Evening Star Newspaper, December 13, 1924, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR *_ With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C SATURDAY. ..December 13, 1924 -Editor . THEODORE W. NOYES The Evening Star Newspaper Company ‘ Bustness Office, 11th St. and_Pennsylvania.Ave. New York Offe: 110 East 4214 St cago Office: Towe: e : Buropean Oitice : 16 Regent St.,London, Eagland. The Evening Star, with the Sunday. morzing edition, " iu delivered by carriers within the ¢ity ai 60 cents per month: dally only, 45 gnta ber month: Bunday only. 20 cents’ per month, Orders may be sent by or tele- plione ‘Main 5000. Collection is made by ear- Hers at the end of each. month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1yr., $8.40: 1 mn, 700 Daily only. 1 mo., 60¢ Sunday only. 1mo. 20 Daily and Sunday.1 yr., $10. Daily only.......1yr, Sunday only......1yr, $3.00; 1 mo., 25¢ Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Press {a exelusively entitled fo the nse for republication of all mews dis- Patches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local mews pub lished ‘herein. All rights of publication ef Special dispatches herein are also reserved. — Samuel Gompers, Samuel Gompers died veritably ip line of duty as the leader of labor in America. Going from the annual meet- ing of the American Federation of La- bor at El Paso, at which he had been re-elected president, to attend the meeting of the international federa- tion at Mexico City, he was seized with an iliness which in the rarefied &ir of the Mexican capital he was un- eble to withstand. Hurried back to this country in the hope of recovery he survived only a few hours, and died carly this morning at San An- tonio, Tex., in the 74th year of his age, . An adopted American, being Eng- lish by birth, Samuel Qompers has rendered to the workiag men of this country an immense service. He pos- sessed marked abllity as an organizer and a leader. Since his 14th year | he has been actively at work to pro- mote the welfare of the toilers. He helped develop the Cigarmakers’ In- ternatfonal Union, that being his own trade. He was one of the founders of the Federation of Trades and Labor Unions in 1881, and was its president for three years. In 1886 he partici- pated in the founding of the Amerizan Federation of Labor, and has from that time continuously, excepting 1895, served as its president. Samuel Gompers was a remarkable man in his ability to hold together often divergent elements. He was con- servative in his general views, but at times was obliged to compromise for the sake of effective organization with the less conservative factors in organ- ized labor., Yet he never was radical. He resisted consistently and success- fully the efforts of radical forces to | gain dominarfe in the federation. He co-operated with employers and with | Government to advance the welfare of the trades. It is impossible to estimate ac- curately the contribution of Samuel ©ompers to the advancement of the welfare of the American working men -in the course of his neariy 40 years of | service at the head of the greatest and most representative organization He has stood for the shortening of the hours of labor, for a higher scale of pay, for improvements in working eonditions. He has been an advocate of arbitration in the settlement of is- sues between employers and workers. Although at times he supported strikes, he was not militant in his gen- eral policy to the point of favoring this method of settling disputes, which he recognized as wasteful and harm- ful and evil in its effect. A deep student of economic ques- tlons, Mr. Gompers brought to his task as leader a full equipment of capacity to understand issues and to propose remedies, He was a sturdy fighter, a wise counselor, & vigorous writer, an invaluable leader. His death leaves a vacancy which it will be diffi cult to fill. Organized labor inthe United States has suffered a great loss. —ooe o Congress has often manifested a readiness to suggest where money fought to go without indicating clearly where the money is coming from. Per- haps an explicit statement on the lat- ‘ter point is not necessary. It is some- thing that every taxpayer knows. The Potomac Electric Plan. Consummation of the plan for hy- firo-clectric development of the upper Potomac, with power plants at Little Falls, Great Falls and perhaps with conversion of water-power into elec. tricity at the storage dams on large crecks which flow into the Potomac near Harpers Ferry and west of the confluence of the Potomac and Shen- andoah, is advanced by House com- mittee action. The enterprise under consideration would be the largest and most costly conservation measure in ‘the Washington region, would be one /0t the big hydro-electric undertakings of America and would be one of the key projects in the superpower plan as proposed by the Northeastern Su- perpower Committee of which Secre- (tary Hoover is chairman. A number of surveys of the Great Falls region have been made in the past 50 years with ‘the idea of hav- ing the falls generate electricity, but the plan under consideration is by far the most elaborate that has been con- ceived. It calls for impounding large tributaries of the upper Potomac for the purpose of conserving flood water and maintaining. a relatively - steady +flow near Washington. It calls for a dam below Little Falls, which would create a deep lake reaching to the gorge below Great ¥Falls; submerge miuch country along the river and es- tablish’ public land reserves ‘along ‘the Takeside. It would call for impound- Ing water at Great Falls and the build- Ing of hydro-electric plants near Little and Great Falls. Electric plants might be built on other parts of the river and at the storage reservoir dams on the creeks west of Washington. . The last of the water-electric sur-|of lights, wé have proposed special “'veys of the upper Potomac was made | types of fllumination for the streets oy -Government authority and under |and avénues:that are natural traffic ltrection of Maj. M. C. Tyler. The |arteries.” It has been said by the engineer’s repasé on the plan and higfevilian measures for carrying the plan into effect were the groundwork of the Norris bill for hydro-electric develop- ment of the Potomac, which bill has been passed by the Senate, ' On Friday a special subcommittee of the House™ District commitfee ordered a favorable report to the full tom- mittee! . There is disagreement betwedn en- gineers as to whether the price of Potomac electricity. could be reduced s0 much below the price’ of coal-made electricity as to warrant the expendi- ture for developing the river. The weight of engineering opinfon is that hydro-electric development of the Po- tomac would be justified, and the con- servation of coal, which is increasing in cost, is a factor. Maj. Tyler has computed that coal plants would use 500,000 tons of coal a year to produce the 675,000,000 kilowatt hours of pri- mary elgctrical current which can be generated by the river. G b Third Party Consideration: Decision by the executive commit- tee of the Conference for Progressive Polftical Action to call a national con- vention at Chicago February 25 does not necessarily mean that a third party will be definitely organized. This action is really in accordance with the call of the convention held in July at Cleveland, which nomi- nated Senator La Follette for Presi- dent. Yet there was a considerable opposition in the executive commit- tee to carrying out this mandate. Sig- nificantly, this opposition came mainly from the representatives of the rail- road labor organizatfon which had been foremost in support of La Fol- lette and in the backing of the third party of, the past campaign. This in- dicates that organized labor will not generally join a third party movement f the Chicago convention should de- cide upon organization. On the other hand, the Socialist elements repre- sented at yesterday's ~conference strongly favored the formation of a third party. Thus a divergence ap- pears between. organized labor and the | Soclalists. B Numerically, the votes cast for La Follette at the recent election might encourage the elements opposed to the two ‘major parties to hope for a gon- tinued support from the people in case a definite organization were under- taken. But it is evident that a large percentage of that vote was the re- sult of dissent from the Democratic ticket incident to the disappointments caused by the Madison Square Garden convention. It was not in the East, at least, a genuine, lasting third party expression. In the West the La Fol- lette vote was a grievous disappoint- ment to the promoters of his candi- dacy. He carried only one State, whereas at least seven were -confi- dently expected, and at one time it was claimed that he would carry enough States to deadlock the elec- | toral college. Although indorsed by the American Federation of Labor, he | did not get the dominating support of organized labor. Although appegl- ing to the farmers, he did not get the support of the agriculturists. Not one of ‘the farm States of the West voted for him. Of the four and a quarter million | votes which appeared to have been cast for La Follette in November more than one million were polled in three Eastern States, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, in which there | is little, if any, chance of a successful third party organization. In 10 of lhe! Western States, California, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming, the La Fol- lette vote exceeded that cast for Davis. That alone is the basis for encourage- ment for third party organization. But the electoral votes of these States total only enough to give a third party a possible blockading force. All of these are normally Republican ‘States. In the late election only one of them was carried by the third party. A tull.coalition of La Follette and Davis votes in them would have made the race close through failure of an elec- toral majority. Analysis of the November 4 vote leaves but small encouragement for third party organization. The atti- tude “of the railroad brotherhoods lessens the chance of securing the support of organized labor. The re- fusal of the Western farmers to fol- low cuts off an important factor of support, All these considerations will be. taken into account at the Chicago cofl entfoh. i Archeologists of this country can hope for no such disclosures on our own soil as have been made in Egypt. Névertheless there 1s enough interest in the old mound builders to warrant the Carnegie Ipstitution .in seeing America first. ————.—— A nation as much interested.in econ- omy as the U. S. A. is at present must be excused if it takes occasion in a friendly way to remind other nations of their 1. O. U's. America does not recagnize the Rus- sian government, but its people give courteous assurance that they know a grand duchess when they see her. _For Brighter Street Lighting. -All that is needed for the better lighting of Washington streets is ap- propriation ‘of sufficient money = by Congress. The chief purpose of bet- ter - lighting" is to make: streets safer for traffic and pedestrians. The danger 2 reasonable price. of fll-lighted and shadowy streets has been discussed by many citizens' as- sociations and other civic bodies, and it #5 common knowledge that many Washington streets used by a large volume of traffic are dimly lighted. The District Engineer Commissioner says that there is no doubt that a large percentage of serious accidents occur at night, and it follows that bet. ter street lighting will be an impor- tant factor to make the streets safer. He has said: “In working out our plans for the city-wide jmprovement Commissioners that THE lighted streets ought to réduce the number of traflic accidents and that the District Commissioners will urge Congress to make adequate appropri- stlons for carrying out & program tmproved {lluminatton. ’ A National Arboretum. A il is pending in the House and Senate for the acquisition of a tract of land lying northeast of the city and the establishment there of a national arboretum. It is proposed to use this area, which is generally known as Mount Hamilton, for the culture of in- digenous trees and of plant growths from other lands that may be accli- mated. The soll is remarkably sulted to such a purpose. The bill land is adaptable to certain’forms of tree life, while the lower lands, bordering on anfl In part reclaimed from the Ana- costia River, are especlally suitable for other growths. In the opinion of scientists this combination is the most favorable for aboretum uses that can be found in the United States. At present the Government has no place where it can preserve and ex- periment with native and forel; ree life, Specimens of allen trees and plants are being received here con- stantly by the Department of Agricul- ture for which there is no suitable planting space. They -must be dis- tributed, usually to private parks. In the national forests great growths of standing timber are preserved, but no organized attempt 18 made, for lack of facilities, at the cultural study of trees native to the United States and those suitable for transplantation from other soils. At Mount Hamilton practically every indigenous and for eign plant and tree of the temperate climate can be grown. Efforts to secure the establishment of a national arboretum here at Wash- ington have persisted for years. The selection of Mount Hamiiton as the appropriate site gave a definite objec- tive to this endeavor. Now the pend- ing bills propose the acquisition of the site with the needful appropriations to follow. Time is an element of im- portance, In the growth of the city this tract will eventually, and perhaps in @ short time, be taken for subdivi- sion for the bullding of homes unless the Government secures it. It is not a mere acreage of land. It is a par- ticular site, peculiarly sultable for arboretum purposes and not to be re- placed with a substitute. Considerations of economy dictate early action rather than delay. For the value of this land will advance rather than recede as the years pass The Government can obtain it now at Later it will have to pay more—if it can get it. There- fore. It is urgert that the bills provid- ing for the creation of a national ar- horetum at Mount Hamilton should be passed at the present session to start this long-delayed work, which is of such importance in tha preservation and study and development of native and adaptable trees and plants, — vat——————— Armament is being built in various parts of the world. Habit is hard to overcome, and if arrangements for per- manent peace call for destruction of valuable war material there will be too. much general rejoicing to permit the public to eomplain of the expense. at—— Possibilities of a clash between Ja- pan and this country, however remote, make such an interesting subject for discussion that the people of either country are never allowed entirely to forget them. —rat—————— England is resolute in her policy of never allowing her citizens when in foreign lands to be undefended vic- tims of hitand-run recklessness in any form. ———————— Music and speeches are heard all the way between Europe and America. Regardless of the distance the mate- rial always sounds pretty much the same. e———————— Prohibition enforcemefit is not likely to prevent genuine “Christmas cheer,” but may-be the means of avolding a number of riext-morning headaches. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Filial’ Obligation. “Tobaceo I shall never use,” Said little Robert Reed. “All nicotine I shall refuse, Because it's bad, indeed. “I toss away -the cigarette, Though comrades say, “ha ha!" ‘A good example we’should set For frivolous Mama.” Terrible Thought. “Have you ever thought of retiring from politics?"” “Never in my waking hours,” an- swered Senator Sorghum, “But the thought frequently recurs as a form of nightmare.” E ‘The Busy Salesmen. A shopping tour is something grand As patiently you make it. You stand with money in your hand, But no one cares to take it! Jud Tunkins says times change. When & woman wore corsets she looked like an hour glass. Now she looks like' grandfather's clock. Enforcement. “'A stein on the table™ The law bids us skip. We'll also disable The flask on the hip. Too Easily Content. “I. admire the self-confidence of youth.” “So do 1,” answered Farmer Corn- tossel, “If it doesn’t go too far. Years ago somebody: told my hoy Josh he'd mebbe grow up to be President of the United States, and he has been puttin’ on airs ever since. ¢ A Speeder. Should Santa prove a trifie slow, ‘When Christmes stockings are in lne, . ion, 3% Unto the station house weill go, ' | And, maybe, help him pay his fine. ‘“Hope foh de: best,” said ‘Uncle Eben, “but do enough regular work wavertise de fact dat you's hopin".” EVENfNG STAR, WASHINGTON, D. 0. -SATURDAY, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Making mental photographs i one g00d way to spend the time on the street car coming down to work in the morning. | There are other ways, of course, such as reading a book or a newspaper, look- ing out the window, hanging onto & strap, stepping on people’s toes, jabbing them with your elbows, playing Horatius at the bridge In the aisle. All these gentle diversions, however, have decided drawbacks. If you read a book, the passenger sitting next to you insists on reading the same text over your shoulder, which is disconcert- ing, to say the leas If you' try to read-a paper, the blamed thing is 80 big it gets into all sorts of trouble. - The part you want to get at acts as a blanket for. fellow passan- gers, blocking their light and view. Once you get |t folded around to sult the prospect of turning to something clse terrifies you, so that you read the sume item over and over again, mile after mile. Looking out the window loses its charm after you have traveled the same ‘route, back and forth, for 15 years. Hanging onto a strap is a forced occupation, not a chosen one, therefore, smacks of coerclon, always repulsive. As for stepping on people’s toes, Jab- bing them with your elbows and play- ing Horatius at the bridge, these enter- tainments appeal only to women, it would seem, and only to & certain type of woman, at that. Alas and alack, indeed, for the pleas- ant ‘theory that all women are sweet creatures! This kindly theory is knock- ed Into a cocked hat 10,000 times a day on street cars, running hither and yon, throughout the District of Columbia. It is knocked two ways to Sunday, and completely galley west. * % % K the Making mental photographs i one thing you can do without lei or hindrance, without auxiliary apparatus, without attracting any attention. It requires no camera other than those two remarkable ones situated in your head. You take, develop and print your pictures at one operation, which is even better than Mr. Eastman manages to do. An interest in humanity is neces- sary. This need not be—in fact, should not be—an overflowing love that sees only good, hypocritical at- titude which refuses to see evil and pretense and ull the other faults Which stick out as plainly as warts. No, we are not true lovers of our Kind If we refuse to see all. 1f we admit no imperfection, how can we know perfection when we meet it? If 1 edmire the good, how can. I praise it enough if 1 have no foil with which to measure it? Just as the inherently mean chil- dren we meet now and then help us to realize the essential decency of the average American boy, so our realization of the bad along with the good alds us in getting true photo- graphs of men and women. As for me, when I get to heaven. and listen to the angels sing to- Rether, T am sure ¥ will be able to pick out the third angel from the 1eft, who will insist on singing flat. By so0 doing [ will be all the better able to appreciate the loveliness of the celestial music and the work of the Choir Master. * % % % Here on our Washington car—to descend archangel—we sit snapping plctures of cotemporaries. There is no click of shutter or ad- Justment for focus. No need to turn the kev to bring the next section of film before the lens. We take pic- tures today with God's camera—a fect we ought to remember—as we roam at will in this moving gallery Our pictures come in lke velvet Here is the chief—thick set, gray hair, red face, blue suit, blue cap— the chlef of & fire department engine company. What he has heen through street is all written there, and we take it in. an We do not miss a fire—not Diary a Washington sponden Am constantly meeting people who think the political situa- tion In Washington is dull because the Capital is not rocking with sen- satlon. and scandal. Others think “politics” means only the rivalries, bickerings and trivalities of our so- called great parties. Cross-word puz- of alers will find that Webster defines politics as “the science of govern- ment.” Thus. politics of the genuine kind is being practiced in Washing- ton all the time. The real politicians are not bosses. national committee- men. State leaders and congressional egoists. They are the chiefs of execu- tive bureaus, income tax examiners, filing clerks, botanists and the thou- sand and one different kinds of Fed- eral servants who. unheralded and unsung, are doing Uncle Sam’s chores. They are scientists in government and politicians in the proper sense of a misunderstood term. * % * % Town this week end is crammed with publishers, editors and scribes of high repute from coast to coast. The Midwinter dinner of the Gridiron Club is the magnet. Invitations to that feast are still the most coveted social honors in the Republie, not ex: cepting & bid to tea with a Russian grand duchess. Washington corre- spondents who are Gridironers have couple of tickets aplece at thelr disposal. Usually they are bestowed upon their home-office bosses. Mem- bers are always pestered by outsiders who crave the experience of partici- pating in one of the famed frolics. Know a colleague who got a telegram this week reading: “Please reserve me eight-places for Gridiron dinner, near President's table as possible. Club’s rule—"Reporters never pres- ent; ladies always present’—means that speakers may talk freely and that no one is ever expected to tell a rough story. * ok ¥* % Lunched with Capt. Bruce Bairns- tather, British artist and soldier, and creator of “Ole BIlL” e's settled down in “the States” for six months to write an American play. Wanted my advice about background for a Washington scene which requires the bestowal of an official award of honor upon a forelgner who has saved Yankee lives by an act of extraor- dinary heroism. Secretary ~Hughes' department had authentic data. There's an act of Congress which authorizes the State Department to &ive a watch, a gold medal or a pair of binoculars to any non-American who (usually at sea) has exhibited great courage and snatched.sons or daughters of Columbia from sudden death, ~ In certain clrcumstancs the President himself makes the presentation. Being America and not France, nobody is kissed. * ok x % John Mitchell Hawley, rear admiral United States Navy, retired, delight- ful old sow dog, 78 years young, spun entranoing yarns at my desk. He was appointed to the Naval Academy from Coolldg home town of Northampton, M elght years be- fore the President was born. Kins- man of (len. Dawes—Senator Henry L. Dawes—made him & midshipman. Admiral Hawley llves In the hous in Washington that he ‘and Mrs, Hawley, who is still with him, bought when he was & “loot.” Hawley left the Navy In 1807, after 39 years’ con« secutive service. Commanded the flagsbip Brooklyn In 1904 and brought faster than did tht" WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE corre- | even- that wintry night when the iclcles hung on to his hat and cne of his brave lads went to his death be- neath the falling wall. “Hello, chief.” an acquaintance calls. “Ain't vou ‘fraid to ‘g0 out in the wet The chiet grins. “Been in worse rains than this” he replies! Our piotures are talking pictures as well as moving pictures, you know. A turn of the head—out goes the chlef—in comes a pretty girl—just like velvel. What a very pretty girl, too! Some pretty girls are pretty &irls by courtesy. They are pretty by contrast, rather than actually. This one needs nothing to offset her, Regular features, perfect com- plexion, bright eyes, soft hair, hat that fits ‘her head and in with her hair and face, long cloak, walst fetehingly open at the neck—yes, sir, a regular pretty girl. How calm she sits, adorning our street car, no whit moved by the fact that she knows we are taking her photegraph. “T am glad you ltke me.” her eyes seem to say. “How do.you know I do? “Your eyes have told me 80, she sings. N o * % ok % ere 18 a fat woman. She glides in like a ton of brick. Ah, dear l:nu you, too, are welcome! Not until the su fuses to shine for me will I refuse to take your picture along with the rest. As a fat woman you Are admirable. Everything has its place, even a fat 1ady in a crowded street car. You, too, were once a pretty girl, any one can see that. But mow you fiil the camera to overflowing. You are a bit too much— we turn e'sewherc, In comes a tall girl, wavy brown hair, pathetic eyes of bine, large mouth with infinite droop at the eorncrs, e'ashed cloak of blue and brown, George Waghington hat. The car is not so crowded yet but we can approve of her #tockings of lightest brown, Like velvet, out she goes, and in slides & young man in blue overalls, with an ordinary butiness suit coat over them. He has an outdoor look to his coun tenance and a gray cap on his head, and he talks to his neighbors as any real countryman should. Like velvet, in comes a schoolgirl, with Buter Brown collar of white, with huge black artist's tie tucked beneath her rounded chin. She wears a dark blue hat, with criss-crosees of bright yellow thread. She is ceated. By her slde stands a high school boy. He has a pale face beneath dark cap. He talks incescantly of mathematics— he calls it “math"—of composition and other studies. us as strange. His conversation strikes until we stop to realize ngs are his present busi- Like velvet, he goes out, and in comes | & mear-pretty girl. Do not blame the | camera for showing so many girls. They comprise 75 per cent of the car's popu lation. The near-pretty girl just misses being pretty. If nature had made her mouth a little better, molded her nose A bit nearer to the heart's de she wou'd be as contented as that really pretty girl. Like_velvet, in floats an ugly girl. #he does not break the camera. She has her place, too. Sometimes she is better | than the pretty girl, and then again she |is not. Let us never mi: look approvingly at the u girl, for that makes her feel better about her- relf. - Our camera moves, and having moved, | brings in. like velvet, a tall member of the Navy Band. holding a leather case containing his precious horn. Raindrops gleam upon the case. If that were our horn we wou'd wipe off those raindrop but he does not mind Juet like veivet—in drifts school cadet, trafling a long rifle Like velvet—for the jast time, for our camera is tiring—in glides the gray- haired motorman. And we will leave him and hia car, with his oration ring- ing in our ears “Move forward, please. plenty of room up front. {—it won't hurt you.” No, a high There s Move forward home the body of John Paul Jones, now magnificently entombed at An- napolis. * %ok % Comes a scion of an F. F. V., and reports to me that an amiable wnd aftable young Englishman like & twin of the Prince of Wales has been cashing bogus checks, bor- rowing money and enjoying country- house hospitality in various Old Do- minion communities. Successtully palmed himself off as “Hugh Tennant, bassador at Washington.” Young Tennant, well and agreeably known In the Capital, hasn’t been in America for six months. Left here about the time Sir Auckland G retired from the ambassadorahis. e like his former chlef. is now in busi- ness in London, where I saw him In August. Pseudo-Tennant claimed to be on a motoring holiday in Vir- ginfa. Danced and dressed so well that nobody mistrusted him. He's still at large; so are a couple of gold watches to which he took a fancy 3.3 gertain home in “the valley.” eal Hugh Tennan Rt s t is a nephew of o, * *x % x mbassador Jusserand tells me h, is deeply touched by ceaseless tributes of affection and farewe!l under which he and his consort are. gratefully bearing up. Three great Philadelphia organisations are giving him an adieu banquet -on December 20, the Ameri. can Philosophical Soclety. the Transt atlantio Soclety of America and the Alllance ~ Francalse. Washington's great civic dinner in the retiring diplomat's honor on January 10 is already an assured success. ~Capac- ity of the Capital's biggest banquet. ing hall will be taxed to limit. Her- bert Adams, Vermont sculptor genius, is designing a gold medal to be pre- sented to America's Gallic friend of 22 years standing. PR Have just card-indexed Owen D. Young as an up-and-coming young Democrat who may be worth watche ing In 1928. Gov. “Bert” Ritchie of Maryland, toasting Young at the magnificent New York feast tender- ed the “constructive genius of the Dawes commission,” reminded big business leaders there assembled that Young is a Democrat. Since the typhoon struck John W. Davis little children of the rich are not in high favor with the practical politicians. But the chairman of the General Electric Co. and the Radlo Corpora- tion of America is something more than & minion of “the interests Young is a business statesman, with the valor of his convictions. “In the lexicon of business there 1§ no such word as igolation,” sald Young in his banqguet peroration. ‘“America must do business Internationally, without sentlment, but with courage and vision.” There's a presidential plat- form. T (Copyright, 1924.) The Other Angle. From the Detroit News. As long-as the world’s population is srowing all ‘the time, isn’t it entirely possible that if sin is increasing so is virtue? . The Stiff Fight. ¥From the Baltimore Sun. Adversity Is a fine thing. The rutyou oppose & beard the touglier 'y Tooking | private secretary to the British Am- | BY 'THE . BOOKLOVER The retent deaths of Bertha M. Clay (at legt one of her person- alitles) and Laura’ Jean Libbey re- ¢all to.fiome of us the days of our uncultured youth when at school, be- hind" the friendly ~screens of gur desks, wé perused the sugared and spiced fomances of these .and sister authors of similar lMterary standards. Last Summer in a typical country atore of ‘a small mountain town 1 saw a shelf of paper-covered novels with the sfgn above it “All the novels of Bertha M. Clay, 15 cents each.” For the suke ,of auld’ lang syne I bought one and read it, but.the oldtime thrill, or “kick” as the moderns call it, did not come again. Bertha M. Clay was a sort-of Homer, that is, according to the modern criticism which makes Homer a composite name for many bards. . Th@ earlier works written un- der the name of Bertha M. Clay were by Charlotte. M. Braeme, an English writer, and after her death the work was taken up by other writérs, some ©of whom weré men. The style of sev- eral huhdred novels, if style they can be sald to have, seems to be fairly uniform, In them all stereotyped, sentimental incidents are related in stereatyped, sentimental language. The tities show some skill,” as “Lady Secret,” “Fair. But P‘a!l*- Wedded and Parted,” “The Earl's Atonement,” “The Tragedy of Lime Hall" “A Haunted Life," “The Actor's Ward, Laura Jean Libbey, Mrs. V. M. Stilwell of Brooklyn, N. Y., always bad & reputation for sustere morality in her novels, some of the most popular of which are “Lovers Once But Strangers Now,” “Miss Middleton’s Lover,” “A For- bidden Marriage” and “When His Love Grew Old.” * ¥ xis Mrs. Henry Wood's reputation rest- ed chiefly on her heart-rending trag- edy of “East Lyane” probably as popular in 1gs form of stage melo- drama as in book form. Augusta Evans Wilson excelled In the crea- tion of situations in which & beauti- ful, sensitive and abnormally bril- Hant young girl adores a tyrannical { man many years her senior, usually ber guardian, who finaliy condescends to marry her. Hundreds of school- girls have pored over *St. Elmo” with sentimental gleasure. The flapper of today seems to prefer a different sort of hero. Mrs. Southworth, a Wash- ington writer, was perhaps ome of the most dramatic of the novelists of her type and won' the. distinction of translation into several foreign lan- guages. “Retribution,” “The Hidden Hand,” “The Fatal Secret,” “Mother's I 8ecret” and “An Exile's Bride" sug- gest by their titles the mystery so well loved by their author. Of & rather lighter nature and possessed of more humor are the novels of The Duchess, Mrs. Margaret Hungérford of County Cork, Ifeland. As I re- {member them, “Alry Fairy Lilliap.” “Molly Bawn" and “A Conquering Heroine,” contalned some good repar- tee. Mary Jane Holmes was more xerious and heavy, but her popularity | was extraordinary. Many private 1i- braries used to have complete sets of her novels ranged behind glas doors, and “Tempest and Sunshine,’ “Lena Rivers,” “Milbank"” and “Marion Gray” were likely to be well worn. May Agnes Fleming was not as pop- ular as some others of these fluent novellsts, but “her 2§ novéls found many readers among young girls and housewives who craved a more col- orful life than their prosaic domestic affairs offered. “A Midnight Mys- tery” has undoubtedly caused many la kerosene or gas lamp to burn late * |and perhaps even some electric lamps. The novels of all of these writers are characterized by extreme sentimen- tality, love of mystery and sensation and an obvious moral tone. They have usually béen considercd detri- mental reading for many voung peo- ple because they mizht “ruin taste,” | but 1 question this coaclusion. Many 4 woman who foday reads Wwith ap- preciation Henry James, Edith Whar- ton, George Meredith, Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad has earlier fn life saturated herself with the “trashy” novels of the Bertha M. Clay type. x % x % Almost equal to the maxims of La Rochefoucauld _are some of the bite of worldly and philosophical wisdom to be found in Susan Ertz's_recent novel, “Nina.” Here arc a few of them! ¢ “Are there such things as new epochs? They come in trailing so much of the earth and dead leaves of the old upon their skirfs, and with uch wan and backward looks, that they generally seem old enough. Cer- tainly. the post-war epoch was born old, though it came holding by the hand such hopeful and fresh-faced children-ss the League of Nations and Disarmament.” he happiest marriages are the ones that begin by being lukewarm and reasonable.” “It's strange the way that some places hold old thoughts of ours, the y @ shell holds a murmur.” ‘Our first, last and greatest love . is seif-love. It is the only love that is constant. Even when, In suicide, we seek to kill that which we love, it is only due to a desire to protect it from some greater evil.” “It is often those who are least conscious of the pain of others who are most sensitive to their own.” “Seif-esteem is vitality necessary to all of us if we are to escape suicide.” & “Were they all busily engaged In treading into the mud all small and deljcate plants that bore no fruit? Scoffing at gifts that had no market value? Was that what it meant to be a realist?” * ok ok % It will be remembered that. the au thor of “Alice in Wonderland" w: primarily a mathematician, and that when Queen Victoria asked him to send her his other books he sent her several very abstruse works on geom- etry and algebra. A present-day parallel is found in Stephen Leacock, whose main occupation is that of pro- fessor of political economy at McGill University, Montreal. He has pub- lished several books on various phases of “the dismal sclence,” but is better known as a sort of Canadlan George Ade. His latest book, “The Garden of Folly,” is a serles of humorous sketches, to which there is prefixed an imaginary quotation—from Con- fucius, or Tut-ankh-Amen, the author forgets which—reading: “This poor old world works hard and gets no richer; thinks hard and gets no wiser; worries much and gets no happier. It casts off old errors to take on new ones; laughs at anclent superstitions and shivers over our modern ones. It it at best but a garden of folly, where chattering gardeners move a moment among the flowers, waiting for the sunset.” Some of the chaptér head: ings are: ‘“The Secret of Success,’ “The Human Mind/Up to Date,” “The Human Body: Its Care and Preven- “The Pérféét Salesman” and “The Perfect Lowers Guide. ) Only Saxings Accounts Exempt From Taxes To the Editor of The Star; ¥ In the December 12 issue of The Star, Frederic J. Haskin, in reply to a question from A. A. Y., “What is the limit In savings account that @ married woman may have before it becomes taxable in the District?" stated that: “Banking accounts are exempt’ to the amount of $500 in the District of Columbia, and this includes both sa ings and checking accounts.” - Mr. Haskin is in error. The exemp- tion of $500 applies to saviugs ac- counts oaly. IADE, B, MeQL 'Vice President, Literty National Bank, Q: May Christmas als be put upon packages that are being sent abroad?—S. W. C. . A. They may be put upon any side of the package except the one bear- ing the address and postage stamps. It is annoying to foreign post office ofcials to have to discriminate bes tween bonafide forelgn . _postage stamps and Christmas seals. Q How are the be'ls operated at raflroad crossings?—I. C. T. A. The bell signal used at rail- road crossings lis.electrically oper- ated by the train. The train com- pletes a cirouit which s caused by the train moving over. the track in that particular_section in which the bel is installed. The train usually completes its circuit 1,600 feet before coming to the crossing and com- pletes the second circuit 1,500 feet after the crossing. Q. s 1 againgt the law to wear bird of paradise plumes’—R. W A. The Biological Survey says that It Is not against the law to wear birds of paradise as personal adorn- ment, but that it s -unlawful to bring them Into this country. 1 Q- What will keep glue souring?—W. K. D. A. The Bureau of Standards says that the addition of an antiseptic to glue will prevent it from souring. Carbolic acid (phenol), sodium ben- zoate and salicylic acid are sultable for this purpose. One-tenth of 1 per cent is usually sufficient. trom Q. By what process 1 the eye put in the needie’—F. M. S. A..In 1826 a stamping machine was used for the first time tq drill eyes Into needles. The needles are ted into a machine which forms the flats of t eyes, which are then driven through by_a punching ma- chine. The processes for manufac- turing needles are fn excess of 20. Q. Who was in charge of the Army’s -operations during the-Johns- town flood?—S, R. W. A. Gen. D. H. Hastings, adjutant general of Permsylvania, - was _in charge of the troops sent to Johns- town at the time of the flood. The total loss of lives in this disaster is estimated at 2,205. Q. Where are e chestnuts now being sold in Washington, obtained? —G.-B. A. The Bureau of Plant Industry says that the chestnuts now being sold In Washington are Italian, be- ing “ shipped mainly from northern Italy. A very high percentage Is in bad eondition due to their not being properly cured and packed In Italy. Q. In what part of the body do we find the typhoid plants or germs growing?—W. P. B. A. The Public Health Service says that in the first five days, they are found in the blood, but they soon localize in certaln tissues in the small intestine, also ' the kidneys, spleen and in the bone marrow. | @ Are muskrats £00d?—M. C. F. A. The flesh of the muskrat for hu- man food is variously esteemed, but these animals are sold extensively in some markets of the East and Middle West. 201 #& “marsh rabbits” and have a flavor somewhat like the wild duck consumed as Q. To what ‘use can osage orange be put?—D. F: A. The osage orange [s used mainly as a hedge plant. The wood might be used for dveing s a substitute for fustic. The froit is inedible. The Ivaves have been successfully substi- tuted for mulberry leuves in, the feed- ing of silkworms. Q. How many States have a State constabulary system?—A. N. A. There are 16— Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, Arizona, New ‘Mexico, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho, South Da- Kota, California and Wyoming. There is also an organization In Colorado known as the Rangers. Q. T have found an old skull and some bones which I wish to preserve. ‘What would be a suitable coating?— G.J. 8. A. Dr. Hrdlicka of the Smithsonian Institution says that very often the best preservative is the exposure to light and air. This applies particu- Jarly to specimens that are rather “Eighty years ago,” muses the Bos- ton Traveler, “a middle-aged man sat at a table in Washington, D. C. Be- fore him was a jumble of wires and a queer-looking Instrument with a small, projecting lever. The man pressed his fingers on the lever sev- eral times. A few miles away, in | Baltimore another man sat at a sim- ilar table before a like Instrument. Suddenly this instrument came to life and gave forth a series of sharp, rat- tling clicks. Those clicks were the first signals to be sent by the unseen force of electricity between two dis- tant points. And the message read —What has God wrought!- Two days ago a group of men assembled in a room in London, England. In this room was a complicated ap- paratus—an outgrowth of Samue] F. B. Morse's crude invention of eighty years ago. A photographic film was placed on a glass cylinder and a strong beam of light played through it. .By some intricate process the es- sential parts of this picture were transmitted over a wire to Carnar- von, Wales, 200 miles away. And from” there ‘electrical impulses went hurtling through 3,000 miles of ether to New York, when an instrument re- traced with falr accuracy the orig- inal picture in London. ‘To a world surfeited with &cientific wonders there still will come more weird man- ifestations. Some will pass them by lightly, but -others will stand awed and reverent, asking: ‘What, in- deed, hath God wrought?" * K kX According to the Albany Knicker- bocker” Press: “These pictures are but the beginnings of beginnings, comparable to seratchings of flint on tusk in the caves of the lost Dorgogne. Eventually pictures will coms through the air with all the definition of line and weaith of tome that ‘mark the modern photograph. More than this, In the opinion of the Springfield Union, “printed cards have also been sent this way, and handwriting, we are told, is shortly to follow. But there are limits to ! the practical application of such dis- coveries.” Says the Hartford Times: the pictures are greatly im- they would have scant value the ndvelty of publishing pic- from ‘London Madworn oft. 1t 1§ however, mirvefous that they ‘canbe. transmitted dt al As the Dallas Journal sees it, “the ‘service. which - thé _photoradiograph Wil render. wili - be- fmportant, and ‘the question 'as Yo the line in which it may prove most Important can lonly be determined by a practical ‘service: test, It should prove an as- set to the great American newspa- :| pers, “but ts value {n What might Be termed-secret service. should be inestimable,” The Louisyille Courier- Journal thinks: ‘The-experiment is an achievement and one that is pos- sible of sane development commer- cially. By tbe wamsmission of sig- BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN In the retail markets they are, QUESTIONS mushy. “If the skull is yery dry and tragile, the best means of assisting in its preservation i3 to spray it thor- oughly or repeatedly through an atonilser or by application with a camel's hair brush with a warm, weak solution of fish glue. Steeping the skull in melted paraffin helps, also, but the specimen remains more or less “greasy.” Q: What is meant by the terms “Upper - Lake Region” and ‘“Lower Lake Region?—C. T. B. A. The Weather Bureau says that the Iipper. Lake ‘Region - comprises the territory surrounding Lake Michi- #an, Lake Huron and Lake Superior, while the Lower Lake Region is Luke Erie and Lake Ontarlo. Q. On what census is the new im- migration bill based?—E. S. A. The recent Immigration bill limited the number of aliens who might be admitted from any country to 2 per cent of the number of people from that country according to the 1890 census. Q. When w the flint-lock rifie invented, and when superseded by the percussion cap?—E, C. H. A. The flint-lock rifle was invented in France in the year 1640. The per- cussion-lock rifie was patented by x Scotch clergyman named Alexander Forsyth in 1807, and had been adopt- ed everywhere by 1820. Q. How were the chains made in old English watches? I have one 50 fine that it takes a microscope to examine {t—J. C. D. A. The fusee chain used in the old English watches was manufactured by hand. The little blanks for each side of the links and the connecting |pleces from link to link were knocked out with a punch and dfe. The pins for rivets, the riveting and the finlshing of the finished chain b stoning and polishing, were all done by hand. The use of fusee and chain as an equalizer of motive power now limited to marine chronometers is Q. How long have. floves becn worn?>—R. H. A. The use of gloves dates back to remote times. Xenophon sneered at the Persians for wearing.gloves to keep their hands warm: The Greeks and Romans also scorned the use of gloves. The glove appears to have become a well known article of dress -in England about the four- teenth century. The materials used for making leather gloves are prin- cipally the skin of deer, sheep, and lambs, goats and kids, the latter be- Ing the most Important, though f: more kid gloves are made of she. than of kid leather. Q.. Why is it that just before ti end of a drought springs that have been dry will begin to flow?—J. B A. The Georlogical Survey savs that there are no springs known to that office which start flowing before a stoPm. Any such condition would be caused Ly the air pressure on the outside of the spring lessening, duc to the chahge of the barometer. How ever. duch aichange would hardly be notfced and few, If any, streams of this sort have been discovered Q. Why was Constantinople named?—W. O. H. A: . The city derived its nam: from Constantine the Great, who re- moved the seat of the Fastern em pife there, dedicating it May 11, 330 ‘Q. What is the status of citizenshi In the following case An English man came over to this country some 85 or 70.years ago with his family— wife, two sons and three daughters The children were then all under 15 years of age. He took out his first naturalization papers but died before the second papers were applled Yor The sons and daughters have lived In this country ever since. Are th American or English—A. B. G. A. It the sons and daughters of the Englighman to whom you refer hav never been naturnlized they are no! American cltizens, since their fathe died before taking out his final nat uralization papers. If any of th daughters married American citizen prior to September 22, 1922, they ai tomatically became American citizer; (Have you a question you want a swered? Send it to The Star Infori. tion Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, dirc tor, Twenty-first and C streets mo! west. The only charge for this servicr 2 cents in stamps for return postar Pictures by Radio Accepted By Press as Matter of Cours. natures, bank checks and dralts the: is a possibility for speedier busine: transactions. For the newspaper offers a chance for sketchy picturc of distant events in the same editio with the news itself.” It may L quite a while, in the opinion of th Grand Rapids Press, “before we ar ble to say: ‘I want to see m brother and talk to him,’ and hav radio Impulses instantaneously carr a motion picture of that relativ half-way round the world to us while we are conducting a conversa tion with him by radio, but the tim is brought immeasurably nearer.” * * ¥ % To the Baltimore Evening Sun all sounds like a fantastic drean mysterious, marvelous, inconceivabl: Already it is theoretically possibl: that some pageant in London or Paris or Peking may be photo- graphed in the morning and repro duced in the early editions of the newspapers of the United States the same day.” In the opinion of the New York Evening Post, “So rapid is the progress of new devices for abridging space and penetrating walls that the man in the street is almost surfeited. Expecting any- thing, surprised at nothing, it takes a supreme phenomenon to induce him to stop, look and listen. Per« haps he will take Gabriel's own trump as merely the vibrant sound of a new make of motor horn, and decline to takesnote of the judgment day itself on the ground that—if he chooses—he will find all the detalls, and the pictures, in his favorite newspaper within a few minutes of the occurrence.” “Whera are we going with all this?" asks the St. Louis Post-Di patch. “Isn’t it about time that somebody sat down and told us just what has already been achieved and what direction future achievement is moving in? At the present rate it looks as though we were to be placed in complete and visual communica- tion with the rest of the world. The pocket radio, apparently, is sure to come. If in addition to the ear- pleces it has a little hole we can Took*into ‘and see 10,000 miles away, then away dull travel talks and school courses on Asia. The world is ours, to do-what we please with.” “What a far ery it all is from the first Intelligible grunt or cry of com munieation of primeval man!” ex claims the 8loux City Journal. “Yet the whole thing has been accom- plished in easy Stages. Language was the first development along with dawning intelligence. Then signs in portrayal or pantomine. And after that A human intelligence made it possible—and simple, according to the experts—the energy impluse and its interpretation. Truly it is a won- derful world in which humanity lives, and even more wonderful be- cause man looks upon his discoveries as simple. But that is because Reo has come to understand them.”