d and M street. This is the point at which we had stepping stones or logs, where the schoolchil- dren would cross golng and coming from school in Georgetown. The swimming hole was here, too, and the boys would spend many hours enjoying it. This swimming hole was an ideal place on a hot summer's day, as the branch and swamp took its course along a very high bank on the west. This bank, as I remember, was as high as a two-story house in sonfe places, and was covered all along down to the edge of the water with berry bushes and other kinds of growth generally found near water. It was a wild looking place to me In those days, with large trees growing along the bank, their branches spreading out, giving shade to the boys who would be in the water. The writer was about seven vears old at this time, and I often crossed the swamp at this point with an older brother, going to school in Georgetown. Some of these trees were quite large and very tall, and some had fallen and were lying about where they fell. In those days there were no streets or houses above the north side of M street, except about four, 4s near as [ can remember. One could stand on the corner of what is now 2ist and M streets, face west, and turn the body and eyes toward north and east, and all the houses that could ba seen were three frame houses and one of brick—all a barren waste. The writer lived out on 21st (then called the road), between what Is now O and P streets, about five min- utes’ walk for a boy bent on having a swim In the hole. "Just across from where I lived there was a brickyard owned by a man named Hopkins, and beyond this yard, toward Dupont Circle, was what was called the slashes, where dead animals were buried. All the land back of where T lived, west from “the road,” sloped down to the branch and swamp before men- tioned, where many cows would pas- ture and go to the branch for water. In those days this branch and swamp spread all along through and under a bridge at 20th and a little north of L street, where it turned more in an easterly direction. At this point, on the east side of 20th street, be- tween L and M, a little back from the road was a slaughter house, kept by a man named Linkins. The branch continued on from 20th and L streets, running through the slaughter house property, and con- tinuing on about east, along through where Connecticut avenue intersects L street. I remember at one time there was a “flood”; this branch was swollen very high,” which caused a great many logs and trees to float down the branch, finding lodgment in one of the many crooks and turns in this stream. Therefore, I am mclined to think that the scientists who took up this matter of determining the age of the deposits found recently in the excavations made at Connecticut ave- nue and De Sales street have got another guess. F. B. DURKIN. Cites Baptismal Modes. Reader Says Immersion Not Only + Method in Early Church. To the Editor of The Star: In your issue of July 14 the fol- lowing question was asked; and the answer to it given by Frederic J. Haskin, as per extract: “Q. When was immersion first used as a symbol of baptism? M. H.C.| A. The records of the earliest Christian writers seem to agree that immersion was the mode of baptism practiced not only by the entire body of Christians, but was used previous to that time by the Jews, who im- priess d proselytes to their religious aith.” Nothing further being said, that answer excludes the weight of schol- arly testimony that other modes of baptism were practiced in the time of the apostles of Jesus, and in the case of heathens entering the Jewish Church. McClintock & Strong in their “Biblical and Theological Encyclopa- deia’™state that as early as the second century of the Christlan era this proselyte baptism was an established rite among’ the Jews; but declares that “the claiin of much greater an- tiquity for it is hardly tenable.” And Hodges in his treatise “Baptism Test- ed by Scripture and -History” asserts that proselyte heathen children were baptised among the Jews by af- fusion. This latter author In a great wealth of testimony from the early fathers of the Christian Church declares that “infant baptism was never called in question during the earlier ages of Christianity.” “And Polycarp, who was_instructed by the apostles, and commended in Revelations, chapter 2, verse 8, was accustomed to the use of such baptism. Origen, one of the mightiest of all the intellects ever lent in any age to Christianity, was accustomed to infant baptism by his own father’s practice, and said that “its usage had been handed down by the apostles.” He was born about eighty-five years after the death of St. John. No one disputes immersion as a very ancient mode of baptism. But the Didache, or “Teaching of the Twelve” (lLe. the twelve apostles)— a Greek Mss. lost for 800 years to the scholarly world, and whose recovery by Philotheos Bryennios created so tremendous a sensation—the Did- ache ‘which fills the gap between the apostolic age and the church of the second century,” furnishes proof of the matter of “gprinkling or pouring as a legitimate mode of baptism,” while also testifying to the gene: RS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic J. Haskin Q. How mgny men are on the eligible lists of the police and fire departments? L. B, A. The police department says that it h not maintained an elfgible list for seven or eight years. At the present time there are fifty vacancies in the police department. These va- cancles are usually filled by advertis- ing for policemen. In order to obtain a position with the fire department an examination under the Civil Ser- vice Commission must be taken. There are nineteen vacancles in the fire department and between fifteen and twenty men have recently taken the civil service examination. Q. Are there any battleflelds in the District of Columbia? A. F. M. A. The only battlefield in the District is at Fort Stevens, beyond Brightwood. It was the scene of an engagement on July 12, 1864, during Gen. Early's attempt on Washing- ton. Q. Where was the first telegraph office? M. T. P. g A. On the west side of 7th street between E and F, near the center of the square occupied by the land office. It was opened and operated by Samuel F. B. Morse in 1844. Q. How does it happen that the son of Aguinaldo is going to West Point? M. E. A. Emilio Aguinaldo was appoint; ed to the United States Military Academy by the governor general of the Philippine Islands. The Secre- tary of War is authorized to permit four Fllipinos to be designated, one for each class by the governor gen- eral of the Philippines. Q. When was the first automobile race run? H. R. A. The first record of an automo- bile race is the one from Paris to Rouen which took place in June 1894. A distance of seventy-five miles was accomplished at a speed of almost fifteen miles an hour. Q. How can opals be cured so that they will not check? J, B. O. A. The Geological Survey says that the checking of opals can be prevented by putting them in a bottle containing a solution of one-half glycerin and one-half water. There is no way known of preventing check- ing if the opals are taken out of the solution and exposed to the alr. Q. How old can boys be and still be eligible to the national marbles championship? H. I. A. Boys of fourtesn years or younger are eligible to the marble games. They enter from any one of the playgrounds of their particular neighborhood. A winner of each playground competes with other winners and the elimination contin- ues until the champion is decided on. The champion of that ecity then goes to Atlantic City for the final game. The winner of the last cham- plonship game, which was completed about four weeks ago, was Harlan McCoy, of Cincinnatl, Ohfo. Q. How many vessels pass through the Panama canal each day?—J. W. G. A. Based on the number of vessels passing through the canal for the year 1922, the average per day is about seven. Q. How long have there been gyDp- stes in this country?—F. S. A. While the exact date does not ap- pear, a document dated February 11, 1581, mentions their presence. They were brought over and colonized by the French in Louisiana. Q. What i{s the meaning of Uri cn; ;l"hummlm as used in the Bible? A. The words are ttanslated a lghts and perfection, and It is quite possible that they referred to definite articles, perhaps jewels, which wero used as part of the breastplate of the high priests. Q. How long will it be before any mgrethles can come to this country? A. Sufficient vises have been grant- ed to prospective immigrants from Poland to exhaust the quota for the en- tire fiscal year. It would not be pos: ble for a Pole to obtain a vise until the next fiscal vear. The new quota will go into effect July 1, 1924. Q. How old were Martha Custis’ children when she married Georgs Washington?—T. W, W. A. They were aged nine and seven. Q. Is it possible to have an ugly nose remodeled?’—G. B. A. The public health service says that the most satisfactory results in so-called remodeling of ~noses has been done by plastic surgeons by per- forming what is known as a nitro- nasal operation. The skin on the bridge of the nose is lifted and cor- rected, and the bone is supplied to fill out a dished nose and removed in the case of a hump. Cartilage is re- moved f a hooked nose is the trou- ble. A small formed plece of light aluminum is firmly strapped over the nose for a few days to hold it in the desired shape. Q. Who originated saving plan?—D. J. G. A. The idea was originated by Ben- jamin Franklin. The modern pro- posal came first from an Englishma Willlam Willett, in 1907, who publish s-ln o pamphlet called ste of Day- iight.” Q. Has the climate of any part of the world changed materially?—E. R. A. There have been no well authen- ticated changes of climate within the past 2,000 years. Changes due to man, such as deforestation, agriculture, the building of canals and railroads, have only a local effect. Q. What is the language of theo Lithuanians?—A. M. N. A. While in no sense a pure lan- guage, that which is spoken by the Lithuanians is the nearest to the an- ient Sanskrit of any modern lan- guage and is practicaily the same as that in which the Vedas or the sacred hooks of India are written. Th Lithuanians are probably the_ bes preserved examples of the Indo-Euro- peans, who formed the most important basis of the races of west Europe. the daylight Q. What is the longest canal {n the world?>—F. F. V. A. The Grand canal of China. This canal is 1,000 miles long. extending from Hangchow to Peking. It is about 2,500 years and has become partially filled w! mud from the ;| overflow of the Yellow river, but is 4 still a busy waterway. (The Star will answer your question. Give your full mame ond address and send it to The Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, 1220 North Capitol street. The only charge is 2 Cents in stamps for return postage.) Cadogan Heir to Inherit Land on Which Chelsea Suburb Is Built BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. Lord Cadogan, who has just arrived in New York from England on the Homerlc, although only the seventh earl of his line, is, nevertheless, of very anclent lineage. For hig family was founded by a royal Welsh prince, Fulys, who had a son, Gadwgan, a name which eventually was Angli- cized into Cadogan. The first Cad- ogan to achieve note was Willlam of that ilk, who so distingulshed him- melf in the campaigns of the first Duke of Marlborough on the con- tinent that he was raised to the peerage as Lord Cadogan and even- tually eucceeded the duke as com- mander-in-chief of the army and master general of the ordnance. His honors descended by special remainder to his brother Charles, also a general In the army, and to whom, really, the foundation of the family fortunes are due. For he married the daughter and heiress of the eminent physician Sir Hans Sloane and, through his wife, be- came invested with the ownership of | the manor of Chelsea in Middlesex. It is to Sir Hans Sloane, by the by, the successor of Sir Isaac New- ton as president of the royal society, that England Is indebted for the British Museum of which the wonder- ful collection he had formed consti- tuted the nucleus. Indeed, that is why the earls of Cadogan, as heirs of Sir Hans Sloane, through the lat- ter's daughter, have always been hereditary trustees of the British Museum, the others owing their ap- pointment to the crown, who has just nominated the twenty-seventh earl of Crawford to the trusteeship vacated by Lord Rosebery, through illness. * Kk % At the time when the late Earl of Cadogan succeeded to the family hon- ors and estates, a little over half a century ago, the manor of Chelsea estate was not considered of any par- ticular value. Much of the property was marshland and the remainder slums of the most poverty-stricken order. Fortunately, he had a very brilliantly clever wife in the person of Lady Beatrice Craven, and it w entirely owing to her initiative that her husband organized the so-called Chelsea reconstruction scheme, which, in the seventh and eighth decades of the last century. was in full blast and which had the effect of convert- ing Chelsea from a slum into one of the most fashionable districts of the British metropolis. Most Chelsea land wi upon ninety-nine-year leases. so0ld vacant It has | since been built up with street upon street and square upon square of the most_costly houses and mansions in | London, which, on the expiration of the lease, will become the property. together with all the fixtures, of the ground landlord—that is to say, the entailed estate of the Earldom of Cadogan. The wealth of the latter, therefore, 18 bound, like that of the Dukes of Westminster, to steadily in- crease in gigantic strides as time goes by. Indeed, little Viscount Chel- sea, now nine years of age, will be, by the time he attains his majority and ‘on his succestion to the Earldom of Cadogan, an extremely rich man and accounted one of the half a dozen great ground landlords of London. * ok Kk Little Lord Chelsea will be a far richer man, indeed, than his father, rule of immersion in “living water'— or water flowing freely (in the open.) *"'S.'REESE MURRAY —————— Onc Result of War of 1812. Prom the Bell Telephone News. The war of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain is of interest to us today because It established amgong civilized nations the principle of voluntary “expatriation,” or the right of an individual to choose the country in which he desires to live re- gardless of his nativity or previous nationality. Baefore this war nations had not, as rule, recognized the validity of aturalization by other natlons of*its own former. citizens or subjects, the persent earl. For the latter, like his elder brother, the first husband of Lady Meux, managed to involve him- 1f in all kinds of financial troubles and dificulties during his father's lifetime, necessitating his frequent appearances in the bankruptcy court and the payment of very large sums, by the late earl, in order to extricate, after a fashior, his two elder sons from their monetary difficulties and from the toils of some of the most motorious usurers in London. , It was with a view to the protec- tion of the Cadogam estate that the present earl was obliged to sell his reverslol lite interest in the en- ' < . tailed property in return for the set. tlement of his obligations and for fairly generous but by no means large allowance from the trustees of the property. Indeed, when the late earl dled, it was found that his successor was not included among the executors of the will, who consisted of his daughter, Lady Sophie Scott, and her brothers, Edward Cadogan, member of parlia- ment for Reading, and Alexander Ca- dogan of the foreign office, to whom, also, all the unentailed property was bequeathed. The late Lord and Lady Cadogan were such warm and_intimate per- sonal friends of King Edward, Queen Alexandra and of thefr children that there was a good deal of prejudice at court against the present peer by reason of the trouble which he had given to his parents, and, at the time of the old earl's death King George gave expression to his sentiments in rather an unusual way. As a rule when a knight of any of the great orders of British chivalry dies, the insignia is returned to the sovereign by the successor of the defunct. But when the time came to return to the king the Order of the Garter of the old earl, who had been a member of the cabinet, as lord of privy seal, and viceroy of Ireland, the sovereign in- timated that he would prefer that the insignia should be returned to him by the dead man's widow, his second and relatively youthful wife, instead of by the present peer, and the fact that the order had thus been returned to the king formed the sub- ject of an official communication in the Court Gazette, The great war, however, served to restore the earl, to some extent, to the good will of the reigning house. For, on the proclamation of peace, Lord Cadogan, who had been a vet- eran of the Boer campaign of twen five years ago, received a commander- ship of the military division of the Order of the British Empire in recog- nition of his services from 1914 to the arntistice. * %k X ¥ During every session of Congress many hundreds, nay thousands of bills—that is to say, projects of law— and petitions are presented to one or the other of the houses of the national legislature at Washington. Their names and titles are read out, on presentation, by their sponsors, and that is the last heard of the greater portion of them. It is the same with the British parliament at ‘Westminster. As soon as the member has risen in his place in the commons to pre- sent to “Mr. Speaker, a humble pe- tition of the 50,000 citizens of the borough of—, say, “Muckton-on- the-Sea, praying for the legislative | abolition of organ grinders, or so- called German bands," it is at once deposited in a huge, grim-looking bag with an enormous, cavernous mouth and the general appearance of a hideously deformed and over- grown sea slug, which hangs behind te wpeaker's chair to engulf these “humble petitions. The question has arisen as to what becomes of them. Does any one ever become acquainted with their con- tents? They are never read out, and 80 it s that unless some individual member has the curiosity to fish a petition out of the maw of this sea slug, they are left there until, after the accumulation of a sufficient num- ber of them, they are buried by night in some remote spot within the pre- cincts of the palace of Westminster, not without the addition of a quan- tity of chloride of lime to assure the speedy destruction of the projected laws that have remained still-born. It would be interesting to ascer- tain the fate assigned to similar ac- cumulations of petitions and projects of law that are supposed to be sub- mitted for “careful consideration” by Congress. I understand that there, too, they are not destroyed by fire but are buried in huge quantities by night, somewhere in the outskirts of Washington. Their fate is shroud- ed in kindly mystery. Very few leg- islators display any curlosity om the subject. They are happy in the be- lief that the measures they have sponsored at the request of their constituents have been consigned to such complete obliteration as to pre- vent their ever belng resuscitated to haunt their uneasy and consclience= stricken slumbers, ! ]