Evening Star Newspaper, January 27, 1924, Page 34

2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. ¢, JANUARY 27 e — = Modern Assaults on Religion . Play Into Hands of the “Reds” THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY... January 27, 1024 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. . Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company OfMce, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. 110 Fast 42nd St. Mice: Tower Bulidin European Office: 18 Regent 8t., London, The Even: ar. With the Sunday morning ered by carriers within the s per month: dally only, 43 Bunday oniy, 20 cents' pe month. Orders ¥ mail or tele- phone Main 6000. Collection is made by car- riers at the end of exch wmonth. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virgini: and Sunday..1yr., $8.40; 1 mo., 10¢ nts per month Daily Dail Da Sunday Member of the Associated Press. The Associnted Press is exclusively entitied fo the ‘use for republication of all news dis. patches credited to it or not otherwise credited n this paper and also tie local news pub- lished herein. ~All rights of publication of herein are aluo reserved. —— Another Surplus Equity. The thorough work of investigation and the wise and just findings of the foint committee on District surplus deserved and received the grateful ap- preciation of the Capital community. An additional heavy debt of grati- tude is due from us to the survivers of the joint committee in this Con- sress—Senators Phipps, Ball and Har- ris and Representatives Hardy and Wright—for the vigor and determina- tion with which they push Chairman Phipps' bill to make the findings of the joint committee practically effec- tive | Washington hopes earnestly for the | speedy enactment of this vitally im- portant piece of legislation. We peti- tion for it. We co-operate heartily to| secure it. We are impatient at the ! lacing of any obstacles in its path, The Commissioners in reporting upon the Phipps bill note at the sug- | ion of Auditor Donovan certain credits of the District in existence June 30, 1922, which do not figure in the total net balance of that date re- | orted by the joint committee, but of | which neither the existence nor the { validity is intentionally denied by the Joint committec. These credits are (1) for the surplus of revenues of the District collected end deposited in the Treasury during 2 over and above all appropriations | and other charges for that year: (2) for the unexpended balances of Dis- trict appropriations covered into the surplus fund by warrant of the Secre- tary of the Treasury issued an June 30, 1922; (3) for the proportion the Dis- trict may be entitled to of miscellane- ous receipts paid directly into the Treasury during 1922, and (4) for the amount erroneously charged against the revenues of the District for the | fiscal year 1922 on account of appro- | priations made by the *“third deflciency ** approved Juiy 1, since the amount of that appro- priation was charged against the rev- enues of the District for the fiscal vear 1923. Though as a matter opinion these credits from the net balance stated by the joint committee, there was no inten- ion to deprive the District of the bene- it of them, or to preclude the con troller general of the United States from finding, in order that the District might have the benefit of these credits, that they were, in fact, in the Treas- ury to the District’s account on June 30, 1922, The specific findings of the joint committee’s report are, of course, to e enacted into law as they stand. The committee would not be expected | to alter them if it could, and it could | not now if it would. But since there is no intent that the District should be deprived of these | credits under any construction of the | wording of the Phipps bill it should | be possible for the Senate District committee and the joint fiscal com- mittee to agree upon the wording of a proviso to the Phipps bill, in general accordance with the suggestion of the Commissioners and Auditor Donovan, which shall disclaim in- tent to deny the existence of these credits or to deprive the Dis- trict of the benefit of them, and which perhaps shall give to the controlier general, on the application of the Die- trict, authority to readjust to this end, if necessary, the District's Treasu account in respect to these specific items. In this way the Phipps bill may be | pushed, as all desire, to speedy enact- | ment without any possibility of de-| priving the District, unintentionally, of any of its credits. - 1f, however, no such safeguarding proviso can be devised and agreed upon, we must not permit the Phipps bill to be endangered, but must push it quickly to enactment, taking our chances that its wording will be so cquitably construed as to save to the District these conceded credits. and oniy of accountant | were omitted | ! ————— No doubt any one of several tax- reduction plans would be good if it could secure undisputed right of way. ———tm e Another Potomac Bridge Proposed. State Senator Eugene Jones of Montgomery county, Md., has intro- duced In the Maryland senate a bill fr the construction of a bridge at Whites Ferry on the Potomac “and the opening of a direct route by im- proved highways between Washing- 1on, Baltimore and the valley of Vir- ginia.” It is proposed that commit- tees be appointed by the Governors of Maryland and Virginia to confer on the cost and advantages of the bridge. There are two ferries, Edwards and Whites, between Chaln bridge and the bridge at Point of*Rocks on the upper Potomac which are known to many Washingtonians. A bridge at Whites Ferry, with a good road leading to it and a good road from it to the George- town-Leesburg plke, would open & large section of country to Washing- ion tourists, put fine and Interesting parts of Maryland and Virginia “on the map,” and make a new &nd easy way from Washington to the Catoc- tins, the Blue Ridge and the Shenan- doah. At present the main way to the west leads morthwest to Frederick, where £ood roads lead to the valley of Vir- i ginla by way of Harpers Farry or by Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown. The straight way from Washington west across the Pledmont plain of northern Virginia would be by the anclent Georgetown and Leesburg turnpike from Chain bridge by Langley, Diffi- cult run, Dranesville and Goose creek to Leesburg, and thence west through Hillsboro gap or across the Blue Ridge through Snickers gap. Unles: a change has lately been made there is an unimproved section of the Lees- burg plke from Langley or Deep run to the junction of the pike and Great Falls rallway at Elkins, and the good road from Elkins to Dranesville is not of much use to travelers between the Caplital and Leesburg. For years they have been making a long detour south from Langley to Tysons Crossroads, thence along the Alexandria- Leesburg pike to its junction with the Georgetown-Leesburg pike at Dranes- ville. ' A bridge at White Ferry, with a few miles of good road which would con- nect the good roads system of western Maryland with the good voads of the northern Virginia, Piedmont and the Shenandoah valley, would open to Washingtonians that part of Mont- gomery county which is set in a big bend of the Potomac, and in which are the villages and neighborhoods ot Poolesville, Beallsville, Martinsburg, Dawsonville and Senec ———————— The Naval 0il Leases. morality in the matter of the naval oil reserves, suddenly brought forward Ly the disclosures of the last few days before the Senate investigating committee, is the matter of the leases | 8ranted to private concerns for the reserves. { taking of oil from these Those lea: were formally ered into by the government through the Secretary of the Interior, with the ap- proval of the Secretary of the Navy. They are valid in law at present. But if reason ari for belief that they | were fmproperly made. that they were glven as result of a corrupt bargain, or that they were based upon terms unfair and unfavorable to the govern- ment, they may be canceled. That question of their cancellation, their in- validation. is now under consideration When these leases werc made it was explained that the reason for them lay in the fact that owing to the | peculiar geological conditions prevail- ing within the regions both in Wyom- ing and in California these great oil | science. stores, held in reservi purposes, were liable to drainage { That of fossil bone deposits. There is a strictly limited market for such loot. Croatian prehistoric remains are not quoted even by fences. As the case stands Dr. Hrdlicka's crate of old bones and new photo- graphs that have so mysteriously disappeared commands the attention of a specialist in cryptic crime. What a story may lie behind those rocks and pebbles with which the case was refilled! Maybe there is something very significant in this crime. It is an axiom of criminology that there is a motive for every illegal act, a per- fectly good motive from the point of view of the perpetrator. Now, as a matter of fact, safebreakers and crate- crackers go after potential loot. They seek known objectives of value. So it is a reasonable deduction that who- ever “lifted” Dr. Hrdlicka's old bones and new photographs at least thought that they had a value in the thieves’ market, os that those bones and photo- graphs were actually wanted. If the latter is true the plot thickens. Concrete and Crime. A new mode of crime concealment is Lrought to light in the case of a murderer in Aurora, Ill, who, after several months of disappearance, was taken and then confessed, in part, to the crime of killing his wife and daugh- ter-indaw the year previous. After | some days of grilling, in the course of which his original story was broken jdown, he has acknowledged his crime Apart from the question of official | in full and led the police to a place where he had buried the heads of his two vietims, whose bodies he had dis- | membered. These heads he had im- bedded in a block of concrete which he took to the city dump. They were found by the police as he described them. In all the annals of crime there is not a case to parallel this, Many in- genious measures for concealing the corpus delicti have been fnvented. | Bodies have been burned and buried and cast into the waters with weights. Chicago a good many lved the body of his victim in @ vat of Iye. All but a little bone disappeared. And that little bone betrayed him and convicted him of the crime, for which he was executed. | from | was the Luetgert case, which the “sesamoid” bone became fa- mous. Coner is a new medium of concealment. The criminal in this case exhibited a particular sagacit there was one souvenir of the crime that he could not destroy—his con- It was that which finally be- for naval fuel ! trayed him, that led him back to the | scene of the through borings made by private con- | nized and cerns beyond the boundaries of the |paint of breaking down his reserves|idea governmental areas. It was contended | and forcing confession. That is the |7 ne, to be there recog- held and quizzed to the that unless the government itself pro- | element against which no slaver can ceeded to drain and store the oil for future use it would have none left | after the course of years, owing to| is | this drainage. Consequently, it urged in behalf of the leases, it was decided to be wise to lease certain por- tions of the oil reserves to private con- cerns, who should pay the government royalties for cil taken. and should at contend. —_———————— North Carclina forbids the teaching of the theory of evolution in the pub- lic schools. The idea of evolution is & fascinating one. The fact that it is not permitted to interfere with early education will not prevent any normal individual from giving it mature con- the same time construct great storage | giqeration and forming his own opin- reservoirs in which a certain percent. | age of the oil taken should be held for | naval uses. These are technical questions, tech- nical and economic. If no taint of al- leged corruption rested upon the trans- action there would still be a question as to the wisdom of making such leases. But with the demonstration through the testimony given before the Senate committee of a dublous and suspicious financial relationship be- tween the leasing corporation and the official who in the name of the govern- ment made the leases, the presump- tion arises against the propriety of the leases on both technical and economic lines. If the United States stands to gain through this bargain by the saving of oil that would otherwise be lost ir- retrievably through drainage, the leases are good. If the terms of the leases are fair to the government as to the amounts to be paid In royalties and the quantities of oil to be stored they constitute a good bargain, pro- viding there is acceptance of the pre- vious premise that the oil is subject to leakage. If, however, there is no leakage and no danger of loss, if that 'was an excuse, & subterfuge, the mak- ing of those leases was an act of malfeasance. If there was such leak- age, but if the leases were not fair to the government in thelr terms, giving an unduly rich bargain to their hold- ers, there was at least gross negll- gence. All these elements must be taken into account, and these questions mus {be weighed with the greatest care. Now that the possible revocation of the leases is under consideration both by legislators and by the Executive, it is at best a difficult question. It in- volves liabilities through forfeitures as well as the possible condemnation of all who are implicated in the trans- actions. The matter of political ex- pediency must not weigh, Justice alone should be the measure of action. ————— A frequent demand for a five-cent fare may at least help to prevent the street car token from going up in price till it can be retired in favor of the ordinary ten-cent coin. —————— Confidence men are now selling fic- titious parking space instead of gold bricks. Methods change, but men do not. ——— ‘Who Cracked the Crate? The crook who cracked the crate packed by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka of the Smithsonian last autumn somewhere in Europe for shipment to the United States is probably by this time con- vinced that he is dumb beyond belief. That is, unless it was a sclentific crook looking for just what Dr. Hrdlicka had stowed away so care- fully in the crate. But scientific crooks are not common. They may steal ideas and sometimes credits—such as in the north pole case—but they do not steal collections. And it was a collection that the crate contained. Yet a collec- tion of no perticular value save to the collector. It he looked for silks or precious stones or priceless statues or other works of art the cracksman who somewhere in transit emptied the crate of its contents and replaced them with rocks and pebbles must have been vastly estounded and bitterly chagrined. For what he found was a lot of old bones and somg photographs, | i ion. —————————— The President will go to New York by train. In a few years these little dinner trips will be made by airship. And a few years later the guest of the evening may stay at home and be seen as well as heard by means of wireless transmission. ————————————— The British labor cabinet proceeds to business in a methodical way that may be disappointing to lovers of the picturesque. To be successful in poli- tics @ man must know how to adapt himself to his environment. ———————— A Wagnerian opera company has salled for Germany after a disappoint- ing season. Wagnerian opera is one thing that a large number of people positively refuse to forgive. —_——— The public has been advised that both national party conventions will be absolutely dry. The bell hops will be authoritatively notified in due sea- son. —— The farmer continues to insist that he wants relief to tide him over until the Muscle Shoals fertilizer factories all get started, ————— The prospects of new oil develop- ments have not sent the price of gaso- line down as yet. ———— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Era of Recklessness. They told me when I was a b To shun the fashions nifty, And seek my money to employ In enterprises thrifty. “A penny saved—a penny earned’— Ah, that is what they taught me. Alas, the lesson that I learned But little joy has brought me! I have the penny still, I'll say. But what seems rather funny- ‘The ones who have most cash are they ‘Who toss around their money! Reclprocity. “Don't you think we ought to go to the assistance of Europe?” replied Senator Sorghum. “But if we are expected to read all the manuscripts in every prize contest I also think that Europe, while she isn't working, ought to come to our as- sistance. Jud Tunkins says the difficulty about trying to lovs your enemies is that you're always liable to feel that you are showing darn poor taste. Loquaclous Bird, Oh, Dove of Peace—you are so free ‘With conversation wondrous wise, I sometimes half expect to see That you're a parrot in disguise. Pull “Did you ever try to stop bootleg- ging in Crimson Gulch?” “No," declared Cactus Joe. “The local undertaker has such a political pull we're afraid to interfere with his gineter be hard,” said Uncle to pervent people f'um fightin’ Jjes' as long as dar is de human in- stinct foh pervidin’ a purse .foh de winaer,” BY THOMAS R. MARSHALL. Former Vice President of the United States. Communists, we are informed by no less eminent an authority than Trot- sky, hold that it is necessary, in or- der to accomplish the purposes which they have In’ view, to deny the exist- ence of a God and to reject bellef in a future lite. In discussing “Tasks of Communist Education” Trotsky stated the view of the Russian gov- ernment upon the subject. “Religiousness,” he wrote, “Is ir- reconcilable with the Marxian stand- point. We are of the opinion that {atheism, as an Inseparable element of the materialist view of life, is a necessary condition for the theoreti- cal education of the revolutionist. He who believes in another world is not ,cnpubla of concentrating all his pas- [ston on tne transtormation of this one.” This doctrine is being preached in free America from soap boxes and in secret conclaves by misguided souls and thelr preachment {s troubling Americans who still believe in .old- {fashloned government, The fear ex- ists that the communists’ bellef may find lodgment In the minds of those who are weary, downtrodden and dis- jcontented. and ‘that these disconsolate souls, suffering under real grievances, may have thelr minds unhinged and become “Reds.” Then it {s that rev- clutionists start out with torch and bomb, with dagger and pistol, to re- form through force that which they despair of reforming through the or- derly processes of law. * % % % I have been convinced that such @ crusade in America against gov- ernment would miserably fail, that {t would be noise and fustian and nothing else, that the sober men of second thought, even though they hield grievances, would see that ad- justment of their grievances could be more speedily and surely brought about through orderly processes than through revolution. But I cannot Kct awgy from the thought that the dangerous form of government is the one that acknowledges no su- perior. Most of us who have thought Some about government, more about he good of mankind and most about Own peace and prosperity are to wonder whether the really cless outlook 1s not the one which | i proceeds from the human intellect, whether the darkest future is not But)that of the man whe believes that:setting up nothing in its place. ]dvalll ends all. i _Out of the strife and turmoil of the world war. out of the effort of good Iflnvl thoughtful m everywhere t reudjust condition<, out of the hop |and “eareind Tongings of human | Kind, sigwly has permeated into the {minds of men and Into the conscious- ness of the hody politle one great that wwisdor ins, ordinances, laws, constitu- {tions and treaties have failed to give tereat Americans all over the country in their National Capital. The elty of Washington is often described in | patriotic language as the beloved i possession of every American, hut reality most of the people who live outside its limits. and a good many who live in the shadow of the Capi- | tol dome, never think about the re- sponsibilities of ownership Now. the American Civic tion has determined to make the physical development of the Dis- trict of Columbia an object of major interest to the country. Every per- son in the United States resident citizen of the National Capi- tal, and the association has under- taken to keep these citizens at large informed regarding their city, so that they may intelligently promote its welfare. Committees on the federal city are belng formed in difterent sections of the country. About fifty of these committecs are already functioning and more are {to_be organized. What the non-resident Washington are expected ward bringing about better condi- tions in the Capital is mainly to adopt an attitude of active interest toward {t. Congress control affairs of the voteless district. Ever. strip of land, every project for im- proving the streets or adding a needed wing to a school bullding must be acceptable to Congress. When it is remembered that 30,000 bills are Introduced in Congress every session, and that every congressman is strongly impressed with the neces- sity for pleasing a large group of constituents, it is seen why some strange conditions exist in Washing- ton. It is not that Congress is antag- onistic toward the National Capftal. But in the first place Congress’ time is valuable, and in the second place the Capital’s finances are a matter on which It is possible for a congress- man to economize without offending eny element of his constituency. He may even make campaign material of the fact that he blocked the spending of money on improvements in the.District. Undoubtedly, if th people of the natlon want their Cap tal to be a great and Insplring cit their congressman will ‘attack the District's problems with a greater in- terest. In the century and a quarter of its existence Washington has always had a few prophets among its statesmen who could see great things ahead for it, and these prophets have always had to battle with the great con- servative majority who never be- lleve in investing too heavily in the tuture. From (George Washington down to Calvin Coolidge, practically every President has urged Congress to consider carefully the welfare and future of the National Capital. But in every decade th: ultra-conserv tives have scored. Once Was a Mudhole. When President Adams moved the government headquarters to the new federal city the officials who followed him found the place “a city of streets Associa- i citizens of (5 do to- | tary attractive featvre,” and “a mud- hole almost equal to lhe great Berb- onian bog.” They apparently had not the slightest glimpse of the future beauty which George Washington and Maj. I/Enfant, who planned the city, clearly saw. The idea of Washington's ever vying with Parls, Rome, or even the less spectacular capitals of Europe, was entlrely too much for the popu- lar imagination in those days. Even in 1846.the part of the District of Columbla which lay south of the Po- tomac river was given back to Vir- ginia, through the shortsighted be- lief that it would never be, needed. It is easy to seée and criticize thel early mistakes, but & similar lack of foresight threatens the future of the Capital. The reason for special con- cern s that the city is growing and changing rapldly. Some of the changes are in keeping with L'En- fant's make the Capital express the impor- tance, the dignity and the civic spirit of the nation. But other changes are taking place which interfere with the artistio development of the olty. Com- mercial strustures and homes are erected so close to public buildings, £eey no moving force save that which | A new attempt is being made to in- | is a non- | the | the world a glimpse of the millennial dawn. Business men, diplomatist scholars and statesmen are beginning to feel that the danger of the world is not political bankruptcy nor eco- nonifc bankruptcy, but spiritual bank- ruptcy. Day by day the forces that move for righteousness are moving toward this spiritual concept of .n- dividual and governmental life. The meeting point of all contending forces, when it is set up., will be & spiritual meeting point. If men once agree upon some great fixed princi- ple, agree not with mere lip service, but agree in actual life conduct, then the lesser irritations which disturb individuals, singly and collectively, can be eliminated. * ok k¥ Mord and more the preachment has been going on that the truths con- tained in the Holy Scriptures must constitute the principles by which men and governments must control their relations with each other. And many of us who long for nothing save justice and peace have had our hearts gladdened by the fdea that the world finally had found that the spiritual cord was the only one that could bind the hearts of men together in com- mon concord and produce among the natlons of the earth a State of peace. But just when we laymen were ready to accept the gospel of the Nazarene as the golden metewand, as the only rule with which to measure the con- duct of men, individually and col- lectively, "the preachers who have made gods for themselves and, conse- quently deny evervthing that does not square with their conception of divinity, begin hammering and pound- ing at the sacred writings of God und the Son of God, pretending that they are seeking to find the truth, but in reality trying to prove to the worid that they are wiser than all the gen- erations which preceded them; that their conception of God is the true conception of Him, and that he who dares to imagine a God of more power than the one which they have created is essentially @ mistaken and, doubt- less, a foolish man. Those of us who believe in the eter- nal verity of the Scriptures place our relfance “upon our conception of a God who s Infinitely greater and more powerful than the human inte lect can comprehend. Our intellect even the best of it, is always proving | that things which are and have been jcannot be. The wisest men of all history have denied that things which subsequently came to pass could be possible. The assault of present-day preachers upon the truth of the things that have been making for a right outlook in life the world around is of vast moment in view of the fact that they are ‘tearing down a faith and It is up to them to explain to the n people how the things they ng differ essentlally from the things whichi Trotxky is doing in Rus- |sia. If they are going to persist in limiting the power of God, they ought to get out of their pulpits and get on s0ap boxes or creep into the nests of communists who are striking at the foundations of our republic (Conyright, 1524, by Twenty-first Preas.) well Ta Centu Arousing Interest in Washington BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN for instance. that the impressiveness of the architecture is entirely lost. Take the case of the Capitol, the | most important national structure. It is approached generally from the west. along Pennsylvania avenue. | This is the avenue along which Pres | dents travel on fnauguration days. It | is one of the most historic streets in America. But the blocks near the Capitol are lined with small souvenir shops, second-hand clothing and fur- niture stores, gypsy fortune tellers rooms, dingy lodging houses and cheap lunchrooms. | It has been often urged that the na- | tion should own this lana along Pennsvlvania avenue, so that the ap- | proach to the Capitol might be lined | with other government edifices, each in its setting of grass and trees. But Congress has never seen fit ake the investment, and as the years go on the cost of such a project becomes more and more staggering. Far Behind in Parks. To take another Instance, the parks. Much praise has been given Wash- ington’s really fine parks. Yet so |tar as park properties are concerned the Capital, in 1919, was at the bot- tom of a list of the nineteen cities with population exceeding 200,000, In other words, while parks in New | York were valued roughly at 3687, 000,000, and in Chicago t were {worth $30.000,000, and in New Or- leans, 00,000, and in Buffalo, $11.000,000, Washington parks were valued at only $5,000,000. The Capi- |tal has beautiful wooded lands which can be acquired for the proper ex- tension of the park system, provided steps are taken in time. In 1901 a park commisslon recommended to the Senate that fifty-three such tracts of 1and be bought. To date six of these have been acquired. Many of the most beautiful and important have been stripped of their woodland growth and leveled for bullding pur- poses. A committee of one hundred was recently appointed by the American Civic Assoclation to make a survey of conditions in the District and to sug- gest the needs for the future. The committee is composed of experts on civic problems, such as architects, street and highway engineers, stu- 'dents of housing situation and for- {estry experts. . This committee has just issued its first report. It reminds us that, with the possible exception of Constanti- nople and Rio de Janeiro, no capital in the world has a_more beautiful {natural setting than Washington. All that is needed is intelligent develop- ment—purchase of lands for parks and grounds for public buildings; beautifying of the entire waterfront so thut the Potomac may be Washington what the Seine is to Paris; intrusting plans for public buildings only to masters of archi- tectural design; supervising the plans for private residences to pre- vent monotonous rows of poorly de- signed houses. In short, the com- mittee points out that Washington started out as a city with a definite ly as a planned city if it is ever to become the most beautiful capltal in the world. i Regarding the significance of a na- tlon's capital, the report says: “Upon their capital citles all peoples have lavished their arts. In a cap! con- gregate the representatives of all n tions. To men of International view- point the buildings of a capital tell more plainly than the words of its statesmen where a natlon stands in the scale of strong national feeling, of broad-gauge national planning, of cosmopolitan contacts, of funda- mental traditions; or, conversely, of lack of national pride, of petty poli- tics handicapping large policies, of provinciallsm, of susceptibility to cas- ual influences.” The committee further shows that there is a financial side to the busi- ness of building capitals which should not be overlooked by a nation. “All Italy invested for the bullding of Rome,” it says, “and century after century, along the roads that lead to Kome, all Italy has collected interest, millions _upon millions, voluntary To a great capital city resort the tourists of the world. It is a magnet for its nation. ‘The Eternal city’ and the expr: ive colloquialism, ‘So this is Paris’ have taken more bil- lions out of this country tham have foreign loans.” 1924—PART 2. Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. There will be introduced in the House tomorrow or Tuesday the largest appropriation bill that has ever come befors Congress in normal times, although during the war we had several considerably larger. This bill, which will provide for the ap- propriation of approximately $775,- 000,000, combines the Treasury and Post Office @epartment appropria- tions. For the Treasury Department more than $160,000,000 is asked and for the Post Office Department more than $600,000,000. This bill will carry about one-third of the total for all of the regular an- nual _ appropriations, which _will amount to about one billion, eight or nine hundred million dollars. * k% % Representative Ernest R. Acker- man of New Jersey, who has been a stamp collector for fifty years, has Just received and is showing to his colleagues soms stamps of twenty billlon marks denomination. Repre- sentative Ackerman barely escaped the earthquake in Japan and has now received the earthquake issue of stamps from Japan, on which there ls no perforation nor gum on the bac At the solicitation of Representa. tive Ackerman the philatelic exhibit of the Post Office Department, which won a special gold medal and blue ribbon of honor at the London exhi- bition last spring, has been sent into New Jersey, where it will be dis- | played ~ at’' Blizabeth, Plainfield, | Newark and Englewood before start- ing on its western itinerary. This exhibit, almost priceless from the standpoint of philatelists, was made up as America’s entry at the international stamp exposition held in London last May, and was taken there by Third Assistant Postmaster General Glover. The exhibit has just returned from a tour of the country. * x k% Under the administration of Public Printer George H. Carter there is operated a shop laundry in addition to shops In which practically every kind of artisan is employed. During the year the laundry washed 904,723 hand towels, so as to provide each employe with a clean towel every working day. Tt is estimated that this laundry work saved the govern- ment $3,615.59, as compured with the commercial (harge. for the same amount of work. In addition. the laundry washed 12900 pounds of !cleaning rags, which would other- ! wise have been thrown away, ther saving $1,169.10 in the expenditure | for new rags . % One of the best fishing grounds {under the American flag that Repre- {sentative Florian Lampert of Wis- {consin has found is at the Gatun| llock in the Panama canal. about | |seven miles from the Atlantic. There li« a dam ninety-seven feet high {which creates artificial lake, and {below the dam the spilway is this fishing groun 7 his recent trip to the canal Representative Lampert caught a tarpon four and a half feet long. He caught him with three |small bass hooks on a small line {about 1,200 feet on reel. and | worked for more than an hour to tire out the tarpon * 3 a a An evidence of h - campaign | {speeches in the coming presidential | lcontest will be listened to with| avidity by farmers and their families | {s shown by a special survey of about 1,200 representative farmers Jjust completed by the United States De- partment of Agriculture. More than {50 per cent of the 1,200 farmers re- {ported that they own tube radio re- civing sets. employing three or mo tubes. w approximately 50 p. cent of the farmers have reporied | that they use homemade sets, rang- ing from simple crystal detectors to | tube sets H James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor, | has been trained in the hard school of experfence us an extemporaneous | speaker rather than as a writer. He has evolved a style that brings his points home. When he was city clerk, | a prisoner was asked by the city at- torney “where were you previous to the Sth and immedlately subsequent thereto?" A box car had been robbed the Sth and the prisoner, who claimed to be a steel worker, had been arrested in the freight vard. | The prisoner hung his head as if at a loss for an alibi The judge impa- { tiently crdered: “Answer the question, or Tl send you up for vagrancy.” Dav worker, understood the prisoner’s pre- dicament. He didn't understand the on’ !wonder if | departments, that visiting the Zoo is| who had himself been a steel | BY ROBERT T. SMALL MIAMI BEACH, Fla., January 26— Motoring down the Dixfe highway in Florida—- A multitude of automobiles just oft the boat at Jacksonville. They have come from New York, but they bear the license plates of a half a dozen northern states. A greea one from Vermont gives you a shiver, Gosh, it must be cold up there. You also catch yourself wondering If any of the machines have been seasick on the way down and got their carbu- retor digestion out of order. Seem- ingly they roll off the dock none the worse for wear or weather. There is a filling station around the corner and you are lucky if they have left @ few drops of gas in your tank so you can get there. Otherwiss they service charge f bringing five gallons over the tracke. In the balmy air of a January aft- ernoon you get away from Jecks ville by speeding over the new bridge which ~ crosses “the old &t Johns ! river. Boyhood recollections of an| afternoon safl on that river coms | back to you. You remember weeping the night through becaus: the sun literally had parbotled you. It is not sunny today. Rain clouds are scud- | ding across the sky and with a grin| Jou recail the first time tourista on | the train who asked if it ever rained in “the land of sunshine and flowers.” | * ok k% | A well kept brick road leads you | to St. Augustine, the oldest city in} the whole United States, the land of, old George W. Ponce deLeon himself. | Before entering the ruins of the city gates you pass the St. Augusti links. This was President Harding's favorite Florida course. He loved it because it was difficult and because it always fought him. You remember that it was here you played your first game of golf with the late President. Freddie McLeod of Columbla Club, Washington, wss your partner, and | long Jim Barnes of Pelham, just about to become the open champlon, | played with Mr. Harding. The Hard- ing-Barnes combination lost. but later in the year they wiped out the defeat in Washington, after paving off the first obiigation with a White House luncheon. There should be some sort of me- morial to Mr. Harding at the St Augustine links. It would be a fine thing for the game and a tribute due | one of the foremost golfers the| country has ever known. The me morial should be at the mixth hole The water hazard there, with cranes flapping about from time to 11 more than once was Mr. Hardings | golfing nemesis, but he would never | glve up, until he shot one across and onto the green. ¥ % Also at Augustine there memories of the “potato quee lovely, athletic girl who could golf, drive a car and ride with the best of the men. She owned a potato ranch some cighteen miles away and her potatoes ' were always among the first and the best on the northern markets. Some vears she would make as high as $20,000. The “col- ored folks" “on the ranch loved her And so did some one else. because last year she was married. You there is little potato princeling by now: In a little while you pass the ranch itself. The raflway station fs called Heard and a Seen | Senator Smoot of Utah and Senator | Sterling of South Dakota are fond of the National Zoological Purk. Both men admitted, at one of the hearings held last week by the com- mittee reorganizing the government H one of their recreations Senator Sterling brought the mgtter up when he appeared before the joint congressional committee of which Senator Smoot is a member to advo- | cate the formation of a “department of education.” During the discussion the propose “department of education and wel- fare” was considered, and the pro- vision which would include the Zoo under this latter department., along with the public health service and other bureaus, which are related, or not, just as one happens to think on the matter. It was pointed out that in one sense the Zoo is an educational institution, children deriving much pleasure and | benefit from their study of the ani- t | i ‘And the big folks. t0o,” smiled Sen- rison of Mississippi. Boing to the Zoo is part of | phraseology, so Davis translated it into language he did underatand and the man easily explained how he came to_be in tho freight yard. “This man was an expert puddler.” Secretary Davis points out. “A pud- dler makes iron bars. They were go- ing to put him behind his own bars because he couldn’t understand the legal jargbn. This taught me a les- son. Big words and improper phrase- ology are prison bars that sometimes separate the workers from the pro- fessional man. To tear down the prison wall of thick-shelled words and make America one nation with one language is one of the tasks of our new education, “When the stork in the fable in- vited the fox to supper he served the bean soup in a long-necked vase.” Secretary Davis recalls by way of homely illustration. “The stork had a beak that reached down the neck of the-vase and drank the soup with ease. The fox had a short muzsle and couldn't get it. The trick made him mad and he bit the stork's head off. Why should the brainworker in- vite the manual worker to a confab and then serve the feast in such a long-necked language that the la- borer can't get it?" * % ok ok “Had Gen. Pershing used a red- nostriled war horse at St. Mihiel in- stead of reclining on a soft-cushioned, out-of-sight limousine, he might have recreation,” declared Senator Smoot, heartily. “There {s nothing that I enjoy more,” admitted Senator Sterling. The hearing settled down to staid considerations then. * * How the soldlers of ths revelution got their bonus was told to the re- organization committee by Lieut. Col. C. O. Sherrill, in charge of the office of puBlic buildings and grounds, at one of the sessions of the hearings now in progress. The soldiers of '76 didn't Congress Col. Sherrill was telling the commit- tee why, in his opinion, his office should be left under the War Depart- ment, rather than be placed under petition | genuine. 11 T} “Spuds.” You wish that the Who names Pullman cars coul cognomens as appropriate. * nerson a #n * % The road winds its wav alone through sparse pine woods and th landscape becomes a bit mor otonous The Floridlans are thinking of beau tifying this northern stretch to maj.. it fit in with the paradise la It 18 & good scheme in a wav, b the tourist would lose the surprise . the contrast that is to com 1t is raining now, a nice, &of rain without a bit of wind soon the coral roads begin to lttle pools «of chalk hi When you hit a big pool & miles an hour, the spr. think n are motoring milky wa. The scenery becomes colortul, You whirl rain-splashed thickets ful heron is feeding palms begin to m ally the deeper foli your head and you plunge through tropical tunnel. You feel you reall are getting into the he: Florid now. along At a Itiply. bit thro: d the signs® been ere prise. Appa guide posts. The si B0 eviorywhere. Or beckon you on and each one 80 alluring vou scarcely know turning to The resorts are spread web-like to catel the touring fly Then they mest ou with a hospitality which ses even if the old pocketb: does grow flatt leaps Ormond is first where John D. Rockefeller sper winters. You wonder where the old codger lives, or how live down here in Florida with oni: dimes in his pockets. You have learned you wouldn far on those thin bits of the original and greatest of oil cans doesn't have to worry a monetary detalls. He has & whols flock of financlal secretaries to dis pense the dollars. He merely hand out the dimes. You wonder wh John D. gets all those dimes he gi away. From the bank, they tell vo in Ormond. Then, why does he giv. Nobody knows the E Just the whim of a n old gentleman vho soon i eighty-five and whom ever: this way likes tremendous * % Too bad it is ral to come across to ert this evening. The cl he hotel are not native s s quickly evident. They teil you it hz been raining for four days. Truthfu souls. And rare specimens at a vesor hotel. Maybe they are novices. Per haps the sun will shine tomorrow and you will see John D. on the links. M: Harding used to play often at Or mond. You always used to wonder what the country would think if the President and he head of Standard Ofl ever cro: blicks. The courn try Mt not have worried, but t radicals in Senate 1ld added 4,000 pages ? gressional Recor: Fifty Years Agt; In The Star Chanz and Eng, mese twins,” died whict Florid t. :: stop. alread ng. John D, Death of the Siamese Twins. ., for some months, follo of paralysis, died fir lowed two hours brother Eng. Th . said: It is to be hoped that science wi have the benefit of post mor! examination in the case of the mese twins, While the living some of the ablest surgical talent in the world made a |examination of the a opinion, | expre ance of the fleshy bond would prove fatal to t 3 We belleve. however, several surgeons were found who were will- ing to try the experiment, but that when the time came for the operation the twins themselves interposed, as well they might, fn view of posajbl: if not probably 'fatal resuits. Whil. it was generally agreed that the liga ture did not serve as a sheath o covering for anything like an Intes- tine passing from one to the other, an experiment was tried, we bellev in Paris, which demonstrated the fac that ft was medium of circulatior, and that it contalned one or m arterfes. A compress was pl around It midway between the twir In a short time one of them faintes, and the compress v quickly ¢ moved to prevent more serious r sults. This was sufficient evidener to those who witnessed the expr:- ment that the fleshy hand was a dium of circulation, and that to ges it would be to destroy the lives both Chang and Eng.” s o the municipal government. The officer in charge of public buildings and grounds in the National Capital explained that the parks are the setting for the seat of govern- ment, and that the District is not sole- Iy or principally, he said, for the people domiciled here. It was founded for the seat of the tederal government, Col, Sherrill con- tinued, owing to the fact that the government saw the necessity for a safe place of meeting, a city where the been President today,” thus writes Gen. Isaac R. Sherwood, who is the oldest man in Congress, who went into the civil war as the first volun- teer soldier in northwestern Ohlo as a private and came out a brigadler general, who is today the oldest living general of the civil war and who has always been a great lover of the horse. For many years Gen. Sherwood without houses,” without “one soli-|plan and that it must continue strict- | drove about Washington one of the best spans of horses ever driven in this country. He has made notable speeches in Confirels on the part that the horse has played in civilization, which have been reprinted into al- most every tongue. “In the world war we read of no ‘Plckett’s charge' or ‘Sheridan's ride. ‘The chugging motor car may aid and abet in romance and as an accessory to wholesale tragedy, but its romance is not historic and its tragedies are not heroic. Its large array of gen- erals (478) rode no horses to the battle front,” Gen. Sherwood reminds us, “and our hero soldiers of the rank and file were not inspired by their presence. The world today does not conjure up a vision of Foch or Haig |* or Pershing astride a battle charger.’ Gen. Sherwood points with pride to the greatest dramat poem of the war, “Sheridan’s Ride,” by his fellow state-man, Thomas B. Read, which “came white-hot from the poet's brain at a single sitting,” describing in thrilling language the perilous ride on the thoroughbred stallien Rienzi that carried Sheridan from Winches- ter to Cedar Creek, twenty miles original plans, which were to|tribute of other nations to its arts.|away, enabling Sheridan to réach the staggering battalions and turn de- into_victory. “Speridan never would have evoked a_great dramatic poem or won the viciory st Cedar Creek had he gone in an automobile with a busted tire, comments Gen, Sherwoods federal government would be first and foremost. Bxplalning one of the reasons for moving the federal headquarters from Philadelphia to the new site on the Potomac, Col. Sherrill said: “Why, in 1790 some soldiers penned Congress up in a hall in Philadelphia, seeking a bonus.” 5 “They got their bonus, didn't they?" asked Representative Temple of Pennsylvania. T think they aid,” agreed Col. Sher- i - % % In solemn congressional hearings there are many times when members of committees laugh and joke. Some, of these incidents get into the record, others do not. Col. Sherrill was telling how since 1919, there has been a large increase in the total floor space patrolled by watchmen and guards in government buildings under his jurisdiction. This Increase has been accompanied by @ decrease in the number of men used in the work, he continued, the whole making for increased efficlency and economy. Discussing watchmen in- general, Col. Sherrill said that under the pres- ent system it is possible to get effi- cient, alert men, since he has the au- thority, without going through any red tape. to hire and fire men. He instanced some of the old “stand. bys” in government service, more nu merous several vears ago than today, “men so dilapidated that they can do no more than draw their breath™ he said. “And their pi tive Temple. < CHARLES E, TRACEWELL. . | " added Representas In The Star of January 24, 183 1aik given an account of an experMmwnt in the intraduc- tion of sahmon into the Potothac river by Speng: ner of fisheries Planting Salmon in the Potomac. F. Baird, comm The Star sald: LA “The first experiments were mad% in the vicinity of Chambersburg, FPu: where are situated the headwatars od the Conecocheague creek, &, fili stream which empties into the :Pu- tomac at Willlamsport. The -lotafit: selected was such as would be Byit able for young trout, where the water is cool, clear and shallow, with gravelly bottom and free from. a especially destructive fishes, esp- cially the voracious black bass. T total number of black salmon whic it 13 proposed to plant in the Potomac is 100,000, and it is hoped that very positive Tesults from these expori- ments will be appreciable before long “These fish will probably remai in’ the waters where they have bee planted for one or perhaps even two yéars, by which time they will prai- ably have attained a weight of halt a pound. They will then g0 down to» the sea and return again im abour two years more, making &n Interval of about four vears from their-birt, and weighing from ten to 'fifte. | pounds. They may, therefore, be'ex- pected during the winter of '1877-%s. and if their course is not obstructed they will proceed as directly as pos sible to the place where they wers first planted. As, however, there arc numerous dams in the way, they will be arrested at the first impassible barrier, which is at present the Great Falls of the Potomac, where they cau probably be captured by the varlous devices used for the purpose of tak- ing salmon. By the time of thelr re. turn it is hoped that provision will be made for their ascent above this falls and to the upper portions off the river, so as to give as great) an extent as possible to their rang