Evening Star Newspaper, February 16, 1925, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY.....February 16, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES. . . .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11'h Kt. and_Pennsyivania Ave. New York Ofvce: 110 East 42nd St Ohicago Office: Tower Bul' European Office : 16 Regent 8t.,London. England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, fx delivered by carriers within the city at 60 cents per month: dally cents per month: Buaday oaly. moeth. Orders may be sent by mail of tale- phone Main 5000 Collection ix made by car- riers at the end of each month. onls, 45 cents’ per Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance, Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1yr., $8.40; 1 mo,, 70c Dally only 1 yr., $6.00; 1 mo., 50¢ Sunday only 1¥r., $2.40; 1 mo,, 20c All Other States. Dally and Sunday.1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Daily only 1yr, 0c Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press Is exclusively entitied 5’ the use for republication of 8ll news dis- Patches credited to 1t or mot otherwise credited in thie paper and also the local news pub lished “hereln. ~All rights of publication of speclal dispatehes herein are also reserved. District Legislation. Despite the failure of the Senate to do business the other evening, when a special session was held for action upon & st of District bills, hope per- sists that the present session of Con- gress will not close with these meas- ures remaining unconsidered. If there is a disposition In the upper house to do this work the bills can be put on their passage, notwithstanding the great pressure of business. The traffic bill, the school bufldings bill, the public welfare commission bill and the city-planning bill are in this list. ‘While some amendments are like- 1y to be offered to perfect them and to avoid obstructive objection, they are virtually unopposed. Two others which wero on the list proposed for special consideration Friday night are subject to serious opposition, those authoriz- ing the merger of the street rallway corporations and creating a rental commission. The two first named of the six meas- ures are of the most urgent impor- tance to the welfare 'of the District. That some better means of controlling and regulating the traffic in Washing- ton is requisite is proved by the daily reports of casualties in this city. Life has become hazardous in the Capital. The present system of control and puniskment for violations of the laws is ineffective. It can be made efficient only through legislation. Congress alone can cure the evil. The bill now pending is the result of caretul con- sideration by the two District commit- tees. It represents weeks of inquiry and debate, with every interest heard and every condition taken into ac- count. Its enactment, followed by the appointment of capable persons for the pesitions created by it, will relieve ‘Washington from a deadly danger. The bijl to authorize a series of school buflding constructions is acknowledged by all who have con- sidered the local situation to be abso- lutely essential. The schools of the District are choking for accommoda- tions. Year-by-year appropriations for new constructions will not make good the arrears accumulated through decades of comparative neglect. Only by means of a large program of bufld- ing can this shortage be made good, and the District for the first time in its history be assured of adequate school facilities. This bill likewise has been jointly considered by the District committees to the end of a full agree- ment upon its terms. Those commit- tees are entitled to opportunity for leglsiation. They have served the Dis- trict well {n this as in other matters, and should receive now respectful at- tention when they ask for the enact- ment of this measure. The bill creating a public welfare commission is the result of many months of painstaking inquiry by a board of citizens assembled by the Dis- trict Commissioners and of thorough consideration by the District commit- tees of Congress. It is viewed as an essential to secure a more effective ad- ministration of the establishments and institutions caring for the dependents, delinquents and unfortunates of this community. It corrects present mis- adjustments which lessen their eco- nomical efMciency. It has received the virtually unanimous approval of the people of Washington. Its enactment likewise is viewed as one of the urgent needs of the session. As to the city-planning bill there is on the broad question of providing for #& survey of District needs and ideal obfectives no dispute. This measure may require amendment to prevent conflict between the proposed commis- ‘slon and that already working for ti creation and development of the parks of the Capital. This point, however, is susceptible of ecasy adjustment. Everybody who wishes to see the.Na- tional Capital attain the proportions and preserve the unities of & model city is interested in the enactment of this legisiation. In the Senate only such time as can ‘be by unanimous consent secured is available for consideration of these bills. In the House there is a possibil- ity of another “District day.” The Sen- ate, having sect aside an evening for this purpose, which it wasted in futile talk, can do no less than repair this fault by assigning another period with- in which a spirit of accomplishment ‘will prevail. ———. Only time will disclose whether the New York police agitation about im- proper plays will result in a reform &r a highly profitable line of pub- Neity. —e I Famine in Russia. " Reports of crop failures in Russia and of the increase of suffering through lack of adequate food -sup- ‘plies have come lately beth from Mos- cow and from other points outside of Russia, where the news is more freely dispatched. The Soviet government is in the difficult position of having to admit the collapse of the agricultyral system If it is to make an effective appeal for aid. It has thus far not asked for help, but is adopting rélief measures on its own resources. Yet | nearly 8,000,000 of the population, ac- cording to one report, are now actual- ly starving, and it is difficult to see how with a general depletion of the food reserves the Soviet commissars can meet the needs of this great num- ber. ‘The margin of the Russian peasant, the moulik, is always very small. Un- der the old system of government the mir or village commune cared for the less fortunate individual with oceca- sional aid from the government at St. Petersburg, as it was-then called. Yet famine occasionally swept the country and assistance from the world outside was required. In 1892 a terrible fam- ine prevailed in Russfa, and grain was sent from this country in abundance. Yet a great number of people died. Since then other famines have oc- curred, one within & few years. The American rellef work carried on in Russia under the Soviet regime doubt- less kept many thousands from death, If the Russian famine grows to tfe point of national disaster, and appeal is made for succor, without doubt the American people will go to the rescue of these unfortunates who are suf- ferers from a combination of bad gov- ernment and bad naturp” conditions. They are the victime of communism, and they should not be left to suffer even though they have in some part and degree co-operated in the radical- fem that has brought Russia to its present desperate state. They are to be pitied and helped, and when the word comes, if it should, this country will do its part. Scrapping the Protocol. ¥From Europe come vigorous denials of intention to scrap the Geneva pro- tocol for arbitration, security and dis- armament, but there are accumulat- ing evidences that the protocol is in process of being scrapped. The em- inent statesmen who drafted the pro- tocol regarded disarmament as its heart, just as the celebrated Article X was regarded as the heart of the covenant of the League of Nations. It had been intended that the coming into force of the protocol should await and be contingent upon an agreement for the limitation of armaments. But now this definite program apparently bas been abandoned and superseded by the hope that disarmament may be accomplished in some other way, pref- erably upon American initiative. The protocol provides that an inter- national conference for the reduction of armaments shall convene at Geneva on June 15 next, and that a program for reduction and limitation of arma- ments shall be drafted by the council of the League of Nations and submit- ted to the accepting governments by March 15. It is provided also that if by May 1 ratifications of the protocol have not been depoeited by three of the four great power members of the league, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, and by 10' other league members, the conference shall be ad- journed to a future date. So far France is the only one of the four great powers which has ratified the protocol, and there appear slight pros- pects that tfiere will be ratification by two of the other powers by May 1. As it is specifically provided the protocol shall not become binding until the designated ratifications have been de- posited and a plan for the reduction of armaments adopted, it is difficult to belleve the Geneva protocol is not destined to go the way of other High aspirations which have come into con- flict with national interests. Fallure of other powers to ratify the protocol seems to be due chiefly to the fact that Great Britain has not ratified it, and to settled conviction that without British co-operation the program could not be made to work. British: failure to ratify apparently is due to opposition from the dominions, and the dominions are opposed be- cause of a lastminute provision in- serted at the instance of Japan. It had been agreed that the provision for compulsory arbitration should not ap- ply to “a matter which by interna- tional law is solely within the domes- tic jurisdiction.” But Japan, plainly having in mind the question of Amer- ican immigration, sought and obtained & modification that because & matter in dispute was held to be domestic need not prevent “consideration of the situation” by the council or sssembly of the League of Nations, which, un- der powers granted by Article 11 of the covenant, would be authorized in the event of war or threatened war to “take sny action that may be deemed wise and effectual to safeguard the peace of nations.” ‘The effect of this provision would be that while the sanctions stipulated in the protocol could not be employed against a nation which refused to arbi- trate & “domestic” dispute, such a na- tion would face the possibllity of being held up to moral obloquy through a pronouncement by the league. And the British dominions do not intend the government at London shall sign a ‘compact which might operate to fasten moral guilt upon them because they refused to admit emigrants from Japan. But even if the Geneva protocol is destined to fail because of provisions which the necessity for compromise forced into it, the fact remains that the mere drafting of such an instru- ment by responsible statesmen is a long forward stride toward outlawing war. It recognizes that the right of the world to peace is paramount to the right of an individual nation to make war, and some day in some way this world aspiration for peace will be translated into a compact that will bind the nations to exhaust all other resources of settlement before they re- sort to arms. ——————— ‘The unexpected notice of his ap- pointment enabies the new Governor of Alaska to claim the Valentine cham- pionship for 1925. Handshaking. So many reports core out 6f Rus- sia or from other countries concerning Russia that no man can keep track of them ail. One of the reports is that handshaking has been prohibited in many departments of Russia because it savors of the middle class. Other reasons might be found for prohibiting persistent and réléhtiess handshaking, The Russian move may mark an im- provement in government, and it may THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D be a betterment of manners. One would like to be assured of further re- ports showing how the reform works, it it works at all. Now and then a voice in the United States is raised wguinst hawdshaking, but the volce is soon lost, and we shake hands with ne same vigor. We have _come to 1ok on handshaking as an American institution, and a man's popularity is apt to be measured by the numbe. of pergons who shake hands with him. If his hand gets sore and swelled, and his arm is put out of use, he is ac- counted a very popular person. The handshake habit has certain good points. It has enabled many worthy men, and some others, to enter public life and stay there for some time, and handshaking is belleved a more ef- fective aid to statesmanship than kiss- Ing bables. There are some indications in this country that there is a decline In the custom of expressing pleasure at meeting @ man by doing physical violence to him, Time was when a man to be a good fellow had to be slapped on the buck or had to be & backslapper himself. 1f a.man were thumped on the back until he coughed or was knocked down there could be no doubt that he stood well with his fellow men. Backslapping Is not as hard and frequent as it was, but it remains a popular practice in some parts of the country. The handshakers are still numerous and busy, but the time may come when one will be able to meet a man seven times a day with- out shaking hands with him each time going and coming. —_— e By declining to spend either the time or the money necessary for par- ticipation in 4th of March (festivi- ties Gov. Miriam Ferguson of Texas shows that she is thoroughly in ac- cord with the administration's econ- omy program. She would have been a welcome and interesting personality here, and the slight degree to which her absence will solve uny possible ovércrowding problem cannot com- pensate for the regret at her absence. —————— The United States Senate now has business before it resulting from the fact that when street car tracks were being laid the companies neglected to apply for bus franchises incidentally. Nobody suspected that passengers could find transportation sufficlently comfortable in coaches to compete with _the smoothness of rail vehicles. ————— By- removing clocks from the De- partment of the Interior the time re- quired to wind them will be saved. A gong will be substituted to an- nounce the close of the working day. Those who used to look will now listen. ——— et In spite of the extensive seating fa- cilities in preparation for the inaugu- ration most of the spectators will, as usual, utilize standing room. The street throngs always form an ani- mated and attractive incident of a gala occasion in Washington. ———————— New York policemen are to decide whether some of the Broadway shows are to be closed on account of in- decency. The New York copper who used to be a type of picturesque leisure is now one of the most overworked people on earth. —————w——— There is no doubt that Mr. Hylan could go on being mayor of New York for the rest of his life it he could be as successful'in holding down rentals as he has been in holding down car fares. D G Y An investigation of increased cost of gasoline will recall the investiga- tions of coal prices, which proved highly interesting, but made no prac- tical difference to the consumer. ————— When the current investigation is through, this country will know everything there'is to be known about aircraft and ought to be able to work fast in an emergency. * SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Primrose Path. The simple valentine of yore, The merry Maypole dance, Their festal greeting bring no more. ‘We seek the reckless chance Of motors all too swiftly sped ‘Where coppers lie In wait. ‘When primrose paths we seek to tread, ‘We strike a rapid gait. The bootleg bandits we pursue Upon both land and sea. The players whom we pay to view May soon arrested be. In simple candor we must vow ‘While we are turning pale, The primrose path of dalliance now Runs close beside the jail. Room for Progress. ‘Taximeters for vehicles are to be made absolutely truthful.” “It's a step in the right direction.” commented Senator Sorghum. *“But the positively reliable income taxime- ter is still to be invented.” Jud Tunkins says at last he's sure the war is really over. Nobody says “camouflage” any more. Incredibility. Such wondrous statements science brings For human contemplation— It Washington had said such things, He'd lose his reputation. Home Makings. “Do you have homemade bread at your house?” “No,” answered Miss Cayenne. “Our homemade bread is like counterfeit money; it looks all right from a dis- tance, but it is likely to prove im- practical, and even dangerous.” Economy. Economy relieves distress. We're grievinggjust the same. It takes a lifetime, more or less, To learn to play the game! “I likes to see a man tendin’ to his business,” eaid Uncle Eben, “‘unless it’s de kind o’ business dat requires & smoke screen.” ———— An attractlve costume for a cold night is a bunch of blankets thrown over a bed and tucked in.—Wichita Beacon, e / _THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The reigning tad in Washington today Is the cross-word puzzle—two years ago It was M. Emile Coue and h]l- method of conscious Autosugges- tion. Now it Is “give me a three-letter word for fool”; then it was “Day by day, in évery way, I'm getting better and better.” But there is a big dif- ference. The good that in the world, M. Coue has done is great; what the cross-word puszzle will accomplish Is extremely problematical. It may be @ blessing to know the name of an obscure African bird in four letters, but I doubt ft. The benefits which the little Frenchman left behind him, however, are running true to form today, just one month more than two years since he stepped off the train at Union Statlon for his three-day visit. Where there wére hundreds practic- ing his method in January, 1923, per- haps there 1s one true to it yet. but that {s not of much moment. What matters is that the bubbling little man from Nancy did drive home to thousands of people the necessity for optimism. DId you think a formula was all there was to Coueism? Bless your heart, no! The doctrine of healthy optimism, free from fad, was the power behind the message of M. Coue, then and now. The Ameri- can people made a fad, a “‘craze,” out of him and his method, but he never took It in that light. Like all fads—just as the cross- word puzzle will do—Coueism suf- fered a relgpse. People gradually stopped talking about him, or repeat- fng twenty times, both morning and night, his “Day by day, in every way. I'm getting better and better.” Today you will find, here and there. a man or woman still true to his method, religiously counting off the formula on a string of 20 knots. Per- haps 10 in all Washington. . It is Impossible, however, to count the thousands of persons who have been benefitod by the spirit of opti- mism which this man released like a cloud the healing rains. * ok ¥ % The American people insisted on calling Coue “I@ctor.” and thought of him as a “miracle man,” when he was In no sense an’M. D. and certainly not the slightest bit of a worker of miracles. Ho was. on the other hand, a man absolutely devoted to an idea. When ou find a man like that, you have one able to create * . " His sin- cerlty was beyond d A simple, almost country-like man, with large hands, he came to America a drawing room favorite. Soclety people made a sort of show out of him, and enjoyed basking, for a time, in the light of the publicity which the sterling simplicity and sin- cerity of the man managed to secure, with the aid of a little judicious press-agenting. M. Coue never changed a bit. He faced drawing room and auditorium Wwith the same child-like nonchalance. It ide no difference to him whether he “cured” a patient or not. He had an idea, an idea he thought £00d, an idea that had helped and benefited thousands. He presented 1t, you accepted it, or rejected it. It was all one to him. Like the “baby in the cradle” of which he spoke so often, he made others come to him. The writer of these lines was one of the most ardent Coueists of 1923, therefore he feels that he is especially well fitted to discuss the man and his work at this time. I was the only newspaper man pres- ent at the private preliminary meet- ing held by Coue at a fashionable home near Dupont Circle. My attend- ance at that meeting was due to that gallant gentlewoman, Mrs. Archibald Hopkins, who saw to it that I got ticket rotwo Permit me to sav right here that Mrs. Hopkins is one of thoss social workers who combine common sense with uplitt. When she comes out of a. dirty alley and tel the Cor - missioners that the situstion ought to be changed, they know she knows what she is talking about. It was at that private meeting that M. Coue made what seemed at the time a'genuine cure of a case of stammering. The case was that of a beautiful child of about 14 years of age, who broke down and cried with joy when she found she could speak without stargmering. 1 have learned from an apparently nuthentic source since. thik (e “cure” was more. apparent than real, the &irl being but little much better now than before M. Coue implanted in her, for a brief time, the confi- dent optimism that she was “getting better, This, however, to be expected, for Coue was no “miracle man.” He did, though, bring to us & necessary message, and one which lingers still for those of us who believe in it. He taught optimism, I feel, better than any of the professional optimists of America, and he did it because he had a practical method which every man and woman could use. It does little good to tell a timid man thut he ought to be “courageous.” or a pessimistic one that he should be filled with optimlism. They know It! Where the profes- sional bringers of good cheer fall down 1s that their “message” usually consists of preachments withoyt means of practical application. Now this was just where Coue shone. Looked st from a distance of more than two years, two years fill ed with the distractiond of Senate investigations, a national election, bobbed hair and crow<-word puzzles, it is possible to see clearly the prac- tical good of Couelsm. * You will find It all explained In the first and best of the Coue books, “The Practice of Autosuggestion,” by C. Harry Brooks, published by Dodd, Mead & Co., in May, 1922. Mr. Brooks explains Coueism better than M. Coue did himself, because he was able to look at It from a dis- tance, and hitch it up with the world- wide movement for more practical optimism in every day life. As this author brings out, M. Coue has three real messages for ma kind, summed up In his formulae, follow: “Day by day, In every way, getting better and better.” “It is easy, and I can.’ “It's golng, going, going, gone. The first is undoubtedly the most important. To those who are able to ropeat it without particular effort, and without joking at themselves, it is an undoubted help toward that ealthy optimism which the truly healthy @uve as & birthright. It one wakes in the middle of the night and some sorrowful thousght in- trudes, the slow, even repetition of this sentence brings much relief. It is no trick at all—it works because the mind cannot think two things at once. Every time you revert to the unpleasant thought, repeat again the old Coue message. The other two sentences never got the publicity of the main formula, but they are good, nevertheless. When onc is faced with some diffi- cult task, something from which he shrinks, it {8 genuinely helptul to y. “It is easy, and I can.” To attempt to subdue pain with the formula, “It is going, going, going,” etc., is simply common sense. It has been practiced by mothers for cen- turies, when they kiss away the hurts of their little ones. Coueism is only common sense—for those who need it. If you do not noed such help, why, of course, do not bother about it. I'm going, WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE President Coolidge has not “ig- nored” senatorial patronage tradi- tions and susceptibilities, as some of his foes on the Warran nomination contend. At the White House assur- ance is given that Mr. Coolidge, on the contrary, is punctiliously careful not to rub any cf Capltol Hill's sensitive fur the wrong way. The President consulted with Senator Couzens of Michigan regarding Mr. Warren's appointment to the Ator- ney Generalahip and the understand- ing was that Couzens would support the nomination. There is no official indication, as yet, that he will not do so, though Warren's opponents count Couzens as one of them. It is the Coolidge practice to confer with Republicans Senators on appoint- ments affecting their States. In the case of Mr. Kellogg, no such confer- ence took place, because Minnesota has no Republican Senators. Ambas- sador Houghton's promotion to Lon- don was recommended to the Presi- dent by Senator Wadsworth of New York, who also was consulted about the elevation of Mr. Stone to the Su- preme Court bench. ERE The Daughters of the American Revolution expect to spend more than $1,000,000 on the auditorium annex to Memorial Continental Hall in Wash- ington. The proposition is expected, despite Its financial dimensions, to enlist enthuslastic support &t the thirty-fourth Continental Congress of the Daughters in April. Meantime the president general, Mrs. Anthony Wayne Cook, will tour the country as far as the Pacific coast and “sell” the project to prominent _ chapters throughout tle Union. There are more than 2,000 D. A. R, chapters to- day, totaling 146,000 members. Mem- bership is increasing at the rate of 1,000 a month. It will be proposed at the forthcoming congress to raise the annual dues from 32 to $3 and that measure will help materially to finunce the auditorium. The Memorial Continental Hall, immortalized as the scene of the Washington armament conterence, long since proved inade- quate for congress purposes. But when the new auditorium has reared its majestic proportions skyward, the Daughters will have one of the finest convention halls in the United States. ® ok k¥ Oswald Garrison Villard, editor of the Nation, is X-raying conditions at Washington, and diagnozing in par- ticular the relations malntained be. tween the President and the press. One recent episode, which caused per- turbation among Washington cor- respondents, but was little heard of outside that exclusive circle, is en- gaging Mr. Villard's special attention. It concerns the famous incident of Ambassador Jusserand's public speech on the French debt. The day after the speech, that exalted personage, known as “a White House spoke: man,” referred to it in terms that in- duced experienced Washington news- papermen to report that President Coolidge had “rebuked” Jusserand. Within 24 hours, a White House state- ment rebuked the correspondents who 14 Mr. Coolidge had rebuked the Frenchman. One bold gcribe, Henry Suydam, correspondent of the Brook. 1yn Daily Eagle. took up the cudgels for his confreres. He sald it provided graphic proof of the necessity of a different system of reporting White House utterances. There is hardly a week that does not witness varying “interpretations” of presidential views, made by trained reporters in the best faith. That is bec: “the President of ‘the United States fis never quoted.” Quotation, some think, would be better than contradictory interpretation. ** x X During the week preceding Dr. Jar. dine's appointment us Becretary of Agriculture, after the patronage bat- tle of the century, there was the loudest anvil chorus that ever re- sounded at the White Hous: Exactly 172 candidates competed for the agriculutral portfolio, and. as this observer is veraciously assured, there were no fewer than 172 sets, groups and combinations of “knockers. Their respective knives grew sharp from week to week, and, as the pres! dential decision approached, were wielded with {ncreasing fury and ruthlessness. Mr. Coolidge finally had before him about as many “roasts” for A, B C as he had ‘“boosts. President Harding once said that h cruelest disillusionment in the White House was the lengths to which men would go to prevent somebody “else from getting a job they wanted. £k x ¥ George Alexander Parks, who is to be Governor of “Alaska, is certain, be- cause he's a mining engineer by pro- fessfon, to give deep attention to the unexplored and unexploited mineral wealth of our great Arctic domain. Oil is one of t undeveloped re. sources of Alaska, of which more is sure to be heard in the immediate fu- ture. Not long ago Philip Sidney Smith of the United States Geological Survey completed an exhaustive investigation of Alaskan oll possibilities. They are destined some day to rival the gushers of our petroliferous Sduth- west. Mr. Parks' appointment to the Alaskan governorship {s significant of the administration’s hopes and plans for our territory farthest north. * ok ok % Since the paragraphers, cartoonists and congressional jokesmiths began making hay out of President Cool idge’'s electrical hobby horse, politi- clans have been speculating about the power of ridicule to harm a public man. The consensus of opinion is that if Mr. Coolldge’s mechanical nag had been trotted out during the cam- paign the story might have had in- calculable effect on his election pro pects. Now, friend and foe agree, the President {s too strongly intrenched in public eésteem to be hurt by the Incident. “Ben” Butler never lived down the stolen spoons yarn that was hung on him, and Jamés G. Blaine more than once deplored “Bob” I gorsoll's description of him as “the plumed knight.” But Washingto- nians do not recall, on the whole, that ridicule ever ruined s ocareer. They are persuaded that Calvin Coolidge will survive his hobby horse. * K ok % Let no one run away with the notion that the Prince of Wales is going to the Argentine solely on ace oount of tango and other specialties for which Buenos Aires is famed. His royal highness’ Jjunket f{s essentially a business trip for John Bull. When the prince toured the British Empire he was described as “an ambassador of empire” This Bouth American yoyage finds him, almost avowedly, a British commercial traveler. Our trade officials in Washington have word that the British agricultu: implement {industry has detailed a clal representative to accompany rince, as an fdeal .opportunity. to advertise British made harvesters, reapers, mowers and tractors. (Copy: ) C., MONDAY, FEBRUARY: 16, 1925. Editors Moralize on | “End of the World” The preparation by the followers of Mrs. Margaret Rowen of Call- fornia for the end of the world on February 6 and its subsequent failure to materislize brought from .the editors of the country a variety of comment, philosephizing and moraliz- ing, which ran the gamut from the sublime to “he ridiculous. “It i3 an_oft-told story,” says the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “With the dawn of civilization the human mind turned toward the unknowable. Bomehow, some time, it must have an end. And so mystics and ‘dream- ers and sealots of all ages have fore- told the ultimdte catastrophe. Only once, however, has the bellef in the approaching end of the world become nearly universal -or even general. This was in the year 1000, the Chris- tian millennium. The lesson learned then has been sufficient to deter man- kind as a whole from making any reckless preparations for translation to a bettér sphere.” “Just how absurd is this confl- dence s the New York Herald- Tribune. belief in a definite be- sinning for the world is among the oldest creations of a finite human mind, and where there wus a begin- ning logic demands that there must be an end. It is only in very recent yeurs that even scientists have come face to face with the possibility that there muy never have been & be- ginning; and soclety has not yet reached a stage of perfection in which there Is the possibility that there may never be an end.” And the New Haven Register reflects: “In these days of great scientific knowl- edge, the weuther man is the only prophet that cen get away with in- correct predictions.. That s because people are always ready to believe him when he says what they like. His rec ord of failure is chalked up against him phen he prophesies what people don't want.” * % % * In questioning the Rowenites’ pre- diction, the Pittsburgh Gazette Times exclaims: “Why, of all possible places, Hollywood s chosen for such an event Is not explained. Possibly because of the contrast!" And the Los Angeles Times, hard by the élected wpot, exults: “We had heard from after-dinner orators that people who had passed into the other world had to be put In cages to keep them from coming back to Loz Angeles. We had even heard that Pasadena is #0 near heaven that all you have to do is reach up to tickle the feet of angels. But we did not know that the aviation fleld whence the heav- enly chariots would ascend had been laid out at Hollywood.” “There are two outstanding truths,” observes the Loutsville Post, “con- tained in the preparations that were made by no inconsiderable number contemplating the end of the world. One s the incontestible yearning of a great part of mankind for an au- thentic message from God during their own day and time. The other, the {ndublitable existence of that large body of simple-minded folk which has been christened the boobolsie, willing to give ear to anything anybody tells them.” The only end, comments the San Francisco Bulletin, “of which men are certain is the end of each individual man. For live we how we may, yet dle we must, whether of the elect or the rejected.” The Rowenites, declares the Seattle Times, awoke to find that something had gone wrong with their prophecy. The Times muses: “People resumed their occupations and began dodging automobiles and wondering about the increasing cost of government. It was the week end, not the world's end, that broke upon that plodding humanity.” The S8avannah News ponders after this fashion: “Some of those who sald they thought the end of things mundane would come sold their homes—why?... Did--they ~expect- 1o ke the money to the nmext world? Is United States currency tender on the other shore? Will Charon accept & quarter for fars on bis Styx. ferry? There might. be some logic in quit- ting work and stopping eating, but why monkey with such things as money and property?’ And the Lin- coln State Journah generously sug- gests, “Let it be hoped that in their careleasness for the economic future the folks who expected to be travel- ing todsy with wings did not sell their automobiles too cheap.” *x % x “It .must be admitted,” says the Butte Post, “that the hyman race is vastly credulous and short memoried, for it is deceived in the same wAy time after time. Only as age after age elapses and the general level of intelligence rises the percentage of the ¢redulous and deluded grows con- tinuslly smaller.” The Kansas City Times reflects: *‘‘The poer fanatips, we aay—or we use an uglier word and pass on to the next ftem ir the | paper. But we do not quite get the significance of these pathetic persons. They are not to be judged by ordinary standacds. They are really survivals from a~past age. They are our -co- temporary ancestors.” The Omaha World Herald thinks there ought to be a law against end- of-the-world predictions. “These prophecies create too much mischiet,” it says, “to &o unchecked. There are too many people that cannot take them temperately. Instead of taking their prophecies in reasonably mod- erate quantities they drain the cup to the dregs, g0 off on a spiritual bust, throw up their jobs, impoverish themselves, and then find themselves flat on their backs when the expected futls to materialize. “However,” bays the St. Joseph ‘even non-believers often are consclous of a lingering hunch that possibly—well, we might have written this yesterday, but to be per- fectly safe we waited until today.” ‘Women Failed Because- Mass Action Amused From the Roanoke Times ° The other day a number of New Orleans ladies, several hundred' of them, in fact, not liking certain newspaper references to the candi- date of their choice for mayor, marched in a body on the offending editor with a demand for an apology. Their supposition that he would be awed Into capitulation by their num- bers proved to be erroneous. He not only did nothing of the sort but told them firmly that he had nothing to apologize for and nothing to retract: So the ladies had to go home un: isfled. The Baltimore Evening Bun shame- lessly .gives away an important sex secret and points out “the funda- mental error” in the technique of the New Orleans editor’s callers. The powser of women over men in this world, it explains, “is not based on thelt appeal in mass. It is based on thelir appeal as Individuals. Every- body’ knows that a crowd of men, ls an ugly sight. But, to a modern man at least, a crowd of women, if not ugly, 18 & bit ridiculous. When these ladies moved as a crowd on the editor they threw their chance awa: Any male dumbbell could have told that crowd of women wherein -their proper procedure lay. They should have picked out the youngest and crowd—well, éedn’t have been quite the you but by all ns she should have been the prettiest—and sent her alone dnto the editorial presence. She would have had that man apologis- ing, retracting and taking it all back in lesy time than it takes td tell it. Technique—that's the all-important. thing. . How." wi they have .gone about picking out the prettiest wom- an in the crowd? Well, that's their problem, net ewre. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN Q. What is the size of the National Cathedral in Washington?—L. B. A. The dimensions will be: Length, 480 feet; breadth, 132 feet; height of nave, 95 feet; spin of nave, 39 feet. Q. Are skis more efficient than snowshoes? If so, why are snow- shoes used?—R.A. C. A. Owing to the thick forests of America the snowshoe has been found to be moke suitable for use than the ski, which is preferred in less wooded regions. The large, flat surface of the snowshoe furnishes a larger plane of resistance to the soft snow and by distributing the weight of the wearer over a larger surface does not break the brittle crust on top of the snow, which makes progress without snow- shoes impossible. Q. Who is the ruler of NI, ?7— La geria A. Nigeria, Africa, is « colony and protectorate of Great Britain. The present Governor of Nigeria is Sir Hugh Charles Clifford, who has been in office since 191 Q. Has the Rockefeller plan for dealing with labor been a success’— H. T. R. A. That is & matter of opinion. The Russell Sage Foundation, 130 BEast Twenty-second street, New York City, has recently lssued an exhaustive r Bk o the subject which is inform- ng. Q. When will charge case be decided?—W. W. P. A. The case has been heard by the Interstate Commerce Commssion, and & decision reached that the surcharge shall stand. Q. If 2 World War veteran becomes @ citizen of some other country, can Yée lrnllm"l adjusted compensation?— A. The adjusted compensation in- surance will be paid to a World War veteran of the United States who h. become a citizen of a foreign country upon the date scheduled for the pay- ment of the certificate. Q. How many hogs ware slaughtered last year?—E. M. P. A. The Department of Agriculture says that the total number of hogs slaughtered In the United States in 1924 was 52,872,634, Q. Will amber melt?—J. A. D. A. It can be melted. A temperature ©of 550 degrees Fahrenheit is required. Q. How does the Polish quota stand now?—J. P. . = A. It is filled until the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 1925. Q. Did Congress ever consider lo- cating the Capital of the &nited States in the State of New York. A. The first fiscal proposal recetved by Congress looking to the location of the seat of Government came from Kingston, N. Y., the State Legislature having, on March 14, 1783, authorized the trustees of the township of Kingston to grant to Congress “a fclent quantity of land within the id township to secure to Congress @ place of residence adequat. iace s quate to their Q. l\\'hm breed of horse did Mac- monnies use in designing his grou called “The Horse Tarers 7'M ¢ 1. A. When Macmonnles began work- ing on his groups called “The Wild Horses” and “The Horse Tamers,” he bought two wild Andalusion horses. They were delivered at his Paris Studio. The horses were supported by heavy ropes and tackles unril, One writer says, “the sculptor caught the play of restrained leaping mus- cles for all time.” A. The Department of Commerce says that if a motor boat s mors than 5 tons net weight, the owuar hay to obtain a license from the cus- toms officials. All smsller boats, in fact, all boats carrying passengers or cargo are required to have on board devices required by law, and to measure up to certain requirements prescribed by the department. Q. Where did the world flyers be- gin their trip around the world?- M S. A. The round-the-world flyers left Santa Monica March 17, 1924. They officially left Seattle on the flight April 6, 1924. The War Department says it took approximately 365 hours 42 minutes flying time. They cov- ered approximately 26,103 miles. Q. A. Ernest Thompson Seton in his book on Northern animals says that wolves are the most sociable of sts of prey. They gather in bands or packs during Winter months chiefly for the purpose of rendering to each other assistance. Do wolves hunt in packs?— 4 Bert Willlams play “Shuffic A. The late Bert Williams did not play in “ShufMe Along.” Cecil and Blake are the colored men Who took part in that performance. ’ Q. Does fresh water flow {nto the Dead Sea? If so, does it cause the sea to rise?—C. A, S. A. Approximately 7,000,000 tons of fresh water flow daily into _the Dead Sea, which has no outlet. Because this fresh water is immediately evaporated the height of the sea level Is not af- fected. Q. River captains in the Yangize are frequently in imminent danger of run- ning down a junk. Why do the junkmen cut ross the vessel's bow &0 care- lessly >—A. A. R A. According to the superstitious be lief of the junkmen long lines of evil spirits follow close in the wake of the junks. If a junkman can cut across close under the bow of a large river boat he can by this means cut away, at least for a time, the pursuing line of evi eplrits. Q. When postal employes work on Christmas day do they get a holiday aft- erward?—T. O. A. The Post Office Department sars that postal employes who are required to work on Christmas day becauss of the condition of the malls are granted compensators time on any of the fol- lowing working dars within 30 days after Christmas. It has been the policy of the department to limit to the abso- lute minimum the employment of men on Christmas day, and during this past year rural carriers were granted holi- day the entire day and city carriers and clerks excused at noon. Q. How many figures does “The Las Judgment contain?—E. E. A This enormous fresco contains about 300 figures and heads. Q. Under what variety of tree was Vishnu born?—G. G. A. Vishnu is sald to have been born beneath a Bo tree. This is the “Ficus religiosa.” (Frederic J. Haskin is employed by this paper to handle the inquiries of our readers, and you are invited to coll upon him as freely and as often as you please. Ask anything that is o matter of fact and the authority will be quoted you There is no charge for this service. Ask what you want, sign your name and ad- dress and inclose 2 cents in stamps for return postage. Address The Star In- Q. any 1 Is there any license necessary for a motor boat?—H. D. couniry’s loan to France is that more t half of France's present obligation to the United State incurred after the armistice w Included in the to- tal are immense supplies of surplus ma terial which the United Ststes_owned in France at the end of the war. The werles of nine articles which William P. Helm, jr. bas written about the French debt wil show when this money was borrowed, how much interest the American peoplé have paid on the bonds which made the asible, how France epent the niopey d the app:oximate of the supplies which France bought at a figure admit- fedly far below the valuo of the materlals. This background of the French debt will be of immense Interest to news| ers because In current d'scuss subject the histors of the tra rarely kept in, mind. Article I At 11 o'clock in the morning of November 11, 1918, when the last gun of the World War was silenced, "the principal of the French national debt to the United States Government stood at an even $2,000,000,000. That sum represented the cash actually ad- vanced to France from the American Treasury. She had spent it all {n.the ways of war—for munitions, cotton, food, tobacco, shipping, transport tion; in a word, for whatever she needed to carry on the conflict. Four days later, 6r on November 15, 1918, her official representatives in Washington, along with the repre- sentatives of four other allied powers, waited on the Secretary of the Treas- ury and advised him of the need of still more money. France wanted at that time $40.000,000; Great Britain, $50,000,000; Czechslovakia, $5.000,000; Belgium, $3,400,000, and Serbia, a sum which -she had somewhat meticu- lously tabulated at $209,697.70. ~ “Very well, gentlemen,” the Secre- tary said in substance. “You shall have it today. I shall direct that the sums shall be made avallable to you on demand.” A Long and Costly Process. Thus, with an advance totaling some hundreds of thousands in ex- cess of $100,000,000, the American Government made her first step in the long and costly process of helping her laté allies back upon their feet finan- clally and on’ the road to a prosperous peace. It was a good day's spending, éven for the hectic period of war. but not so good measured by the stack of dollars handed over to the allles as were to bo the spendings of some of the days to come. France took her $40,000,000 and de- parted. But she had learned the way to the Treasury at Washington and found it easy to travel. : Within & month after the armistice her repre- sentative was back again, and this time the cash advanced him totaled $71,427,000. Twice again in the month of December, 1918, France called on the United States for further cash advances, and each time they were made, once $5,000,000 and once $10,- 000.000. Thus between Armistice day and New Year, a period of seven weeks, during which no gun was fired and no blood was lost, the French gov- ernment borrowed $136,427,000. That was at the rate of $18,000,000 a week, or nearly $3,000,000 a day.. The money went not to the conduct of the war, for the .war was over, but to’ make possible, the return to peace. Authority for Loans. Xuthority for making the loans was unquestioned. Long before—on April 24, 1917—Congress wrote such authority into the law under which the first Liberty loan was issued. Again the following September, au- thority to lend money to the allies was re-enacted. ‘Additional authority was given by Congress on April 4, 1018, and finally on July 9, 1918. On each of these occasions, It will be formation Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin Director, Twenty-first and C atrects northwest.) [noted, America was pressing her wa policy and the 1 of the struggie was neither in sight’ nor -definitels thought of. i Tie entire national cffort Was be- ing strained. in every diréction that seemed to offer advantage. to bring rmany to her knees. One of the obvious Ways 1o victory the financial strengthening of the allies S0 Congress voted, with a single thought, to give such strength un- stintingly. The thing uppermost in the minds of members of both House and Senate, the record of debate dis- closes, was the prosecution of the war. Thére appears no reference in the debate, so fsr as can be found by a cursery examination, 0f strengthen- ing the allies financially on their way back to peace. Congress probably would have granted specifically the authority which it clearly granted by implication. had it ocCcurred to the leaders to do 2o. More Cash Advances. In January, 1919, the American Gov- ernment made two more cash gdvances to France, the total running to $91,050.- 000, In February we lent France an ad- ditional $20,000,000 in three loans. It was not until March, 1919, however, that France's representative began to make frequent pilgrimages to the sury At that time, it will be recalled, the war was becoming a memory. The ar- mistice had been signed four months before ; American troops had alreads be- gun their return, and American industry was feeling the burden of the peak of taxation. , In March, 1919, France sent her rep- resentative to the American Treasury 10 times. The smallest sum- he asked for was $10,000,000, the largest 85,000,- 000, Here is the record of ¥French bor- rowings in March, 1919: Mareh 4, $1 000,000; 6, $20,000,000: IT. $30,0 000; 13.-510,000,000; 14, $10,000,000 18, $20,000,600 ; 20, $10,000,000 ; 25, $1 27, $10,000,000; 31,.$85,000,00: The total sum lent France that month —more than four months after the war had ended—was $220,000,000, an aver- age of more than $7,000,000:4" day. Go- ing baok over the record it ig found that March, 1919, recorded the high mark of French borrowings. At no time with- in the two previous years, or.singe Amer- fcan entry into the war, did France bor- row 0 much within a singlé month as she borrowed from us that month of March, 1919, long after the war had been brought to a successful termina- tion. Loans to Other Allies. Loans to other allies that month totaled $60,000,000 to Grémt Britain, $88,500,000 to Italy, $20,600,000 to Belgium, $5,000,000 to Rumania and 5,000,000 to Serbia, a total of $179.- 100,000. _In other words, France was borrow- ing from us four months after the armistice as much as all. the other allies put together and $§40,000,000 a month additional. i That is a part of the French loan as it stands on our books today. That money, spent by France {n meeting hor probléms inctdental to a return to. peace, i is: included in Oig: grand total” about "which there has been mich-talk-of cancellation recently. Clearly no part of those millions ‘was spent to carry on the war.. There were other millions, too, hundreds of them, borrowed by France [n num- erous visits to our Treasury ‘months later. The borrowings lasted for two years after the armistice was signe They ran to almost an even $1,000, 000,000. Hi Details of those -borrewings, and what {8 equally important, shéw the sums’ ‘Wers, spent, will/Be’ dffcussed in subsequent articles. (Copytight, 1928.)