Evening Star Newspaper, February 11, 1924, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR |sries games aad prizefighis will be With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY. .February 11, 1924 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th Kt. and Peunsylvania Ave, New York Office: 110 Faxt 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Bulldin European Ofiice: 16Regent St., Loudon, England, The Evening Star. with the Sunday morning edition, iw delivered by cairiers within the ty 8t 60 cents per mouth: daily ouly, 43 ceota per month; Sunday only, 20 cents' per . month. Orders muy be sent by mall or tele- phone ‘Main 5000. Collection is made by car- tiers at the end of cach month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunda; 3 Dafly only.. Bunday only. Member of the Associated Press. The Assotiated Press is exclusively entitled to the mwe for republication of all mews dis- tehes credited to it or not otherwise credited this paper and also the local news puby liahed Berein. All rights of publication of SIS eatehes harcls are o vl ————————y Diplomatic Sidestepping. A lively exchange of messages be- tween the German embassy in this city and Berlin is reported to be in Dprogress as a result of the lamentable incident of last week. when the flag at the embassy was not placed at half staff after the death of Mr. Wilson un- til and then grudgingly. the matter became subject of sharp public criti- cism. Berlin, it appears, is seeking to blame the ambassador for using bad judgment, and the ambassador is blaming the foreign office at Berlin for failing to give him proper instruc- tions. It seems that while Mr. Wil son’s death was expected he cabled asking what he should do, and Berlin wired back that he was to use his own discretion. The American people are not con- dropped. In the first place, nobody knows just when the nomination will be- made. The convention will be called to order on the 20th of June. At least two days will be required for organization and maybe another day will be taken in nominating speeches. The “fleld” of potential candidates will perhaps be big enough by that time to consume two days of oratory. Nobody knows now and nobody can tell in advance Just when the vocal efforts will cease and the voting will begin. And then the voting, with the two-thirds rule prevailing, may be protracted for sev- eral days. It required many hours to put Woodrow Wilson in nomination in Baltimore in 1912, and also many Lours for the naming of James M. Cox at San Francisco in 1920. To make sure of effecting a nomina- tion in the open it would be necessary practically to adjourn the big meeting to the ball park as soon as the nominating speeches were concluded. Doubtless it will be cooler there. But what about rain? New York is not assuredly immune from summer show- ers, and one of those visitations might come along right in the middle of the balloting and “spoil the party.” Would the convention be adjourned with the call of states uncompleted? Every politician knows the danger of inter- rupting a voting process. Many a perfectly good candidacy has been checked and spoiled by a recess. No, it is hardly likely that the nomi- nation will take place on the sporting field. Both the Polo Grounds and the Stadium are too far away from head- quarters. The risk of bad weather is too great. And, furthermore, there might be an unfortunate reaction from the association of the presidential can- didate with even the most popular of American outdoor sports. —————— Potomac Power Project. The subcommittee to which was re- cerned as to just where lies the blame | ferred the Zihlman-Moore bill for de- for this misadventure in diplomacy. The ambassador, inexperfenced in diplomatic matters, may have needed instructions on such a point. He may |vorably impressed. at] o now be the victim of a willingne Berlin that he should blunder. It is believed that he is not particularly persona grata to the present German administration. If this is the chosen way to effect a change it is assuredly not an illustration of good manage- ment at Berlin. Tor in letting the am- bassador harm himself the German government harms itself. It is an old established principle of law that a principal is responsible for the acts of his agent. In this particu- lar case the mistakes of a diplomatic representative become those of the govérnment he represents, unless they are immediately and explicitly dis- avowed. The mere shift of responsi- bility does not ebsolve the principal in this instance. It is part of the duty of a foreign oflice, especially when queried as to an impending situation, to make sure that the agent is def- Initely instructed. Of course, there will be no strain of official relations as a result of this matter. The whole thing is an un- official happening. The only practical question involved is whether the in- cident will interfere with the floating of the German food loan. The disposi- tion of the Berlin government to put the blame entirely upon its representa- tive may react upon the prospect of the loan even more unfavorably than if it acknowledged the misstep as its own lapse and made proper amends. An Interesting Week. ‘This promises to be an interesting and important week in Congress both In legislation and investigation pro- ceedings. The House will take up for consideration the Mellon tax-reduction | bill, entering upon what is expected to be a long season of debate and amendment. No one can forecast the day wken the House will send the bill, perbaps materially amended and pos- sibly utterly transformed, over to the Senate for further grinding and polish- ing. ‘William G. MeAdoo is today making “his voluntary appearance before the Senate oil investigating committee, to defend his connection as legal counsel for the Doheny interests, his political fortunes as a candidate for the presi- dential nomination largely depending upon the reactio to his explanation Before nightfall today the expected to vote on the lution declaring the sense of the Sen- ate to be that President Coolidge should demand the immediate resigna tion of Secretary of the Navy Denby for having signed the oil lease. Tl interest will center, if the resolution is adopted, as its proponents predict it will, upon what courseé the President will follow. The resolution does not re- quire his signature or veto, and he can either ignore it or accede to it. It 418 admitted that his subsequent course will be subject to partisan comment, but the opinion prevails that he will (fot be influenced by this liabi . Another development of the week .may be the examination of the books ‘nt local and outside brokers to disclose possible speculators in oil stocks. The ‘air is full of rumors as to extensive dealings in these stocks, and the com- mittee, it is said, expects Yo “turn them up” in the furrow it is now w.driving. —_———— The fact that the odds are going rather against him is not accepted by ., Senator Hiram Johnson as proof that “he is-out of the race. ——————— Open-Air Politics. New York democratic enthusiasts are growing ardent over the sugges- tion that the democratic national con- vention should on at least one day j4ssemble at one of the big ball parks .Ang, hold an openair public spssion. This plan was broached soon after the selection of New York as the conven- tion city, and now it has gone to the point of a proposal that the actual nomination of the candidate for Presi- dent take place at either the Yankee - ‘Stadium or the Polo Grounds. Wiser heads in the party leadership, however, are being shaken over the plan, and it may be that before June certain difficulties will have been point- ed out to the local managers of the Lig show and the scheme for a politi- “cal spectacle on the scene of world senate is Robinson reso- of public sentiment 1 i veloping hydro-electric power on the upper Potomac has visited the Great Falls region and expressed itself as fa- Maj. James A. nnor, Corps of Engineers, ex- plained the plans prepared under di- rection of Maj. M. C. Tyler approved v the federal power commission three years ago. With a dam above Great Falls and one at Little Falls the river would give a constant flow of 6.000 cublc feet per second, which would de- velop 60,000 horsepower and might permit the sale of electricity in the District at 1 cent per kilowatt hour. Progress is being made on a project that has been long under considera- tion. By authority of an act of Con- gress of June 10, 1920, a commission was appointed and directed “to report to Congress the cost and in detail the economic value of developing power in the Potomac river.” In connection with its survey the commission was to submit plans and estimates for in- creasing Washington's water supply. That was the warrant for the Tyler survey and report which was sent to Congress February 14, 1921, with the approval of the water power comm: sion, and Secrctary Baker, as chai man of that commission and as Secre- tary of War, urged on Congress the need for favorable action on the re- port. In the Tyler report, and in that of the water power commission, it was maid that there was no advantage in treating plans for increasing Wash- ington’s water supply as a part of the power development project. The proj- ect for increasing the water supply is under way. Work on the second con- duit proceeds, and work on the new reservoirs and fiitration plant will soon begin. In some of the early projects the water supply and the power projeci were linked. On February 14, 191 Heary L. Stimson, Secretary of War, nsmitted to Congress a report by Lieut. Col. W. C. Langfitt, Corps of Engineers. on the water supply of the District, and the availability of the water power at Great Falls for supply- ing light and power in the District. That report was madc in compliance with the District appropriation bill for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913. In that report it was prophesied that the District's water supply would reach the danger point within eight years. The report of Maj. Jay J. Mor- row, Corps of Engineers, sent to Con- in the summer of 1909, dealt] y with studies and plans for in- asing the water suppiy. Plans for utilizing the flow of the Potomac near Washington for gen- erating electric power have been dis- cussed since the ‘00s. Clemens Herschel, a consulting engineer in the Langfitt survey, in a letter to Col. Langfitt in 1913 said that during “'the past twenty years many plans have been devised for creating a hydro- clectric power station to utilize the flow of the Potomac at Great Fallsand downstream from Aqueduct dam, and it may be proper to remark that in 1902 T had the honor to advise a syndi- cate of New York bankers upon just such a proposition, making me fairly well informed on the subject before receiving the appointment of consult- ing engineer at your hand in the pres- ent investigation.” ‘With the large nymber of surveys, investigations and reports usually pre ceding government action on any im portant proposel, it would now seem that the time is at hand when Con- gress will direct- that work be begun on the Potomac power project. ————————— Straws show which way the wind blows. A little confusion arises, how- ever, as the political torpado sweeps around Teapot Dome. A man as liberal with money as Mr. Doheny must be expected to figure his profits on a very large scale. Dwelling House Fire Tragedies. Six people were burned to death yes- terday in a large tenement at Rock- ville Center, Long Island. The build- ing, an old hotel or roadhouse, was of frame, and was easy food for the flames, which spread so rapidly that the inmates had little chance to es- cape. This is but the latest of a series of almost daily disasters of this char- acter, the news dispatches for some weeks past telling of such happenings in gifferent parts of the country. Usually these fire tragedies have oc- curred in small towns, isolated settle- ments and on farms. They are prob ebly due to, imperfect heating racili- ties. They are incident to the season. When the temperature falls sharply stoves and furnaces are stoked high and either through defective flues or the overheating of adjacent woodwork the fires are started. In many cases these blazes occur in the night, the fires getting headway before discovery, In several instances this winter entire families have been wiped out. This is one of the most tragic of the fire perfls in this country. The average dwelling outside of the large citles is a frame structure, which of- fers little or no resistance to the flames. The heating apparatus Is often Aim: the flues poorly joined and in- adequately protected by masonry. Re- pairs are rarely made. The occupants of these buildings simply take their chances. A fire in the house seems to be the last thing to be apprehended. Doors are locked against possible bur- glars, but stoves and furnaces are treated with little regard for safety. There is no obvious cure for this evil. It is impossible to raze all tinder box dwellings or to install safe heating plants in every housing. It would seem that the repeated fatalities would teach the lesson of carefulness, but seemingly do not, and the same risks are run daily and nightly despite the constant warnings given by disaster. The Tumbling Prince. Edward, Prince of Wales, Is either a poor horseman or clse he has extreme- 1y bad luck in the saddle. Last week he fell in the course of an exercise gallop and suffered & fractured collar bone. That was the eleventh tumble 1e has had in the last three years, tlough the first fractured bonme. A lihle over a year @ago, however, one of his spills so lamed him that he was obliged to use crutches for several weeks. ‘When the prince began to fall off his horse there was a decided mani- festation of concern on the part of the British public, for he is unusually popular, not merely as a scion of nobility but as an individual. It was currently reported some time ago that his parents had forbidden him to ride, but this apparently was not the case, and it now is disclosed that a com- promise had been reached at Buck- ingham Palace whereby the prince promised his father not to ride in any races important enough to attract crack professional jockeys. The accident yesterday occurred at a five-foot fence, which is a good jump for an amateur. Even the best riders come to grief at such places, for after all it is up to the horse rather than the rider, and the least misstep or swerve is likely to cause trouble. It takes a very expert rider to avoid hurt in a horse fall. The Prince of Wales ought to be expert by now, with cleven tumbles on his record. But evidently he is still subject to injury This accident will put him out of the running for some time. and may put an end to his career as a gentleman Jockey. ——————— As income tax day approaches the leaders of debate in Congress will doubtless receive many letters remind- ing them that time as well as the peo- ple’s money is precious. ————— Unless Herrin, Ill, tranquilizes its population is in danger of regarding martial law as the only kind there is. Some ambassadors make mistakes; others serve their country by taking the blame. SHOOTING STARS BY PITILA 1 “Being Done." lSom'- very nice people Are doing things néw Which in days that are gone Would have started a row To have dabbled in oil Reputations to spoil Would have caused the whole world like a cauldron to boil. But we ponder the news and we pa- tiently vow “Some very nice people arc doing it now.” Some very mnice people Are following now The customs which onc We would never allow. 1 When folks went to jail Their relations turned pale— But gasoline tanks and the tankard of ale ] Cause our friends to stand up'and in court make a bow. Some very nice people are doing it now. Political Evolution. “As civilizations advance,” remarked the grim historian, “forms of govern- ment necessarily undergo gradual changes.” “That may or may not be so,” an- swered Senator Sorghum. “But I can tell you one thing. This great democ- racy of ours isn't ever going to be changed into any oiligarchy.” Jud Tunkins says George Washing- ton was a strictly truthful man; which accounts for the fact that he never talked more than seemed absolutely necessary. Retribution. Many thousands in a hurry He obtained by methods lax, And at least he'll have to worry, Figuring up his income tax. Rising Indignation. | “There's a story going around that “It's & practical joke,” answered Cactus Joe. “Us law-abidin’ Crimson Gulch citizens has organized three raids with no results. Unless some- thin* is discovered the next time them Ridgers may as well get ready to face trouble fur false pretenses.” From Furrow to Footlights. “My boy Josh has gone an writ a piece fur the theay-ter,” said Farmer Corntossel. “Turnin’ his back on the old farm? “Yep. Says he don't sec any pense in bein® the man with the hoe. He'd rather be the man with the hokum.” — “We can't all be smart,” sid Uncle Eben, “but we kin all be honest. "Tain’ no disgrace to be a low-brow if you bas @ level head: - . THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MONDAY, IN TODAY’S SPOTLIG BY PAUL V. COLLINS The very heart of our national de- fense s the Panama canal. It was domonstrated recently that that heart has a shield which will fall Wwhen relled upon. It will be impos- sible, in a crisis, to unite our Pacific and Atlantic fleets. The two parts may be overcome, one at a time, by an enemy fleet, which would be power- less against our grand fleet united. A single. bomb, say military experts, dropped from an enemy plane, which might rise from a ship beyond the horizon, would be sufficient to destroy the delicate and complicated machin- ery of one of the Jocks. That alone would imprison half of our navy in the wrong ocean. * % % % No layman can ocomprehend the scientific maneuvers of the recent sham battle, which satisfled ‘military and naval etperts that the Panama canal is not impregnable, and that to make it so will require some $15,000.000 for fortifications; also liberal Inveéstments in aircraft and submarines. Hardly any conceivable sum would be considered objection- able in case of attack endangering the explosion of a well aimed bomb upon the locks. This is one of the major issucs to e considered by Congress as soon as ssible. The umpires of the recent attle™ recommend immediate | strengthening of long-range guns, an increase of the garrison, especially of the air force and patrol fleet; an|{ elevation of the guns on all ships to increase their range, and improve- ments of the railroad running through the Panama district. In addition to all these measures for strengthening the defense of the canal as it is now built, there is a continued agitation—mostly outside of engineering circles—that the present lock canal be converted into a more easily defended sea level or tidewater strait, and all locks be abolished. In a speech last month M. Bunau Varilla, former chief engineer of the French Panama Canal Company, urged the conversion of the present canal into a sea level strait Ho claimed that this change could be made without any interruption of traffic. American engineers who have strug- gled against the persistent landslides ever since the canal has been dug, re- fuse to consider possible the revom- mended sea level strait. 1t would mean to lower the bottom not less than eighty- five feef, and to add just that much weight of sliding mountains to the shifting slides, against which it ha proved almost impossible tight eve: at the present level. Amateur recom- mendations that the landsli curbed by ete walls laughed at by engineers, who rep! moving mountains wouid move an th be built s the canal along w rock and gravel and dirt, which will persist in sliding until they come to the angle of repose. l it into * Engineer Varilla’s idea of a sea level strait is not new—espevially from a French standpoint. That was the plan of Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, the original promoter of the Panumna canal. The canal project was begun by the French in 1580; the digging begun in January, 1852.° Four years later De Lesseps 'visited the isthmus to in- spect the work and to curb the rising tide of criticism. He returned to Paris in March. 1 when the pres- ent writer, then living in that city, in- terviewed him in hchalf of certain American dailies and cabled his state- ments to this country. “Were the early survey was asked. “Yes. Of course. there are slight changes, but nothing important. The | principal change is not building | locks and levees which were thought necessary at first, owing to the dif- ference in the level of the Atlantic and Pacific, which is so little that locks arc not necded. There will be # slight current through the canal, but not enoukh to interfere with its etficiency. We shall save 30,000,000 | | | | well done?” i tavorable. francs on locks and 5,000,000 on levees. Editors in the Navy Edwin Denb: resign because it was action which made possible the ng of the Wyoming and Cali- { fornia oil lands to Harry Sinclair and {Edward Doheny, after taking on a very partisan touch in the early’ etages, later resolved itself into a situation where many editors, both demrocratic and republican, suggested that it might be just as well to wait and see whether, after all, the Secre- tary had been guilty of anything wrong. It is now being recalled that Mr. Denby had little choice in the matter. The President trans- ferred control of the reserves to the !annrior Department, and had Mr. { Denby opposed the will of Mr. Hard- ing at that time all he could have uld have been to retire from net. As the Boston Transcript (republ can) analyzes the situation, “having made no particular study of the ques tion, and sharing President Harding belief in the absolute integrity of Fall, the course of Mr. Denby s no moral turpitude so far as he is involved.” Which impels the Muskegon Chronicle (independent) to suggest “the connection of Secre- tary Denby with the affair has hardly | been gone into at all yet. A fine lot of judges the Senate would make, with its membership turning somer- saults, prflnounclng snap judgments for and against before more than the most _fragmentary proofs are in Yet the Milwaukee Journal (inde- pendent) feels “Denby and Daugherty ought to go because there s no public. confidence in them and there will not be” although the Butte Miner (independent) suggests that should Mr. Denby “make an adequate jdefense,” it ought to be considered. * ¥ ¥ ¥ The very fact that the Waish resolution was adopted andicaps” the Secretary of the Navy's useful- ness, in the view of the New York Evening World (independent demo- cratic), while the Muncie Star (pro- 1 l 1 5ery” Question, argues —until some- | thing definite is disclosed. members of Congress should have the decency to ‘refrain from making charges right and left, because they should krow that a cabinet officer will not resign on deman The Pittsburgh | Gazette-Times (republican) feels the “Robinson resolution demanding _the resignation was lynch . law, g every principle of justi because “every man under suspicion must be given a chance to defend himself before the bar of justice.” The fact that the Secretary insists {he “did- the right thing and would do it over again tomorrow,” brings from the Lincoln Star (independent) the suggestion that “Mr. Renby is unrepentant” to which the la- mazoo Gazette (independent) adds, “githough there has been no positive intimation, even from his deadliest political foes, that his -connection ‘with_the Teapot Dome and other naval oil reserve leases was irregular, Denby's political aspirations, what- jever ‘they may be, are going down like a house of cards under the poisonous breath of suspicion. His department was nearest that " in which the._fire broke -out, and it is not perhaps unnatural for the Con s and. public to' lopk on his win- fi:u for smoke stains.” “Secretary Dénby’s .personal de- fen®e is refreshing,” the Springfield State Journal (irdependent. republi- can) insists, “it rings true. The) day bas_not come in W gressive republican), discussing this, “As the work was begun six years ago, and you expect its completion in three years, may 1 say the canal is two-thirds finished?” 1 cannot say what proportion’ is finished. It has taken a good deal of time getting ready. W¢ are now pre- pared to go on with the work, which will be completed tn 1889." Sfieaklnx of the progress of the work, Comte de Lesseps boasted: “Without modern machinery the work would be almost impossible. Twenty years ago, the heaviest dredge made could remove only 1.000 cubic meters daily. We now have dredzes that regularly displace 4,000 meters and can reach 7.000 if the ground is Allowing for the possible stoppage of machinery through acci- dent we can depend on cach dredge removing 3,000 a day, which is equal to the work of 3,000 men with spade and fork." In contrast with the above stated capacity, note the following para- graph from a_recent magazine ar- ticle by Gov. Jay J. Morrow, at the head of the Panama administration. Speaking of what a visitor to the canal might not appreciate, he says: “He almost certainly will not know that this dredge with its twin sisters are the best machines of their class in the world; that one of them in one day has dredged ncarly 24,000 cubic_yards, a dredging performance that has never been approsched else- where. Nor will he know that tw or three of them are kept in constant commission for sixteen hours every day. They are not only constantly at work maintaing the channel in the work which dredges are required to do in all ports, but are ready, likc fire_equipment, to jump instantly on a slide and cut a channel through it with sufficlent rapidity to assure commerce thut mo ship will be deluy- ed. * ¥ % In the light of present enginecring knowledge of facts, some of his statements appear strange today. For instance that thé level of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans was o near the same that there would be but a slight current through a sea-level strait. The high tide of the Pacific is twenty feet and of the Caribbean sea twenty inches. There would therefore be a rushing current, at high tide, through a tide-water canal. The French plan fo divert the Cha- gres river from its natural channel proved impracticabl instead, the American cngineers usc its sup- ply of water to creatc the greatest artificial lake or reservoir in the world. From this stored water is ob- tained the supply to operate the locks, while the ‘lake pi ides a broad channcl more than forty-four feet deep through which nearly half of the voyage across the isthmus may proceed at half speed. When traffic increascs so that the present supply of water for the locks Dbec inadequate it is planned to supplement both water and hydro- eleetric power. . * * ¥ The growth of Panama traffic has excceded all calculations. The Suez caral tonnage grew in its first fifty- three years—I870 to 1923—up to 22,- 20,162 “Danube tons.” A chart showing the curve of in- creake for the Suez and a parallel curve for the Panama canal indicated that the Panama would reach 28,000,- 000 tons by the year 2000. Yet the *anama record has doubled in the last nd is ulready for 1923 24,737,487 chile the Suez passed only tons last ycar. The phenome- growth of Panama tonnage for s largely due to oil shipments alifornia to New York, which may not prove permanent in volume. There is ample capacity in the pres- ent canal and its water supply for lock operation to meet the probable needs for the next twenty years, but if no Nicaragua canal supplements the Panama then the French dream of & sea-level strait may be seriously con- sidered, together with the necessary dynamics to block mountains from sliding. (Copyright, | | 1024, by Paul V. Collins.) See Little Gain In Putting Denby Out it tameiy to the deg- miliation and vilification al-mongers and political heap upon 3 lawmakers a body character wreckers that as are transpiring in > to go unrebuked?| s do not warrant the fren- | that are being made to 1 mud the honored names of ving and dead American citi- simply because it may be donhe under the cover of an hysterical con- gressional investigation.” It is fully ed by the Saginaw News-Courier (independent) that “here in Michigan Edwin_Denby’s character and honor are above assault,” yet it admits, “without question, his reply to his critics tailed of any good purpose, and, measured by the same yardstick, did ' not aid his cause in the publi¢ purview. our’ dent) | its tura that “the issue of Secretary Denby’s retirement or con- tinued service in the cabinet will no doubt be ultimately settled by him- self and the President, and, in the ure of thin it is not to be sup- posed that the head of the vy De- partment will long retain his post.” This i also the opinion of the Peters- burg Progress (democratic), because it i5 convinced “backers of Daugherty and Denby would not dare raise their hands against Mr. Coolidge were he to demand peremptorily_the resigna- tion of these two men. He would find that he had rid his administration of a burden which threatens to cause irremediable disaste: Inasmuch as he has admitted “mistakes,” the Schenectady Gazette (democratic) feels “Secretary Denby should resign, becausc, apart from any hasty conclusion some may have reached, tho offense of which he is already convicted is his failure in office to show any regard for the pub- lic welfare. He is one of that for- tunately not very numerous class of men who instinctively believe that business principles and the ten com- mandments are interchangeable, whether pursued [n the spirit of con secrated service or that of polished, fellowly egotism.” This also is, in part, the view of the Des Moines Register (independent), which sug- gests “public men in Washington are divided between those who go there to work at the public business and those who go there to enjoy the hon- r offiee. Both Secretary Denby and Secretary Weeks are classed with the latter. credited_with having his own views about his department” And _ the Lynchburg News (democratic) feels Mr. Denby should be asked by the President to resign “for gross inem- ciency and carelessness in handling a sacred trust” Wants Wilson Shrine Erected in Arlington To the Editor of The Star. There is & strong public sentiment in favor of Arlington as the final rest- ing place for the bgdy of the war President. It is considered eecttled that the place must'be in the District of Columbia, but Arlington is almost a part of the Disfrict, being adjacent and under national control. If there is to -be established in or near Washington a Westminster Ab- bey, a Walhalla or Pantheon for the illustrious dead, such an exclusive burial place should be under the coni- trol of the United States government, with rules and regulations to prevent domination by any particul 13 or influeace, IOMAS W, FEBRUARY. 11 {that all of the bills now pending be- 1924, Hits Retirement Age. Unjust to Make Separation Com- pulsory at 65, Says Writer. o tlie Bditor of The Sta In a recent issue of The Star there appeared an article pleading for the retention of that portion of section 6 of the civil service retirement act which provides that an employe who reaches the age of seventy may be continued in the service for two periods of two years each, It does not appear to be generally known among civil service employes fore Congress either compel or make possible a lowering of the age of au- tomatic or comfpulsory retirement, The Stanfield-Lehlbach bill which has the indorsement of the Federal Employes' Union will, if passed in its present form, automatically separate an employe from the service on at- tainment of ‘age sixty-five. Further, it would not do violence to the lan- guage of this bill if it were con- strued to require the retirement of an employe on completion of thirty years of service. Section 6 of the retirement act states that “all em- ployes to whom this act .applies shall ® ® on arriving at _retire- ment age as defined in section 1 hereof be automatically separated from the service,” ete. The pending bill re- places that portion of section 1 of the existing law which defines the “age of retirement” as seventy by @ para- graph which defines the “age of re- tirement” as sixty-five, or (a possible construction), as thai age, varying with the employe, which he may have attained on completion of thirty years of service. Tk % From answers to Inquiries at head- quarters of the Federal Employes’ Tnion it would appear that it was the purpose of the union to indorse only optional retirement at sixty-five on completion of thirty years of service. However ihis may be, if section 6 of the present law {s to remain as it stands (and the pending bill does not alter it), the passage of the bill will mean compulsory retirement 4t sixty v, 5 While cach of the other pending bills states seventy as the age of automatic retirement they each em- power the head of a department with authority to establish a lower age of compulsory retirement extending down to age Sixty. . The law examiners and principal examiners of the patent office filed with the joint committee on reform in the eivil service a paper protesting against the proposed lowering of the age of compulsory retirement, from which the following quoted vk n_ with the annuity increased 00 per annum retirement, as by the great majority of em- ployes receiving $3,000 or upward, is not a desfderatum but a calamity Forced retirement can he justifl only on the ground that the employ is no longer capable of earning his salary, It is submitted that with the average individual this condition does not obtain at the age of sixty-five solely because of age and that the sentence of official death should not be passed on the employe merely be- cause he has reached that age. It is true that the proposed revision of the law does not affect the present possible stay of sentence for tw. periods of two years each. But it is manifestly unfair to the employe that he should have the specter of forced separation from his position threat- ening him merely because of age, when that age does not necessaril signify a waning of mental or phys cal vigor.” * % * % ok X be urged that many of the more important offices under the civil service are held by men ad- vanced in years and that the good of the serviee requires that these places be filled by vounger and more energetic men, the reply is that under the reclassification act employes, ir- respective of age, may be demoted, or even dismissed, if found wantin in efficiency. Simple justice, how ever, cries out against their being dismissed on the ground of age alone, especially at an age when so many men are physically and men- tally alert. As for the plea that the retirement age should be lowered in order to peed up the wheels of promotion there is surely no justice in making wreckage of the older emploves merely to provide for the advance- ment of the younger ones. ‘The retirement act, as it is proposed to modify it. son_of the increased , appeal to the em- 1 1200 or less, as v desirable. even with forced retirement at sixty-five: but with the employe in the ‘professional group. not only | are the deductions from his salarv | far in excess of a like proportioned annuity, but when he is separatéd from the service the disparity he- tween salary and annuity is so great 2s to make it impossibla for him to accommodate himself to the condi tions of: life that the shrunken come imposes. A recent issue of The Star carried an article setting forth the alarming condition in the government service due to the large number of resigna- tions ~ of the scientific employes. What younz man with a_scientific or technical training and a vision for the future can be attracted to the Zovernment service as offering a field for life work when that work is decreed by law to Be terminated be. fore the infirmitias of age swould ordinarily require, and his concluding vears, mavhap covering a decade or more. doomed to he passed in com- parative penury? . L. WOLCOTT. COURAGE “I am the master of my fate, “I am the captain of my soul.” —HENLEY. Tt it Vauclain Always Had to Work, Although he has been working for others fifty-one years, Sammuel AL Vauclain never has had a vaeation. Before that time, when he was a boy in Philadelphia and Altoona, Pa., he had to work when not studying, and much of his education was re- ceived at nights. An apprentice in the Pennsylvania railroad shops at sixteen, a year earlier than he expected, he worked sixteen hours, and was paid 50 cents a day. Plans made to take an enginecring course in college by working at odd times, to earn his way, were dropped ‘when he was made a foreman—so he studied at night at home, When it came time to think about taking a few days from work, he got married. His pay was $8.40-a week, it stopped when he did, and every cent was needed. The sand business boomed and he considered going into it for himself, when came a promotion at the shop, A second plan to ‘enter the business was killed by ahother promotion. Next, taking the superintendency of a Baldwin Locomotive Company division shop, he was busy with a new position. Promotion - followed and he was occupied with learning and installing methods. Taken into the firm, he had even more duties and_responsibilities. Then came the war, and with it rush orders for locomotives, followed by the building of plants’ and the manufacture of arms and ammuni- tion. After the echoes of war had died, he was made president of the company, but kept’on working. Not wanting to rise through “influ- ence,” he had never joined a lodge, society or church. Yet he took time to invent the Vauclain compound en- ine. 16, at sixty-seven, still is head of the Baldwis Locomotive Company, has a_large income, is rich—and busy eleven hours a day. But he does not feel discouraged about his vacation. “I never needed one” he -w “and no place offered so many kinds of amusement as could be found ia the day's work" Q. How much did Scretary Hoover spend for relief work in Europe?— J. G. R. A. Total amount of relief handled by Mr. Hoover through the commis- sion for relief in Belgium and the American Rellef Administration was approximately $1,600,000,000. Q. Has an American ever won the Nobel prize for literature?—I. G. T. A. The Nobel prize for literature has never been awarded an American. Q. Will coal stored in the open air catch on fire without cayse?—C. M. A. A. The bureau of mines says that anthracite coal will not catch fire if left in the open alr, but that bituminous coal may. The probabil- ity of its doing so depends upon the grade or size of coal, conditions under which it is stored and time it is in storage. Q. Why are the sunrise and sunset pink?—Lo V. V, A. At sunrise and sunset the light, instead of coming stralght down through a belt of air, strikes the air on a slant, traveling through more air, particularly close to the earth. As a result it meets many more specks of dust, smoke and other im- purities in the air. These absorb, deflect and reflect the light rays and cause the multi-colored effect. Q. How should “Batik" be pro- nounced and where did it originate?— P. C A. “Batik” is ronounced as if spelled “Bah-teek’ The method of dyeing so called originated in the Dutch East Indies. The design is covered with melted wax and the un- covered portions of the material than take the dye. The wax is dissolved in boiling water. Q. How many negroes have left the south in the northern migration? A. A study of the northern migra- tion of southern negroes made by the Labor Department indicates that 478,- 700 negroes left thirteen southern states during the year ending Sep- tember 1, 1932, Of ‘this number. 125, 000 left Georgia: 90.000 left Alabama and Florida, each; 82,600 left Missis- flums District court about two years nas. Q. What happened to the miners and operators who wera indicted for conspiracy at Indianapolis three or four years ago?—T. T. A. The indictments against 226 coal operators and officials of the miners’ union. returned in February, 1921, were dismissed in the United rict court about two years Q. When were the last-of the American occupation forces with- drawn from Gormany?—G. M. S. A. The last ofiicial party of Amer- lcans left Coblenz for Bremen and the United States on July 9, 1823. Q. Where is the death rate highest in the United States?—M. A. L A. In 1922 Maine and Vermont had the highest death rates reported by Lady Bathurst, BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. So many inquiries have reached me concerning the identity of the very charming Lady Bathurst who has been in this country for some time past, and who is now in trade, en- gaged in managing one of those glori- fied shops at Palm Beach that line the lake trail, shops in which one can purchase everything from a package of pins to a pearl necklace costing hundreds of thousands of dollars— that it may be well to explain that she should not be confounded with that other Lady Bathurst who is a peeress of the realm and who is still the owner and the very active pub- lisher and editor-in-chief of the Lon- don Morning Post, the recent ne- gotiations with a view to its sale to the Rothermere-Beaverbrook combi- nation having apparently fallen through. The Countess of Bathurst, who in- herited the paper from her father, the | Lord Glanesk, and from her ndfather, cld Tom Borthwick, and used to be described by the late Lord Northeliffe as the ablest and most serious of all his newspaper rivals, has not been in this country for years, whereas the other Lady Bathurst virtually makes her home in the United States. She is the half-sister of the fifteenth Lord Inchiquin of Dromoland Castle, County Clare, who is head of the clan and dynasty of O'Brien that formerly exercised sovereign sway of the entire south of Ireland and which on surrendering its sovereignty to King Henry VIII r ceived from him the Barony of Inch quin, as well as other hereditary yprerogatives, including that of garb- ing its servants in royal liveries, Descended, her brother Lord Inchiquin, the Hon. Moira O'Brien is a direct descendant of Ireland’s ational hero, Brian Boroihme, prin- cipal King of the Emerald Isle, and who fell in the great battle of Clon- tarf in A. D. 1014, many of whose relics, including his great sword, are preserved at Dromoland Castie, her ancestral home, where she spent her childhood. As'a young girl and even as a child she was extremely high spirited and rebellious to all au- thority. Sheuwxs. also, like most fair Irish women, very impatient. But she was 80 attractive that these faults were regarded a'ahmenly adding to the iquancy of her ways. ®! qW’heflyl'u:r half-brother, Lord Inchi quin, succeeded to the title and mar- ried, Dromoland Castle ceased to be her home, and as her allowance was not large owing to the extravagant number of her brothers and sisters— one of the latter, Beatrice, being the wife of -the Italian senator, Marcon, of wireless telegraphy fame—she made up her mind to follow the example of So many other women of her rank and started 3 millinery and glove shop in Sloane Square in the Knightsbridge district of London un- der the trade name of “Moira™. P Most of these ventures come to grief sooner or later. But before the Hon. Moira O'Brien had been long enough connected therewith to be able to decide whether the venture was going to be a success, her hand was sought and won by & particularly good looking baronet, fitth of his line, Sir Frederick Harvey Bathurst, ‘baronet of the line having g:nflg:'. general, Sir Felton Harvey Bathurst, who was with the Duke of Wellington in the battle of Waterloo and who married Louisa Caton, third daughter of Richard Caton of Mary- land. After Sir Felton's death his American widow married the seventh Duke of Leeds, the first American woman to win through marriage the Strawberry Leaf, caronet of an Eng- h_duchess. _ e G ihion between Sir Frederick Harvey Bathurst and Moira O'Brien did not turn out a success. After the birth of a boy, Frederick, who attains his majority this year, a_separation rensued, and eventually, in 1912, the merriage_was_dissolved by divorce. It was believed at the time that Lady Bathurst would wed one of her most devoted admirers—Plerre, Marquis de Jaucourt, head of one of the oldest houses of the French aristocracy, and the Parisian salon of whose mother, an English woman by birth, in the Rue de vwl“in“: one of the famous in Eurol m"l’ge l(::qull de Jaucourt, who Chateau de the census for the registration area ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS * BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN I l of the Unifed States, each rate of 14.7 per thousand ol“;'o‘:u’!nj egtni.’ldlho had the smallest rata Q. Who America?—] A. Benjamin Banneker, a Ma: negro, Is credited with the firsv.’?:}:g: made in this country. mad: Pt.he g@rst clock in Q. Where was Robert Louis Stevenf son’s body burled?—J. H. B. A. The body of Robert Louis Stevena son is interred on the mountain sida of the Island of Valillime, in tha South Pacific ocean. Q. What industries have the most strikes?—D. E. C. __A. Govermment records show thai in 1922 the building trades, the cloth- ing industry and the textile industry had the largest number of strikes. In 1921 the bullding trades, the printing Bnd publishing business and the cloth~ ing industry headed the list in tha order named. Q. Is the government still making loans to railroads?’—E. A. S. A. The provision in the transpore tation act of 1920 providing for loany to railroads from the federal revola ving fund expired by limitation om March 1, 1922, Q. What part of the cotton of tha wo;l(i_due« the United States producef A. The United States in 1923 pros duced 1 ,000 bales of cotton about one-half of the world produc~ tion. Egypt, India, China, Peru and Mexico produced nearly all of tha other half. Production of cotton in the United States is declining. Q. How many unions are there in the American Federation of Labor?— A. The federation is made up of 108 national and international unions, representing 35, locals, five depart« ments, forty-nine state branches, 903 city centrals and 2,926,468 dues pa: 4 ing members. & Q. How many ways are there (a make a living?—F. A. H. A. The census lists 667 specified occupations, but it does not state thats there are no other ways of making a living. 3 iroad a woman fod dent?—E. B. H. A. The only woman who has been or is president of @ railroad is M: Cora B. Williams, who is now presis dent of the Georgia, Florida, and Alabama railway Frederic J. Haskin is emploved by this paper to hondle the inguiries of our readers, and wou gre invited 10 call upon him as frecly and as often as you please. Ask anything tha! is a matter of fact and the cuthority will be quoted wou. There is charge for this service. Ask wha! wou wont, sign your full name and address, inclose 2 cents in_stamps Jor return postage. Address Frederic J. Haskin, director. The Star Infor- . mation Bureau, 1220 North Capitol street). Now in Trade in U. S., Has Relatives Here Presle in the department of the Sei et Marne. and who is a member the Jockey and of all the leadir clubs of Paris as well as of many London, where he is quite as much at home in society as on the banks of the Seine, being head of an olid Roman Catholic family, found thar there were insuperablc’ obstacles to marrying Lady Bathurst, owing to the refysal of the Catholic Church to recognize her first marriage having been sundered by divorce, even though her former husband, Sir Frederick Bathurst, had contracted another matrimonial alliance. She therefore remained single until the close of the great war, throughour which she did splendid Red Cro: service in France, when she finally bestowed her hand upon Capt. Georgn Peckham of the royal navy, whom, badly wounded, she had nursed bacl to health. ' * % % % Strictly speaking she is now Hon. Mrs, George Peckham, though it has been quite customars in England for women whose mar riages have been sundered by divorce to retain the surname and the titles, | of their first husbands, yet the pra tice is not sanctioned by the cou of St. James nor yet by English law. Since she is earning her living in trade here in America, in a manner that deserves every encouragement, she finds it preferable for business purposes to remain as Lady Bathurst instead of styling herself the Hon. Mrs, Peckham. Let me add that sho has American relatives, since her half-brother, Col. the Hon. Murroug!. O'Brien, while military attache of the British embassy in Washington married Margaret, daughter of tho late William Lewis of New York. Col. O'Brien was also equerry for time to the al and widowe Duche: the most gifted of the aunts of King George. Mention of the Bathursts calls ai | tention to the fact that during the past week one of the members of t | family, the former Sir Charles Bath- lurst, now Lord Bledisloe, heretofors a leading conservative and one of the illars of the Carlton Club, Londo has joined the labor party. and will help Lord Parmoor, Lord Chelmsford the Earl of Haldane and the newly created Lord Olivier to represent tho Macdonald labor government in the house of lords. Lord Bledisios, per- haps the most influential champion of British agriculture, enjoys in very marked degree the favor and good will of King George. When Lord Bledisloe withdrew his support from the Baldwin conservative cab- inet by way of protest against it repeal of the embargo on the impor- tations of live stock from Canada.. the antipodes and from British Africa, the monarch picked from that particular moment to appoint him tn , be a member of his council of his Duch: of Lancaster, which is his entailed property immiune from all parliamen- tary control and interference. The Duchy of Lancaster, which embrace property all over the United King- Gom, large holdings in the metropolis and much agricultural land, was an cstate formed by King Henry IV so that in the event of his family ever losing control and the crown property, that family, namely, the house of Lancaster, which is des- cended from the royal John of Gaunt, should still remain {n pos- Session of this huge estate, of which the reigning sovereign is the lifa owner, not in his capacity as King of Great Britain, but as Duke of Lancaster. * % ¥ % Lord Bledisloe won his peerage by his services under the name of Charles Bathurst as food controller and vice president of the state agri- cultural ocouncil in~ the great war He has long been regarded in both thouses of parliament as the bext representative of the interests of those who live on and by the l?:. o and at one time he endeavored fto create an agricultural party in bdth houses of parliament which would brace members of all the ' political factions for the purpose of further- ing and defending the Interests of agriculture. In no ways discouraged 5 s Tatfure in this connection. he is now. carrying on intensive farm- ing as a business at Lidney Park, for 300 years in his family and one of the most beautiful places in Gloucester- shire, even to the extent of plowing up the celebrated Lidney golf links, in order to prove that agricultpre can be made to pay in England e spite all the handicaps to ch it is{ subjected. Lord Bledisloe's conver- sion from the conservative party to labor constitutes a valuable n, to thoe latiar’s forces in .