Evening Star Newspaper, December 23, 1924, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY. December 23, 1024 JHEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Busipess Office, 11th 5t. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Ofice: 110 Bast 41nd 8t. Chicago Office Tower Bullding. + 16 Regont 8t.,London, Europeas Of The Star, with the Sunday edition, is delivered by carris ‘within the €ity ai 60 cents per month: dally only, 45 Conts per month; Sunday oniy, 20 cents per month. Orders may be sent by malil or tele- phone Main 5000. Collection is made by car- riers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dally and Sunday..1yr., $8.40; 1 mo,, T0¢ Daily only... 1yr. $6.00; 1 mo., 50c Sunday only 1yr., $2.40; 1 mo,, 20¢ All Other State: Daily and Sunday.1 yr., $10.0 Dally only.......1yr., $7.00;1mo, 60c Sunday only......1yr, $3.00;1mo,25¢ Member of the Associated Press. The Assoclated Press in exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or nat otherwise credited in this paper and aiso the local news pub- -lished herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein also reserved. siand. Treaty Violations. A difficult complication has de- veloped in the matter of the evacua- tion of the Cologne section in Ger- many by British troops, scheduled for the 10th of January, in accordance with the terms of the Versailles treaty. Notice has been given by the British government that it will not withdraw the troops on that date on the ground that the disarmament conditions of the treaty had not been fulfilled by Germany. This claim is strengthened by a report of the interallled military control commission, which has been forwarded from Berlin to the council of ambassadors. 1t is stated in the re- port, according to dispatches, that not only have the German authorities ob- structed the conduct of the inquiry of the commission, but that Germany still maintains, in violation of the treaty, facilities for the manufacture of heavy artillery. For instance, at the Krupps works are still lathes for the manufacture of great guns such as were used in shelling Paris. These should have been destroyed under the treaty, The council of ambassadors will meet tomorrow at Paris. It must con- sider this question of the evacuation in the light of not only the report of the military control commission but with reference to the execuiion of the Dawes reparation plan. Germany has protested delay in evacuation on the ground that it violales the treaty and, moreover, prejudices the reparations situation by mal it difficult, per- haps impossible, to organize a min- istry for carrying out the Dawes plan. Germany is either acting in good faith in the matter of disarmament or she is not. There is no middle ground. Suspicion that she is not has been rife ever since the close of hostilities. Nu- merous reports have been made show- ing specific infractions of the treaty. Pleas have always been entered, as they are now, that these inf-actions are merely physical details of a neg- ligible character. But the assemblage of large quantities of arms in secret piaces, discovered by the interallied commission, cannot be rated as an im- material detail. Nor the preservation of machines for the making of great Zuns, distinctly prohibited by the treaty. Nor the maintenance of large potential military forces under the guise of police organizations. As between the two treaty viola- tions, that of failing to respect the dis- armament requirement and that of failing to evacuate Cologne on the specified date, there is no question as to righteousness. The evacuation of the Cologne district by a certain date is stipulated, but that is predicated upon a complete fulfillment by Ger- many of the treaty requirements. In other words, if the treaty is not ful- filled as to disarmament by the 10th of January, Germany cannot claim treaty violation if the evacuation is not effected then. Still, this is not a case for extreme exactions. The main purpose is to put Germany in a position to carry out its reparation obligations. Reoccupation after evacuation is always possible. The council of ambassadors may vote to quit the occupied area, and at the same time to insist upon a thorough execution of the disarmament clauses of the treaty. Germany has no case whatever on the score of secret arma- ment, and cannot defend herself if the charges of the interallied commission are justified. ————————— German sclentists who announce that chemical warfare has come to stay are at least compelled to admit that it would be so expensive that very few nations would be able prop- erly to afford it. ———r Early notice has been served for the small boy's benefit that a pair of skates will be an entirely appropriate Christmas gift. ‘White Christmas. On authority of the Weather Bu- reau Christmas weather for Christmas is indicated. It is common knowledge hereabout that the weather has been of good Christmas temperature. Ice has formed on the shores of the river; it shines along slow-moving creeks, and ponds have been frozen. The last rose of Summer, left blooming alone, has jolned all her lovely companions that are faded and gone. ‘There is no tintinnabulation of sleigh- bells in the air, but postmen stagger under loads of mail, shop windows glitter with temptations and neigh- bars say “Good morning"” in a cheerjer way. When rolls and bacon were perved this morning, some of the fam- fly began to talk of turkey. Many things tell that Christmas is near. “"f¢ the Weather Bureau could ar- range the proper snow scenery for Christmas, many of those who read its forecasts would be obliged.” What s wanted is a snow with lots of spar- kle, but which will not tie up the ocar lines nor give us too much work to clear it from the sidewalk. It would also be & great accommodation to have anow which would not.turn fo alush at the crossings. Traditional Christ- mas” in" this meighborhood calls for snow. Turkey, mince pie, jackpine trees,” wreaths of holly, red berries, festoons of crowtfoot, sprays of mistle- toe and lighted candles are but parts of the festival. ‘The approach of relations to din- ner should be discovered through a enowstorm. Tho children looking through the frosty window panes should call out, “Here comes Uncle John, Aunt Hettle and Grace, Betty Jimmy and Rover and the baby.” ‘When the relations come to the front porch they should stamp the snow from their arctics, brush it with mit- tened hands from their coats and un- wind muffiers from their necks. After Christmas dinner it is de- lightful to draw the children on sleds and have the little ones hit us in the back of the neck with snow balls. In the olden time the ordinary Washing- tonian woyld hitch the work team to a double sleigh and take the family for a ride from the Navy Yard to Georgetown, or Georgetown to the Navy Yard. The extraordinary Wash- ingtonian would have his fast-stepper hitched to an Albany cutter and, wrapped in a buffalo robe or a worsted Afghan, hit it up at a four-minute stride, the rate of 15 miles en hour, for several squares on the Avenue. A white’ Christmas is proper in ‘Washington. One feels sorry for those persons who live in a cllme where after Christmas dinner they go into the garden, sit under a blooming mag- nolia tree, watch the humming birds and butterflies and fan themselves to keep. cool. Trotsky and Napoleon. An interesting story comes from Moscow, printed In The Star else- where today, giving the exact status of the case of Leon Trotsky, who re- cently left the Russian capital for the Crimea to recover from an illness. It appears that Trotsky is genuinely ill, that he has not resigned, that he has not been deposed or exiled. But he is the object of an intensive fight, main- 1y in the form of widespread publicity conducted by the Soviet leaders, Stalin, Kameneff, Bukharin, Zinovieff, Ka- linin and others. They are using the press as their major battery of as- sault, and are dividing their efforts to different groups of the people to show Trotsky's heresies, ambitions and schemes. This is all for the purpose of discrediting him before the Com- munist party congress which meets in March, and which, it is expected, will pronounce final judgment upon his de- parture from the orthodox Communist principles and his violation of party discipline. One paragraph in this dispatch is of particular interest: Various bolshevik leaders have made [ known for the first time that Trotsky tendered his resignation many times, whenever the central committee of the party attempted to interfers in any branch of his activities, especially in his administration of military measures dur- ing the civil war. In no case was his resignation accepted, but he was forced to submit to party instruction: Has Trotsky been reading the life of Napoleon Bonaparte? Has he been patterning himself upon the great Corsican? Bonaparte, it will be re- membered, had a habit of resigning whenever the Directory at Paris un- dertook to interfere with his military leadership in the first Italian cam- paign. The Directory feared him, but he alone of the revolutionary military commanders was getting results. He was accomplishing marvels of military chieftainship. He was winning vic- tories, and collecting indemnities and works of art, subduing other states and potentates. The people were be- ginning to take notice of the “Little Corporal,” and the Directory dared not displace him. So whenever he re- signed the Directory rejected his resig- nation and gave him increased powers. Therein Napoleon differed from Trot- sky. Whenever Trotsky resigned his powers were curtailed. There are other differences between Trotsky and Napoleon. e Soviet leaders, while differing on many points, are almost unanimous, though from varying viewpoints, in advocating the rotation in office idea. —ee—. ‘When the “red-light” influences be- come too strong the ‘“blue-law” in- fluences are likely to assert them- selves with confidence. —————— It is a rapid age, and the will con- test is customarily announced within a few hours after the funeral. Considerable interest is manifested by Mussolini as to the kind of new leat Italy intends to turn over for 1925. Turkey. ‘Turkey is an important subject. The annual sacrifice of Meleagris galla- parvo holds the attention of a great many heads of family in Washington. The head of the family has mailed the Christmas cards, disposed of the gifts to children and dear friends and made provision for those persons who may unexpectedly send her a handkerchief, pincushion or calendar. The grave matter to which she now turns her head is the turkey. The cranberries, celery and ple are subordinate sub- Jects. It im the turk which is the great matter for thought and planning. It must be a turkey. The Christmas revel has come to demand it. A roast shoat with 'baked apples and sweet potatoes would not fill the bill. A roast goose would be an experiment and a violation of family tradition. In the very old times a roast boar, a doe, a roe, a peacock or a brace of pheasants would be fit to set before the king, but that was before the turkey came to reign at the Christmas board. ‘The turkey is an American bird, and roast turkey has become an American institution. When Spanish explorers and conquistadores forced their way into Mexico they found people with flocks of large birds. The birds were of wild native ancestry, but had been domesticated for an unknown time. ‘The northern Indians esteemed the turkey for food, though they knew naught of Christmas. Indians of our part of the United States did not take the trouble to domesticate turkeys. ‘With wild things so numerous our In- dians did not domesticate anything except the dog. In the vegetable line they cultivated corn and tobacco and perhaps & few other things which es- cape the mind at this moment, With THE EV bow and arrow the Indlan,of our part of the world killed his turkey wild. When Europeans came to settle here they would hunt wild turkeys. Spaniards had carried domestic Mexi- can turkeys to Europe, and the bird was known in England by the first ¥nglish to scttle in the North Ameri. can colonies. When they found a bird very much like the turkey of their old home they chose it for their best dinners. They seemed to think it bet- ter than venison or goose. They domesticated the black turkey of their woods, and venison and goose came to be harder to get. So the turkey came to be the chief meat at a great dinner, and the greatest dinner of the Year was Christmas dinner. The turkey custom has come to us by the ancestral way. Why it is called “turkey” is a nut to crack. Many Europeans forgot that the bird had come to them from Spain, whence it had come from America. Its bronze plumage, breast tassel and red wattles suggested the oriental. Many things good to eat had come to Northern Europe from the East dur- ing the crusades and the age of ex- ploration following them, and the be. lief became general that this bird had been brought from the East. Hence people took to calling it the Turkey bird. ——— Oh, Luther! Now comes Luther Burbank, the noted plant pathologist, creator of new forms of vegetation, and shies his hat into the ring of the great de- bate on fundamentalism and evolu- tion. He not only shies his hat in on the principle but he shies it at the most vocal if not the chief opponent of evolution, William Jennings Bryan, Just as the late Woodrow Wilson once did a bit of hat tossing with the same objective. Mr. Burbank, taking part in a discussion at a church in Santa Rosa, Calif., said: Mr. Bryan is an honored friend of mine, yet this need not prevent the ob- servation that the skull with which na- ture endowed him visibly approa~hes the Neanderthal type. Feeling and the use of gesticulation and words are more according to the nature of this type than investigation and reflection, This is rubbing it in. As if it were not enough for Mr. Burbank to take the opposite side to his honored friend, he must needs go further and liken him to the Neanderthel man. He must differentiate between “feeling and the use of gesticulation and words" and “investigation and reflection Why, this is virtually libelous! No doubt the Communists in various sections of the world are in earnest in the belief that they have discovered i of communism which are superior to each and all of the disas- trous varieties hitherto known, ems e — The modern rum runners are not so picturesque as the old buccaneers, but they do a larger volume of regular business with considerably.less incon- venience. e Money conditions have made motors comparatively few in Vienna. The Austrian capital finds little solace in the fact that its parking problems are minimized. e A congressman has great influence and powers of persuasion, but he in- variably draws the line at an effort to raise his own salary. The U. S. Navy sinks a battleship, but the European laboratory experts refuse to tear up their gas masks. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Quilts and Cross-Words. In boyish moments, long ago, I watched the deft and slender hands Which made the pattern, row by row, By means of silken scraps and strands. In blocks and panels she would trace The symbols by her fancy built. I stood and marveled at their grace When Grandma made a patchwork quilt. Again I see in fingers fair The geometrical design. Alas, a scrap of paper there Replaces all the fabrics fine. No “comforter” brings warmth and ease. She really seems content to find, Though we lack covering for our knees, That she has cross-words on her mind. The Campaign Hat. “How big do you think a campaign fund ought to be?” “A campaign fund,” answered Sen- ator Sorghum,” ought to be like one of those old opera hats that can be made to look large or small, accord- ing to your own convenience.” ‘The Tide.' Along the beach a breaker creeps ‘Where men the coast explore. They say the Yuletide is what sweeps “The rum fleet into shore. Jud Tunkins says you can always interest a child in Santa Claps, even though he suspects there isn’t any, same as you can a grown man in ofl wells. No Indficement. y kave you never bobbed your never thought about it,” an- swered Miss Cayenne. “There is no one in my life who would have the right or the inclination to display the slightest irritation if I did so.” Christmas Dinner. They tell me that turkey is going . high; On beefsteak we're getting the self- same advice. A nice bit of bacon I'll hasten to buy ‘Before it attains a prohibitive price. “No matter how good a Christi tree actor you is,” said Uncle Eben, ‘I can’t help noticin’ dat it ain’ de whiskers dat makes de Santa Claus 80 much as de pocketbook. His Hardest Job. From the Buftalo Baquirer. Some _sgy ‘donverting ‘the;heathe at home is hardest on the missionary, B ING STAR, WASHINGT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The enjoyment of little things adds 80 much to life it is a pity more peo- ple do not know about it. By little things I mean trifies, small odds and ends of this and that, usu- ally unnoticed by the too rious, who think them beneath them, or by the frivolous, who have other irons in the fire. If one has a sense of humor, and is not too hard to please, there are any number of felicities, both natural and mental, 11 as artificial, which hold real pl re. A striking Instance of what I mean is contained in a slender book, “Remi- niscences of Lafcadio Hearn,” by Set- suko Kolzumi, his wife. Hearn was a strange genlus, of whom Mrs. Hearn writes: “I often recall memories of morning glorl ‘When the end of Autumn drew near, and the green leaves were beginning to turn yellow, there was always the last morning glory of the season blossoming so lonesomely by itself. When Hearn saw that lonely flower, he admired it. “Will you please look at it? What beautiful courage and what honest sentiment! Please give it a word of praise. That dainty flower stlll blossoms untll th end. Just give it a rd of praise! And later she wrote. 'Wwo or thre days before he died, Osak!, the maid, told me that the cherry tree was blossoming out of season in the gar- den of the studio. In my household things like that are of great interest. Today some little bamboo sprouts have shot up in the woods; look, a yellow butterfly is flitting about; Kazuo, my son, found a little ant- hill; & toad came to the door; or the sunset {s full of beautiful changing colors, “Such details as these drew more at- tention from us than if they had been important matters, and Hearn was in- formed of every one of th dents. He was delighted about them. It seems funny that this gave us so much pleasure. Toads, but- terfiles, ants, spiders, cicadas, bam- boo sprouts and sunsets were among Papa-san's best friends.” * K ok % Happy is the househol where little matters like that are of great in- terest, where trifles draw more at- tention than if they had been im- portant matters, In such a home you will find no bored children, no peevish mother, no grouchy gld man, but a joyous group, where “everything that happens, no matter how small, is interesting. Theodore Roosevelt was as different from Lafcadio Hearn as day from night, in many respects, but in the keen enjoynient of little things he was one with the man. who wrote 8o charmingly of Japan, his adopted country. The late President, in his letters, shows his childlike Interest in ani- mais, the games of children, walks, nature study of all sorts, in fact, such a multiplicity of matters that many of his tremendously serious com- patriots must have marveled at him because they themselves did not have his infinite capacity for enjoyment of the little things. This interest, whether boys, women or girls, be called childlike, because in this the children are far ahead of us. When we do what we like to call “grow up,” we are really doing what often might be ~called “growing down."” We In men or may properly grow down from love and beauty, down from genuine affection and appreclation, down from grati- tude, down from love of sunsets and fogs, where splendor bathes one, or shadows enfold one; down, down, down to whiskers and baldness and grasping and many other unlovely things. Let us not be ashamed of being childlik I have a friend who gets more pleasure out of a simple tube of toothpaste than most men do out of a new roadster or a box at a musical comedy or a fine dinner party at a blg hotel. This bird genuinely admires the tin tube in which his toothpaste comes. He never buys a new tube of his favorite brand but what he spends several minutes examining the glossy tube. The lettering upon it catches h eye, as well as the neatness of its construction. Where you and I would never glve a second glance, he gets infinite enjoyment. He gets a great deal more for his quarter than we do. Come to think of it, a toothpaste tube is & marvelous plece of work. 8o are all the tin cans, cracker boxes, phonograph records, radio tubes, the thousand-and-one things which we dally accept In a matter-of-fact way. he rub lies right there. All of us ought to reserve a little wonder and admiration for the little things, as well as the big things of life. We should have it on tap, and be able to draw It forth for a nifty bit of work in any line, as well as calling upon it only in some great crisis of history. Will you please look at this swell tube of toothepaste? What beautiful simplicity and what honest sentiment! Please give it & word of praise. That snappy tube blossoms until the end. Just give it a word of praise! * koK K Another friend went into ecstasies over a wooden drink-mixer, which he happened to discover for 5 cents In one of Washington's largest depart- ment stores. He was so enthusiastic about this bit of wood that his good wife thought called upon to “call him down” for his enthusiasm. She did not under- stand, that was all. As a matter of cold faet, It was a big nickel's worth, all right. You placed the handle of the contraption between the palms of the two hands, and then rotated the stick rapidly, so that the blades at the end whipped the drink into all sorts of whirlpool effects. Radlo fans are so used to thelr audlons—the original name for tube, and by far the best—that they place a new one in the socket without a thought. s Yet the little “talking bottle” is one of the greatest marvels of man, the fine culmination of canturies and centuries of struggling and thinking and working and striving. If civilization should be wiped out at a stroke, and only one WD-12 tube | should remain to tell the tale, it would remain a small thing, yes, but a thing vying in interest with the great mountains, the mighty oceans, the red sunsets. 1f the tube were to be found on a glacler, it would be regarded as a marvel outdoing the glacier. Properly thinking belngs of the new age would class it as hardly second to a sunset. Another very small thing, yet posi- tively deliclous, is the way three ®irl singers “barber shop” in a phono- graph record of a once-popular song, “Kicky Koo." They blend in two chords, merging from the first to the second, in a way that would make Arthur Sulllvan write a new “Lost Chord” and entitle it “The Chord Found. Yet all of my visitors talk right ahead when I play that record for them. They should worry about chords! Our magazines and papers of today are such beautifully printed things it seems a shame to throw them away. Every letter is just so-so, every page of the magazine comes out just right. The way raindrops trickle down a window is wonderfully pleasing to those who have the ability of being pleased in this way. The good housewife may see only another window cleaning job looming before her, but the properly apprecta- tive they dream back to the days of fairy tales, when the children looked at the snowy crystals on the window the little things deserve a word of praise. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE President Coolidge told White House callers the other day to hark back to a speech delivered in the Senate last May for authentic in- formation on the state of the Navy. He might as usefully have suggested to the country that if it had paid a little closer attention to his message to Congress on December 3 the Pres- ident might have been saved the necessity of wading into the recent controversy over Japan. In no un- certain terms Mr. Coolidge rebuked the zealots who want swollen fleets and armies. The presidential admo- nitions were aimed straight at those who “have constantly besought u: to engage In competitive armaments. Mr. Coolldge said that Uncle Sam would do well “to be little impressed by reports of the magnitude of the military equipment of other nations.” The master of the White House Is thofisands of miles removed from be- ing a pacifist. “I believe thoroughly in the Army and Navy, in adequate defense and preparation,” he told Congress, “but I am opposed to any policy of competition in building and maintaining land or sea armaments.” A little later on the President ad- jured “the gulding lollol of the Army and Navy to keep this pollcy con- stantly in mind,” and gave Congres: and the country the same advice. Presidential messages are printed, but sometimes not read. * K ok ok ‘There's a new Taft story in circu- lation. When the Chief Justice of the United States was delivering his first argument, as Solicitor General, betore the Supreme Court in the Har- rison administration, the young Ohio lawyer bent all his mental and phys- ical energles toward making an im- pression. Taft at that time was al- ready of semi-Falstafian dimensions. His plea was eloquent and effective. ‘When it was finished, his collar was wilted and his brow bespattered’ with beads| of well earned perspiration. Mr. Justice Harlan had listened to Taft's argument with particularly close attention. The Solicitor. Gen- eral was as pleased as Punch when the veteran Kentucky jurist passed & note to him across the bench. It read: “How much do you weigh, anyhow, Bill?" * ok ok K Baward 1. Doheny is no piker when {t comes to rewarding those who have served him honestly and well. Frank J. Hogan, his chief counsel in the Government oil prose- cutions in California, has just re- turned to his home in Washington by way of the Panama Canal. Doheny sent Hogan and the lawyers entire staft all the way from Los Angeles to the Potomac in the palatial 1,200; ton private yacht, the Caslana, the Journey oocupying 19 days. While Proceedings were in progress In the Los Angeles courts, Hogan and his party were the lords of the magor in ocoupation of the sumptuous heny estate on the outskirts of the Cali- /| tornia metropolis. * ¥k ok k Sir Auckland Geddes, former. Brit- ish Ambassador to the United States, has just tackled in London a harder nut than his diplomatio job in Wash- ington ever required him to crack. He's been appointed chairman of a royal commission to Investigate the high cost of living, particularly - food prices, which have become fmordi. nately in:'John Bull's.jslands. Geddes is particularly to investigate the spread between the pric. - celved by producers and those pard by consumers at the shops., Two woman members represent the house.. wives of the country on the Geddes commission. As a Scotsman, he is considered well qualified to find out Where the farthings and the pennies are going. Latterly Sir Auckland has been functioning as a sort of William M. Butler for the Conservative party. Since his return to England Geddes has recelved some directorships in great corporations, which assure him a lucrative and not too onerous live- lihood. He is not a ‘‘career man” in the British diplomatic service. * K ox % Owen D. Young is in grave danger of becoming the Nation's handy man. He has just undertaken the ochair- manship of the Walter Hines Page Foundation and now Secretary Hoov- er means to draft him to become the director of an industrial and mer- cantile census. The ‘“constructive genius of the Dawes plan” is not ex- actly unemployed. Some of the minor activities t6 which he devotes him- self from 120 Broadway are the chairmanship of the boards of the General Eleotric Co. and the Radio Corporation of America and member- ship on the executive committees of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the General Motors Corpora- tion and the Adirondack Power and Light Corporation. Young is also a trustee of his alma mater, St. Law- rence University, at Canton, N. Y. & The organizer of a gallery of na- tional beauties has called upon this observer to nominate two candidates from Washington society. Rushing in where angels fear to tread Is not a scribe’s specialty but, being always ready to oblige, this expert suggests the names of Mrs. John A. Hull, wife of the newly appointed Judge Advo- cate General of the United States Army, and Mrs. Franklin Mott Gunther, wife of the new ohief of the Mexloan division of the Depart- ment of State. The polls are closed. ok ok Senator-elect Hiram Bingham of Connecticut will make his debut as an orator in Washington at the Jus. serand farewell banquet on the eve- ning of January 10. He has been chosen to speak because of his ac- tive service record in France in 1918. During the last elght months of the campalgn Bingham, with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the American expeditionary forces, was command- ing officer of the great aviation in- struction center at Issoudun, the allles’ largest flying school. At one time 35,000 budding aviators were under his care. He is an officer of the French Order of the Black Star. (Copyright, 1924.) Asks Christmas Cheer For Letter Carriers To the Editor of The Star: I may be old-fashioned, and pos- sibly may be called a back number, but just the same, I hope our dear old custom of remembering our letter carrfers will not be overlooked in the Christmas rush. I think I ex- press the wish of all old inhabitants. JOHN B. McCARTHY, Corresponding Secretary Association of Oldest !nhabnanu._‘. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM BLIND RAFTERY. Don Byrne. Century Company. In a couple of days now the sea- sonal frenzy of gift-giving will have passed into the exhaustion of its own With a morning-after at the pit of the stomach, and an overfed taint upon the tongue, and a flat, protesting gasp from an empty pocketbook, you will on Christmas morn, find yourself wad- ing through chromatic billows of baby-ribboned knick-knackery and as- tonishing male toggery—all of un- imaginable uses. And your mind—no, not your mind. That is quite gone by this time. It is your feelings, rather, that are turning backward in a deep desire for the saniti; of everyday existence, where holidays have uo thoroughfares, in a longing for the free spaces of routine and the pleas- ant feel of the day's grind. Right here I send to you a Christ- mas wish—a modest wish, amelio tive in quality and intent. As the desert traveler does finally come upon the reviving oasis, as old Noah's dove did at last set foot upon the satisty- ing land, so may you out of this holiday welter find some little spot of refreshment, some half-hour of joy and justification. EE Let's play a minute. Let's play that as you are wading about through the depths of vour particular Christmas morning, you come upon a plain little budget of books. No snowy wrap- ping of gauze, no ribbons, no holly gemmed in crimson, no card—just three books snapped together with a rubber band, the bundle pushed away under a chair, maybe, or set behind the showler barter of Christmastide. An odd, Cinderella-ish look about it appeals to you. And so, not very elate, but curious, you take up the small budget. “The Wind Bloweth,” says one of them. And “Messer Marco Polo,” another. And the third is “Blind Raftery.” Slipping out this last one from its tether, you sit down right in the midst of the gay and glittering Christmas mess of things to see what, perchance, a blind Raf- tery might be able to do for ons greatly desirous, for the moment, to fare out and away from the stresses of holiday time. * ok ok ok The In an hour, or less. you are back again, for this is not a prolonged forth-faring. That fs, a part of you is back again to the still clamorous demands of the day. There is an- other part, however, that never does wholly get back to the plain prose of days after having adventured joy- ously in lyric fields of romantic in- vention. And this is the part of you that still lingers, and Jong will linger in old Ireland alongside of blind Raf- tery and Hilaria, “woman of Spain.” e e o Now the life and epirit of Galway enwrap you as you seat yourself be- side the blind bard of Ireland in the withdrawing room of Patrick Lynch's inn. And just as sightless Raftery himself does so do you, too, “‘sense the deep shadows of the room and the May sunshine coming into it through the open windows, yellow as yellow wine” And to you also comes ‘“the salt Atlantic breeze, sweeping east- ward from the islands of Aran.” And the scents blowing on the wind. youn as well as Raftery, can pick out one by one, “the odor of the tarred ships riding at anchor in Galway Bay, the smell of the Irish seaweed with its pungent iodine flavor; and there is the pathetic lonely virginal scent of the little flowers that grow in the clefts of sea rocks, and of the honey- like heather, and the tang of the peat snoke from the cottages, nostalgic as an ancient song.” e Outside the inn thers is bustle and movement. With Raftery you can hear “the ring of his little mare's hoof on the rain-washed cobblestones, so impatient is she to be on her way past the purple Connemara Mountains to the County of Clare. Spring is coming In with the Atlantic breezes, and bird and beast know it, man and woman, too There comes in to you the sound of the voices without, “an occasional tag of Spanish from some eaflor of Barcelons, & peasant’s soft liquid Erse, the voluble English of the landlord and his people as they eupervise the packing of the boxes on the led ponles. The nervousness as the harp in its great leather case was being lashed into position.” * ok ok K “‘Let you look out now. Shamus Hennessy, lst you look out and you putting the harp o' my heart on the beast's meager back, for't is how I'd rather have every rib in my body broken nor a string of great Raf- tery's harp gone wrong.’ “'Will you hold your whisht?' ‘Easy now, eusy now, Shamus Hennessy, 'tis not serving out pints of porter to the tinkers of Galway you are, and you handling that grand melodious. thing! - “Will you hold your whisht, man of the house? - * % %k % “Then came the sweet low laugh- ter of Hilaria, like a wood-pigeon's crooning.” ook K And they would go then—you with them—"Hilaria and he, on the long road that rambled southward to the seaport of Cork over the heather-cov ered braes Great drowsy Shan- non would go with them a part of the way, and listening one could hear the leap of trout and the plunge of the otter, and the soft crooning of the river as its edge touched some little beach of rounded stones o And on nights the moon would be up and they would ride on, the river singing beside them and the wind stirring the grasses, until one felt that accompanying them on the march were a host of little people of the hills, the minute Irish fairies and the shy, light-footed leprechawns, called up by the soft magic of the moon.” And softer than any music be the soft voice of Hilaria as “she rode beside him on the Spanish Jjennet. RBetter than any eyes of his would be her eyes of wonder." * ROk X And so you ride on, a half-pace be- hind blind _ Raftery and Hilarla, “woman of Spain,” through the Itish 1and of romance where lyric love and Iyrio song shed enchantment along the way, and where the people—those of the great citles and those of the green countryside as well—come out to do honor to great Raftery, bard of Ireland. And vou will follow, in deep sorrow ' and anger, the shameless deeds of Dafydd Evans, Welshman of Claregalway who, by way of Hilaria, tried to put upon Raftery the one great insult that no man may endure. And with these two you will pass through that time of peril out into the high and sunny place where no evil thing can menace the love of Raf- tery and Hilaria, “woman of Spain. (That is Raftery's way of haming H laria. So, one likes to say it over and over.) ERE No, do not reach out for the other two. Each is as great a joy as this. But, “The Wind Bloweth"™ and “Mes- ser Marco Polo” are the promised de- lights of another day. “Blind Raf- tery” is my amellorative wish for an casing hour in an overburdened day. This, at the hands of a man shame- lessly romantic, brazenly lyric, in- corrigibly Irish in the manner of his bounty to us who have grown des- perately a-weary with the endless prose of a drab realism. A Merry Christmas to you by way of this lyric romantic Irishman, Dom\lnérn‘-‘. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN Q. How long has the John Dickson Home been here and what are the re- Guiremonts for admittance?—M. LI B. A. The John Dickson Home was of- ficlally opened on January 1, 1913. An inmate must have resided In Washington five years prior to his entering the hom must be in £00d health and over 65 years of age. He must have been a useful citizen. Business and professional men are admitted. Q. When was the “Joaquin Miller” log cabin moved to Rock Creek Park in Washington, D. C.7—H. S. A. It was moved there in 1912. Miller lived in this cabin for three years previous to his return to Cali- fornia in 1885. Q. How much motor oil and gas were used by the world flyers?— W.C.W. A. Approximately 3,000 gallons of Vacuum oil and 40,000 gallons of gas- oline were used in the around-the- world flight. Q. How many British thermal units of heat are there In one watt of elec- tricity?—W. H. C. A. The Bureau of Standards says that one watt hour equals 3.411 Brit- ish thermal units, Q. Where is the thickest coal in the world?—C. H. A. The Bureau of Mines states that the thickest coal seam in the world is the Fortuna mine, near Cologne, which is 100 meters or 330 feet thick. The thickest seam in the United States of high-grade coal is the Mam- moth seam, near Wllkes-Barre, Pa. This seam i5 50 feet thick, some folds running as high as 80 to 80 feet. Q. Does a_radio horn improve the sound?—N. J. A. The National Radio Institute says that a radio horn does not im- prove the tone of a radio—it only throws out the sound better. Nor does a radio horn inorease the vol- ume of a radio. Q. What can be used to remove the residue of smokeless pgwder from a gun barrel?—C. F. G. A. The National Rifle Assoclation says that after the residue has been allowed to remain and the barrel has become pitted, nothing can be done to remedy the condition. Rifles and pis- tols should be cleaned immediately after firing. It is best to swab the barrel with warm water and dry care- fully, then apply a heavy grease to prevent rust. Q. How old is Mary Garden?—I H. A. Mary Garden will be 48 years of age February 20 next. Q. How much does Niagara recede each year?—K. C. F. A. The average annual recession of the American Falls is estimated at between 0.2 and 1.6 feet per year. At that rate it would take between 52,000 and 158,000 vears to wear away. The age of the falls is esti- mated by geologists of the United States Geological Survey as varying between 20,000 and 35,000 years. Q. Describe a boomerang.—W. L. A. A boomerang s made from hard wood In the green state and Is from 2 to 4 feet long, formed to a curve which may vary from an arc of 20° to one of 90°, or there may be a dis- tinct angular bend in the arc. The width is from 214 to 3 inches and the thickness is about one-fourth inch or less. The edges are finished sharp, one surface is flat and the other con- vex, the greatest thickness being at one-third of the width back from the outer edge of the curve. The ends or “wing” are warped over a bed of hot coals, and upon the degree and twist of this warping depends the figure of fiight which the boomerang will de. scribe when thrown. All efforts by the most skilled mechanics to imitate the boomerang have failed. In throw- ing, the weapon is grasped by one end, and by holding In a vertical po- VITAL THEMES| A New Business Order Since the War. BY GEORGE E. ROBERTS, Former Director of the Mint. The war, a culmination of the old order of things, in which the belief that the interests of nations were necessarily conflicting and competi- tive dominated the relations between countries. That belief w upon the 1dea, encountered not only in labor circles, but among business men and statesmen, that there is only a limited amount of work or business to be done and that If a rival gets more there will be just so much less for the rest of us. So long as the peoples of different countries think in terms of competitive relations rather than in terms of co-operative relations they are bound to come into collislon from time to time. The disorganization of industry and trade caused by the war did more to demonstrate the interdependence of nations and the general community of interests than all previous experi- ence and the, five years of govern- mental efforts to settle the repara- tions question confirmed the lesson. The success of the Dawes commis- slon has been due to its having set up as its guide the idea that Europe must be reconstituted as & mutually helpful soclety. Germany must be helped to her feet and provided with the means of rehabilitating her in- dustrial organization preliminary to discharging her reparataion obliga- tions and Germany's late enemies and future competitors were, called upon to make her a loan for this purpose. As to the interest of the United States in this work of reorganization Owen Young said at the great dinner in his honor: “We may debate political participa- tion in the affairs of the world as we will, but we must participate in its business; and business, like sci- ence, knows no political boundaries and in its dictionary there is no such word as isolataion.” Speaking In this country recently, Henry Bell, one of the leading bank- ers of London, gave his reason for accepting the Dawes plan in these ‘words: “To {mprove a rival's currency is to strengthen her competitive ca- pacity. To grant her a loan will enable her to sell in competition with us, but to buy also. In any long view the prosperity of all is cumu- lative, and six men or 600,000,000 are only harmed by the defection or fail- ure or folly or misery of part of their number.” These two declarations embody a view of internatlonal relations wholly difterent from that which has gov- erned in the past. Here is something very like the religious injunction to love thy neighbor as thyself set forth in the practical terms of tHe business world, for if a nation knows that it will be benefited by the prosperity otherpations and harmed by what- :&r Injury befalls them Its policies toward them naturally will be in harmopy with the scriptural text The economic lesson Is that the whole world is served by an inter- related organization,” which reaches its highest efficiency Wwhen all its parts are rightly adjusted to cach other and working in the highest possible degree of harmony, and that any attempt by one party in the organization to gain an advantage over the others has the effect of slow- ing down the whole organization, to the disadvantage of all. So long as the peoples of different | streets. rition the concave side of the arc for- wanrd, it is hurled a little to the right of the throver. being given a revolv- ing motion at the same time. Q. Are there such phenomena as “singing sands”?—J. P. M. A. Beaches which emit musical tones or ather sounds when the sauds are pressed under foot or struck to- gether in & bag occur throughout the world, notably in the Peninsula or Sinaf, on the great musical mountain of Jebel Nagous,-near. Colberg, ir Pomerania, on the - East Prussian coast, beaches on the Atlantic, on Wisconsin River (near Kilbourn City, Wis.), on the Mississippl opposite Ca- rondelet and on the Pacific coast. Barking sands, where the sand is a mere squeak unless the sand is very dr. curs in Hawali, on the south- west coatst of Kaual, in Africa (Li- beria and West Criqualand), Botony Bay, New South Wales, and Browns River Bay, Tasmania. 3 Q. What length of time {s “a tnoon.” 80 often referred to by Indians?— J. E. D. A. “A moon” is the time ffom a given phase of the moon to the same phase preceding or following. This time is about 28 days. Q. What do they mean when they say that a race was hippodromed?— G. R H. A. A race with all the appearance of a real contest, but in which the winner is prearranged, as in a circus chariot race, is sald to be hippo- dromed. Q. What is the involuntary wink- ing or quivering of the eye called?- S 3 . A. Involuntary winking of.the eye 1s called nicititation. from the Latin word nictare, to beckon. Q. Who was Peter Funk?—S. B s A. While there may have been men in real life named Peter Funk, the name {s generally associated with the custom of using it for a person em- ployed at an auction to offer bogus bids in order to raise the price. Q. What will keep silver knives with steel blades from rusting?—C. A. All steel articles can be pre- served from rust by putting a lump of freshly .burnt lime In the drawer or case in which they are kept. Q. What is the significance of the term “original package”?—G. L. T. A. In American constitutional law this means. the package in which goods are shipped from one State-to another. The Wnited ‘§tates courts held that where an articls s imported into one State from enotlier it does not lose the protection of tHe inter- state commerce clause .while ,the original package remains unbroken and is the property of the importer. Interpretation of these _decisions made it possible to evads State laws by selling direct to the customers in “original packages.” The importance of this is in its bearing on the sele of cigarettes and other commodities about which State laws differ. at Is meant by “average gon- " as noted In the New Yérk bank statement on the financial pages of newspapers?—H. C. 3 A. The New York Clearing House says that the average condition is taken for the six working days end- ing with Friday of each week. Q. In the Homestead strike were Federal troops called out?—L. W.'S. A. In the Homestead strike of 1892 Federal troops were not used, bu! practically the whole National Guard of Pennsylvania was called out. (Have you a question you wame an? swered? Send it to The Star InfoFma- tion Bureaw, Frederic J.-Haskin, Direc- tor, Twenty-firat and C strets northoest The only charge for this sgrvice is 2 cents in stamps for return postage.) White Lines in Traffic Correspondent Sees Serious Risks Incurred at Car Crossings. To the Editor of The Star: A recent editorial In The Sta takes cognizance of a point usuall passed over in the overzealous advo- cacy of the boulevard system of traf- fic separation. If high speeds ars to be legalized on these arteries of travel it is_essential that they be pplemented by special precautions in the interest of pedestrians. As matters stand, the latter are sub- jected to serfous risk when attempt- ing to board or leave street cars where real platforms, raised eight inches above the street level, and thus affording an appreciable degree of safety, are replaced by the farci- cal white-line marking. The origi- nal 15-foot ordinance, requiring ve- hicles to halt at that distance behind a standing street car, worked well but it was modified some months —at whose Institgation it might be useful to learn—so as to permit thelr uninterrupted passage alongside beyond the car at a speed not. ex ceeding 12 miles an houn As this exemption applies to the white-line zones only, it is apparent that a greater measure of safety is given at car stops not having these ridiculous lines, for, owing to the prohibition still applying at these points to the passage of vehicles, he is enabled to cross from car to sidewalk, or vice versa, with reasonable confldenoe This he cannot do with vehicles in- terfering with his passage under the emasculated regulation, and It is, Be- sides, the exception rather than the rule to find the 12-mile limit ob- served. Your editorial rightly Insists ouths necessity of accompanving any rais- ing of the speed limit with additignal provisions insuring safe crossing of In itself such raising of the limit is no more dangerous than is the present habitual non-observance of the impossible distinction between a maximum of 18 miles between street intersections and & reduced speed at the latter points. Who.has ever noted an attemtp to observe, or to enforce, the elght-mile-an-hour speed rule when turning at right an- gles? These abortive regulations, whose only object. seems to be to serve as stalking horses from which to defend the official inaction whose major cause is to be found In the per- sistent undermanning of the police force, must be replaced by practical measures if%the present holocaust of ‘motorless citigens is to cease. ’ JOHN 8. HODGSO! countries think in terias of compet!- tive relations rather than in terms of co-operative relations they are bound to come into collision from timg to time. 3 The ‘Dawes plan is based upon the theory that every f: highly organized soclety. is inte, on its own account in that right ad- justment of relations Which prodices the largest aggregate results,:and when this Is understood there is"no real basis for strife in either in@us- trial or International relations. = Senator Millo Franco, presiding@ver the Council of the League offgNu- tions at its recent session in Rome, summed up this unity of interests in a noble phrase when, referring, to resolutions for the codification and development of international law. and the unification of private law, he said that these proposals “pave the' way toward the high ideal of the complete submission of all peoples and all 'sov= ereignties to law common to all.” % (Coprright, Cosmos Newspaper wul‘g 2l T R S