Evening Star Newspaper, October 15, 1923, Page 48

P -0 T HE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1923. ———eeee e ———— e —eee e THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C MONDAY..... .October 15, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES.. The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Penn A New York Office: 110 East i20d § Chicago Office: Tower Building, European Office: 16 Regeut St., Loudon, England, The Brening Star, wit ediiion, is delivered by e the Sunday morning riers within the clty nts per month: daily only, 45 cents pel Sunday oniy eats per moatl. OF: be sent by wmail or telephone Main ©000. Coliection is made by cacriers ut ond of each wonth. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance.. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1yr., $8.40; 1 mo., 70¢ Daily only 1yr., $6.00: 1 mo., 800 Bunday only (1yr] $2.40; 1 mo.. 20¢ All Oiher States. Daily and iy only.. Sunday only.. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to tie use for republication of all news dis. patches credited to It or not otherwise credited in this paper aud also the local mews pub- lished “hereln. All rights of pubiication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. Wanted—A Decently Clad Capital. The budget burcau is now fitting to the personified Capital its new suit of next year's clothes. Like Uncle Sam, the personifiel Washington is growing with youthful vigor. Last year's suit was too small for both of them this year, and next year both will have outgrown this year's sult. The most expert of cutters cannot cut down a garment already outgrown und worn out without producing a ridiculous misfit, a thing of patches and tatters. Washington and Uncle Sam must both be decently and even comfortably clad. The wise declared purpose of the budget makers is not wantonly to cut and mutilate estimates, and to deny arbitrarily the satisfaction of genuine needs, either national or at the Capi- tal municipal, but to co-ordinate, sys- tematize and harmonize expenditure to prevent duplications, to eliminate extravagance and waste and to secure for the community 100 cents of wel- fare promotion for every dollar spent. No administration can wisely and safely cut millions or hundreds of mil- Hons from this year's appropriations necds without find- climinating unnecessary ex- that amount. Indeed, the total of next year's appropriations should not be reduced by the full of present unnecessary ex- theory that the real year will be no greater of today. For neither na tion nor Capital, both expanding every day in size, in strength and in needs, to meet next year ing and penditures in amount penditures, on the needs of next than those n stand still in provision for main- tenance and development. Denunciation of the unprofitable ser- vant in the scriptural parable sug- zests divine as well proval of such of cither national, municipal, commercial that the subject matter of the trust. metaphorically buried in the earth, knows neither nor iner In its function of eliminating waste and extravagance from national and the Capital's municipal expenditure the budget finds within its furisdict instances of pu- triotic SSary ex- or domestic, waste burean n ma doubtless in Uncle which are and ne trava outlays, the Capital's war penditur nd there are other fav and considerations which call for cquitable discrimination between Uncle Sam and personified Washington in the wise application of the sound prin- ciple upon which the budget burcau bases its operations Thus in appropriating for the Capi- tal municipality the budget bureau, us well as Congress, will in equity keep in mind (1) that more than 60 per cent of the money which they are appo ance Sam’s war-time duplicated in municipal ex- not n i tioning among municipal needs will be : ontributed by the people of the mu- ipality have accumulated to pay their share of the cost of meeting the accumulated unmet municipal needs of the war time nearly five million dollars, to which the uation, under the law of 1878, under which the surplus accumu- } lated, is under obligation to add for Capital expenditure a like amount; (3) that Congress, the Disirict's local legislature, has not yet permitted the Capital municipality to increase its revenues by borrowing money through bond issues like other American mu- nicipalities, and that the money ap- propriated must pay not only for cu rent maintenance, but for permanent nprovements on the pay-as-you-go basis; and (1) that the post-bellum re- trenchment of the nation’s war ex- penses, which the budget bureau is ! systematically to enforce, has no ap-| plication to expenditures meeting the municipal needs of the Capital, which were necessarily neglected and permit- ted to accumulate unmet in the war | time. For five years we Lore, at first in- divectly and then directly, the burden of world-war conditions and conse- Guences. War mongpolized us, our la- bors and eur treasures, in and self-sacrificing service. We must economize now that the war is over; that is, we must econo- mige in those matters which relate to war-making and war-preparedness. We have been wisely extravagant in war cxpenditures, and this extravagance is now to cease. We have not been ex- travagant, but serimping and neglect- ful, in outlays for the Capital’s munici- pal maintenance and development, and especially in outlays for permanent public improvements, which have had no direct relation to war-making. These wise projects, both of just municipal maintenance and of per- manent municipal upbuilding, like those relating to schools, streets and water-supply plant, properly pushed aside in order to give Uncle Sam full swing ‘in the war-making function, ought now to recelve from budget bu- reau and from Congress the thought- ful, liberal and sympatbetic considera- tion which they deserve. In respect to them, not retrenchment of appropria- tion but deliberate and substantial inerease is the demand of wisdem and equity, And in meeting now these great municipal needs neglected in war time all the resources of the Dis- trict ought to be utilized, including the unexpended tax surpluses of the s human disap- | trust, | (2) that the local taxpayers | patriotic | ent and just participation in contribu- tion (by bond issue or through loans or advances by nation to District) of tax- payers of the near future, whe will profit more than anybody else from the compietion and utifization of great per- manent public improvements. Prohibition Pot and Kettle. Little is gained by the pot calling the kettle black. Gov. Pinchot of Pennsylvania, in an address before the great citizenship conference on law enforcement now in session here, i practically charged that the fallure of prohibition enforcement lay at the door of Washington, the federal gov- ernment, Federal Prohibition Com- missioner Haynes, on the other hand, addressing the same conference, charged that the fault lay in the fail- ure of adequate co-operation on the part of the state and municipal au- thorities with the federal goverament. These gentlemen united on one thing, the blackness of politics as it is plaved in this country. Mr. Pinchot urged that the prohibition en- forcement service be “taken out of politics.” Mr. Haynes urged that poli- tics be made “clean” by the people in the states, and insisted that under such conditions there would be no doubt about the enforcement of pro- hibition or any other law. Under the .system of government that prevails in the United States, party government, it appears impos- sible, as a practical matter, to take prohibition enforcement out of politics. The suggestion of Mr. Haynes that politics be improved gets at the real meat of the situation. The citizenship conference Las be- gun as a great movement on the part of an aroused people to bring about obedience to and respect for the law, It would be sad, indeed, if the real is- sue, so vital to the republic, should become beclouded through a contro- versy as to whether the federal gov- ernment or the state governments are to blame for the lack of enforcement of the prohibition law. Not only would it be sad, but it would be cause for considerable rejoicing on the part of the lawbreakers. What is needed is co-operation to the uttermost degree between state and federal authorities in the war on the criminals now violating the Con- stitution and the dry law. There little to be proud of. either in Wash. }ington or in Pennsylvania today, { when it comes to the question of vio- lation of the prohibition act. Undoubt- edly the ventilation of these evil con- *ditions will do good. I One thing is increasingly evident as | the citizenship conterence has i gressed. The time has come when men lin high places. merely because they jare in high places, are not to be long jimmune from ohedience to the pro- hibition law, if the people who believe in prohibition have their way. The {speakers have pointed out that not the poor, ignorant foreigner or mountaineer who needs attention most, but those respectable citizens of means, ho act as if prohibition applied in full force to the worker, the man who was ! compelled to get his liquor in the cor- _ mer saloon, but not at all to them, A New Kind of Dog Show. A mutt dog show is to be given at Washington by the lumane Educa tional Society, and it is planned form a National Mutt Show Associa- tion which will hold an exposition at the Capital each ¥ A mutt is the kind of dog that belonga to i aver- age Washington man and boy. nme times this kind of dog does not “be- long.” but lives in freedom by his wits. Tk is a hard way to live, and an; to he dog in that state would welcome | adoption by a boy. be burred from the approaching show {will be the one with a recorded ped: gree. The judges will have naught to do with dog genealogy. It is what a dog is and not what his great-grand- father was that is to count. The piebeian dog is to have his day. | Perhaps he is now expressing himselt, by vibrations of his tail and other- wise, in somewhat this tashion: * Yelp! Yelp! Pass the news to Towser { smith, Bowser Jones, Rags Brown and {all the other regular fellows that we are going to have a plain business dog show. Dogs that manicyres and footmen; dogs that { have never felt the bite of fleas; dogs | that have never dug for bones, will {not be there. Cream-fed creatures {that have a silken bed made up for ‘em in the drawing room with a nurse !to lullaby ‘em to sleep will not have a look-in at this show. Dogs whose . i ancestors went to England with Wil- ! liam the Conqueror or came to Amer- ca in the Mayflower, and never did anything after the trip, will not have standing room in this show. We dogs of the District who play tag and ball with the boys, guard the home, ter- jrorvize the cats—that is, some cats— bark at burglars, strangers and every i noise. are to be the whole show. The medals will be pinned on us! So yelp the news along that the mutt’ dog show is on the cards! ————— The attitude of the French is de- fined as a willingness to let Germany suffer anarchy and chaos for a time as | a matter of discipline, Chaos is a dan- gerous neighbor, and anarchy an ex- tremely infectious mental ailment. ——— So much protest has been raised. against the selection of Zev to race Papyrus that it almost looks like a { demand for a referendum in turf mat- ters. | —————— The Ruhr has a right to regard any- thing it stood to win in the war as all out of proportion to its particular share in the penalties of defeat. Twenty-Three in Four Days. Wholesale grade-crossing killings are coming so rapidly now that it would seem to be the order of the day. Following quickly on the acci- dents of last week when fourteen lost their lives at two crossings, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, comes a similar tragedy at Fairland, Ind., where a train hit a motor car and killed nine of its occupants. Evidently this was a masked crossing, for the driver of the machine ahead of that which was struck says that on crossing the tracks he saw the train approaching and that he turned and motioned the driver of the following car to stop. Apparently the latter misinterpreted pro- ! it s The only dug to| have maids, | the signal to mean that the way was clear. He started his car, saw his danger, stopped the machine, evident. ly trying to back off the tracks, but not in time fo avoid being hit. All but one of the occupants of the car were killed, one man escaping by Jjumping. These circumstances clearly indl- cate that the view of the track was obscured, else the driver of the car would not have gone ahead. There are hundreds of these crossings in this country, places where there are no gates and no signals save perhups a4 warning sign. These mute signs, however, have become ineffective, There must be something to arrest sharply the attention of the motorist, u flashing light or a gong. In New York state a swinging sign hanging over the road gives notice that dan- ger is near. At a crossing in one of the New England states where nu- mierous fatglities have occurred the | wreckage of machines that have been hit by trains has been assembled and hung upon telephone poles on both sides of the track. One of the terrible facts in connec- tion with the grade crossing evil is that the slaughter is in such large numbers. For instance, in the Penn. sylvania accident last week six were killed, and in the Ohio case elght were killed. Yesterday in indiana nine lost their lives, a total of twenty-three fatalities In four days in three ca ————— Clemenceau says his political life is finished forever. His impression may prove fallacious owing to the fact that there is no crisis at the moment of a kind that fits his particular personal- ity and power so closely as to make him appear indispens However content a statesman ma tirement, there is no resisting a genu- ine case of overwhelming demand. ———————— A volume of reminiscences is ex- pected from Ambassador Harvey. It is early for him to begin reverting to the past. Despite an exceptional career he is still regarded as a young man with a great future; one in whose biography the most interesting chap- ters are still to be created. { | @il in Baitimore charged with a minor offense said she would rather €0 to jail than go home to her par- ents. Again fears arise that philan- { thropy is making prison life too atur tive and interesting. ————— Disintergsted and expert observation may reveal to Germuany more re- sources that she has overiooked in the vitement. Her present mood might easily be one of exaggerated financial pessimism. ————— Fixing prices e s recognized as an ex- periment of great difficulty. Even the Standard Oil could not make same price for gas all over the coun- wy. ———— A dictatorship sugge: complete jand arbitrary autherity, but under |.«mm- circumstances it may mean only ’an extremely delicate responsibility. —_——————— | Hugo Stinnes is described as tug- { ging at his beard while sitting in the ljrq-lchsmg. The hair-pulling will come later. ———— SHOOTING STARS. o I | i BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Evolution in Reverse. the my piimal was a monkey. Who somehow evoluted into me— {Just an ordinary organ grinder flunke ! 1 ought to grow indignant as can be. jAnd yet I feel no sense of agitation. | To monkeys quite a liking people take. T contemplate with pride my present station. past remote—what does it make? When say forebear { | { towy | But if this plan which some call “evo- tion” Should turn around and w ! other way, { A monkey might complain of persecu- tion { 1f friends about him certain things should say. It as a homo they should vow he started. Who drank and fought and robbed the helpiess poor, i That simian would be angry and down- l hearted And think he had a libel case for i 1 k the Menu Reform. “I propose,” exclaimed Senator Sor- ghum, “to lend my influence to any movement to end this pernicious prac tice of printing menus in French “What for?"” “My daughter is the only one in the family who has studied French, and T can't get anything to eat except what she happens to know the name of. And the way it sounds always makes me feel as if I'm not going to be able to eat it.” Jud Tunkins says music has got so queer @ man can't say he likes a new song without feeling apologize. Simple Calculation. “In ten little years prohibition will thrive Undisputed,” the lecturer said. “These who shun the bad liquor will still be alive, And those who do not will be dead.” Availability. “‘Of course, I like him,” said the am- bitious girl; “but why should I marry i him? He has neither fame nor for- i | “You mustn't forget one thing,” mildly suggested Miss Cayenne. “If he had either he might be entirely too busy to fall in love and propose.” Coal, Twenty Per Ton. ‘our wife tells me she prefers cre- mation to interment.” “Yes,” replied Mr. Meekton. “Hen- rietta’s tastes were always the most extravagant possible.” “I admires education an’ refine- said Uncle Eben, “but dar is times when plain talk is necessary. ‘Tain’ no use recitin’ to & mule.” 3 the | difference | called on to} IN TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT BY PAUL V. COLLINS What is more exasperating than to have a clock continually inaccurate? When it gives the exact time, that accuracy Is taken as a matter of cours. But how minutely accurate must be its adfustments to make it register, year after year—century after century—millennium after mil- lennium—with the one perfect time- piece in all ereatlon! One of the most baffling problems of man has been to find a true meas- sure of the lapse of time from the crossing of u meridlan by the sum, at exactly the same altitude, one year from the fraction of a second when it crossed In the previous year, at the same altitude. AT How long is a year? How long is a millennium? The earliest known efforts to mark off the lapse of seasons and years were made in Egypt. It was highly important that every available hour of crop-growth time be used in that narrow strip of fertile land along the Nile, where intensive cultivation was vital to the necessary food pro- duction for the great population. !delay in springtime in the planting {of the crops could be permitted. I Therefore, certain wive men planted @ pole, ahout eight feet high. and measured the length of its shadow when the sun crossed the mcridian. At certain length, the crop was [sown. Yet, In even days, the measure { was never'allke. The shadow never seemed to reach its apex from year to year at the same time. From the eight-foot shadow pole evolved the bullding of the pyramids in such exactness as to direction and height that their shadows formed gigantic sundlals—5,000 years ago, The shadow of the Sphinx marks the seasons, though too Indistinctly at thefr extreme points to come within @ week of accuracy. In Indfa, in Borneo, In Mexico and South Amer- ica, gigantic sundials told the cal- endar—not too crudely. The shadows of Druidical Stonehenge of England. the Delhi obelisk in India and the obelisk in the center of St. Peter's square, Rome, all mark the passage of time. It hus been proposed that the { Washington Monument be utilized as a gigantic sundial. A clreular con- erete walk laid around the great shudow-casting shaft could be prop- { son and day. - E xR Greece followed the knowledge of the Igyptians. When Romulus founded Rome, he proclaimed a mew measurement of Ithe year. The Egyptlan year was 80 short that the feast days of win- ter gradually ceded into then backward into summer. Romulus made the year 365 days, and that measure continued up to the time of jJuiius Cacsar. But the sun’s crossing of the merld- fan at the same altitude showed that 365 days were not a full year. Cen- tuties ‘had passed since the time of Romulus, and the error was cumu- lative. Julius Cau r proposed to cor- joct the calendgr—and was ridiculed by Clcero for his audacity. Never- theless, he decreed that, beginning in what we know as 44 B.C., the years should consist of 3651 days. He jdied the year before his decree be- jcame effective, but today ne is re- jmembered most clearly by what is known as the Julian calendar. * k% % Yet even the Julian calendar was inaccurate. In the fourth century its autumn, | i 1 i From London i A “solidified Britain” probably will iresult from the imperial conference {of premiers now in session in London, { American editors believe. Questions of world politics are being consldered with the utmost frankness, but it is accepted a policy will be adopted before final adjournment that should assure complete harmony among all of the parts of the British Empire. {Springfield Republican, which ex- | plains that “to some extent the con- { ference must be tentative in its pro- jgram and methods. It has to feel lits way in establishing imperial re- lations upon a broader and solider basls and it is well that the general !disposition should be to approach these fundamental problems in & cau- {tious and conservative spirit. None the less the discussions now in prog- ress will be a long step toward i the reconstitution of the empire, and the occasion is worthy of the pen of Rudyard Kipling.” It is the opinion of the Detroit News that “men now living, who can recall the British Empire as a purely colonial structure, shall live to see the Canadian, Australlan and South Atrican peoples as effective a part of | British _government as the cabinet in London itselt.” This is also, in {part at least, the view of the New | York Tribune, which feels “pressure {in Europe is driving Great Britaln 1to look further and further afield {for profitable trade, and imperial poliey and Insular policy are both deeply affected by the new polnt of view. In this connection the Winnipeg Tribune makes it plain *Tanada will accept her honorable obligations. The | Canadian people are not dead beats jor poltroons and if they were un- {Wwilling to accept the responsibilitics {that go with the benefits of imperial { partnership they would take the man- Iy course of withdrawing from it. % e The Boston Transcript emphasizes i | “dominions” as “an agsgregate of powers to which no one man can dictate, They cannot be moved un- less they want to be moved.” Their mission also, as the Wall Street Journal sees it, Is to “devise the fuller utilization of the great partnership of which they are mem- bers. It is noteworthy that they are not debating the solidarity of the British Empire. The great war demon- strated that in & most extraordinary way, and it should make many of us Americans thoughtful to remember that it was not only the Germans who were wrong about its strength on the outbreak of that war. Sensible Amer- icans will have nothing but good wishes for this real league of nations, the world's best guarantee of peace.’ The fact that the-conference “favors negotiation to limit alr armament is impressive, the Indlanapolis News emphasizes, because the people who the taxes all over the world “would be glad to reduce them. The British government needed no con- vincing, and doubtless there are other governments in the same frame of mind.” The addresses o far made at the conference, the Winnipeg Free Press points out, “contain a clear in- timation of the importance of the de- 1liberations, but it is to be remembered that there are distinct dlfferences in various ways in the circumstances of the various parts of the common- wealth, and it must not be surprising that the parts, while desiring to co- operate closely, should differ as to how it should be done.” The influence of the session cannot be overestimated, the Des Molnes Register insists, when it is remem- bered that “Britain has one-fourth the population of the globe. If thee peoples can be held together in a No | erly marked to interpret the stretches of the shadow according to the sea-; Britain-First Policy Expected That viewpoint is amplified by the' at some length the importance of the| inaccuracy was noted by the Coun- cil of Nicea, which found that the feast days of the Christian church Wwere about three days wrong. Dy the sixteenth century its dates were about ten days too slow as compared With sun time. It was at this time that Pope Gregory became the head of the Roman Cathollc Church. In 1582 Pope Gregory decreed & new adjustment of the calendar, since Which time the Gregorian calendar has been in use in all Roman Catholic countries. Tn 1762, this calendar was adopted by Great Britain, though Drior to that date both systems were used jolntly—with & double date. * * % While all Roman Catholic and Prot- estant peoples have long since aban- doned the use of the Julian calendar, it has been retained by the Greek | Orthodox Church. Greece, Russia and most of the smaller European nations adhering to the Greek Church have clung to the Julian calendur, cspe- clally In ecclesiastical matters, though being confused In political and diplo- matic affairs. Slovakia adopted the Gregorian calendar immedlately after the world war; Russia, when the soviets gained |control. China had a lunar calendar of her own—304 days In o year—until the organization of the republic in 1811, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted. Japan also has the Gregorian system. i Greece, the last nation in the world Ito retain the Jullan system, adopted ithe Gregorian calendar on Friday | (October 13), 1923. | * % u % ineccuracy of the Jullan cal- year amounted to three days 400 years—a month in 4,000 years. Pope Gregory attempted to adjust that discrepancy by adding an extra day every forty years, and drop- ping three of these extra days every 400 years. But the vear is still twenly-six seconds too long, making an error of one day In every 3,32 years. When Cortez conquered the Aztecs at the close of the fifteenth century, the Aztec calendar was measuring from the year 469 B.C.. with an_ ac- curacy which would require 5.000 ears’ to make a day's error, when mpared with the sun. * R ¥ ox How long is & sotar vear? Asked at the United States Naval Observa- ltory, this 1s the mathematical an- swer: [t is decimally expressed as 365.242,198,790 Juys; but for real curacy it is to be diminished ariy by 0.000.000.961-4th of u day. Students of mathematics will easily reduce to | minutes and seconds those millionths of a day—and set thelr watches ac- cordingly. o The endar every i * & % Bible students will be interested in noting that a Hebrew year varied in length, and was never 3654 days. The year, In Methuselah’s day, was |"one moon” long. His 969 “years” when he died was seventy-nine year: {Abraham’s 175 “years” (of five months | jeach) were seventy-two years. Jacob's 147 years (of six montis each) were seventy-three years. These dates are according to the calendars of the va- | rious periods referred to. The Hebrew calendar was In use prior to the Ewyptian bondage of the | Israelites. During their stay in Egypt—two centurics—they adopted the Egyptian calendar. Not once, after the Exodus, is any age men- tioned in the Bible beyond the modern usual limit (Copyright. i i 1923, by Paul V. Collins.) ! Imperial Parley democratic way of world-wid taught so obvious in its implications that nobody can escape it. If voi tarily Canada and Australia say this conference that imperfal unity is better for them than independence the bearing on the future will be in- calculable. On the other hand. if Can- ada and Australia and South Afric call for independence that also wi ave a bearing fully as incalculable. * ok ok % The New York Post feels that the addresses of Premier Baldwin and Lord Curzon before the conference ‘“show ons side of Downing Street is imper- | fectly in sympathy with what the other | side of Downing Street is doing,” al- | | though the Spokane Spokesman-Review | suggests this is of no great consequence | because “a powerful appeal will be made to the patriotism of the as-| sembled premiers, to their pride in the | | great British Empire and to their seif- ! Interest o that the results may exert a profound bearing on our trade re lations with the British Empire and with Canada in particular. | ‘This_view is amplified by the Detroit ! Free Press in calling attention to| {the fact that “the British Isles do not ask to be the exclusive beneflclary in | any arrangement for the promotion of | trade that may be evolved. The bene- | fits are to be mutual and e\'erybody,' the helpers and the helped, is to be ! happler and richer. The empire will be working toward a goal that will make it self-sustalning in every direction. The dominlons are to provide the food- stufts and the raw materlals for manu- facturing, the British Isles are to pro- vide industrial plants, the overseas dis- | tributing mediums and the defenso equipment. The idea is a great one and the British are a people who ought to_be capable of working it out.” Despite the admitted mistakes of British past policy, the Birmingham News is_convinced ' “the sound and sane and wholehearted co-operation of the colonies with the mother govern- ment, In peace and fn war the sam would seem suflicient proof of Britain’s | will to justice. The manner in which the empire en masse sent representa- tives to the titanic wrestle in central Europe when trouble was on, and in the dogged persistence with which Britain has opposed the war after the war, are arguments sufficient to all level-headed thinkers that the British policy is a policy of peace,'and ite drift toward a ‘parliament of man, a feder- ation of the world.'" And “Baldwin, the business’ man,” the Peorla Tran- seript _continues, “is taking the ob- vious business course of developing the property of the empire. Cultivating the dominions is now deemed imperative, for unemployment {s increasing and Eu- rove is in a turmoil.” Versatile Diplomats. From the Kansas City Star. The British zmbassador at Paris has complained to the French foreign office of a theatrical production in which Britain is criticized for its at- titude on_the German reparations questio It seems that, In the pres- ent state of national sensibilitles, ambassadors must not only be diplo mats but dramatic ecritics if they are to successfully uphold the pres- tige of the countries they represent. ——————— Here's to More of 'Em, Cal! From the Portland Express. “The Coolidges celebrated their eighteenth wedding anniversary at the White House on Thursday. trust that they will also ceiebrate their twenty-second anniversary in the same domicile, ————————————— The Housing Problem. From the Boston Traascript. ““The Possibilitles of a Small House” makes an interesting subject, but more people, perhaps, are seriously con- cerned about the impossibility of even ‘small house. § Pt in a_commonwealtl i i { la people { president j ratification. EAST IS EAST —— BY FRANK H. HEDGES George Washington is a vital fac- tor in China today. He is the symbol of patriotic democracy to many of the Chinese statesmen and military lead- ers who are groping and stumbling in the direction of a sound republican torm of government for thelr coun- try. The Chinese is accustomed to searching the past to gain insplration and precedents for the present and the future, and those Chinese who have committed themselves whole- heartedly to the rearing of a great republic in their homeland find George Washington their chief inspi- ration. The Amerlcan patriot’s military career during his fight for freedom and Justice, his subsequent adminlstration of the nation as head of the state, his refusal to aspire to royal honors and, finally, his retirement from public iife to pursue a quiet, leisurely old age all carry a tremendous appeal to the Chinese. They are in conformity with the teachings of the great sage Confuclus, but they are the working out of those teachings under modern conditions. 2 There can be but little question that it was the struggle of the thir- teen colonies and the creation of the United States of America that con- stituted the ides] of the republican Jeaders who, twelve years ago, rose in revolt against the Manchu dynasty and o turned the throne of the em- pire. America was their torch, and it was a torch who: lit the whole vast dome o stretching from Canton in the south to Mukden, many miles north of the great wall, * % % % Adverse eritlcism of China today is widespread and in a large degree is justified. The ideal held by Sun Yat- sen and his followers of 1911 has not vet flowered and borne frult to any great extent. The Chinese is fond of comparing the present state of his country with the perlod of trouble that this republic and the republic of France went through when they were born Into the nations of the world. He pleads with his eritic for time, and he is entitled to it Twelve vears is very short, especially for to make over Institutions and customs that have come down through the centuries with but little change : Li Yuan-hung, twice president of the republ is the latest Chinese states n to voice publicly his ad- miration of George Washington and his desire to follow in the American patriot's footsteps. From the city of Shanghal, whither President Li has fled after having been virtually driven from the president’s p: ce in Peking last June, he has said that he is *most anxious to follow the notable example set by Washington,” and has emerged from a retired life to work | in politics toward this end. + It is natural that President Li hould see an analogy between his career and that of America’s first Although it ma have been agalnst his will. L Yuan-hung was placed at the head of the re- bellious troops in 1911 when they struck at the power of the reigning family and brought about the birth of the republic. He did not go in as presiden but as vice pypesident, in the first constitutional election. The death of the president a few years later elevated Li to that post. Re- signing in 1917, he was recalled to office more than a year ago as the legal heir to the presidency, which lhad been usurped by northern mili- tarists. x % % % The abilities and qualifications of President Li are one question: ideal of Washington that spurs him on to give his service to his country- men is another. To him, and, as a consequence, to all who support him, George Washington is a living force in the working out of the destiny of the oldest of the new republics of Gen. Wy Pei-fu, of the four strongest and most powerful men in ina today, has col to the early days of America's strug- gle to become a nation as an example and a prophecy of what lay bofore his own country. Wu's personal hero has long been George Washington, the military leader who turned from the ways of war to. the paths of peace once his victories were won and his cause triumphant. Wu real- izes the curse of China's many mili- tary chieftains and burdensome ar- mies and would,end their power. His belief that China will parallel the American commonwealth amounts almost to an obsession. He points out that the people of China rose against the Manchu household just as the people of America rebelled sgainst the crown of England. There followed the national gathering at the Temple of Heaven in Peking when the provisional constitution was drawn up and the new government actually began to function. This, to him, is a duplicate of the articles of confederation. For more than three vears Gen. Wu has iusisted that China must take the third step. There must be one e another national convention when & permanent constitution will be drafted and offered to the nation for Even before he became a major power in China Gen. Wu advocated such & scheme, and he will never rest contented until his coun- try, like this, shall have held a con- stitutional convention. It is the foremost plank in his program. That Sun Yat-sen, hero of the revo- lution and outstanding advocate of the republican form of government, should look to George Washington with a fecling_akin to devotion Is to De expected. The ‘example of Amer- ica has long been his gulde. Golng in as provisional president, he stepped aside when Yuan Shih-kal was elected to that oflice, and as long as China seemed to be governed wisely and well was content to re- main In obscurity. It is because hls country has fallen a prey to ambi- tious and self-centered politiclan warriors that Sun has re-entered the troubled arena. 1 know of nothing that gives as graphic and accurate a picture of Sun Yat-sen as does his Shanghai home. The house, very like a house in the suburbs of an American city, stands in the center of a wide grassy lawn, :as. utlerly unlike the typical Chinese garden as Dr. Sun bimself is unilke the typical grafting politician of that country, In answer to an electric door bell, a blue-coated China boy ushers the visitor into a drawing room with tall windows and carved Chinese furniture, for Dr. Sun has not discarded his native land for the west, but has attempted to adapt one to the other. An oil por- trait of Dr. Sun himself hangs over the mantelpiece, while the rest of the walls are covered with French etch- ings except that In the place of honor there hangs a steel engraving. The engraving is of George Washing- ton and other early Amerlcans, and peneath it, written in a large flowing hand, are the words: “Washington refusing a dictatorship. Dr. Sun's philosophy of government, his dreams of what he hopes China to become, his inspiration and his whole life are expressed by that steel engraving. It embodies the whole movement and work of “Young China,” for Dr. Sun is still the hero- leader of those Chinese who have caught the spirit of the day and are illing to labor for their country rather than for themselves. George Washington is most tremendously a vital factor in China today. the | stently looked | Q. Do you have to have a license to hunt in the District?—L. H. A. It is not mecessary to have a license, but ‘hunting is prohibited in the District of Columbia by act of June 30, 1906, except on tho marshes on the Eastern branch above Ana- costia bridge, and below the Aqueduct bridge on the Virginia side of the Po- tomac. In these areas no birds may be shot within 200 yards of any hridge or dwelling. Q What is the depth of the Poto mac river at Chain bridge?—C. F. A. Tt has been reported that in certain spots of the Potomac river near Chain bridge there is a depth of from seventy-five to eighty feet. Q. How many veterans of the world war have taken advantage of their preferred standing for civil service appointments?—F. D. A. At the close of the last fscal year, 250,000 had taken clvil service examinations. Of these, 165,000 quali- fled and became eligible for appoint- ment and more than 65,000 actually recelved appointments. Q. Is American foot ball played in Canadian colleges and high schools?— 0. N. A. No Canadian high schools play American foot ball. McGill Univer- sity is the only Canadian coilege which plays the game, and it does o only when playing the American team at Syracuse, N. Y. Q. Who was the first of our Pre dents to have a valet?—A. F. A. W. H. Crook, who was for years connected with the White House, says in his memoirs that Arthur was prob- |ably the first. Q. What is the obj of the or- ganization known as Scapa’—P.. T. This is the popular designation of the Society for Checking the Abuses of Public Advertising. It was founded in Londgn for the purpose of re- straining 'through legisiation and so- cial influence, the disfigurement o€ towns and rural scenery by business announcements. f Q. What is the term applied to the dizziness and nausea experienced when one is high in the air?—D. C. A. The scientific term applied to the conditlon of becoming dizzy in high places is “acrophobi; Q. Hax Great Britain an at Gibraltar?—L. C. T. A. It is reported that this huge rock fortress is being tunneled for hangar and repalr space for a British air station Q. What was the clement discovered 7— R. ! A. Hafnium was the t element {discovered. This brought the total of {known elements to eighty-scven, five {having been discovered since 1318. Since scientists argue that there are ninety-two clements, this leaves five to be discovered. Q. Has the Library of Congres: =ood collection of opera librettos {L D. i A Its coilection the largest ard mos world. Q. ir station chemical is thought to be important in the How is Petoskey stone polished —C. AL A. Petoskey stone is silicified fos- sil and is polished like agate. Various polishing powders such as tin-oxide, chromium-oxide and iron-oxide are used. Q. Does it rain every day in Pan- ama during the summer?—C. S. A. The rainy season begins about the 20th of April and lasts until early December. It does not rain con- Home of British BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. To what extent Buckingham Palace, the principal London reside ot | King George and Queen Mary, is ex- {posed te the danger of fire may be gathered from the publication of a report of the royal commission which ion was appointed some time ago to in- vestigate the perils in this connec- itien of the leading public buildings of Loudon. and to recommend the adoption of the necessary safeguards. {7t scems that while Buckingham Pal- ace has a very elaborate system of fire alarms and fire-fighting devices. vet it has not a single fireproof door, or floor or wall, with the result that, if it were once to catch fire, the flames would probably gut the entire huge building with most of its treas- ures and priceless archives. Buck- {ingham Palace was built, in its pres- ent form, just about a hundred years ago and has always been considered in the light of a white elephant and as distasteful by the sovereigns who have made their homes there. Queen Victoria hated Buckingham Palace and declared that even the briefest stay there affected her health in- juriously. Edward ‘\'II _ spent the reater portion of his brief reign in Zttempting to modernize the palace and to render it pleasing to the and habitable, but without much su cess, while King George has, more than once, expressed himself in favor of converting the palace _And its ex- tensive grounds into building sites, at a huge profit to the civil list and the transfer of his abode to Hensing- ton Palace, after it had been sub- jected to elaborate repairs and ex- tenstons. * * * Royal and imperial palaces have, on the whole, enjoyed a considerable amount of immunity from fire, not only in the present, but also in the past. This is not only the case in Great Britain, but also in most the capitals of the old world. In have been destroyed by fire since the Norman conquest, near a thousand years ago, namely, the Palace of Richmond, in 1498, of which today merely the gate house remains; the Palace of Holyrood at Edinburgh, vhich was burned down by the sol- diers of Oliver Cromwell, in the seventeenth century: the Palace of Whitehall, which feil a prey to, the flames in 1697, on escapini VHI Palace of St Jam only a_small portion, n, Sateway, was saved. and In 1534 the Royal Palace of Westminster. as- signed by the crown to the use of arliament. g P4t the Tullleries, where the kings and emperors of Frence had held their court, fell a prey to the flames in 1871 it was because It had been set on fire by those female furles of the commune insurrection who were known by the name of “Petroleuses, while the suburban Palace of St. “loud, the favorite home of Empress } Kugenie, was roduced to ruins by the German and French guns fired during the siege of Paris, a little over half a century ago. The royal palace was burned down in 1697, when the body of King Charles XI. which was lying in state, was almost consumed fn the flames. The present palace wus built on the foundations of the old palace, which. in turn, had been preceded by a Viking stronghold, so that the huge maze of subterranean vaults, dating bacl 1.000 years, some of them still awaiting exploration, have remained well nigh intact and even undisturbed. * ¥ k% The reigning house of Denmark has hnaluuwud to heavy losses James in 1809, when including the at_ Stockholm of | Great Britain only five royal palaces 1y the banquet halll destruction, and the Henry | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN stantly. Usually rain does not fall x{no\;e than two hours of the twenty- our. Q. Whe wrote “Sweet Alice, Bolt*?—A, W. . A. Thomas Dumm Englfsh, an Ameriean physician and mam of let- rs, published this poem I, Willis® New York Mirror in 1343. Am set to muelc by Nelson Kneuss it became widely ‘known both in Englamd and America. Ben Q. Tn connection with the observ- ance of the one hundredth anmiver- sary of the birth of Francis Parkman (September 16, 1923). I see,reference to his “youthful motto.” 'Can you give it to me?—A. G. A. “Not ment” was happiness. but the motto chowen Parkman when a young many well he exemplified it in his geous life 1s a story in itself. zchieve- by How coura- Q. Who said on the eve of cxecu- tion, *I hear the exccutboner is @ good ope, and my neck is very little”?—R. 3. A. These words arc attributed to Anue Boleyn. Q. Would you adyise ust what rail- road vards in the United States and Canada are largest and Bow many cars can be stored in themf—3. L. A. The two yards of the Canadian Pacific raliway at Winnipdg, Mani- toba, are the largest in Cagada and probably in world. They* contain, respectively. 190 and 153 mikes. The latter is composed of seventy tracks. Some of the large yards in the: United States are:. Chicago clearing yards, Standing car capacity 14,000; Chnway Pa.. yards, outsid: of Ditisburgh capacity %967: Altoona, Pa. shops, | Penusylvanin 'vards at Enola, Pa., have 100 miles of trackage aisl can accommodate 10,705 cars. There is also a vast yard at Mitchell, S. D. Q. low many current magagines are received by the Library of 'Con- gress in a year?—. D. A. A. Last year 7,481 different cur- rent periodicals were received. Count- ing all the {ssues of these perjodicals received, a total of 126,874 coples reached the Library Q. At what age should a child's training begin?—F. O. N. A. Tt should begin as soon as the child is born. Regularity is the first lesson. Keeding, bathing, airing and putting a baby in its bed at the same times daily Inculcates its first habits. Q. Is there nicotineless tobacco?— J. L P. A. The Department of Agriculture says that &o far as they know at the present time a nicotinciess tobacco is an impossibility. It is the nicotine content of tobacco that makes it o entirely different from other products, Q. Are as many turkeys there used to be?—C. P. A. In 1400 the census 6,594,695 turkeys in the United States. In 1810 there were 3.685,708, while in the 1920 census they stand at 3,627.028. One of the reasons for this is that as farming becomes more intensive therc | is less space suitable for turkevs to range. In the middle west, whero most of them are raised, few flocks contain more than fifty, while in Texae flocks of several hundred are common. raised as showed 3 pensiol first grant- ed 1o civil war veterans?—C. G. A. The first law pensioning civil ar veterans was a disability pension law of July 14, 1562 (Have you a question you want answered? Send it to The Star In- formation Bureou, Frederio J. Has- kin, director, 1220 North Capitol street. Give your full name and ad- dress and inclosc 2 cents in stamps for return postage.) Kings Believed Likely Prey of Conflagration in connection with the destruction by fire, of some of its most beautiful palaces at Copenhagen, notably the Christiansborg, which was burned down in 1794 und again in 1884, and another sovereign palace which was partially destroved by fire within the last twenty vears was the birthplace of the Queen of the Danes, namely the 4airy-like home of her only brother, the former reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, at Schwerin where the very fact that it is perched on an island surrounded by water rendered it a matter of difficulty fo the firemen to hurry their engines and salvage apparatus to the of the conflagration. Tn sel: the so-called Palace of the Nether- lands, where Emperor Charles V ab dicated in 1535, became a prey to the flames in 1731, the preeent royal palace, erected on it €ite, dating from the reizn of Empress Mariu Theresa. Laeken, the suburban homes of the Kings of Belglum. was par tially burned down during the reign of the late King Leopold The Kremlin, Moscow, and ths Winter Palace, at Petrograd, as well as the Krasnoe-Selo palaces of tho Emperors of Russia, and the dream like group of palaces at Peterhof, on the Gulf of Finland, have survived tho davastating activities of the bolsheviki land, though to a great extent looted of their treasures, have, in some mi raculous way. escaped destruction b fire, while, despite &Il the bloodshed i the streets of Berlin during the risings of the populace which have taken place there at various times, when th streets were swept by grapeshot, th. various palaces of the rulers of Prus sla_have remained intact. The royal palace of Madrid, wher Emperor Charles V and his son, King Philip, made their principal residence. was burned down in 1734, while som: twenty yvears ago the roval palace of Aranjuez, the Spanish Versailles of the { Bourban 'kings, was partially destroved by fire. The maze of buildings, soms of them dating back to the twentieth century, known as the Hofburg, at Vienna. and where few are acquainted with their area and extent some miraculous way, escaped harm by fire even when, in 1848, Austrian capital was for & number ¢ gays in the complete control of insur- gents bent on rapine and destruction. Fire has never attacked Sans Souci or | any of the palaces of Frederick the Grea jand of other Prussian rulers at Pots- dam, while when a fire broke out nt the Vatican during the reign of Lco XIIIL the flames were extinguished be- fore much damage was done. Y | One of the most disastrous and sen- sational conflagrations of sovereign residences within human memory was the intentional destruction by | fire of the so-called Summer Palace of | the Emperors of China. in the neigh- | borhood of Peking, some sixty years | ago, by an allied army of France and | Great Britain as a punishment for a | series of outrages and cruelties to | which their subjects in China had | been subjected. Tt was a conflagra- tion which lasted for a number of days, and which involved the destruc- | tion 'of some of the most exquisite | bulldings and temples, and of the most_priceless treasures of art usd of history that had ever been cgi- {lected in one grand old park through- out the passage of many centuries. The obliteration of the world-famed | Summer Palace of the Emperors of China was_considered by the com- { manding officers of the allied armics as necessary to teach the Chinese lasting lesson as to the danger of | maltreating and torturing English and French missionaries, merchants and government officlals.” It 1s pe fectly true that it left an indelibie | impression upon the Chinese people, but was an act of indescribable bar barism, which today is condemned by all civilised governments as a plece 'of wholly inexcusable and irrepars- ble vandalism. | H the