Evening Star Newspaper, February 21, 1925, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. ..February 21, 1925 The Evening Star Newspaper Company ana_Peansylvasia Ave. %50 et 42ud Bt. “hicago Office: Tower “"“'"nii European Uffice : 16 Regent 8t.,London, ngland. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, I delivered by carriers within tbe ity st 60 centn per month: daily only, 45 ecents per month; Sunday only, 20 cents per month. Orders may be sent by mail or tele- phone Main 5000. Collection is made by cur- Ters at the end of each menth. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1vr, §8.40; 1 mo, 70c Dally only. 1 yr., $6.00 50c Sunday only ‘1yr, $2.40; 1 mo,, 20¢ All Other States. S 1 mo., 85¢ Daily only 1 mo., 80c Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Pross is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited fo 12 or not otherwise credited ‘m thls paper and also the local news pub- ished hereln. Al rights of publication of spectal dispatches herein are also reserved. After Many Years. Acceptance by the Senate of the House amendments to the Memorial Bridge bill puts that measure in the way of immediate final enactment and executive approval. Thus, after many years, this great project is on the point of execution. It has been pro- posed to every Congress for at least four decades, and has been repeatedly recommended. Now it is to be under- taken, and completion within five vears is expected. There is reason in this for the profoundest gratitude. The District is involved in the mat- ter of the cost of the work by the adoption by the House of an amend- ment which the Senate has accepted, which provides that such portion of the expense as Congress may consider as “equitable” shall be met out of the local revenues. The precise meaning and scope of this provision will remain to be determined. It is for the present to be assumed, however, that it is de- signed to lay upon the District its usual share of the cost of such street changes and openings as may be in- cidental to the development of the ap- proaches to the bridge. For the taking of money from District revenues for the construction itself there can be no equitable justification. The bridge, as now planned, will span the Potomac between the shore near the Lincoln Memorial to the op- posite shore in front of Arlington Cemetery. It will be a monumental structure of a design harmonious to the surroundings, relatively low, with a lifting span to give passage to craft plying between the lower river and Georgetown. Tt will be broad to give a wmaximum of traffic space. It will bear no car tracks. It will be strictly an avenue of access to the great national shrine on the Virginia hills. In the readjustment of streets in- cidental to the bridge development to make it the most fully accessible, and to permit the freest use on occasions of great assemblages, some material changes are contemplated in the bill which is now in the final stage of enactment. Certain streets near the District terminus of the bridge will be widened. Near the Capitol land is to be taken for the widening and opening of a broad avenue of approach, partly within the “Mall-Avenue” triangle, partly north of it. This project is a new feature of the general plan. Its precise effect upon the general plan of the city has not been fully studied, but it would seem to be in line with the object of linking the Capitol build- ing group with the memorialy on the river bank. It is in these works that, presumably, the District will share the cost. 'That is for Congress to deter- mine, in interpretation of the “equita- ble” feature of the bill now passing into law. Some of those who were active in the proposal to span the Potomac with a bridge that would typify the reunion of the sections have passed away. Some remain, to rejoice in this con- summation of their hopes. They will now institute @ search for the great block of stone that was presented in 1903 as the “cornmer stone” of the bridge by the Journeymen Stone Cut- ters of America, and which stood for many years at the corner of Pennsyl- vania avenue and Madison place, where now rises the Treasury Annex Building. Tt was a melancholy re- minder during several decades of the frustration of en inspired plan. It served its purpose, however, in keep- ing visibly in evidence throughout that long waiting period a physical reminder of a duty which the Nation owed, and which is now to be dis- charged. —————— Japan is active in the manufacture of airplanes. The demand for flying machines is such that, regardless of prospects of peace or war, the enter- vrise will be a good speculation. — s Whatever may be said about Sena- tors and Representatives, it must be observed that they stick to their posts and do not threaten to resign. — A Convention Bureau. Washington will broadcast its claims as a convention city. Years ago, when there were half a dozen hotels and a few: small public halls, a number of national bodies came to Washing- ton for an annual convention. The de- sirability of Washington as a place for conventions was obvious then. The fact that the National Association of ‘This or That would hold its conven- tlon at the Capital of the United States gave nation-wide publicity to the association and its convention. If the convention did or proposed to do anything of national interest the news went to all parts of the country, for the Industry of collecting and dis- #eminating news is, and has been for a century, highly developed at Wash- ington. Years passed, and the fame and popularity of Washington as a place for conventions grew until many be- gan to speak and write of Washington the convention Capital, or as the city which ought to be the convention Capital. Jt should not be necessary to tell the world that Washington has grown. Its hotel facilities have ex panded. Twenty railroad trains come and go where one pulled out or in of the Baltimore and Ohio or the Balti- more and Potomac Station when peo- ple began to talk of Washington as America’s foremost convention city. Numerous large halls have been built, and now we haye the Washington Auditorium, with capacity for seating the largest convention. National con- ventions come to Washington in grow- ing number. So many assemble here that an issue of The Star does not often go out without carrying the re- port of one or more national conven- tions In session here. There is a plan that Washington shall present its claims as a conven- tion city to all bodies holding conven- tions. Tt is proposed that the ecity shall have a convention bureau, ang that literature and a personal repre- sentative will be sent out to show or- ganizations holding national conven- tions that Washington Is. the best place to hold them. The idea has been in the minds of business men for some time, and several local organizations have convention committees, but the project is to have a central convention committee which will seek by business means to Increase the fume and op- portunities of Washington as a con- ventfon center. ————— Another Railroad Merger. Dispatches from New York tell of wnother great railroad merger in process of being brought about. A grouping of Southwestern roads, with 15,000 miles of trackage and assets close to a billion doflars, is planned as a competitor of the great Missourt Pacific system, serving a large terri- tory of Mississippi Valley and prdirie States, with gulf and possibly lake terminal A few years ago such a contem- plated merger would have been “viewed with alarm,” to say the least, and would have brought forth a flood of denunciation from those who make a business of always seeing the rights of the people trampled by the ruthless feet of bloated wealth. Today such mergers are acclaimed as sound pub- lic policy and as making for the gen- eral good. Instead of the opposition of a former day, the Government's policy now is to abet and encourage the grouping of weak and isolated roads into strong and comprehensive regional systems. The proposed South- western merger in question is said, except In minor respects, to harmonize with the Interstate Commerce Com- mission’s program of consolidations. A few years ago, about the time the roads were turned back from war- time control to private ownership, there was strong agitation for com- pulsory consolidation into reglonal systems. Now the roads apparently are doing of their own accord about what it was contemplated compelling them to do. The chief advantage to the public of these consolidations, aside from reduction of operating costs, is the possibility promised of a scientific readjustment of freight rates. More than three years ago Sec- retary Hoover appeared before the In- terstate Commerce Commission and urged the necessity of a readjustment of rates, based on some relationship to the value of commodities carried. He recognized that rates had orig- inally been based upon some such theory, but that horizontal increases of recent years had so far destroyed the theory that wheat and coal and other bulky commodities bore a bur- den out of all relationship to their value. The same problem was brought to the front again in the report of the President's agricultural commission, which recommended lowering freight rates on farm produce. The difficulty has been, so far as the small roads were concerned, that some of them depended almost entire- ly upon these bulky commodities, while the business of others consisted largely of finished products. A read- Jjustment along the lines of the Hoover suggestion would have bankrupted the coal and wheat carriers, and would have given exorbitant profits to those roads having a highly finished class of business. Consolidation of the smaller roads into regional systems will tend to equalize the opportunities for high- class traffic and will bring nearer the day of relief for bulky commodities. —————————— Eddie Rickenbacker says he will give Gen. Mitchell a position with bet- ter pay than the Government offers. A retirement from office frequently in- volves pecuniary inducements that make it look like an economical enter- prise. ———r———————— Congress provides Washington, D. C., with its “city council”; thus en- abling the Nation’s Capital to partici- pate with the rest of the country in the supply ‘Of unfinished business. ————— It is feared that no amount of gov- ernmental inquiry will prevent the conclusive answer as to gas prices from being chalked up as usual at the filling station. The Oyster. The oyster was mot exonerated at thé recent Public Health Service con- ference, and a number of the authori- ties seem to have sald to the oyster that was charged with spreading typhoid, “You are not guilty, but don't do it again.” Friends of the oyster in the Potomac Valley, and few of our people are not proud to attest friend- ship for the oyster, feel that it was carelessly charged with typhold, and that it should have been given a bill of health so clean that not a speck was on it. Mr. Wadsworth, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, at whose suggestion the conference was called, sald that tests had shown there was no reason to fear typhold germs in oystere at this time, and that no un- usual typhoid condition had obtained since about the middle of December. Dr. Evans of Chicago emphasized the necessity of a pure supply of sea food for the population of Ilinois and near- by States, and said that there had been outbreaks of typhold during the past year, and that the health authori- ties of Tllinois had worked out a pro- gram which comprehends the safety of oysters in the beds and in handling. It was said at the conference that it was hoped to discover methods by THE which tests could be- made from time to time as a protectjon for the public health and the oystér industry. ‘There has been no outbreak of typhold in the oyster growing section of the country and in that part of the country where people eat freely of oysters. The Maryland health authori- tles have said that not one of all the typhoid cases in Maryland has been trac:d to the oyster. Oficers of the health and fishery departments of Maryland and Virginia have said that polluted water does not find its way to the oyster bottoms in those States. Faith in the oyster was shaken by the typhoid reports from the Middle West, where quantities of canned oysters shipped from the seaboard are eaten. Where there was a shaking of falth the tremors have ceased, and belief in the goodness of a good oyster is as firm as ever. T ) By Air to Bermuda. Memories of the voyage from New York to Bermuda, that two-day trip that Mark Twain, an ardent Ber- mudian by adoption, likened to going through hell to reach heaven, will awaken in all who have had that ex- perience as a result of the flight of Los Angeles, the Navy's giant dirigi- ble, from Lakehurst to Hamilton. Leaving her hangar in New Jersey yesterday afternoon at 3:40 o'clock, she was hovering over the Bermuda capital at 4:30 th's morning, a voyage of 13 hours, or only a little more than one-eighth of the sea trip. This flight was undertaken to test out the big dirigible for an oversea run to a definite objective and return. It was scheduled, and mails were in- vited to be borne by the airship. She left on time and arrived likewise with- in the expected perfod of flight. Thus the first leg of the voyage is to be re- garded as distinctly successful. Immediately the thought occurs that the airship will be the passenger carrfer of the future over rough waters. The Bermuda trip is notori- ously unpleasant. It is a protracted English Channel agony. The pleas- Gres that await the unfortunate voy- ager, who is carried on the slant across the Gulf Stream and given the 67 varfeties of shakes that are thus occasioned, more than compensate for the distress, but many a person is deterred from the undertaking by the bad reputation which the infervening water has gained. ‘With the voyage reduced to 12 or 15 hours, Bermuda becomes an ob- Jective of such easy access that it may be too densely peopled by tourists to be comfortable, if the air route should be established regularly. ————— People who recently gave away property under an impression that the end of the world was at hand are un- der the necessity which frequently confronts the practical joker of con- vincing friends that they were only fooling. —————————— Pictures will soon be sent by radio. This will be a long step forward. A still longer step will have been made ‘when pictures, in response to popular demand, include more works of art than portraits of pugilists. ——————— Opinions differ as to whether Gen. Mitchell has mapped a course that will get him somewhere or is only indulg- ing In the fascinating perils of looping the loop. ————r————————— Perhaps the most important dis- closure concerning King Tut is that he was evidently a tax-grabber on one hand and a liberal spender on the other. —————— Having regained his estates, the former German Kaiser is now able to ry to live down his past without hav- ing to live up to his income. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNEON. Commandments. Every page I pause to read Contains the warning wise ‘Which everybody ought to heed, “Thou Shalt Economize.” Every time I try to save A share of honest pay, I find the prices won't behave. They're boosted every day. The Ten Commandments bid me pause. But Patience now defles This new Amendment to those Laws, ‘Thou Shalt Economize. A Narrowed Outlook. “The European political situation,” began the verbosely erudite friend. “I don't pretend to understand it,” interrupted Senator Sorghum. “The mental strain of keeping up with the political situation in my own district {8 as much as I can bear.” ‘Words. For human speech I have respect And yet 1 can’t conceal A disposition to neglect ‘The phrase of studious zeal. The cross-word puzzles bring me bliss, And 8o I have my fling. ‘What fascinates me most is this: They Never Say a Thing. Jud Tunkine says foolishness gets the quickest results. Any idiot can throw orange skins on the sidewalk, but it takes an ambulance driver and a doctor and a trained nurse to fix up a sprained ankle. Assistance. “Do you have trouble about help?” “Some,” admitted Farmer Corntos- sel. “The last hired’ man looked the place over for three-quarters of an hour, told me what was wrong with the way I was running it and then sent me a bill for professional serv- ices.” Optimism. The optimist with tranquil eye Observes life’s woes so thick, And says, “Since I am comfy, why Should enybody kick?” Some tolks talk,” said Uncle Eben, | “’cause dey wants to te]l you sumpin’, and others cause dey don’t want to be bothered by listenin’ to nobody but e e EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Should it be golf or walking? Hamlet never debated with him- self more earnestly than did I upon the above question, after being bowled over by anothar cold, my second bad one of the Winter. 1 felt much as the calf must have in the famillar song Oh, didn’t be ramble; he rambled, he rambled all around, In and out the town. Oh, didn't he ramble; he’ rambled. He_rambled till the butcher cut him down. Now that & cold had cut me down again for several days in bed, I felt that the time had come for many things. “The trouble With you,” a friend said, “is that you don't get enough exercise.” “Bunk,” T replied, and yet, down in my heart, I knew there was a great deal of truth in what he sald. As a matter of fact, most of us don’t get enough exercise. Probably the post- man does and the baggageman, but the thousands of Government clerks, business men and others do not, .80 has arisen the modern vogue for golt among the inhabitants of the large citles. Golf must be rare sport; but every time I thought of all those clubs and bunkers and things I got cold feet. Especially when I realized that 1 would have to wear knickerbockers did my shy soul shrink several de- grees inward! I recalled, with some sorrow, the limbs of several of my acquaintances, as set forth in bright blue and gray wool. While there was some consolation In the idea that my legs could not possibly look a particle worse, still the thought of this dress display was not pleasing to one who has been ac- customed merely to displaying his thoughts in print. So 1 decided on walking as less re- vealing, and perhaps almost as bene- ficial. * ¥ ¥ % Does not Dr. C. Ward Crampton, former director of the department of physical education and hyglene of the New York Board of Health, give a table in his new book, “Physical Ex- ercise for Daily Use” in which he says of golf: “Recreation with a lit- tle physiological exercise from walk- ing"? The psychological value of the ex- ercise is more than the physiological, it would seem. Dr. Crampton sets forth the value of golf as follow: “1 Fresh air. “2, Moderate, long-continued ofrcu- latory activity and tissue reaction; development of endurance. “3. Increase of metabolism and stimulation of the intestinal tract; appetite. “4. Mental refreshment and nor- malcy under normal conditions—in the out-of-doors. “5. Game interest, companionship.” The benefits of the dally walk he gives as follows: “1. Fresh air. “2. Moderate stimulation of the cir- culation and effect upon the internal organs. “3. Mental and nervous regulation. “4. Recreation; mental rhythma- tizing and regulation.” There you have it, all put down in orderly fashion by an expert. I fig- ured it out this way: You get fresh air in both walking and golf; you jog up your insides in both, just like the President does on his expensive me- chanical horse; you refresh your men- tality {n both. In golf you walk about 2% miles on an average nine-hole course, or about 41% miles on an average 18-hole course, although on some of the links around Washington, I am told, the latter sdems about 15 miles long. Knowing myself better than any- body else does, I decided on walk- ing mainly because 1 feel sure 1 wou'd cuss too much at golf. Then, recreation and too, I wanted to get some of that ‘mental rhythematizing and regula- tion.” That's good. * x X ¥ I decided to lay off a helf-mile walking course which I could travel in emulation of Immanuel Kant, the great German philosopher. 0ld Kant issued forth from his door every afternoon at 3 o'clock, sharp, his cocked hat cocked, and a cane in his hand. It fs sald that the nelghbors set their clocks by him. The street he lived on was exactly a half-mile long. ‘This was in Konigsberg, In eastern Prussia, in the days of the great Frederick. Kant would walk the course eight times, making four miles in all. During his solemn exercise he spoke to no- body and allowed no one to speak to him. If they approached him, he waved them away with his cane. He was busy breathing. The old fellow walked this course for about 60 years, giving an ex- ample of sticktoitiveness such as the world has seldom seen. During that time he must have walked between 76,000 and 100,000 miles on that street, which Is still known as the “Philos- opher's Walk.” With this striking example before me, T got hold of a pedometer, one of those watch-like articles for measur- ing off distances, set it according to the length of my normal step, at & good galt, and started out. I walked around a corner, past a great high school, across a street and along by a row of houses. Tock, tock, tock, tock went pedometer. Ono wondered if fellow pedestrians heard the tock-tock of the Instru- ment. They might think it an in- fernal machine of some sort. Every time the wearer takes a step it lifts a lead pendulum, which falls and rises. You have seen a company of soldlers billowing down the street. I tick-tocked past & long wall, on which workmen were training ivy with all the abandon of nature. Little tacks and bits of carpet showed the tendrils where to fall. I tick-tocked to the gate of a beauti- ful park, and bethought me that it ought to be nearly an elghth of & mile. Taking out the pedometer, I found the dial had gone around just exactly half a mile! So the course was laid out. to do, now, was to walk it. back was one mil many miles as 1 wanted by prancing back and forth. How absurdly simple! * X X% X This week I have walked 1 mile each day. Next week I propose to increase the distance to 2 miles. The next week ought to see me doing 3 miles reg- ularly every day. By the Ides of March I will be hitting off 4 miles a day. Then, perhaps, 1 will go Kant one better, and stretch it to 6 miles a day. Efght miles on the hoof would be twice as much as Kant did. But Charles Dickens took a 15-mile walk each day. This walking, I see right now, is going to be more of & test of will power than anything else. That is where golf wins. With its competition and fellowship it gives the walker something to do with his mind. On the other hand. there are many who swear that a long walk is the best thing in the world to exercige the brain. On a walk, they say, ideas come In flocks, like great white birds, and seem to fill the air with the rustling of their wings. It all depends on the spirit of the walker. The present pedestrian finds ideas come at the most unitkely times and places, and better indoors than out. There 1s no royal road to them. Whether my half-mile track is a road to a coldless land remains to be seen. From time to time I hope to give the readers of this column bulletins upon my progress. Then we shall see. the All T had Down and I could walk as British Debt Offer Is Given Backing of American Press Winston Churchill’s note to France suggesting payment of her war debt to Great Britain based, not on repara- tions from Germany, but on France's own abllity ot pay, has aroused a va- riety of editorlal comment in America. Editors agree it is good business pol- icy as well as generous of Great Brit- ain, but they see in the move a tend- ency to put the United States in the position of an infolerant creditor. “The Churchil statement of the Lon- don government's position in regard to interally indebtedness may have been calculated to bring consideration of the entire question out into the open,” observes the Cleveland Plain Dealer. While the “note Is addressed to Finance Minister Clementel, certain portions of it were obviously intended for American consumption. The will- ingness of England to scale down the Frach war obligations by perhaps as much as two-thirds when the United States is insisting upon the payment of every dollar, affords.a contrast not at all favorable to the position of the United States.” “If the letter s nterpreted as hav- ing a bearing upon the settlement that the United States is to make with France, it rightfully becomes a matter for American consideration,” says the Springfield Unfon. . “Tiie effect of such an interpretation is to make Great Britain appear in the role of a generous creditor and the United States to don a niggardly| gulse. Such an interpretation is obvi- ously unfair, and, as such it is not conducive to an early and wholly agreeable settlement of a troubl some international problem.” It is to be expected, in the opinion of the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, “that the self-denying example of Britain will be presented as one America should emulate.” The - Gazette-Times con- tinue ut there is no parallel be- tween the position of the United States and Great Britain. In the peace settlement Great Britain received the means of retmbursing itself for war ex- penditures. The United States claimed nothing and that is what we got.” * Kk * x ¥ Characterizing. Britain's offer, 1lib- eral as well as sound, the San Fran- cisco Bulletin remarks: “Despite what Paris calls its ‘slightly ambiguous Phraseology’ the British chancellor’s statement on the interaliied debts leaves no doubt as to a singularly generous offer. It is more than gen- erous, yet at the same time it is business-like. The British govern- ment has & cliar grasp of truth that important as is the question of the debts as a problem in official finance, a much more important matter is that of getting Europe back to busi- ness as before the war.” “There is nothing sentimental about Great Britain's offer,” thinks tbe Akron Beacon Journal. “It is rather 2 wholly practical scaling down of the claims to a sum -which France will .be-able.to pay. In suggesting a reduction of its own claim ainst France, Great Britain fs making ofly the best' of a bad situation, and at the same time setting up an example to sustain a later plea for abatement of & portion of its own obligations to America.” “The British government now takes precisely the position that the Amer- ican Government has taken from the start,” the Duluth Herald believes, “the French obligations are the sums it ‘borrowed, and how much or how little France collects from Germany has nothing to do with the case. If France cannot ever-pay what it owes, it should say so and ask for an Im- partial inquiry Into how much {t can pay.” Along the same line of thought the Detrolt Free Fress pomacks; “It is hard to ses why America should object to any such arrangement be- tween Britain and her debtors. There will, indeed, be reason for congratu- lating_London if the scheme works out. Its success would not of itself enforce any basic modification of the American debt polic: The Provi- dence Journal adds: “The administra- tion at Washington has consistently maintained that debts and repara- tions cannot be considered in the same category.” “The British have now had their way with the issue of the French debt,” declares the New York Eve- ning Post. “Without any notlceable protest from this side of the Atlantic, they have begun talking turkey ko France. This omlssion of any refer- ence to the French debt to the United States need not immedlately be taken seriously. If there has béen no ob- Jection to an Anglo-French settle- ment while American claims are standing in the background, it should be distinctly understood, both in Lon- don and in Parfs, that the United States will object seriously to being left holding the bag. So long as this is not forgotten the two allies can g0 on with their little game of balancing things up.” Supreme Court Seat Makes for Isolation From the Wichita Daily Eagle. Mr. Stone, a New York attorney, has reached the Supreme bench. Ten thousand lawyers, over America, envy him, for the Supreme ’Court Is, to lawyers, the top of the steep where fame’s proud temple shines afar, But the truth is that the temple has its drawbacks, resplendent as it appears to be. For one thing the men who reach it become hermits to a degree. Their soclal actlvities largely cease. They mix with their fellow men with in- creasing circumspection. They do not belong to clubs. The. easy, con- fidential relations which public men maintain with a few newspaper men, cronies and counselors are not for them. The relations are considered danger- ous. ‘ Even the close relation of a man to his private secretary is guarded In their case. Supreme Court judges cannot converse casually with safe- ty. If they should, their lightest phrase is liable to be given a weight of meaning out of all proportion. The longer a man serves on the Supreme bench, the more isolated he betomes. All of which demonstrates that th, seats in the temple aforesald are pro- vided with but few cushlons. Would Apply Surplus In Part to Alley Relief To the Editor of The Btar: Thanking you for glving publicity to my house-buying and house-build- ing plan of February 13, which com- munication was prompted by your sensible and humanitarian editorial of February 7, permit me to submit as an addendum to my plan the fol- lowing: Noting that the District Commis. sioners are much perturbed over how to spend the $4,000,000 plus, now to the - District’s credit in the United States Treasury, let me suggest that instead of buying acreage lands for park purposes, etc., the District Com- missioners follow the plan I suggest. THE LIBRARY TABLE BY THE BOOKLOVER. In Eden Phillpotts' latest genre novel, “Redcliff,” the men of the lit- tle. village upon the broad estuary of the Exe gain their living by “sailing on the tide” out to sea after herring, mackerel and sprat. “And while the men ars afloat their wives and daughters glean the harvest of the great shingles and mud-banks, un- covered when the tide is out. These flats heave shining on sunny davs or lower sullen under clouds and rain upon the bosom of the estuary. The cockle grounds lie there and vield a steadfsst return for those who go down to tide” Among the cockle gatherers the most regular and en- ergetic {s Miss Jane Shears, an im- mense old woman of 70 who pays no deference to Increasing years and rec- ognizes no waning of her powers. Joseph Parable, the crotchety miller, about her own age, tells her con- temptuously that she is getting old and “didn’t ought to go and rake cockles no more,” but Jane laughs at him and continues to make her 3 shillings an afternoon at the cockle beds, taking pride in the fact that her cockles are eaten by the poor factory workers in the midlands who are cooped up by bricks and mor- tar “from the cradle to the grave” and never know the sea. When Jane dresses to go to the cockle beds she is a sight to astonish her great-niece, Milly Batstone, a clerk in a shoe shop at Exeter, who has come to her aunt at Redcliff for a rest. ‘Jane had changed into a nondescript monster, whose grotesque outlines under the dinglest covering were in truth scarcely human. Her great torso was now wrapped in a faded green shawl and her shawl and her trunk reduced to the shupe of an enormous peg-top from beneath which protruded solid legs of a size sufficlent to sustain the mass, From the knee Miss Shears was bare save for a palr of old worsted stockings with the feet cut off, which covered her calves. Upon her feet she wore pattens lifted on iron rings. A crimson girdle spanned her waist and held her attire togeth- er; while her head was wrapped up tightly in a red cotton apron, from beneath which straggled a wisp or two of white hair.” At the age of Jane Shears has a serious lllness, after which young Dr. Bewes tells her that she must go no more to the cockle beds. She accepts the verdict and bows to old age, but thereafter her favorite stroll is along the mud- flats, at which she casts many along- ing glance and whose pungent odor she sniffs dally with great relish. ¥ ok ok ok ‘When a layman presumes to write a book on a medical subject, there are always physiclans who almost seem to think that sacrilege has been com- mitted. It is not strange, therefore, that many of the reviews by medical men of J. ncer: How It Is Caused; How It Can Be Prevent- ed,” have been unfavorable. Certain other physicians, however, including some who have specialized on the subject of cancer, have welcomed this book as & truly sclentific work and & real contribution to the sub- ject, not less valuable becauss writ- ten In sfmple and untechnical lan- guage. To the layman it seems filled with sensible advice. Mr. Barker believes that cancer is due to chronic poisoning and to vitamine starva- tion and that the prevailing diet of our highly civilized life, consisting so largely of refined foods, is rapidly increasing these tendencies. He be- lleves that chronic poisoning is due to autointoxication, caused in part by the consumption of foods which have been deprived of the vitamines and the rougher materials, such as the husks of grain, the skins of fruit and the coarser vegetable fibers, and partly by the large use of canned goods containing poisonous preserva- tives. Cold storage comes In for its share of the blame. As a result, he says that “the great majority is forced to live on devitalized, doped, embalmed and mummified food.” He holds prohibition in the United States is In part responsible, since it has led to an enormous increase in sugar consumption, presumably. in the form of candy. The universality of the automobile comes in for a part of the blame, since it reduces the habit of walking, which in turn induces autointoxication. Certain cure for cancer is difficult, in most cases ap- parently impossible. The author be- lieves that cancer is due to wrong living and that the only true remedy for the disease is right living. * K K % Whenever there is trouble, there are sure to be Job's comforters. Robert Louis Stevenson, and even more, his corageous wife, discovered this during the long, weary years which they spent in journeying around in seach of a small measure of health. In his new blography of Stevenson, John A. Steuart tells a story of a hurried trip taken by Mrs Stevenson from Marseille to Nice in search of her husband, from whom she had not had rews for several days. On the way “some of the kind people who are always Interested in the misfortunes of others assured her she need not trouble, that beyond doubt her husband was dead and buried—dead of a sudden hemor- rhage and hurriedly buried, as a stranger and pauper, in an unknown grave somewhere by the wayside.” After she had found him and was obliged to return to Marseille, she met on the return journey “a dread- ful old man with a fat wife,” who “asked pleasantly where Stevenson wished to be burled. ‘‘He {s done for, was the cheering judgment of this Job's comforter, and would be put under ground with little cere- mony by a callous population almost before the breath was well out of his body. He inquired compassionately what she meant to do, and suggested, if she could afford it, to have the unfortunate Stevenson embalmed. Such at times are the inscrutable ways of Samaritans.” * ok k% French readers now outnumber English readers at the American Library in Parls, according to the re- port of its librarfan, W. Dawson Johnston, to the American Library ‘Association. Readers show a prefer- ence for English over American books. They display also a decided preference for fiction over non-fic- tion, and for cotemporary fiction over the classics. Among the older American novels the only works re- cently lent, according to this report, Hawthorne's “The" - Marble + Aldrich's “Prudence Palfrey,” “Weird Tales,” and Mark Twain's “Huckleberry Finn” and “Mysterious Stranger.” The most popular cotemporary American writ- ers are Edna Ferber, Jack London, James Oliver Curwood, John Dos Passos, Ernest Poole and Marle Van Vorst. * ok ok X Two interesting travel books, good either for pagking in the vacation trunk or for reading by the steam | radiator in the city, are “The Mystery Rivers of Tibet,” by Capt. F. Kngdon ‘Ward, F. R.-G. and “To the Alps of Chinese.Tibet,” by J. W. Gregory, F. R. S, and C. J. Gregory, B. Sc. Capt. Ward has been a teacher in Shanghai, and has lived and traveled in India, Burma and Western China. 3. W. Gregory is a professor in Glas- gow University, and, with his son, made a journey of exploration among the snow-capped mountains of China. homes bulilt for the alley dwellers of Washington, now, under law, subject to ‘“ouster” from 'their miserable shelters. I am confident the citizens of Washington, Congress, the Nation, ould approve of the expenditure of art of the $4,000,000 plus now to the District’'s credit in the Treasury De- partment for that purpose. st W, B, RYAN. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN Q. When the President went to Chi- cago in & Pullman Instead of a pri- vate car, did he get the money saved or did the Government?—J. L. J. A. Money not used by the President for traveling expenses is returned to the United States Traasury. Q. How many radio stations are there In the United States?—A, C. S A. There are now 563 broadcasting stations either in operation or un- der construction. Of these 455 are Class A, 500 watts power or less with radius of good practical reception of 25 to 50 miles. In class B there are 168 stations, over 500 watts, with in- creasing power wider radius and much largest silk mill in the world?—E. K. B. A There are no official statistics as to the location of the largest silk mill in the world. The Silk Associa- tion of America, however, says that William inner & Soms, Holyoke, Mass., have the largest silk mill -un- der one roof in the world, thére be- ing 2,300 looms there, Schwarcenbach, Huber & Co., have the largest mills Europe, but they do not have a large number of mills under one roof. The are scattered in small units in var ous towns and villages. How much sugar is raised in a H. M. . ‘Worla production of sugar, beet | ne, is estimated for 1924-25 at 134,000 short tons. Of this amount 00,000 short tons were raised in Continental United States. Q. Was President Lincoln shot the right temple?—M. I. W. A. The wound was in the back of the head over the left ear. Q. How far can swim?—C. H A. The Biological Survey says that it has no information with regard to the exact distance that moose can swim, but it has been found that these animals oftentimes swim rivers a mile or two broad. Deer swim about the same distance. The caribou are perhaps the best swimmers and they have been known to cross lakes six or eight miles wide. moose and deer G. Q. Are the majority of cur promi- nent people city or country bred? —A. E. A. Recently Fred analyzed “Who's Who In America’ and found that cities of more than 8,000 inhabitants have furnished about Adams Wood twice as many prominent men as their | percentage of the total population would lead one to expect. Q. What was known as the Yellow day In connection with the building of the Brooklyn Bridge?—P. H. D. A. Accounts of the construction of the bridge state that one Sunday morning neglect by the watchman in- side a calsson allowed air to blow out, creating a panic and stampede above ground and flinging over buildings and shipping @ coat of yvellow mud It is reported that the noise was ter- rific and that mud and stones were hurled to a great height. Q. How many varieties of apples, peaches and plums are there?—J. F. B A. There are probably about 5,000 varfeties of apples, 1,000 of plums and 1,000 of peache: Q. What is a chinook wind and why is it so-called?—H. E. V. A. The chinook wind is a strong, warm, dry south or west wind descend- More or less wonder has been mani- fested outside of Army circles at the perspicacity exercised by the officials in discovering after only 30 years, more or less, that the act of a sec- ond lieutenant who is now a United States Senator deserved more than passing notice in the archives. Mili- tary and naval bureaus are not noted for sudden decisions, hence this in- stance of precipitancy must have had a somewhat dizzying effect upon that much passed “buck,” when a distin- guished service cross was awarded last week to Senator Rice W. Means of Colorado “for his extraordinary heroism against the Spanish forces at Manila, Philippine Islands, on August 9 and 10, 1898." There have been other instances very similar, within the last few months, until the startling activity of the Army has shown that Gen. Rip Van Winkle did not wake in vain, since he has become an alarm clock to the modernists. The classic in- quiry, “Who won the war?" is about to be answered with fullest possible “4ndorsements” and with official ref- erences enough to choke even mili- tary channels. What is the true background of such remarkable events? At the time of the Spanish and Philippine wars the United States authorized no recognition of extraor- dinary bravery except the medal of honor awarded by Congress and a certificate of merit, the latter being confined to enlisted men. The standard of qualifications for the medal of honor has always been very high and there was no other means of recognizing extraordinary valor or service. * kK ok There has been a prejudice in the mind of democratic America against personal distinctions even for its heroes. This prejudice was not felt by Gen. ‘Washington, however, for in 1782 he fs- sued an order that ‘‘whenever a sin- gularly meritorious action Is performed the author of it shall be permitted to wear on his facings, over his left breast, the figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk, edged with narrow lace or binding. Not only instances of unusual gallantry, but also extraordinary fidelity and es- eential service in any way shall meet with & due reward’—each case to be first authorized by the commander-in- chief. This is eaid to be the first in- stance in history wherein the enlisted men, as well as the officers, might be recognized, the order from Gen. Wash- ington adding: “The road to glory in a patriot army and a free country is thus opened to all This order ie also to have retrospect to the earliest stages of the war and to be considered as a permanent one.” In tho researches of American geneal- ogists it is a great thing to prove that the subject was entitled to wear the “purple heart.” The order had become obsolete by the time of the War of 1812, but several ®old medals were given by epeclal acts of Congress in reward of both naval and military distinguished service. In 1847 Congress authorized the President to give a certificate to enlisted men who distinguished themselves. Neither the special gold medals nor the certificates could be displayed in public, hence they ‘were not “decoration.” In 1861 Congress established the medal of honor for enlistéd men of the Navy, and on July 12, 1862, extended it also to the Army, but still those medals of honor were not to be worn upon the uniform. In 1904 a law was passed authorizing the striking of 3,000 gold medals, and the Secretary of War was directed to use as many of them as needed to feplace the old medals. It was required that the possessors of original gold medals surrender them in exchange for the 1904 medal, but in 1807 a joint resolution of Congress provided that the surrender of the original medals be waived, and all that had been sur- rendered be returned to their ol secipionia, buts that both-old #pd Dew ing the eastern slopes of the Mountains into Montana and Wyo: Chinook is an Indlan name of var tribes, which originally settled on | Columbia Ri The name was | the wind by the white setclers at becausa it from the directior the Chinook camp. Q. Please give some Inform on the new fu ed quartz of window panes are being made—J. B A. The new fused quartz whic! | veing used for windo glass and is no different when given a sharp bl words, it shatters almost as ordinary glass, althou somewhat harder and not scratched. 1t cannot be as ez as the ordinary type of glass Q. How trade amo A. The says that ness r 000,000. Q. Wi “0ld Man ¢ | conta, A formi { form 40 feet again t pairs at p of the forel chin is 40 f | Q Please giv about the Memorial ( | Forge.—L. the and library in style Q. Who G. E. A Al chape It is perpendicul wrote “Doxology "Glory ie “Lesser Doxology,” Father and to the Son to have come into use in ti stury. The use of the “Grea or G seems firs fourth c Doxology, (sometimes from its being ar of the angels traced back to appears in the ginning of the 3 stanza of the hymn written by Bishc Thomas Ken 11), beginning “Pra all_blessings its hole?—S. S. A. The Biological rabbit may b (Did you ever write a letter to F eric J. Haskin? You can osk our in- formation burcau any question of f and get the answer in o personal letter. This is a part of that best purpose of this newspaper—service. There is 1o charge ercept 2 cents in stamps for turn postage. Get the habit of as questions of The Star Information B reau, Frederic J. Haskin, Dircctor, Twenty-first and C streets northwest.) ed- ed be £old neda certificate of mer when we entered the World War. * % = When the United States ente World War, it was seen that the only country which tion for special ga which gave the fluence of public sen President Wilson, by executive order, establish- ed the disting ed service cross to be given for herolsm not j specially meritorious service in duty of great resposibility. This ac- tion was indorsed by ( ress, the following July national defen: were awarded during the World War. Under this act, the President gave the medal of honor in t of Congress, but the distinguished serv- ice cross not In the name of Congress, both of these to be won on the field of battle. Also the President gave the distinguished service medal (but not in the name of Congress) to those who distinguished themselves in war, while serv i with the Army. This la given to men whe in various bureaus. v this act all e name capacity r has be served in America awards for World War heroes were limited to the dc cision of the awarding commissio within three years of tho close of Consequently the commissic ntrated its attention upon World War cases until the limit expired. The same act covered the Spanisi Civil and Mexican Wars, and since t! expiration of the World War limit the commission has been investigat ing the records bearing upon th wars. That accounts for the re awards, and shows that in no has there been dilatoriness of acti but simply compliance with the 1 legislation in searching actual re ords. It is declared emphatically that no “political pull” nor other consid erations, but only the facts as re- corded in the War Department, aff the awards. The Navy awards always been more liberal than th of the Army. * ok ok % In this connection, it will be reca! ed that soon after the Spanish W there was much discussion as to whether a medal of honor would Le granted to Col. Theodore Roosevelt for his action in the battle of Sun tiago and San Juan Hill. None was granted. There is considerable in- terest today In watching the lists they come for the granting of distin- guished services crosses. The inves- tigation at present has just reachecd Santiago in announcing such crosse In the World War Gen. John. J. Pershing won, not a distinguished service cross nor a medal of honor, but a distinguished service medal, per G. 0. 111 A large number of enlisted men got the higher emblem—tho D. S. C. In the same order the D. M. was also given to Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Marshal _Joseph Jacques ~ Joffre, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Halg, Gen. Petain of the French army, Lieut. Gen. Diaz of tho Italian army and Lieut. Gen. Gillain of the Belgian army, and later to King Albert of Belgium, who per- sonally commanded the Belgian army Congress has authorized the ac ceptance by our oflicers and men of all medals given them by any of our allies $n, the World War. All sol- diers who seryed in the World War whether' they crossed the ocean or were of those who “also serve who only stand and wait,” are entitled to wear the victory medal, given soon after the armistice. o Aot 19, 3 NS} Y NN i