Evening Star Newspaper, January 24, 1925, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sundsy Morning Edition. 'WASHINGTON, D. C. BATURDAY....January 24, 1925 THEODORE W. Foves. ... Editer “The Evening Star Newspaper Company Sustwess Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. < New York Office: 110 East 42nd 8t & Chicago Office : Tower Buildl : 16 Regent 5t.,Londoa, Drening Star. with the Sunday morning is delivered by ocarriers within the at 60 cents month; dafly oaly. 4 oSty per month: Susday ceats’ per 2 . Orders may be sest by mail or tele- /. Dhoms Main 5000. Collection is made by car- lers st the end of each memth. “Rato by Mail—Payable in Advance, Datty and Sunday..1y “Dally only 1yr. $6.00; 1 mo, 60c “Sunday only 1yr. §2.40; 1 mo., 30¢ . All Other States. Daily and Sunday.1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ sDadly only.......1yr, $7.00;1mo. Sunday oniy “1yr, $3.00;1mo, 25¢ % Member of the Associated Press. “The Associated Press fa exciusively entitled 15 the ‘use for republication of all news dis- fretebes credited to 1t or not otherwise credited n tifls paper and also the local news pub. Tetied berein. " All rights of publication of poclal dispatches herein are also reserved. e — Closing the 0ld Account. ¢ Some opposition to the District sur- Prus bill was voiced in the House last District day on the ground that the Jnint surplus committee had not stated the account between Nation and Capi- tal between 1874 and date, as instruct- ed, but had only gone back as far as 1911. +.--The report of the committee and the evidence before it show that Account. ants Mayes and Accountant Spalding had inspected microscopically all these accounts to discover credits in favor of the United States against the Dis- triet; that over $2,000,000 had been “ransferred from credit to the District _1g credit to the United States as a re- #ult of this inspection; that the joint ¢ommittee sought, but could not ob- tain, any evidence or sustained claim of additional equitable credits in favor of the United States; that the incom- "pleteness of the auditing of accounts by Mayes and Spalding consisted in the fact that they stated only credits of the United States and mot credits “af the District, and that the District contended that @ full and equitable statement of the old accounts would result in the District's favor In re-| spect to specified ftems aggregating millions of dollars. The evidence before the joint com- mittee evidently satfsfied it that a re- statement of the old accounts could bring no additional net equitable ‘eredits to- Uncle Sam. The effect of the foint committee’s action in closing the decount betwéen Nation and Capi- ‘tal’ was thus not to the disadvantage »f Uncle Sam, but of the District, whose unconsidered claims of millions of equitable credits were thereby barred. ‘. "Phe District was reconeiled to-this ‘@isposition of the whole subject only on the theory that this action would wipe the siate clean of all the bitter contention and recrimination = over contradicting claims of indebtedness in the past and would give the Capital community a fresh start to test fairly its financial weal or woe under its new organic act of 1 The House on Monday, in approving the District surpius bill, will merely recognize as available for, appropria- tion District money in the Treasury which the Controller General certifies | 10 be there to the credit of the Dis- t#iet; and will close the old accounts between Capital and Nation, which nobody but the District has any further interest in keeping open. Elsewhere in The Star in elabora- tion of this contention a portion of the Brief of the citizens’ joint committee submitted to the congressional joint fiscal committee is reprinted. 5 ——o—— *%"There is no doubt of the world's edu- ‘etional advancement. Nobody is _spared by an eclipse, the like of which has thrown millions of ancestral peo- ple into abject terror. o Underworld speclalists refuse to change their methods. Bugglaries con- finue in spite of the fact that boot- legging vields a steadier profit with less risk of life. ¥ 3 French statesmen are not inclined 16 @efer reproaches mentioning a hard creditor until Uncle Sam has actually cellected something. = ———— The Eclipse. Scientific Washington watched the sun’s eclipse in a scientific way from 2155 to 10:22, and all the rest of Wash- ington made observations through panes of glass smoked with gas or candle soot, fragments of glass blacked by the flame of a match and through old photographic negatives—Alm and piate. The day’s work was broken in on by the eclipse, and all the chores of home and office were off schedule. ‘Washington scientists had much to do with the eclipse, in foreteiling it, domputing the time of Interposition of the moon, the time of transit of Luna between earth and Phoebus, the be- sinning, end end width of the deep shadow of the moon and the breadth of the lighter shadow which bordered it. A considerable part of the scien- tific ‘population of Washington went o places on which the full shadow of the moon fell to make observations of the corona and to learn what is pos- Wble to know of thoss million-mile- long.flames or sheets of burning gas flung off by the sun, and which show lnmthously in the sky when the sun is shut from view by the moon. These acientific observations will be the mat- ter of study and discussion €or years said that at Washington the moon would begin to cross the sun at 7:55 they accepted the statement without doubt. When the spectacle began on time, &nd the full program ennounced by students of tlie skies was carried: out, plain men tock the thing much @s a matter of course. Thousands of our people looked for-a few minutes at the partial blanking of ‘the golden disc and then said “enough,” as though eclipses of the sun were rather usual things. Some thought that as there have been eclipses throughout all time, there will be eclipses through- out all time “and I do not want to be later than need be at.the office.” Many thousands of our people thought of the splendid spectacle In other terms. They thought of the earth rolling west to east, of the moon rolling round the earth, of both the earth and moon traveling round the sun. Perhaps they thought that the sun may not be a stationary pivot, and that it is traveling through vast spaces around some sun we know not of and carrying along its little satellites, which we have named Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and the rest. Perhaps they thought of the ponderous spheres whose weight in quintillions of tons stupefy our senses, suspended, flashing, flying, whirling in an alr, ether or space that seems to us so light—all Yoll'(\wlnx un- changing laws. The eclipse at Washington was a success, but Washington feels that those places in the path of the full shadow Of.the moon had advantage over us. There the sun was full- masked, and if the air was clear sev- eral of our sister planets were seen shining in the sky ———— An Effective “‘Feeler.” If the speech by Deputy Marin in the French Chamber on the subject of France's debt to this country was a “feeler” to sound out American senti- ment it served its purpose most ef- fectively. The American response was at once prompt and unmistakable in tone. Sa dectsive, in fact, that it per- suaded the Herriot government and its supporters in the Chamber to ex- ecute an about face. Whereas govern- ment, supporters had wildly applauded the speech upon its delivery, they re- fused to give it official sanction by ordering it ‘‘posted” throughout France. Til-tempered speeches on the subject of the French debt are to be deplored. whether delivered in Paris in Washington. Acrimonious debate will not help toward a satisfactory under- standing. This country wants the debt question settled, and wants to be gen- erous to France in the terms of set- tlement, but such outbreaks as that of Deputy Marifi make difficult both the settlement and the generasity. It is difficult for a creditor to feel generous toward a debtor when the debtor holds the creditor up as a Shylock and bloodsucker. There can be no satisfactory settle- ment of the French debt except upon terms which will be regarded as fair by the people of both countries. Inci- dents lfke the Marin speech are calcu lated to make any settlement seem unfalr, both in France and in the United States. When a people are told by their spokesmen that they ought to pay nothing’they are not going to pay anything willingly. And when a people owe money and are willing to pay nothing, any scaling down of the total is going to be distasteful to the creditor. It there remained in the minds of the French government any doubts as to the American view those doubts could have been cleared away without such en exposition as the Marin speech, but that course having been taken, Senator Borah's answering speech In the Senate cleared away the doubts. When official negotiations are opened, as is indicated in Paris may soon be the case, the Borah speech will furnish an excellent platform from which to expound the American position. ————————— or (e e THE “EVENIN historic document. Before prints could be made, however, representatives of the Treasury Department yisjited the studio and destroyed the plates, on the |" ground that ‘they were technically in violation of . the law.: This ‘incident illustrates the scrupulous care the Government _takes to. prevent en- croachment upon the integrity of the currency. The idea of a carpet-with a dollar- mark design menacing the stability of Turkish finances is, however, amus- ing. Even with all‘its care the United States Government ‘would probably A cabinet officlal’s saldry is con- sidered too small to permit him to en- tertain socially in a befitting manner. The United States Government is an up-todate, institution except in the matter of its pay roil. e e In addition to his other cares, Presi- dent Coolidge is called upon to com- pose a number of sincere letters of compliment and regret in connection with @ serfes of resignations. Gun fights among bootleggers and high-jackers point to a certain laxity in enforcement of laws against con- cealed wéhpons. Orily an alert and competent street- cleaning organization can assure a safe and sane 4th of March. A Counterfeit Carpet. The Turkish authorities who have refused to admit through the custome a large earpet woven in Greece on the ground that it is “counterfeit money. because it besrs in its design a fac- simile of the American dollar, are cer- tainly considerate of the currency of the United States. They are taking no chances, even though the possibil- ity of circulating such a medium is hardly to be reckoned as serious. Strictly speaking, those Turkish officlals are right, though perhaps their own laws do. not require them to be so scrupulous in their denial of admittance to the dollar-mark carpet. In this country any fabric of what- ever material that comprises a replica of the foken of currency is illegal. The dollar mark, of course, can be used in designs, provided it is not em- ployed in what purports to be @ rep- resentation 6f money. No facsimile of to come. _:The great body of Washington peo- ple turned amateur astronomers with considerable zeal. They have so long known that the earth travels in e long elliptica] path around the sun every year, and that the moon revolves about the earth and accompanies it in its passage round the sun, that when they saw the sun of Washington near- 1y blotted from view by a black object they had none of that fear ‘which used 0 overcome men. They have come to know .something about the progress of the science of astronomy and to rely on estronomers, and when the men of bill “or coin can be legally. printed, molded, stamped or made by any other method. It is illegal, for example, to photograph money, and to do so suh- Jects the photographer to severe pen- alty. - Upon the conclusion of the war with Spain and the ratification of the treaty of Paris a warrant was drawn at the Treasury Department for $20,- 089,000, in payment .to Spain of the amount provided for compensation for the cession of her insular possessions to the United States. An enterprising cameraist of this city took several photographs- of this warrant as an 4 pay no attention whatever to Such a production, for it does not ban the dollar mark itgelf, though its use.in a design may be questioned on the score of taste, artistic*and otherwise. P S A Hopeful Sign. Encouragement s seen for hope of averting the threatened strike of 70,- 000 anthracite coal miners in Pennsyl- vania and ending the strike of 12,000 men now on in the Pennsylvania Coal Company's plant at Pittston in peace negotlations commenced Wednesday at_ Wilkes-Barre, which progressed favorably. An important feature of the proceedings was a demonstration of the fallure of the radical element and evidence of the disposition of the miners to listen to the advice of the conservatives. The meeting of Wednesday was to take a strike vote, but it adjourned without such action. Neil Perry, per- sonal representative of President Lewls of the United Mine Workers of America, advised the men against striking, and urged that the 12,000 now out should return to work. He favored exhausting all the existing fa- cllities for a settlement provided through the board of concillation and the miners' comrpission, urging that this was the best way to settle all grievances. He pointed out that the proposed strike would be fllegal, a violation of contracts and would work disaster to the country, as well as militating against the miners’ best interests. It is well that the present organi- zation of the United Mine Workers contains such wise counselors as President Lewis and his immediate staff and that they can be depended upon to give the men such good ad- vice, frowning upon efforts of the hot-heads and the radicals, who in the past have invariably led the miners into disaster. It is a hopeful sign of stabllity in the coal business, making for the good of the country. B — A Nebraska worker in & lumber vard on recelving information that he was. hefr to over a hundred thousand dollars declares he will. go on work- ing. Work and idleness are largely matters of temperament. A workman loves his occupation, and a loafer, in spite of wage inducements, will go on- loafing just the same. ———————————— The award of @ prize for the best service or suggestion in the interest of peace is valuable in its influence, though the sum involved is invariably but slight as compared with what the public would willingly subscribe for a plan whose workability could be guar- anteed. —————— According to occasional reports, aft- er the police have finished. giving a suspect the “third degree” what the court may do to him seems compara- tively mild. [ A ——— Ponzi has not resumed operations, but @ large amount of foolishly opti- mistic loose change is being collected here and there, nevertheless. —————t—————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Eclipse. The savage an eclipse would view ‘With terror in his eye, He thought he'd found some trouble new,. Up yonder in the sky. He mourned ths light it used to give; He thought its work was done, And wondered how the world would live ‘Without the smiling sun. The good old sun came shining clear To gladden every. gaze, And laughed again at human fear Of Nature's steadfast ways. Swaying. “De you undertake to sway public opinion?" “No,” replied Senator Sorghum. watch the way publi¢ opinion is lean- ing and sway with it.” STAR,’ ar damnie WASHINGTON - Ce e A e mas C., SATUR! "THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. A man and a woman sat at a restaurant table, ® not wuncommon situation, sort of “tea-for-two". stuff. “That bozo over there I8 a prime mutt, if you ask me,” the man sald, indicating with a twist of his eve- brows a talkative counterman busy dispensing food. a , “What do vou hold agafnst him?” asked the woman. Her halr was white with experience, framing = kindly face, whose lines were those of smiles rather than wrinkles. “That bird hasn't emough sense-to wad a shotgun, us the saying is,” returned her companion. = “Listen té him ge on." Of = .truth, the - counterman ‘was going on. He was going on indefi- nitely, something .on the principle of perpetual motion. Physicists declare a self-running machine to be an m- possibility, but these who. say that never heard Bill, the bozo. Physicists who would say Bill was not perpetual motion, as far as his tongue was concerned, come within the definition of the member of Con- gress who, Wwhen asked what & “physicist” was, declared it to be a sound llke the opening of a cham- pagne bottle. The woman turned fo. her table companion. “Yes, he does run on,” she smiled. “But did you ever think- “Did I ever think what That he was No. 17." His sho ings were were No. 17, .17, he him. 17—at the orphanage. Snap judgments, judgments made without a full knowledge of the facts, or lacking even the rudimentary ba- sis of fact, are so comumon that one ordtnarily pays no at®ention to them until brought face to face with a par- ticular e ahove. Such hasty weighings of our fellow human beings, however, are responsi- ble for perhaps as much misery any other one factor in life, and the sad part of it ail is that nothing can be done about it, except through some such consideration as we are giving it here. Calling the problem to mind, how- ever, is a gaod thing, a profitable thing, If each reader—as well as the writer—would tike ta heart the. mat- ter, resolve to do his or her. nart, as ar as possible, in ending hasty - ments of others. " S The fact Is that none of us is In a position to wejgh others in the bal- ance and find them wanting, except in such cases as probably most of us con- front seldom In our llves.. We simply cannot condemn without running the great risk of being un- true to the better part of ourself, as well as dolng grave injustice to the victim of our snap judgment. Morally, we have no right to de- clare flat] do not like him.” Per- sonally, I am given to liking and a4 Hking people on sight—and I am usu- ally wrong. So are You ‘When you db the same thing. . The thing usually works out in this way: You mest a man, he has a big nose, or sémething of that sort; he brushes his hair the wrong way, or his stock- 1t was Just Jud Tunkins says it's getting so you can herdly talk business without interrupting a eross-word puzzle. Life's Injustice, The bootleg bandit canriot fail To find substantial aid; Since, even If he goes. to jail, He knows his rent is paid. Improvements. “I understand Crimson Gulch is or- ganizing a fire department.” - “Yes,” answered Cactus-Joe. “The boys need a nice warm engine house. There 4sn't @ building in the Gulch that’s it to play poker in.” Elevations. O'er elevating guns we fret, Before debate is through We fear the peace dove may forget To raise her voice and coo. “If a New Year resolution cost any- thing, same as & suit of clothes,” said Uncle Eben, “folks 'ud mighty soon be complainin’ ‘'bout how fast it wears out.” ————— ‘With the fiddler and the devil to pay there is little mystery why the cost of living Is .stubborn about coming down.—Little Rock Arkansas Democrat. S —————————— Repayment of the expenses of our army of occupation will come. in handy for old-age pensions for those who participated.—Dallas Journal, The modern test of will power is to work cross-word pussles or let ‘em alone.—Memphis News-Scimitar. —————————— It may be bad taste to laugh out toud, but it's a_sure of good di- gestion.—Glendale Ev, Wb - his first name is one of your pet aver- sions. 4 Antipathy runs through you as the radio impulses vibrate along an- tenna. “I don’t like that fellow,” you confide to a friend. “He glves me a pain.” A year later that fellow is a very good friend of yours, and, in a spirit of confidence you tell him: “Do you know, when I first met you I couldn’t see you at all. You gave me an acuse pain. Now, isn't that funny?” Yes, very “funny”—abeurd, In real- fty—Since your first Impression was based on nothing, yet had all the fm- pressiveness of truth. What one likes! That is the button we press a hundred times a day, usu- ally nothink popping forth but an ugly Jack-in-the-hox, a grinping thing unworthy 5f being hid in so essen- tially beautiful & container. 7 R Each one of us is the center of the world for himeelf. For me, 1 am the center; for you. you are the center; for them, they ure the center. Sounds like a lesson in Latin gram- mar, does it not? Yet it is more than that, much more than that, this clarify- ing of my view, and resultant clarifying of yours, as we consider the problem, for that Is all writing is, in essence, seif-clarification to begin with, carrying something over to the reader. You may not agree with me, but If we think the best we can we have done something. As far ‘as possible, then, men ought not to condemn others upon small provocation. A& a matter of cold fact this hasty condemnation, this snap judg- ment, Is our humean equivalent for the dog trick of snapping at people. The dog vents his animal spleen upon others by snapping at them with his physical mouth. We humans exploit our mental ani- mus against our fellow mortals by curs- ing them, “kidding” them unfairly, when we know next to nothing about them. Often, it we could know, we would blush with very shame at remarks we have made. Here Is a2 man who has a “grouch,” we tell the world. He is the meanest old cuss that ever walked on two legs, we never miss a chance informing all our friends But it is we who are the “mean cuss,” for that man has a hidden stomach ulcer, unknown even to himself, perhaps, which is responsible for the surface traits which we 8o greedily seize upon and magnify, s if there were nothing else b the fellow except those bad traits of his. " Scores of teachers have erred in their predictions of future hangings and peni- tentiary sentences for “bad boys,” through thelr inabflity to know and un- derstand hidden fils in the physical and mental_economy. Slowly these maladies, hidden deeper than the bottom of the world, are being dragged one by one to the surfacs of man, where they float 8o that all may sce and understand. But if one sees, does he necessarily understand ? Alas, that is the eternal joker which the master of the pack seems to have placed there siice the beginning. We see, and still we fail to under- stand. Having eyes, we sce very little, and having ears, we hear not, as was ald long ago. * X ¥ ¥ Don't condemn ofthand The child may suffer internally, al- though standing before us as the very picture of health. The teeth may be uicerated, although sound and white on the surface. The dog may have had no water for days, when he froths at the mouth some | bot Summer day “How can we know? ‘We cannot, that is why we ought riot judge others Karshly, condemn unnec- essarily, josh unknowingly. Some day there is going to arlee a philosopher greater than hus ever been known, one who will bring peace among the nations by giving peace to men, peace to the in- dividual. And these results he will get by bringing theory and practice down to the level of common sense. How he will do 1t? How do I know. But there is one thing reasonably certain. He must begin with some such principle as this: “Do mot condemn—they may be sick.” Independence of Coolidge Wins Editors’ Admiration President Coolldge’s policy of an- nouncing several of his' most impor- tant appointments to office almost simultaneously with the announce- ment of the vacancy he was filling caused consternation among the poll: ticlans and among newspapers well at first. Calm reflection by the editors, however, seems to bring forth almost universal approval of the pol. fcy. First suggestions that “a new Coolldge” was developing are very generally denled by these editors. The New York Times (independent Democratiz) sums up the rather gen- eral opinion In thess words: “The fact that the President had to accept important resignations and make #ig- nificant appointments all In one week has led some imaginative correspond- ents to picture a new Calvin Coolidge, suddenly become masterful and. as- sertive. But there is as yet no real evidence of a change In him. He has simply made critical decisions quietly and promptly. But that is precissly what he has done ever sipce he suc- ceeded to the presidency.” The whale record of Mr. Coolldge, adds the New York Herald-Tribune . (Republican), “has been one of courage and action when action was needed. In face of the oil charges he sbowed the highest kind of resolution When he refuséd to be stampeded. and vote-chasing Congress he stood by the national interest ‘without & moment 6f hesitation, sending back his prompt vetoes regardiess of con- gressional howlings or bloo threats™ “The “-administration - of John Adams,” reflects the New York Eve- ning World (independent Democratic) “the first New England President, ended In wreckage because he.tried to carry on in his own right with an inherited set. of -advisers who owed him nothing and were riot tn’ syni- pathy with his views. The ‘dyifient determination of President Coolldge to take the reins is nd more the claiming of a right than the assump- tion of a duty: The Nation has called him to leadership.- Up to this time the publjc’ has had ne obportunity to appraise - President Coolldge, . but there are multiplying Indications that he iIntends henceforth to assume the duties and responsibiiities to which the people have 50 unmistakably summoned him." > In the opimfoh of the Spririgfield Union ' (Republican), “to belleve that the recent manjfesta- tions of independence at the White House are forerunners of new and awful things In the way of presiden- tial dominance and. individuality is to indulge. in exa a * K R s “The President is asfuming a‘tead- ership ‘he did not ‘manifest fn'like degree before he was elected,”. thluks the Kansas City Times (Independent). “Previous to .his sweeping Indorse- ment by the people,” the Times adds, “he moved carefully and deliberatly. He aid not lack definiteness or stead- tastness in purpose, but he aeldom exercised the full prerogatives of his office in pressing his policie cording to the B8ioux. Fall Leader (Republican), “considerations of mere political expedienty are be- ing ignored. Inst: the Président is after the best men Available for the jobs, that he is sure of and feels that he can trust.” 8 From a different point of view, however, the San Francisco Bulletin (independent) approzches its analysis and -declares: “Mr.. CooMdke is'-no novice in polittes.” He 'knows the ‘game,’ &nd whoever has closely fol- lowed his course discovers that he is now playing it In_an effort to-re- gonstruct the Republican. party. He must see that unless the new Con- gress and the new administration can go into the congressional campaign of 1926 with an indiSputable record, af achievement the party will.be :p-un.]'fb‘! & Demogratic-Congross installed dnd In face of a willful |’ the -Republicaw administration dis- credited.” “President Cooldge may be treat. ing politielans to painful surprises,’ says the Chicago Dally News (inde- pendent), “but the common sense of the. Nation sess nothing strange in any of the steps he has taken since the November election. He was the people’s choles for President, and he is expected to lead his party as well as the Nation. He was nominated and elected on a perfectly clear and definite platform, and he Is carrying out his explicit pledges. He Is not invading the sphere of Congress or that of the judiciary. On the other hand, he {s not encouraging invasion by _Congress of the sphere of the Executive.” - Reflecting on .the statement of a Washington correspondent that the President is demonstrating sométhing not hitherto displayed, the Sloux City Journal asks: “Is it a new Coolidge? May it not be the same Calvin Cool- idge in a little bit-different role? Or, perhaps, they merely did not discover the kind of man he was until the oc- casion demanded the action that he was quick . to supply.” The Omaha World-Herald (independent ~Demo- _cratic) mnalyses the character of men who .have resigned and those who have been named to succeed tnem, us . well’ a8 Senator Borah, whom the World-Herald points to as the “power behind” ‘the -retirement of Secretary Hughes, and adds: “The real prob- lem—the'. unknown problem in the equation—is Calvin Coolldge. We .know Borah. very well, and Kellogg falrly well. But the country is not yet mcqudinted as it is destined to be with its President pro tem, as Leslie Shaw .has plcknamed him. As time and events' feveal him, we may be surprised—and -Borah may beé the most slirprised of any.” “President Coolldge saves himselt ‘mu¢h_anhoyance’ by announcing a resignation and naming a successor at one and the same time, says the Cleveland Plain Dealer (independent Democratic). - “He "avolds the im- portunities of aspirants and _their friends and supporters. It is &’ new plan,-and gne that ought to be made pérmanent.” Blames _.Momrma.n '_For Passenger Loss To the Editor of The Sta; On the front page of The Btar of January 16 appears a story of reports of tire street rallway companies to the “Public . Utiljities Commission in which claims are. made that the 1o of passengers i§ due to a great ex- tent to the Inereased use of auto- ‘moblles. m._experiance and observation I cafl say that the Wasbington Raflway and Electric Company is losing pas- sengets because of the fallure of the Gtormen to 8top for passengers. ‘o, three and as many as four care each morning, for some time- past, havé faljéd to make Stops on North Capitol street at L and M streets, despite thé fact that these cars wers mot overetowded. .In fact some of them ‘wefe but half filled. s ‘During the recent heavy snow, when b'\‘:t a few cirs were in operation, these ferred to, but since that tim peéars s If the motormen ‘deavoring 1o make up time lost dur- ing the nowstorm a&nd therefore fail to” stop Yor the pwssengers. If-a bus Hne wefe operated ‘through that sec- tlon- the Talfway’company would find ‘that ~many - more * passengers. would i8¢ on its cata, ' PRt CEARBNCE” &7 LINTHICUM. - DAY, JANUAR T T R SN 24, 1925. | The Library Table BY THE BOOKLOVER With the publication of “The In- visible Woman™ Herbert Quick com- pletes his trilogy of novels of fron- tier 1ffe in Towa and of her later his- tory and politics. “Vandemark’s Folly” had to do with the westward migration, the settling. of the prairie and the history of the township in which the hero lived. The story is carried on in “The Hawkeye," which pictures the raral scenes of post-pio- neer days, as well as the corrupt county politics of the period running from 1867 to 1878. In “The Invisible Woman" the scene Is shiftéed to the town and the stage is further widened so as to embrace State politics, par- ticularly the sinister influence of the rallroads and their attorneys on leg- islation and especially on the courts during = the 90s. The story leadr up to and turns om the Gowdy vs Gowdy se, the court scenes of which are tense with dramatic Incidents. The climax is the spurned offer to Oliver Silverthorn of a nomination as judge of the State Supreme Court conditioned on his promise of a favor- able decision In the Gowdw case, and his successful nomination against the opposition of the political machine dominated by the railroads. In pass- ing one wonders how Judson C. Welliver, now of the White House staff, but once editor of the Des Moines Leader, likes to appear as edi- tor of that paper in this novel. * ¥ * % Humor in plenty there s, particu- larly in the story of the rise and fall of the company for marketing “county rights” for the sale of the patent self-opening gate invented by Uncle Surajah Fewkes. Although each of the els in this trilogy is complete in itself, all are tied together by the same characters and iInterrelated plots. Together they make a moving picture of th» growth of a trans- Missisaippl commonwealth from pio- neer life until yesterday. Whether considered as authentic history or as absorbing romance, the novels In this series well repay reading. In epite of certain faults and limitations, this trilogy seems the best historical rep- resentation of the Middle West In fic- tion thus far written *x % ox Arthur Weigall, one most of present-day archeologists, has made full use not only of ali modern discoveries of E yptian civi- lization but also of the work of clas- sical and modern scholars in writing “The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt” The result is a thrilling book in which the charac- ters of Julius Caesar, Octavian, Mark Antony and Cleopatra herself are as much allve as though their time was yesterday instead of before the birth of Christ. In his swiftly moving narrative of the author uses footnotes very sparingly. He abandons the traditional method of most previous blographers of Cleopatra, who have either made her out to be a ther- oughly bad woman or an irrespon- sible sinner, but, instead, plctures her as a moderately good woman in a difficult situation. “Good and -evil, says the author in his preface, relative qualities, defined very large- 1y by public opinion, and it must al- ways be remembered that ocertain thinge which are considered to be correct today may have the deunci- ation of yesterday and tomorrow. We, as we read of the deeds of the Queen of Egypt, must doff our mod- ern conception of right and wrong, and, a¥ we pace the courts of the Ptolemies and breathe the atmosphere of the first century before Christ, we must not commit the anachronism of criticising our surroundings from the standard of 20 centurfes before Chr! It is, of course, apparent that to a large extent we must be in. fluenced by the thought of today, but the true student of history wi!l make the effort to cast from him the shackleg of his cotémporaneous opin- fons. and td parade the bygone ages in the boundless freedom of a citi- zen of all time and a dweller in every land.” of the fore- * % ¥ % ; Advertising for a wife fs almost as old as newspapérs-themselves and, Hke many innovatlons in journalism, started first in the United States. Lilltan Eichler n her history of eti- quette, “The Customs of Mankind.” reproduces the very it matrimonial mdvertisement from the columns of the Boston Evening Post on February 23, 1759: “To the Ladies: ‘Any young Lady between the Age of Highteen and Twenty-three, of a Middling Stature; brown Hair, regular Features and a Lively Brisk Eye; of Good Morals and not Tictured with anything that may Sully so Distinguishable a Form; possessed of three or four hundred pounds entirely her own Disposal, and where there will be no necessity of Going Through the tiresome Talk of Addressing Parents or Guardians for their Consent: Such a one by leaving a Line directed for A. W. at the British Coffee House {n King Street appointing where an Interview may be had will meet a Person who flat- ters himself he shall not be thought Disagreeable by any Lady answering the above description. N.B. Profound Secrecy will be observed. No Trifiing Answers will be regarded.” -+ * X * X A woman of 50 who has apparently lived her full 60 years' worth is Rheta Childe Dorr, who has just published her autobiography, “A Woman of Fifty.” As a feminist and a writer Mrs. Dorr had made for herself a suf- ficlently active life before the World War. She was an assoclate of Mrs. Bmmeline Pankhurst and one of Miss Alice Paul's devoted band; in other words, she belonged to the militant group which claimed the large share of the credit in the winning of the suffrage for women in both Great Britain and the United States. Of her preswar writings, probably the most important {s the volume “What Eight Million Women Want." With the war came European experfences, for she ‘was a war correspondent and roamed over France, Cazechoslovakia, Russia and Finland, wherever there was a story to be found. Her book side the Russlan Revolution, Soldier's Mother in France” “Czechoslovakia,” resulted from her war and post-war travels. In Russia she went to the front with the wom- en's Battalion of Death and knew most of the men and women who Were making Russian history so rapidly. She was in sympathy with the revo- lution of 1917 until, the bplsheviki es- tablished thelr autocracy, which she condemns unreservedly, for she is no Red, not even a pink. Middle West- erns reading the book may have a grievance against her because of her statement that, though prairie-born, she “‘escaped from Nebraska at the age of 18" * % % % ‘What is the essence of Boston? In M. A. De Wolfe Howe's new blography, “Barrett Wendell and His Lette: the following stanza appears: God made the only world. He could, And when Hia work was done He sald that It was vers good— 1 disagree, for one. ‘Wendell quoted this to & lady from Washington who was delighted and pronounced it the esssnce A Boston, but the great Harvard prifessor was such a good Yankee that hé could not see what she meant. E g * * % United States Senator Copeland of New York is in private lite a physiclan, and was formerly health_commissioner of the City of New York. ~While ®ecupying that office he conducted a column of pop- ular health hints which was widely syndicate ‘These brief, practical articles have now been brought to- gether- and published under the - titie “The- Health Book,” fofming a mod- orn “doctor book” ahat will be feund serviceable in - Say fasily. - Royal 8. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ~ BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN Q. What Is the cost to the country of license plates on motor vehicles? —R. M. s A. There are "no statisties would show- the exact c tags to the Individual States. The automoblle license division of the District of Columbla says that their tags cost about 13.4 cents in dupli- cate. Q. Who owns th North Pole—Ix K: A. Of the morthernmost lands, Greenland belongs to Denmark, Bpfthergen flies the Norwegian flag by consent of the allies, Franz Joscph Land belongs to Siberfa and that tof license the Grant Land to the United States. | Q. What is meant by holy s T A. Holy year is the year of jubilee of the Roman Catholic Church.” Orig- fnally this took place every 50 years but lately has been brated every 25 vears. = The hely door of Basiiica of St. Peter's is ome of the sides of fhe principal doors which remains closed excopt In holy year, when (t Is opened by the Pope with proper ceremonies, Indicating that an enlarged entrance into the holy place is granted to the.faithful during the perfod of jubllee. The custom is of great antiquity. Q. How many trocuted at 8jng Sing E. S P. A. The Prison Department of the State of New York says that there were 16 electrocutions at Sing Sing during the year 1923 Q. When was old Fort Industry bullt, which was located near corner of Monroe and Summit streets Toledo, Ohlo?—W. J. 8 A. Fort Industry was erected at the mouth of the Maumee River by orders of Waype after the battie of Fallen Timbers as a safeguard against Fort Miami. The exact year of its ercctlon fs not known. Wag- goner In his history of Lucas County vear?— people were elec in 1923 publishes a létter from the War De- | partment, which reads as follows “A stockade fort was erected about the year 1800 near the mouth of Swan Creck on the Maumee River, and as near ag can be determined upon what 18 now Summit street in the city of Toledo, to which was given the name of Fort Industry. Q. Please tell something of the early life of Stanley, the explorer, who went in search of Livingstone.— B P A. Stanley, tha explorer, was born at Denbigh, in Wales. He spent nine years jn & workhouse and afterward llved with varfous relatives. At the age of 18 he was shipped as cabin boy on a vessel salling to New Or-| leans. He found employment in this city and later In Arkansas. He served through the Civil War. Q. When was the first Elgin watch made?—D. M. A. The first Elgin watch was sent out in April, 1867. The ploneer IN TODAY’S land around the | the | the | model was named the B. W. Raymond In honof of the president. It was 18-size, key wind and set, with a sin- gle roller escapement.and 15 jewels. 2 1 have been told that in Eng- land there is a memorizl showing an Américan officer leading a charge of the British marines. Can you ex- platn this?—H. H. | A. The. bronge tablet to which you refer on the Royal Marine Memorial s in the -Mall outside the admiralty, facing Buckingham Palace, London, England. This is & memorial to the royal marines who fell in South Af- |rica and China. In this particular episode in China, when ail British of- ficers had been wounded, an Ameri- can officer, Capt. Myers, took charge of the troops. We guote the follow- ““Third July, 1800, Capt officer commanding th Marine Guard, with a mericans 5 British Ma Sergt. Murphy and 15 rried and occupied two e barricades on the South City ard the Chun Min Gate. Bus relief on the Royal Memorial is no doubt intended as & compliment to the United States Marine Corps.” Q. How many people have gone to the exposition at Wembly?—A. W. D. A. A recent announcement concern- |ing the cxposition at Wembly suid that 17,000,000 visitors had passed through the gates. Q. Is there a wireless beacon Great Britain?—G. E. R. | A. The first experimental |beacon in Great Britain has | been constructed at Nash Point, on the Welsh coast, between Swanséa |and Cardift. The installation trans- | mits on a wave length of 1,000 meter the n of 15 under Russians | Chine [ Wall to | foree | rines | Q How many men were there i the Prussian Guards during the war? —H. W. A. According to a communication received Germany the exact number of Germans in the Prussian Guard during the World War cannot be given, since the records were de stroyed b direction of the all There were, however, approximately 500,000 men’ of the guards mobilized of whom probably 350,000 saw real action. Q What makes MNghts | ewinkie—H. H. C. | "A. When lights at a distance appear to twinkle, it is due to the interference which the rays of light encounter e traveling toward the eye | (The star invites ity readers to this information service freely. An e- | tensive organization is maintained to | serve you in any capacity that reiates to | information. Fasiure to use the service | deprives you of benefits to which you | are entitled. Your obligation is only a 2-cent siamp. inclosed with your inquiry for direct reply. Address The Star In- | formation Bureaw, Fredevic J. Haskin | director, Twenty-first C streets northwest. SPOTLIGH. seem to V. COLLINS. What are we going to do with the Virgin Islands? 000,000 to purchase and $300,000 a year to maintain, and the people are upon the verge of desperation and bankruptey. Of all the territory of the United Stages, whether upon the continent or of ‘the fsies of the sea, there is no reglon of such paradoxes as that of the Virgin Islands. For 250 years they were ruled by Denmark, and for only 8 years they were under British rule—a century ago—yet the people never learned to speak Danish; the language of the islands is Eng- lish. Ninety-two per cent of the peo- ple are negroes, yet until the sov- ereignty passed from Denmark to the Unied States, in 1917, it is officially stated, there never had been a color distinction socially, either for the negroes or the mixed races. While they were under the rule of the King of Denmark the people exercised & greater part in local government than they have since they passed under the regime of that country whose Government is “of the people, by the people and for the people.” In the negotiations between Denmark and America, a plebiscite of the people to be transforred was voted and the vote was almost unanimous in favor of the United States. 3 For elght vears the Virgin Islands have belonged to the richest, most prosperous and most progressive na- tion upon earth: yet economically they have been going from bad to worse until today their business is practically bankrupt, all Industries are paralyzed and the people suffer- ing and idle. Although we have gov- erned the islands eight years, the American dollar is unknown In daily transactions, business is done with the Danish franc, which shares with the money of other European nations in depreciation, and ls worth in ex- change only 75 per cent of its face. The only bank of Issue is a Danlsh bank, holding a charter from the gov- ernment of Denmark, which wé must protect until 1934, unless we buy up all the stock and close it out. A bill now pending in Congress would ex- tend to that bank all the provisions of our national bank act, but it for- bids any other bank the right to issue bank notes. * o ok % Last week a delegation represent- ing 6,000 Virgin Islandsers who now live in New York visited Congress to urge the passage of a bill for reform of the organic law. When we pur- chawxed the islands, to prevent Ger- many from getting them, at the time of our entry into the World War Congress placed all power of gov- ernment in the hands of the Presi- dent until such time as a full or- ganic act should be passed, and no such act has ever been ken up, though one was introduced -March 10, 1924, by Benator McLean, “by re- quest” The introducer in suoh a case does not necessarily become a special champlon of the act he in- troduces, . and - Senator. McLean dis- avows special partisanship for his bill. A similar visitation in support of the measure was made: by the New York delegation last year and was promptly repudiated by resolu- tion passed by the Island <ouncils. It appears that there are divisions within the ranks of the agitators and island statesmen, yet all agr that the economic situation is des. perate. +This is verified by statistics of decreasing population. In 1920 .the population of the Is- 1and of 8t. Croix, the most important of the three larger islands, was 15.- 000; today it is alleged that it is only The conditions on the other are even worse, hence it Is that by emigration there is an average annual loss of 10 per cent, ecially of the men who leave to seek work. 3 ‘The total population of all the is- lands In 1835 was 43,178; in 1917 (when'we paid $25,000,000 for them) was 26,051. The rate of decrease has been augmented since our purchase in 1917, R Thres of the recent burdens have been boll weevil, prohibition and drought. The boll weevil became so serious that the raising of cotton was temporarily abandoned. Rum and bay rum manufacture was the chief Industry until the Volstead law stopped it. Denatured alcohol is now used for making bay ‘rumi, but competlition from_ othér Islands— “They -cost us $25,- | side of our prohibition handicaps the Virgin Island interests. The drough for the last four years particularls crippled the sugar cane crop, so tha at least one whale crop had to go for the plantings and none for that year #ugar making. The practice In c Erowing is to cut off the tops of stalks and plant them; they take roo and produce the next crop. Not onl was one crop thus used In its | tirety, but -additionai. plantings were imported from other {slands. | The dapression of business is not | wholly due to these recent disastrou | conditions, but dates back changes In maritime com veloping through the entir | Time was when. St..Thomas Islar was & distributing point and supp station for transatlantic trade. was a great coaling station ar scoren of ships were often anchor. at one tlme in its magnificént harbor Vessels would put into St. Thomas » { get into cable communication with | their headquarters. Now ships travel | with ofl fuel and 1o not need such | frequent refueling: they get their | orders by radio broadcasting In cipher | and are independent of cable stations | So the tmportance of the Virgin Is- lands from a maritime standpoint has seriously waned. While under Danish rule a tarift was charged upon imports from the United States; now, belng a part of the United States, no tariff s so charged—cutting off a revenue of $200,000 a year; but the United States Treasury has contributed an average of $300,000 a year to the support of the islands since 1917. x o ox ox The greatest handicap to the island prosperity is the insufficiency of the | water supply. The rainfall exceeds 130 inches, but, owing to the rock formation, most of the watér flows off too rapidly for agricultural needs. A United States naval engineer, after a careful study, reported that an ade- Quate system of conservation of water would cost $450,000. Last week Congress authorized a_part of the plan, which will cost $292,000. The House voted an appropriation of $45,- 000, and the Senate $125,000 to begin the work. What the actual appro- priation will be now depends upon the conference. It is the intent of the leaders in Congress to put the Islands upon a self-supporting basis, and to that end a commission will visit the islands tmmediately after adjournment of the present sesslon—as was done two years ago. | 3 One of the chief complaints of the masses {s the unfairness of the sys- tem of taxation. The land is largely in great ‘estates, and unused land escapes all taxation: Wages for first- class labor have been 2 francs a day; for other labor a franc or a franc and a half—from 20 to 50-cents a day. Throush the efforts of the American Federation of Labor, wages have recently been raised to $1 a day, but owing to general stagna- tlon -employment is precarious, and actual starvation fs reported as not far away from many wunless rellef and revival of industry come soon. * X % % The Virgin Islands are located east of Porto Rico. They include 50 small islands, of which only three—St. Thomas, St. John and St. Crolx—are Iarge enough to be of any importance; some of the others are too small to be inhabited. The, combined area is about equal to that of the District of Columbia, and their present pop- ulation is estimated to be 20,000 negroes—descendants of African slaves—2,000 whites and a few hun- dred mixed-bloods—Caribs, Spaniards and Danes. ‘The islands were purchased after 50 Sears of negotiations, because of their supposed strategic value, as an outpost of the Panama Canal and our Gulf coast. Secretary Seward's offer of $7,500,000 was accepted by Den- mark but not confirmed by the United States Senate. Secretary Lansing’s offer of $25.000,000 at our entrance into the war was confirmed and the purchased completed, but no steps have been taken to fortify the islands oF to equip & supply station there- on, or te-formulate a real organic basls of government. The power rest@Tentirely In tie hands of the i:--mem_ The PooBls “bave se| erican franchise. N o 7 (Copyright, 1025, by Paul V. Ooftine)