Evening Star Newspaper, February 12, 1925, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR| { cumstances. With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY. . .February 12, 1928 THEODORE W. NOYES., .. Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Peansylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. < COhicago Office: Tower Bullding. Baropean Ofice : 16 Regent B¢..Londe The Evening Star, th the Sunday morsing edition, ix delivered by carriers within the City ‘at 60 cents per month: daily only, 43 conts per month; Supday ealy. 20 ceats per month. Otders may be went by mail or tele- phone Mafn 5000. Cellection is mude by ear- rlers st the end of each monmth. Rate by Mail—Payable ia ‘Advance. Maryland sand Virginia. Daily and Sunday. .1 yr., $8.40; 1 mo., T0¢ Daily enly... 1y, $6.00; 1 mo., 50c . $2.40; 1 ma., 20¢ ANl Cther States. Daily and Sunday.1 sr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Daily only ..1yr., $7.00;1me., 80c Sunday ouly......1¥r., $5.00:1mo.25¢ Member of the Associated Press. The Associnted Press is exclusively entitled o the use for republication of all mews dis patches eredited to 4 or mot otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pub. lished heretn. Al rights of publicatios of special_disputches herein are aiso resery Abraham Lincoln. Though it is not formally by law decreed a national holiday, the anni- versary of the birth "6f Abraham Linceln is observed generally through- out the ‘country, in some States by abstention from all forms of labor, clsewhere by ceremonies of respict. Here at the Capital of the Nation it is not recoguized by law. Congress refrains from passing a bill to that effec But the spirit of the day is recognized, none the less. Nearly 60 years have passed since Lincoln died. ‘Most of those who knew him who saw him have passed away. His memory, however, grows greener every vear. His fame »ws with the passage of time. The real greatmess of the man is more fully recognized. Lincoln did not greatly impress Limself upon the country in his first entrance on the stage of high po- litical office. . He attained to the presideney. through a division in the long dominant party, upon an issue which could not be compromised. No wiser choice could have been made. Simple of nature, unflinching in cour- age, charitably tolerant of faults in men yet rigid in his adherence to the prineiples underlying the Government of the United States, merciful in power and true te &' firm belief in the spiritual guidance of mankind, Lincoln was the man the Nation needed for its. leadership in the su- preme crisis. Stricken down. in the very hour of victory for the cause which he led through four cruel .years of warfare, Lincoln became to the American peo- ple a martyr. His real merits were obscured by the emotion which that tragedy evoked. Then with the lapse of time came a“steadfast growth of understanding of fhe - merits of the man the Nation mourned., His words were studied and in them were found the inspiration of his own faith in the greatness and the destiny of the republic. From time to ting new testimony of this kind is brought to light. Even now on the eve of this 116th anniversary of his birth has come another bit of evidence to this effect, the manuseript of & speech de- livered in the sematorial campaign of 1868, heretofore- unpublished. To this man the American people pay tribute now, in loving recognition of his personal attributes and grateful measurement of the-priceless services which he rendered. tp them in the great emergency. % et Washington is doing its best to re- cover a prestige as a Winter resort which was damaged by the January blizzards. The fact that Alabama hus just had a snowstorm may be pointed to as evidence that this is an off year for traditionally sunny climes, —— e An ofl surplus has accumulated and there may be an explanation to the effect that higher prices fof gas are required in order to pay - storage charges on kerosene. . The Capital’s Development. On the program of the measures 1o be considered tomorrow night at the session of the Senate devoted to District business is the joint resolu- tion " to create a city planning com- mission for the District of Columbia. Tt provides that the President appeint such a: commission, to con: architect specially skilled in the fine arts, an engineer speciaily skilled in municipal engineering, and three other members, charged with the duty of preparing a. plan for the future development of the District, to include specifications as zoning, housing, traffic —and transportation, schools, playgrounds, highways and fntustrial conditions. This commission, it is provided further,. is to these subjects into a comprehensive, consistent and co-ordinated scheme in corformity to which both public and private buildings and improvements shall be" executed. Although thé National Capital was planned in advance of its physical creation, was indeed @ formally de- signed city before it came into being, it has developed unevenly. It has experienced a series of impulses, now in the way of public_improvements, and again private. " 1t has beea sur- veyed in recent years for systematic adyancement and for 'correetion - of faults. A commission named by the Senate-undertook such a survey more than 20 yvears ago and prescribed cer- tain freatraents of public- spaces and structures, some features of which have ~been _carried out,. and cthers have been rejected or neglected. In its municipal development it has been so long In arrears through faijure of appropriations that undesirable -con- ditions have accumulated. Only within a few years has a zoning law been cnacted o permit a memsure of sys- of &n | fgures This present proposal aims at a co-ordination, tardily, dut it may be hoped in a large measure effectively, of -the Federal-municipal and. private works, to the end of approaching the idea of the Capital City which its Zounders entertained. The Ameri- can Institute of Architects, at a re- cent meeting heid in this city, pro- posed this method, which, with sueh modifications as may bde necessary to prevent overlappings of jurisdiction and clash of authority with the Parks Commission already created by law, commends itself to all who are con- cerned ‘in the development of the Washington of the first President's 14 i co-ordinate | concept, a city of utility and of beauty, a city of health and comfort, @ city of Inspiration to all Americans. e — The Woman’s Bureau. A bill just introdueed in the Senate provides for the definite establishment in the Metropolitan Palice Department of the District of a woman's bureau. Although it is late in the session, with a heavy crowd of measures demand- ing attention and the committees over- charged with work, there is, it is be- Meved. a chance for te passage of this bill. Ttemerits favorable consider- ation, even at a time of such conges- tion. The woman's bureau of the.Police Department has now been in exist- ence about six years. It is not, how- ever, an organic, establishment. No provision of law exists for its crea- tion. It derives its authority merely from the police manual, which pre- scribes. certain duties for women ap- pointed as members of the force. It may be eliminated at any time by or- der of the Commissioners. It should, therefore, be. established by law, for it has proved a most useful branch of | the police work. Many cities have women's bureaus, but in only one has such a bureau a definite organic authortzation. That is Detroit, where the woman's bureau is established under the city charter. In Cleveland there is the semblance of an organic act in a municipal ordi- nance. Elsewhere, as in Washington, these bureaus have been created in the administrative development of police departments. Everywhere they have been successful and have filled a need. The purpese of the woman's bu- reau is to protect delinquent women and children. It is a preventive Its work is quietly done, and in Washington it is particularly well done. Tt has the power of investiga- tion under the provisions of the police manual, enabling it te ascertain condi- tions in places of public assemblage where women are exposed to dangers. Under the bill which is now pending this authority is more definitely es- tablished. The bill likewise revises somewhat the scale of rank and pay in a manner which is justified by the excellent results of the experiment that is now extended for six years of constantly increasing service in be- half of the morals of the community. Althiough the time is short and the pressure for consideration is great, this bill should be -pressed -for-action as a measure of justice to the efficient | force now constituting the woman’s bureau and as a measure Of, real serv: ice to the District. . —————— = Clean Up for Inauguration. Tt s officlally suggested that Wash- ington be given a preinauguration clean-up. Though the approaching Inauguration will not be so spectacu- lar @8 many have been, it will be such an event that tens of thousands of | old friends and strangers will visit the Capital and there will be satis- faction in tidying the parkings and making Washington look as fair as can be in March. It is not_likely that the grass will be green and that hedges and other shrubbery will be in Spring_ dress, Winter shabbiness of such things can be reformed. Most of the garden plots and front lawns have got a |little out of hand. They generally get that’ way in Winter. Much may be done to make the home and its sur- roundings betterdooking and Wash- ingtonians will take the pains, and the pleasure, to do the. necessary work. We will have the usual Spring clean-up, but generally the call for that is not sounded until frost-time passes. and our people can well do some primping of their property that Washington may bs spick-and-span for the inauguration. So long as the automobile supply is unequal to the demand, the supply the same way. Before a problem can be handled with precision the exact involved must be known. However, a little imagination and foresight on the part of authority would help some. e . One frequent feature of the inaugu- ration parade that the public will hope to dispense with'is the snow plow. e rm—————— The Oyster Verdict. The Public Heaith Service has ren- dered official’ opinion that the main facter in the spread .of typhoid fever in certain cities where that disease has been: prevalent recently, and at- ‘tributed to the use of irifected oysters; is the supply distributed by one.ceni- [~ pany operating near West Sayville, N. Y. This completely absolves ‘the Maryland and "Virginia oysters from suspicion. . But that suspicion pre- vailed long enough to inflict a disas- trous injury to the oyster industry of those States. That it was unjust was felt at the outset. The conditions in. the oyster-breeding waters of this re- glon are such as to insure an uncon- taminated supply. State laws have operated for many years to protect the oyster beds from poliution. Yet the mere fact that typhoid at Chicago was attributed to oysters supplied from Eastern sources caused a_ban to be placed upon all oysters from. this region without inquiry, and, asis now disclosed, without warrant. It is im- possible to compute the injury that has been done to the oyster industry of Maryland and Virginla. Many busi- tematic. control of -private construc-{ness failures huve, opcurred. Large tion”_ in . the absence of long-term bufldisg projects. -Schoothouses -have been built more or less at random. The bousing conditions have been 4 - numbers of men-have been thrown out of work. Acute distress: has been caused along the oyster-bearing shores of the two States and all without rea- made dificult by extraordinary d.l'-‘mn. Naturally, of course, any ques- tion on the score of the purity of a food supply causes prompt, and as this case indicates, undiscriminating action. Typhoid is a dread disease, and there is small wonder that the fear of its spread through contaminated foods crested a veritable panic of prejudice. New that the Puhlic Health Service has located the source and freed the Maeryland and Virginia oysters' from all suspicion it is hoped that should such an outbreak “occur again in re- gions which receive theéir oyster sup- plies from the Eastern coasts these local supplies will not be banned with- out proof, which in the existing condi- tions, and those that are likely to con- tinue to prevail, is quite improbable. e — The School Population. The fact that the midyear enroll- ment in the public schools of the Dis- trict, just reported, as of February 2, shows @ decrease of 2,507 puplis does but much of the | not warrant belief that the peak of the school population has been reached or that the need of additional build- ings i3 in any degree lessened. This decrease is due to the midyear grad- uations which have recently - oc- curred. Pupils from the elementary schools have been advanced to junfor and senior high school in the second semester promotions, but their places have not been taken in the elementary schools with newcomers. This is due 10 the fact that very few new pupils are enrolled in the lower grades in February. Practically all of the new- comers—the little children who are starting in kindergarten and first grade—report in September. It has been the mormal condition of the schools ever since the midyear promo- tion and graduation' system was adopted that the school population has been slightly . decreased during the second semester, only to be increased at the beginning of the next school year. The need of new buildings for the school system remains as urgent as ever. The proposed five-year building program should be adopted by Con- gress to insure a consistent, consecu- tive series of school constructions, providing for the arrears of accumu- lated inadequacy of school provision to meet the growing population. ‘Washington's school population will never diminish. It will increase steadily as the city grows. 65,288. In September it will be ap- proximately 70,000, and the midyear figure of a year hence will undoubt- edly be higher than that now reported. The provisions now planned in the way of school constructions should, as a measure of safety, aim at an estab- lishment capable of caring for 80,000 achool children, for that will probably be the number of enrollments by the time the program is completed. Only by thus “underwriting” the future needs of the District can Washington be assured of an adequate school plant that will serve it properly and at the same time be a model for the country. —_— The consumer may be justified in asking how much @ probe into gas prices will cost and whether the cost will eventually be paid at the filling stations. i +v—s So much importance fs becoming attached to it that the position of unofficial observer will, even though slightly informal, soon become one of great distinction. —eon—s. =4 Restoration of his estates to the former Kaiser marks a crowning achievement in the career of a man who hgs never. been a mascot for anybody except himself. — . The idea that Japan and China. may combine implies the quickest con- ciliation of old racial antipathies on record. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JORNSON. To a Postage Stamp. George Washington, oh, friend, We see your placil features Upon the postage stamps which send Our words to fellow creatures. truthful Your calm veracity has served To mark you 'mongst our betters. But how your influence has swerved From what we write in letters! S Bygones. “Are you willing to let bygones be bygones?" “To a certain extent,” Senator Sorghum. answered ““As soon as . one ¢t regulations.is likely 1o be election is over I devote my undivided of traffic i 3 i attention one.” to preparing for the next Upward Tendency, Oh, Gasoline! Oh, Gasolin The chalk marks we're admiring Which decorate the roadway scene With uplift all untiring. It you in motion, as in cost, Should prove thus elevating, To earth our flivvers will be lost. We'll all be aviating. Jud . Tunkins says a large per- centage of the present gratitude to George Washington is due to the fact that we don’t have to go to work on his birthday. , Persuasive Aetivity. “A_ man gets on best by minding his_own affairs.” “Unless,” commented Miss Cayenne, ‘the happens to be a business doctor.” Self and Uniself. ‘Whene’er I meet a man who tells Of peppy animation And how hard work all care dispels By its exhilaration, 1 khow he's’destined to pursue A leisurely employment And think that Something more to do ‘Would further his enjoyment. ‘Whene'er I meet & man who sings About_the- sunlight beaming Where hours drift by on gilded wings And life_seems made for dreaming, I know he's weary of thé grind And fain would reconnoiter Through Fancy's realm, in_hope to find 4 chance to loaf and loiter. “I carries a rabbit foot,” said Undle Eben; “‘not for luck, but as-a reminder dat dar is times when you wants to move fast,” It is now | 'BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Does the fuet that there is fo suf- frage in the District af Columbla ac- count for (he lack-ef friendliness which some .profess: to find imong :hlevlnhl'lllnll ot the National Capi- al? 2 This is the mteresting viewpoint put forward by ome of my..gorre- spondents, R. S, in a Jetter discuss- ing the communication . recently printed in this column a; signed H. A . H. A, it will De remambered. end- ed his letter by declaring that Wash- ington, in his opinion, i distinctly below par as a friendly city. Letters recelved since are evenly divided upor the question, and from’ the numbar T s¢lect two typical ones, representing the opposing schools of thought. R, S. writes: : “Your This and That" talks are very interesting, and espectally do ¥ like ‘Is Washington a Friendly City? Unlike the gentleman from the South (Mr. H. A.), T was born and reared in this very city. “Uncle Sam’s Navy, though, has given me that oportunity to travel and 1 have been in about all the large rlt!eu of the United States, which has given me a chance to study human nature of my own ac- cord. “And in time 1 was forced to admit, Washington is below par, but 1 can't say greatly. The people of the South do have that noticeable air of friendliness and more brotherly: love than that found among Washing- tonians. “Especially was 1 impressed when in that wonderful Northwest country of ours, say Seattle, for instance. The people there have a way about them that makes us feel -life is Just wonderful and made up of wonderful people put here for each other's hap- pines “Folks here don’t scem to realize that. If you ride the curs during work hours 1 think you'll agree with me. ItU's just every one for himself-— shoving and walking on each other to get off or get that seat about to be vacated.: “A local theater tries out its new plays here hefore taking them else- where: - Why? Because i it goes here it's a sure-fire riot .anywhere else. What a jolly town this was when packed with, say, the Shriners, Holy Namers, etc! So many of them said, "This town is deas . s “The town isn’t dead nor the peo- ple, but they d@o think it is a curse to be alive—they must from the way they act. 1 wonder if it's because though we are Americans we have no voice in who we wish as our Presi- dent, nor have we much to say In how our town is run?" o ox % Representing the opposite school, R. F. P._writes: I, for one, will answer your ex- clamation, ‘Well, what do you know ubout that” in The Star, after you had finished quoting a letter from H. A. anent the unfriendliness of Washington. “Last April I eame to"Washington— it was not my first time here—from Dallas, and T am a-native Texan, hav- ing spent all my 24 years in Dullas, with the exception of three or faur years. The first noticeable impres- wion 1 received on my arrival here was the courtesy of the street car conduetors and I am sorry o say they are far ahead of the street. car men of my home city. “When one starts commenting -on the evils of Washington and speaking of the wondetfulness of the Séuth it is often quite evident thut he -be- longs €0 the type of' the sectionalist who can see nothing good in any- thing outside of the South. “That applies to the marrow North- erner,” Westerner or Easterner as well. T am a Southerner and proud of it, but I refuse. ta believe that out of our 110,000,000 population only fif- teen or twenty million of them are any gqod, and that they all reside in the South. “In my estimation, Washington is the finest city in the world, from a standpoint of friendliness, of cour- tesy and of natural beauty. My ex- dence In “tne Nation's Capital: has been exuctly oppesite.to tnat of Hi. A True. I heve found some persons not overcourteous here and there, and I have come in contact with & few conductors' who might have used a little more caurtesy, but my conclu- sion Is that Washington is not below par as @ friendly city—on the con- trary, I believe.it 18 faf above par. “Geographically, Washington is & Southern ‘eity, and &ctually many of its restdents are Southerners, If they are not in w:majority, so Mr. H. A. does not ‘defend the South when he belittles Washington. “My experience as a newcomer in Washington does Tiot teach me to ex- pect curt and snappy replies to que- ries made me. Nime times out of ten the clerk in a storé thanks me for my busines: “I don’t see how any one could live in Washington for a few months and more and receive. the impression H. A. sesms to have gotten. “I hope you have and will receive other letters protesting against this misrepresentation of Washington. In my opinion H. A. makes himself ridiculous.” ok K K There vou have both sides of the proposition, stated very well, indeed, 50 there is no use gllding the lily by quoting more letters. Indeed, I would not have revived this contro- versy, If a friend had not come to me with the following tale of woe: “I wanted to buy a small type- writer table,” he sald. “Now that ought to be easy, You would think, if I had the money? Well, 1 thought 100, until I tried it. “Now-here is what 1 ran up against. 1 sauntered into a prosperous store, to ‘which 1 had been highly recom- mended, and looked around for some one to wait on-me. - A distinguished- looking ~ white-haired gentleman, whom 1 am reasonably sure was the proprietor, wus busy up the store. Finally,” & woman walked over. . 1 told her about the typewriter table. ‘Why, Mr. Jones will wait on you,’ she said. 'Oh, Mr. Jones! she called, but no Mr. Jones was forthcoming. This was in the middle of the wfter- noon, perhaps I should add. ‘Mr. Jones ix out, I guess’ repiléd the lady. ‘Mr. Smith ought to be hére, or ‘Mr. Brown, Oh Mr. Smith! Oh, Mr. Smith", - here was.no sign of Smith, elther, or of the missing Brown, so the roll call was repeated. from Jones to Brown, without success. . It - seéms that these were.the table salesmen and, lacking them, the prospect for table trafic was very slight “A fourth man was called in. He voiced his complete ignorance of typewriter tables, but said he would show them to me, and so led the way up interminable flights of steps ‘Here they are! he said, at last, o an elaborate mahogany est idea what 1 wanted, or where it was, nor would he have known the price #f 1 had managed to find it among the stock. “Oh, don’t bother' 1 said, cheer fully—for the situation struck me as amusing, Il come in some other time when Mr. Jones, or Mr. Smith, or Mr. Brown is here.’ “*All right cheerfully acquiesed the other, happy at the prospect. And Bo that store cheerfully mllowed a good customer with some $15 or $20 good cash in his pocket, which he was willing to pay for a small typewriter table, to quietly waflk out of the doors and walk a few doors down the street to buy the table of & competitor.” This is a true story. You see, if the real spirit of friendliness had been_in. that clerk, he would ha: made a determined effort to have found the three gentlemen afore mentioned, or. unable to do thats would have made a real effort to lo- cate the table the customer wanted. Friendliness is not peculiar to Washington. It is something in the hearts of men, which, if they have M. scarce| anything or any one can take away from them. perience since taking up. my resic No word of sympathy or extenua- tion for Charles R. Forbes, former director of the Veterans' Bureau, ap- pears in the comment of the Ameri- can press on his conviction in Fed- eral Court and his seatence to two years imprisonment and . a fine of $10,000. Some DEWSPAPErs express the fear that the processes of. the higher court jn the hearing of the appeals may obstruct the, progress of justice. Editors are unanimous in {the conviction that Forbes' crimes !have been among the most loathsome in the country’s history. “It was not the —money waste—ap- palling as that was—that so shocked the country when the carnival- of fraud and graft in the Veterans' Bu- reau_was revealed,” declares the New York World. “It was the fact that the victims were disabled soldiers, to thousands of whom no reparation could be made for delay and neglect.| since they had passed on; to yet oth- er thousands of whom the injury done would prove lasting, in mind or body, in courage to endure invalidiem or in strength to tonquer 1t The San Francisco Bulletin adds: “There was nothing of the amiable weakness of ‘g00d fellowship® in what Forbes did; his acts were those of a man essen- tially and cheaply mean in character, me: in his tastes, mean in & sense that adds a sp-cial ugliness to erimi- nallty. ~Forbes was as mean’in his efforts to clear himself as he wus in the mcts that brought him to bar. He counted upon those who had shared in his stealing, upon: his ‘friends" made in his debaucheries, upom Nn< fluences’ in the powers of his fellow conspirators. All have fafled him; and in this fact there Is that which gives heart and righteous hope to the spirit of justice.” “His misconduct,” says the Ashe- ville Times, “excited less attention than did,the questionable practices of Albert - B. Fall, but hfs acts were vastly - miore reprehensible.” While the Minneapolis Journal observes: “In | the picture of the Revolutionary War that has ¢éme down to us through a century and a half, we are went to see Benedict Arnold as the Judas Iscariot of American history. Per- haps Arnold was a worse man than Forbes. And perhaps not.” R . “What seéms’ ta'-be" negessary in America;"” says thé Kauaua City Star, “and perhaps this_conviction 14 astep toward that end, is a national atmos. phere less favorable to astonishment | when a thief in jpublic’ offite is con- victed by process of law. It.ought not to be astonishing that thé law should prove too atrohg for:a power- ful, Intrenched,:influentiai,. five-pow- ered lawyer grafter.” The Oklahoma City Times notes the reports that Forbes-and his co-defendant, J.. W. Thompson, were surprised at the ver- dict, and adds: “The people were not. In the “public mind there ivas, no doubt of the gullt of these men. | While, in the view of this result, the Grand Rapids Herald belleves, “The people can go on about their busi- ness with the assurance that the mills are grindihg and that ‘though they grind exceeding slow, they grind | exceeding fine. s |, In the opinion: of’ the - Davenport Democrat, the comviction places Forbes "& Btep nearer (he peniten- tiary, which has been yawning for Mm sipce he turned a duty into a Press Offers No Sympathy To Convicted Bureau Head graft! and proved.so notoriously un- fit that President Harding finally turned upon him with the impas- sioned aecusation. ‘You double-cross- _er!” and incontinently fired him from the job in which he had wasted mil- lions” that belonged to the disabled soldiers of the World War” Again speaking of the surprise expressed by the defendants, the Philadelphia Pub-, lic Ledger asks: “Was it actually that they belleved themselves inno- cent, or a conviction that a charke of conspiracy such as was brought against them could not be sustained in American courts? This latter con- viction seems to be rather wide- spread.” “The mismanagement and graft which « characterized the administra- tion of the Veterans' Bureau under Forbes and his unsavory pals,” says the Boston Transcript, “were the most shameful of the after-the-war epi- sodes, for they hindered the restor: tion to health and usefulness of dis- abled and helpless soldiers. The verdict is no less a vindication of the law than an earnest of what other malefactors may expect who cannot satisfactorily ‘ciear themselves.” In the belfef of the Savannah News, “it is a good thing that the so-called *big fellows,’ the shrewd men who think they can play falsely with Uncle S8am with impunity, who bave contempt for men who play fairly in every gamg, are caught occasionally and tried, ronvicted and punished. Such {nei- dents make the ordinary man, the man in the street, think that perhaps after all, in spite of Secretary Fall and his like, there are men in public service who are watching over the people’s interest. And that is a mighty comfortable feeling at times,” “Whether Forbes serves a term in Federal prison remains to be seen,” thinks the Little Rock (Ark.) Demo- crat, “but the prospects certainly are bright” The Baltimore Evening Sun, however, does not see such a bright prospect. It says: “According to the news dispatches, the verdict came as a surprise to the defense and a crowd- ed courtroém. But what would cause an even greater surprise would be Charles R. Forbes serving a jail sentence. Judging by recent events he Government is nse.” T:n this great Nation, stealing from not a jailable of- i Ambassador’s Home. - Whether Ambassador - Houghton will take over Crewe house when he succeeds Ambassador Kellogg in Lon- don has not' been decided. It may be that thie problem of living quarters for the American ambassador will be solved within a short time by the appropriation of sufficient money to repair the old J. P. Morgan home. op- posite Hyde Park, which has been Waltihg so long to fulfill its purpose. e Conditions are not so bad. A man could kecp every law there is and not .é“m Nery. . remarkable—Baltims un. SuE—— ws Costa Rica has quit the League of Nation: Like Mauruss Perlmutter, all she got out of it was expenses.— Janesville Gagetip, i pa /| be that the painters have temporarily BY LEILA MECHLIV. “Now that was-worth while. & young woman to her companion on the street car returning Monday night from the opera, adding: “I had much rather save in some other way and &0 to one really good thing than to spend my money on a lot of ordinary things.” In. so speaking this youns woman seemed to have voiced the sentiments of many.and to have dis- proved the contention of the pessi- mists that the great American.public to which she belonged is without eppreciation of the finer things, the highes manifestations of art. In“opera, at least in the so-called grand opers, of which WasHington is having a taste this week, one finds &n interesting correlation of the arts. AS the author of the program notes for “Tannhauser” pointed out, Wag- ner felt that the arts—music, sculp- ture, painting, architecture and poetry—had been independent of each other too long, that the work he had to do was to combime them; und he did quite perfectly—superbly—bring- ing into existence opera as we know it today, in which the splendors of color -and pictorial effect combine with music and poetry to give dru- matic expression, to lift the ordinary mortal above ordinary earthly things. Undoubtdely it is this which gives grand opera its enormous appeal. the appeal of art in its full fowering. * kN ¥ Wagner was right, the arts had in bis day, as in ours, been independent of each other too long, but their kin- ship Is better understood at the pres- ent time than it was when Wagner wrote “Tannhauger,” and many ageén- cies are striving to bring them to- gether. Not the legst of these are our art mussums, whieh no longer confine - themelves to exhibitions of painting and sculpture, hut fnclude In thelr programs of aetivity exhi- bitiong<of desorative and industrial arts amd afdo vudic: and the drama The Clevpland Mussum f, Arr’ in- stalled not. 80 ~jong ago afine organ {n It§ scaipters. court, oa. which Tocitals afp ‘given' by: ‘wkifled or- ganists. X Al s This muselim ‘wiso; coriducts regular instruction i the —of music and’ has a well org: 4 music department. * The Chicagd Art Insti- tute I8 about to open a newly estab- lished school of dramatic arts, to which a lately erected wing is de- voted. These are but two instances from the many. * * k X ¥ In a recent mumber of “The Out- 100k" Lewis Hinds, the well known English_ceitic, in his London detter tells how some years ago he planned and preached the establishment of a palace of art for great cities and small, & place which should net only contain painiings and sculpture, but provide shelter for the. aris of music, dancing and the drama—and hence be- come a center of amusement, a place of wenuine recreation associated in the minds of ail- with jeyousness, that joyousness derived from participation 1n. rather than a viewing of, the arts. The increase in land, and hence rental values, and the decréase on the part of thé British public in interest in| paintings. have helped, it would seem, | to lendsattractiveness to Mr. Hines | scheme. * % % % Within the past few months two galleries have been opened in Len- don—one in the very heart of the| city—wherein pictures and sculpture | are shown, not separately. but in con- nection with a diversity ment. This may work out well, but there is a wide dffference between lodging the arts under one roof and bringing them into felicitous family relationshlp. To properly correlate the arts they must be brought into working conmeation.. A splendid ex- ample .of corrglation of the arts is the “Gothié cathedral. which called into service architects, sculptors, | painters _and eventually musicians. We have similar opportunity, which has not been altogether neglected, in the erection of some of our great public buildings—for example_the Li- hrary of Comgress, the Lincoln Me- morial. In both of these instances architects, painters and sculptors collaborated finely in producing a unified and eminently desirable re- SUlt, a work in which beauty is a chief element. * x x % But interest.in all the arts should not argue against interest in any ome, or, in {act, svery one. Because we bet- ter understand today the interrela- tlonship of the arts Is no reason for lack of appreciation of the art of PUINUME. Because we are making new friends is no excuse for discard- ing the oM ones. Nor is it probable that we shall fall into such error un- less, unhappily, the art of painting or any one of the other arts falls short of the high standards attained in the past. ‘I in %ngland the public is no longer interested in painting it must Tost their vision, for it is not merely &00d panting. which the public de- mands, but visualization of ideals. What Interests the crowd, some one has lately aptly sald, is what it knows and what it dremms. ow, art in its truest sense is invariably some one’s dream come true. Bo long as this can be sald of any art it fs bound to hold at- tention, but when it fails it is like- wise equally sure to fall into oblivion. * x % % All this is rgore or less obvious. What 18 ‘not genefally understood is that the public as a whole almost in- variably reacts to the best; that is, the highest expression of art. What the public does not care for is the half-good, technicalities, even poten- tialities, full of interestto the tralned )¢ entertain- | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN Q. What “dre the shrubs at the southemst cornér of the Treasury which look lfke umbrellas?—A. J. ke A. They are weeping golden bells (Forsythia suspensae). Q. Are thers some courts in this country - which- handle minor civil cases without the assistance of law- yers?—S8. B. A, The National Association of Iegal Aid Organizations says that there are a number of such courts Among the most prominent are those found in Boston, Cleveland and Mil- waukee. The-§tate of North Dakota. has a systemy of conciliation courts which are ef<great interest because they operate In a somewhat similar fashion. 3 Q. Please eIl something abeut tha Florida lobster, or crawfish.—E. E. B. A. This fish 43 called the Florida lobster, spiny lobster. or crawfish, It 48 found close to shore from Beau- fort, N. C., to the Florida Keys. It is not plentiful enough north of Miami to be of commercial importance. Sev- eral Key West dealers ship relatively large quantities out of the city. Some are shipped alive and some after be- ing cooked. Q. Is it true that there is money in the United Sattes Treasury awafting' cladms of the Jeirs of Robert Mor- ris?—H. E. D. A." The ‘Information on which the so-called “Robert Morris claim” is based is erroneous, and the sum of money alleged to be in the Treasury awaiting distribution fictitious. The Congress of 1790. in which Robert Morris served as United States Sema- tor from the State of Pennsylvania, passed an act providing for the as- sumption by the Government of the Ufilted States of the debts of the Cantinental Congress, and if the Gov- ernment owed him any money he had abundant opportunity to - assert a clatm, but there is no evidence in the Treasury Department tending to show that the United States was indebted o ert’ Morris in_any sum; nor does it appear that he ever claimed that the Government was indebted to him for moneys advanced. * Q.. What bird's nest is it in Switzer- land that is eaten?—M. D. A. The -edible bird's nest is that ot theé ‘Alpine swift. - Will plants grow well under ar- tiflefal light”—F. E. G. A. Vegetable growth can be ob- tained from any light, but electric light is the only satisfactory artificial light, as the others are not strong enough - to be effective. Fumes from any light that takes oxygen are defrimental to the plant. There is no Wght w0 good as sunlight to promote vegstable growth. The amount of growth, Kowever, depends upon the power. Q. How can I stick two pieces of celluloid together?—J. S. R. A To _join two parts of celluloid together apply glacial acetic acid in the same way as mucilage and at onee préss the parts together. Amyl ace- tate wilt answer, but It is not as good as the acid. and their talls become frayed?—E. H. A. The Bureau of Fisheries says that the coloring in goldfish gradually fades out; however, if the tail is fringed or frayed, this i¢ caused by a fungus Browth and it is advisable to give u salt bath frequentiy. Q. What will pxevent sirup from gBeu.lng hard on the surface?—L. 1. A. The most satisfactory way to prevent sirup from hecoming hard on the surface when exposed to the air {s to mix glucose with it. This whl retard the evaporation of the water. If it is possible for you to- Keep it covered, this will be more satisfactory than mixing it with glucose. Q. What cin be done” for house flowers that have worms in' the dirt they are planted {n7—P. J. A. The Department of Agriculture suggests that you let lime water stand 48 hours and then pour the clear liquid on the irt in which your plants are potted. This will drive the worms to the surface and you will be able to destroy them. 3 Q. When was sprinkling first used a8 a mode of baptism?—J. A. B. A. The rite of baptism by sprinkling or pouring is supposed to have origi- nated either’ in the second or the third century, and is alluded to in writings of Cyprian, who gave his opinion that in the case of those who were sick or unable to endure the rite of immersion it was a lawful baptism. Q. How were the diamond fields of South Africa discovered?—P, A. Dr. Silverman of the University of Plttsburgh says that the South African fields wera discovered acci- { dentally by the curiosity of a farme concerning a bright pebble w which some Boer children were pl. ing. The stone subsequently sold in Paris for 500 pounds. Q._How old is the ice industry M F. T A. Probably the first fos cut and shipped as an article of commerce ‘was in 1799 from New York to Charleston, S but the beginning of the industr. me in 1805, when Frederick Tudor of Boston shipped a cargo of 130 tons to the West Indies. rtificial fce business dates from. but did neot become of com- mercial importance until about 1850, Q. In what river are the Thousand | Islands?—A. W. A. The Thousand Islands i |lection of small isiands, m 1,700, situated in an expansion of the S Lawrence Rlver, about 40 miles :lhn: and from four to seven miles wide, between Omntario, Canada, and Jefferson and St. Lawrence. Countics, N. Y. They are favorite resorts for summer tourists on account of their picturesque beauty. Many are private property and contain the summer homes of wealthy Americans and Canadiuns. (Let The Star Information Burcau Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Twenty- first and C streets morthwesf, answer Q. Why do goldfish lose their color Gut from New York_ harbor last Tne.iq',:"xall'd the good ship Arc- turas, bound for the Sea of Sargasso. the Tegion_west of the Azores. in the Atlantic, where the scaweed stopped the ships of- Christopher Columbus and - scared the sailors, who thought th they were marooned for their temerity in venturing over the edge of the world. Columbus, inventor of perpendic- ular eggs and of propaganda, told the sailors that the presence of the seaweed was proof that they were nearing land-—approaching Cathay. in his own mind, Signor Columbus beltoved the seaweed was the seam where the two halves of the world were Mmarkéd off. Thé ancient” Phoe- | nicians discovered the shoal coveredl | with weed and called it the Sea of Safgasso, believing it the limit of the ocean, beyond which no mariner | dared sail. For thousands of years it was a myth—as disputable as was the continent of Atlantis, so vividly rdescribed to and by Solon. { Today we knpw that sargassum is a _gu'f seawead, and that the Sea Sargasso, mo-called, is a region wést of the Azofes, between latitude 16 and 38 nerth and longitude 30 and 50 west, but it is not the only region of sargassum and it is not dangerous to steamships, however bothersome it was to Columbus’ little sailboats of 100 tons. The oceans constitute seven-tenths of the werld surface. What “land- scapes” would- they show if all the water could be drmined Off, or if the vast: expanses of “old ocean’s Eray and melancholy waste” could be sap- ped. leaving omly roaring cataracts falling over mountains as high as the Himalayas, into chasms six miles desp, such as are known to exist in the ;| waters of the FPhilippines? Through the dark valleys of the oceaps wander creatures of uncanny shapes. Their food rains down (o them from the water world above. which is as little comprehended by the strange -habitants of the utter- most depths as Is our ocean of atmos- fechnician. but meaningless to. the uninitiated. A test of art apprecia- tion was tried out recently by one of the greht Western colleges, with the result that a much higher average was dlscovered among the untrained than had commonly been supposed to exist. This is not only interesting. but encouraging and should spur those who are producers of art to better production. One of our great local preachers was right when he said last Sunday, “To those who have No appreciation 8f beauty life is in- deed drab.” * * X k% | _WIth further reference to the inter- relation of the arts, it is a curious thing how few seem to realize the importance of good design in build- fng—in othér words, the element of beauty In private as well as public architecture. The Amerioan Institute of Architects and the Amerivan Civi~ Assoctation are both urging upon thelr members throughout the United States the importance of the adop- tion of an artistic plan for the Ae- velopment of Washington in order that it may become one of the most beautiful cities in the world. This is well—it is important that the plan of the- park - commission of 1900 should be followed and put into effect. also that it should be extended. It should not be forgotten, however, that even if this Is done, unless the planners have the co-operation of the land owners and realty holders the result desired will not be at- tained. Every well deisgned bullding which is erected lends to the general effect—the beauty of the whole; every: ugly one is an injury—a hurt. To be specific,: certaln apartment houses are being erected in gapd resi- dential sections of the city which are esuentially homely in exterior aspect. Some sayv that they are livable with- in and that Mvableness is of prime fmportahce; “but good design in the matter of facadé does not Jdebar this element in building. To the can- frary, tt should inure it And-cer- tattly beauty of ‘afpect derivea from fine design, fair proportions, we'l dis- posed openings, etc., is bound to In- orease Attrastiveness. In this con- Roction meyernl of the houses on Con- phere above us human “fish._ That world beneath the oceans is more than twice as expansive as is the lan@ of men. Tt, too, has its con- tinental breadths as wonderful as Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America, with its millions of “populations,” varying from-the blue whale, 90 féet in length, down to the microscopic pteropods, and the stitl { smaller crustaceans, on which the pteropods prey. These [ittle ani mals become food for the next large: spectes, and they, in turn, for larger kinds, even unto the great red-jelly fish,. like the ope captured mnear Massachusetts, whose tentacles meas- ured 120 feet in length. * The gréatest monsters of the deep do not live in the greatest depths— miles below the surface—but in waters no deeper than the hetght of the Washington Monument. Just as may be noted in tropic lands, where altitude controls the kind of plamt life existent in varylng heights, so the depths of the water are divided into distinct zones, each with its own forms of life. In the extreme depths are .weird red jelly flsh and black fiskes with enormous teeth, and small sharks, less than a foot in length. The pressurs of the water at such depths is five or six tons to the Inch, yet it has no effect upon the fissue of ‘the fish accustomed to such en- vironment, because the pressure exlsts alsy: within the cells of the fish, ne: tralising the. exterior tons. L No. instruments yet devised have been sufficiently tight to withstand the’. pressure of five tons to the Mmch, a8 exists in these great depths. The water enters through joints or cracks in §lass so fine that they are invisible. When- the deep-water fish are-drawn necticut avenue that -have recently been/done over for business purposes are'to be found exceptionally charm- ing Zin- design—assets to the cit Suéh’ bullding is a source ‘of enjoy- ment; to ®e people at large—a mal ter, ot. vwga—-q manif -u:mw_ the real iyalie of art fo .the pnm;%i‘me’Tnmm “How much better to have what is good than what is bad! | vour question. The only charge for this service is 2 cents in stamps for returw pastage.) 3 BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. to the surface the release of pressure of the water as they rise causes the gases within their cells to burst eut, 0 that by the tima the fish is hanled aboard, after hours of ascending, it i= practically torn to pieces by the internal gases. * xox % Pr’ Austi Clarke. oceanographer of the Smithsontan TInstitution, esti- mates that a 20-foot whale, weighing 30 tons. is equivalent to enough cattle to_consume an aere of good pasture dafiy—365 acres a vear. ‘H‘ lh-‘p whole area of the District of Columbia were Lin clover it would feed only 125 Whales, for, though whales are not Vegetarians, they would require vege- tarian animals whieh would consume that much pasturage. Eaeh seasom the 1900 whales killed off of Spitz bergen womid require a pasture arca eight times that of the District of Columbia to feed their required “lve stock”—the fish they consume Some areas of the sea are gray « green with microscopic “pasturag sustaining fish, which, in turn, beco food for larger ecreatures. While there are never crop failures througis drought, other influences cause yielda to vary. All large amimals and all vegets- tion exist oniy im depths less than 650 feet. and from: that zene alls the food to the inhabitants of the lower zomes—the vegetation and the dead amimals falling like our rains and snows, down through the eter- nally still and perpetually dark wa- ter. The brightest sunlight never penetrates more than 608 feet, and even at that depth there is only twi- light. The severest storm has no disturbing effect at such depths, Not only do the large fishes and mammals remain within 85 feet of the surface, but uswally close to the thnd. Where food is miore plentiful than in midocean. The greatest depth from which any fish has been captured was the catch by the Prince of Monaco—one of _the most famous of oceanographers. It was a “grimal dichthys profundisimus.” taken at a depth of 19,806 feet—3% miles. That constifutes the greatest fish story to dute, though some that “got away" may have been huger and swum deeper. 5 ¥R ox % R is a common errar, to assume that because the warm ‘climates on land produce the most abundant veg- etable and animal life the most tbnndum. fish would. exist in trepical aters. Om the contrary,’ the colder the water the more gases it contains, and that means more food for vege- tation and consequently more animal life. According to Dr. Clarke, “the op- timum condltions for both plants and animals in the sea aré found in the Arctic and Antarctic regions in the Summer, when the' sun is at its highest, and in the cold cugrents flowing ontward from the polar seas. As the water warms toward the Equator life becomes léss sbundant though more varied, and everywhers It decreases in extent and varfability with increasing distances from the shores. n earlier’ times it was supposed thlt if men could search them the extreme depths would disclose great treasures of the anclent years which had drifted there. This is now recos- niged as unfounded. There are no sweeping currents in the great depths; all“is still as well as dark. The Afcturus scientists will test the oceans for their salinity and tem- peratures, their currents, both lateral and perpendlcular, and for all possi- Ble animil and vegetable life condi- tions. There has never before been an Investigation comparable to this one with its delicate apparatus for making various scientific tests. The exploration will cover two months in the Atlantic, then the ship will pass through the Panama canal to the re- glon of the Barbadoes, off the coast of South America. While there are no electric storms In the océan depths, it is belleved- that ocean phenomena ‘may have mach to- 4o With weather conditions above the water and over the land. (Coprright, 1888, by Paul V. Celltea}