Evening Star Newspaper, September 3, 1923, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, With Supday Morning Edition. T WASHINGTON, D. C. - ° MONDAY .September 3, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES. YES........Editer B The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Offer. 11th St. and Pennsylvama Are. New York Oftice: 110 East i2nd St. Chiy o Office: Taver Building. Europgan Ottice: 16 Regeat St.. London, England. The Evening Star, with tiie Sundat morning ., #dftion, s delivered by carriers within.the clty AL 60 cents per month; daily onls. 45 cents per 50 cents per month. Or- lephone Main i Cotlvetion. s made by currlers at tbe onth. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunda, $5.40; 1 mo., T0c .. Daily “only $6.00% 1 mo.. Boc tinday onl: 1 mo., 20c All Other States Daily and Sunday..1 yr., $10.0 Daily only 1yr, $3.0 &unday only ‘1yr. $3.0 1.mo., 602 ; 1 mo., 25¢ Member of the Associated Press. T Associated Press {s exclusively entitled * to the uso for yepublication of all news dis- patches credited 1o It or not ofherwice credited in this paper anc alvo the local news pub. Mshed herein. Al rights of _publication vt } dispulchen hereln are afw reserved Cataclysm. Such @ disaster as that which has Just occurred in Japan is not to be readily measured by Americans, who have no standards of comparigon. Great cataswophes have been suffered in this country, but none approaching in any degree the cataciysmic horror that hus befallen the land of the ris- ing sun. ‘Larthquake, fire, flood and volcanic eruptions have taken perhaps the heaviest toll ever exacted In modern history. The estimates of the loss of life range into six figures. Two hun- dred thousand is the latest guess—the reckoning cannot be better at present than guesswork—although some re- ports suggest a higher number. Per- haps the total of casualties will never be known. Only by subtraction, in some places, can the count be made. Thus, in the city of Hakone, for e _ ample, it is stated that it is “easier to count the living than the dead.” The loss in property will reach a staggering total, likewise perhaps never to be known with any exactness. Immense areas have been swept by ¢ flames, or enguifed by tidai waves, or . pulverized by shaking carth, or over- Wwhelmed by volcanic emlissions. Many notable historic structures have been destroyed. Owing to the wide arca eovered by the shocks and their at- + tendant consequences the losses to in- dustry will be beyond reckoning. Rail- ways are wrecked, and the shock to _the productive work of the Japanese will Le severe beyond any previous experience even in that land of fre- ' quent seismic visitations. In this emergency the world stands ready to help the people of the stricken island. Every possible means of succor will be tendered. But, unfortunatel there is little that can be done quic ly. owing to the great distances be- tween Japan and the countries from * which the supplies of relief must pro- ceed. Yet with the system of interna- tional credits it may be that material " aid can be placed within reach in sea- son result of the almost total loss of all “ that the survivors of the horror have | - possessed. If instant sympathy and organization and action can work re- sults that relief will be given. Those who witnessed the scenes in San Francisco in 1906, when that city was first shaken by a violent convul- sion of the crust and then, in conse- quence of broken water mains, was subjected to a sweeping conflagration | *of terrific magnitude and extent, will have some measure of the ghastly _ruin- wrought by the Japanese cata- - clysm. But there is a difference. In " Japan the greater part of the con- «struction is flimsy, little more than wood and paper, and a fire once start- * ed rages without check until virtuaily everything is destroyed. It spreads al- | most with explosive swiftness. Thus © in the accounts are reports of the com- plete vanishment of entive towns and even cities, leaving scarcely any traces of their previous prosperous existence. . Nothing of that sort has ever occurred ’in America, even though it has been visited by some enormously destruc- tive conflagration Probably not for days will the full extent vf the disaster be known.- The cables are broken by the shocks and tidal ‘waves, and by radio chiefly are the reports now coming. The mere gathering of the facts is attended with the greatest difficulty, although the “‘area’ of the terror is comparatively restricted. But soon eaough will come the facts. Sufficient is already known to mark this as one.of the most gigan tic and hideous calamities ever suf- fered by a people. —_——— Difficulties disappear as the’ years go on. There was a time when an " amicable understanding between Mex- ~ ico and the U. S, A. appeared to be Z'beyond the' most sanguine hopes of dipfomacy. « Labor Day.' Labor dayv this year finds the coun- try, and not without precedent, with a striking demonstration of the lack of an effective means of settling the re- * lations ‘between workers_and ‘employ- ers in evidence, in the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania, whencé comes the greater. part of the fuel supply of the people. There prevails a blockade of production due to thé fact that the two sides in the mjning operation so essential to the public welfare are un- éble to agree upon working terms. It is anomalous that the day set aside in honor of ‘American labor should be marked by such a condition. On other occasions in the past this situation has been present while La- bor day has been observed. Indeed, “rarely has the first Monday in Sep- tember -arrived sincé the holiday was insfituted without some breach in the relations between large bodies of work- ers and their employers been in evi- .dence somewhere in the land. And * every time the fact hasiserved as text “for numerous observations anent the urgent need of ‘an effective means of - preventing these costly; often futile, - always ‘troublesome and even danger- ous conditions. g Refusal to recognize unions is not “the chief cause of these breaks, called strikes. In most cases, indeed, the troubles are between recognized unions “end the employers. In some instances, 1 mo.. 85¢ | to prevent acute. suffering as a | in the present situation, union recognition s at bottom the essence iof the obstruction to work and pro- | duction or performance. In the main, however, the lack of an effective {means of ‘adjusting differences regard- {4ng pay and working conditions is the {chicf factor. One side or the other re- | Tuses to arbitrate, to submit the ques- jtion to an impartial body of umpires. Each fears to lose preetige or advan- tage by the rendering of a decision by ‘a body not composed wholly of par- i ties to the dispute. \ Herein lies a lamentable fallure of {our industrial systeri. Countless mil- ions have been wasted, in wages, in {production values and in public serv- {ice through ihis lack. Grave dangers ihave been incurred. Many lives, in- .dm‘d, hate been destroyed in the icourse of disorders attendant upon | these breaches of working relations, ! {through the stubborn refusal of em- ers to deal with their operatives and the equally stubborn refusal of the opctatives to work or to allow others (o work in their stead. American civilization is not in high development while such a condition Femains. bor has its responsibil tes, as has capital. Ong of those re- | sponsibilities is toward the soclety of I which it forms a part. Capital owes an even greater responsibility in that it serves In the relation of a trustee of th: country’s resources. Two such es. sential factors, supplying the greater part of the force that keeps life in ac- tion and yields the progress that the country scores steadily, should be gov- erned by the rational laws that rule in all the private relations. The high hope of the country is that soon may come a celebration of Labor day when everybody will join in re- joicing that a way has been found to prevent these costly, dangerous, need- less blockades of production, to con- serve the energies of all workers, to safeguard the rights of all, to insure the people the continuation of that service that capital and labor are re- quired to render. | ploy Italy’s Indefensible Position. Italy’s attempts to justify the pre- cipitate seizure of Greek islands as a means of forcing immediate granting of the demands made for reparation for the murders in Albania are not convincing. There is, indeed, no con- ceivable warrant for the haste shown or the drastic measures adopted. One apologist for the action of the govern- ment at Rome suggests that there is a precedent for this course in the Amer- ican occupation of Vera Cruz. Condi- tions, however, differ radically. There ig no parallel. Now comes Rome with a refusal to recognize Greece's right to appeal to the league of nations, on the ground that the present government at Athens has not been formally recognized by the powers, and thereforé -has no standing in the international tribunal. In other words, according to Musso- lini, Greece is an outlaw nation and must be dealt with privately, sharply, as one would deal with any bandit o irregular member of society. This con. that Greece as a nation is @ member of the league, whatever may be the form or personnel of the government at Athens. This plea s a paltry ex- cuse that cannot serve, It is lamentable “that Mussolini shouid have carried so far in- his im- | petuous domination. He has done a vemarkable and infinitely valuable work for Italy, in suppressing communist forces and restoring de- | pendable government. He has made himself master through his vigorous, {uncompromising methods, his high pa- {triottsm and’ his sagacity in seizing jupon the situation at the exact mo- ment when a strong man was re- quired. But now he has put himself ! comes the business of the other powers, flaunting the methods of procedure, refusing to jwait for the development of the facts beyond question or dispute, rushing to occupy the territory of a nation with !whi«-h Italy is at peace, gaining an ad- | vantage of ph: {tul purpose and without the least logical ‘warrant. . Probably to no than that of Greece, slavia, would. Itaiy have acied, as it has done in this case. It would never hdve moved to seize Corsica if a crime had been eommitted by against Italian officers. Apart the specific wrong of acting in war- making manner before a chance has been givén to determine the responsi- bility, the fact that the victim of the unwarranted aggression is a govern- ment that is in no position to act in defense, owing to recent reverses and jdisasters in Asia, makes this a flagrant other government {offense against international law and! —————————— { order. The Greek government has been in- 'v,ih-d to make an investigation of the Albanian frontler massacre. An in- | vestigation is often valuable in allow- ing all parties to a‘crisis a reasonable {'time to' cool off. — i " Senator Smoot suggests tax exemp- tion for an inexpensive autdmobile. | The fitvvér owner has been having his | doubts as to whether thefe is any such thing. [ ——— Agriculture Buildings Needed. Senator Smoot, chairman of the Public. Buildings Commission, has said in @n official report that the Depart- ment of Agriculture is probably the worst-housed goyernment department at Washington; and the Secretary of Agriculture seconds the sentimerg set forth in the report. The story that Secretary Wallace tells is a sad one, | and it is likely that the heads of other Fexecutive departments could tell simi- Hiar ones. Notwithstanding inadequate space and manifold inconveniences which act as a check on transaction of pub- lic business, the annual rent bill of the Department of Agriculture in Washington is $170,000. The depart. ment occupies 572,839 square feet of space in government-owned structures and 482,689 square feet in rented ‘buildings. The bureau of plant indus. try is housed in nine. buildings, the bureau of agricultural economics Is alsq housed in‘that. number of build- ings in different locations, and thé bu- reau, of entomology occupies five buildinge. The work of other bureaus imilarly - scattered about “the city, fronts the fact, which is undeniable, | the : in the wrong in a matter which be-| recognized | aical position to no use- | or possibly Jugo- | Frenchimen ; from | Y The weather bureau {5 two miles from the main department -building, the fixed nitrogen research laboratory is six miles away, the bureau of public roads 1 half a mile frém the office of the Secretary, and the oflices. of the forest bureau are three-quarters of a mile away. i This is not the whole story. Much of the work is carried on in basements, and much of ‘it on the top floors of rented bulldings where ventilation is bad, and where it is too cold in winter and too hot in summer for the com- fort and health of employes. The de- partment occuples forty-elght build- ings, and the Secretary says that only nine of them, two government owned and seven rented, are adapted for the work carrfed on in them. Report of the conditions in this de- partment, most important -to the agri- cultural interests of the country, has {been set before the bureau of the ! budget with a request that $15,250,000 be allowed for a buliding program to i cover a period of elght years. There | would be immediate construction of a central building between the two mar- ble wings in the department grounds. There has been a delay of fifteen vears in that work. Secretary Wal- lace wants a new building 6n a square {to be acquired south of the depart- ment grounds and facing on B street, and he urges the construction of a large monumental building on the north side of the department grounds. The time draws near when the build- ing needs of the government at Wash: ington must be met. The government's housing situation is taking on the as- pect of a scandal. ' ———— Former Kaiser Wilhelm has’ proved a disappointment to those who thought he had learned enough about government to offer at least a few practical suggestions in a series of public emergencies. He is not even a valued contributor over such sig- natures as “Vox Populi” and “Tax- payer.” ————————— | | Before announcing a decision as to | whether he will appear before the re- publican national convention mnext summer, as a favorite son, Senator Hiram Johnson insists on the polite formality of giving California a little time to think it over. 1 ————— | Students in-Chlcago have been in- | duced to become plasterers at $100 a week, thus giving the assurance that their coilege educations will have a good foundation of common sei —_——— ! The confident attitude of each side {in the fuel controversy would indi- cate that every operator and miner had managed to lay by enough coal to see his family through for the winter. ———— Of Gov. Pinchot's moral courage there is no doubt. In a crisis like the one to which he now holds @ relation of national prominence it needs a {brave man to officiate as umpire. —_————— Chancellor Stresemann is said to be {1osing popularity. Germany is not at { present holding out permanericy of tenure as an inducement to the as- sumption of official cares. i cience intimates that people will s0on be spending sumymer vacations at the north pole. Thiz | necessitate a decided change in bathing costumes. An jmpression galns ground that | one of-the essential effects of a strike situation is to keep that innocent old | bystander, the dear public, well scarca. | | The possibility of a resignation lalways exists, but the proportion of resignations to rumors represents a very small percentage. \ Itds fortunate for Wilhelm that the demand for his trial did not prove as tenaciops as the demand for repara- i tions. claims to Gave the ‘ecivliization in the world. It parently not improving with age. oldest SHOOTING STARS. EY PHIL Human Fallibility. Sir Isaac Newton made mistakes— So Einstein shows. The hero worshiper awakes To wistful woes. NDER JOHNSON. "Tis sad when one so wondrous wise © Slips up, and yet, He helps us to apologize | When plans upset. | Although his intellect was strong, As all agvee, i : n Sir Isaac got in wrong. Why should not we? E A Wonderful' Subject. “You are very much interested in {the tariff, are you not?” “Very much,” answered Senator Sorghum. "It is one of the most pro- found and- prolific topics with which the human mind can come .into con- tact, ranging all the way from insinua- tions of mercenary scandal to the loftiest heights of economic philoso- phy. ; 5 Jud Tunkins says some folks' men.’ tality develops so.slow that the only { difference they indicate between youth and old age is the ability to grow more whiskers. Conferences. This world’s a fleeting show, we fear, As on our way we jog: The public pays too much to hear The same old dialogue. Professional’ Excuse. “That lady acrobat wears a more | abbreviated costume than ‘mine,” said the girl in knickers. “There is a professional excuse for her,” answered Miss Cayenne. “'Spe is not a mere flapper. She's a flip- flapper.” No Sordid Limitations.’ “Rafferty,” exclaimed Mr. Dolan, “your boy threw a lump of coal at my boy' 2 “That's a Rafferty for you! When he feels there's a principle at stake he doesn’t think of expense.” “A naturally fussy man.” said Uncle Eben, “is Jiable:to stan’ arpund brag- gin' ‘bout ~his ‘pep’ ‘stead of ‘earnin’ his sajt.” - - is ap-| ~ . J ‘Thé most astounding feature of the anthracite strike has nothing to’ do with cosl It s the announcement that 1,000 bars in the mining region have been ordered closed. Let's see! How about the Volstead law? Does it take a coal strike to cause “the federal and state officers 10 unite in efforts to close the sa- loons,” in the anthracite region? “The proprietors are ordered to remove all bar equipment and desist from keep- ing, or selling liquor.” Strange! Passing. strange! It takes & lot of digging to support 1,000 bars. = * k x % 1 Several €hips bringing allens into the United States on the night of Au- gust 31, raced into port as, midnight was approaching, with the result that they beat the clock by a Yew minutes, and arrived in August instead of Sep- tember. Under the strict construction of the law some 14,000 emigrants therefore must be counted in the Au- gust quotas of their respective coun- tries. In most cases the August quo- tas were already exhausted, therefore, in all such cases, the “sooners” must return to Europe and start again. This is tragedy! The immigrants, in no case were re- sponsible for the management of the ships. They were passengers, and vet because the captains were so eager to an ocean round-trip voyage, unless the Washington authorities overrule the technical barriers and order the port clocks constructively turned forward a few minutes. * % okox When Congress wants to circumvent the law as to adjournment there is no hesitation in stationing a man at the clock to turn back the hands, Thus they prevent noon.’or midnight or whatsoever be the hour set for ad- Journment from arriving until they are ready for it. It seems a childlike fiction when everybody knows that Yet it punity. To tragedy. a fiction practiced with im- save innocent victims from from ruin and great hard- ship, may not the clocks be turned forward at Ellis Isiand? To disap- point the immigrants at the very gate of the country when they have com- plled with all requirements in good faith, and to return ‘them to Europe upon the verge of war, has in its tragic actlon the elements of madness. * % % % Brig. Gen. Hanson E. Ely. com- mandant of the Army War College, in addressing his graduating class, sald “In spite of the war waged to end war. there have becn wars since its termination, 1 and the than has been the case for many years. That enunciation was made before news had come of the storming of Corfu by Italy, the probable begin- ning of another ‘European war. * % % x Secretary of War Weeks warned the graduates of the War College against trusting too much in the dogma they had leagned in their college &ourse. He asserted that “there is no institu- tigh in ‘which the danger of “abstrac tion is $0 great as in.a military estab- lishment. History is filled with the defeat of scholastic soldlers at the hand of pradtical leaders.' There s a ‘bigger principle set forth by than the one to which he applied -it. The same principie may be applied to every walk of life. Rules and ab. gtract generglities - are useful in training. but aftef the training Is achieved, the sooner the irainee learns to ignore rules and arouse his own initigtive and keen alertness, the lesgon in the the secretary | | { BY FREDERIC During Senator George H. Moses’ American ministership to Greece in {the Taft administration the United apologies from the Athens government. - A Greek mob somewhere in the interior had at- tacked one of our consulates. defiled ithe American shicld which was its | official emblem and otherwise ar- fronted our national honor. Minister { Moses had no warships or marines to i move to the scene, o he proceeded to it himself. A shirt-sleeve de- ! mand for regrets, physical damages and other evidences of contrition and repentance was submitted to the local authorities and they were promptly forthcoming. arattons and ! { 'EEE United States has had formal diplomatic relations with Greece since the end of 1920. They were broken off upon the return of { King Constantine and. though that { ill-starred monarch’s “come-back” { was short lived, we have not recog- nized the Greek government in’ the interval. Both countries have main- tained legations and charge d'affaires at each other's capitals, as we did j during the period of non-recognition of Obregon's Mexican government. ‘American interests at Athens since Jjanuary, 1922, have been in charge of Jefferson Caffery, one of the Younger members of the diplomatic Service, who hails from Loulslana and is completing his twelfth year on the State Department list. * ook ok | Dr. Sherman Coolldge, the Arapaho } Indian Episcopal clgrgyman of Den- | ver. has alrcady met President Cool- ! on the occasion tn question of a bril- Iljant bit of repartee. He was pre- sented to the President when Mr. { Coolidge was governor of Massa- | chusetts. Their introducer rather { took the governor aback by saying: | “Here's a namesake of yours, who's a full-blooded American _Indian. The governor, after recovering con- sclousness. rejoined: “An indlan hamed Coolidge? Why, all_the Cool- idgos I ever heard of were New Eng- land Yankees. and my ancestors came over in the Mayflower.” Whereupon the redskin Coolidge observed: "My ancestors were on the reception com- mittee.” * o X Corfu, the island in the Ionian sea Iseized by Mussolini as a pawn for Greece's acquiescence in the Italian ultimatum, was the site of the former | kaiser's famous winter estate, Achil- lelon Castle. William II acquired the ' establishment fivé or six years before the war and turned it into a miniature Potsdam. For many weeks each year the German empire was governed from there,” much to’the disgust of the Italian government, which resent- ed the sentimental rapprochement with :Greéece which the Kalger's resi- dence at Corfu denoteg. King Co stantine’s consort, Quéen Sophie, is Willlam 1T's sister. Wedlthy Germans flocked to Corfu for their winter holi- days>fn-the war-1ord’s wake, and the The no | { B reach port, these victims must make| the clock s registering false time.| sceds of war are more thickly strewn | States had occasion to demand rep-| idge, it appears, and was the heroj THE EVENING STAR, ‘WASHINGTON, .D. CAPITAL KEYNOTES B'Y PAUL V. COLLINS greater the chances for his accom- Dlhhme{l(. * ok k k The pedantic grammarian never be- came a poet nor an orator. The writer Who is so punctilious that hé ‘would lle'awake at night worrying because in the passion of his soul hé had made false syntax, is foreordained a fallure in writing up ‘a storm or giving dra- matic fire to a description of a battle, he has no fire in his soul. Not that 800d literature must be careless of syntax, but it may be deflafit of it. Who ever analysed a Tourner sun- Set to “construct” his perspective and &pply the rule to his glory? What captain of jndustry” would make a 800d bookkeeper, or what bookkeeper of twenty years experfence at the desk, couid strike out in major initia- tive 'In founding & new business, or tunneling a mountain ‘of unknown obstacles? * % % % Has not Secretary Weeks put: his finger on the very crux of the failure in practical life, made by so many “college graduates™ Ask Mr. Edison or Henry Ford. Practical successes sneer at college education, not be- cause they despise knowledge, but be- cause abstractions based on hypo- thetical conditions, give no elasticity to perception of practical facts, aus found in practical life. * k¥ % “Theories .never win wars,” said said - Secretary - Weeks. “They do erve, however, as a foundation for action. There is corect grammer in good literature, of course, but that is only the foundation of expression. There is perfect mathematical per- spective in every Turner, but who cares, when the beauty grips the heart? A graduate of Annapolis Naval Academy, after serving in the Navy untll he had reached retfrement, took up the study of drawing, in a certaln art school. The instructor upon seeing his first efforts, without any inkling of the student’s previous experience, condemned- it with the remark: That has no more soul than a geodetic survey.” The study had all the exactness of curves and measurements of a coast map—and nothing more. The student had been making maps for thirty years or more, but he had atrophied his artist soul * % % % James McNeill Whistler began with the same mechanical—work-by-ruje— etching. He used to make sketches on the margins of his copper, which were independent of technical rules— full of individuality. He broke away from mechanism and became & world- famous etcher and painter. Rules are most useful when they have developed into Instincts which are followed subconsciously, and which keep in the subconsciousnes: irather than hamper the initiative of all the immediate conditlons affect ing the moment’s problem. That what makes a Napoleon, a Whistler and a Shakespeare, rather than a pedantic “stick.” ¥ Lk xx Washington enters Labor day with practically no man unwlingly out of a job. Philadelphia employers sent to Washington recently a call for hun- dreds of laborers but a labor agency wired back a most emphatic denial {of the possibility of any supply avaii- able In the capital. At the same time the agency was scouring adjacent cities to supply local demands. _ Wages for common labor are 45 to 50 cents- an hour. skilled labor on buildng edustruction get from $12 to $14 a day. There is unusuad activity {in building for this time of year and & prospect that it will continue brisk late into the winter, if not all wnter. The only class of help of which there is @ surplus is clerks, both mercantile and governmental. ‘Phe government has droped hundreds of clerks from numerous offices thie summer. There is a- great demand for ekilled stenographers, and that will increase as the opening of Con- gress approaches—December 1 (Copyright. 1923, by P.,¥. Collins.)~ | WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS WILLIAM WILE island enjoved in consequence a pr perity it had not known for years. * % owex ! Neville Chamberldin; the new Brit- ish chancellor of the_exchequer, an his brother Austen,-mentioned for the distinguished American stepmother. She was Miss Mary Endicott of Bos- ton, daughter of President Grover Cleveland's Setretary of War, - who was wooed and wed by the famous “Joe" Chaniberlain while he was on a British’ mission to the United States. Their marriage was a diplomatic and society senshtion, and was not .devoid of piquancy because both father and son—Joseph and Austen—were inter- ested in the beauteous Massachusett belle, and it was thought she had set her cap for the younger- Chamberlain, She was the English statesman- widower’s junior by many years, and much nearer his son’s age. * %ok % At the White House the other day an observation was made which may mean that President Coolidge intends to break with the time-honored cus tom of handing over foreign ambal sadorships to worthy politicians. was stated that no ambassador to Mexico would be selected 1without consultation with the Secretary of State. It is an open secret that sev- eral of President Harding's major diploma appointments, while the: eventually received the formal ay proval of Mr. Hughes,.did not enlist his enthusiasm. The foreign service does not contain as many “deserving republicans™ as there were “deserving democrats” under the Bryan regime jat the State Department. but spoils- men still dot the internationa] land- scape. If President Coolidge insists upon merit instead of “pull” as a pass to the diplomatic service he will iintroduce a genuine innovation. * ok * Uncle Sam's mint and its various branches will continue to function no matter how lang President Cool- idge waits before appointing a new jdirector. The *‘feal” director of the It {been an uncommonly - competent young woman, Miss May O'Reilly. jhave gone—half a dozen-or so—but | Miss O'Relilly goes on, likg Time, for- | ever. The first job of a mew director | 18 to go to school at-Mias O'Reilly's desk, in order to learn the ropes. There isn't a detail’ of mint affaix; that she hasn't at her tongue's tif. She has the rank and title of a divi- sion chief at the TredSury Depart- | ment, attained through many years of meritorious civil service. * % * % Washington has countless claims to fame, but not many people know that our natlonal vice, ice cream, was first introduced to the country from. the White House. _Captivating Dolly Madison brought the idea from Eng- land, after a-visit to that country. Recent Department of Agriculturere- ports state that there are nearly 3.000 ice cream factories in the United States, accounting for a total pro- duotion - of - 750.000,000 - quarts. T Copyrighe, 1923.) T | the individual who is alert to gather | twelve | ambassadorship to Washington, had a | jmint for nearly twenty years has| {Directors have ‘come and directors . EAST IS EAST BY FRANK H. HEDGES Giving his own life as a protest against the anclent Chinese system of parental matchmaking, & young apprentice technician at an American | medical college. In Peking drank con- éntrated carbolic aeld, dying a-few hours later from internal burns. Chang Yung-chien, twenty years old and with a bright future before him, was informed in the summer by his parents that a marriage had been ar- ranged by them and a suitable bride chosen. He did not say much, for in China the son is taught to obey his parents above all else, but he was not contented. He wished to choose for hfmself the girl who was to be his wife. Shortly after the new year young Chang drank the carbolic acid which caused his death, leaving seven let- ters behind him. The letter to his parents explained his suicide as due to nervousness;’but the one to his fiancee bade her farewell, wished her happiness, and .advised her against rushing Jnto ‘4 pre-arranged mar- riage. The letter to his youngest brother contained the same caution; and he was -particularly emphatic in writing his younger. sister. One let- ter merely told aclose friend good- by, but the other two were addressed to “those who will be parents in the future,” -and strongly condemned: the parental ‘arrangement of marriages. He urged that engagements for mar- riage should be free, that education for " children ‘should be compulsory and that.all should work rather than depend upon inherited fortunes for support. - Pledged in marriage to the daugh- ter of a friend of the family while he was still attending primary school, another voung, Chinese bowed to the will of his parents, but pleaded that the wedding should be postponed until after - he had completed his higher education. Apparently agree- ing to his wishes, his father went for- ward secretly with the plans for the marriage shortly after his son reached the age of sixteen. Two dave before the date chosen. for' the wedding the prospective bridegroom discovered the plan and.fled .from:the home of his father, leaying behind a_written de- nunciation of the evils of early mar- riag . Disohedience of parents in China s 2 serlous matter, more serious than i« generally understood in America. Only desperation can drive a right- thinking =on to such an act The flight of the sixteen-year-old Chinese rezistered an -emphatic protest azainst the system he condemned. In the United States. perhaps, young Chanz'e suicide svould have been con- <idered an act of {nsanity, but not £o in the east. where It is an old, old custom to give one's life a= a final protest against any system or deed when arguments have failed. It iz a protest that carries tremendous weight with the =zons of Asia That Chang. the medical student. <hould have heen betrothed to the girl of his parents’ choice and that (he other voung Chinese should have been weddea at the age of sixteen present nothing unusuat - For cen- turies upon centuries marriage af- fairs have begn xo handied in China. The choice of w bride Is the preroga tive of the parents, not of the =on and their anxiety to gee their children married early in life springs from the very basis of Chinese soclety—the family system. It ix not as individuals whose fu- ture happiness s at take that Chinese vouths and maidens are mar- ricd and given in marriage. but as ‘units of a family. The family's first concern i to Agsure succession in the male line. The great gage Men- ctus taught that of the three unfitial sins *'to hav no posterity is the meatest. It becomes the duty of parents. Sayvse a Chinese writer. to see that early provision should be ! Wi~ against such an.eventuality. Ak a conscquence more. than half-the {inarriages in -China take place before | dither bride or groom Is twenty years o, - . - o2 - %hose citles-and treaty ports | w Aere Chinese come Into contact with ! Wwesterners many customs and {nsti- tations of the past ~have suffered sreatly from such contact. The cere- monies and feasting that accompan an old-style Chinese wedding last from three days upward. depending argely upon the wealth of the fami- i lies concerned. ~Few- sights are more | picturesque than. the procession of { the brid® from the home of her father {0 that of her future husband.. Musi- “lans with curlous” Chinese musical instrments come first. Prieats and frienda follow.:while the little bride i borne along in a closed palanquin of red and green. the colors of jo in China. the windows closely cur- tained that none may gaze upon her face. The wedding gifts have been sent hefore, but they also were car- ried through the streets in proces- sion 5 ; Chinese in Peking. Shanghai and other great citles. who have become partly westernized, often attempt to Cimplify these elaborate cersmonies and fo make them more “modern.” Somes ¢imes a_forelgn brass band fe-subsati- tuted for the Chinese -musician: which marches through the "nls"flpts Prondly playing “Over There.” “The Merry Widow Waltz' or any other tunes that it may hapnen to know. Sometimes the bride rides in a cab gaily decorated with paper flowers and treamers instead of the old:fash- joned sedan chair. It is seldom that as great austerity is shown as was the case in the marriage of the son of the president of China. whose father sternly forbade that any gifts whaesoever should be presented at the wedding. There seems to-be no good reason why China should throw into the discard all of the customs and insti- tutions of the past. .The nation hag | risen to greatness. and has endured while other countries perished. on th basis of the family as a unit. necessary that the Chinese who have studied abroad and who hope to Lring their country into more mod- ern Wways remember the material With which they must work. and most important of all that material Is the family system. Reforms are possible, in fact, are desirable, but never abolition. 3 The death rate in China. for which there are as yet no officlal statistics, is estimated as very high, as high proportionately as the excessive birth rate of fifty to sixty to each thousand. Progress in public hygiene | and other life-saving activities should { reduce this death rate, and it.will} then he practical to conduct a wide- | spread campaign against child mar- | riages. The family will still be car-| ried on as at present, but there will be no necessity for voung medical students to take their lives in pro- Itest or for Chinese students to flee {from the homes of thelr fathers in forder that'they may continue their i education. The United States Is Not a Paternal Nation A woman speaking at a recent! social woik conference stated that the United States is the only cjvilized country in the world which does nothing “to “help its people- to s.:ure homes. . But the speaker lost sighl,‘f pf the fact that the United States isi ‘not'a paternal country, it is a democ- | racy, where every man stands on his | own feet, fights his own battle and makes good. The American does not want charity, he will fight for suc- cess in _home building or anything else. and when he has achieved his home ownership, through the build- ing and loan organization or.bank loans he has accomplished something in an independent way through his own _efforts and his gains are cher- {shed in a way no gift brought about by paternalism would be held. -And ThizC i the “troe= AMerieAn. apiirit’ of demgeraey.—Paterson- Call. { 1 i i the masterfulness of man's brain, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN Q. Are, the figures of he sphynx at the Scottish Rite Temple carved out of single blocks of stone? How large are they?—D. G. M, - 7 A.° The granite sphynxes that Buard the entranceway of the Scot- tish Rite Temple were hewn out of the greatest stones ever quarried In America, one weighing 10! and the other 115,000 00000 Pounds i | Q. What was the scathing remark that Gen. Sheridan Penston Offcer—B, L Roc 00Ut the A. When Gen. Sheridan first Yicwed the Pension office he said that criticism of it would be that the bullding was freproot. Q. When a vice president succeeds to the Presidency, does he n:occ:h': chair occupied by’ the former Presi- dent?—S.' S, A. It is customary for the Which has been used in the um:::mr'»; the President of the United States | to be placed at the disposal of the outgoing President or of his family in .the case of his death, been done in the c Harding's chair. This has | of President | Q. -Isit true that the late ex-Presi- dent “Roosevelt rode a hundred n gn horseback In a single day? A. In February . President Roosevelt rode ninet ght miles on horseback {n the seventcen hours be- tween daylight and dark. The trip was from Washington to Warrenton and return. Three horses were used. Q. Ts there a law prohibiting the hu[r’lalsor Chinese in the United States? A. Theré i8 no law of the United States prohibiting the burfal of Chi- nes¢ upon American soil. The Chinese, however, prefer to be buried in their native country and whenever possible make such arrangements. Q. . Is-a nayal officer considered a | professional man?—W. T. C. A. According to the occupational statistics of the burcau of the cen- sus, Army and Navy officers are clagsed under public service, not pro- fessional service, R. Q.. Where was the firat custom- house fn America?—A. E. S. A. It was at Yorktown, Va. Q. Has President Coolidge any brothers and sisters?—H. H A. He Is an only child. Q. How did_the National Grange originate?—R. E. C. A. In 1866 the government sent O. | H. Kelly on the staff of the Depart- ment_of Agriculture to investigate and report on agricultural conditions In the =outh and to suggest means of improving them. Mr. Kelly found conditions deplorable and the ma- jerity of farmers poor, backward and disintegrated. Believing that or- ganization was the best means of se- curing helpful legislation, he and s others formed in 1867 the organization Nafonal Grange of Patrons of Hus- | bandry. Only farmers could belong but from the first eligible women were admitted both to membership and office. There are four degrees in each local grange, one in each State organization and two in the national divisions. For the first four years progress was slow, but in 1872 the organization began to spread, azd by 1874, 10,009 granges were affillated t* In 1875 membership was 1,600,000 Editors Doubt if 4-Hour Day Happ; Would Make Mankind If.Dr. Charles Steinmetz is rect in his deductions, and the. eies trical. wizard usuwally knows what he is talking about, then 100 vears trom now the “loafer” will have en-| tered his chosen state. Only four hours a da to. work and only, 200 days a year is to be tho portion of | all humankind, while the vast en- gines of production will be operated by push-buttons- and ewitches. But some editors are just hard-hearted encugh to “butt” in and demand what the people then will do to “keep busy.” “The promise of universal unlim- ited leisure answers a craving that has nevar heen gratified since the forbldden frult was tasted fn the garden of Eden.” points out the New York Tribupe. but’ ‘a moral equiv- alent for hard work has never been discovered nor are electrical wizards Jkely to hit upon it fn many hun dreds of years” To which the New York World adds “to meet the re- quirements of a generation to come with it¢ workday halved and its playtime doubled, will necessitate the invention of new forms of recre- aticn to occupy the leisure of those who have no taste for study and seif- improvement, if it is not to pall upon thém.” And the Worcester Telegram innists “the spirit of competition will have to go before the four-hour day comd cor- R Still, after_ali, “it is a pleasant pic- ture thus presented,” asserts the Chris- tlan- Science Monitor, “and that man would be of a narrow and limited in- telligence, indeed, who would deny ite | entire possibility. Tt is true that at the moment civilization seems to have re- ceived a check, as the result of the discovery by governments that many of ‘the great physical forces which Steinmetz would use for the regenera- tion of mankind, could be used for the | destruction of men. Yet this is but a| passing phase and one which should not lead to discouragement of any sort.” The Boston Transcript also holds Jculture as & cabinet office and I'though the Tribune finds | tion “a happy thought live in hope that Dr. Stei | learnea | produce now. was {nstrumental in beneficial legislation. for which - it —takes founding of the Departm, securing much Among acts oredit are the Wt of AR the Interstate Commerce Commission. Q. Can a friendly alien. who claimed exemption from the draft on that ground, become an American citizen?—J. C. J. A. The Naturalization Bureau savs that the courts of the United States have made a rule that all aliens who claimed exemption during the war on account of allenage must wiit five years from the date of the Signing of the armistice, November 11, 191%, before applying for naturalization Q. W the United States is sissippi?—A. H. T. A._The Bureau of Census says that 333,000 people lived east of the Mississippt river in 1320, while 277,000 lived west of it What part of the population of t of the Mis- Q. “How many Japanese are fisher- men?—F. H. L. ; A: There are about 1,400,000 out of a_total population of 56.000.000. Prob ably 380,000 vessels of different a-e engaged in fishing in Japan Q. When were the first coins mint- ed in the United States?—S. Y. A. The Treasury Department say that the eariiest pins were authc {zed by act of Congress of April 1792 This act authorized the manu facture .of the ten-dollar gold eagic half eagle, quarter eagle and the silver dollar, half dollar, quarter dol- lar, dime and half dime. It would be impossib to state which were minted first, as_they were all coined about thé same time. Q. - What pressure exerted in pounds per square inch by expamsion when a boédy of water freeze P {L. G A. Water in freezinz exerts a pres- sure not less than 30,000 pounds per squaye - [nch and pressures up to 40,000 pounds per square inch have been measured. Q. 1s Labrador 4 part of Canad —J. T. G A. It is not of Newfoundland. It is a dependency Q. What was the first =hip in t Navy to use electric motive power™ Jupi- The aircraft. carrier U. S. Langley, formerly -nammed the ter and built for a collier, was clectrically-driven ship in Navy. Q. What is the glue called that bees use in their hives>—F. L. C A. Propolis is the substance which honey bees collect from the buds and crevices of trees and carry to the hives in_ the basket-like cavitics on the tribial joints of the hind Tegs. Tt is resinous in its chemical composi- tion_and is-used to Stop up-crevices in the hive. to varnish the interio to glue movable porfions fast and strengthen the attachments of combs /We have nwmerous inquirics which we cannot answer due to thr lack of proper address. In writing this bureau plcase make certain that your full mame and address is in- cluded, together with a two-cent stamp for return postage. Address The Evening Star Information Bu- reau, Frederic J. Haskin. director 1220" North Capitol street, Washing- ton, D. C.) 1d somewhat sarcasti- i nt that D» nmet'e glowinz vision of the fu- ture comprehends the cntire disap- pearance of the dailv newspaper. - It must b inasmuch as a newspa- per man working four hours a dag- i it { unthinkable.” ted by Attention-is d Tribune to'the similarity be Stefnmetz statement and the theory offered by Herbert Spencer neariy Aifty vears ago called “State Socialism.” al- the sugges- We n retz's prop- it ndy t re e Reading ween the hecies will come trae his successors will development of elec scientists can be the social system our nation aad so far advanced will fall in without hesitation the Steinmetz scheme The Lineoln State Journal cannot agree with thi however, holding “we have to distribute the we: Instead of appr from our greater j try. to_absorb more Producing more the distribution F take care icity the political lied on to furr And thus by 20:3 our peaple may entally that the ing 1 tivene: t ! fizht wars over what we produce. Judging Dr. St metz's coming century by our ow past half century. the material zains which he foresees could -all come pass and_we be left as miserable before. The moral is clear. * ox sure we duct. Wi ’ “Our American geniuses abhuse o credulity,” - insists the Minneapolis Tribune. 1t is true that they mu: have opinions, and perhaps very good opinions, about matters in which thev have displayed no signs of genius. but when speaking on these topics they should be honest enough to divest themselves of their robes of genjus. The shoemsker. apparentiy has-pever learned to stick to his last In some measure his view receives the cndorsement of the Indianapolis News which feels “where Dr. Stein- metz cfrs is In believing that the average person regards the work by which he lives as unpleasant. There are hundrgds of thousands of person who are much interested in what the: do. If it were not for the cfficiency bred of this the golden age, of which “the year 20 still lies a long way ahead and the working day is still sufficiently lengthy to absorb the best part of the efforts and the enersles of | most persons. There Is still too much to be done today and tomorrow to Justify worrying what we will do with the spare time that Dr. Steinmetz promises for us a century hence.” Because it} has been told. however, that the Henry Ford plan to “burn coal twice” has ceme true, the Pittsburgh Gazelte- Times insists If one “can belleve it possible to burn coal twice one can belleve that a workless world 1S with- in the range of possibilities. And we are instructed that if one will helfe: hard enough what he believes will be. * % X X The Albany News suggests “noth- ing s impossible. But why wait for the year 2023 to have the condltions Dr. Btelnmetz says are possible? can be done In half that time, per- hapy a quarter of that time” At- tention .of the ¢ritics also is directed by the, Albany Knickerbocker Press to the fact that “hére is an example of what. Steinmetz. was getting at—| the ultimate emancipation of thel world from the penalities of toil: by It the conversation of natural resources to such emancipation.” Of course this may all bo true, at that, argues the Port Huron Times Herald and “it will.be fine when we get up_ in the morning, pull an eicctrig switch or two. and have the day’s work with nothing to do until to- In the meantime, however, perhaps it will be just as well to hang on to the jobs we've got.” to which the Providence Tribune adds that. If - drudgery - isto- disappear we WY “prepare”-our -ahildren’” fo' en- joy it through education, while the jone ever came back Dr. Steinmetz dreams, would be a receding and not an approaching vision A Way 1o Solve the Blackbird Problem To the Editor of The Star: I surely sympathize with people of Newton street northeast who are heset with “blackbirds. Why not shoot 'em and eat 'em, and* outwit the meat profiteers? Waeren't “Four and. twenty blackbirds baked in & ple,” a dish to “set before the king"? I have heard they are good eating, and rival the famous frogs’ legs, fried. But it is much easier to get rid of them than to catch them. A number of years ago about a million of them ) t i got a notion of gathering in a large oak tree at our gate, and, just like {Washington women when they get to- gether, they insisted on all talking at the same time. Of course, we could not understand a word they said mor hear ourselves. think. ~ Morning slumbers were cut short before day- light and, like some bigger folks, they never knew when to stop. We stood it for a while, but it be- gan to “get-on our nerves.” So, one day I got out my little seven-shooter and thought 1 would practice up bit, there belng no restrictions there at that time. I opened the door vers quietly and fired at the tree. Before the bullet reached the tree the wiiole great flock were on the wing, and not 1o see if 1 had of their comrades, which. to remark, 1 hadp" That did not worry me much, @ there were no meat profiteers then but 1 had vowed not long before that 1 would NKe to cat up every ane of them. PHEBE HOWELL. LT J killed any it is needless A {