Evening Star Newspaper, January 19, 1924, Page 6

) THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WABHINGTON, D. 0. SATURDAY....January 19, 1924 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th Bt. ivania Ave, New York Office: 0 East ind Bt. Obicago Ofice: Tower Bullding. European Office: 16 Regent St., London, Engl! and. The Evening Star, with the Sunday momning edition, s red by carriers within the ity 60 cer r month; daily only, 43 cents per month; Bunday oniy, 20 cents’ per ‘month. Orders may be sent by mall or tele- phone Main 5000, Collection is made by car- tiers at the end of each moath. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia, D: and Sunday..1yr., $8.4 Daf Iy enly. 1yr., $6.0 Sunday only.......1yr. $2, mo., 70¢ mo., 50c mo., 20¢ All Other States. Daily and Sunday.1 yr., $10. Dally only... ¥ {; Sunday only . Member of the Associated Press. Tie Assoclated Press is exclusively entitled to the ‘use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or not otherwise credited on this paper and also the local news pub. lished herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein a; — mo., 86¢ 80c also reserved. The Teachers’ Pay Bill. The District Commissioners, having yroperly and gracefully yielded from their efforts to amend the teachers’ pay bill by adding to it a provision changing the method of appointing the members of the board of education, that measure now is before the budget bureau on its merits as a means of Securing a higher and more equitable salary scale for the teachers of the Capital. The hope is that neither the recent controversy over the question of board appointments nor any un- necessarily bitter wrangling within the board itself will in any way mili- tate against the success of this bill in whatever shape it may be presented to Congress. The bill is now in its right situa- tlon, dealing solely with the salary scale. It can be considered by the bud- get bureau as a substantive measure and put before Congress in that re- lationship. There are naturally dif- ferences of opinion as to the relative scales of the teaching force. There are differences between the board of educa- tion and the Commissioners on the score of the total addition to the Dis- trict's budget. The school board quite logically and commendably wishes the highest possible scale of pay for the teaching force, The Commissioners, who are charged with the respons!- bility for the entire District budget and the welfare of the personnel of all the municipal departments, must modify their liberality in respect to this particular branch. Thelr reduc- tions in the scale which have been submitted to the budget bureau *are actuated solely by that necessity, and do not in the least reflect upon the value of the services of the teachers. The hope of the community is that @ bill embodying substantial advances in the basic salaries and in the scales of the teaching force of the District will go to Congress and secure its ap- proval. There is urgent need of such & measure. The present teachers’ salary scale is a patchwork of occa- stonal provisions made from time to time to meet emergencies or to effect adjustments rendered necessary by the development and growth of the school system. It is full of inequalities. It not adapted to present day condi- tions in the schools or the present cost of living. The average teacher is woefully underpaid, especially con- sldering the responsibilities and duties and the required qualifications. Submission of the bill, with the pro- posed amendments of the Commission- ers, to the budget bureau insures its presentation to Congress in the best eircumstances for enactment. It should be rated as one of the major items in the District legislative program of the session. ————— The fact that the democratic conven- tion goes to New York shows that whatever the relations may be be- tween Tammany and national politics the wigwam is a good booster for the old home town. ——— The human element is still to be considered. The adventure of the Shenandoah offers assurance that an airship can be regarded as safe in a storm—with the right kind of a cap- tain. ———— Congratulations will be due the win- ner of the Bok prize in spite of the fact that the hardest work was done 3Jy.the men who patiently read the manuscripts, —————— Fredericksburg Be‘iicields. Representative Bland of Virginia has introduced a bill which provides for the appointment of & commission o investigate the feasibility and cost of placing markers and monuments at important points on battlefields about Tredericksburg. While part of the flelds of the first and second battles of Manassas are being made a battlefleld park, little has been done on the Rappa- hannock battlefields in the matter of “marking them. There are Union and ‘Confederafe cemeterfes with their monuments at Fredericksburg and some interesting memorials. In the ‘woods by the roadside a mile west of the Chancellor house is a little marker “that tells that Stonewall Jackson re- ceived his death wound there. At Salem Church are two or three ¢ Jregimental monuments. A monument * "“stands where Sedgwick was killed.at potsvivania, and in the woods and brush of the wilderness one may come upon grim but unrelated memorials. ‘There was a skirmish in the Frede- ricksburg area several days before the Hignt at Big Bethel and several weeks before Virginia seceded. A small TUnion force, evidently meaning to go to Fredericksburg, landed at Aquia creek and was driven back. That was June 1, 1861. Between that time and the battle of Fredericksburg there were variovs military operations at and about tne ancient city December, 1862, brings us to the battle of Fredericksburg, where Lee @ué Jackson beat back Burnside's at- tasks. Phe names of Falmouth, Maryes Heights, Hamiltons Crossing, the Sunken road, Deep run, Hazel run, Chatham and Snowden must come to/mind. In May, 1863, we come to the fight- ing' at Salem Church, which some his- torians class as a ssparate battle and others as part of the battle of Chan- cellorsville. Americars who know of the civil war are familiar with the story of the struggle between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia and of the ex- Pploit of Stonewall Jackson in crushing the right wing of Hooker's army at Chancellorsville. ; Jackson was mor- tally wounded there and the Confed- eracy lost one of the great soldlers of the world. The spring of 1864 brings one to the ‘Wilderness, which included part of the field of Chancellorsville. Grant had taken up the work of hammering his way to Richmond, overlapping Lee's army and threatening to en- velop it in one battle after another. After the Wilderness came Spotsylva- nia, and there is no clear line between these fields, some historians counting Spotsylvania as a phase of the Wilder- ness campaign. From Spotsylvania, mile by mile and from river to river, the armies fought until Richmond fell in April, 1865, and the sur- render at Appomattox came a few days later. The fields around Frede- ricksburg and near the old city be- tween the Rappahannock and the Rapidan are worthy of being marked so that pilgrims may know something of the history that was written there. Electrocution for the District. For a good many years efforts have been made to change the mode of ex- ecution for capital offenses in the Dis- trict of Columbia from hanging to electrocution. The latter method was adopted in New York, and proved to be successful in that it took the life of the condemned person without the infliction of needless agony and was certain of result. Other states fol- lowed suit, and at present electric execution is the rule throughout the United States with very few excep- tions. Despite frequent recommenda- tions to that effect, however, Congress has not yet proceeded to change the law in this respect until on Thursday, ‘when without discussion and without dissent the Senate passed a bill to substitute the electric chair on July 1. It now goes to the House for the approval which, it is hoped, will be promptly given. With this bill enacted {nto law the electric chair will on that date replace the gallows, and the District will be spared the shame of seeing that mode of execution ap- piled. As long as capital punishment pre- valls for the crimes for which the death penalty is prescribed the process of taking the life of the convicted per- son should be as humane as possible. Long ago the public execution, intend- ed as a means of frightening potential slayers and other violators of the laws from such crimes, ceased to be of ef- fect to that end. It may be questioned whether this parade of the law's ter- rors ever checked crimes, But whether public or otherwise, the infliction of the death penalty by hanging is a survival of a barbaric spirit. Many times the most shocking spectacles have been enacted upon the gallows. Tortures have been inflicted there, due to accidents. The tendency of the times is toward greater mercy for the lawbreakers in respect to thelr punishments. Classi- ficatian of murder into several de- grees has given jurles a range of penalties for that erfme. Yet in most Jjurisdictions the death penalty re- mains as the supreme punishment, and it is needful to apply the lethal strokes as mercifully as possible. That is the purpose of the pending measure st approved by the Senate. When it has passed into law the District will at last be in line with other communi- tles in this respect. Numerous statesmen make bold to assure-Secretary Mellon that his plan i for a reduction of taxes is only one of ! many. The taxpayer may easily be ex- cused for wishing that ideas for his relief were not quite so abundant, if they are to nullify one another. ———————— French rhetoric admits freely ex- pletives which roughly translated would offend Anglo-Saxon ears. Mr. Dawes may feel free to speak without restraint, should {indignation move him, in the presence of an interpreter. Spellbinders are not needed by Mus- solini as long as the value of Italian currency advances. Money is talking for him in e strictly popular vein. The candidate selected by William Jennings Bryan is waiting to see whether the famous orator can stam- pede another convention. Motion picture producers threaten to move away from Hollywood. The town will seem lonesome if they do. “Scoflaws” and Others. Recently a prize was offered by one of the national dry organizations of this country for the best and most de- { scriptive new word applicable to & per- son who is engaged in breaking the prohibition law, as & vender or con- sumer of liquors, or as supporter of the attitude of those factors. Out of & 1large number of suggestions the award | was given to “scoMaw.” The signifi- !cance of the word is obvious. It as i suredly describes the attitude of the anti-prohibitionist, whether bootlegger or bootlegger's patron or sympathizer, if not consumer, with the traffic in in- toxicants. But somehow ‘“‘scofflaw” does not quite hit the public sense of fitness. It ie hardly short enough or snappy enough. It is just a bit too sophisticated to be effective as a derogatory title. Now comes a woman of Saugatuck, Conn., with an offer of a prize of $100 for the best antonym for scoffiaw, a word signifiying the person who up- holds the dry law in act and spirit. This will be an interesting competi- tion, and the award will be awalted, not with concern, but with public at. tention. ) Meanwhile, there are two very short words that apply to both classes of people directly, appositely and effec- tively—"wet" and “dry.” There is no mistaking their meaning. A “wet” is one who does not believe in prohibi- tion, who ridicules its enforcement, who engages in its violation as pur- veyor or consumer. A “dry” is one who believes in prohibition, who sup- gorie and observes the law, who de- THE EVENIN plores the flagrancy with which it is disregarded. The ‘‘wet” hopes for re- peal or modification. The “‘dry” hopes for fuller enforcement. There is no real need for research into the dictionary or for coinage of new words to define these two classes. They are already definitely labeled. ———t—— Colliding With Traffic Signs. Traffic signs and semaphores, which are sometimes called “silent cops,” are being run down, bowled over and seri- ously injured by motorists. If one of these signs had a life to lose it would lose it. Standing in the street is known to be dangerous to man, and the police say that a sign in that posi. tion does not last long. On Pennsyl- vania Avenue near the Treasury a “gllent cop” has been knocked down and dragged three times in one week. Inspector Headley says that the chain- signend-stanchion device welghing 300 pounds at 7th and K streets was knocked out and dragged twelve blocks. The “‘white buttons” at street intersections to warn against cutting corners are run down without mercy and displaced. It must be that real and sentient cops standing at street crossings take risks, and that they sometimes avold injury by jumping. Knocking down traffic signs is one indication that not every driver is as careful as he might be. It tends to show that many drive too fast, are too much interested in conversation with some one on the back seat, that they need glasses or that if they wear them they do not fit, or that they have been drinking. There are drivers who do not spare lamp posts, and as for trees that stand on the sidewalk, there are motorists who think them obstruc- tions to traffic. The destruction of traffic signs shows that for the regulation of traffic we need more real policemen in blue coats and white gloves and carrying clubs. ———— Trotsky. The other day it was stated in a dispatch, upon which The Star com- mented, that Leon Trotsky, minister of war of the soviet republic, had been arrested for treason to the bolshevik trinity, the soviet republic, the com- munist party and the third interna- tionale. It now appears that he has ot been arrested, but is “on leave. ‘There i8 a story to the effect that the cheka, or secret police of the govern- ment, similar to that terrible force that used to carry out the tyrannical orders of the imperial regime, wetu- ally did try to arrest Trotsky at his palace, which was surrounded by a high stone wall with barbed wire en- tanglements and concrete “pill boxes" within the inclosure. Trotsky's guard opened fire and the detachment of troops loyal to him came on the run, s0 that the cheka were driven away. It must have been then that Trotsky tecame ill. Just where he Is now is not certain. There is a report that he is somewhere in the south of Russia recuperating, and another that he has simply moved out- to his country house, outside of Moscow. In fact, there is an unsolvable confusion re- garding the onetime New York East Side scribbler. But one fact appears well established, that Trotsky has lost out with the powers of the communist party, and unless he can organize a counter revolution, supported by his military forces, he is likely to pass into the limbo of Russian wastage 2long with Kerensky, Denikine, Kol- chak and Wrangel. Men who have for years been con- tributing to the Congressional Record at nominal rates naturally feel curfous as to how one prize-winning essay on internationalism can be worth $50,000. Declaration by Ibanez, the Spanish novellst, to the Philippine legislatyre that he is willing to place his all at their country's service will encourage hopes of some handsome royalties. So long @s New York has been se- lected as the democratic convention city Tammany is ready without further question to regard the campaign as a grand and complete success. Protest is made by Smedley Butler that there is mo use in arresting a man who is permitted to say “adieu” immediately after he has said “Good morning, judge.” A trip to the north pole by eirship may reveal nothing new about the pole, but it will be an event in the his- tory of aviation. Congressional investigations, like the motion to edjourn, are always in order. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Getting About. I see the motor skim along, ‘While I must plod amid the throng. I see.the alrship in the blue, ‘While I must trudge the Avenue. But now and then an airship bumps And motors turn to scraps and lumps. Although my comfort's incomplete, I'm rather glad I have my feet. Force of Circumstances. “How did you come to select politics as a career?” “I didn’t select 1 ena- tor Sorghum. “I just happened to be one of those fellows who didn't have a very good job when they were hunt- ing some one to nominate.” Jud Tunkins says the radio has con- vinced him that a jazz band doesn’t sound eny better playing away off in Detroit than it does in Punkintown. Investments, In this, a period of unrest And curious irritation, 1t's growing harder to invest ‘Without -investigation. The Power of Vogue. “Who is your favorite novelist?" “I can't recall his name at this mo- ment,” replied Miss Cayenne. “But it is some forelgn author whose titles I can’t pronounce and whose books I don’t enjoy reading.” “Riches,” sald Uncle Eben, “have ‘wings, but Some o' dese financiers has managed to bulld @ pretty tight coop.” o) STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, BATURDAY, ’ f JANUARY 19, 1922, e ‘WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE McAdoo supporters‘are unafrald of & New York convention because everybody knows that- delegates, not galleries, do the nominating. If!| notse counted for anything, Harding) would have been snowed under at! |Chicago in 1920, and either Lowden, |Wood or Johnson chosen. Herbert! Hoover's name aroused vastly more ienthustasm than Harding’s, but th demonstration in his honor was love's {labor lost. At San Francisco, if d '| swayed conventions, * Smith would have been the anointe Bourke Cockran had placed him in nomination in a speech of torrential eloquence. The band played Bowery tunes until Convention Hall was plunged into a bedlam of joy. But when the paroxysm was over and the roll calls set in, delegates recovered their equilibrium. Men and women o sit In conventions are usually ard-bolled.” New York's frenzy for anti-McAdoo candidates will be impressive, but of itself it will have little to do with a McAdoo defeat. * ok x x Senatorial investigation of the Bok {peace plan prize award is not llkely ito put an end to the national guess- ing contest regarding the $50,000 beauty who will get the money. Washington hears daily of a new candidate for the stakes Dr. James Brown Scott, famous authority on world affairs and secretary of the Carnegie Endowment for Interna- tional Peace, i3 rumor's latest fa- vorite. Prof. Manley O, Hudson, of |the Harvard law school s also per- hind Gen. Butler in his crusade. They pray for its success. They are so anxious for results that they say they're ready to close their eves to meéthods. The City of Brotherly Love seeme to have suffered long enough, without protest, under Lincoin Steff- ens’ famous indictment that “Phils delphia is corrupt and contented Butler's real fight, evgrybody ad- mits, still lies before him. He has yet to o up against the Intrenched forces of ward politics. These are led by a hundred little Stonewall Jacksons. It decidedly remains to be seen whether the “marine style” warfare can break them down. * ok ko Perhaps one of the reasons the Baroness dé Cartier et Marchlenne didn’t have to be escorted into din- ner at the White House by the Ger- 'man ambassador is that Dr. Wied- feldt used to be the head of Krupps. It was the terrible 17-inch siege guns that Krupps had up their iron sleeve for “the day" that battered the de- fenses of Liege and Namur into egg- shellg, in August: 1914, and enabled Hindenburg and Ludendorff to "l'mck their way” through Belgium. When Belgians think of those tragic times, it is hard for them to be forgiving or forgetting where any German — to say nohting of a former managing director of Krupps—is concerned. * % %k ¥ Senator Burton K. Wheeler, demo- cratic progressive, of Montana is back in Washington after a triumphal visit to his native town of Hudson, Mass sistently mentioned, Senator George Wharton Pepper of Pennsylvania is under Indictment in certain quarters, too. Even Woodrow Wilson has beer inamed. Mr. Bok himself professes unfathomable ignorance as to the ldentity of the person who'is to get ,000 and perha B0, and perbaps $100,000 from the * % ¥ x President Coolldge, next to his own candidacy, is concentrating his in- terest on the candidacy of his cam- palgn manager, Willlam M. Butler, for the United States senatorship from Massachusetts. Mr. Coolidge is admittedly anxious to have s leriend “of his own 'in' the Semste Through Secretary Slemp, the Pres: dent fecls that he possesses a useful link with the House, In which Slemp so long sat. Coolidge, of course, is inot devold ‘of supporters and con: !dantes in the Senate, yet there's prob- ably not a member of that body who can be described as “close” fo the I'resident. When Coolidge took of- {fice in August, 1923, the Washington horizon was scanned in vain for men entitied to be known as his com rades. The intervening five mont and @ half have failed to develop |them.” Butler will not have an easy time defeating David 1. Walsh for the Senate. John W. Weeks tried it jonce, and failed. * x This observer had occasion in Philadelphia a day or two ago to sound various leaders of public opin- ion regarding Smedley Butler's ac- tivities. Many men who commend {them are skeptical as to the wisdom jof Butler's “theatricals”” An emi- nent citizen remarked: “A good vac- uum cleaner raises no dust” Phila- delphians are overwhelmingly be- ! | ) Exploitation of At cleven astonished Harvard pro- fessors with a lecture on the fourth dimension; at twenty-six, a twenty- three-dollar-a-week satistical clerk who dees not want to think—that is the story of William J. Sidls. The recent discovery of the young man in a New York business office has renewed discussions about the infant rrodigy who burst upon the world twenty years or so ago and set a nation wondering how far a lad with so spectacular a start would go. In the opinion of the Worcester Gazette he “suffers from his father's pitiless exploitation of the infant prodigy's mind—and from the fact that he probably grew up Wwithout ever once belng called Bill” The Arkansas Democrat agrees “he is to | be pitied because he Is in that most | pitiable condition, ‘overschooled’: he| knows nothing of the joys of boy-| hood, little of the wonders of knowl- adge which comes only after lonj and sometimes nlu;(ul|e:per!!nce| and “his case will furnish ammuni- tion for those ‘self-made’ folk Who declare that they had but little edu- catlon and earn a hundred times more in @ week than this boy, ““Who ‘knew it all' at sixteen, while the unthink- ing will point to him as a specimen of what collega training does: but the thoughtful man will feel that this young man did not have a fair deal in life because & boy must be a boy befors he can become a man. The case suggests that where the normal courss of development in| childhood is interfered with nature asserts {tself later on and tries to balance the account, according to the Detroit Free Press, which says: “The child who is denied the activities nor- mal to its age and forced into a kind of effort appropriate to later years turns back to the things of childhcod when the opportunity presents itself. Eirtainly this seems to be the result in the Sidis case, and whatever the theory may be, the fact stands as a warning against too much interfer- ence with the natural and sponta- neous development of young minds. Untold ages of inheritance have fixed the course in which they grow best and_one changes that coures at his eril.” ¥ %k k% Feeling that young Sidis is one of those unfortunates who have & mar- velous retentive memory and no whit of initiative nor capacity for original thought, the Cincinnati Enquirer in- sists “the tragic example of this young man should convince every thoughtful citizen that what Ameri- can education needs is not the arbi- trary information of text books, but the liberal development of the indi- vidual mind—let students think and select; they should not be made to memorize,” to which the Manchester TUnion adds: “Sometimes there are cases to suggest that in the long run other qualities count for more than brilliance in mathematics while co- temporary youngsters are laboring in vulgar fractions, and this case of Sid: appears to be one of the cases.” The { The folks in the home of his boy- hood and youth welcomed Wheeler like a conquering hero and said they oped he'd choose Huason as the summer White House” when he is President. It appears that Senator Whoeler is the political black sheep of his New England family. He is one of eight surviving children, all of whom except one—his sister, Mrs. Maude Mitchell —are republlicans. Mre. Mitchell is now at the senator's elbow in Washington as his secre- tary. Wheeler went to Montana twenty-three yvears ago. Hudson eted him by his home-town nick- name of “Gramp." He told a meet- ing in the courthouse square that he rejoiced, with the other sons of Massachusetts that the Bay state had a President in office at Washing- ton, and then he lamented that Cool- idge, politically, is taking the wrong turning. * X X % Secretary Hughes told the congres- slonal committee, which is holding hear- ings on the forelgn service reorganiza- tion bill that Americans from political or private life make good diplomats. Senator George H. Moses of New Hamp- shire was trudging up the hill at Con- cord one night in the spring of 1909, on the way home from his editorial duties, when u telegraph messenger raced up vith a dispateh announcing that Taft had appointed him minister to Greece and Montenegro. Moses previously had experience in diplomacy except_han- ling delegates to conventions. When e turned up in Washington to accept the appointment, President Taft e: pressed the view that an Ameri managing editor was about as well equipped, by training, to be a_succes: ful diplomat as anybody on earth. ‘Whereupon Moses entered upon a bril- liant career at Athens. (CopyTight, 1924.) Child Mind Held Ruinous to Boy Wizard nothing,” though, “the circumstances are dramatic, they are not significant for the reason that Sidis himself is an eccentric”; furthermore, “many of the men who have achleved remarka- ble things in literature and in science have been precociously developed, and Sidis, too, eventually may justify the early hopes of him,” because “his present lapse into mediocrity may not be taken as proof of the failure of the system by which he was traihed. In this connection the Boston Trav eler maintains “Sidls is not to be despaired of" for “he is going through a period of adjustment, which may end with his becoming a useful part of the social order, ready to face life squarely and to bear up without bitterness under the burden which natural precocity and an overproud parent lald upon him. The Springfleld Republican also r s that “he still is only twenty- cars old and may yet get his ‘second wind.'" After all, the New Haven Reglster reaches the conclu- sfon, “it 18 no new discovery that the prodigy disappoints the expecta- tion of some persons. for again and again the college valedictorian has been discovered to be the weakest of white collar men. Tt has been shown that the mathematical prodigy fails of some practical essentials, which are required in a good grocery clerk, for instance. Full manv an early bud of seeming mental promise s disap- pointing. There {8 nothing new in it." “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul” —HENLEY. LLOYD GEORGE, THE POOR BOY. In a meager home on a mean street of remote Manchester, in then down- trodden Wales, Lloyd George was born, the son of the sickly school- master to rough workingmen's chil- dren. The boy was three yvears old when his father died, and he saw the home and the furniture sold out soon after- ward. Reared in the abode of his un- cle, the village cobbler, for whom his mother kept house, the lad constant- ly felt the grip of poverty and denial. Law was studled from old books at night. Artificed at sixteen to a so- licitors’ firm, he did not have, when admitted to the bar, the $15 to buy robes, without which he could not practice in court. Then for years a country-town lawyer, living on his earnings—and earnings were small. ‘When he aspired to parliament the tories sneered that he “had been born in a cottage,” his life was threatened frequently and many of his meetings were ralded. A member of parliawent, he shared Geneva. Times draws the distinction Dbetween_‘“wits” and “braine,” declar- ing: “Had this brain been wits, even though he might not have been able to spell, or even to read or white, he might now be rolling in wealth as an industrial Kiag' Anywas. ‘the ease furnishes a little more consolation to those many parents whose children are not prodigies, but who are plod- Zing along through the grade schools with the rank and file of others, all whom will ‘get there’ somehow. Likewise, the Binghamton Sun_ sug- gests “there is almost as much en- Couragement for the less gifted stu- dent in the story of Sidis as there is in the more common tales of men Who, branded as numskulls in their youth, have turned out to be leaders in the nation's thought, or captains of industry, wise statesmen or what not. Sidis may have had tough breaks after 1t became necessary for him to Put his brilliant mind to practical use, but if his precocious intellect failed to help him over obstacles, what good was it?" ! FREE T The St. Paul Ploneer Press, how- ever, believes while many will eager- 1y ofter this case as proof that the system of “foroing” children to “un- natural development” is a bad one, that “actually this instance proves 2 bed with a fellow countryman in the attic of a London inn and often went hungry. English was like a forelgn tongue and had to be mas- tered. In parliament he fought Joseph Chamberlain and withstood Gladstone for Wales. When England went into the Transvaal, he risked hls career, revolted against his party leaders and braved death threats in his campaign for the Boers and peace. When chosen presjdent of the board of trade many gasped at the idea of the “mob orator” being intrusted with England's Industry and com- merce—-and he made a record of suc- cess. “As chancellor of the exchequer he was the advBcate of measures of great benefit to the people as a whole; as minister of munitions during the war, he turned England's weak muni- tion’ supply into an arsenal: as pre. mier he was one of Englan war leaders of history and power. His life has been a constant battle. “I do_not care what office I hold, just 80 I get things done,” he said. Next—Wilson Had to'Change His Career. The Library Table BY THE BOOKLOVER ‘The name of Prof. James Harvey Robinson has become well known to & wide circle of readers through his thought provoking book, “The Mind in the Making,” probably the most popular of serfous books published by an American scholar. In the light of this achievement the author now makes a vigorous plea for the wider | distribution of sclentific knowledge in his recently pubiished little book entitled “The Humanizing of Know- ledge.” He holds that the wealth of new facts and generalizations re- mains too much a monopoly of the trained_specfalists who wriie books for each other, using therein the jar- gon that makes their writing unin- telligible to the layman. Either they scorn to write for him or write so ineptly that their books are not wid ly read. He believes that most books written to meet the popular demand are too long, too difficult and too closely confined to hard and fast de- partments of sclentific knowledge. He thinks that books should be writ- ten around subjects of Interest, re- gardless of sclentific classifications. The author believes that many books that have sold only to the extent of two or three thousand copies, had they been cut down half or two- thirds, might have been made twice or thrice as olear and effective and would have reached tens of thousands of readers. * k% “The Humanizing of Knowledge” lappears in a new series to be called ““The Worker's Bookshelf” and pre- sumably is typical of the books to be included in that series. This series ls designed, according to the general statement in this volume, to furnish for the workers “a restate- ment of some of the fundamental problems of modern industrial so- clety in simple language . to satisty the cultural aspirations of the man and woman workers in in- dustry art, literature, natural science, as well as the soclal sciences, will be included scholarship, a scientific attitude towards facts, and simplicity of style will prevail.” 1t “will contain no volume on trade training The selection of titles . . . will be because they en rich lite, because they illumine hu- man experience and because they deepen men's understanding.” Some of the other titles already published or announced are Control of Wages, Hamilton; “Women and the Labor Movemen “Joining in Public Discussion,” by A. D. Shef- field; “Co-gperative’ Movement,” by Dr. 'J.° B. Warbasse; “Worker's Health,” by Dr. E. R. Hayhurst, and “Policiés of American Trade Unions,” by Dr. Leo Wolman. The editorial committee in charge of the series includes such men as Profs. Charles A. Beard and John R. Common: George W. Perkins and M Woll. The story essay, which is neither entirely one form nor the other, but is cifarmingly a little of both. was produced to perfection by Joseph Ad- n |dison and Charles Lamb. Taine said that in the “De Coverley Papers’ Ad- dison invented the novel without sus- pecting it, und_certainly any ehild who has read Lambs “Dissertation Upon Roast Pig” would call it a story. The new American writer, Jay Wil- liam Hudson, has followed the lead of Addison and Lamb. first so-called novel, “Abbe Plerre,” was really a series of delightful essays reflecting the simple daily life and the unworld- 1y, nature-loving character of the provincial Frenoh abbe. The slight romance running through the chap- ters gave an excuse for classing the book as a novel, but was not at all inecessary to the interest, which cen- tered on Abbe Pierre. Now Mr. Hudson has written an- other novel, “Nowhere El World,” in which he has same method. Hlis essays are this time interwoven with the narrative of a young writer who is in rebellion again the traditions of American cul- ture, which he finds crude and self- satisfied. Tottle Kent refuses a ready-made industrial career offered him by his father, and goes to Paris to write So far the theme Is hack reyed, but very fresh and original the story of how Kent works his way through several experiments in 1iv- ing until he finally finds in his ugly, commercial, native Chicago the in- spiration for his first successful novel, Jay Willlam Hudson is professor of philosophy at the University of Mis- sour. * ok k% The authorized biography of Grover Cleveland has at last been written— “Grover Cleveland,” by Robert Me- Elroy, with an introduction by Elihu Root. It shows Cleveland as a solid, almost stolld, simple, unpretentious man, without picturesqueness or dra- matic quality, and certainly no dema- gogue. His achlevements as Presi- dent, both in international and do- mestic affairs, are reviewed in the two volumes of the biography, with especial stress on his stand for “sound money” and his dealings with labor difficulties. Cleveland's relations with both Willlam Jennings Bryan and Theodore Roosevelt form interesting materia) in this book. The letter in which Cleveland, after his perma- nent retirement from office, declined financial assistance from Andrew Car- negie shows his sturdy pride and in- dependence in the face of compara- tive poverty. * k you" he says, “to allow me to pull and worry along in my own way—with permission to £0 to you when the fates are so hard with me that I must have a strong, friendly hand.” EEE ‘“Victor Hugo; His Work and Lave,"” by Lieut. Col. Andrew C. P. Haggard, is largely devoted to the influence of Jullette Druet on the life of Hugo. She left the stage, where she apparently had a future career as a star and a beauty, and went to live with Hugo, whose life with his wife Adele had be- come very unhappy. For fifty years, until her death, two years before his own, Jullette was his devoted alave. She protected him, as far as possible, from the results of his own violence in attacking people of prominence, mot- ably, Napoleon III and Queen Victoria; made a new home for him whenever, through his own Indiscretions, he lost an old one; soothed him in his fiercest moods by her admiration and unchang- ing adoration and forgave all his infi- delities_ without scolding. In her later years she and Mme. Hugo became close friends, and the latter, who was by no means an unselfish woman, was per- fectly willing that Jullette should be the Kom&mlk" for the temperamental {novelist. There is no doubt that Victor Hugo became a far greater novelist and oet than he would otherwise have been Bocause of the patient, protecting devo- tion of Juliette. On her side, Juliette seemed_entirely satisfled with her lot, and, of course, attained through her relation with Hugo & fame she could never have won for herself. * kR X Frank G. Carpenter has had the queer experience of seeing one of his own books being pirated in Chi- nese. He relates that one day he was visiting & great publizshing house in Shanghal and saw a printing nning off a_ Chinese version Drtane of mis travel books, He could not read the text, but recognized the numerous _illustrations. ers are, he learned, no copyright laws In China. ERE The old story of Tristram and Iseult is treated anew in a play by Thomas Hardy, called “The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall agel.” It consists of a meri 5% ohort seénes, the frst of which introduced by Merlin, and the ghosts of old Cornish men and women form the choruses. Neither theater nor ac i Secpemty o e By, o8 t 1 TTARNE e how. being produced In England by she Dorset players. . ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN © Q. How long will it take to get citizenship papers in Canada?—B. 8. A. The Britieh embasiy says that a person must live in Canada for five years (not consecutive years) within a period of eight years before he can make application for Canadian citi- zenship, Q. Does the forest service furnish forest trees for planting on private lands?—F. 8, A. The gervice is not authorized to supply nursery stock for forest plant- ing on private lands, except that it may give surplus trees from its nurseries in Nebraska to settlers in a limited portion of that state. Many states, however, maintain large nurs- eries and supply trees for forest planting to their citizens, without charge In the cases of some states and at the cost of production in others. Q. What {8 the causs of the great- est number of accldentsrA. A A. Automoblles top the list of non- occupational causes of accidents. Al- most & third of much sccidents are traceable to the automobile. Q. How long has the cavital letter been used to designate the first per- ®on singular?—O. H. M. A. At the Introduction of printing, the various forms in use to indicate the first person singular down”” to the capital I. This is prob: bly due to the fact that the small letter “I" lacks distinction and ap- peared utterly inadequate when printed. Q. How much s the unpaid inter- est on the war debt of other coun- tries to us?—W. P. I A. The principal of the debt amounted to $10,578.509.342.13 in No- vember. The unpald interest at that time was $1,221,500,902.87. Q. Of the number of people addict- ed to drugs, what per cent use heroin? —D. G. A. An estimate based on drug ad- dicts who are committed for crime gives 98 per cent as users of herofi. | This is eald to be the most insidious existed since April 21, and the.latter 18 the official date of the beginning of the war. Q. What Wood?—E. A. Because of the slowness of Browth of trees in the late summer the wood becomes denser and harde: and {s known as summer wood. meant by summer Q. How many in the world?—X. A, The Post Office Department says that there are 266,008 post offices in the world, and in all these a letter will be given the same treatment that is, according to the size of post office, the letter will be delivered by a Icity or rural carrier, or held for call. Q. Is the Strad. or Cremona the better violin?—N. N. A. Cremona is the name of ar Italian village where manv famou violinmakers worked. Among them were Stradivarfus, Guarnerius, Amat and Bergonzl. The violins made b all of them are called Cremonas. Post offices are there Q. What is said to be the longes: part in all drama?—A. D. A. The part of Cyrano de Bergerac in the play of that name has this distinction. Q. Please let me know the area cf Baitimore in acres?—C. H. C. A. Its area is 50,560 acres. Q. Are there any federal health re sorts?—A. J. L. A. Hot Springs National Park ir Arkansas is the only resort in the United States under government su- pervision. Q. How f: grow?—C. A. G. A. The rate of hair growth v from three-eighths to three-fo of an inch a month until it has react ed a length of from twelve to four teen inches, when the rate of grow is reduced one-half. Past this p: it gradually ceases. Hair grows fa in warm weather than In faster by day than at night Q. Did President Washington ever live in the White House?—J. M. C. A. George Washington was at r t does human hair and harmful of all the habit-forming|time an occupant of the White House drugs. Q. In the civil-war pericd what rank did New Orleans take in point of population?—D. H. A. New Orleans ranked sixth among the citles of the Union. Q. Is the original copy of “Dixie” in | existence?—M. W. A. An “author's copy” of “Dixl has been presented to Cornmell Uni- versity. The original copy was stolen | from the composer and this one made | later. Q. What is the difference between a judgment and a decree?—A. L. | A. In law a decree is a judicial de- cisfon or determination of a litigated | cause. It differs from a judgment in | that the decree decldes the justice of the case on the principles involved rather than the right or wrong of the bare question. Q. What was the date of the begin- ning of the Spanish-American war?— | AU A. The United States sent an ulti- matum to Spain demanding her in- stant withdrawal from €uba on pain | of war. On her refusal, Congress on | April 25, 1898, declared that a state of war between the two countries had | A | 403. The structure was commenced in 1 but not completed until 1801, when ‘was first occupied by John Adams. Q. How many negroes are In busi- ness for themselves?—H. J. J. A. There are about 50,000 negroes engaged in businesses having a vol- ume of $1,500,000.000. Q. Will eggs absorb odors?- Eggs, particularly v fresh eggs, absorb odors readily. A kero- sene can in a hen house, or proximit of eggs to food of strong odors, wi taint eggs. J.D.H Q. How many steps in the stairwav of the Statue of Liberty?—C. E. M. A. In the Statue of Liberty the num- ber of steps from the base of the foundation to the top of the torch is The number from the ground to the top of the pedestal is 195. (Toke advantage of the free in formation bureaw, which this mews paper maintains. ' If there {s a ques- tion you want ansivered, don't hes: tate to use this service. AllL replics are sent direct to the inguirer. Ad. dress The Star Information Burea. Frederic J. Haskin, director, 1220 North Capitol street. Inclose conts in stamps for return postage.) British Envoy to Venezuela Has Strong U. S. Sympathies BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. King George has just appointed as his minister plenipotentiary to Venezuela Andrew Percy Bennett, who spent a number of years in the United States as consul in New York at the close of the last century, having begun his consular career in Manila just three decades ago. His opportunity may be said to have come when he was transferred to the diplomatic service as commercial attache of the em- bassies of Vienna,’of Rome and of the legations of Athens and Bucha- rest, which brought him under the eye of King Edward, who thenceforth took an Interest in his career and who did much to promote the socfal career of Bennett and of his very attractive Rumanian wife in London society. Indeed, both of the Ben- netts and, subsequently, their daugh- ter, now advantageously married, and who inherited most of her mother's charm and good looks, acquired a firmly established position in London, which was due to royal good will and to the fact that they were nice 1ook- ing, agreeable and clever people rather than to any special advantages of birth. During a portion of the war he served as consul general at Zurich, which, by reason of its being the neutral rendezvous of the prin- cipal agents of the belligerents and the headquarters of foreign espion- age, proved a post of the utmost im- poriance. On the restoration of peace came his reward in the form of ap- pointment as minister to Panama, and Now he has been promoted to the more lucrative mission of envoy at Caracas with a salary of $15,000 and an official residence and allowances. Let me add that he is fairly well off, is able to maintain a permanent home in London at Devonshire ter- race, Hyde Park, belongs to the St. James Club and graduated with hon- ors from Christ College, Cambridge. He has hosts of American friends, and a still larger army of acquaintances iy the United States, and it is natur- -'lly calculated to promote the friend- 1y relations between this country and Great Britain to have as English envoy in one of the most troublesoms of the Latin republics of the western hemisphere @ man who s so imbued with such strong sympathies for the government and people of this great republic. P One of the three great private banking firms of London, which has been in existence for over 200 years, adfolning the admiralty arch in the ‘West End of the metropolis, has just passed out of existence through its absorption by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Throughout its London career it has been known as Drum- mond’s Bank, and before that it did a big business in Edinburgh and at Amsterdam. I If I call attention to the fact it is due to the many American associa- tions of the Drummonds, and espe- elally of the bank bearing their name, the partners of which have been until now George, Maldwin, Charles, Frederick and Alexander Drummond. Of these, Maldwin, for- merly a soldier and captain of the King’s Royal Rifies, is married to the former Albertine Hack of Chicago, widow of Marshall Field and mother, therefore, of Charles Fleld and of young Lady Edmondstone. She and her husband make their home at Cadland, a beautiful spot- on the South sea_comst near Southampton. George D;u 5 nhfl.lann(h-r cl::n:; in the bank, formerly an o l:. 1st Life Guards and badly wounded at the battle of Yyres. s married to a very charming Irish woman, Kathleen, the eldest daugh- ter of T. Grattan Holt of Bally Cris- tal. Another of the brothers, Alex- ander Drummond, {8 married to the former Pauline Chase, known as the “Pink Pajama Girl,” and also as the “Peter Pan" of 1904 and 1906. She ts the daughter of Dr. B. B. Bliss and the late Mrs. Bliss of Washing- tom, D. C. Mrs. Alexander Drum- mond was not christened until had grown up, that is to say, as n as “Peter Pan" could grow up. For she was baptized in 1906 with Miss Ellen Terry as her godmother Sir James M. Barrie as her god father. Drummond's Bank was founded a the close of the eighteenth centur by Andrew Drummond, son of Si John Drummond of Machany, and grandson of Lord Strathalan. Ar drew and his vounger brother wers undoubtedly intrusted with the ma Jority of the funds of the follower and ‘adherents of the Stuart cause and it was with thess that the: walked all the way from Edinburgi to London, armed only with sticks, being convinced that it was the one safe way to escape the attention of the highwaymen who_haunted 1 great trunk road from London to inburgh and_ who were constantl holding up the stage coaches, ther the oaly means of loccmotion an travel besldes the post-chaise of the rich, which proved an even still greater attraction to the knights the road than the coaches, ** = The Dru ds are, tradition, of Hung cording to family lore, its founder was Maurice, a Magyar nobleman who came to Scotland in the train of Edgar Atheling and of his sister Margaret, afterward queen consort of the Scottish King Malcolm III They were fleeing from William the Conqueror when a storm drove thelr vessel on to the Scottish coast, and it is said that it is mainly due to the skillful navigation and resourcefulness of Maurice that the royal fugitives were al to land in safety at St. Margaret's Hope, which under the name of Rosyt served as the principal naval base of the British grand fleet {n the great wai after having been converted into mighty naval stronghold and arsen both as regards defenses and docks For his services Maurice was rewarded by King Malcolm with a grant of certain .ands in_the shires of Dumbarten, Stir- ling and elsewhere with the title of Thane of Lennox, which thus created in 1070 A.D., is etill borne to this day b; the Earl of Perth, the head of the ily and clan of Drummond. The Drummonds have in several in stances Intermarried with Scottish Toyalty. Thus Margaret Drummond was the wife of King David Il of Scotland, while Annabella Drummona according to history, “so captivated with her charms and enamored with the perfection of her virtues King Robert III, that he took her to be his wife. This queen, of course, was the mother of Scotlarfd's poet king, James 1, whose authorship of the very fa mous love story In rhyme, “The King's Qualr,” 1s now generally ac cepted by scholars. Queen Annabella indeed, is one of the most romantic figures in the history of Scotland, and having incurred the enmity of the great northern nobles who were jeal ous of the pre-eminence enjoyed through her by the house of Drum mond, poisoned her*and her two =i ters at Drummond Castle. ® k% % While Drummond Castle, the an costral home of the Drummoads, as weil as most of their old Scottisi estates, have passed out of their hands into those of the earls of An- caster, its present mistr3ss s a fair American. For the present Countess Ancaster, its chatelaine, is the daugh ter of the late Lawrence Willlam Breese of New York. The head of the entire house of Drummond is the Earl of Perth, fif- teenth in his line, and superchieftai: of the entire clan of Drummonds. e married some twelve years ago Miss Anna Strauss, daughter of « Semitic financier of Prague, then an Austrian, but now a Czechoslav. The union has remained childless, and the next heir to the earldom and to the chieftaincy of the clan® and family of Drummond is Lord Perth's half-brother, the Hon. Sir Eric Drur mond, K. C. M. G., seeretary gencral and principal executive office o 'u.g- of nations, with headauutc at Geneva. according rian origin. Ac fam- i