Evening Star Newspaper, September 11, 1924, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY. .September 11, 1924 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. . Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company usiness Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower uilding. Earopean Office: 16 Regent St., London, Englaud. The Evening Ster, with the Sundsy morning edition, is delivered Ly carriers within the city at 60 cents per month: daily only, 45 cents per month: Sunday onl cents' per month. Orderx may be seat Ly miail or tele. phone Main 5000, Collection is made by car- Tiers at the end of each month Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance, Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1 yr., $8.40; Daily only .17, $6.00 Sunday on!; -15r, $2.40; 1 mo,, 20¢ All Other States. unday.1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo. S1yr, $7.00% 1'mo., 60c £3.00: 1 mo., 25¢ Daily and Diaily only Sunday only. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is usively entitled fo the use for republication of all news di- patches credited 10 it or not otherwise eredited in this paper and al<e the local news pu ished All rights of publication of are al<n reserved. ‘Why the People Fear. nder the law of the State of Illi- nois an application for parole can be | made by a person sentenced to im. ¥ for life when 20 vears have elapsed. By the same law. parole cannot sonment only be given to a person sentenced for 99 years until after 371 vears. At least, that is the manner in which the law has heen stated by | the chief counsel for the defense in the | Leopold-Loeb just decided in Chicago by Judge Caverly's imposition of sentence. If the terms of that statute are cor- rectly stated, theee two murderers who have just esexned the noose can- not hope to gai. paroles until they are, respectively, 75 and 7% years of uge, assuming that the sentences are cumuylative, 99 vears added to life. 1f the parole limit of 37 vears is the ultimate that can be required, on the principle that virtually one crime, though of a dual nature, was com- mitted, the prisoners may not be re leased on parole befe they spectively. vears of age. If| the 20-year limit governs, they may | be paroled when they are 3% and 39 | vears old. A | Judge Caverly in his pronounce-| ment of sentence strongly urged that | no “paroles should ever be granted. | He cannot, of course. control the ac-| tion of the parole board. The only | way in which he could assure against | the future liber of these yvoung men was to sentence them to be hanged. | His recommendation is. however, part | of the and will always be| before any future parole board. 1 But no present provision of the law | of the State limits the power of the | governor to grant pardons. No rec-| ommendation by the court can safe- guard against > of these ut- terly worthless persons by ex action. In that fact lies the for. the intense fecling of disappoint- ment and of indignation caused by the imposition of life sentences. The r cent release of Harry Thaw. though | the cases are in many respects dif- ferent, gives force to the fear that| these yvouthful criminals may, even | under the strict parole laws of Illinois, soon gain their liberty. { In Massachusetts a little more than half a century ago a youth named Jesse Pomeroy was convicted of an atrocious murder and sentenced, on account of his years, to imprisonment for life. He undoubtedly of ab- normal mind. The State took him in custody and has kept him ever since. He is now in prison, an old man. His case was somewhat like the Leopold- Loeb ¢ save that he was not of a wealthy family. Whether this man- ner of his punishment was warranted by humane considerations is still a question. Massachusetts has suffered many atrocious crimes The ter- rible example of Jesse Pomeroy suf- fering imprisonment for life has not deterred othe from committing out- rageous offenses. But would his ex- ecution have deterred? Thercin lies the whole question of punishments. In the Pomeroy case Massachusetts has at least kept faith in holding the prisoner. Will Iilinois keep faith by similarly holding these dangerous vouths until they become old men, it their lives are prolonged? Or will they be released after a term of years, perhaps to prey again upon. helpless vietims for the sake of thrills? Upon that question hangs the whole case of the public against the court in this display of mercy. What happens to Leopold and Loeb henceforth, however, is not so impor- tant as what may result from their escape from the gallows affecting the vouth of the land. These lads have corrupted the morals of countless thousands of young men by the force of suggestion through their pernicious conduct and their hideous example. They have “got off,” in the phrase of firstemotion reaction upon the sen- tefice. Youth is not analytical. Tt jumps to distinct conclusions. It sees only results. In this case it is apt to see capital crime committed and the usual sentence for such crime modified because of the comparatively tender years of the criminals. The danger is great that this case may stimulate crime in its most evil form. o case, e are, re. sentence a re | cutive | a se, since. .China asserts her spirit of excessive conservatism in refusing to recognize the effort of the remainder of the world to dismiss war as entirely out of date. o As a Madison Square afterthought, it may be remarked that Mr. Pat- tangall of Maine yields an entire gu- bernatorial term to Mr. Brewster. Plaza Park. The Stanton Park Citizens' Asso- ciation, in expressing its view that the Government hotels on Union Sta- tion Plaza should be abandoned and that the plaza should be made a park extending from the station to the Capitol, in accordance with the orig- inal intent of Congress, voices the majority opinion in Washington. The Government hotels, or dormitories, are on private land, and there is annual trouble over the non-payment of | cracksmen ground rent by the United States to the Baltimore and Ohio Ralilroad Company. The railroad company has béen a lenient landlord. A disposition has been manifested in Congress to abandon the hotels. If there was a cogent reason why the Government should build dormitories for Govern- ment employes, there is now no rea- son why the Government should con- tinue in the hotel business. The idea of Congress and of the people of the District was that a splendid park should be created be- tween Union Station and the Capitol. The idea has not been carried out, but certain steps have been made in that direction. One of the reasons for building 2 monumental Union Station was that the Capital should have as handsome a main entrance as any other city in the world. The “front vard” of Union Station, much of which is already owned by the United States, should be made a fair park, and people entering and leaving Washington by rail should have plea#”| ant impressions of the city. To spend millions of dollars in building Union Station and acquiring the plaza lands and then to delay making the small expenditure required to bring that land in harmony with the station and the Capitol is not wise policy. —————— The Great Jewel Mystery. Lord Mountbatten, awakened by a slight noise, was conscious of @ dim figure, moving about his bedroom. He thought nothing of the matter and went again to sleep. Perhaps he was accustomed Lo valets and other servants prowling about at night. In the morning the valet of the host discovered that a pearl shirt stud valued at $10,000 was missing. Later Lady Mountbatten became aware that many of her jewels were not to be found. She reported the fact to her hostess. Other members of the distinguished house party dis- covered that they had been deprived of costly gems. In the course of the morning it was ascertained that no 1 than $150,000 worth of trinkets were gone. That, in brief, is the outline of the “great jewel robbery” on Long Island, where the Prince of Wales is a guest. The dim prowler in Lord Mountbat- ten's bedroom is the only clue. As a clue it is not worth shucks, uniess the prowler left some footprints in the dust. and in such a household is supposed to be non-existent. 'ss he left fingerprints some- where, or perchance unless he care- lessly left a private-monogrammed cigarette stump behind him, one of his own, the so that so many use in fiction. To give the tale a particular tang, it happens that Scouend Yard men were on the lot. so to speak, in at- tendance upon the Prince of Wales. To think of such effrontery, to work an inside job with Scotland Yard men right at hand! Some nervel What price now the amateur-scien- detect :aled from his lab- v to take mcasurements and to ssect facts and (o put the house- hold staff through the third degree s a jewel robbery, plain and sim- ple, the job was a pretty big one. The haul was good. But the prom- inence of the victims and the prox- imity of a royal heir make the case stand out in the annals of crime in America as particularly conspicuous. It is announced that private de- tectives are at work. Perhaps they have some lines already. Maybe the “Green Goblin Gang” has been al- ready suspected. Perhaps one of the guests, a veritable Raffles, is under question. Possibly kleptomania lies at the bottom of the mystery. Or maybe somebody has been black- mailed and has had to steal to get | the means to buy silence in order to spare the feelings of a devoted hus- hand or wife, or has been hitting the market on the wrong side or been plunging on some sporting event and been compelled to take the first plunge into crime. Again, this may have been the work of a shrewd individual who saw his chance, took it, slipped into the house by an unguarded window or a convenient rainspout, got by when Lord Mountbatten turned his sleepy eyes in his direction and slid away with the plunder. Any follower of mystery fiction can supply the details. ——————— Europe is expected to point to the result of the ‘trial for the Franks murder as an evidence of the power of money in this land. If Europe can show any spot on its continent where money, and particularly the American dollar, is not held in rev- erential esteem, a great many de- votedly loyal citizens of the U.’S. A. will be tempted to emigrate. ———————— How Maine went in September is, with reference to the presidential election, accepted as significant, but not conclusive. The La Follette- Wheeler voters expect to complicate the situation sufficiently to prevent it from being uninteresting. e Germany, like other countries, is afflicted with a few politicians who insist on neglecting the present and the future in order to talk about “good old times.” ————— ‘While not able to take full posses- sion of the Democratic party. on his own account, Col. W. J. Bryan is hopeful of being able to keep it in the family. —————— September Frost. The lowest temperature recorded at the Weather Bureau during the past 24 hours was 43, that figure being registered at an early hour this morning, The recording instruments at the Weather ,Bureau being con- siderably higher than many points in the Potomac Valley, it is likely that frost formed at some places, but no reports of damagegin our nefghbor- hood have come to hand up to this time. As a rule, frost news comes only after general or widespread damage has been done. Destruction of garden and field crops in . our neighborhood is a very important local matter. Even the loss of gar- den flowers is a thing of importance to the owners of the flowers. With a succession of nights during which the official mercury has fallen close to the frost mark, it seems likely that a killing frost will come soon. Frost news has been recelved from the Cumberland Valley and@ other parts of the rich agricultural coun- try west of Washington. In the fields and gardens of the Potomac region .there are still crops, late be- cause of the tardy Spring, which would be killed by a September frost, and such a frost would cause loss to a large number of persons and would probably be reflected in higher food prices in Washington markets. Show the Colors! Tomorrow every citizen should show the National colors, The oe- casion will be Defense day, not named by law, but selected as a time for a demonstration of the readiness of the people when an emergency oc- curs or need should arise to stand for the protection of the Government and the territory of the United States. The particular reason why Sep- tember 12 was selected rather than another date is that it is the time when Gen. John J. Pershing passes from the active to the retired list of the Army, it being the eve of his sixty-fourth birthday. Therefore par- ticipation tomorrow in Defense day proceedings is @ tribute to an officer who has won the highest esteem of the American people, who magnifi- cently represented them at the head of the expeditionary forces abroad in the great war and who, though in the full vigor of his manhood, and capable of carrying on, is required by law to step aside from active duty Display of the American colors is the smallest possible degree of par- ticipation. The day is dedicated to defense, not to offense. It is sym- bolic of the preparedness of the coun- try for whatever peril may arise in the future, an evidence of ‘the spirit of national co-operation of the Amer- ican people. By that simple token should that spirit be made evident by those who are incapacitated from personally aligning themselves as po- tential defenders of the flag. —ve—s. Ludendorff allowed two of his hunt- ing dogs to run loose in Munich with out muzzles and had difficulty in per suading the authorities to spare their lives. The fact that he was able to do so assures him that he has a little | political pull left, such as it is. —————————— | As an inducement to elect him Vice President Gov. Charles Bryan might | mention the fact that he would pos- | sibly be able to interest an industrious man with previous experfence in the position of Secretary of State. —————— Great dictatorial powers are at- tributed to J. P. Morgan. And yet it { is impossible to escape the impression that there must have been an element of surprise for him in several of the *hominations. ————————— In order to avoid being presented to the public in a somewhat frivolous spirit, it may be necessary hereafter for visiting representatives of royal families to bring along their own press agents. ——— If reports from the “great white way'' press agents are to be accepted, the artistic tastes of the Prince of Wales are pretty much the same as those of the average out-of-town buyer. S The results of the Maine election present another occasion in which President Coolidge is likely to feel that it is not necessary for him to say anything whatever. ————— . SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Elaboration, ‘We are growing more enlightened Till we're ‘often almost frightened By th® wonderful improvements that we see. They're not always beneficial. Sometimes “they are prejudicial To the principles on which we all agree. Simple morals are not vaunted; ‘Wiles of wickedness are flaunted In a manner that is picturesquely queer. ‘While good works and simple think- ing To obscurity are shrinking, Murders grow more interesting every year. Useful, in Moderation. “I understand some of those people were inclined to heckle you,” .said the friend. “I don’t object to a few hecklers,” replied Senator Sorghum. “They serve to keep the rest of the audience awake.” Back to Regular Work. Of Babe and Dick we'll hear much less; And, freed from these dejections, ‘We may resume the business Of national" elections. Jud Tunkins says & man who thinks of nobody but himself is sure to get lonesome, owing to the fact that he and most other people are not interested in the same subject. Aggressive Youth. “What are you going to do with your boy Josh when he gets through with college?” “I hadn’t thought of that,” replied Farmer Corntossel. *“I was wonderin’ what the college was goin’ to do with itself when Josh gets through with it. Can't Get Away From It. - A judge with his nervi Two lawyers who wrangle— Again ‘we observe The eternal triangle. The Flattery of Attention. “How would you feel if some one sent you an anonymous letter?” “Right . now?". queried -Miss Cay- enne. “Certainly.” “I'd feel highly complimented. It would show that somebody simply couldn’t walit till Valentine's day.” “Noah showed his sense,” said Uncle Eben, “by goin' ahead. ah* bufldin’® his boat ’thout waitin' foh no. appropriations fum nobody.”™ ST. MIHIEL DAY BY FRANK H. SIMONDS, Six years ago tomorrow, September 12, at daylight, the first organized army of the American expeditjonary force in France, commanded directly by Gen. Pershing, who thus cele- brated his birthday, engaged in what Wwas up to that moment the greatest battle in American history, as it was the first in the world war in which our soldiers had fought wholly under American direction. Prior to the battle of St. Mihiel Americans had fought in various en- #agements, the 1st Corps at Cantigny, the 2d at Belleau Wood and the 1st and 2d, with six others, in the second battle of the Marne, which is known in our official records as Alsne-Marne. But always hitherto they had been under the general command of French officers, and the appearance of our soldiers under American com- mand was the double result of the very great achievements of individual divisions in the engagements in which they had already participated and the long and vigorous struggle Gen. Pershing had carried on for the cre- ation of an American Army under com- plete American command. i The battle of St. Mihiel was, tech- nically, a battle engaged for the re- alization of limited objectives, to ac- complish certain very definite results, and not, like the later Meuse-Ar- gonne, an attack to be continued until the enemy in front was not only beaten and driven from his immedi- ate positions, but crushed to an ex- tent which made further resistance impossible. In reality this St. Mihiel engagement was no more than a de- tail in the preparation for the Meuse Argonne, although it was in itself a very considerable affair, The purpose of the St. Mihiel of- fensive was to abolish the famous St. Mihiel sallent, in French mili- tary parlance, “the hernia of the fast” This sallent had been cre- ated in_ September, 1914, as a detail In the German offensive which culmi- nated at the Marne, and it was a German effort to drive a wedge be- tween the fortifications of Verdun and Toul and isolate the French armies fighting in Lorraine from the bulk of the allied forces operating west of the Meuse. * x k% At first successful, this German thrust had been ultimately checked, and the disaster of the Marne com- pelled the Germans to abandon it nd send all available reserves west- ward. As it endured for the next four ‘years this salient was a blunt- nosed” wedge, its base resting upon the permanent fortifications of Metz, extending across the marshy plain of the Woevre, crossing the heights of the Meuse and terminating in a small bridgehead on the west bank of the Meuse. The high ground on the north side of the sallent forbade successful at- tack, although the French tried it in the bioody failure of Les Eparges in the Winter of 1915. The south side, in the main crossing a swampy plain from the forests north of Pont- a-Mousson was more vulnerable, but had successfully defied a =erious French attack in the summer of 1915, since when St. Mihiel had become a quiet sector. The military value of the salient was twofold: Extending to the west bank of the Meuse, it cut and domi- nated the railway which comes down the Meuse Valley from Commerey on the Paris-Nancy trunk line to Verdun, thus partially isolating the fortress of Verdun, a fact in the great struggle of 1916. In the second place, the great Fort Camp des Romains, above St. Mihiel, gave the Germans direct vision of the Paris- Nancy trunk line itself, and forbade to the French the use of a portion of this vital artery, necessitating a long detour via Gondrecourt. Ay Pershing's army was assigned to the reduction of the salient, first, be- cause it would free his rear and communications in the Meuse Valley when he undertook his later offensive in the Meuse-Argonne, and secondly, because it offered an admirable field in which to test the American Arn a field in which failure would have no serious consequences, while s would harvest material, if nec limited, advantages. The Germans, already suffering from the rapid dimunition of their reserves and fearing an attack, had begun to retire from the salient to a new defense system across the base of the salient and resting upon Metz, but they had been slow in withdraw- {ing, and the attack caught them jutterly unprepared. The actual de- fenses were admirable, the ground wholly favorable to the defenders, and from the famous Mont Sec, a small mountain rising out of the Woevre Plain, they had a complete Sweep of the whole battlefield. Pershing’s plan of attack contem- plated a frontal thrust against the whole southern side of the salient be- tween the hills above the Moselle at Pont-a-Mousson, to the heights of the Meuse, cast of the latter river. In the main the attack was over roll ing, but relatively level country, crossed by the Rupt de Mad Brook, which flowed from the Heights of the Meuse to the Moselle, dotted with That -bumper Republican - vote. in Maine is the first fruit of the Get- Out-the-Vote-for-Coolidge movement that has been in progress in New England for the past six months. Willlam M. Butler and Frank W. Stearns, between them, decided long ago that New England’s pro-Coolidge emotions should be mobilized on a scale that would impress the coun- try. Sectional pride is the thing they relied upon to do the trick. The patriots who eat ple for breakfast haven't had one of their kind in the White House since John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts became President, in 1825. Both in the pri- maries and at election time Butler and Stearns are determined New Eng- landers shall do their full Coolidge duty, even {f they have to be taken to the polls on stretchers. The Pine Tree State primaries set the pace. In 1920 only 61,700 Maine voters registered. This year 109,475 report- ed, an increase of 77 per cent. L ‘Walter S. Rogers of Illinois, who is to direct the Rockefeller Foundation's survey of the American press, is the United States Government's principal expert on international electrical communications. He has bLeen hold- ing a Summer course on that subject at the University of Chicago, of which he is an alumnus. During the war Rogers was direotor of the division of foreign cable news for the Com- mittee on Public Information, and served in the same capacity at the peace conference in Paris. At the Washington ~armament conference Rogers was the American delega- tion's technical adviser on radio and allled questjons. He has spent a good deal of time in China and Japan, and is an authority on Far Eastern poli- tico-economic problems. One of Rogers' pet projects is to modernize China by feeding it with more and better American news by radio. * Kk % For many months Senator Hiram Johnson has maintained a masterly inactivity and profound silence in Republican affairs, but one of his quondam friends, Col. Rhinelander ‘Waldo, has just rolled up his sleeves for Coolidge. Col. Waldo, formerly police commissioner of New York City, bas organized the “Coolidge Non-Partisan League,” which is to which had value | WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. little lakes or large ponds and here and there broken by small woodlands, in contrast to the considerable for- ests near the Meuse and the Moselle. This frontal attack from soéuth to north was the main thrust, but a secondary attack was to be made from the north side, designed to join hands with the.southern thrust be- hind the nose of the safient and in the plain just at the foot of the Heights of the Meuse about the vil- lage of Vigneulles. When this junc- tion had been made all the German troops in the nose of the salient would be surrounded and captured and then the victors would pursue the Germans down the valley of the Mad Brook wuntil they came up ainst the new German defense sys- tem resting on the Metz fortifica- tions. * ok %k % The American Army is thus ranged and commanded: Hunter Liggett, with the 1st Corps, rests his right on the Mosclle; he has four divisions, the 82d, 90th, G5th and 2d, in line, the last alone a veteran unit. On the left of Liggett is Dickman, com- manding the 4th Corps, consisting of the 89th, 42d and 1st Divisions, the two last named aiready veterans. The 1st will have Mont Sec at its left and will advance by it, covering its flank rather imperfectly with a smoke screen. All of the salient from the front of the 1st Division right round to the northern side will not be at- tacked and French troops will main- tain & conncction. On the north side the 5th Corps, Gen. Cameron com- manding, composed of the 26th and 4th American and the 15th French Colonial. The 26th will strike south ! and seek to join hands with the 1st coming north. Thelr rendezvous is the village of Vigneulles. Nine American divisions are thus involved, but :’nly seven will be actually gaged. All told, the attackin will contain about 300,000 Ameriess troops and 70,000 French. 1t will be supported by great air and artillery centrations, in the by the- French. Sinlaupplied After four hours one of the heavi en- of bombardment, est of the date. ‘the troops leave. tha® treathos following the rolling - barrage. The attack on the north ®ide, however, does not begin until § am. Daswn of the 13th sees the meeting of the 26th and the 1st and the completion of the destruction of the =salient, froops of the Yankee division susi e vetes 5 Y5ating the veterans of ‘the it into The booty included 16,000 pri and 463 cannon, the cost war Ty casualties, one of the most profitable and least expensive days in the war up to that moment. Ludendorfr later admits that several good divi. sions werc destroyed, among them aAn Austrian sent to back up the Germans in a quiet sector to release @ German division for use elsewhere. This is, I think, the sole encounter | between an Austrian unit and any considerable American force during the whole war and one of the rare wppearances of Austrian troops on | the western front. ! * ¥ x # Very briefly the themselves on the Americans looking across the nearby Gravelotte and M lines stabilized new front, the| toward 'Metz \battlefields of] ( ars-la-Tour, fa S in 1570: both the railway lines were freed from German control and the ‘Wway was open for the Meuse-Argonne battle, which would follow that of St. Mihiel by only two weeks. Com- plete within itself, the battle of St. Mihiel was the final and shatter- Ing demonstration to the Germans that America had arrived and to the European allies that henceforth American contribution would be con- siderable and effective. Foch, already completing his plans for the final and general offensive from the Meuse to the Scheldt and the Yser, could €0 ahead, confident of decisive American aid. In no sense decisive, the battle of { St. Mihiel was nevertheless of very real importance, well planned, well executed, - won by relatively green troops commanded by inexperienced officers in the main, involving the capture of positions strongly fortified and long held, the first American battle in Europe. The decision to ob- serve the day hereafter thus not only fortifies the memory of one of the brightest pages in American military history, but also emphasizes the birth- day of that victorious general who led his troops only to success and headed the largest American Army which ever bas engaged in battle, and directed the operations of the most considerable engagements in our history. The magnitude of Gen. Pershing’s achievenient has been a little ob- scured by the rush of post-war events and the general, if momentary, neglect of recent events. Beyond ail doubt history will repair this temporary neglect, and this anniversary, which marks the end of his active military career, should give him some proof of the enduring national gratitude for his service and pride in his achievement, alike in fighting his Army and in making it. (Copyright. 1924, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) ramify all over the country. When Senator Johnson came back from Europe in 1923 Waldo was in charge of the arrangements to give him a conqueror’s weloome, with a view to bagging the 1924 Republican presi- dential nomination for California’s ex-favorite son. Col. Waldo, once a { you. BY C. E. TRACEWELL. “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Bacon's famous advice about books, it always seemed to me, is a Dbit carnivorous. Books are essentially spiritual things, since they deal wholly with ide: Such a metaphor is somewhat too digestive. The idea in it is good, however; that is why it has lived through the centurles, to crop up here today on the editorial page of The Star. Man- kind cannot get away from its idea: Books are like cabbages, in one respect, at least; they must be pur- chased either to be tasted, swallowed, or chewed and digested. Some one buys all the books; if not you, then another person, or a library or other institution. Probably no man living but has, | at some time or other, bought a book, if no more than a book 'on how to run & motor car. This. t0o, Is & book, and as such contains the spiritual essence, the idea, of the automobile. Hence bookshops loom as among the most interesting stores in a great city. London has its famous book stalls, renowned for centuries; so has Paris and other great cities of the world. The have an bookshops of Washington interest of their own, no less picturesque because we are familiar with them. Familiarity does not necessarily breed contempt, but does make for indifference. * x ox bly the first bookspop the| Washington boy and girl is a second-hand store cen- trally located There several shops that deal in school books, but this particular one Ix taken as a sample. Here, every fall, a big sign, “School Books,” is put out, heralding the fact that another scholastic year is about to begin. Those of us who have our school days safely behind us—thank God—often smile at that sign as we hurry by on the sidewalk or glimpse it from our car. There the latest “math” book is to be had, either new or second hand, alwo the version of Latin instruction decided upon the by school board for use this year, and the proper history of Rome, together with the “English lit” tome, containing approved ex- amples of prose and poetry. After school hours ordinary citizens will find it hard to get waited on in this store, owing to the influx of scholars from grade to high school “RES. Boys and girls crowd the aisles, one wanting a certain volume, another another, and so on down the line of required text books. One is free to roam among the stacks, however, if he cannot get waited on. These are tall and gloomy, although a light may be turned on when necessary. I particu- larly like the nook, over behind the proprietor's desk, where they keep the chess books. At least they used to keep the chess books there before 1 bought them all up. * ok % x The aforementioned shop stiil clings to the custom of placing several tables of old books on the sidewalk, labeled “25 cents” and “50 cents.” Here regularly stop booklovers of all ages and conditions, on hot days and on cold days. Tt is an interesting, sometimes a pathetic, sight to see old mer and young men, old ladies and snappy flappers, boys and girls, stop sudden- ly by the.stands, turn the leaves of first one volume and another, then walk away. or turn into the store with a book. Such tables were the first testers of human honesty. That honor does not belong to the newspaper tri- angles left at street corners for hon- est pedestrians to drop their pennies into. The book stands have been :on the streets of the world for centuries, and no man has slipped a volume under his coat and walked off with it, as far as is known. Almost always a man who likes books is too honest to steal them. I have seen many a ragged fellow stop before that stand anl 1ook at the books, only to pass on his way after awhile. One would like to go-for- ward and say, “Mister, I haven't got much money ,but if there is any book you want here, and you are tempo- out of funds, let me get it for But the absurd corventions of city life hedge us all in too clofely for that, much as we are ashamed to be seen giving a dime to a beggar, 80 we sneak it to him. *ox k% “A man will turn over half a li- brary to make one book” said Samuel Johnson. So one book will make a library. In the matter of books it is as in life in general—he who will not be satis- fied with little will be satisfied with nothing. A man had better have a few treasured books which he genuinely likes than shelves of expensive vol- umes purchased because some one else likes them. G, Every book store is doing its bit in this regard. As Carlyle pointed out in his “Heroes and Hero Wor- ship,” all that mankind has done, thought, gained or been. is lying “as in magic preservation” in the pages of books. The true university of these days, he said, is a collection of books. No limits as to size. either in smallness or largeness, are made, it will be noticed. Step into any book store in Washington, buy a book— any book—and you have a small uni- versity, or at least the beginring of one. Prob average know * Kk % Smart book stores are much alike. They have well lighted display rooms, with well dressed clerks Democrat, organized the Democratic Harding-for-President Club in 1920. * kX X X% Robert Peet Skinner, America’s blue ribbon consul general, who has just been transferred to Paris from Lon- don, comes from William McKinley's old congressional district, around Can- ton, Ohio. So does “General” Jacob Coxey, who once marched on Wash- ington at the head of a hoboes’ army. Skinner in those days was a budding young country editor, and Coxey en- gaged him as his press agent. 'Coxey always said it was Skinner's drama- tization of the descent upon the Dis- trict of Columbia that gave the march and the “General” their fame. Coxey ceased to be a hobo many years ago. * kX % There are between 65,000 and 70,000 persons in the District of Columbia, mostly civil service folk, who main- tain voting residences in their home States. Both parties go gunning for this “absentee vote” in presidential years, and ordinarily something like half of it is cast, usually by mail. Twenty-six: States allow voting by mail. Here and there, especially in close congressional districts, the mail vote from Washington has been known in the past to turn the tide. The national committees encourage the maintenance 6f clubs in thé Dis- trict for the purpose of capturing the “absentee vote."” * * * X Democrats ‘say they’re not going to let the G. O. P. get away with all of the glory for the Dawes plan. They point ont that Owen D. Young, co- framer of the plan, is a Democrat: that James- A. Logan, jr., who co- operated with Ambassador Kellogg at the London conference, was originally appointed to the reparation commis. sion by President flson, and that 8. Parker Gilbert, jr., who is to be- come permanent agent général for reparation payménts, was a2 Demo- dratic. discovery .in ‘the days when Carter Glass and' David ¥. Houston were Secrétarfes’of the Treasury. - hovering over the volumes, in some instances as if afraid booklovers might run away with a sét up their coat tails. An unforgettable scene in one of these shops was presented by a clergyman, who stood examining a Bible. Two ladies across the aisle, with clasped hands, breathed admi- ration. “Oh, isn't he sweet!" said ome. I felt like hollering right out, “Madam. you don't know that old bird.” Clergymen, you know, are human be- ings, too. Ask any preacher. The very newest books are dis- played on special counters, so that those who have plenty of time to devote to the river of fiction may get it without too much splashing around. Then there are fancy little shops of the new type which came in as a result of the Greenwich Village movement. They are down in base- ments, or up flights of stairs, or any place except where you would ex- pect to find them. Being a timid chap, myself. T am scared to enter these places, so can- not give a first-hand description. From the outside, looking in. they weem to say: “You are welcome, but you are expected to buy something, you know. * ok * * Now that is just exactly what any real booklover does not want to be told, either by direction or indirec- tion. He wants a shop where he can wander around ,and finally ease him- self out, not too close to the pro- prietor, if honestly he has no genuli e urge at‘the time to buy anything. No monetary loss will result to such a shop, for your true booklover will be back. All the Prince of Wales' horses and all his men cannot keep him away. This is the ideal toward which all book stores should strive, for it is not only in keeping with the glori- ous ti tions of such places, but also —there: is money in 8! ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. Will moths eat woolen clothing if it s perfectly clean when put away?—M. P. C. A. The Bureau of Standards says that moths will eat woolen goods that is clean, but if there are stains or spots, these are attacked first. Q. About how many Americans have gone to Europe this year’ BB A. Up to the present time about 135,000 passports have been issued for Europe this year. This number. however, includes amendments to passports. Q. Why is Mars red?—M. R. W. A. Dr. Asaph Hall says that it may be granite rocks or it may be red clay that gives back a ruddy reflec- tion in the sun’s light. Q. Are collies ever black?—sS. F. A. The collie dog may be black, tan, sable or red-orange-brown. There are also some pure white collies. Q. How high an_electric motor?—P. D. J. A. The electric motor is not a prime mover but a means of trans- mitting power. Its efficiency is us- ually over 90 per cent. is the efficiency of Q. Why is a hammer handle made smaller where it goes into the ham- mer than it is where It is grasped by the hand?—W. D. G. A. The hammer handle is made large enough at the end to fit the hand, and is smaller near the head 80 as to be more elastic and lessen the jar to the hand. Q. Where is there a marsh whose water is saturated with sodium sul- -A. E. L. : Geological Survey says that a salt marsh in which the water is composed almost wholly of sodium sulphate is located west of Valmont, New Mexico. Q. Is the author of “The House by the Side of the Road" still living? —G. W. M. A. Sam Walter Foss, the author of the poem “Let Me Live in a House by the Side of the Road,” died in 1911, Q. How many people are in the United States between the ages of 65 and 1007—R. F. A. In the 1920 census the age dis- tribution was, 65 to 69, 1,079,817; 70 o 74. 706.301; 75 to 79, 419,965; 84, 185,903; 85 to 89, 69,272 90 to 94, 16.3 5 to 99, 3,869; 100, 1,561; 92, 875 ages unknown Q. What kind of a government has Stam, and what position has Presi- dent Wilson's son-in-law there?—F. R. B. A. Siam is a kingdom and is now under the rule of Rama VI. Francis Sayre is adviser on forelgn affairs to the Siamese government. Q. On the whole, was the Army as- sembled in_the United States during the World War considered literate or illiterate?—I L. A. According to records of the Division of ‘Psychology, Medical De- partment of the Army, and the United States census, the wholly illiterate of the whole Army was approximate- 1y 311,000; relative illiterate, 712,000, | making a 80 to | total illiterate class of 1,023,000 and a literate class of 3,067,- 000. Twenty-five per cent of the total Army was illiterate according to these figur Q. What verse in the Bible con- tains all the letters of the alphabet? —J. M. A. The 21st verse of the Tth Chap- ter of the Book of Ezra contains all tho letters of the alphabet, with the exception of the letter “J,” which was not included in early alphabets. Q. Is the word used in connection with betting at horse races, “Pari- 1 Mutuel” or “Paris-Mutuel”?—D. R. .. A. The word is “pari-mutuel” and is of French derivation. ‘“Parl” means to bet, wager or stake, and ‘mufliel” has the idea of the English world mutual. In “pari-mutuel” bet- ting, bookmakers are climinated. machines recording the number of bets and amounts of money bet on ch horse. At the end of the race, all money wagered is divided among the ones who have bet on the win- ners, after a percentage is deducted for expenses. Q. Ts there a hot metal a person can burning it?— in which sert his hand without . M. A. If a person puts a finger or a hand into metal heated to an ex- tremely high temperature and with draws it quickly enough, the mois ture of the skin forms a coating and prevents burning. This is the same principle as when one wets a finger to test a hot iron | @ 1Is it true that school | in New England were to dig graves’—B. A. According to an old record the duties of an English schoolmaster of 1661 were as follows: “To act as court messenger, to serve summonses. to conduct certain ceremonial servic of the church, to lead the Sunday choir, to ring the bell for public worship, to dig graves, to perform other occasional duties.” the Pharos of Egypt even Wonders of the teac ever requ “pharos” means , and the Pharos of Egypt gigantic beacon which was established at Alexandria, Egypt, to | Ught tr riners to safety. It was built by Ptolemy in 282 B. C., and it was stated that it was 400 feet high and the light was visible for | 60 miles at Q. Should onion tops be fed poultry?—C. V. A. The tops of onions are eaten moderate quantities by all kinds | of poultry. This food should be kept from birds about to be used for table purposes, and from those producing eggs for food, because the flavor wil be imparted to flesh and eggs. in (To know where to find information on a subject is, according to Bosw true knowledge as to know the subject itself. Perhaps “your drop of ink faliing on a thought will make a thousand think.” Submit your perplering tions to The Star Information Burcai Frederic J. Haskin, director, Twen first and C streets northwest. Send a two-cent stamp for dircct replu.) THE TRAFFIC PROBLEM BY ERNEST GREENWOOD ecretary of the Conference on Street and Highway Safety Article T It is a tradition in Washington that the solution of any problem must be preceded by a period of “surveying” ¢ and “collating.” The available data must just be gotten together, and it just must be collated, and then it just must be redistributed; and presto. you have the solution. This formula” provides an excellent occu- pation and living for the professional secretary who, when he isn't a news- paper man out of a job, is too often a near economist, who ought to know better. Quite a number of our great national problems have been solved in this fashion. A survey of the available data with regard to the traffic situation and accident prevention, however, leaves our former newspaper man, or our near ecoromist, high and dry, so to speak. fact, mighty little of there is is rarely comparable. At the present time there are three States which might be called really advanced in this regard; they are the States of Massachusetts, Con- necticut and Maryland. States are following their lead and passing legislation which will make the data necessary to a successful accident prevention program obtain- able, but these three States easily lead the rest in recognition of the situation. As a result, Stoeckel of Connecticut, Goodwin of chusetts, and Baughman of Maryland, are as popular as topics of conversa- tion among students of traffic as the eighteenth amendment is in smoking compartment of any Pull- man. These lads have succeeded in producing figures which at least indi- cate trends if nothing else. * k% % But much as we may dislike the statistician who moves in an atmo- sphere too rarefied for minds of com- mon mold, statistics. and uniform it, statistics at that, are a necessity to a | solution of the traffic problem and to a national policy of accident preven- tion. It can easily be shown that a uniform system of reporting acci- dents is an absolute fundamental in any program having that end in view, As in everything else, accident pre- vention is dependent on past accident experience, and the information must be comparable, Accident statistics develop the cause, location, frequency and sever- ity of accidents. With these four factors in the equation known, the solution is perceptibly nearer. They are, for example, essential to the preparation of a spot map. This i a large map of the city or State, on which every accident is recorded. It establishes geographic areas of frequency. With it the authorities know where to look for causes which in many instances can be eliminated. Yet, curiously enough, the spot map often shows the greatest frequency to be located on straight level stretches. There is only one answer to this—increase the traffic police pa- trol and bring in the speeders and the reckless drivers. * % k¥ Accldent statistics in States like Con- necticut, where they have been gath- ered from every conceivable angle, tell us all sorts of things. They tell us whether legislation should be directed at maximum speeds or at reckless driving. Apparently more accidents occur at low rates of speed than at high. One can be quite as reckléss going 15 miles an hour as at 40 miles an hour. Also it seems that more fatal accidents occur out- side the cities than in them. e Available figures tend to establish the fact that, although, trafic may be about the same at the peak hour in the afternoon as at the peak hour in the morning, there will 'be from two to four times as many motor vehicle accidents during the after- noon as during the morning. The only answer to this seems to be fatigue, as it is in industrfal acci- dents. Nefther the motor. vehicle driver nor the pedestrian is as alert in the late afternon hours as he is in the morning hours. . It is a bad combination.. . , _ In Connecticut 35 per cent of all accidents occur during the three There is, as a matter of | and what | True, other | Massa- | the | Summer months. Only 10 per cent | occur during the first three months |of the vear. This hardly requires anation. But in 1918, with 100 motor vehicles registered, Con- ticut had 1,987 accidents, while in 1923, with 189,000 registrations, the State's figures show 16,500 accidents. Naturally the authori ask: “Are Connecticut people four times as careless as they were in 19187 Thes estimate the toal pecuniary loss from automobile accidents in the State during 1923 at $5,500,000, not count- ing hospital bills, loss of time from business and loss of use of car. S An analysis of all accidents in Con- necticut shows that 70.5 per cent were the fault of the operator of the car, 22.8 were the fault of othe persons, 4 per cent were the fault of defective equipment and 2.7 per cent were due to all other causes 1t is my belief that these percent: would hold good for almost any well populated State. The volume of ex | perience is at least sufficient to en {able us to draw general deductions They probably would not hold good | for States that are largely rural. It | is_interesting to mnote that when only fatal accidents are considered Inearly as many were the fault of |others as were the fault of the op- erator. An attempt to compare the urban |and rural fatal accidents, however {leads to no conclusion. For all regis- | tration States the urban death rate is |16.9 and the rural death rate 84 which gives a ratio of urban to rural of 2 to 1. In California, however, the urban death rate is 25.2 and the rural is 27. Here we find that the urban death rate is .93 of the rural rate. In South Carolina the urban death rate is 7 times the rural death rate, while up in Vermont the situation is almost identical with that in California. | A very large proportion of 18,000 motor vehicle fatalities which occur during the vear involve chil- dren. The average person thinks of these as being children playing in the streets. But the traflic statistician even with the meager figures at his command, tells us that more children are killed going definitely somewhere than are Killed plaving in the street It seems that a child is in more dan- ger going straight to or from schaol than if it stops to play in the only | playground of all too many children | the city street. Apparently the child |so playing is at least subconsciousiy | thinking in terms of safety, while the | child preoccupied with a definite er- rand is not alert. Ex oy Accident statistics indicate that the Wweather is too often unjustly used as an alibi for the accident rate. In Massachusetts 88 per cent of the fatal accidents and 87 per cent of the non- fatal accidents occur in fair weather. | Fox accounts for 4 per cent of ail {accidents. The rain can be blamed | for 7 per cent of the fatal and 8 per cent of the non-fatal accidents, while snow causes but 1 per cent. In Massachusetts, Delaware and Mary- land a majority of accidents occur in the day time. Of course, traffic is much heavier during the day than during the night, but one would be inclined, to think that this would be more than counterbalanced by the ad- ditional hazards due to darkness, 1 have given above just a few facts developed by the careful gathering of statistics to show how necessary the statisticlan is to any attempt to solve the problem. One- sixth of all the deaths due to acci- dents in the United States are caused by motor vehicles, and the cause,,lo- cation and freguency of these acci- dents must be determined before the accident rate can be greatly lowered The three states of Massachusetts, {Connecticut and Maryland ~ have Iproved this to be a fact. Other states have proved it. This leads te two rather definite conclusions. irst there should be some uniform system of reporting accidents throughout the United States. Second, the failure on the part of a motarist to report an acident should be made a very serious ‘offense, punishable with a severe pen- alty. (Copyright, 1824, by Current N o Togt News Features, the