Evening Star Newspaper, December 30, 1924, Page 6

§/%pride to the growing number of auto- THE EVENING STAR With Sundsy Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY December 30, 1924 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Busigess Office, 11th 8t. and Pennsylva: Ave. New York O 110 East 42nd St. Chica; Office ‘Tower llnl!dln& European Office : 18 Regent St.,Londo: gland. ‘The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, is delivered by earriers within the city at 60 cents per month aily only, 45 centa per month; Sunday oniy ceats per menth. ' Orders may be sent by mail or tele- phote Main 5000. Collection ia made by car- rlers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday r., $8.40; 1 mo., 70¢ Daily only...... r., $6.00; 1 mo., 50¢c Sunday only r., $2.40; 1 mo,, 20¢c All Other States. Daily and Sunday.1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Daily only a2 $7.00: 1 mo., 60c Sunday only. $3.00; 1 mo,, 25¢ Member of the Associated Press. The Assoctated Press s exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis. fatches credited to it or not otherwise eredited D this paper and also the local mnews pub- lished herein. ~All rights of publication of speclal dispatches herein are also reserved. Science and Humanity. Science is the servant of man. It is the means of aiding humanity to a better understanding and a fuller use of the forces of nature. It is an effort to solve the problems of the cosmic elements to the end that civilization may advance. The present session of the Americ Association for the Advancement of Science in this city is marked, it is announced, by a resumption of efforts suspended during the great war to discover new flelds of knowledge and to distribute and popularize the facts learned by science in all its branches. Formerly the man of science was aloof from his fellows, working along his chosen line of research, intent upon the discovery of some elusive fact of nature. Nowadays he is a con- tributor to the fund of common in- formation from which dividends are paid in terms of advance in effective- ness of production, of protection from disease, of increase in the facility of communication, of extension of the frontiers of the usable universe. Museums are no longer arid collec- tions of mysterious materials gathered by scientific searchers and laboratory experimenters, but are places of pepu- lar instruction. They present to view in & manner to be readily understood the marvels of discovery and invention and development. They are largely visited by an interested public. In thus resuming its program of dis- tributing and popularizing the accom- plishments of science this association 15 making a valuable contribution to the national resources of knowledge. The actual sessions of the association may be too learned in the terms of dis- cusslon for the layman to follow with full understanding. But as a result of skiliful preparation of bulleting couched in plainer terms full informa- tion is made avallable and is eagerly read. Science knows no boundaries, no Wmitations. Tt is constantly pushing forward, outward and onward in all directions. And as never before it is turning its discoveries to practical use. This present session here at the Capital of one of the most important bodies in the scientific world, compris- ing every branch of endeavor and re- mearch, will be notable in the records of this center of conventions and will mark an advance in the relations be- tween the scientific and the lay mind. ———— Dead Sea Ashes. In the course of the pungent di- mlogue yesterday in the Senate be- n week Trotsky definitely refused to obey the order of the Soviet trium- virate to go to the Caucasus. He was summoned before the commissary to explain, and was then taken into cus- tody and told that he must either re- main a prisoner or leave Moscow Im- mediately. He is,now, it is said, being heavily guarded by & detachment of cheka troops in the building where the commissaries hold their sueetings. e is forbidden to use the telephone or the malls or to receive visitors. The dispatch from Berlin which con- veys the information from Moscow adds that no confirmation is avalla- ble. Naturally the Soviet authorities will not permit a full disclosure of the Trotsky problem. For the Trotsky question is one of fundamental im- portance. It signifies inharmony in communism, It may be a sign of dls- ruption. It certainly indicates that there is a wide and deep breach be- tween the erstwhile Soviet leaders on essential questions. There is no particular interest in Trotsky’s specific fate. It is what the Trotsky trouble stands for that is of concern to the world. If Russian com- munism is breaking up there will be rejoicing. For until communism as centered at Moscow fails as & govern- ment force there will be danger to other states. This does not necessarily mean a universal or a widespread de- sire for the re-establishment of the Romanoff rule in Russia. That rule was not particularly satisfactory. Tt annical, and was only liberal- ed under the pressure of war, and with grave doubt as to sincerity. Russian reorganization is probably proceeding even now away from com- munism, though without avowal by the leaders of their departure from red principles. Of the sincerity of such changes there is extreme doubt. But the fact is nevertheless to be wel- comed that for expediency the prin- ciples of the November, 1917, revolu- tion are being scrapped. Whether Trotsky is in the Caucasus or the Kremlin makes little differ- ence. Of much greater importance is whether the people of Russia are re- sisting Soviet measures, as they are described as doing in some recent dis- patches. e The Metric System. One of the organizations holding its annual meeting here in connection with the assemblage of sclentific bodies this week is the Metric Association, formed to promote the adoption in the United States, in conformity with other nations, of the metric system of weights and measures. Speakers at the sessions are discussing various phases of this important question and are reporting progress in the work of spreading the metric principle in American industries. One of the most striking exhibits of the metric meeting is a “graph” which shows the metric advance in the world since the adoption of this system by France a century and a quarter ago. The line of adoption, nation by nation, advances upward on the chart almost vertically. Only two countries now remain outside of the metric scale, the United States and Great Britain. Unfortunately, these are the two greatest trading na- tions. Their retention of the old units of weights and measures causes great confusion in commerce and industry. The present effort of the Metric As- sociation is to bring about the adop- tion of the system by both countries, making this, a “100 per cent metric world.” { Progress has been made in the United States in this respect. Metric weights and measures were made legal by Congress in 1866 and were adopted in coinage in 1876 and for the medi- cal work of the Navy Department in iween Senators Harrison and Bruce with reference to the failure of their party’s campaign this year, the latter made a statement which has a certain historic value apart from the interest which attaches to the spectacle of two eminent Democrats quarreling over the possession of the scrubbing board for the washing of the party’s soiled linen. Senator Bruce sald: I am betraying no secret when I say now—though no human power could have induced me to breathe the words before—that after Mr. Davis had been campaigning for weeks during the last presidentlal contest, he said to me on one occasion, “Senator Bruce, I cannot seo that there is the slightest reaction in the United States anywhere to the oil scandals,” I replied, “But suppose that those investigations had been just & little freer from partisan extravagance than they were: suppose that the mem- bers of those investigating committees had in some instances been just a little more carefully selected than they were, and euppose that those investigations had been conducted in a more impartial Judictal spirit, might not the result have beon different? Might not some real ef- fect upon public opinion have been worked?” In my humble opinion these questions can be answered only in the affirmative. Bad as were the scandals that were exposed the people of the United States came to believe that they were nothing like as bad as they were represented to be for extreme partisan purposes of one sort or another. And 8o from those investigations, which seemed to be such fair, luscious fruit for a political campaign, came nothing but dead sea ashes. The more than 7,000,000 plurality Ziven to Mr. Coolidge.in the election in November certainly verifies the judg- . ment of Senator Bruce as to the value +=%of the scandal Investigations as cam- . Paign material. Indeed, the public re- ¥llaction from those investigations, con- 7 ducted so obviously for partisan pur- poses and with such disregard for :“Judicial propriety, was evident before E3#S1he nominating conventions were held. ‘Whereas 10 months ago an avalanche seemed to be in motion to overwhelm “!the Republican party, by the time the campaign was opened this movement hed diminished to a trickle of what the Senator from Maryland so aptly dikens to dead sea ashes. ¥ach year the Nation points with mobiles, but views with alarm the in- #"%créase in traffic accidents. Another Trotsky Tale. Now comes another Trotsky story ; from Moscow, by way of Berlin, differ- “ing materially in detail from recent accounts of the whereabouts and the situation of the Soviet war minister. According to this dispatch, Trotsky has not gone to the Caucasus, but is virtually a prisoner in the Kremlin. The atory goes that at the end of last 1878. The medical branch of the War Department adopted the system in 1894, and in the same year electrical measurements were standardized ac- cording to the same system. The Pub- lic Health Service adopted it in 1902. In 1913 it was recognized and estab- lished in Porto Rico. In 1917-18 it was used by the American expedition- ary forces in France. Varlous branches of the Government use the system, such as the Bureau of Stand- ards, the Bureau of Chemistry and the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Nu- merous industries in this country use it exclusively. Radio wave lengths are expressed in metric termes. In the face of this record of prog- ress it is idle to assert that the United States will not eventually adopt the metric system as its basis of weights and measures. Missionary work to that end is being effectively done by scientific men, by manufacturers and by exporters. A bill is pending in Con- gress providing for the official adop- tion of the system in all the Govern- ment practices. Its passage is only & question of time. —————— Even the most enthusiastic admirers of the new head of the American Fed- eration of Labor do not go so far as to predict that he will be re-elected as often as Samuel Gompers was. ——————— In determining the attitude of vari- ous nations toward the possibility of “another war” the plain old law of self-preservation ought to exert some influence. —————————— Congress used to view the possibil- ity of an extra session with more or less disapproval, and the public is be- ginning to feel the same way about it. ———————— After these years of experience “Kid” McCoy ought at least to be willing to drop the nickname, ——————— Firing a Chancellor. At the instance of the Governor of Kansas the chancellor of the Univer- sity of Kansas has been removed. If what the governor says of the chan- cellor is true & man should be at the head of the university who is a bet- ter mixer with the people and one with more of those charms of manner counted graces in Kansas. It might be interesting to hear the chancellor’s opinion of the governor, and surely the spirit of fair play runs so high and the doctrine .of human rights is so deep rooted in Kansag that the people will give even an educator a hearing. Gov. Davis charges Chancellor Lind- : THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. 0. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, .1924 e ey ey e o e e ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN tivity, aloofness and aristocracy. In- subordination is an evil thing, some- times, while at other times it is only | the display of an independent spirit. The charge of political activity comes a8 a shock to some people in the East. Many of them belleve that everybody in Kansas is overflowing with political activity, and that in Kansas it i3 thougkt @ virtue. Perhaps the chan- cellor's politicel activity was not the same kind as the governor’s political activity and there may have been a clash. The charge of aloofness is a serious charge against anybody, but against the head of a State university it is a most serious thing. This chancellpr may have declined an invitation to speak at some dedication, flag-raising, portrait presentation, dinner, supper or breakfast, or at a quilting bee, tafly pulling or corn husking. Perhape he wanted to spend a quiet evening in his den at the university, smoke his pipe and read Capper's Weekly. If the chancellor has flunked on any of the duties of the head of & university the governor must be sustained, The most serious charge which the governor brings agalnst the head of the Kansas University is that he is aristocratic. To bring that charge against a public man in Kansas seems to raise more trouble than the over- flow of the Kaw, Big Blue, Black Ver. million, Red Vermillion, Whitewater, Verdegris, Wakarusa and the Walnut. ———— Good Coast Guard Work. The House yesterday made an ap- propriation of $20,697,835 for Coast Guard activities, part of which will be available for curbing rum running. Current news dispatches tell of the effective work being done by the Coast Guard off the New Jersey coast engaged in conducting a blockade around the rum fleet lying 30 miles at sea. The report describing the operations of the blockaders say that from 300,000 to 400,000 cases of liquors have been “bottled up” aboard the rum runners. The rum fleet made the strategical mistake of anchoring too close to- gether. The Coast Guard vessels &ir- cled around the anchored ships, pre- venting the motor boats from the shore from communicating with them. In the course of debate on the pend- ing appropriation bill in the House there was discussion of the enforce- ment of the Volstead law. Mr. La Guardia contended there was impera- tive need for a radical shakeup in the prohibition force and a change of policy. He asserted that the Federal Government is only playing with the problem now. Mr. La Guardia wanted three or four times as much money as is being appropriated for enforce- ment so that the work can be made effective. Opinions differ as to the practical effectiveness of enforcement, but the general fact stands out that the Gov- ernment is gradually increasing the alue of enforcement against the heavy odds under which it labors. In many localities the Government is playing a lone hand, lacking the co- operation of State and local authori- ties. e The cold wave that failed to arrive as scheduled in December has at least three months ahead in which to fill the engagement, with especial tradi- tional encouragement for the days Jjust preceding March 4. e Americans in Paris have ordered two trainloads of champagne for New Year eve. They may sing “There’s no place like home,” but it will be with certain mental reservations. ———————————— Of course, it will be remembered that when Presidents consented to tread & measure at inauguration time Jazz rhythms and the dances related thereto were not so prevalent. —_—————— For the man who forgot his 1925 license tags, wishing the motor cop a happy New Year will be the hollowest of mockerles. Nitrate may be secured from the air, but oratorical agitation is of no assistance in that direction. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. No Giutton for Knowledge. In life there are some things That few may ever know— 'Tis thus the poet sings, And doubtless it is so. From what I hear and see, My own impression’s this; Some things in life there be That, I'm content to miss. ‘Where the Bad News Starts. “There’s only one trouble about this fellow who wants a Government job. He has a lot of influence, but he's a confirmed pessimist.” ““Well,” answered Senator Sorghum, “mebbe we can find him some sort of & congenial position in the Weather ‘Bureau.” Mythologies. ‘We need some officer to pause And act as our protector; They take away our Santa Claus But leave the tax collector. Jud Tunkins says nowadays & man has to have so much education to com- pete for a prize that in some respects the old Louisiane State lottery seemed more liberal. Suspicion. “I understand your father says he would never permit you to marry the duke.” “I never had an idea of doing so,” answered Miss Cayenne. “It looks to me as if dear father were inclined to start an argument and see what hap- pens.” 3 Overheard in 8'siety. The human male doth now attain A most submissive lot; A lady may use words profane; A gentleman may not! “I admirés all dese new inventions,” said Uncle Eben; “but jes' de same when I gits tired en’ needs recreation I can’t git over my sense of obligation to de man 'way back yonder dat in- THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Do not allow yourself to be too easily hurt. This is the second of life's hardest lessons. While some learn it early, others never learn it, and most of us oscillate in a middle position our whole life long. ‘The sensitive plant is not fashlon- able any more. At the same time, it is simply poor business to be of such & sensitive nature that any thing that any one says can wound one, if the words happen to be of an intmical nature. A child had better be taught how to protect itself from the evil effects of harsh words than to know how to work cube roots, or solve that foot problem about how many yards of carpet it would take to cover & floor if— Nobody uses anyway! There is too much theory in life, not enough practical stuff—that is the main trouble. Whereas we might teach children to shed {ll words and thoughts like ducks do water, we spend the time at home and in schools telling them a lot of preclous bunk they will never use again in thelr lves, “It trains their minds.” Yes—but what good does it do for a person to grow up with the knowledge of Solomon if that wisdom does not include the practical method of discounting that nasty fling So- and-So took at you? Think of all the misery caused through inabllity of the victim to throw off the evil sentiments, the mean words, the nasty thoughts which are flung at him. Think of all the catty people—a base slander on my four-footed friends, by the way—who are able to inflict passing sorrow, thereby getting genuine pleasurs for them- selves, by reason of the thin skins of others. carpets any more, * ok ok % No, this thing of being' too sen- sitive in this world is one that has to be guarded against. I never s; it mentioned in the copy books, or heard a preacher say anything about it, yet it deserves to be considered seriously. The sensitive nature, of course, is a beautiful one, when not carried too far. The old golden mean, “Not too much of anything,” applies in this in all the other affairs of life and the ins and outs of human belngs. The sensitive nature has given us our wonderful literature, the great paintinge, the sublime music, all the hundred and one glories twhich brighten and beautify the world. Sensitive souls concelved our high- est 1deals, and put them Into majes- tic words to stir the hearts of men. To the sensitive ones of this earth we are indebted for our clearest con- ceptions of heaven and our darkest pictures of hell. Without their en- thusiasm and their suffering our lives today would lack much that now makes them worth while, This kind of sensitiveness s mnot the sort of sensitiveness we mean. This sensitiveness has drawn for us Breat dreams of goodness, enriching all human experience, dreams of which the angels might be proud, and which must make God look down with pleasure again upon his crea- tion. This is not the sensitiveness of which we speak. This sensitivity has put light into darkness, cheered the weary, given faith to the hope- less, and strength to the weak. Today it hus placed at the bedside of hundreds of invalids magic radio sets, which bring to them the music and voices of the air. This is but a very modern instance of that wondrous sensitiveness which nothing can replace in this world, where there s much harshness, meanness, woe, misery, despair, de- spite the best efforts of man to ban- ish them. And if a high order of sensitiveness accomplish, things, at a great price, we can but bow our heads at the sacrifice. No, the great sensitiveness has a place of its own, and is nct what we mean. * Kok ok When we say not to be too sen- sitive, we simply mean not to be so thin skinned that any old body can make you feel bad, as the popular phrase has it. Some kind friend takes a dirty dig at you, thereby revealing what is in his own mind, although he attributes it to you. You, however, knowing that your mind is entirely free from the base motives he attributes to it, realize fully that he s betraying ihis own thoughts. But what do do? You brood over what he h id. Hours later you find yourself with & dull sense of hurt. You wonder what on earth is the matter. Who or what has taken the joy out of life? Let's see—it can’t be that $10 you squandered—or that loss you sus tained In stocks—or that little quar- rel—or that more serious affair—or —or—why, you guess it must be that mean crack Bill Jones pulled off! “Shucks,” you say, forcefully, if somewhat inelegantly. “Why should I worry about what that bird sald? He merely gave himself away, that is all. What he sald about me isn't true, and I know it, and he knows it, and Jim, who was there, knows It, too." Having thus proceeded to state the truth of the thing, you go about your business, continuing to worry about what Jones sald. It will take several days for it to wear off. * X X ¥ Now why Is this thus? The @hswer s that we have not trained ourselves, and have mnever been trained in the fine art of re- bufing mean thoughts, dirty dig: wise cracks, nasty joshing and catty remarks, Education has procesded on the principle that the practical things in lite will take care of themselves, much as it once went along content in the idea that the home must attend to the cleanliness of the child. If little Johnnie did not wash behind his ears, Johnnie was stnt home with a note to mamma. Today the school introduces a fine game, called the health crusade, and invelgles Johnny into washing be. hind his ears each morning, so that he will get so many points on his course toward a health crusader knight- hood. Similarly, one of the next steps in general education will be instruction in general ethics, morality and the practical conduct of life, and one of the main branches of this newer in- struction, I am convinced, will be psychological lessons in how to keep from being too easily hurt. A child that can actually let ill-will trickle In one ear and out the other, as the old saying had it, will have learned something that will stand him n stead all his life. * % *x % The necessity for this hardening of the mental epidermis against the winds of ill that blow all too freely will be apparent to any one who thinks back over his own intellectual life. There is no man but can instance scores of times when chance remarks hurt him to the quick, remarks which ought never to have occasioned him a second thought. Women, perhaps, are more sensitive in this regard than men, and any one of them can recall countless times when much unhappiness, even tear: resulted from the careless or inten- tionally means words of others. Truly, all of us should cultivate a sort of rhinocerous hide for our mind, or even the carapace of the turtle, in order that the evil men say may fall oft blunted to the ground. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE President Coolidge will make his ol nd only appearance at a ball in ‘Washington this Winter at the annual charity function for the Children Hospital on the night of January 2. But he will not dance. The light fantastic is strictly on Mr. Coolidge's prohibited list, and apparently h: been ever since youth. A biographer in recent search for human interest material about the President elicited sound evidence on this score. It ap- pears that when * was a young fellow, he took & girl to a dance at a nearby farm in Vermont. The couples drove home In buggies and stopped at Col. John Coolidge’s farm for refreshments. “Have a good time, Calvin?’ his father asked. “Ya-as, father—1 didn’t dance. ‘Whereupon the old gentleman rejo ed: “That's a good boy. Here's a quarter for you. Col. Coolldge sub- sequently was besought to confirm this tale of Calvin's terpsichorean ab- stemiousne The colonel reflected a moment, then sald: “That part about the quarter don’t seem natural. * K ok ok Secretary Hughes is going to in- vade Dixie during the second week of January in his capacity of president of the American Bar Assoclation. Its executive committee will hold its an- nual meeting at Atlanta on January 12, 13 and 14. Two or three matters of special interest are on the agenda. First, the place and date of the as- soclation’s 1925 meeting are to be fixed. Consideration is to be given to two issues upon which the academy of our legal immortals is just now concentrating. The lawyers are back of the project to advance the dates of the inauguration of a new President of the United States and the sitting of a mewly elected Congress. The Bar Assoclation also is vigorously supporting raises in salary for the members of the Federal judictary. It sent a deputation on that subject be- fore the judiciary committee of the Senate the other day. Another mat- ter, close to the association’s heart, is & pending act of Congress incorpor: ing the organization under the laws of the United States, like the Ameri- can Red Cross. * % % % Lord Cecil of Chelwood, who has just recelved the $25,000 Woodrow Wilson Foundation award for peace work, won't have to disgorge any of it for American Income tax. For- elgn dignitaries who come here to lecture or sing or act aren't so lucky. As the noble viscount's hono- rarium was a gift, within the mean- ing of the act, Secretary Mellon has no claims upon it. Lord Cecil is a poor man, as British aristocrats go. His distinguished father, tHe late Marquis of Salisbury, was a great landed proprietor and left a huge es- tate, but practically all of it, in ac- cord with ancient tradition, went to the eldest son, the present Marquis of Salisbury. Two othre sons, one of them the Bishop of Exeter, share with Viscount Cecil the heritage of a famous name without any portion of the ancestral fortune. * ok ok X ‘Willlam McClellan Ritter of Wash- ington, who has just scattered two or three million dollars among friends nd servitors, plays golf at Chevy e. This observer knows a man who periodically vanquishes the knightly philanthropist—Ritter, by the way, means knight in -German. The deponent in question nays that tly vastly easier to de- induce him to part with a 75 cent 80lf ball, when he loses. Funny thing, human nature. ¥k % ¥ Midwestern newspapers are author ity for a story that reveals Presi- dent Coolldge in the role of big-stick wielder on the postal pay bill, on which a showdown will presently take place in the Senate. About a fortnight ago, it is circumstantially Telated, a delegation of perfectly good Republicans called at the White House on patronage business. Six members of the House of Represent- atives were In the party. The narra- tive runs: “The House members were bluntly asked to indicate how they intended to vote If the Senate should happen to override the postal pay veto. The President actually asked those intending to support his veto to hold up their hands. It was an embarrassing moment. Two or three of the amazed group shot up their hands, while the others blushed and remained motionless. The House visitors were interested in an ap- pointment of a Wisconsin man to the Canadian Boundary Commission, but the President caused confusion when he changed the subject and said he'd like to know if they intended to stand by the administration on the veto.” ¥ ok % For many weeks past the press con- ference at the White House, for the first time in vears, if ever, has been attended by thres or four negroes representing newspapers published in the interests bf the colored race, If any objection from any quarter was raised to their presence it has proved unavailing. Negro journalists have hitherto not been members of the press galleries of Congress, but now that the color line is no longer drawn at the executive end of Pennsylvania avenue the innovation may be in prospect on Capitol Hill, too. * k% X Joseph Stewart, executive assistant to the Postmast General, whose ca- reer at the Post Office Department dates back to 1882, is the hero of a poem which has become part of the record of the current hearings on the postal pay bill. Although Stewart is under heavy fire in connection with the department’s claims on operating costs, he is recognized as the coun- try's foremost expert in postal ad- ministration. Stewart has served under s0 many Postmasters General that he can hardly remember their names. Charles F. Jenkins of Phila- delphia, who represented the agri- cultural press protesters before the Moses committee, praised Stewart in rhyme as the real power at the Post Office Department, and the verse was ordered placed in the oMéal pro- ceedings. (Copyright, 1934.) ‘When Speeding Counts.’ From the Topeka Capital. Notwithstanding all that is sald about speed as the American vice, little objection heard against Chief Justice Taft's plea in behalf of speed- ing up justice. 1 Has Some Perquisites. From the Marion Star. A writer claims that $75,000 isn't & big enough salary for the Presi- dent of the United States, but pos- sibly he has overlooked the fact that the President gets his Thanksgiving great | NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM JOSEPH CONRAD. Ford Madox Ford. Little, Brown & Co. Since the past Midsummer a new zeal of interest has centered upon Joseph Conrad. That's a wry Death has—paying his devoirs with a ges- ture; in intent, compensatory, maybe; in effect, a gesture that certainly does serve to emphasize for a moment the pérson and achievements of the out- golng traveler. So, while the sudden sing of Joseph Conrad last Mid- summer has had nothing at all to do with his enduring fame, nor can have it has, nevertheless, stirred a deep and more general interest in the man and his work. A conclusive gesture-r the one Death makes—rounding & full period to the uses of final estimates and appraisals. Just now many are reading Conrad who never read him before. And old readers are completing ownership of his romances in order not to miss anything of the full flavor of his work, in order to have at hand means for a full accounting of his genius. And not only are the storles of Con rad’s own creating commanding an unusual general attention, but books about the man are in demand. FPer- sonal recollections, critical appraisals, lterary summaries, memoirs—these contribute to the fulfiliment of the Conrad legend. This legend, that ef- fect of blended personaiity and achievement and setting and atmos- phere, by way of which genius proves itself, by way of which genius sus- tains itself alive, and immediately beyond the range of purely personal contacts, beyond the limits of physi- cal existence. * K koK Among the writers contributing’ to the Conrad legend, Ford Madox Ford has the clear advantage of standing closest to Conrad himself through many years of partnership in literary work. ~ Indeed, the title page of this “Personal Remembrance” gives out the following announcement: “Ford Madox Ford, joint author with Joseph Conrad_of ‘Romance, ‘The Inheri- tors,’ °‘The Nature of a Crime. News, clearly, this will be to many a Conrad reader; news, however, that 1s bound to give an extra edge of con- cern in whatever Madox Ford may have to say. And the first thing he does say Is calculated to justify this whetted _interest It appears that something like 10 years ago Ford thought he was going to die—maybe right soon. So, as men in this strait are prone to do, he promptly made a will, designating Conrad his literary executor. Incident to this proceeding there w much talk, then and there- after, as to the proper character of a literary biography. They agreed that certainly this should not employ the common biographic formula, since the writer, of all men, leads a life pecu- liarly free from events as such. Great things go on, to be sure, with & crea- tive writer, but these are all inside things that have nothing to do with a chronological record of the external life of the person. The outcome of the discussion was perfect agreement between the two that a biography should be a novel, just as a novel should be and always {s—the biog- raphy of a man or of an affair. This book by Madox Ford is, therefore, in purpose, the novel of Joseph Conrad. “It is conducted exactly along the lines laid down by us, both for the novel which is blography and for the blography which is a novel. It is the rendering of an affair intended first of all to make you see the sub- Ject In his scenery. * © ® It js a portrait, not a narration; for what it shall prove to be worth, a work of art, not a compilation. * * * As to the truth of the impression as a whole, the writer believes that no man would care—or dare—to impugn it. Tt was that that Joseph Conrad asked for. The task has been accom- plished with the most pious scrupu- losity.” * ¥ ¥ *x The “novel” gets its start out of Joseph Conrad's need for help in the use of English—its words and fdioms and general structure—since it was Conrad's passion to write in English rather than in the French that he might have used, or in his native tongue. And the novel proceeds along its way by virtue of the inti- mate, day-in-and-day-out intercourse of these two, as they agree and dis- agree, as they fight and bleed and dle over the turn of a phrase, over the fidelity of word to fact, over th rhythm of a sequence. 2 The setting of this novel is Pent Farm, beneath the South Downs. Among its chief means of progress is an extraordinary old mare with such long ears that you took her for a mule. This was Nancy, behind whom they traversed the downs, up and down and across, talking, forever talking, about how to project one Aaron Smith, the last man tried for piracy in the Old Bailey. Smith was booked as hero for thelr romance-in- the-making. Flicking Nancy's back, Ford would give his version of some part of the profection. And pre soon Conrad was sure to chime in, 0, 0, God, my dear Hueffer! 0, my dear faller, how is it possible?” Cer- tainly an exciting partnership, this; certainly a new mode of creating ro- mantic adventure. Out of a hundred scenes, not unlike this one, not only did invention grow, but out of these does a very vivid picture of Joseph Conrad emerge. Not a large man, but “broad in the shoulder and long In the arm.” Dark, with black hair and clipped black beard. The gestures of a Frenchman. * kK % So often did Ford Madox Ford step out from these intimate ardors of collaboration for a bit of & summing up of Joseph Conrad. “He was a gentleman adventurer who had sailed with Drake. Elizabethan—it was that that he was. He has been called Slav; he has been called Oriental; he has been called 2 Romanite. He was none of these except on the surface to his grocer. A man has to have a surface to present to his grocer or to afternoon callers. He himself was Just Man, attuned to the late six- teenth century. In all the world he would have loved nothing better than to singe the King of Spain's beard {f it had not been to write a good book. Well, he outwitted the Dutch navy in Malaysia and wrote the greatest books in the world.” You will have a keen personal pleasurs to find out in passing that “for years and years Conrad read Marryatt and Fenimore Cooper. And it was one of the little pleasures of Conrad to remember that in Paris after Waterloo more crowds followed Sir Walter Scott and Feni- more Cooper on the boulevards than ever followed the King of Prussia. His ambition was to be taken for— to be—an English country gentleman of the time of Lord Palmeerston. There might have been worse ambi- tions. * ¢ * For that was Eng- land of Conrad's early vision—an im- mense power, standing for liberty and hospitality for refugees. * * * She was stable, reasonable, disci- plined, her hilerarchies standing in their orders, her classes settled, her services capable and instinct with an adequate tradition.” * ok k% A new kind of blography. A new kind of novel. Fitted, though, to an uncommonly adequate medium for the personality and genius of Joseph Con. rad. Not easy reading, If that is what you are looking for. The writer is of an individuality and of an in- dependence that make for a certain erraticism of effect that you may dis- likey, But dig away past his wear somé repetitions of “the writer,” past his other idiosyncrasies—for you will find many satisfactions underneath these surface discouragements. For, ‘without question, you will_find_Jo- p o Q. Does a Prerident bring his own turniture to the White House?—J. K A. The furniture in the White House is owned by the Nation. The new President brings only such per- sonal belongings as he may care to have with him during his term of office, and removes the same when his successor is inaugurated. Q. Where was the Burnt War De- _partment?—T. C. A. The War Department was housed in a building on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue between Twen- ty-first and Twenty-second streets, and this was destroyed by fire in 1801. The blackened walls stood for many years and the ruin was known as the “Burnt War Department.” j Q. Who pald for the construction of the Washington Monument?—L. D. N. A. This Monument was erected at a total cost of $1,187,710.31. Three hundred thousand dollars of this was raised by individual free will offer- ings and the remainder was appro- priated by Congre: Q. Who are the most northerly people in the world?—F. K. G. A. The Bureau of Ethnology says that the imos of Smith Sound, Greenland, are the most northerly people in the world Q. What are the ships encircle the globe with service?—D, S. L. A. The seven sister ships now sail on regular schedule, at intervals of 14 days. They make the trip around the world in 112 days, making about 20 ports. The names of these ships are the President Van Buren, the President Harrison, the President Garfleld, the President Monroe, the President Adams, the President Hayes and the President Polk. Q. What is the largest concrete outdoor swimming pool in the coun- try?—W. L. C. ‘A. Garden City. Kans., has an all- concrete municipal swimming pool which it claims to be one of the largest if not the largest In the United States. It is 345 feet in length by 210 feet in width, with a depth ranging from 18 inches to 9 feet. that now a regular Q. What is the population of Tulsa, Okla.?—P. T. D. A. The population of Tulsa was approximately 110,000 in 192 *Q. What would it cost to build un- derground garages on a large scale? —W. W. B. A. An underground garage pro- jected in Chicago is planned as a series of units, each of which will care for 306 cars. Bach section of each unit will be 25x60 feet and will store six cars. It {s estimated that the average cost of construction will amount to $1,500 per car. Q. Where is the statue called “The End of the Trail"?—T. E. T. A. In life size form the statue does not exist today. The one executed for the Panama Pacific exposition was only temporary. There are ome or two small replicas of this statue by Fraser. One is in the Metropolitan Gallery of Art. Q. When do people suffer from colds the most?—>L C. T. A. A chart recently prepared shows the low number of colds to be | in June. The line rises rather grad- ually until the 1st of December, when there is a sharp ascent through three months, reaching the peak in March. Q. What is the largest crystal sphere known?—K. 8. C. A. The largest flawless sphere In the world was recentl; brought to New York from China, where it was cut from a perfect Burma crystal. It was nine inches in diameter and weighed 500 Troy ounces and 13 pennyweights. It has a little brother, or sister, fifteen-six- teenths of an inch smaller in diam- eter. The two are valued at $50,000. Q. Has a lion ever been crossed with a tiger?—T. C. L. A. The London Zoo has a “tigon,” an animal which had a lioness for a mother and a tiger for a father. Tt was bred and presented to the Zoo by the Maharajah of Nawanagar. crystal Q. What is the present value of Uniting on the farm products in P. V. . Farm products this year ars estimated at $10,000,000,000 by the American Furm Bureau Federation. Q. What is the cost of sending plictures by radio?—S. P. R A. Rates will not be announced until the system of sending pictures by radio has been more nearly per- fected. However, on the basis of the cost of sending the number of words that could be transmitted in the time required to transmit ons photograph, the cost at press rates would be abofit $40. this country?— Q. When was the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York built?—N. Y. T. A. The original hotel structure on the site occupied by the Waldorf- Astorla was built in 1893, Q. Ts there any way of reducing the evaporation of alcohol in & radiator™—W. B. T. A. About a pint of glycerin poured into the radiator will float on top of the anti-freeze solution and will tend to prevent rapid evaporation. Q. What does “Erin Go Bra P, 5 o Gragh” means “Tre- land Forever.” It is the old war cry of the Irish. is the AL expression “roof of the “roof of the is applied to the Pamir Plateau, in central Asia. Its Persia name has this significance. Q. How much ground must devoted to cemeteries in clties proportion to the population?—G. L. ¥ A. If 4,000 corpses are crowded into an acre, and a mortality rate of 15 per 1,000 be assumed, nearly four acres per 1,000,000 pop ulation are required annually to bury the dead. Q. How much silver is there spoons marked sterling?—F. J. A. All sterling silver must contain 925 fine silver and .075 alloy. Q. What gives rain odor—G. G. W. A. Rain has no odor, purifies the air. Often rain is pro duced by electrical charges In th air, and these charges produce a gas called ozone, which has a delightfu fresh odor. in its peculiar but in falling Q. How long and how wide shoul a toboggan be made, and what wood should be used?—I. M. P. A. The ordinary toboggan is about 18 inches wide and 6 to 8 feet long It is usually made of thin lengths of hickory, maple or ash, slightly oval on the bearing surface, placed side by side, fastened at each end. The under surface is highly polished. Q. Has there ever been any differ- ence in the regulation army “about face” as executed by officers and executed by men?—R. A. S. A. The War Department says that {up to 1911 the enlisted man did “about |face” by turning on the right heel and left toe and bringing his left heel up to his right heel after turning about Now, officers, as they have always done, and enlisted men, since 1311 do “about face” in the same manner. This is by placing the right foot about 10 inches to the left of the heel of the left foot and turning on right toe |and left heel | Q. Which is the coldest month of the year in the United States?— L 0. 0. A. The Weather Bureau says that January is usually the coldest month The coldest weather oc- cnrs in the northern parts of North Dakota and Minnesota, where the av- erage temperature for the month ic about zero, while the warmest Janu- ary is found in southern Florida with an average of 60 degrees Fahrenheit (The person who Ioses out is the one who guesses. The person who gets on is alirays the onc who acts upon reliable information. This paper employs Fred- eric J. Haskin fo conduct an informa- tion burcau for the public. There is no charge except 2 cents in stamps for re- turn postage. Write him today for any facts you desire. Your inquiry showld bs addressed to The Star Information Bu- rea, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Twon- ty-first and C streets northwest.) Traffic Problem 1I.—Information the First Essential. By ERNEST Secretary National Conference If any one should ask Goodwin of Massachusetts, Stoeckel of Connecti- cut and Baughman of Maryland, who are the motor vehicle commissioners of their respective States, to define in one word the foundation of any accident-prevention program, they would reply in a harmonious chorus, “statist! These three States are probably in advance of any others in the Union, both {n study and in definite results, with regard to a so- lution of the traffic problem. marked reduction in the accident rate has resulted from their efforts. The committee on statistics of the Natfonal Highway Safety, after deploring in the first sentence of its report the almost total lack of systematic ef- fort to secure accurate and complete data regarding the tvpes, causes and | methods of prevention of accidents, says: “It is hardly necessary to em- phasize the fact that the traffic ac- cident problem cannot be successfully approached, and certainly no solution can be attained until the extent and character of the problem have been fully ascertained.” Having reached this conclusion, the committes stated most emphatically that the collection and analysis of statistics regarding street and highway accidents are ab- solutely essential. Probe for All Accldents. The report calls for State legisla- tion making it the specific business of some State agency to receive traf- fic accident reports and to investi- gate ay accidents, whether within or without the corporate limits of municipalities. It also recommends a law making it mandatory for those concerned to report all traffic acei- dents, with an adequate penalty for failure to report. The committee be- Meves that methods of reporting and tabulating should be reasonably uni- form throughout the United States, in order that the data gathered may be comparable, and to this_end recom- mends some standard definition of terms. . It also recommends that the information gathered be sufficiently detatled to indicate clearly whether the accidents occurred because of recklessness, carelessness, or inca- pacity of persons, the fault of the mechanism of the vehicle, physical conditions of the locality where the accldent occurred or any combination of two or all of these reasons. Valuable In Maryland. Behind these conclusions and rec- ommendations there is a sufficient volume of available information to prove that they are mot only sound but essential. The authorities of the State of Maryland, for example, say that because they have an adequate system for reporting and Investigat- ing accidents they have been able to cut the annual number of traffi fatglitles squarely in tw Tl alone justifies ‘viho expenditure el Conference on Street and | GREENWOOD, on Street and Highway Safety. | money for such a system. If it saves the life of a single child it is werth all the trouble and expense. If, how- ever, one wishes to think in terms of dollars and cents, the actual cash saving to the citizens of a State mors than counterbalances the cost. The study of accldent satisties up- sets many preconceived notlons with regard to the causes, frequency ard severity of accidents. Furthermors, it erves as a gulde to those charged with the drafting of laws. Conneati- cut tells us that legislation should b | directed, not at speed, but at reckless |driving. The committee on traffic con trol of the Conference on Street and | Highway Safety, on page 14 of its re | port, says without ambiguity: he | excessively slow vehicle on such a |highway (highways of heavy travel) which impels all drivers behind it to overtake it may be as serfous a men ace to traffic in the opposite direc tion as the speed maniac who want to overtake all others:” Running Slowly Dangerous. Such statistics as are available in- dicate that more accldents occur at a comparatively slow rate of speed than at high rates of speed. It s, of course, necessary for the purpose of rtaflic control to establish some limit of speed beyond which there is pre- sumption of reckless driving. This limit the authorities are more or less agreed should be 35 miles an hour. On the other hand, it is considered bad practice for any municipality to establish a maximum speed limit low- er than 15 miles per hour. Taxicab authorities, having studied |the question for years, tell us that cars equipped with bumpers cause more severe personal injury accidents than cars without bumpers. Probably this is Why one never sees a taxicab with a bumper. More children are killed going defi- nitely somewhere, such as to school or on errands, than are killed playing in the streests. Many more persons are killed or injured during ‘the peak hour of the traMic in the afternoon than at the peak hour in the morn- ing, even though the congestion may be the same during the two periods. This, as In the case of Industrial sc- cidents, 1s due to fatigue on the part of both pedestrians and drivers. Summing up the conclusions to be drawn from such statistical studles as have been made, and which can be accepted with safety by sensible | people, it 1is definitely established that accidents do not happen when there is a freé flow of traffic, Areas | of graet accident frequency uncov- ered by statistical invesitgations in almost every case seem to possess obstructions which upset the law gov- erning the flow of trafic. These laws are qutie as defintie as those govern- ing the flow of water, and cannot be violated - without “danger of ocatas- wophe,