Evening Star Newspaper, September 4, 1923, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY.....Septeraber 4, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES. The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Offce, 1111 St. wud Penusyivama Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicngs Omce: Tower Hulldiug European Of : 16 Regent 8., Lundon, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning | reiers within the city 5 cents per Or- edition, ix delivered by ¢ a1 60 cents per month; dally only, month: Sunday only. 20 cents per month. ders may be €000. ~Collection is made by curriers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1yr., $3.40; 1 mo., 70¢ Daily only.........1yr., $6.00; 1 mo., 50c £unday oniy . .11 yr., §2.40; 1 mo., 20c All Other States. Daily and Sunday..1 yr., $10.0¢ Daily only ., $7.0 Gunday only 3 Member of the Assotiated Press, The Associated Press is exclusively entitled r-mm credited to it or not otherwise credited n this paper ant also the local mews pub- lished herein. ~All rights of publication of special dispaiches herein are also reserved. - 0 mo., 85¢ the “use’ for “republication of all mews dis. | The Growing Horror of Japan. Steadily the horror of the Japanese disaster grows, as'the details begin to come and the reckoning of the losses becomes more complete. Yet even now it is impossible to measure the catas- trophe. The count of the dead cannot ¢ by mail, or telephone Main ; be complete, for the end of | sitation is not yet reached. the most conservative, the reck: appears to be 150,000 lives lost Tokio alone, 100,000 in Yokohama, and unquestionably tens of thousands in addition in the smaller places where the quake and fire and waves took heavy toll. From Harbin comes a late dispatch that gives the estimate of loss in Tokio as 300,000. This, it is to be hoped, is a mistake. Perhaps the grand total of deaths in all Japan reaches that figure. But whether the losses are at the lowest or the highest figure that has been given in the reports, the disaster stands as the greatest in modern his- tory, perhaps the most horrible in all time. Almost complete destruction has occurred in the two largest cities of the empire. In the capital at least 200,000 houses have been swept away. True, many of them were of a rela- tively slight structure, but they were homes, and those who have survived the catastrophe must have shelter. It will take two vears, it is stated, to re- build Tokio. Though there are few particulars in the reports thus far it i ous that the property damage, apart from the destruction of dwellings, must be in eppalling proportion. Japan's indus- trial foundations have been heavily damaged. Great numbers of mills have been swept completely, buildings and machinery. Railroads have been wrecked in a manner that will call for long work in repair. Ja- panis need, apart from the instan re- quirement of food and shelter for her homeless millions, will be urgent for the replacements necessary to put her once more in the way of active pro duction of goods for export. It is idle to attempt to compute this economic damage to Japan, or to est mate the length of time requisite for rehabilitation. It may be a generation before the nation has recovered in full from this blow. Yet again, so remark. able are the capacities of the people, o industrious are they, so efficient in their workmanship, highly ad vanced in organization, that they may emerge from this catastrophe in full efficiency in a much shorter time. One thing may be felt in as that the Japanese people Will not lack in 'spirit and courage and energy in attacking the problem of the rehabili- tation. It has been o they are a “wonderful people” that the saying has become a commonplace. Now they may besexpected to demon- strate their capacity. —_——————— Test for Drivers. Pedestrians will be interested and perhaps heartened by news that auto- mobile drivers may be required to pass an intelligence test. In fact, there are many auto drivers who think well of their lives and limbs, and who dislike having their own cars smashed, who will be interested in the nows that a plan will be sought to keep mental defectives from operating cars. Auto- mobile experts believe that some form of an intelligence test preliminary to obtaining a driver's license would shorten the daily list of accidents. The Associated Press has sent a dispatch from Chicago saying that “an intel- ligence test for the man or woman who drives a motor car is @ possibil- ity within the next two or three vears.” It is said that representatives of thirteen middle western states are to be invited to attend the conference of motor vehicle administrators repre- senting state automobile licensing bu- reaus to be held at Chicago this month, at which plans will be made for working out safety-first laws for automobilists and pedestrians. The movement is fostered by the National Safety Council. One cannot say how many District drivers will be hard hit if required to pass an intelligence test, but it is believed that some may have trouble in getting by the examiners. ——————————— Effort to close saloons in Pennsyl- vania during strike agitation are being resisted. The situation might be sim- pler if the authorities were not called “upon to discuss two highly important and difficult subjects at once. ———— One of the attractions of the world court idea lies in the hope of its pro- viding a way of binding small bellig- erent nations over to keep the peace. At ng away surance, District Tree Nursery. The superintendent of trees and perkings urges the acquisition by the District government of a permanent site for a tree nursery, and the rea- sons which he presents cannot be denied. It will cause general surprise fo all that the city famed for its street trees has no permanent nursery, that locations of temporary nurseries have been changed from time to time, and that the present nursery occupies a site at one of the civil war fortifica- tions of Washington, and under a per- mit from the War Department which is liable to be revoked at any time, and - Jbich will surely bg revokad et gome fun said thaty o work ceased anyhow on Sunday in | | | | i 1 | | for | termission until | sudden change in The law fixes the presidential | ! success untow T HE EVENING STAR ) 2 WASHINGTON time, because the fort site was ac-|still thriving, and there ig no Sndlu-' quired that it. might eventually be |tion that we shall go back to pre-war ueed as a park. . Supt. Lanham points out that once the District tree nursery occupied the site of the Gallinger Hospital. Then the nursery was removed to a tract of land at Georgia avenue and Upshur strect, since taken over for school purposes. The present nursery is around the ramparts of Fort Dupont on the hills above the Eastern branch. It is a satisfactory location if suf- ficient land could be had, and if the title were vested in the District. There is another nursery held by temperary ar "ment on low land on the East. ern branch near Bolling Field, but this is not considered a favorable site | for growing hardwood trees such as oaks and Norway maples. The District is not only without & | permanent nursery, but it is cramped | for money for raising trees. It has not been able to spend sufficient money to set out trees on new streets and replace trees that have been destroyed 1 by storm and other causes in the older parts of the city. The-report of the superintendent is entitled to careful consideration by the Commissioners. It is trite to say that our street trees are one of the great features of the Capital, and that those that stand should be given the best care, that re- piacements should be made as needed and that tree planting should be ex- tended to keep pace with the growth of the city. —_—— The Test of Government. Chairman John T. Adams of the re- publican national committee, in a statement for publication, comments upon the prompt, orderly and peace- ful transition of executive and admin- istrative authority upon the death of President Harding and the taking up of the reins by President Coolidge. The instance, Mr. Adams holds, “was a demonstration of the strength and stability of our peculiar form of gov- ernment and the abiding faith of the people in our institution: Mr. Adams points out that not since the assassination of Lincoln has a Dresident of the United States been taken so suddenly and with so little warning as was the case with Presi- dent Harding. Time elapsed between the shooting of Garfield and McKinley and their death sufficient to allow the nation to adjust itself, if there had been need, to a prospective change in | office of Chief Executive of the United States. But with the death of Presi- dent Harding the transition in the of- fice occurred literally overnight, “be- tween sun and sun. ' Violent and sudden as was this tran- sition of responsibility and power, it was accomplished without any notice- able evidence of shock or jar to execu- tive administration of the government. The nation was without a President only a few hours in the still watches of the night, and millions of people were not even aware of the in- the next morning. | Once the gap was filled the govern- ment ran as smoothly as before, and the country itself showed no slowing down of activities nor apprehension of the future. This condition was a tribute to our form of government, and in contrast with situations which have arisen in other upon occasions of the executive au- countries thorit ion and leaves no loophole for rd circumstances to assert themselves. The country cannot be deprived of executive authority save in the unthinkable simultaneous an- nihilation of the entire cabinet. It is a good land we live in, and a good government which exerts and main- tains autbority —————— A strike order on Saturday was a little less formidable owing to the fact By Wednesday there time to talk matters and Labor day. will have been over. —————————— The government at Athens might have avoided embarrassing possibili- ties by requesting the league of na- tions to take charge before the mas- sacre happened. ————————————— Democratic preparations for the 1924 campaign are expected to warm up very soon sufficiently to get Col. Bryan's mind off evolution. ———————————— A German mark is now not worth enough to pay for the mental wear and tear of calculating its value. Irreconcilability does not create as much apprehension in politics as it does in a labor crisi: Decrease in Tax Returns. A preliminary statement by the commissioner of internal revenue on the subject of tax returns for the fis. cal year closed June 30, 1923, shows a decline in collections in the District of Columbia. The report says that in- come and profits taxes for the District for the preceding three years were $8,054,914 in 1921, $10,521,286 in 1922 and $7,783,800 in 1923. It was quite remarkable that the District showed an increase in 1922 over 1921, all the states and territories having shown a decrease in that period. During the last fiscal year the Dis- trict was in line with the rest of the country, nation-wide collections from income and profits taxes in 1923 being $1,689,177,409, as compared with $2,- 086,915,464 in 1922. There is nothing surprising in this. The same condi- tions noted in all other parts of the land prevaliled irr the District. Tax col- lections based on incomes and profits could not indefinitely continue to in- crease. They reached their peak and then began to decline. In the District during the war and the immediate post-war period there was a sudden increase in population, a sharp in- crease in the amount of momney dis- bursed by the government and a great bulge in private business. There was an orgie of spending, and many forms of business which had plodded along in a moderately = prosperous way boomed, and were under the obliga- tion to pay excess profits taxes. Many new business enterprises came Jnto the field and prospered. The ebb tide set in, and this is reflected in the tax returns. One cannot read in the tax figures any sign that times have become dull, for the sum paid in income and profits taxes'ls gilll very Jarge. Business is 1 conditions. There are indications that the present scason of relative quiet in business will be followed by another period of highly active trade. The tax decline to which the com- missloner of internal revenue calls at. tention has to do only with Yncome and profits taxes. We are still carry- ing @ heavy burden of national and local taxes. Tt is believed that we are also bearing burdensome taxes which might be classed as “profiteer taxes.” There seems to be no sign of an early reduction in federal or local taxes, be- cause the District is far behind in pub- le works of every ki.d, and the ex- panding activities of the federal gov- ernment call for the collection and ex- penditure of vast sums. After Labor Day. The passing of Labor day always marks the beginning of a season. The holidays are past, the summer wines, the stretch of business activities opens in perspective. Schools are soon to start anew. People return from their vacations, not all of them, but the greater number. They are refreshed by their outings, their recreations, their changes of scene. They make for their tasks with renewed vigor. These season changes are not sharp- ly defined; especially in Washington, where at this period of the year as a rule there is no Congress. This year especially is the Capital quiet, having been without the congressional pres- ence, for months, the longest recess for years. But the city is not without its activities. The government functions as usual and almost in full personne When the departmental half-holi days on Saturday have been discon- tinued, after the 15th of this month, ‘Washington will be fully re-established for the autumn. Those summer laxations of the rule of attendance af the public service desks mark™ the vacation season. But business has re- sumed its full schedule and is in com- plete swing once more. If only those workers who produc the coal the people need would return to their picks and shovels, and their employers would consent to terms that would induce them to return and remain at their work, the passing of Labor day would be marked as a time of rejoicing that the activities were onee again in full puls —_———— re- It must be admitted that Col. Bryan's attack on evolution is prompted purely by his antipathy to what he regards as a scientific error. A reading of Darwin’s books reveals nothing which could reasonably have given the colonel personal offense. — Relations between Mexico and the . S. A. will now be regulated with diplomatic formality. The picturesque days when most of the initiative was | assumed by the brigands may be re- garded as about over. ——— Connecticut has declded that a baby carriage does not require a license and a tag, at least not until the pre- cocious American infant decides to in- stall a motor and run the vehicle him- self. ———— There are different kinds of secret societies. One kind holds a parade be- fore an admiring audience. Another kind finds a mob in waiting. —_——— Agriculturists boldly insist that a bushel of wheat ought to be worth | more than one admission to a high- class motion picture entertainment. —_——— Owing to economic dissensions it is not always possible to refer to the passing of Labor day as the end of a perfect vacation. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. News. Good news an’ bad news Soundin’ throwgh the land The thunderstorm is mixin’ With the music of the band. Good news in the sunshine, An’ good news in the rain With the old world workin’ steady Pilin’ up the fruit an’ grain. Good news an’ bad news, Folks that want a fight Are makin’ a commotion— But things mostly come out right. The trouble talk’s uncertain, And it's always somethin’ new. The good news, if you're patient, Is the kind that's comin’ true. “A jay-walker,” remarked Mr, Chug- gins ias in him the making of the fiivverist who tries to beat a locomo- tive to a grade crossing.” Variations. “‘Are you going to make your next speech favorable to wet or dry senti- ment?” “I'm not sure yet,” replied Senator Sorghum. “What is the next town we stop at? I pride myself on being a magnetic speaker, but it's necessary to take local influence into calcula- tion.” Jud Tunkins says a ‘“crisis” is one of those occasions in which everybody thinks he knows what ought to be done, but nobody seems able to do it. Logical Candidate. “How did you come to send Three- finger Sam to the legislature?” “He was the logical candidate,” an- swered Cactus Joe. “Owing to a legacy from his grandfather he was the only man in the Gulch who owned a plug hat and a Prince Albert coat. The World’s a Stage. The artist true is in request By the exacting gallery, But he who advertises best Most likely draws the salary. The Busy Optimist. “Every cloud has a silver lining, remarked the ready-made philosopher. “What benefit can you foresee as a result of a coal strike?” “Well, for one thing it will discour- age any tendency on the part of the general public to hoard money.” “Do man dat tells his troubles,” said Uncle Eben, “may not love his enemies, but he's doin’ his best to show ‘em &-good sima. IPTEMBER 4, 1923. CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. I take great pleasure onight, friends, | in announcing that we have in our midst, a distinguished member of the mastodon family, long a prominent though retiring citizen of the far off region of Arizona. He is not with us in the body, but we arc favored with his wishbone—or at least his short ribs—and when Dr. J. W. Gidley of the National Museum, pos- sesses a rib roast, like this— “enough’s as good as a feast.” * % % % To the short ribs, will be added other ribs, of proper length, and Dr. Gidley will skillfully trepan the fractured skull, set him on his feet, wag his tail and wholly restore the mastodon to the youthful vigor of a million years or so ago. For, like the brotherhood of man foundition, so the mastodon links from one bone to another bone, by the skill of the paleontologist, until he may become as natural as life, and we may almost imagine we hear again the sweet music of his voice, even as it thun- dered in the dark ages before the boy orator ran for President. This mastodon, heing a male, is not afraid to let his age be known. Guess the biggest figure you dare, and multiply it by nine less six and divide by three and you may be “warm.” It is a million years old,” and m several million. . * ok x ¥ There have been many mastodons found in the “samis of time! in various parts of America, but all new-rich, compared with the gentleman from Arizona. The general run of American mastddons flourished only about 100,000 years ago, but this one is ten times that old. . * K ok ok He must have been typical of the wild west—tough und dangerous— for the “wickéd stand in slippery places,” and he slipped into a quick- sand, from which he was never able to extract his foot. Thus are moderns taught that it is easier to get ones foot into it. than to redeem ones mistak But for that one false step—who ~ knows—that mastodon might have been living yet, and so have led a virtuous life and set an example to other Americans worthy of emulation. There he was caught fast, and vam pires and mosquitoes gnawed at hi vitals, stepped on his skull and tor- | tured him to death. But how he did | fight! No slacker was Mr. Mastodon. He fought, that fighting might cease —if he could kill all his enemies {first. Finall nature buried him 100 t deep. ars passed over his ried bones, until certain engineers discovered queer skeletons—the mam- moth rodents which had tortured him to death. The scientist, looking upon the rodents, said. XWhere the vultures ]_:.llhvlz the is the carrion,” and dig- ging deeper, unearthed the kings of beasts—our mastodon. * So he will dwell National Museum, but, like grand- father's clock, he's too tall for the | shelf, so he'll stand ninety centuries fon the floor—twelye f tall. EEE were forever in the Not to be outdone by Arizona, the state of Utah has dug up and shipped to the National Museum a diplodoccus, {to whose bones are attached huge {bits of the Rocky mountains. This nimal was almost as big us & whale but as harmless as a dove. It lived | {on vegetables and scorned the meat | trust, Paleontologists do not agree as to whether these ancient beasts lived in ithe age of man or millenia prior to {that age. but there have been found {human_skeletons in the same strata | with mastodons and diplodoccuses in | America, so that the indications ap- | pear to be that the original m:x.»ri in America comes of Id a family | as the most aristoc of Europe {He was here when ice was even {cheaper than it is today, for that was Jin “those goog old summer days.” the ’IJlExnnn-Z of the glacial age, some- [Yimes called the Miocene and Pliocene | times—some 2.000.000 vears ago. A1l this proves that the American hemis- phere is not “the new world,” but the old one * ok % % The American solved, in it Bar Association re- Minneapolis meeting last i ! | American sympathy with Japan, which would have been wholehearted in any event, is doubly warm because of the new prestige Japan has won in { the United States since the Washing- {ton conference. ppon has “played the game.” She has scrupulously lived up to every obligation assumed un- lder the conference treaties. They have {been respected not only in letter, but lin epirit. The doubting Thomases ihave been put to rout who dismally and dolefully predicted that Japan would find ways and means of evad- ing her covenanted word. Already it can be foreshadowed with assurance {that foreign aid and relief will be tendered from no quarter more boun- { teously than from the United States. The Navy'sjorder to Admiral Ander- son to place‘our Asiatic cruiser squad- ron unreservedly at Japan's disposal the ardor of our desire to Nippon in her appalling hour. e e Whether and how Japan's American- '51_\'10 steel-construction buildings\ of which both Tokio and Yokohama con- tained several modern specimens, stood the ordeal of quake, and fire will probably determine the character of the rebulit cities. If the “skeleton” constructional scheme proved to be disaster-proof it undoubtedly will be universally adopted. If western archi- tectural standards failed to reveal su- perior stability many Japanese are likely to renew their ancient faith in bamboo and paper as building ma- terials. The physiognomy of Tokio and other leading cities was gradual- ly taking on more and more of an occidental aspect, but superstition and$ traditional veneration for the things of old may impel Japan to hark back to her constructional ideals of yesteryear. * %k X X Col. George Harvey, who was a guest at the White House on the threshold of his impending departure for Great Britain, can almost lay claim to haying been an . “original Coolidge man.” To this observer's attention there has just been brought a copy of Harvey's Weekly of the issue of May 15, 1920. It appeared on the eve of the republican national convention of that year. Gov. Cool- idge had just vetoed the Massachu- setts 2.75 per cent beer bill. _Col. Harvey quoted the peroration of the governor's veto message, then com- mented: “Good sense! Sound judgment! The more we hear of and from Calvin Coolidge, the better we like both his character and his way of putting things.” * ® X % Stories anent President Coolidge's conversational ®hrift have become the country's most widely circulated anecdotes. Here is ne that has the unusual merit of foundation in fact. A well known Washington hostess was making the customarily unsucressful effort to engage the . COLLINS week, that there should be set off & week for specfal study by all Ameri- cans of the United States Constitu- tion. There is too general an im- pression that it is hardly necessary even to read the fundamental law of the nation, and the result is a hetero- genious notion as to what the Consti- tution really says. The Amerjcan Bar Association has developed a field for patriotic activity which will give room for the diligent work of all its trained intellects and will Inspire patriots amongst the lay- men to follow suit. * ok ox ¥ Between the laymen who denounce all history as “bunk,” and the college professors who glory only in icono- clasm, what is left of real culture and civilization? * kK ok Every household of Washington is to be visited by police within the next few days. They will want to inspect the cellars, but lest their object be misunderstood, it should be early ex- plaineq that it is not firewater that they will nspect, but the material for making real fire, throughout the next winter. They are to make complete survey of the needs of householders to coal. Incidentally, it is ad- sed that the firewater be separated from the other fuel, jn making re- turns. In some cases, it is even listed as fuel for the automobile, * ok ok ok Next to_its public buildings, Wash- ington’s greatest glory lies in its trecs. Yet, according to Clifford L. Lanham, superintendent of trecs and parking, there is danger that the trees will decline unless action is taken to provide an adequate nursery for re- placements. The total number in arks’ and along the street curbs is 104,593, out of which 1,298 were killed or removed last year and only fifty- six were planted. The rapld increase of buildings in the city is warring on trees on pri- vate land, for the average blue-print builder's mania is to clear off the priceless big trees he finds on his lund. Then he builds brick walls in- stead. e ke g Every little million has a mission all its own. Even the grain raisers of the north rejoice when the cotton raisers succeed in borrowing millions from banks outside the federal farm {loan and intermediate credits banks, for that relieves the pr resources of the latter, grain marketing. It is reported that the North Caro- lina_ Growe Assoclation has just borrowed $6,000.000 from a New York natlonal bank for the purpose of mar- keting cotton. 4 * * sure on the vailable for . Quite the most refreshing breeze that has fanned the blushing cheeks of modesty for some years was the announcement of the Russian de Pathtman that he was the only real Breat pianist in existence. All the rest werg second or third class; he alone wa$ pesfect Isn’t that the way some of the rest of us often feel about our work—but lack the utter franknes hood to confess it? blazed the way, in the s De Pachtman h . and after prac lusion of our awhile, it quite Jurage may come The saving clause in de Pachtman's boast is that he includes a statement that he did n achieve this perfec- tion until after he was seventy vears old, and learned to play with a stiff wrist. That encourages us modest and diffident youngsters. All we need to do is to keep on keeping on until W are three-score years and ten, “arn to “play” with a stiff uppe Self-confidence, after all, is far of an asset than it is a lia- bility. Tt would be a miracle to gain the confidence of the publ before ego shows cqual appreciation. Self- depreciation is always on the mark down bargain counter, without a bar- gain counter crush about it. Bound to hear Pachtmah if he ever comes to Washington. for I never gid hear per- fect piano playing yet, and “I know what I like.” (Copyright, 1923, by P. V. Collins.) s icing more WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE it in your power to make any woman in the United States famous? Mr. Coolidge pleaded that he was not aware of possessing the ability to perform such a miracle. “Yes, vou do," persisted his falr assaflant, “All You have to do is to let me engage You in two minutes of animated con- versation!” * ox % % there something of a national ceremonfal character to mark the resumption of diplomatic relations with Mexico? The towns and cities have set the ex- ample. San Antonio and EI Paso de- ¢lared public holidays on September 1 and rejoicing throughout southern Texas was universal. Uncle Sam, ex- cept amid the glamour of war, is not given to spectacular effects, but there might advantage in showing President Obregon and his people that gratifi- cation over our remewed friendship is real and widespread, Barring prescribed and therefore cold for- malities at the State Department, when Sener Tellez presented. hiy cre- dentials as charge d'affaires, no wel- coming hand has been_ extended to Mexico. Why not a “Mexican Rec- ognition day,” when the people shall display the’ entwined flags of the sister “republics as a token of the new era? Why isn't * ok % % There's a new and modest historian of Rome {n Washington—though it be Rome, Georgia. He is a news- paper man naméd George M. Battey, jr, who has immortalized his native town in no less ambitious fashion than Gibbon wreathed in laurels the Rome over which Benito Mussolini now holds autocratic sway. “The History of Rome and Floyd Count is the’ title of Battey's opic, and runs to more than ages. Henry W, Grady, Frank L. tanton, “RevivaliSt” Sam Jones, Col John Temple Graves and Donald Harper, American international law- yer in’ Paris, are among the noble Romans who have shed luster on the home town of Battey and themselves. Ive L. Lee of New York, the world’s foremost press agent, is another Roman. * ok ok K ‘When the members of the Shipping Board were at the White House the other night, Admiral Benson, the naval member, gave President Cool- idge some particularly telling facts and figures. Admiral Benson's pri- mary interest in an_American mer- chant marine, as befits a sailorman, is in its value as a means of national defense. He pointed out that Great Britain possesses no fewer than 120 merchant ships of a speed of twenty knots or greater to America's one— the Leviathan. As each and every one of these British ships is capable of immediate conversion into an auxiliary crulser, Benson argues that in case of international complications the total British war tonnage might automatically become %o great that the 5-3-3 ratio fixed at the Washing- ton conference would Sae “shot to picces.” ~ Some of our naval men say t 600 rapturous then Vice President in dinner-table small talk. Suddenly she bearded him with this challenge: “Mr. Vice have Presideat do.you know thatyou the ratip would be more like 5-2-3, with Uncle Sam holding the lowest fgure, . NQwyrisht, BBY, o and hardi- | ® matter ends. border | be merit and practical | NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM THE “GENIUS” Theodore Drelser. Boni & Liveright. We shy away, even from this title. For genius, either at large or set within the confines of art, is a par- lous thing. The good villagers of New Rochelle recently gave word and action to their sure instinct for this danger when they refused lodgings, even for the night, to “Venus and Adonis,” promptly evicting this pagan pair from the purlieus of their pious demesne. A general count against genius, either in the open or shut up in art, is that it is given to unexpected be- haviors and to appearances that have no place in an accepted scemlines: And what, I ask you, could be more trying in'a world whose days have bécome deep parallel grooves of routine than to find thrown athwart them obstructing lines of conduct that refuse to slip into the familiar ruts of conventional action. Again, #enfus Is, more often than otherwis spiritually-alien in inepiration—pagan even, and quite commonly unorthodox and un-Christian. Clearly a demoral- izing force in an arranged and ordered world. Tt is lawless, too, this genius, or, what is worse, it claims to be i law unto itself. Genius is not only a danger. It is a nuisance as well—a prod to the honorable inertia of countless years of lazy acceptance, a disturber of the peace, a challenge to the safe conventions within which caution has sought to safcguard hu- manity. | * k% * Notwithstunding these counts against menlus, we must give credit to Mr. Dreiser's book. “The ‘Genius’ " prove: upon readipg, to be no story at all. That is, it is no story if 95 per cent of current fiction are storles. It fs not, like the majority of these, bent {upon the uses of entertainment. Its purpose is not to produce, by fair means or foul, some happy ending to an incredible number of urgent situa tions, in whose combined essence th is no hope for happy climax, save by resort to brute force or clear miracle. Nor does its purpose scek to evolve an eleventh-hour triumph of character, when the full sixty minutes of each of the ten antecedent hours contain nothing but the ele- ments of moral defeat. This novel points no moral. Indeed, in this work Mr. Drelser appears to be quite unconsciops of outsiders, quite in- different to external effects. He {8, instead, exclusively absorbed in his 'h'wmr that of the “genius,” Eugene [\\xll- And, bevond a few initial pages 4»?_ the book, one loses sight of Mr. Dreiser, just as he himself has lost eight of everything outside the {subject in hand. For Eugene Witla proves, almost at once, to be a self- | contained, f-projecting person fity Mr. Dreiser's” work, therefore, becomes as impersonal as that of any other machine whose business it is {to register accurately what passes be- {fore ft. All this—except for the orig- inal act of creation. That stands out |distinctly as Mr. Dreiser's own. And I that creation ha folded within it, the very nature and f ure of what- tever subsequently unfolds here. 3 ke Eugene Witla, when we first, is a boy of the middle —a slender, engaging lad of a cer- {tain quiet charm. He might easily have been, at this first meeting, any one of the thousands of young boys {of that locality and that common- | place level of life. But, unlike those jother thousands, he had added quali- tles that set him apart from the rest. Deep down within him, drawn from some far source of inheritance. |was a vearning after beauty that some day. might break into a de- vouring passion and some other day. maybe, into g purifying flame. That (inborn hunger for beauty is the ke {to Eugene Witla. And as the ear! ‘.Vfi'ar> £0 by, there steps out beside |it another element in the character | the boy, 1 element bound bear markedly upon this dominant {love of beauty. This is a certain | pagan freedom in choosing happines i wherever it may be found; yes, even ’oul:flde the walls of religious precept {and social convention. This boy had idrawn from God Kknows where a |light regard for the institutions that man has so laboriously built for his jown safekeeping. The personal icharm of Eugene Witla, h! passion see him west { for beauty, his indifference to social | {law—these’ three account. wholly, for the development of “The ‘Genius.'” | Rk { And we follow Witla to Chicago, hen to New York, where the whole We go with him into {the streets of the western city both by day and by night, under clouds and storm, under sun and fair |weather. And out of his words as |we avalk the streets and search out |strange corners, we catch a shadow lof his own rapture over the beauty of it all, and feel something of his iclearing certainty as to many of its {meanings. A passion to catch it up and to hold it seizes him. So he be- {gins to draw and to study in the art schools. In mo time at all there is an original touch in his work that attracts, a quick capture of the heart jof a scene that appeals. He is beside {himself with love for the big cit: with love of art. Then the beauty of women overtakes him. This too he must reach out for and po: . {And here follows his quest of beauty n a happy brigandage that holds no ense of sin, that rouses no dormant {conscience. ' On the one hand are un- doubted talent, hard work, and a Puritan honesty in all the ordinary affairs of life. On the other there is a pagan joy in free amours, and successive conquests, and careless de- partures, and new_adventurings over and over again. each undertaken in a fresh transport of joy that con- tains no alloy of conscious sin. A marriage is one of the episodes in this long love adventure. a_climax which he, unwilling to reach, accept Inevertheless, with amiability and sus- tains throughout many attendant in- fidelities. Vicissitudes of fortune follow his course. They would. Here is a pagan at large in a Christian world. He is subject to its moral laws in so far as these can touch him. And, in_material ways they do touch him. But when art turns a cold shoulder toward him he becomes an artisan, displaying courage and good nature, capacity and initiative here, so that he lifts again and again toward the career of art. So the Witla at forty now, his wife dead, a little daughter in whom he has great joy, himself still capable, still hope- ful'and young, still with the wander- ing eye that rests upon the beauty of eighteen in the same old trans- port of delight and possessive hunger. * ok X ¥ Deep in insight, at home in the secret places of the human heart, keen in analysis, comprehending and honest, Mr. Dreiser has with infinite patience and plain courage followed Eugene Witla through the intricacies of his nature out into his open career. Never once has he sought to lead, never once attempted -to bullyrag Witla out of his own reactions into those of the writer or into those of the regulated world around him. One makes_ subordinate ackowledgment here also for writing that is always fine in its direct simplicity, that is often of a beauty truly poetic, that is sometimes profound in_scholarly approach and treatment. These are but the tools of the artist. In the terms of life and in the spirit of art Mr. Dreiser has created a great thing—a thing that stands complete in its own integrity of structural law and esthetic effect, a thing evolved from its own life force. Into that place which we all possess and of which we are more often than other- wise only half aware, a thing that is all unity and harmony sinks to bless us in & semse of benign tu‘l.flument. Gr e B to| record goes on—and finally stops. | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 4 Q. Smithsonian Institution was founded by an Englishman?—I W. A. Smithson, who wagy the son of the Duke of Northumberland, but whose mother was not the duchess, planned originally to leave his for- tune to the Royal Society, but he be- came angered when the society re- fused to publish one of his seientific |Liopalt his | Prospect Park, Brooklyn, papers, and accordingly made will, “I bequeath the whole of my for- tune to the United States of Amer ica, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, an establishment for the in- crease and diffusion of among men” It is an interesting fact that although Smithson never visited this country, his tomb is here. Q._Is there any connection between the Zoo and the Smithsonian Institu- tion?—C. C. H. The Zoo is controlled by the Smithsonian. Q. Has the United States mail truck the right of way over other vehicles?—L. B. P. A. The Post Office Department says that a United States mail truck is subject to the local traflic regula- tions of any city in question. Q. What s a pochette?—A. IL. D. A. It is a fancy little bag.in which to carry face powder and puff. Q. How many packing proce docs cotton go throush and to what density is it compressed?—W. 5. W. A Usually two packing proce. S are employed, but in a few cases onl one i used. Ordinarily, the cotton is first put through the cotton-baling press at the gin; this packs the hale to a density of about twelve to fourteen pounds per cubic foot. to the railroad compass where it is ty-eight to_thirty-three pounds cubic foot. It is then ready for railroad shipment or export. Sometimes a & cial compress is used in connection with the baling process, with which the cot- ton is packed at the gin to a density of about thirty to thirty-two pounds per cubic foot. No further compression is required even for export. J.J. A. The bureau of fisherles savs that if turtles are kept in a warm ter, but if placed in a cellar in a box of mud they will gleep all winter and need no food. Q L. Who was Martin Marprelate?— under which a number of tract were published in_ England—1585-84 They were directed against what the writer conceived to be abuses churches and state, and against cer- taln bishops in particular. The pub- name Penry or Ap-Henry, a Puritan preacher. Great efforts were made to discover and_ apprehend the au- thors. Finally Penry was executed in 1593, Q. When and where was the first It s not only in bombarding the virtually defenseless Greek island of Corfu, and in suddenly landing armed forces in the internationalized city of Tangiers, forming part of the em- pire of Morocco, deflance of the provisions of the treaty of Algeciras, to which the United States is a party, that Italy is acting in an extraor- dinary high handed manner, regard- less of her relations with the various great powers and in a manner cal- culated to disturb the peace of the world and to upset all the arrange- ments, concluded after so many weary months of megotiations at Lausanne, but it is also her ex- traordinarily despotic and arbitrary rulings with regard to the natives and the foreign residents and tour- ists who may visit the Austrian provinces that came under her sway by the terms of the treaty of Ver- saflles, Premier Mussolini has done splendid work in the domrestic affairs of the nation, in reorganizing methods of its government and in correcting_its administrative abuses. But he should be made to under- stand that his dictatorship does not extend beyond the frontiers of Italy. Thus, with regard to the southern provinces of the former dual empire, Lwhich now form a part of the Itallan kingdom, they have been known, throughout the world, for near a {thousand years, by the name of Tyrol, the name being derived from ' the sovereign counts of Tyrol of the still existing castle of Tyrol. above Meran in the upper Adige valley, castle which, even as far back as in the old Roman days, was a Strong- hold of the name of Teriol 1t passed, through matrimonial alliance, into the hands of the Hapsburgs in 1282, and the entire Tyrol region continued in the possession of the Hapsburgs, as_dukes of Tyrol, until the treaty of Versailles in 1919, * % Kk The Itallan governor of Tyrol has now issued a decree, by directton of his premier, to the effect that the use of the word Tyrol in the prov- ince: is rigorously forbidden, in conversa- {tion, in all printed matter, on post cards, even on shop and hotel signs. Any one violating the provisions of this decres will be punished. under article 431 of the Ttalian penal code, { by arrest, fine and imprisonment fol- lowed in’ the case of foreigners by expulsion. The_object is, of course, to completely Italianize the Tyrol. But one cannot change overnight the name of a country which has been in use for over a thousand years, some of the been identified ~with some of the most heroic pages of the history of Europe. It is well that this should be widely known on_this side of the Atlantic, for the Tyrol has always Dossessed particular at- tractions for American tourists and it they are now so incautious as to make use of the name, even in con- versation, while within the new frontiers’ of Italy, arrest, fine, fm- prisonment and expulsion stare them in_the face, i Incidentaily, it ‘may be pointed out that Italy has frequently, especially within the past hundred vears, been the scene of intolerable outrages on the part of her banditti upon for- eigners, thousands of whom have been robbed, killed, blackmailed and held for ransom by brigands, either working on thefr own account or under the auspices of those infamous criminal organizations so widely known as the South Italian Camorra, and the Sicilian Mafla. Yet no great power has ever seen fit to proclaim immediate war upon Italy on that account, to send its fleet to bombard a defenseless Italian city at only a few hours notice, or to hold the Itallan government and nation re- sponsible for the crimes of a few brigands whose identity, as fn the case of the recent ambushing of Italy’s frontier commission in Albania was un- known. These latter bandits are just as likely to prove to bo Al- banfans a ceks, For there are plenty of people in- Albania who have everything to gain from stirring up trouble between Ttaly and Greece. It is no exaggeration to state that the action of Italy in bombarding Corfu and in landing her troops at Tan- glers, without previous arrangement with the other treaty powers of the congress of Algeciras, to which Italy, as well as tho United States, WeF® strains of the bagpipe, L3 knowledge [These aro compressed to a density of about twen- | per | fiftieth anniversary of Q. Wl turtles cat in the winter?! Martin Marprelate was the | Which he lisher and chief instigator was John | | BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. How did it happen that the|asphalt road laid in this country?— G W. T A. The gineers’ Highway that the a built in 1810 American Handbook says phalt road which wus front of the City Hall, Newark N. J., might casily be called the fire: grphalt road. However, asphalt fs developed type of pavement, and 1867 one of the rliest roads built with a tar binder, which wa the beginning of the type now called This roud was bullt & N. Y. Q. What is a holystone?—W. A, M A. A holystone is a plece of gof: stone, usually sandstone, used in ecrubbing decks. To holystone deck is to scrub it, using holystor smooth’ on one side least and have a small depressior on the other to receive the end of i handle or stick by which they pushed baclk and forth. the serubbing power of the ston the decks are wetted and sand sprinkled over them prior to hol stoning. The derivation of the ter: is supposed to be from the fact that holystoning used chiefly to be dons on Saturday as @ preparation for Sunday inspection, church, etc. Q. How many books are thers | the great library in Paris?—W. 8. L. A. The Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris is the ¢ ve librar in the world, h s more than 5,000, volumes. T one of the olde of the still existing librarfes, having been founded in 1358 Q. How long s the summer day in Sweden—A. S A. The the aval Observatory save af northernmost poimt in Swede: the sun do fet between Ma |22 and Jul a period of two {months. not - 23, or Q. What two former Presldents nf |the United s ed on the e It is then sent |day?—F. K Jefter ation, A. John Adams and Thomax son both died on Julv 4, 1 the De of Independen Q. Why is given that name? A. The name !supposed to have origina absurd popular notion thi i he forbidden fruit been an apple, stick in when he attempted to swu was Sus” Addic Q. Who place they will eat during the win- |B. 1. A. John E. Addicks, who amasse a fortune as a gas manufacturer ne into national prominer through a persistent but unsucces ful struggle to be elected Unite ates senator from Delaware, & fight waged for eleven ars, Wi known as “Gas" Addicks sometime Q. W in the A A. Mount above the the Adironda | mountain R 5,044 feet n at i the high ondacks? Marcy, ris s the highest peak (Mr. Haskin will answer questions of fact_for any one without charge. Write your y and inclose BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. | parties the | =1 formerly known by that name, | q cents in stamps for return postage Address letter to 1220 North Capitol street.) Ttaly’s Severe Dealing With Greece Recalls Crimes of Italian Brigands: is a gross violation of the la | of nations. # fifteenth peer of 1 with Lord Most: in securing elec squadron, are the a perfect hecta including several pper house, who “pilled.” This th most exclusive club and premier vachting club in the world, notoriously free in its use of black balls, Lord Sinclair is the head c Lord Sinclafr, line, who, togeth has just succeeded tion to the royal only survivors of comb of candidates members of the were mercile being in.e entire historic house of Sinclair It is a family which figure peatedly in the pages of the of Scotland, and whigh has representatives in the gilded ber of parliament at Wes Lonl Sinclair will be remembered : having visited the United Stat while still the master of S nd as having spent some time Washington _in the capacity « equerry to Prince Arthur of Cor naught, then on a special misston t Japan, ‘and is now governor gene of South Africa. Lord Sincla served as a_fellow officer of thw eck Royal Scots Grays, the crac cavalry corps of the northern ki dom, in the last great war, and also a veteran of the Boer campais of a quarter of a century ago. * *x x x One of his ancestors, mamel William Sinclair, was that gall knight, the inspiration of so mu Scottish romance and poetry, who was killed, along with his vounger brother, John, {n Spain while on way to the Holy Land with the hea of his master, King Robert Bruc: which never reached its destinatio: but which was brought back to Scot land and_lies entombed scmewher: within _ghe precincts of the no\ ruined Melrose Abbey. Some of the associations of the Sir clairs were less creditable. Thus the fourth Lord Sinclair, who was perhaps the worst of his rac contrived, with the assistance of his cousin, Lady Isabel Sinclair, to pois the Earl and Countess of Sutherl at a supper which he gave in the honor, and then coolly denounced h accomplice, testified against her ar witnessed her execution. He nex kidnaped young Lord Sutherland, th: son and heir of the couple whom h hud murdered, and, although th was only fifteen years of time, he forced him to mar daughter, Lady Barbara Sinclair. homely dame of uncertain age and more than questionable reputatior Another of the Sinclalrs, the Lor Berriedale, master of Caithness, is o record as having strangled 1 younger brother. Willlam. ~ Indec® the history of the house of Sinclair in the middle ages is a long list « tragedies, of plots and of counter plots. history seve e [ The Sinclairs, as a rule, are ver tall, like the late Catherine Sinclail, the well known novelist, who be longed to the family; she and her five sisters were noted for their hug. stature, and the story ran that hal” a dozen of them together made ui “forty-threc feet of Misses Sinclair. while the pavement in front of thei~ father's town house in Edinburg was known as “The Giant's Cau way.” Another of the Sinclairs, Si John, sixth baronet of Dunbeath, is chiefly remembered in connectior with his unsuccesstul attempt to i troduce the nightingale into Scotland He commissioned a London dealer to purchase several thousands of night ingale eggs at the_liberal price o a shilling cach. They were wel packed in cotton wool and sent to Scotland by mail coach. A number of trustworthy men had previously been engaged to take special care o all the robin redbreast nests whero the eggs could be hatched in safety Tho robin eggs were removed and replaced by those of the nightingales. which were duly hatched and_ su <fully _reared by the foster When fledged, they seemed at home in the place whero saw the light of day. T when the usual period of migration of birds arrived, they departed for the south. They neved returned, and today Scotland remain without ' nightingales, owing, it is alleged, to_their inability to har- monize’ their sweet notes with they > perfectly they first the autumi