Evening Star Newspaper, January 12, 1924, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY....January 12, 1924 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th 8t. and Pennsyivania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Bulldin European Office: 16 Regent St., London, England, The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, Is delivered by carriers within the city at 60 cents per month: daily only, 45 per_month: Sunday oniy, 20 per Orders may be sent by mail or tele- phone Main 6000. Collection is made by car- riers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia, Daily and Sunday. . .40; 1 mo., 70¢ Daily only. Sunday only. 1 mo., 20¢ All Other States. Daily and Sunday.1 yr., §10.00; 1 mo., $5¢ Daily only. : » Sunday onl Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- patehes credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pub- lshed herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. — Nobody Loves New Taxes. No self-taxing community imposes upon itself a new tax unless it has absolute need of additional tax-money for some specific municipal purpose and can raise this additional money with less friction and irritation in no other way. The new tax must be necessary; it must be effective; it must be the choice of the community itself s the Jeast of alternative taxing evils. No self-taxing community taxes it- self in a certain way because some other community does so. There is infinfte varfety in the combination of possible taxing methods in revenue- raising in different states and cities. In realty taxation one state assesses its property very high and can put its rate very low; another state assesses its property very low and in order to! secure ‘the same amount of revenue must fix its tax rate very high. One state taxes its intangibles at so high & rate that it chases this form of prop- erty into hiding or outside of its boun- daries; another imposes a low, reve- nue-producing rate upon classified in- tangibles; and still another does not tax intangibles at all. Washington's taxing bedy, Con- gress, though not chosen by and not representing in American fashion the Capital community, is nevertheless in theory supposed to act with as close approximation as possible to its nat- ural procedure if it had been in fact elected by the taxed community. Its conceded obligation is to reflect as far a8 is reasonable the sentiments and wishes ‘of the unrepresented taxed. If consideration is to be given to Washington's views and wishes in re- spect to tax legislation proposed for it the Capital community’s sentiments are easily ascertained. Washington bas expressed a desire for motor tagreciprocity with Mary- tand, and a willingness to modity its automobile taxation by substituting a gasoline tax for the personal tax on automobiles, this modification being the only tax change mecessary to se- cure the desired end of Maryland reci- procit ‘Washington has indicated just as clearly its lack of desire to be sub- jected to any new tax to increase its general revenue or to a special tax on gasoline, even {f the proceeds of the tax are nominally to be applied to the improvement of our neglected streets. An additional tax on gasoline is not conceded to be mecessary, or ef- fective for' street improvement, and is criticised as hurtful and disturbing on the sensitive point of fiscal rela- tions with the nation unless the pro- ceeds of the gas tax are all applied specifically to meet the District's 60 per cent share of the cost of street improvement and development. Weshington protests against a sub- stantial tax increase (for which no necessity is demonstrated) in this post- war era of tax-reduction, and so soon after the readjustment and increase of its tax-burdens under the new or- ganic act of 1922. It points to the fact that a part of the District's ac- cumulated Treasury surplus was col- lected to pay the District’s share of the cost of maintaining, improving and developing the city streets dur- ing the war-time; and it suggests that this portion of the surplus be spent now solely upon the District’s share of the cost of improving the neglect- ed streets before any demand is made upon the District to raise other money for this purpose by new taxes upon present taxpayers or by borrowing through a bond issue. 3 The gasoline tax has its good points where in the states money must be raised from the cities to im- prove country roads. But its ad- vantages are not especlally applica- ble in Washington. And as a new tax it has no attractions in itself to make Washington yearn for it. This tax as a sales tax and as establishing a precedent for a general sales tax is opposed by those who do not believe in that kind of taxation, holding that it transfers the burden from the rich to the poor, and a gas tax bill waal 1 vetoed on that ground in Nebraska. Washington has no great area of country roads to be improved, with jus- tice perhaps, at the expense of city *‘motorists. Our city streets have been maintained so far since 1878 on the 50-50 or 60-40 basis. There are funds in our Treasury surplus, it has been noted, to meet appropriately a part 4t least of the District’s share of the #feost of bringing up to date our neg- _lgcted streets, and any attempt to ap- Caply the proceeds of a special tax on _gwesoline solely to street improvement will be ept to disturb and perhaps violate the definite proportionate con- tribution system in relation to streets, and in any event will precipitate the renewed acrimonious tex discussion of ratios, rates and relations, which the peace settlement of 1922 was designed to quiet and postpone, ~ ‘When the already determined equi- tles in respect to the surplus have been made practically effective all that the District asks in taxing legis- lation by its taxing body is to be let alone. Washington is entitled to this period of rest and recuperation in sc- cordance with the understanding, agreement or promise involved in the compromise peace settlement of the new organic act of June 29, 1922, —_——————— Conditions of Recognition. Almost simultaneously with the. ap- pointment of & subcommittes of the Senate foreign relations committee that is to inquire into the question of the recognition of soviet Russia, in- volving the matter of communist propaganda in this country, comes a statement in the semi-official organ at Moscow, the Izvestia, as follows: The foreign powers have made a mistake in their policy by forwarding preliminary conditions prior to recog- nition. Sovetia is not going to pay a speclal price for recognition, and re- fuses to take upon itself obligations which, under existing conditions, it is unable to fulfill, or to yleld under pressure to demands which are con- trary to its Interests or the existing regime. The importance of this lies in the last phrase, “demands which are con- trary to its interests or the existing regime.” Obviously the whole expres- sion is directed at the matter of Amer- ican recognition, which has been re- fused on several grounds, chiefly that Russia is engaged in attempting to subvert the American government. Does this statement in the Izvestia mean the soviet government at Mos- cow cannot prevent subversiVe propa- ganda in the United States by the communist party or the third inter- nationale? It has heretofore sought to divorce itself from its communist pro- genitors and supporters, the radicals of the internationale. It may now be taking the ground that the republic of the soviets, as the government is technically styled, is not responsible for and cannot control the activities of the unofficial orgenization. The other day Senator Lodge, in a speech in the Senate, furnished a table of names which showed the interlock. ing directorate, 0 to speak, of the third internationale, the communist party and the soviet government. The same men function in all three in im- portant positions. Eleven men vir- tually constitute the system, Lenin, Kamenev, Trotsky, Rykov, Tomsky, Stalin, Zinoviev, Kalinin, Molotov and lBukharm, Lenin is disabled by illness and has not been active for some time, but his name figures nevertheless, and he remains a force in the communist party, the soviet republic, the federa- tion of the republic, the communist internationale, the Russlan labor union and the trade unfon internation- ale. By these six titles is the small group of radical leaders, communists working to the dual end of controlling Russla and converting the rest of the world to communism. That fraction or subdivision of this great organization which is known as the soviet republic may not of it- =elf pledge abstention from forelgn propaganda because it is governed and controlled in turn by a higher power which is so engaged. Hence the de- murrer of the Izvestia to demands “‘contrary to its interests or the exist- ing regime” upon which American recognition is predicated. In a few days the Senate subcommittee will be- gin its inquiry into the question of soviet propaganda, and this country may then see why the Izvestia, vir- tually official organ of the communist regime in Russia, objects to the im- position of “preliminary” conditions prior to recognition. ———— Coming Coolidge’s Way. President Coolidge finds political events developing in his favor to a degres which must be exceedingly gratifying to him in his candidacy for the presidential nomination. The L.t wt event propitious to his political for. ' tunes was the declaration yesterday of Senator James E. Watson of Indiana that he had concluded not to be a candidate for the republican nomina- tlon for the presidency. Coincident with that statement came the announcement of the selection of 2 manager of the Coolidge campaign in Indiana who is acceptable to th: so-called Watson-New factions in In- diana, thus assuring unity of support of the President among republicans both in the pre-convention campaign and at the polls in November. Politicians noted that Senator Wat- son did not say that he would support the President for the nomination, con- tenting himself with the laconic, al- most abrupt, statement that he him- #elf would not contest for the nom- ination. This omission may have sorsething to do with the peculiar political conditions existent in the Hoosler state and the campaign for re- nomination for the Senate that will face Senator Watson later. It s unthinkable, however, in the circumstances, that Senator Watson will withhdld “giving e full pail of milk™ or fall short of rendering loyal and whole-hearted support to the Cool- idge campaign. ——— A general movement is asserting it- self in the larger cities to eradicate vice. The crooks may yet have to take to the rural districts, thus in- creasing the already numerous griev- ances of the farmer. —_——— The Prince of Wales Is visiting Paris, and Paris is doing her best to show that a few differences of opinion between nations do not necesmarily in- terrupt genuine friendships. Gov. Pinchot has always insisted that somebody could enforce prohibi. tion in Philadelphia. Perhaps that per- son i3 Smedley Butler. Seeking Relief From High Taxes. Calls for reduction of taxes and for reduction of government expenditures come from all parts of the land. The | general demana for rellet from bur- densome taxation {s the dominant note in the news, Two brief reports come from the neighbor states of Maryland and Virginia, which are straws showing the direction of the wind, and it might be sald that the wind is a gale. At the convention of the Maryland Agricultural Society and Maryland Farm Bureau Federa- | tion, with 810 representative farmers in attendance, one of the speakers sald thst “excessive taxes and the high price of farm labor are responsi- ble for farm depression.” He sald that the increase in taXes has been entirely too great, and that there is urgent demand for more economy in government. This was the sentiment of the convention. There was sorie controversy on the tariff and of “the parasitic tendencles of middlemen who derive unearned profit from the products of the farm,” but that dis- cussion was incidental. Tax reduction ‘was the chief demgnd of the farmers. From Richmond comes a complaint against high taxes and wasteful use of tax money. The complainants did not concern themselves with the matter of national taxation and national ex- penses, but dealt with the question of state taxes and outlay. The Virginia commission on simplification and economy recommended in its report to the Virginia general assembly that the administration of state affairs be placed under twelve departments, which would be a reduction in the ‘iumber of state departments and in the opinion of the commission would make for economy and efliciency. There is widespread complaint in Vir- ginia against state taxes and cost of the state government, and general complaint against what the people call excessive and extraordinary federal taxation. People are speaking out everywhere against the great increase in taxes and are seeking relief. ————— Senator and Sand-Shaker. Senator Medill McCormick was re- cently shown, in a picture in The Star, using a sand-shaker instead of blotting paper to dry the ink of a let- ter. The senator was born in 1877. It is agreeable to record that thére are statesmen Who remain loyal to classlc Amerfcan institutions, though this senator comes from a city, by name Chicago, where it is believed that the sand-shaker is no longer in general business use. Really, even in this part of the United States, where we talk less of belng up-to-the-minute than is the conversational custom in the west, the paper blotter has super- seded the sand-shaker in most offices and in numerous familles. Some of our citizens are so modern that their only acquaintance with the sand- shaker was derived from certain stage plays and moving pictures. 1f, as appears from his record, Senator McCormick is a consistent man as well as a very earnest man, one feels quite sure that he measures time with an hour glass, uses & boot- jack and scorns a safety razor as ef- feminate. That which he blots with a sand-shaker he must write with a quill pen. When bedtime comes he takes his lighted candle, and without waiting for the elevator blithely climbs the 'stalr and mounts to his chamber. There he goes to sweet repose and happy dreams in a curtained, tester bed and rests upon the softiest plu- mage of the goose. Drawing about him a beautiful patchwork quilt, which grandma tediously and lovingly made, he listens to the tick-tock of the tall grandfather's clock in the silent hall below and falls asleep. One is glad that some of the institutions on which old-fashioned Americans were “brought up'” are still honored by our statesmen. A serious thought is promulgated by the Retail Clothiers' Association of New Jersey in convention at Atlantic City. The clothiers say that men are neglecting their, own appearance in order to dress their wives fashionably. The male still retains a sense of humor. Having surrendered in art, literature and politics, he declines to seek solace in a beauty contest. —_——— Young Sidis, a mathematical prodigy at twelve vears, at twenty-six desires, a job which will not require him to think. The law of compensation as- serts itself. It may require long re- pose to enable him to recover the mor- mal enthusiasm of young manhood. The laborites in parliament were in- clined to be exacting about the cerg- monials due from the house of lords to the house of commons. Even in the most democratic circles these ques- tiona of punctilio will arise. ———— Mexico could keep a great deal of money within her borders by main- taining peace long enough to build her own munitions plants. SHOOTING STARS. PY PHILANDER JOHNSOX The Urge. Columbus might have dwelt secure, As cosy as could be. But this his heart could not endure. He had to go to sea. Napoleon might have been @ pet: A dancing man polite. He struggled till his fate he met. Perhaps it served him right. The bold explorer might remain In quarters warm and nice. He views such comfort with disdain And steers for Arctic ice. Luxurious rest’s a scanty prize For common mortals fit. The men in whom true greatness lies Press on and never quit. Quite Sufficient. “Do you think & man should know Latin and Greek in order"to be a statesman. “No,” answered Senator Sorghur.. “It is needless to introduce complica- tions. English is quite sufficient for saying things that are hard to under- stand.” Jud Tunkins says the only red radi- cal he ever knew was one of those chaps who when a checker game was going egainst him always wanted to upset the board and begin over. Different Paces. A good intention may be great. It haits and lingers past its prime. Our virtues oft procrastinate. Our vices keep ahead of time. High Cost. “How ,do you explain the high cost of living?”’ “Part of it,” answered Farmer Corn- tossel, “is due to the fact that the family simply can't live without a phonograph and a radio set and a new filvver to take 'em to the motion pic- tures.” “I forgives my enemies,” sald Uncle Eben. “But when & man has th’owed a brick at me I's gineter keep out’n his renge, even at de risk of ‘seemin’ onsociable,” ’ IN TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT BY PAUL V. COLLINS ' Beginning yesterday and continu- ing through next Monday, there is In session In Washington & confer- ence upon the llliteracy of the United States, and how to overcome it. To the public, which is not in touch with the appalling conditions of il- literacy, it will appear incredible that the United States ranks tenth among the nations in its percentage of ignorance. “The only German illiterates are mentally deficient people and {dlots, reports Dr. George Kartzke of the Amerika-Institute, Berlin, ¥As far as England and Scotland are concerned, flliteracy Is practic- ally unknown, except among quite a few old people, who did not enjoy the benefits of compulsory education, which has been in existence for some years,” writes the head of the British Library for Information, New York. “There are no people in Norway who cannot read and write, except those suffering from mental or phys- ical defects,” states H. Byrn, Norwe- gian minister to the United States. Germany and Denmark claim to have only .2 per cent of illiterates; Switzerland and the Netherlands less than 1 per cent; Norway, Sweden and Scotland, less than 2 per cont; France, 4.9 per cent, and the United States, according to the 1920 census, 8 per cent—an improvement over 7.7 per cent in 1910, * % ox It would perhaps be set down as American self-pride wers claims of Europe to be challenged. Nevertheless, as a cross-section of one of the countries mamed, it Is noted that a military company was tested a fow weeks ago and found that 50 per cent of the soldiers were unable to read and write. Possibly the percentages quoted are no more accurate than s our own federal census of illiteracy. How much valus have our census figures, in view of the method by which the data arc gathered? Com- pared with the actual showing in the Army draft, in 1917, the census is absurd. The test of the drafted men showed that 25.3 per cent, between twenty and thirty-one years old, could not “read & newspaper or a military order. nor write a letter home telling the simplest facts of thelr experiences {n camp. Some companies of native whites showed per cent llliterates, according to that simple and practical test—equiv- ent to the fifth grade jn & common hool. * ¥ % ¥ ‘What constitutes illitermey? The census figures are based upon the voluntary confessions of the citizens to the census enumerators that they, and members of their families, can or cannot read or write. 1f a per- son {s able to read ever so little, and write his own name, he is not rated as “illiterate” It is ocertain that thers are millfons, aside from those so rated, who, by any real inquiry, would be found illiterate. The cen- sus figures would show at least 10 per cent, {nstead of 6 per cent—at least 10,000,000 who cannot read or write anything. * x % ¥ The distribution of illiteracy is not confined to any one section of the country, nor is it greatest among {m- New Son-in-Law those | migrants, There is sald to be not a county in any state where there Is not-some community whose illiteracy is shameful. ‘Where_ a community is poor in property, it s often “rich in chil- dren.” “The state school tax, at so much on each $100 of assets, may not produce sufficlent school funds there to support schools enough for all the children through full terms. In a: cther community, in the same county, there may be more wealth in prop: erty, with fewer children. Uniform tax 'rates, therefore, do not assure uniform school facilities, even whers the public sentiment wants them. Some states average only $6 or §8 a vear per child in total school sup- port, while others approximate ten times that much. * ko ok Although 38 per cent of all our lliterates are forelgn born, 67.8 per cent of the city {lliiterates are for- eign born—who cannot read or write in any language. Acoldents in factories cost $50,000 loss per day, a&nd half of these accidents are due to the illiteracy of the workers, they 1ot being able to read the warnings and4nstructions, even though printed in their native languages. The late Franklin K. Lane, Secre- tary of the Interior, estimated that the avorage wages of flliterates was 50 cents a day less than for the edu- cated, which made the ignorance of this country cost $825,000,000 a year, aside from cost of acc'dents and 1o of wages thgough avoidable cau due to ignorance. * k% % There may be danger to our in- stitutions from propaganda of for- elgn conspirators. The llliteracy conference will consider the greater crisis of peril to our democratic gov- ernment and soclety through blank ignorance. This s & “government by the people.” While all {lliterates are not voters, they hold the same proportion to the voters that -they do to the whole community. In the 1920 presidential election New England, with its 1,143,277 {lliterates indicated by the Army test), cast 968,028 votes for President. The mid~ die Atlantic states, with 3,349,463 illiter- ates, cast 5,652,002 votes for President; south Atlantic states (including the Distrit of Columbia in its illiteracy, though not in its voting) bad 1,795,815 {lliterates and cast 2,168,329 presidential Pennsylvania. with 1,254,734 illit- cast, for President, 1,549,692 votes. The flliteracy conference is facing great problems. Some will urge the sage by Congress of the pending Bleriing-Towner bill to create a’ feders department of education; to add a na- tional council of education, for advisory assistance to the proposed secretary of education; to provide federal ald in en- couraging and assisting the states to correct their educational weaknesses, without interfering with the full controi of the schools by state officials. The measure will appropriate $50,000,000 a year for schools, to be apportioned among the states, when the states also ralse like amounts for school purposes. A state governor, within the last week, jealous of state independence of the federal government, denounced all measures which offered federal ald to the states, for any purpose of influenc- ing state action—whether for better roads or hetter schools. With what educational missionary work will the conference meet such opposition? (Copyright, 1924. by Paul V. Cvliins.) of Col. Rogers Has Belgian, Not Austrian, Title BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. It is fortunate for the new hus- band of Col. Henry H. Rogers comely and popular daughter, whom she so quietly married at the Munic- ipal bullding in New York on Mon- day last, that he belongs to the Bel- glan nobllity instead of to the Aus- trian aristocracy. For all Austrian nobilitary distinctions and heredi- tary honors have been abolished by law, and their use prohibited under severe penalties. It is a mistake, therefore, to describe the bridegroom of the former Miss Rogers as Count Louis Salm, or as the head of the “Austrian house of Salm.” Indeed, {n the official “Graeflicher Taschen- buch” or “Gotha” annual, in which all the German, Hungarian and even the Austrian counts are still enum- erated (though no longer recognized by Austrian law), no mention fs made either in the present lssue or in those which were published when the dual empire was still in ex- istence before the war of the names of either Col. Rogers' new son-in-law, nor yet his younger brother, Otto. married some ten years ago to Miss Magd Coster, daughter of Mr. Charles Coster of New York, in the pages devoted to the enumeration of the altgraves, the counts and tha princes of Salm. The fact is that the two brothers in question and their younger brother. Alexander, who spent a vear in America before the war, participating in a number of tennis tournaments throughout the United States, are, like their late father, descended from a morganatic unlon on the part of Prince Comstantine of Salm of the mediatized or formerly petty sover- elgn German dynasty of that name, who, in 1810, contracted & left-handed marriage with Catherine Bender, German bourgeoise. By her he had five sons, who were created Belgian counts of Hoogllnlfllu,“l;y l\llmfrt’o‘:llg, Leopold 1 of Beigium, y 108 TP Yourth ‘ot ‘these sons, Count Albert Hoogstraten, —married the daughter of the German _count, Charles Bohlen. Their son, Alfred, in turn, married Adolphine, daughter of Baron Victor Erlanger of the great Jewish international banking house of that name. She was the mother of the Counts Louls, Otto and Alex- ander of Hoo‘!ct;llnn I‘h(;l:;:..:‘l‘l:::;l , Belgian unts of :l:lrd. m?t. A‘Illlfllfl ex-Counts of Salm. * K X They have always been somewhat handicaped in Austria-Hungary and throughout Germany from a social point of view, first of all by the morganatic ancestry of their father; then, too, by the fact that their mother was an Erlanger—that is to say, a lady with Semitic blood in her veins—and also by the circumstances that the princes and altgraves and counts of Salm-Salm of the me- diatized house of that name have always been very powerful, nu- merous. and influential and have re- sented the action of the Counts of Hoogstraten in making what they claim to be an unauthorized use of the anclent and historic nlm'rd:f Salm in oonjunction with their tively modern Belgian title. ‘Although their mother, like her sister, I who married another of the Counts of Hoogstraten, inherited some money from her father, the late Baron Victor Erlanger, yet the three brothers have been far from rich, their \possessions being limited to Trautenberg, near Reichensy, in Lower Austria, and Erlanger Cha_ teau, brought into the family hg their mother, and which is owned the eldest of the three brothers, Count Louis Hoogstraten. The latter, whose first marrisge to a lady of the name of Frankenthal, was sundered by divorce In 1913, fought in the great war under the Austrian flag, serving, Jike his two brothers, in cavalry ts. e Count Louis, last came into the limelight abroad through a violent per- sonal all tercation u;hm. x | through their Erlanger mother. n hotel in Switzerland, where they ad happened upon each other. Cougt Michael Karolyi, now settled with h wife and children in Canada, will be remembered as the first prime minis- ter of Hungary after the dethronement of the Haspburgs, in the closing months of 1918. © Count Hoogstraten apparently shared the view of many others that Michael Karolyl was_one of the authors of the revolution. ° * x x *x Count Louis and Count Otto of Hoogstraten, each of them now blessed with a very rich Amerfcan wife, had family comnections in the United States, even before thelr marriages, For Miss Matilda Slidell of New Orleans, daughter of that senator, John Siidell of Louistans, who was sent by Jeffer- son Davis to champlon the cause of the Confederacy in France, became the wife in Parls of the well known finan- cler established there, the Baron Emile Erlanger. Their half-American son is Baron Frederick Erlanger, a natural- ized Englishman, who divides his time between ' the London banking business of his family and his work as a musi- cel composer, and is the author of a number of fairly successful operas, including “Tess,” which has been pro- duced at Covent Garden, in London, and at San Carlo, at Naples. ‘Then, there is, of course, Baroness Robert Erlanger, widow of Peter Cooper Hewitt of New York, the well known inventor. and beford ‘that the wife of Pedar Brugialre of San Francisco, COURAGE “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul” —HENLEY. Ford, the “Crasy” Inventor. Henry Ford was intensely fond of mechanics—and he was born and raised on a farm. ‘When sixteen years old, he ran away to Detroit, where he worked fifteen hours a day—wages, $4.50 a ‘week—to learn machinery. Just when hard work brought bet- ter pay, and his plan to make 2,000 watches & day was ready, word came that his father was Injured and his brother sick. Back on the farm and working from sun to sun, studylng mechanics at night brought the idea of a gaso- line engine to propel vehicles. In Detroit, again, this time with g wife, a long hunt for a job, and he ‘was & night engineer at $45 2 montn. Later came & $150-s-month position, @ home built at night, and a shed for experimenting after each twelve. hour day. » People scoffed, and neighbors snub. bed the wife of the shabby “crazy" inventor. With apparently nothing accomplished, everything looked dark, and it was decided to go back to th, farm. That ul{:t one more trial and the first Ford automobile sput- tué’:h?'n the llmhyt l'treet. more years of inventing, the car was ready—but lunal‘v.o'r‘- not. Borrowed money hel build two_winning racers before a com- pany would back him. Then he had to get out of it because he would not scoept few-car, ‘high-price, quick- profit ey, Another company formed had little capital and often pay rolls could not be met, Finally profits Ap‘polrld. ‘Then came the sult for b{ damages, brought by the Selden patent organi. sation. Ford Jost the first court skir- mish, the enemy threatened his cus- tomers, and it was predicted his busi- ness would fail. His ten-year night and day struggie won the suit and success. He did not give up. Now he is one of the richest men in the world—If riot the richest. He says_ “There are. chances lying around everywhere,” also “I always knew I would get what 1 went after, Next—Coolidge, the Diffident Boy. ‘The Britieh aristocracy is in a bad way both financlally and genealogi- cally, if one may judge from the gloomy plcture of many British novelists. The Jukes and Kalllkak families, standard examples of de- generacy in the United States, have their parallels in England among the descendants of Willlam the Conquer- or's nobles, according to such writers as Michael Sadller and E. M. Dela- fleld. In “Privilege” Michael Sadlier painted a sorry picture of an old fam- ily fallen into physical and moral decay through bad heredity often compounded. More recently E. M. Delafield, in “A Reversion to Type, has produced a study of hereditary degeneracy manifested as a congeni- tal {nability to recognize and tell the truth. The seven-year-old Cecil Aviolet, with his wiid tales of e: ploits in Ceylon in which he was always the hero, is a tragic figure, not so much because of the unchildish way in which he persists that he is telling the truth when mother, grand- mother and governess attempt to make him confess; “often and often I've thought,” says his uneducated mother, who vet has an Intuition of the truth about her boy, “that Ces couldn’t really help himself. Aren't some people born colour-blind, o that they can't distinguish between colours?’ More and more tragic the boy becomes as he grows older and goes away to school and then to the university. When at fifteen he en- counters religious exper s under the influence of a much admired clerical tutor, It seems possible that his salvation is about to be worked out, but then he discovers the morbid satisfactions of confession and soon disgusts his tutor by his obvious in- ventions of sins he has never com- mitted. * * % x The climax of honor for the boy himself and for his honest, now clear sighted, mother comes when at Cam- bridge he steals siiver cups and other trophies which he has“variously inscribed, as for example: “To Cecll Aviolet, Esq., in most grateful recog- nition of his daring achievements splendid leadership and indomitable courage and devotion to duty, this cup is presented in grateful admira- tion by the members of the School Cadet Corps.” A recognition of per- sonal inferfority and longing for ap- probation of others have always been the motives behind his untruthful- When the whole wretched busi- of the trophies is decovered, denies it with dignity. “I can n it all” Cecil asseverated, fide eves fixed upon his mother. “The whole thing was & put-up job, a sort of joke. 1 never thought of its end- ing like this, and frightening you, mother.. It's a shame.” Dr. Luclan, his mother's best friend, interrupts: “Stop that, Cecil, it's no good. Re- member that you owned up when you were arrested.” Poor Rose Aviolet humbly takes upon herself the blame for her son’s heredity deficiency. She says to Dr. Luclan: “Of course, I waen't educated, and I was much too young when I married Jim to know about eugenics and heredity and things, but that doesn’'t maké me less responsible, does it? The Avio- lets have alwavs been all right— vou'd expect them to be, of course— but Lord only knows what the Smith blcod may have done for my poor Ces. You see, there wasn't any tra- dition behind’ us, was there?” Dr. Lucian replies angrily: “Have they really made you belleve that it's the strain of your blood in Cecil's veins that's made him as he {s? My dear, don’t you understand? It's the Avio- let blood, not yours, that’s responsi- ble. They're decadent—rotten—look at Ford (the boy’s uncle). It's the way with these oid, old families. They intermarry, always with other old, old families, reproducing the same type again and again. * ¢ * Not from you, my dear. You must never think that any more. You're alive, as the Aviolet stock can never be alive again, and it's what you've given to your boy that's going to pull him through.” * * %k % “Yet it is certainly strange to ob- says Hayelock Ellis in his latest book, “The Daneo of Lif ‘how many people seem to feel vain of thelr own ungratified optimism when the place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum; * * * when the gods, to ruin a man, first make him mad, they do it, almost in- variably, by making him an opti- mist.” * x % % 0l1d Jean Peyrol, retired member of the brotherhood of the coast, as he appears in Joseph Conrad's recent novel “The Rover,” is one of the most subtly drawn of Conrad's many subtle characters. After bringing his last prize Into the harbor of Toulon and turning it over to the govern- ment of the republic, he retires, with a walsteoat thickly padded with gold coins—prize money which he has not turned over to the government—to a lonely peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean, to pass the remainder of his days. He chooses the location because it is near his birthplace and because, almost shut off from the mainland by a salt lagoon, it is in- accessible and little likely to be vi ted by any one from the outside world. Here he takes up his abode at an anclent, rambling farmhouse, and soon in his retirement, when he considers his adventurous 1if> prac- tically over, his greatest adventure of all begins. His little world at Es- campobar farm s composed of a strangely assorted group. There is Citizen Scevola, a frenzisd sans-cul- otte who has taken an active part in the terror and regrets that those bloody days are past. About the house and farm aimlessly’ roams Ar- lette, a half-crazed girl whose mind moves only in & world of bad dreams and memories of the scenes of horror she has lived through. The most sane member of the family, and the one who keeps everything running, s old Catherine, brown, sharp profiled, keen eyed, inscrutable, whose tragedy, never forgotten, is an early hopeless love for & priest. Joining this queer family at times for mysterious visits is @ young lieytenant in the navy of the republic, taciturn, guarded and apparently unfriendly. Peyrol, “sii- ver headed and ruddy,” with a life full of all sorts of human associations behind him, brings a wholesome, benevolent influence to the gloomy farm. He gives no confidences him- self—he feels that his past demands reticence—but every one else comes, sooner or later, to confide in him. The stirring of his sympathy for the unhappy Arlette and the revival of his love of the sea and of danger lead him on to the great sacrifice and the last adventure of his life. * % * ¥ Among many general histories of the world war there has appeared the first history of the industrial side of that great struggle—a side without which the war could not have been carried on & day. This history, by Grosvenor B. Clarkson, fa called ‘In- dustrial America fn the World War™ and is authoritative, well written and mout. Interesting. B “Jcebound,” = the play by Owen Davis which was awarded the Pulit- ser prize for the best ‘Americap play of 1922, presenis a number of small- town people of morthern Maine, with all the faults and virtues of a strictly ative heredity and a narrow en- :(ronmant. ‘The theme of the play is the power of a dead woman to im- pose her will and her porsonality on the llving, the same theme as that of novel, “Women Trium- ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY-FREDERIC J. HASKIN Q. Is the English derby open only for English-bréd horses?—J. B. M. A. The English derby s open to forelgn-bred horses. It is & race re- atricted to three-year-olds. MQ‘.“ glradw ".“b.” must explosions er to be St parately?- A. They must be more than one- sixteenth of a second apart in order to be held as distinct sounds. Q. Why do we not give credit to Lelf Xricson for the discovery of Amerfca?—>M. A. E. A. 1t is probable that Columbus is known ae the discoverer of America because his voyage to this conti- nent was the event which opened to Europe contact with the western world. There were no definite results obtalned from the visit made by Ericson. - fi How does lhrhllflln‘ power of ellum compare with that of hydro- gen?—J. H. s A. Hellum will 1ift 0.088 pounds per cubic foot under ordinary condi- tions, and hydrogen will lift 0.071 pounds per cubic foot, Q. What are the lines from which appear on the program for Pollock’s play, “The Fool"—"They called me in the public squares, The Fool that wears a crown of thorns"? —E. B. C. A. The lines are from Tennyson's “In Memoriam.” Q. How long does it take a sugar ;r:ap!e to attain its largest size?— A. A sugar maple will have a di- ameter of elghteen inches when from 145 to 160 years old Q. What is a news butcher paid?— G. H. A. The Union News Company says that a news butcher is pald a per- centage of his gross sales. Q. When was the body selected which was burled at Ariington as “the unknown soldier”?—A. H. B. A. The selection of the unknown soldier for burial in the United States was made October 24, 1921, by Sergt. Edward Younger. On the previous day the bodles of four unknown sol- dlers had been selected from the American cemeteries of Romagne, Triaucourt, Bols Belleau and Bony. From these one was chosen. Q. Is Rudyard Kipling writing new?—A. H. A. Kipling is busily engaged in writing. A new book is already an- nounced. What form ssume?—S. A. At firet they were ciroular and situated in the center of the room. A hole In the middle of the ceiling allowed the smoke to escape. Q. When was a used?—C. L. A. A. The French surgeon, Morel, in- vented the tourniquet in 1674. the early Romans aid fireplaces origi- L tourniquet first Q. What did eat?—O. P. S. A. Johnston, in his “Private Life of the Romans,” says that breakfast usually consisted merely of bread. eaten " dry or dipped in wine or sprinkled over with salt, though raisins, olives and cheese were some- times added. Luncheon usually con- eisted of cold food—bread, salads, olives, cheese, fruit, nuts and cold meats’ from the dinner of the day before. A simple dinner menu is given by Juvenal. The gustus con- sisted of asparagus and eggs; the cona of voung kid and chicken, for the secunda mensa, frult. Macrobius gives the following: Maliows, onions, mint, elecampane, anchovies with sliced eggs and sow's udder with tunny sauce. The sena was served in & single course—kid, chicken, - ham, Baricot bouns and young cas bage sprouts, fresh fruit and wine, QDo more peopls attend th: races at' I Faces AU, lpnschamps or pson A. On the day that the Grand Prix was won 400,000 people attended the races at Longchamps, whils £50,00 people were at E; o] if iy Psom Downs fo Q. _How many pari se the Florida parishes !l:“b::{: an: and_ what aistrict are tney in A. The Florida parishes £1pahoa parish, Washingron pais St. Tammany parish, St. Helena par 1sh, Livingston parish. They are i« the sixth congressional distriet. Q. Are thers any melt rocks?—C. D. §. A. The Geological Survey sa thut rocks melt at difterant tempera: tures. “Some rocks can be melted in a candle flame; others require an oxyhydrogen flame, or even an elec- tric arc flame. ames that will Q. How long have records of im mlgrl’!‘mn been kept in this country” A Records of immigration to the United States begin in 1820. For the period before that timo the chief sources of information are newspaper allusions to the arriva bringing immigrants. Forelgner: were those who spoke a language other than English. The fuctuation in immigration is considerable, Eco- nomic conditions in European coun tri and also in the Unlted States influence it conslderably. Nothing was done In the way of legislation either to promote or restrict immi gration into the United States unti the year 1864. Q. What was the occupation Socrates?—F. W, " A. He followed at first the craft of his father, a sculptor. Later, how ever, his time was spent in the ma: ket place. catechizing all who wou listen. He served as a soldier an finally became a member of the senate. Q. What 1s the slide rula?—V. C A. It is an instrument composed ot varfous scales, the positions of which in relation to each other may be altered. It is used for the operations. The scales may be en- graved on straight rods, discs, or on the surface of a cylinder. W Charles P. Steinmetz a A. Charles Proteus Steinmetz was not @ Jew. He was a Christian, and was a member of All Souls’ Unitirian urch Q. How Torms_of the John are A. E Y. A A clerk in the bureau of w: risk insurance finds from the card index files that John is spelled four ways. as follows: ni, Tan, Jac Jack, Jan, Jans, ohann, Johannes, Johnnle, Johnny, and Jnan. Q. will same for sw A L A. The Department of Agriculturs says that under equal conditions thes butter fat test of sweet and sour cream should be practically the same. However, after the cream has stood for some time and sourced the lquld evaporates, and in this way gives a little higher butter fat content. many there? Jno., Johni Johny, Jon r fat test be the d eour cream?—w. (I7 you have a guestion you wan! answered, send it to The Star Infor mation Bureaw, Frederio J. Haskin director. 1220 North Capitol astreet The only charpe for this service i 2 cents in stamps for return post. age.) Bok Plan Reopens Contri)versey Concerning League of Nations The controversy over the prize-win- ning plan submitted under the Bok peace award is increasing rather than diminishing. Opponents of any par- ticipation by the United States in world affairs are frantic in their de- nuncfation of the method proposed, characterizing it as propaganda of the “vilest” sort. Editors favorable to termination of the existing policy of isolation are equally sincere in their pacons of praise. There seems little middle ground. Those who are not for it are against it and that is all there is to it. Because of the character of the men who made the award, the New York Times argues strenuously that “any mman who from now on seeks to make fun of the plan will make himself ri- diculous,” although the Times feels the “best part of it is in the pream- ble” emphasizing the historic policy of the United States, and hopes the Tesult of the referendum will show the real viewpoint of the people of, tho country toward ordering a change in existing foreign relations. In this connection the Baltimore Sun believes “two questions will have to be an- swered before the utility of the win- ning plan in achieving the end sought can be appraised. The first is how will the league itself view the sug- Zestions made, and the second, are the proposals of such a nature as to answer all valld criticisms raised In this country against American partic- ipation? The Boston Transcript would like to have pointed out “what it is that the United States is expected to do that it has not done and that it is not now ready to do without partici- pating in the league? The winning plan has the merlt of being indisput- ably right on one point, even though it 18 &t the expense of being illogical 1t ends with the statement which u dermines its propesals to join.an ex- Clusive court, etc., by admitting that anything less than a world conference must incur the suspicion of being an alliance rather than a family of na- tions. * ¥ ¥ X The Star's position is that “there should be no surprise that the win- ning plan is simply & proposition that the United States adhere to the Per- manent Court of International Justice and co-operate with the leagus of na- tlons,” and it also emphasizes, what most editors apparently have forgot- that “public approval of th ten, prize-winning plan is not assured.” The Star also points out the prejudice that had arisen prior to the announce- ment of the plan and suggests this “may affect the recorded judgment’ of the people voting in the reforen- dum, The Syracuse Herald suggests, however, “the points now to be submitted for the referendum are reasonably simple, and it will be all the easier to vote upon then impartially, because the proponent’ identity for the present un- rav.llld;;' ét will also !‘hm ;‘“p:l:' cellent devélopment, as e To a lt.v:'!‘mnld the referendum “bring & strong, popular response from the country,” while the Milwau- kee Journal argues the plan “meets overy objection that was honestly raised against the league of nations. The Des Moines Register insists that “before anything can b done consid- eration has got to turn to a prelimi- rary matter, and that is the organiza- tlon ot a little minorlty in the Senate to monopolize our foreign by taking advantage of the two-thirds rule.’ “The plan {s ingenioue.” is the ver- dict of the Newark News. “It com- bines sound legal knowledge with olitical astuteness. Congress will Fad It hard to turn ft down. This also is the opinfon of the Brooklyn Eagle, which n‘n-ts “as & nation thinketh in Iits heart so it Is also. 3¢ America-thinks peace, wants peace, Capital s wills peace, the world's greatest re- servoir of physical and moral power Wil be enlisted on behalf of peace The Bok peace plan, like all human copnsel, Is not perfect. But it f« practical, it is forward looking, and it is thoroughly American in fis union of idealism and common sense. " While approving the plan, and urg- ing all to vote for it,'the Springfela Republican s ‘compelled to agres ‘thag it has all the vices as well as the Virtues of a compromise.” The Waterbury Republican feels “prac- tical or mot, in theory at least ft is acceptable to the libaral conssrvatives of the United States” while the Wheeling Register holds it is worth While because under {t “the United States takes its position among the rations ot mo“wormd(n the arduous promoting and preserving the peace of the world.” | Ethe * ko % It is simply another plan to get the United States into the league, as the Manchester Union views {t, and it can “see no good from such @ step,™ although the Columbus Dispatch holds it will “arouse nation-wide discussion during the months to come, although what the influence of that discussion in determining our national attituds will be it would be idle now to pre- dict.” This iz also the opinion of the Indianapolis News, which feels that the subject will interest many people, *whether it leads to results or not.” "It is the opinion of th Beacon-Journal ‘that, 1nstead "oy o “blg gun” this fs “Mr. Bok's $100. dud. Tt falled to expiods pach hen Mr. Wilson imported it from Egrope with fuse attached. Revamped and regilded with Bok gold it is no more POtent now.” ‘To which the Patercon Call adds, and this is a thought pres~ ent in most of the opposition, “that @ plan of this sort was accepted is not to be wondered at when the make-up of the jury was studied Practically every name on it is that of & famous proponent of the leagis or the permanent court and. {he writer of the plan Clgte the factor T ProPably appre- Denies Neglect In Care of Child To the Editor of The Star; In your issue of January 4 there appeared under the heading of “Christian Science Care of Boy Called Neglect,” an Associgted Press dis- patch from Farmingham, Mass, In which & very fmportant fact was omitted. Your account stated “after a hearing in the district court, Judgs Blodgett held that Walter Moyse, a fourteen-year-old Wayland boy, whe had been treated by a Christian Sclence practitioner, after breaking his leg, was a neglected child” The above account failed to set out tha the boy had been attended b: physician for six weeks immediately after his injury before a Christian Solence practitioner was engaged, and also the testimony in the casa did not show_that the boy’s leg had been broken. Your aceount also states. “that the boy and his father werm Christian Sclentists.”” As & matter of fact, they were not avowed Christian Scientists when the accldent occurred and had only decided to try Christian |Sclence atter medicine eng ‘surgery had been applied for six weeks or more. Notwithstanding the above, Christian Scientists mairtain that the laws of the United States and of nearly all of the states recognize the rights of parents and those standing In place of parents to choose between known systems of remedial care and to rely upon spiritual means for ng. . Wit PHILIP dflG» ‘. Christian Sclence committes puba lication for the District of Columblag