Evening Star Newspaper, January 22, 1924, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR |American right and power without dis- | the competition are in the same cate- ‘With Sunday Morning Edition., WASHINGTON, D. C. ' TUESDAY. January 22, 1924 THEODORE W. NOYES. . ..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Hoatzess Office, 11th St. and Pensey. Ave. x New York Office: 110 Fast 42nd §t. - Ohlcago Office: Tower . #aropesn Office; 16 Rezent 8¢, London, Buxland, The Brening Star, with the Sunday mepaing © efition, is delivered Ly carriers Within the €ty u¢ 60 cents per month: dutly only." 45 * rents per monty; Sundas -onir, 2 cents per month. Orders may be sent by mi tele- plons Mato 5000, Collection is made by car- tlors st the end of eseh wonth. i | { there concealed In frefght c jward Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia, Pally and Sunday..l . $8.40; 1 mo., 702 Dally ony..........1 3T, $6.00; 1 mo., 50c Sunday only.......1yr, $2.40; 1mo., 20 All Other States. Daily anll Sunday.1yr, $10.00: 1 mo., 858 Daily only. 1yr., $7.00;1mo., 60c Sunday only 1y, $3.00; 1mo., 256 Member of the Associated Press. The Assoctated Press is exclusively entitled o the yse for republication of all mews dis- Patehes eredited to it or not otherwise credited i this paper and also the local news pub- Jts3ed Reretn. All rights of publication of peciel dlspatches bersia are also reserved. Americanize the Washingtonian. ‘The Federation of Citizens’' Asso- clations, at its Saturday night meei- ing, at first coupled in approval Dis- triet national representation and local self-government, and later separated them and voted overwhelming ap- proval of national representation alone. This incident is typical of the shap- ing of thought and decision which has been manifest since 1916 in our cltizens® organizations in dealing with this subject. National representation and local eelf-government are neither hostile nor inseparably bound together, Advo- cacy of national representation does aot mean disapproval of local self- government: nor does it mean ap- proval. Both those who tavor and those who opposc local self-govern ment unite to tight for national repre. zentat Washington is thoroughly organized to campaign for voting representation in the National Government, for the status of American citizens and citi- zene of a state in House, Senate, clec- toral college and the courts of the TUnited States. By pending constitutional dmendment, of which the Federation of Citizens’ Associations has now re- affirmed its hearty indorsement, we ask the people of the United States to empower Congress in its discretion to Zrant us this representation. When 1his power is given to Congress by a two-thirds vote of Congress and a three-fourtiis vote of the state legisla- tures we shall seek to persuade a ma- Jority of Congress of the justice and wisdom of the speedy exercise of this’ power. By the constitutional amend- | ment national representation is taken | from inaccessibllity and made pos-| wible. By the subsequent action of Congrees District represgntation will be made a reality. We do not seek to disturb in any ‘way national control of the Capital through Congress. We seek merely to participate like Americans of the states in the Congress which exercises this control, 2nd in the Natlonal Gov- ernment which makes and executes laws for the whole United States the | District of Columbia inciuded. i We do not seek in this movement | for national representation either to break down or to protect the form of municipal government which Congress representing the nation has given us. Congress has now the power by a ma- jority vote to set up here any municl- val government it pleases, with any degree of sclf-government which does not involve a delegation by Congress of its power of general legislation, It will have precisely the same power, no more and no less, when the consti- tutional amendment empowering Con: @ress to grant District national repre- sentation has been adopted. i | i IPerhaN he was a sincere man in his turbing in the slightest, constitutional control by the nation of the National Capital, what good reason can any national legislator give for denying {us what we ask? —————— Nicolai Lenin. Lenin is dead. So says a dispatch from Moscow, which bears every indl- cation of correctness. The end came Vvesterday afterncon, and the news was withheld for :cveral hours. Thus passes a man who individually was responsible for one of the greatest changes ever wrought in the affairs of ‘a nation. He was an extle “in | gory, Hero is the issae of the matter: How much 1s being expended beyond the prize itself to promote publicity? In- asmuch as the acknowledged purposé of the competition 18 to tnfluence pub- { lic sentiment, and thereby to influence | Congress, anything that pertains to the finances of the enterprisc is 2 mat- ter of public concern. Mr. Bok would have been better advised to state the whole case in terms of dollars and cents without hesitation. ——— The.0il Lease in Politics. It is evident from current develop Switzerland when the czar's vule was | ments that the democrats in Congress, overthrown in March, in 1917, and| Kerensky organized & revolutionary government. He and comrades of his manner of thought we Russta. went After- the spicion was raised that| Germany connived at Leu return | to Russla, and was tnfluential in his | overthrow of the Kerensky organiza- fon. It was undoubtedly to Germany’s interest toebreak down tho Russian government, to end its war power. Certalnly that was the result, at any rate, of Lenin's capture of the admin- t to 'here was a report that the in the war, and it was very shortly at- | ter his coup of November, 1817, that Germany gathered her forces for a drive against the ailied lines in France and made her supreme effort for vie- to Lenin was undoubtedly an evil man. belief in the doctrines that in- #uished hia party from that of Keren- , the maximur: of Marxiem, the ultimate of communism. Whether sin- | cere or not, however, he was & great organizer and an ndomitable leader. is methods were cruel in the ex- treme. Nobody, perhaps, will ever! know hiow many lives he sacrificed to | the end of cstablishing an autocracy of what he called the proletariat, a tyranny greater than even that of czarism. Nobody will perhaps ever know the cost {n treasure, In destruc- tion of property. Lenin's scheme was fallacious. failed. He acknowledged its failure before he was seized with the illness | that finally, after long suffering, ended { { { ! It with approval and active ald of the democratic national committes, are setting out to make a live political and campaign issue out of the leasing of naval reserve ofl {n the Teapot Domo fleld to private interests. Scan- dalous and corrupt acts of offictals are alleged in Congress and cchoed by the national committee through its pub- licity bureau, whtile democratic news- papers all over the land are taking up the subject. Everybody remembers the_disaster to the republican party indirectly and *inchot controversy over conserva- bringlng in conservation as another angle to the current undertaking, in addition to the charges of scandal they seek to attach to the leasing. tics that if therc is foundation for these charges it were the part of politi- cal wisdom for the republicans to have anticipated thie democratic drive which is now on by declaring for the fullest investigation of the allegations with an authoritative anpouncement of the government's intention to prosecute the guilty, if such there be. The case should not be made the foot ball of politics. The whole coun- try is interested in it from the view- point of public morals. Railings. A balcony railing gave way and 3060 boys fell to the floor twelve and a hal? feet below. All were hurt and some of them seriously. This happened in a ew York armory, where high school athletes were contending, and 300 of s life. He found that it was impos- sible to transtorm Russia into @ com- munism with all authority and power | and ownership vested in a state ruled by virtual if-appointed administra- tors. He clalmed for @ time that thi fallure was due to the hostility of the other powers, to the refusal of other nations to cc-operate, to the with- drawal of trade. But the real cause of the faflure lay deeper. [t was in- Lierent in the plan. In the first place, | the Russian people were not qualitied for such an enterprise. They submit- ted because they were forced to sub- mit. They had no choice. The soviet organization destroyed their initiative, robbed them of thelr enterprise, re- duced them to a state of sullen sub- servience and submiss! Lenin passed out of actual power, though still titular head of affairs, when he was taken {ll. Other men gained control. One of his associates from the beginning, Trotsky. has just recently passed out of the organiza- tlon. A reaction is In progress, un- kable and steady. Lenin's pass- ing will make no difference in the situation. He will probably be given ! en fmpressive funeral and proclaimed | to be the savior of Russia. But doubt- iese in their hearts most Russians, and perhaps mdny of those who are now active in the soviet organization, will be relieved that the strange spirit that has brought such terrible suffer- ing to a great people has finally passed. ———— French finance is faced witn int esting calculations as to how much German money it will take to com- pensate for deprecfation in the value of the franc. Instead of scattering red flags all over the globe, Russia is beginning to consider limiting their production for home use. Labor leadership in England is at- taining a position that may call on it to settle everything from a strike to a tariff problem. Some of us favor the retention of the present form of municipal govern- ment; some of us favor its change by Congress in the direction of a larger measure of local eelf-government. We all come together and co-operate heartily in seeRing representation in the National Government and the honor, the privilege and the power of national representative citizenship. Wo are not so foolish as to drop out of a campaign for something that we all earnestly want and absolutely need in order to quarrel without result over the entirely distinct question of local self-government. ‘We scek national representation as a distinctive, basic right of the Ameri- can citizen—in a government of the people, by the people, for the people— in a government which roots ite jus- tice in cohsent of the governed—in a representative government which in- separably couples taxation and arms bearing as a soldler with represcnta- = tlon. 8o far as we 437,000 residents of the District-are concerned, tho American government {s not & government of all the people by all the people for all the people. It ls a government of all the people by & part of the people. ‘The 437,000 District residents are among the people who are governed, but not'among the people who govern. * The 437,000 Americans of the Dis- trict do not give their consent to their Natlonal Government through elected representatives in accordance with the * American principles like all other Americans of the continental and con- tiguous United Btates. In respect to the 487,000 Americans ot the District - representation is Qivorced from taxation and soldler service. We bear all the national bur- - dens af citizens of a state in natlonal taxes, in subjection to national laws and &s national soldiers sent to war. In genuine representative government rights and obligations are inseparably " wedded. We meet fully the national obligation. We bear cheerfully our share of the national burden. We are wntitled to all vital national rights and privileges. ! The present Congress has not vyet| their fellow students at a tense mo- ment in the sport “rose en masse and aned against the railing.” It gave ay. All balconles are not above sus- on, but they should be. The rail of a balcony is a danger point. It may be tight end strong, but no crowd should seek to test its resistance. ‘There are no doubt many balcony rails that would give way if all the people behind should push against them. crowd may exert great pressure, and a railing that has been firm and fait | ful under usual conditions may break. People should think and keep their enthusiasm under control, but experi- ence shows that they at times will not do it. In a moment of high enthusi- asm they may rush against the rail of a balcony or a bridge or a sea wa'l or any other railing. Rallings should be set up with this contingency in mind, and should be tested to prove that they are safe. —————— The German “industrial machine” i safd to be in perfect working order. The useless issuc of an infinite num- r of paper marks may have been merely for the purpose of limbering up the mechanism. ———— A tax-eduction idea Is so.popular that it produces many imitations; so many that the impression hecomes one of competition fnstead of co | operation. —————— There was no hesitation on the part of the United States Senate about grasping an opportunity to talk this peace plan over personally with Mr, Bok. ——— Thanks to Smedley Butler's vice clean up, Philadelphians do not have to travel far from home to see a fa- mous modern battleground. ———— Dinosaur eggs are so valuable that the houscholder may regard himself as fortunate in the fact that the cook cannot poseibly need any. SHOOTING STARS. passed any laws, but it is acquiring a large amount of general information. Nobody in Mexico appears to have time to be a contender for any kind of a peace prize. The Bok Fund. Edward W. Bok's appearance before the Senate “propaganda probe” com- mittee leaves a mixed reaction in the public mind. As was expected, he de- clared that the idea of a competition of a rich priza for the best plan to pro- mote world peace was entirely his own conception, and that he was not in- fluenced by any other consideration than a desire to contribute to the cause of preventing further warfare and bloodshed and waste in the world, He said that the funds were all his own, and that he financed the entire work. That was expected. And, more- over, it was expected that Mr. Bolk ‘would refuse to disclose the sources of his own means in this matter. But when he was asked to tell the llmount.l of money he has expended or proposes | to expend, and the size of the trust fund that he created to take care of } fhe expenses he refused to an-wer.l Warned that under the law he may ) be compelled to answer even 86 per-| sonal a question or suffer penalty of | punishment he persisted in his re. | fusal. i From one point of view it is un-i doubtedly only Mr. Bok's busiriess how | much it is costing him to promote the peace-plan competition. From another point of view, however, it is the pub- lic's business. There is a law that re. quires the public declaration of all expenditures in elections. This is not an election, but it {s of the same na- ture. It is undeniably and avowedly an effort to form public opinion to ef- fect the adoption of a forelgn policy by this country. It is hard to see why Mr. Bok refused to answgr the ques- tions put to him yesterday. He has by the terms of the competition avowed & contemplated expenditurs of $100,- 000, The ezpenses “of administering! LY PHILANDER JOHNSON Frost and Philosophy. When a tire is growing flatter And the radiator’s froze, When your teeth begin to chatter And the frost attacks your nose, When the carburetor, sighing, Gives the tune a doleful twist, ©Oh, what's the use of trying To become an optimist! ‘When your batteries grow weary 4And your starter fades away And the cop in tones uncheery Tells you not to bleck the way, Though you'va made & vow forever On good nature fo insist, ‘What's the use of an endeavor ‘To become an optimist? Personal Exceptions, “Did you ever hear that old story ubout the politiclan who asked ‘What's the United States Constitution zmong friends 7" ‘‘Yes,” answered Senator Sorghum. “That sort of.recklessness has van- ished. Everybody now professes to respect the Constitution except, meb- be, one or two amendments.” Jud Tunking says international re- lations appear to be'like some of the other kind, a. little quarrelsome, but willin’ to borrow.’” Investigation. Investigation offen finds 3 A way to.lend this life & charm. It helps men to relieve their mands And does nobody any harm. Changing Fashions, - “Do you- get your - gowns from Paris?” “No,”* answered Miss Cayede. *“I used to, but'I no longer tdke a chance on a change of fashion while the ship 1s crossing the ocean.” “ ‘A man dat brags 'bout allus tellin’ de truth,” said Uncle Eben, “generally "pears to find it easlier to tell it 'bout somebody else's business dan bout. his own,* e S s e s e+ e ——— » { directly resultant {rom the Ballinger- | istration, Russia ceased to be & fuctor | I tion. The democratic campaigners are | It would seem to the layman in poli- | Al ‘JANUARY 23, 1088 WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC Antl-leaguers who “see red” on the Bok peace - plaa prize had no encour- agement from the White House in their scheme to investigate, Mr. Bok and his co-idenlists. Ptesident Cool- 1dge told Congress on December 6 that the league “incident, so far as we are concerned, s closed” The administration thinks Senators Lodge, Moses, Reed and others are, in fact, reopening the incident. They are at least breathing fresh life Into what most republicans look upon as an ex- tinct volcano. Some of their Incon- siderate foes mre bound to suggest that the irreconcilables are afrald ot the resurrection of the leaguo as an Amerjcun _political {ssue. Mr. Bok, Who has forgotten more about “pub- lMoity” and “propaganda” than his senatorfal critics will ever know, probably vlews without alarm the offictal advertising the Senato is now &iving his proposition. ok k¥ Senator James Couzens of Michigan, whose cpistolatory taxation duel with Secretary Mellon is adding to the gavety of the natfon, is & born Brit- isher--native of Chatham, Ontarlo. jOther Americans who achicved emi- {nence after birth in Canada Include the late Franklin K. Lane and Rear Admiral Willlam 8. Sims. George Sutherland, assoclate justico of the United States Supreme Court, was born {n England. ~ William {son, President Wilson's Secrctary of Labor, is a native of Scotland, and “Jimmie” Davis, now Secretary of Labor, halls from Wales. Ireland is the one corner of the United King- dom that has not vet eupplied the {United States with a cabinet minis- ter or high officer of the government. Senator Couzens has spent ncarly all of his mature life in_ Michigan, lay ing the foundation of his vast fortun as an automobile manufacturer in De. troit twenty-one years ago. X % ok ¥ % Tt has been suggested that Secre- tary Mellon's letters on the taxation problem, which virtually constitute the Coolldge administration's case for the proposals now before Congress, should be compiled in book form. Ar- gumentation by correspondence in Istead of by. talk exactly typifies | "Andy* Mellon. 1's the only kind of {debate on any question Into which he could be tempted and about the on kind in which he could hold his own On Capitol Hill it is suggested that the young Chicago lawyer, Garrard B. Winston, who became undersecretary | of the Treasury last year, is the man | 1 To the Editor of The Star. Your editorial of the 19th instant entitled “Electrocution in the Dis- trict” will meet with general ap- |proval in so far as it suggests that we should have a mors humane way {of infllcting the death penalty up {criminals than by hanglug. We all {want that. Even those who are op- {|Posed to capital punishment, if they cannot have their way, wiil welcome {something more humanc than hang- | {ing. But why electrocution? made uo progress in sclence since electrocution first went into effect, in New York state, thirty-five years ago? | Why should we net, for the District of Columbia, inquire what iz the most humane way of killlng human beings and adopt that? It s singular that the guillotine, the rope, the el ric chair and the firing squad have been reserved for man, whiie the pet animals are put out of existence {painlessly and humanely and without jexpense, by the smoke box, gas, anes- | thetics, the hypodermic or a touch of jeyanide on the tongue. Your editorial states, truly, that many times the most shocking spec- tacles have been enacted upon the gallows. If any one belicves that the electric chalr {s free from such hor- rible spectacles, let him read the tes- timony of the witnesses to the elec- {trocution of Kemmler, the first {victim in New York, published in the | Electrical World, New York, and the jaccount of the electrocution of Lieut. Becker, as published in_ the New York Times July 31, 1815, the day following Becker's execution. One thing in vour editorial strikes {me as belng inaccurate. You say jthat New York adopted electrocution, | that other states followed suit and at present electric execution is the rule throughout the United States with very few exceptions. I take the Eyelopaedia Britannica as authority for the statement, up to 1810, iaclu- sive, thoe states which had adopted electrocution were New York (1888), Ohlo (1896), Massachusetts (1898). New Jersey (1906). Virginla (1908) and North Carolina (1910). TUnless the other states have made remark- able speed since that tima the states which have adopted electrocution are still a small minority. I have not checked this up, but I note from the news items of the present month an execution by a firing squad in Utah and that two victims are to be exe- cuted by gas in Nevada. It is also quite possible that some of the states which have adopted ielectrocution have followed the {courfe which we are now pursuing in the District of Columbia, which reminds one of the game of “follow the leader.” We want something more humane than hanging: New York adopted electrocution and it must be more humane. A bill is in- troduced in Congress and receives the immediate approval of the Dis- trict Commissioners. Tt {s reported favorably by the Senate committee and passed in the Senate without dis- cussion—all with the best of Inten- tlong, to _provide . something more humane than hanging, but without any_ inquiry whatever as to whether we have not better and more humane, methods at hand. This brings me to a point bearin on the history of electrocution whic is familiar to those who were inter- ested in the developments in the field of electric lighting and power in the eighties, and which others who are interested may familiarize themselves with by following events as they are reported in the electrical journals between the years 1886 and 1889 and by the evidence taken in the case of Kemmler versus Charles H. Durston, warden ottmlx!éurn ;\rluon,tym\ t‘hrg county court of Cayuga county, N. Y., in Kemmler's effort to break th electrocution law_ on constitutional nds and save his life. This_point is. that electrocution in New York state was brought about by & life and death struggle which was going _on_between tho Edison Electric Light Company _of New Ya$ and the Westinghouse Electric Co; pany of Peunsylvania at the tigme when a committee of the New York assembly was investigating. eubsti- tutes for hanging. Had. this investi- gation taken place a few years be- fore ‘this struggle commenced or a few years later, when the contestants, or their successors, got together and oled their patents, it is probs hat electrocution would never been adopted. Stated as brifly as possible, the Edison, Company In its advertisements of the day claimed to own the patents on the incandescent lamp and all ap- urtenances for incandescent. light- Faw and it operated with low tenaion direct current, harmless to" human ife. With this low tension, how- ever, mot over 220 volts, its current could not be distributed far from its central stations. ° The alternating current of dis- tribution was patented in 1886 (de- seribed in the Electrical World vol. 8. page 271) and acquired by West- inghouss. With this system. current could be generated and transmitted ohg distances at high tension, over small wires, and transformed down Wil- | behind the broadside which Secretary | Have we WILLIAM WILE Mellon fires ever and anon through the malls. Not that “the greates. sec- r{ since Alex- ander Hamilton" is: imself handy with the pen, but tbat the fighting epirit of the Mellon letters is Win- ston’s contribution. * % ¥ ¥ Cyrus E. Woods of Pennsylvania, American ambassador to Japan, {8 now in mid-Pacific, bound eventually for Tokio, but directly for Manila. He is carrying a memge to Garcla— in this casze, Gen. Leonard Wood. On the eve of his recent departure from Philadelphia, Ambassador Woods was tendered a dinnmer by the Unlon League—Penn's stalwart republican organization. To E. Pusey Passmoro, president of the Union League, Prosi- dent Coolidge addressed the following | message: | "It has been a pleasure to know of |the plans of the Unlon League for a [dlnm'r in honor of Mr. Woods. I wish it were possible to be among those who will do him honor on thls oc- casfon. As that {s not permitted me, I will be pleated If you will present my compliments to him, and particu~ larly the assurances of great appre- clation of the splendld, sacrificing and highly eflicient service which he rendered during the recent earth- quake disaster.” One of the Unlon League's tradi- tions s that few democrats ever cross its threshold—Willlam G. M Adoo, while Sceretary of the Treas- ury, is one of the rare exceptions, { «x x| | Senator Frank B. Willis of Ohlo is | the possessor of an unsuspected tal- jent. He is a violinist and can fiddle a jlg or a sonata on the slightest | provocation. When Gen. Dawes re- turns from Europe with the repara- tions business settled Willis is going o challenge him to & duet. Dawes s an accomplished planist and com- oser. Some of his compositions are layed by famous concert artists. |Senator Willls rode a chautauqua |circuit last summer, and oncoe when |some of the instfument ‘talent” falled to make & train connection Ohio’s silver-tongued giant went. to | bat as a pinch hitter on the violin. | ERE Homer Cummings of Conneoticut, former democratic national chalnman, | who came out for McAdoo for Presi- dent n Washington last week, is Imuvh mentloned as McAdoo's running mate. It begins to look like an al- literative campaign—Goolldge and apper versus California and Conaec- cut. (Copyright, 1924.) First Electrocution Plotted As Grim Joke, Writer Says [t the low tension required for in- | candescent lighting at. any point. Thus, Westinghouse could cover out- Iying and ecattered towns and afs- tricts with his alternating current £55tem, and could also drop Into the teérritories occupled by the kdison plants in direct competition with the Edison companies, but Westinghouse, At thai time. had no loed for his cireults, except by using the in- jcandescent lampe and other appur. tenances which the Edisoy company claimed to own and control. The ai- fernating current motor was not in- vented and made practical until ter, and the arc light which was soon de- Vvised for use on alternating circuits Wwas too nolsy for indoor uee. Hence the Westinghouse company went on with the alternating system, infring- ing the fncandescent lamp patents, and a number of suits were filed against it by the Edison company (Elec. World, Jan. 1, 1887, page 7). Then commenced a' campaign, car- ried out mainly by one Harold P. Brown, a supposedly independent engineer, to discredit the alternating current as deadly and the Edison company also issued circulars calling attention to the danger of alternat- ing currents, as their advertisements in the journals of the day show. If electrocution was to be adopted, it could not hurt the Edison company Lecause the tension of its current was teo low to be used. The maln pur- pose of the campaign was to have the alternating current excluded from uss in the citles and towns where it came in competition with the Edison plants, by making it odlous, as a death-dealing system, and, of course, its adoption for electrocution would serve this purpose. Following through the records, wo find the Independent engineor, Brown, killing dogs with the death-dealing alternating current and giving the results to the press (E. World, vol. 12. No. 6, p. §6), and later on, befors the electrocution law went into effect, killing larger animals at the Edison laboratories with the deadly alter- nating current (E. World, vol. 12, p, 312). Also, we find a good illustra- tion of Brown's propaganda in a let. ter to_the New York Evening Post, June 5. 1888, repeated in the Elec- trical World, vol. 11, p. 40, with reply notes from the Westinghouse e neers which are interesting reading. Following is a brief extract from this Ietter to the Post: “If the pulsating current is dan- gerous, then the Nt.mlfln{ can be described by no adjective less for- cible than damnable * * * Its supporters may say that on account of its dangers they do not permit the primary or death current to enter the_house, “The only excuse for the fatal alternating current is tha® it saves the company operating it from spend- ing & larger sum of money for the heavier copper wires which are re- quired by the safe Incandescent sys- tem. That is, the publie must sub- mit to constant danger, sudden death, in order that & eorporation may pay a little larger dividend “Following example of Chicago, the board of electrical control should farbld the use of the fatal aitermat- ing current.” The law went {nto effect January 1, 1889. The “safe incandescent sys- tem” would not kill, but the commit- tee was convinced dy Brown's ex- periments that the deadly alternating current (which is now used in our houses everywhere) would kill. But where was the state of New York to get the deadly Westinghouse %al- ternators? Westinghouse would not sell them to discredit his own sys- tem. Here is where the independent engineer comes in again. ing to the evidence in the Kemmler case, Brown contracted with the war- den of the Auburn penitentiary to supply the apparatus and he obtained two Westinghouse alternating ma-~ chines for the state of New York, not directly from the Westinghouse company, but through Frank Ridion, o dealsr in second-hand electrical ap- paratus in Boston, Mass. Thus was electrocution put over on the state of New York &as a grim joke on the Westinghouse Electric Company in the effort to discredit the alternating current system of dis- tribution. A few years later th lion and the lamb lay down together and If the leglslative inquiry had come along at this period it is doubt- ful if any effort or assistance would have been given by the electric com- panies to encourage electrocution The Electrical Review, July 27, 1 age 4, says that “since the testimony in_the Kemmler case has been pub- lished, many of the ding journals in the state have emphatically de. manded the repesl of the law, and it looks now as if we were not going to have any elsctrical executions.”” The law has not been repealed, which shows that it is sometimes harder to have a law repealed than to have it enacted, and that is a good,reca- son for lllval(l‘l"fl{ now the ques- tion of the best method of executing criminals, instead of blindly follow- ing what was adopted over thirty years ago, under the clrcumstances ‘which I have outlined and which can be=vortfied by sup one | ing the to look up v ROBERT WATSON, A i e | I NEW BOOKS THAT MARVEL—THE MOVIE. Ed- ward S, VanZile. G. P. Putnam's Sons. “That's it. That's my name. Cynic —Ichabod A. Cynic. I'm from Mis- sourl” He looke it—both of it— wearing that blend of disillusion and disgust seen at Its top notch of per- fection only In the face of a pure- bred English bulldog. “I've just read the last chaptor of this book about the movies. That's all I read of any book, the last chapter. Too many books. Too little time. If a writer has anything to deliver, or thinks he has, this {s the point where he gen- erally stops fooling around and shoots straight. Now this movie man s clear up in the air—as far up in the blue as Willlam Jennings Bryan de- claiming a dry millennium, or Edward Bok turning, innocent wise, a broken- down experiment into a brand-new peace propaganda. ‘The movie the hope of civilization! Wil you listen to that? The gagging chops and drooping mouth let down a full Inch here, and I. Cynic glowered wround for Eomething to chew up—a railroad tle, @ telegraph pole—as he brr-rr-ra out & string of movie names that were, clearly, & stench in his nostrils a pill of bitierness upon hls tongue * k¥ “Oh, come now. You own up to hot reading the book. Had you done so you would agreo that the writer has limned no impossible vision, has made no extravagant claim. What, in es- sence, he does say i that if the peo- ple of the world could be brought to a common understanding, then the barbarisms of the past would be largely forgotten in an eager concert of “zeal for the fulfiliment of an amazing present and for progress toward of splendor. That's w ‘That's what you say, 3 o to say this in @ emall way in the face of vour own daily contacts where common understanding produces the lain give and take of decent nelgh- orhood relations. Just expand that grncllca enough and you come up de this writer Our own Mr. Harding belleved that, too—'Let's get together and talk it over,’ is what he said. thereby setting up & new ress. * Xk % “The chief barriers a this common understanding used be distance and diverse speecch. Today there is no distance. So speech alone {s the great obstacle. You recall when that difficulty arose—away back at the Tower of Babel when, as a safety-first expedlent, God con- 1founded the speech of men, leaving ainit way | bravely” mark along the road of human prog- | war? | { them dazed and bewildered under the | blight of a confusion of tongues. That confusion has, eince, Increase {in geometric ratio. Inventions have {sought to clrcumvent it, to overcome it—Volapuk, Esperanto, artificial and clumsy devices adding only to the confusion. % * “Then came the moving e, ‘and the great problem was solved. Here, the first universal language— one that flows through the eye straight into the mind. A language immedfately intelligible to Hottentot and Eskimo, to Fiji tslander and the wild man of Borneo, all of whom seize upon rest of us. Hera the first real hance for thoss contacts upon which a common understanding must rest, the first real step toward that general dissemination of knowledge upon which genuine progress de- pends. You, Ichabod A. Cynle, you go back to the beginning of this story. Read it all. It is silly for you to sit in judgment when you is except a prejudice that vou call & pious moral ebjection. Go back and read about the beginnings of this great art. Feel proud of the Ameri- cans—Edison and Eastman—who had so large o part in it, along with Daguerre and Lumier of France, along with Muybridg nd Robert Paul of England. Go ove that thrilling incident out in when, action of a certain horse, Muybridge strung. twenty-four cameras along the course, settling the dispute and producing as well the first moving picture. A bungling process, to be sure, reduced later to practical use by the Invention of a single camera to turn the trick P ading o ¢ is blography of the movie. Picture ths work, the experi the failures, the courage, the excite- ment of that first period. “What for pictures? ~‘Oh, anything.' ‘Whom for actors” ‘Oh, anybody—anybody younz and eager and with some eem- blance of personality.’ And. of course, it was all a mess—a melodramatic, sensational. cheap and tawdry mess. But how the people ate it up! And what a tremendous success in o busi- ness way it was. And what curious by-products appearcd out of this sud- den inflow of money to untried hands. Now, Mr. Cynic, this is the int at which you stopped, You are Browsing “over & stage of the. ene terprise that has practically been superseded. Better move up a little. Better take up three or four more chapters in order to find out that we_are now near the end of a soc- ond and better period. This period is that of the novel turned to movie uses. Stories—some of them great storfes—turned to pictures, have moved straight into the hearts and minds of millions. Another interest- ing by-product here. For the li- brarians tell us that this pictured Iiterature has drawn crowds to them for the books that first told the stories, and then for other books by these famous writers. Pretty fine, that!” far. g l + * % k% “Well, the next stage of the movie is clear only in general direction and scope.” But, cynic, you would better stay by, for no one needs more to Keep in step with this drift than you do. Clearly, you demand to be shown. Why not show vourseif? Follow along with this writer. See what he thinke about the future of the movie. According to him, its next field will be that of education. Don't fidget and don't get ready to growl It is a forbldding word, education, one admits—made_so by centuries of timid muddling. _But this writer is not thinking about that eort of educa- Hon. “fnstead, he means the real thing and a new day for it. To him the education of the future means the marvelous world of science, first hu- manized, then turned over to general use by way of the movie, for the understanding and acceptance and in- spiration of people everywhere—the real hope of the world. ® K K K “Knowledge, purs knowledge. know, Mr. Cynic, leaves one cold. matter how wonderful science may be In the nature and powers it is remnte, abstract, -unappealing till it has been humanized, made a part of the personal drama of life, im- inging directly upon the affairs and Ropes of man, soliciting and prom- ising in a ve rsonal appeal to one or another of the unsatisfled desires of the heart, By and by, soma time, knowledge—this humanized knowl- edge; science applied to the art of liv- ing, to all industry, to the fine arts, to ready communication, to new in- ventions, new enterprises, new dreams —all this will be taken by the screen for the universal education of man- kind, for the reshaping of human destiny, for the immeasurable oppor- tunities of the future. That's, in a way, what this writer s saying, Mr. Cynio—only he is saying it much mor fully, much more interestingly. You read it all. Then we'll see you some day orawling up on the band wagol or getting in step with the proce: slon. ' No, neither of these, upon sec- ond thought. Youwll be a watch do —that's what you'll be, keenlns al the bad and foolish stuff away from the movies, keeping the finely stir. ring and useful things safe Within. That's just what you'll ba. doing. There is, at this very moment, a savoring anticipatory drooling damp- ness on your mouth. Go to it—Icha- bod A. Cynic—and read the whole of this true and ln-ph-lnr book before growl” lesuing out P it_as readily as do the: haven't a blessed thing to sit upon,! California | in a dispute over the racing | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN Q. How {s the word “analogous” pronounced?—8. 0. B. A. It {s pronounced as If it were “analogus” not ‘“analajue. 8logy," however, is pronounced as if =pelled “analojy.” Q. How many kinde of mussels which are found in the Mississippi contain pearls?—T. F. A. Of the 50 varieties of’ mussels found in the Mississippi and its tribu- tarles forty are known to lend them- selves to pearl culture. The bureau of fisheries has spread mussel spawn through 250 miles of the river with the expectation of Increasing the crop of muskeis more than 2,000,000 from the one sowing. Q. What are the thres bright stars in the east in the early morning that look like planets?—M. W. H. A. The Naval Observatory says the | thre bodies consplcuous In the castern | sky in the morning, and which were recently close together, are the plan- ets Mars and Saturn and the fxed star Spica. Q. Is there any difference in me uring_air miles and land miles?— A V. R A. The same unit is used for both. Q. How large are the fin on the Statue of Liberty—S A. The size of the fingernail of the Statue of Liberty is 13 by 10 inches. Q. Was “The Common Law" flmed | several years ago?—C. R. W. A. Robert W. Chambers’ “The Common Law. a moving plcture about six years ago, with Clara Kimball Young as th star. gernails by Q. Why was no mail delivered by rural carriers on Christmas day?— A. B. P. A. The Post Office Department says that Christmas day {8 now a holiday for rural carriers. This is the first year that the law has been in effect. Q. Did the expres in the on “carry o me sense of “going forward originate during the world Years ago in the United State: “carre on” in A. The expression maintaining the sense of continuing, or keeping up a certain 1 duct s found in English far back as 1606. As you eta however, it is also used colloquially in the se of behaving badly. Q. Were chines prior to Ww: S. A A. History mentions talking ni chines as early as the thirteenth cen- tur: In 1 the Rev. John Wesley states in his dlary, he saw at Lurgan, Ireland, a clock with an automaton of an old man, which, every time the clock struck. with one hand, drew back the cur- tain with the other. turned his head and then sald in loud, articulate YVoice, “Past 1, 2, 3, and %o on. The inventor, a man named Miller, told Wesley that he had made many cessful experiments and could a man who could talk and vmns, but he was too busy there any talking dison's invention?— ake sing was made into | * Isoap, opened the door | ples. In 1877 Edicon brought out his first talking machine, which, by the way, was first displeyed in Paris. Q. How ma the Erle canal’—L. W A. Thero aro thirty-five looks on the malu stem of the Erie canal be- tween Waterford and Buffalo. The first lock on the Erje canal, after v York, is at Troy; the 13 at Tonuwanda. ny locks are there on foundation for the stories €0 often heard about toass being found sealed up in rocks or in trees and taken out alive afte hundreds of years?—B. C. W. A. Some careful exporiments have been conducted along this line. Toad were coufined in pecially construct. avatles in blocks of limestonc a sandstone, and these blocks we buried three feet deep in thoe garde The toads confined with sandstor. wers found dead when the bo. were opened at the end of thirt. months; those confined witl lmest died before the end of two years. It js known that u toad can live for some time without food, but the dura- tlon of an cnforced period of starva- tion depends largely on the tempe: ature, that is, on whether the t 15 kept in a state of hibernation Q. How did the privilego of send- Ing and recetving mail free of post- age develop?—M. T. . A. This privilege was first enjoved by the President of the United States, Vice President, heads of departments, scnate indrepresent tives. und other off of tho government dur- Ing their official termis. so. a o all former Presidents and widows o, {former dents also had this right but an act of 1873 the privilege | was abolished ts it w conferred on the & ernment in the ¢ officlal corre ponde In 13 “mbers of Cc {gress were ullowed this privilege their official corres epecial acts the been extended dents. Q. Is Castils woap known other game?—T. M. B. A. It _is also known a Marseilles coap, Sp: and Venetian s0ap. tile records its Spanish origin, Marsellles, France, is the chief m crn_place of its manufac {in Europe it is general Marseilles soap. 1f gen the first quality of olive oil. The bulk of C of modern manufacture cont considerable per ze of rope cced and other similar to does told mel Where bird G. A. This is borrowed fron iastes. x.20, where it read, bird of the air shall carr: and that which hath wings the matter.” What' P. | bacon?— s is_the English name, for a whole side of salt pork. The term i3 aleo applied ta any large pices of sidc meat. of The E 7] shouid send their questiona to Star Information Bureay, Frederic J Haskin, director, 1220 North Capitol street. The only charge for this serc- icc is & cents-in stamps for retw caders an invention th broke it up, having postage.) Bryan’s Dark Horse Candidate Caused Editorial Questioning sug- | Out a clear sky came a gestion from Hon. lept colonel— Wwilllam Jennings Bryan, oft-time candidate for President and probab! the most popular personaliy, but not American, that his candidate for the democratic presidential nomi- tion was mo less a personage than e, president of the University of Florida. This sugges- ion came just before the meeting of the democratic national committee in Washington. Mr. Bryan attended that gathering. He made that he was opposed to all announce aspirants for the nomination. he was certainly opposed to t lection of New York as the city forl the convention But New York won, and Mr. Mur- phree was hardly even mentioned by any delegate excepting Danfel Ryvon of New York, secretary of Tam- many Hall, who insisted there were many men of that race and name in his organization, but they epelled theilr = mame M-u-r-p-h-y—with = no spare “e'ar’ So the various editors of the nation ever since have been {rying to ascertain the Bryan motive The chief suggestion is that “poll- tics as is” was the compelling mo- five. As the Brooklyn Eagle sees it, “both McAdoo and Underwood would | probably like to keep Mr. Bryan off the floor of the 1924 convention. Therefore, the election of Mr. Bryan as a Florida delegate is not certatn, | though it may beé ilkely. That hiz| etand in favor of a Florida candidate | Will help him In his fight for election as delegate is reasonably clear.” In- cidently, he has madec a strong bid for the support of his dearest enemy, Tammany Hall, according to the acuse_ Herald, fwhich asks: o can Tammany afford to antagonize | tha president of the Unliversity of Tlorida, even if he does spell his name with a ‘ree’?” And, anyway, “the incident I& pregnant with warn- ing to one McAdoo, who thought he had a monopoly of the dry progres- sive business.” & The Detroit Free Press of wonders | It s that he is constructing a composite candidate. And wher he gete all of his pieces assembled and v blended the picture will shov ran’s face.” The Birmingha: News ugree that r is Bryan, and he hopes to Str up & row with & lot of favorite sons as ca dates and once more grab the no tion.” In this connection the vannah News claims “mighty few persons believe that if Mr. Brvan had the power to say whether Dr. Mur phree or Mr. Bryan himself should b~ the democratic nominee he wouid name Dr. Murphree”” Anyhow, t Providence Journal insiets “Mr. Br. will find some dificulty in convinc o American people that he re: ards Dr. Murphree as the Moses best calcuiated to lead the demo- cratfc party out of the wilderness because “there will continue to b lurking impression that the ex-N braska politician’s real candidate : the Hon. William J. Bryan.” Feeling that Mr. Bryan has puiled a political stunt nobody else mig: have thought of in a lifstime of cam palgning., the San Antonio Light, concludes’ “he is just as far ahead of the times as he was when ho .adv, cated the sirange economic theory expressed In the slogan, ‘sixteen to one’ The country was not ready for free coinage of silver then; it is not ready for political dictatorship now.” COURAGE *L am the mastar of my fate, 1 am the captain of my soul” 1, ZHENLEY. i Schwab Received 31 a Day. Charles M. Schwab wanted a b ness of his own, and he did not 1i to work for a salary. For years | was hired by others, and in a gre: part of the time the pay was s Playtime in his early ‘teens spent in driving the stage ovc al tha | rough Loretto-Cresson road, in Pen; sylvania’s mountains, but he studie. whether Mr. Bryan “is booming a Florida man in order that Florida men may boom him later on, or try- ing to break Senator Underwood's grip on some of the southern states, or, in 2 broad and general way, try- ing to bufld up a little privately con- trolled delegation from Florida that he can handle as circumstances de- mand_when the democratiz conven- tion begins its work.” ~The Bryan action is open to a varlety of inter- pretations, in the opinion of the Bur- lington Free Press, which declares the support of a favorite son would not only help Bryan to secures ecle tion as a member of the Florida del gation, but “the rallying of the Florida delegation about a favorite son would inevitably hold it solid against any - other candidate and eventually help Brvan to place it where he thought best.” = The Roa- noke Times suggests, further, that “Mr. Bryan secretly covets the nomi- nation himself, and if he cannot get it his _second choice is his brother, now Governor of Nebraska' but, “knowing full well that he could not induce Florida democrats to support ‘Brother Chatile; afid belng 1g8 € perionced a campaigner to open avow his_own aspirations, he is put- ting Dr. Murphree as a bilnd, hoping, through a cléver appeal to local pride, to enlist Florida's Indorsement of a Bryan-led delegation to the conven- tion,” because “it would Me easy enough, of couree, to drop Dr. Mu phree after a few preliminary ballots, and_the - delegation then could be voted as Mr. Brvan saw fit” And, somehow or- other, it is not difficult to imagine, according to the Hartford Times, that “Mr. Bryan would not be too completely cast down if, at the conclusion of hie speech, the dele- gates forgot to vell ‘Murphree! Mur- phree? amid the universal acclalm of ‘Bryan! Bryan!'" * K % % The Knoxville Sentinel calls atten- tion to Mr. Bryan's seeming under- taking to name.a candidate from each of the forty-eight states of the Union, and it goes on to say: “We think Wwe can guess Mr, Bryan's puzzle pic- A while the horses got their wind At sixteen, with $5 in his pocke he landed in Braddock to clork &lx teen hours a day and sleep in & gro- cery store—salary, $10 & month. The a stakedriver for Edgar Thompeo steel works engineer, o #1 a da:. Three years later he was head of ti. department, but still on salary. Ordered to the Homestead plant, : chaos after the strike, he made it 1! biggest steel mill in the coun Here he received a percentage profits and wealth began to co Made president of the Carneglo Steel Company, he sold it to J. P. Morgan for the biggest sum ever paid in = business transaction. Morgan cho him president. Offered a million doi- lars a vear salary, Schwab refused- and made more than that in @ per- centage of excess profits. Then he bought the Bethlehen Steel Company to have his own busi- ness, and Morgan purchaged it frois him to hold him in the United Statcs Steel Corporation. A breakdown from overwork, a rest in Europe, and he resigned to buy the Bethlehem company for 1} United States Shipbuilding Corpora- tion, which ho was active in organiz- ing. Then fhe wreck of the shipbuilding corporation, and the Bethlehem plant was_back.in his hands, losing a mil- lion-dollars a year. They said Schwab finally had struck a snag, but twelve hours @ day for three vears at the plant and-he made it the greatest fine-steel mill In the country. Now he still is at the head of his own company, is interested in man; others, and is one_of the worlds wealthiest men. ' _Next. - “Waolworth Went Home < s (Copyright, 19283