Evening Star Newspaper, February 26, 1925, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY. ..February 26, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES. . ..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th §t. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 Enst 2nd St Chicugo Offce’ Tower Tuilding, ‘European Office : 16 Regent St.,London, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning vdition, In delivered by carrlers within phe clty at 80 cents per month: daily only, 43 cents per month: Sunday only, 20 cents per month. Orders may be sent by mail or tele- phone Mafn 5000. Collection is made by car- tiers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance, Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunda; 1yr., $8.40; 1 mo, T0c¢ 1yr, $6.00; 1 mo., 50c Sunday only & 1yr., $2.40; 1 mo., 20c All Other States. Dally and Sunday.1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Dally only “1yr, $7.00;1mo., 80c Sunday only......1yr, $3.00;1mo,25¢ Member of the Associated Press. The Assoclated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis patches credited to it or not otherwise credite o this paper and also the local news pub. lished herein. Al rights of publication of «pectal dispatches herein are also reserved. The Community of Interests. A fendency prevails on the part of the larger corporations in this country, industrial and transportation particu larly, to enrolj thelr employes among the stockholders and to promote thrift by the encouragement of systematic savings. And on their part the work- ers for these corporations have co- operated in response. One of the larger Eastern railroad systems has just is- sued an annual report of its “‘provident and loan assoclation,” showing an in- crease in membership in months of 24,394, with a total membership at the close of the year of 29,636. At the opening of 1925 about one-fifth of the entire force was participating in the stock purchasing, savings, increase pensions, home-buying or loan features of the association. At the close of the vear @ total of 44,528 shares of the company’s stock had been bought for employes through the association, a #ain during the year of 31,537 shares. Altogether 11,165 employes were en- rolled as holders of the company’s se- curities. The deposits in the savings fund at the end of the year totaled $5,071,821, a gain of $568,319. Homes were purchased by 420 members, and building loans were authorized amount- ing to $1,322,594. These figures are given to illustrate the oomstructive work that is being done by and for the workers of Ameri- wan corporations, of which this one cited is but an example. This is an- intelligent advancement toward profit- sharing which may prove to be the solution of the problem of capital-labor relationship. The interests of the worker are identified with those of the employer. The welfare of the worker is that of the employer. In a corpora- tlon such as that which has been named in illustration the worker through participation as stockholder actually becomes the employer. With & community of interest such @8 this establishes there is undoubt- edly less disposition to raise issues, a less ready tendency to lower the ef- ficlency of service. Employment is stabilized. An obligation to retain workers in service is assumed by the employing corporation that is en in- surance against dismissal save, of course, for misconduct or insubordi- nation. These developments have their im- portant political significance in that they invest working forces of all grades with a sense of responsibility for present form of government. Bol- =hevism does not develop in such cir- cumstances. Communism of the radi- cal, Russian sort does not breed in such soil. Dishonor to the Navy. The seizure of liquor on a naval transport at Norfolk will doubtless be followed by rigid inquiry and in- fliction of severe punishments upon members of the naval organization who may be found gullty of violating both the Federal laws and the naval regulations. A large quantity of con- traband was taken from the ship in & raid conducted by the assistant com- mandant of the naval base. The Federal Government is con- fronted ‘with a difficult task in the emforcement of the prohibition law. Unless it is to confess utter failure it must proceed without discrimina- tion or favor against all offenders. It must proceed with especial vigor against those who in their positions of trust are relied upon to set an example of law observance, but who fimgrantly break the law. o It will be as quiet an inauguration #s is possible under the circumstances. Without counting visitors from all yarts of the country, a city as large as Washington has become could not be expected on such an occasion to convey an impression of perfect placidity. ———— As the 4th of March approaches it way be considered permissible in all political circles to drop politics for .a while and talk about the weather. S Fasting for the Mind. A medical student in Chicago begins e fasting diet that would last two years. The object of the test is to determine just how much food, or how little food, is needed for keen think- ing. The dispatch does not say cor- rect thinking, but “keen thinking.” It one could determine the amount and nature of food needed to give man his keenest thinking some men would follow the diet and some would not. Many men eat and drink things with full knowledge that they do mot im- prove the thinking process. Keen thinkers may be good men, but some very keen thinkers are too sharp. This medical student is to “eat only when hungry, paying no attention to meal schedules, and will eat very little, measuring and weighing every bit taken." To follow such a plan would de- range the home. Members of the family late to breakfast and lunch, and husbands late for dinner, would liave hard sledding to get by with an excuse that they were sharpening thelr thinking. What would become of the regular-habits slogan? Very expensive physicians give tonics for the appetite and advocate regular meals. Suppose the Chicago medical student proves that fasting speeds up the thinking? No one else is going to pay such a price for improved thinking when every man knows that already he Is«the best thinker in his neighborhood and lodge. What Dor- mal man will starve his stomach to enrich that secondary and subordinate organ, the mipd? It is also sald that the mental fit- ness of the medical student will be determined from time to time by giv- ing him mathematics, puzzles and typewriting exercises. This is better than turning him over to psychol- oglsts to find out how much he is worth by asking questions that do not mean anything, but there are some persons who feel that the real worth of a man cannot be determined by the way he works puzzles or pounds a typewriter. s Fugitive Legislators. Jumping the jurisdiction in order to break a quorum and prevent the transaction of business is coming into vogue in the State Legislatures. The latest instance is that of 18 Demo- cratic members of the Indiana Senate who, in order to break a quorum and thus hold up action on a bill to re. district the State, have fled the com- monwealth. Fifteen of them are re- ported to have gone to Ohlo, where, according to an official of that State, they are safe from extradition. In- diana authorities, however, are of the opinion that they may be extradited, not merely as recaleitrant legislators, but as fugitives from justice, for there is a State statute which provides a fine of $1,000 for legislators who re- fuse to vote or attend sessions of the General Assembly. The moves in this case will be of particular interest because of the political considerations involved, inasmuch as the bill against the passage of which this maneuver is directed has a bearing upen the political situation in the Hoosier State. A parallel to the Indiana hegira occurred in the case of the Rhode Island legislators who skipped that State and resided in Maesachusetts for some months, causing a deadlock at Providence which prevented legis- iative action. The Rhode Island fugi- tives were Republicans. A similar case occurred five years ago, when certain Tennessee lawmakers moved over into ean adjoining State to pre- vent a vote on a resolution ratifying the proposed amendment to the Fed- eral Constitution granting the right of suffrage td women. This case be- came of Nation-wide interest, imzs- much as the vote of Tennessee was then requisite for the final ratifica- tion of the amendment, which would enable the women to vote at the pres- idential election of 1920. The absence of the legislators, however, did not prevent the final adoption of the amendment, which secured the neces- sary thirty-sixth vote elsewhere in season. This Tennessee case has been some- what obscured by the more dramatic flight of the Rhode Island legislators. No efforts were made in either the Tennessee or Rhode Island cases to secure the return of the fugitives by compulsion, as now proposed in In- diana. The selfexiled Rhode Island- ers, during their stay in Massa- chusetts, lived in a colony for the most part and maintained a sort of or- ganization. When they returned home they were received with acclaim and honor by their partisans. If Indiana formally demands the extradition of the fugitives and Ohio refuses to grant it a difficult situation ‘will be presented. The question arises whether this will constitute a case for Federal jurisdiction. ——— Vienna has developed a highly suc- cessful snow-melting - machine for street-cleaning purposes; but it is too late for this city to place an order for 4th of March delivery. ————— This year's income tax Is a re- minder that, while many statesmen were investigating and theorizing Secretary Mellon is one man who got practical results, ————— Mussolini has at last been compelled to yield authority to a slight extent and take orders from his physician. —————— Ambessador Kellogg is now on his way from a hard job to @ still harder one. ——— Radio Improvement. Side by side in The Star a day or two ago were two articles of impor- tance to the multitude now using radio for amusement and instruction. One of the articles dealt with the fact that European radio listeners are paying for the service of broadcasting sta- tions. The general plan is that the governments charge a license fee to set owners and pass along part of the fees to the broadcasting stations. In- crease of stations in the more popu- lous countries of Europe, as well as in Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland and Spain is noted. The other article dealt with improvement that may be made in radio sending and receiving, the gist being that radical changes in radio are held to be unlikely for years to come, but that refinements, especially on the mechanical side, are constantly to be expected. In this country there are opinions that radio improvement, technical and instructional, would be aided if set owners paid directly for the service of transmission. Another opinion is that radio hus come to its present ‘state without direct pay from receivers, and that the radio equipment makers and broadcasters, with their. physieists, en- gineers and other experts, will work harder to improve radio apparatus if direct pay for service. is. not given them. Radio is conceded to'Be éne of the scientific wonders of the age, and it may become the source of the most widespread amusement and the great- est instruction agent our race has known. Tt is some distance from those goals, but this is no time to be critical of the broadcasting stations. They do remarkably well, and they must please a vast audience of learned eand un- learned persons, those whe want in- struction in various grades on a wide range of subjects and those who re- volt at anything even flavored with instruction. Looking back over the progress made by radio during two or three years, and the increase in the number of stations, it would seem that the broadcasters will go on without direct pay from patrons, and that they will exert themselves to iraprove trans- mission to reach higher levels in the programs put on the air. The Stone Mountain Sculpture. ‘Whatever the merits of the con- troversy between the Stone Mountain Memorial Association and the sculptBr whose dismissal has just been an- nounced, it is the general hope that this great work will proceed to com- pletion. It was a remarkable inspira- tion to carve a gigantic sculpture into the face of a mountain commemora- tive of the men who served the South in the Civil War. The -undertaking itself called’ for 'courage and falth as well as a large sum of money. A generous response was made to the call for funds. Interest in the project was manifested equally in the North and in the South. A wholesome spirit of co-operation prevailed be- tween the sections riven by the war in which fought the men whose fame is to be perpetuated in the great sculpture, but now firmly reunited, to make this undertaking a complete success. Now relations between the association and the sculptor are broken and bitter Yeeling has been aroused by the breach. It is reported that the dismissed ) sculptor has caused the destruction of models and plans upon which the completion of the work may depend. Legal action is threatened and the whole enterprise will gain a notoriety distressing to its promoters, and also to the friends of the sculptor. But personality is not so important in this connection as performance. This work should be finished and on the initial scale. It has gone too far to be aban- doned. The American spirit is to ac- complish results. and the present hope is that it will now be manifest in a reorganization and a liberal subscrip- tion of funds to the end that the great Stone Mountain sculpture will be com- pleted to stand forever as one of the inspired achievements of the Ameri- can people. ————— The plans of Mr. Charles Bryan are not being discussed, but the democ- racy may as well be candid in admit- ting that he will never make the cam- paigner that his brother used to be. —_————— " The February climate has lately been suggesting @ chance that it will not be necessary tb conduct the in- auguration festivities with the assist- ance of the snow-plow squad. ——— The young speculator, Wood, finds at the helght of his Parisian pace that he has no funds whatever. Pos- sibly he lost his money just in time to save his health, —— et s The “hit-and-run” phrase enjoys a respectability in base ball circles that makes it entirely too good for a reckless motorist. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER IOHN!O;". An epigram that’s offered in the form of prose or verse Is held to be a model of expression neat and terse; And yet it needs a sentence with a lot of words in line Which often leave a shade of doubt as to a meaning fine. It is our privilege to think that in this hemisphere We have condensed the method of a speech succinctly clear. A volume of suggestion as to things to say or do Is covered in a second by the letters ‘L . u» In every human enterprise conserva- tive or rash The final question seems to be “Who shall produce the cash?” The grocer and the landlord and the others say the same; The query even figures In the inter- national game— So what's the use of elegance and literary grace ‘When swift abbreviation sets the in- tellectual pace? The men who write the lJaws or songs for nations fade from view. We want to know who'll write—and who'll indorse—an “I. 0. U.” Persuasion. “What hes become of the grand old art of oratory?” “It seems to have become slightly commercialized,” answered Senator Sorghum. “A good talker is now re- garded as wasting his talents unless he is applying them to some kind of salesmanship.” . From Gas to Leather. If gasoline becomes 8o dear That none except a lordly few In motoring may persevere, For walking we are surely due. If gas in pints is ladled out And sells at fifty cents a cup We cut out this expense, no’ doubt— But watch the price of shoes go up! Jud Tunkins says a man who tries to please everybody is mighty apt to get so discouraged that he finally de- cides on a loafing life. Critical Influence. The plays grow thick , That make us fret. The more we kick ‘Fhe worse they get. Liquid Assets. “His father owned a distillery and left him & fortune in liquor.” “Yes,” replied Miss Cayenne. “But it'is inaccessible. I couldn’t possibly interest myself in & mere bootlegatee.” For Cross-Examination, Investigations hold their sway— Will some one send a letter To call the man who used to say ‘We're daily growing better! ‘De man dat thinks he knows more dan enybody else,” said Uncle Eben, “4s entitled to all de respect in de world if he kin prove it.” BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man. S0 Alexander Pope begins the argu- ment of the second epistle of his “Essay on Man,"” the first epistle of which was considered the other day in this column. Pope “gets off to a good start,” as the race hoss fans say, the second line of that couplet being one of the most quoted sayings in all English literature. This thought is, In fact, the central idea of the entire essay. It lookell backward to Plato, in a sense, and forward to Herbert Spencer, with his theory of the unknowable. The entire opening of this second epistle is Pope at his best, Pope the keen wit, yet Pope the temperate lover of human nature, seeing the folly of his fellow human beings equally with their good points. One of the sad features of life and lving is that he who points out the bad along with the good will be re- membered chiefly because of the cracks he took at mankind, and hard- 1y at all because of the beauty of his love. Yet it is almost impossible for one to have a proper love for his fellows unless he is able to see their foibles. Then, only, can he welgh their worth against their folly and know that the former always far outwelghs the latter. So It was with Pope.” His crackling would not allow him to essay the role ofs superoptimist, -or sing whole- heartedly Pippa Passd’s song, “God's in His Heaven, all's right with' the world.” Pope was mot so sure about that. Especially he did not belleve in scan- ning God. Thé proper study of man- kind is man, he said, echoing the “Know Thyself.” * k ¥ % Man is a “being darkly wise, and rudely great,” the poet said, recalling the words of St. Paul about how now we see as through a glass, darkly. Great minds in all ages have thought much the same. One of the most in- teresting studies in literature is to {raco the great root-thoughts of man- ind With that nice balancing of one thing against another of which Pope was a master, he brands man as “sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled; the glory, jest and riddle of the world!” Then come those climac- teric line: Go, wondrous creature, mount where sclence guides Go, measy Instruct the planets in what orbs to run, Correct old and regulate the sun: Go. woar with Plato to the empyreal sphere. To' the first good, first perfoct Aud Srat f O tread the mazy round his followers trod, And_quitting senve call imitating God, As Eastern priests fo giddy circles run And turn thelr heads To imitate the sun. Go, teach eternal wisdom how to rule— Then drop into thyself and be & fool! I do not call that bitter; I call that great. Even today, perhaps, with our radio and other scientific discovertes, we are somewhat in need of the wholesome, pungent admonition of the old poet. The poet took a fanciful fling that presaged H. G. Wells, when he then wrote: Superior beings, when of late they saw A mortal man unfold all nature's law, ‘Admired such wisdom in an earthly shape, And sbowed a Newton s we show A Ape. .y The two guiding principles of man, the poet tells us, are self-love and reason, both of which are necessary, although the former is the stronger. “Self-love and reason to one end aspire,” he says. ‘“Pain their aver- sion, pleasure their desire.” He speaks of “love, hope and joy, fair pleasure’s smiling train, and hate, fear and grief. the family of pain.” He enunciates his famous idea of a “ruling passion” in each human . earth, weigh air and state the Press Gives Hearty Greeting To Little Miss Longworth The intense “humanity of humans” is again displayed by editors of the country in_the felicitations going to Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth upon the birth of their daughter on St. Valentine's day. “This little Longworth girl,” says the Columbus, Ohio, State Journal, “must prepare to be very much loved. Her parents have been married 19 years and she {s the first baby. We can hardly imagine circumstances under which a little girl, or even a little boy, for that matter, would be more welcome. Nick and Alice will be, undoubtedly are, simply crazy about her. The arrival of the baby, we imagine, removes the last doubt, if any, of Nick's election to the speakership of the National House of Representatives All the world loves a young father, especially after he has waited 19 years to be one.” The State Journal, however, offers & little condolence to the baby in the following: “Orne joy which we fear will have to be denied thé cunning little girl, though it seems almost like the divine right of babies, is pulling her father's hair.” The naming of the baby Paulina comes as a slight disappointment to some of the enthusiastic admirers who apparently wanted a perpetua- tion of the Roosevelt name. Some insist upon calling her “Baby Alice” and “Little Miss Alice.” The Provi- dence Journal remarks: “The Hon. Nicholas Longworth declares that young Miss Alice is as fine a baby as he ever dreamed of, though he indulges in the whimsical criticism, if we may call it that, that she favors the Roosevelts more than she does the Longworths.” To which the New London Day suggests: *It would be rather surprising if this were not the case. The Roosevelts are an amaz- ingly vital lot of people. Such fami- lies possess a quality which cannot be run out in one generation, or two. It goes on down through the ages. Wherein there is a blessing to America.” “The birth of a baby, any baby, is an event, 2 mystery and a miracle, declares the Detroit News, which adds: “The glory of maternity, thé romance of motherhood—these ex- periences rainbow the natural order. The birth of a daughter, their first child, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth is an event of Nation-wide interest.”” ‘The Reno Gazette believes, “because the Amer- ican people when her father was Vice President and when he was in the White House took Alice Roosevelt to their heart, the whole country is in- terested {n this important event and will congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Long- worth. £ o e gk “In prospect of her coming,” ob- serves the Brooklyn Eagle, “Fate has arranged full and equal suffrage for women. ‘Why should we not have a woman President? is already a ques- tion in many minds. By 1946, when little Alice has reached her majority, this question is sure to have become more urgent.” In 1960 Theodore Roosevelt's granddaughter will be eligible for the highest office in the gift of the people. However, we im- Patient persons are mnot willing to walt for that. Considering the changes of the past, the changes within the lives of her proud parents, may we not hope for an abolition of that 36 years' age limit on the pres- ideey?” - “‘Princess’ Alice Roosevelt being about the nearest approach we have to royalty,” says the El Paso Herald, “the birth of the baby daughter gives a nice little thrill to the populace It revives memories of Col. Roose- velt’s daughter in her merry, madcap days of girlhood at the White House breast, to which the man s ever true. One has but to look around him to see the truth of this. It is possible to plck out some ruling principle for each one of our friends. With one it will be love of power, with another knowledge, or gold, or love of ease. The merchant's tofl, the sage's indolence, The monk's humility, the hero's pride, All, all alike, find reason on their side. We are pretty hard”up, Indeed, when we cannot marshal a host of £ood reasons to back us up in what we want to do! 3 The varfous passions of mankind are not so bad as they might appear, Pope points out. Anger supplies zeal and fortitude; avarice gives prudence, and sloth, philosophy. “Lust, through some certain strainers well refined, is gentle love and charms all woman- kind.” “This couplet is paralleled by one in Burton's “Kasidah,” which runs: “Who fought for female as for food when Mays awoke to warm de- sire; and such the Lust that grew to Love when Fancy lent a purer fire.” Thin Nght and_ dackness 1o our chaos Joined. What shall divide? The God within the mind, Pope borrowed that last expression from Plato. What a great one it is, ‘the God Within the mind.” On the point of vice, in stract, Pope preaches even than a minister. He says: Vice is a monster of so frightful mien As, to be hated, needs but o be seen: et seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first_endure, ‘then pity, then embrace. the ab- better This Is a pretty good example of what the poet meant, when, in his introduction, he declared that he could express his thoughts more briefly in poetry than in prose itself. It would be hard, indeed, to pack that much into the same number of words in an essay. He puts an eter- nal truth into unforgettable words. When a man does this, he is writing great poetry. x % % x Heaven's great view, Pope says, must be the whole, not the individual, and “bullds on wants, and on defects | of the mind, the joy, the peace, the | glory of mankind. “'hlhl';r the passion, fame knowledge, or pelf, No one Will change his neighbor with himself. The learned is happy nature to explore, The fool is happy that he knows no more. “Hope travels through,” the poet | tells us, “nor quits us when we die. Then comes that oft-quoted pas- sage: Rehold the child, by nature’s kindly law, | Pleased with a rattle, tickled with & strasw Some livelier playthiog gives his youth de 4 tite ‘londer, but as empty quite Bearf, garters,’ gold, amuse his riper stage. | And beads and praser books are the toys of age: Pleastd with this bauble still, as that before Till tired he sleeps, and life’s poor play | 15 oer. The serlous reader need not be per- | turbed over that characterization of | life as a poor play. Pope was a great writer, and great writers must needs fit the expression to the thought. Often one's writing takes complete possession of the writer, and he is surprised to see the thing almost write itself. It is as if some other hand, some other brain, were doing the work, and e but a spectator at the show. - Pope was not a pessimist when he wrote those lines, I am convinced, al- though the irony of life struck him as it has many others through the ages. He did not mean that life is nothing but a poor play. Mostly he | said it that way because it rhymed! “In folly’'s cup still laughs the bubble, Joy,” Pope immediately added, and clinched his belief in the good- ness of life and God by ending the epistle with this couplet: See! and confess, one comfort still must rise, “Tls this, though man's a fool, yet God 1n wise, of the colonel's gusty affection for his | tomboyish girl and his equally vehe- ment disapproval of her clgarettes— ‘the only Roosevelt who smokes'— as he once sald; and of the brilliant wedding that culminated Nicholas Longworth's persistent suit. And now 19 years have passed and ‘Princess Alice’ has a baby at last. A little less princessy than usual, she has at last bowed to Providence and entered the holy citadel of motherhood, and somewhere on high a hearty spirit, always strong for babies, chuckles robustiously, smacks a thigh and roars: ‘By George, that's bully! " “For a moment we turn from affairs, national and international,” declares the Albany Knickerbocker Press, “to grin cheerfully with the Republican leader and to giggle a little at the omnipresent character (this time on the floor of the House) who always gets the gender mixed in the process of felicitations. It Is folksy, it is wholesome, it is binding, such an event. A varlety of elements, including a most {llustrious grand- parent and the coincidence of a gen- erally observed day of hearts, paper lace and sentiment, serve to make this birthday outstanding. But, after all, the good old wholesome family atmosphere which fortunately has not yet departed from these, our people, makes us most interested. If heritage counts for anything, here should be a future governor, or a Secretary of State, or at least a party whip at Washington.” Referring to the demonstration in the House the Saglnaw News Courier observes: “A truly interesting epi- sode in the life of this branch of the National Parliament and all on ac- count of a little child, a baby come to join the millions of the popula- tion. Surely, the legislative fathers are, just like the rest of us, not such a bad lot after all.” Nobility in America. Paper Supports Hughes Conten- tion in Elihu Root Case. It has been said by snobs of old that every American loves a lord; but the sycophants of titles, if any such survive among us, should pay heed to the words of Secretary Hughes when he extolled Elihu Root as belonging to the number of those who hold our republic’s sole patent of nobllity—that which depends on worth of character, distinguished at- talnment and pre-eminence in serv- fce. The Secretary says that mem- bership in this order is our closest approach to an earldom; and it is im- probable that many earis could qual- ify in the select company that owes nothing to the accident of birth or to mere ancient lineage. Our American nobility never yet had its accolades from what some- body did centurfes ago, though there are always a great many people anx- fous to te]l the world what their an- cestors did and seeking to be received on the basis of chapters of ancient history from their own touted gen- ealogy. A man must win and keep respect in our country on the basis of his own performance. As none can save his soul or g0 to heaven for him, so none can live his life and establish credit in his name. Pre-eminent public servants abroad would be given the’ alphabet. to put after their names, and titles would commemorate thelr service. Here we do them honor of a different sort, but it means more than nomenclature. Republics are not always ungrateful or forgetful—Philadeiphia Public Ledger, | ed-glass windows put in place, Amer- { the feelings In the deep, vague way THE NORTH WINDOW BY LEILA MECHLIN. In the Brooklyn Museum thers is now being held an exhibition of the works of mural painters, a unique and interesting showing. Mural paint- ings, obviously, are done for a given place and cannot.-be moved about as can easel pictures. For this reason exhibitions of this sort are exception- ally rare and very difficult to as- semble; they also cannot be judged from the standpoint of the usual pic- torial exhibition; they are something quite different. It s in this fleld of ‘painting. that American -artists have made, some think, their largest contri- bution. It fs therefore a fleld exceed- ingly worthy of exploration and dfé- cusglon. Among the first mural paintings to be produced In this country were two by William Morris Hunt for the New York State Capitol at Albany. These were frescoes painted on wet plaster. Ten years after they were completed certain structural errors in the build- ing had to be corrected and in so doing these paintings were destroyed. In the same year that the decora- tions for the Albany State Capitol were painted the corner stone of Trinity Church, Boston, was laid Richardson, the architect of the Hay and Adams houses in this city, was the architect, and in 1876 he gave to John La Farge the commission to decorate the church. The difficulties to a less courageous painter would have seemed insurmountable, but Mr La Farge accepted the commission and set to work, we are told, with “the utmost enthusiasm and the cour- age of youth” “I knew,” he said, “that our work at Trinity Church would have to be faulty, but this much I would be able to accomplish —that almost every bit of it would be living, would be impossible to duplicate.” It was the decoration of this church which gave birth to the art of mural painting in America Mr. La Farge called to his assistance a number of the younger artists, unskilded in such work but able to understand his viewpoint Among these were Francis Lathrop, F. D. Millet, George W. Maynard and others. It was an epoch-making ac- complishment. When the scaffolding was finally taken down and the stain- ica, it is sald, possessed for the first time a complete and beautiful piece | of interior decoration. “Not only was it beautiful and constructive in color, but it was also emotional, stirring given only to finer color and music.” The study which La Farge made for one of the decorations in Trinity Church, “The Visit of Nicodemus to| Christ,” is now included in the per- | manent collection of the National Gallery of Art in this city, and one of the outstanding features of the Brooklyn Museum exhibition are | three cartoons drawn by La Farge for | mural paintings. Quite naturally the | work in Trinity Church, Boston, led to other commissions, among them | the painting of “The Ascension” over | the altar in the Church of the Ascen- | sion in New York, a work which| takes its place among the great| mural paintings of the world, one to | which pilgrimages should be made| as to the Sistine Chapel. i * x * x i In 1892-came the Columbian Expo- sition in Chicago, the great World Fair, which exerted a most powerful influence on the development of art in America, primarily, however, the arts of architecture, sculpture and mural painting. Frank D. Millet was made director of color and.decora- tion, with C. Y. Turner as his as- sistant, and they assoclated with them in their work such men as Blashfield, Shirlaw, Reid, Beckwith, Simmons, Cox, Melchers and MacEwen. If it had not been for that great exposi- tion our Library of Congress would certainly not have been what it is today, for it was the success of the mural decoratidns there which sug- gested the possibility of the mural decorations here. Five vears Intervened and during those five years the Boston Public Library, designed by McKim, Mead & White, was completed and com- missions for mural paintings for its interior decoration were given out. The first of these went to Puvis de Chavannes, the great French mural painter. Others were given to Abbey, Sargent and Whistler. The Sargent decorations are still not complete. The Whistler ones were never done: Each artist was given freadom to choose his subject and to produce his work without limit of time. It was a fortunate circumstance tnat one of these commissions should have gone to Puvis de Chavannes, for though his paintings when first installed in the Boston library on the grand stair- case brought forth a storm’of dis- approval, they have served as an in- spiration to the younger painters of a later generation and are still in- fluencing the development of the art. In the Brooklyn Museum exhibition are to be seen four of his cartoons for the dome of the Pantheon and Lis original design for a decoration in the hall of the Amiens Museum. We are fortunate in this city in having in the Phillips Memorlal Gallery two original studies for mural paintings by this great master of our own time. . Practically the same men who worked out the decorations for the World's Fair in Chicago came to- gether to produce the mural paint- ings for our Library of Congress. Mr. Blashfield did, as every one now knows, the dome of the rotunda; Mr. Simmons and Mr. MacEwen did each a serfes for the hallways on the mafn floor; to John Alexander was given the decoration of the walls of the vestibule to the rotunda; Melch- ers and Cox, Walker and Vedder each had space and used it well. This was the first Government building in which mural decoration was made an integral part of the design. Nat- urally, it became not only a show place, but also an object lesson, and led to the decoration of other bufld- ings throughout the country. R Reviewing broadly the works of American mural palnters, one finds an inclination to overemphasize sub- ject to the defriment of purely dec- orative quality. In the foreword to the catalogue of the Brooklyn exhi- bition H. Van Buren Magonigle says very truly: “A mural painting is not a group portrait nor a magazine il- lustration enormously enlarged, and the ability ' to ‘paint big' no more makes a mural painter than the sub- division of a composition ‘in three parts by two vertical lines makes a mural painting. The primary pur. pose of a mural painting s to dec- orate a part of a building—a wall or a ceiling or a vault; and it is a condition of its success that it should not seem to destroy the sur- face it decorates. * * * It must display that artistic tact which is one of the highest endowments. of the artist.” Subject i important in mural paint- ing, but subject must be subordinated to decoration. Mr. Magonigle empha-~ sizes this point by reminding us that We visit the library of the cathedral in Sienna not to learn the events in the life of a great Pope, but to feast our eyes on the magnificent paintings of Pinturicchio, and that when we view Puvis de Chavannes’ great painting In the hemicycle of the Sor- bonne we do not bother to identify the personages in the allegory, but allow ourselves, if we are sympa- thetlo to such impressions, to be “lifted out of ourselves into the peace of that twilit grove.” I short, the test of the Success of & mural paint- ing is whether ,or mot it takes its place in &n architectural composition and serves its purpose of decoration. From this standpoint the exhibition in the Brooklyn Museum and the dec- orations In our own public buildings in this city give us for thought, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN the inches Q. Are men ever accepted in Navy who are not 5 feet 4 tall?—F. . A. The Navy Department says that upon enMsting a man in the Navy the differencs in the required height may be waived for 1 inch—that is, if a:man is 63 inches tall instead of the required 64 inches—provided he is otherwise qualified; but in no case is more than 1 Inch watved. Q. How ‘mueh territory does the Great American Desert cover?—0. P.| A. The boundariés.are vague. The | outer limits are the Rocklies and the continuing ranges in New Mexico and Texas on the east; the Sierra Neva- das and Cascade Ranges on the west. The Rorth and south limits are Brit- ish Columbia and the Mexican boun- dary. Only a part of this area is actually arid waste land, comprising about 550,000 square miles. Q. How many, cocoa are equal to, a sweetened chocolate ?—C. F. A. The Bureau of Home Econom says that one-half cupful of cocoa, plus.one-half tablespoonful of shorten- ing, is equal to one ounce or one square of chocolate. Q. Med. A. The purring sound made by cats is made by throwing the vocal cords Into vibration measured and regulated by the respiration, and this ‘vibration is strong enough to make the whole larynx tremble so that it may be felt or seen from the outside Purring is highly characteristic of the cat tribe, though probably not confined to it. It is usually the means by which these felines contentment. Q. Pension Bureau to a pensioner who has died a day or two before his pension became due, is his estate en- titled to the check or any part of it? —S. G. McG. A. The Pension Office says that in the case stated by you the estate of the dead pensioner is not entitled to his check tablespoonfuls of What makes cats purr’—J. R. Q. How many miles of track did the New York subway have when it opened and how much has it now?— A8 ¥ A. The first New York subway opened October 27, 1804, 27, with 62 miles of track. It now has 240 miles of track. does the abbreviation when used by Vhat F.” mean 0. H. A. The letters stand for “till for- bidden.” Q. the Describe the method used trick of sawing a womaa half?—S. B. A. The optical illusion “Sawing a Woman in Half” is a very old trick which originated in China. The il- in in lusion is produced by means of the| reflection of mirrors. Q. What part of the weight of a fowl is lost in dressing?—L. G A. The welght of a fowl after the head, feet, bones and inedible entrails have been removed is from 15 to 20 per cent less. Q. ,How much money is there in circulation?—T. H A. The amount of money in circu- Iation as of February 1, 1925, amount- quare of un- | ow | T It a check is forwarded by the] ™ pub- lishers in regard to magazines sent| | to subscribers?—Ww. ed to $4,751,537,469, capita . Q. When wa e harp put on the flag of Irela M. O, A. The harp first appeared on the Irish standard during the reign ¢f Henry VIII (1509-1547). It was lected beca D was the 1 tional Irish instrument. The earli records of the Celtic race give th harp a prominent place amd harpis a peculiar vene and distinct Q7 Is dried sag | —L. H. P. A. The Bureau of says that dried sage ma alled a herb or a &plce is more or $4186 p a herb or a spice Indust either 1 Perhap it is a b used accurate to say dried that It may b spice. Ground sage rately be called a spice. Q most stric A. A boo that Finland that the abiding What natives ople ¢ Q. What Lights?—P. A. Scier with to be 1 result of ele the upper T Some auth caused by corpuscles stopped 1 There realis. Th that It is the charges throu, armos that anations o which 1osphere ¢ th seems doubt rities irregular from th he upper in of the ear How Unit fur f many in t najority of them, g sllver and biue foxe stment in busines between $12,000,200 | ana Alask ever, are raisiz total in where drink ¢ the consomme ans bégan to dzys w Q. When uniforms in they a A In directed the oomn | scribe it ngton lar from dquarters, New Windsor, Octéber 2 | 1779, which provided the follow | forms: New Hamps ssachusetts Rhode Island and C cut—Blue faced with white; d lining: | white. New York and New Jersey—Blue | tacea” with white. Per land and V' buttons and lina, South taced with ligh | edged with narrow whit or tape | buttons and linings white. Artillers of | ficers—Blue, faced with scarlet. I | dragoons—Blue, faced with white; but { tons and lining whi horized Ger buttons a North Caro orgia—Biue, (Let The Star Information Burea Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Twenty first and C streets northwest, onswe your question. The only charge for th service is 2 cents in stamps for Tetur postage.) BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. The patriotic instincts of American womanhood can no longer permit the spread of socialism, communism paci- | fism and treason without challenging the attacks upon the Nation and homes of the land. Women are aroused. They have spoken this week in a conference held in the Red Cross Bullding. They are planning to speak again in a Nation-wide protest and rall of patriotism on the two days follow ing inauguration day. At this second meeting a national patriotic council will be put upon the basis of perma- nent organization, with the purpose of meeting the propaganda of bolshe- vism, socialism and communism, with their associated doctrines of atheism and social demoralization of the fam- ily, as taught by Marx and the Rus- sian Bolsheviki. * X ¥ X The first conference was initiated by the American Legion Auxiliary— the women associated with the American- Legion. It was supported | by the Daughters of the American Revolution and other important or- ganizations of women, and was ad- dressed by Army and Navy officers of high rank and by Secretary Wilbur of the Navy and Secretary Weeks of the War Department ok Ok X The second organization announces a program of speeches by no less dis- tinguished officials, including Maj Gen. Helmick, inspector general of the Army; Rear Admiral Moffett of the Navy and Brig. Gen. Fries, chief of the Chemical Service of the Army. It is headed by Mrs. Noble Newport Potts—she who single-handed in- vaded a meeting of pacifists in Washington and “routed them and scouted them and put them all to flight.” She it was who discovered that the pacifiists had engaged D. A. R. Continental Hall in which to hold an anti-patriotic meeting, and she aroused the “spirit of '76” and caused the cancellation of the engagement. She also learned that Congress was seriously considering an, appropriation of $10,000 toward the expenses of such a meeting, which so camouflaged that the Con- gressmen did not recognize its nature until Mrs. Potts appeared before the congressional committee with photo- graphed documentary evidence prov- ing the unpatriotic purposes of the meeting. The appropriation was therefore killed in committee. That started the beginning of a Nation-wide “counter-revolution” in behalf of loyalty to .the United States. The movement is strongly backed by Mrs. Lars Anderson, Mrs. Samuel Preston Davis, president of the National Society of the Daughters of 1812, and by Mrs. Laura B. Evans, trustee of the University of Illinois; also by the National Defense Society. All State governors have been invited to attend or send official representa- tives. * ok * * What is it that has aroused the women to rally ‘round the flag? Accordtng to Mr. Fred R. Marvin, associate editor of the New York Commercial, the Woman's. Interna- tional League for Peace and Freedom was organized during our war with Germany, by a German spy. Mr. Mar- vin declares that its doctrine violent- 1y opposes our Army, demands the r.peal of the Army organization act and the final abolition of the Army and Navy. Also the abolition of all property rights and the revision of school text books, substituting inter- nationalism for fationalism. It will be of interest to know that one tenet of the doctrine of these Soclallsts is that they “believe and work for social,"Palitical 4nd economic equality for ally qwithout' distifiction of sex, ace, clags or creed. 2 Much has been said by the Socialists against the United States as a “cap- italistic nation,” intimating that there | touched.” 'was something sinster in a goyern- | ment that respects property right | This is truly a capitalistic natlon, its laws give the right of & m | retain what he earns. “It perm {father to bulld a home for chilaren and guard his family ag. the intrusion of the Communist whom it zppears his right ta pr by other men's labor and prosperi |said Mr. Marvin in E be the Conference National Defens There remains no difference betwee socialism and communism, as tods taught by the propaganda of tk Russian Soviets and repeated by the American adherents. The Soefalist | want all industries carried on by th government and controlle@ by | mechanics and sorers . In put | office, added Mr. Marv The cc | munists want property to be abolish |ed and all goods to be for the co mon of everybody. Under their | plan, all homes could be entered i | strangers and the comforts taker from those men and women who labor to_produce them These are the teachings of some 50 colleges of America through fthe or ganization amongst students who call themselves “liberal or “progres sives,” or “radicals.” The same teact |ings are promulgated through organization called “Pioneer Youths said to be formed to undermine Boy Scouts. * ok %k % It is alleged that the communist astutely adjust their teachings to fit the particular class they are appe ing to, and so, when they are seekin to enlist the support of churches dwell upon their horror at the c ties of war. They r even ‘va their “slackers’ oath,” which Is follotvs: “Go to war if you want to, but know this: We have pledged ourselves to give you our children, not to en courage or nurse your soldiers, not t knit a sock or roll a bandage or dri a, truck or make a war speech or bu a'bond.” * * ok In contrast with communism and anti-patriotism the doctrines of the women behind the “conference on national defense” an the “national patriotic conference.’ The latter's platform includes pledges “To teach love of country: “To preserve, protect and defend the Constitution “To combat the insidious encroact ment of communist ideas in Americ and all pacifist movements “To establish a central commlittee through which, by eo-c dinated efforts organized. socletic groups and individuals may obtai and disseminate authentic informa- tion with which to carry on a cam paign against all propaganda whic seeks to undermine the Govermmer of the United States of America. e The seed of such an organized « fort to combat revolution was « pressed a short time before his deat & few months ago, by Mr. R. M. Whit ney, director of the American De fense Society, as follows: * “The writer is not an alarmist. He does not belleve the communists ca ever overthrow the Government the United States even with Russia red army of a ‘million men. But that the communists will attelnpt this very thing unless they are. stopped now is as certain as night will fo low day. * * * With all the Tacts known, the question naturally arises, Why doesn't the Governmient do something about it? The answer is simple: The laws of the United: States protect the radical who aims at its destruction. An American citizen can go to Washington and walk down Pennsylvania avenue with a bomb in each--hand, announcing -h#s intention to overthrow the Government and de- stroy property, * * * Americans may conspire to overthrow the United States Government to their hearts’ content, and, until they have commit- ted an overt act tyey can't be ACopyright, 1925, by Pau! V. Gollna) the teachings bureau x