Evening Star Newspaper, March 28, 1925, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY ...March 28, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES per Company Ave. The Evening Star News and Pennylvant 110 East 42ud St. i Towe 5t NI ding. icu, Eugland, 5 morning within - the ty ools. 45 cents per month; cents’ per month. Orders ma ¥ mall or tele- phone Main 5000. Collection is made by car Tiers at the end of each month. r. with ‘the Sund by carriers montli: d The Erening oditton, & at &) and Daily only Sunday only... Sundas.. All Other States. 1 yr. $10.00; i E® Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press {s exclusively entitle republication of all news dis- to it or not otherwise sredity er and aiso the local news pu All rights of publication of hes herein are also reserved. Future Income Taxation. Members of the Senate finance com- mittee and the House wa means committees have been request- ed by their respective chairmen, Sen: tor Smoot of Utah and Representative Green of Towa, to return’ to Washing- ton in September to begin work'on tax revisio good news. Good news particularly in view of the fact that both gentlemen are well in- formed regarding the condition of the Treasury and the expectations of President Coolidge and Secretary Mel- Ton. The framing of the proposed new tax law will lead to another contest in Congress, if we are to rely upon the past performances of that body— 1d not long past. President Coolidge has made it clear in his public ad- dresses to Congress and in his ' in- augural address that he still stands four square with the proposal of Sec- retary Mellon which calls for a large cut in the upper surtaxes. Mr. Cool- idge has said that business in this coun hould be “accorded a system of surtaxes at rates which have for their object not the punishment .of success or the discouragement of busi- ness, but the production of the great- est amount of revenue from large in- comes.” He has said, too: “We can- not finance the country; we canno* improve social conditions through any system of injustice, even if we at- tempt to inflict it upon the rich.” The administration clearly has given notice that it is going to the bat once more for the so-called Mellon olan, which looks to a reduction of surtaxes until the maximum bracket is 25 per cent. This does not mean that there will not be a further low- ering of taxes paid by the smaller incomes, too. But back of the theory that the surtaxes must be reduced and excess profits taxes avolded lles the conviction that in the end the great mass of the people, including the poor, must pay these surtaxes and excess profits taxes, indirectly, it is true, but, nevertheless, inevitably, and that such taxes hamper the proper expansion of business today and help to keep prices at a high level. During the last Congress, when the present revenue law was framed, the Mellon plan was vigorously attacked in the House and Senate. The Demo- crats opposed vigorously the slash in the surtax rates to a 25 per cent maximum. The so-called progressives on the Republican side were more vio- lent in their attacks than were the Democrats. In the end a compromise —40 per cent—was enacted into law, & compromise between the Democratic rates and the rates urged by the Re- publican leaders. * The Democrats claimed credit for the rates so estab- Itshed. In the new Congress, however, the administration is in. better . position. Particularly true is this of the House, where the majority of the Republicans hes been increased materially and the balance of power is no longer held by a group of insurgents. The House majority is 34 net, with the insurgents counted in opposition. Revenue bills, under the Constitution, must originate in the House. In this instance the edministration gains by this constitu- tional limitation. The bill should come to the Senate an administration bill, unless all signs fail. In the Sen- ate, however, the contest will be closer, although there will be some Democratlc assistance in the adoption of the Mellon plan. Senator Glass of Virginia, for example, has been re- ported as favoring a reduction of the surtaxes to 20 per cent, out-Melloning Mr. Mellon. The President has declared he be- lieves one of the most glaring, defects of the present revenue law is the pro- vision making public the income taxes pald by taxpayers. An effort may be made to repeal this provision. But it will meet with determined resist- ance at the Capitol. — orship is regarded as imprac- ticable in spite of the fact that the band of authority promptly deleted the announcement of & monologue by Count Karoly e A Merchant Marine Policy. Merchant marine Jegislation, de- signed to improve the system under which the Government-owned fleet is now operated, is promised at the next n of Congress by Senator Jones of Washington, chairman of the Sen- atq commerce committee and author of the present. shipping act. Such legislation will provide:for a definite separation by law of the Emergency Fleet Corporation and the Shipping Board, so that the operation of the ships and their management shall be under one directing head, whose au- thority, under the President of the United States, shall be final. This is in line with recommendations of Presi- dent Coolidge to Congress. It is in line with the report of the President's committee, which studied *the mer- chant marine problem for 1any months. Senator Jones, who sailed from New York today aboard one of the Government-owned vessels for South America, will give much time to the further study of the merchant marine | problerh during the congressional re< | cess. Fe will seek the advice of the Shipping Board,and the president of the Fleet: Corporation in preparing the | draft of a bill to be submitted at the next ‘meshlon: Such legislatlon would have been impossible to handle at the short session of Congress recently closed, because of the jam in which many measures were finally lost. But there is no such limitation on the com- ing session, it may run from Decem- ber to December if necessary. One of the major problems in con- nection with the American overseas merchant marine is replacement. Ships do not live forever. They wear cut. They become obsolete, Because the United States expended billions of dollars during the war creating a mer- chant marine does not mean that the building of additional ships will not soon be necessary, unless the rmer. chant fleet under the American flag is to be ellminated again from the high seas. The President's committee re- ported in December that “trade routes cannot be established on & permanent basis unless provision be made for the gradual replacement of obsolete ves- sels with upto-date equipment.”” It added, however, that the present equipment is sufficient without major replacements for the next five years, provided there be conversions of steamers to motor ships of the cargo liner type during that period. Five years constitute a brief period. It is six years since the close of the war. Ships are not designed and built in a day. It will be the duty of Congress seriously to inquire into the question of replacements while it is studying the merchant marine situation at its next session. Government ships have been sold to private American inter- ests for operation, and others are to be sold. It has been the policy to de- mand that in such sales guarantees shall be given that the ships shall be run under the American flag for at least five vears in the services sold. If possible, something should be done to assure replacements in these services which pass into private hands. The merchant marine is impor- tant to the national defense in times of emergency. In times of peace it is important that American producers and shippers shall have the protection afforded through American carriers in competition with foreigners. Other nations have aided their merchant fleets by appropflations, made on the ground of national defense, or in the form of postal subsidies. The Jap- anese are clamoring today for such subsidies to aid their operation of ships across the Pacific Ocean in com- petition with American and British lines. Another problem which the United States Government must face is the need of some kind of aid to merchant. shipping -if “American-flag ships are to be operated permanently. The Government today is back of the merchant marine; it owns it in large part. But once the Government's backing is removed and the ships pass into private hands the competition by foreigners to run them off the seas is bound to increase. If the people of the United States want a merchant marine under the American flag—and they do, except for some of the inter- national banking concerns which have money invested in foreign shipping, or in foreign concerns which must thrive through carrying American commerce —this is a question which must be given serious consideration. e Horse racing goes on as usual. The iniquity of betting, however, is re- lieved by the substitution of parl mutuel for the bookmaker, As yét no absolutely reliable reformatory system has been devised to prevent the fool and his money from being parted. ——————— A wonderful amount of world bene- fit might be derived from an effort by France and Germany to forget a tem- peramental past and come to a prac- tical modern understanding. e — The United States Senator who makes the most spectacular speeches is not always the one who obtains the most comfortable suite of offices.. ——————— Germany has too many important matters on hand to undertake to su- pervise the plans of either the ex- Kaiser or Grover Bergdoll. ———————— When a New York restaurant is it receives an amount of publicity calculated to stimulate a de- mand for.a key. ——ee Gov. Smith Scores. The session of the New York Legis- ture which began January 1 has closed with its mixed record of legis- lative failures and accomplishments. "This record is studied with interest by the politicians for its bearing upon Gov. Alfred E. Smith’s political fu- ture. It was a Republican Legisla- ture in both branches, but cannot be said to have been a purely Republican session. Some’ of Gov. Smith's meas- most equal number, iacluding some upon which he was insistent, went through with Republican assistance, although in the outset they had been opposed by Republican Teaders. The general opinfon is that Gov: Smith comes out of the partisan con- test with an opposing Legislature as the victor. He can take comfort in the thought that his leadérship of his party has enhanced his political for- tunes. Non-partisan survey of his course must lead to the conclusion that much of his success can be laid to the mistakes of the opposition. The Republican’ leaders seem to have de- livered themselves into his hands in several instances. He had keener in- stincts of the trend of popular opinion and cateréd to it. Moreover, it proved, as was proph- esied at the outset, that he possessed greater knowledge of and familiarity with the affairs and needs of the State of New York than his opponents. His long service in the gubernatorial chair had equipped him with this knowl-| edge. His victory in forcing through the Legislature a 25 per cent reduc- tion in income taxés was a credit to his understanding of the state of popular feeling and a reflection upon the leadership of the Republican ma- ures went down to defeat, but an al-|. THE EVENING, Jority which had fought.him to_the last ditch, where it was,_compelled to yield. R " Gov. Smith's friends are feported as claiming that his presidential pros- pects are increased by his demonstra- tion of party leadership. Their op- timism may be dampened by reflection upon the past and his signal defeat at the hands of the national Democ- racy in the last Democratic national convention, but indications point to the probabilicy that his supporters will make another attempt in his behalf. At any rate, it is evident that Alfred E. Smith will continue to be.a na- tional figure in the Democratic party in the next four years. A Bicycle Race. A stx-day bicycle race was recently run in Madison Square Garden, New York. There have been many descrip- tions of the racing, spurts and jams as the riders “circle the banked saucer,” and the Garden has been “‘packed from pit to dome” with cheering spectators. This is remarkable and reminiscent. Interest in the foot-driven bicycle has declined, but here are people enough— 12,000—to crowd Madison Square Gar- den and cheer the riders of what we used to call “the silent steed.” This Is the thirty-eighth international six-day race, and if one of the matches were held each vear that would carry the first of them back to 1886, and memory whispers that there were six-day bicycle races before that. There is extensive bibliography of the velocipede and its descendant, the bicycle. The pedomotor—a stick on (wo tandem wheels which a man strad- dled and pushed with one foot and then the other—goes back at least to the time when Pompeil was a busy town. In recent centuries there were the celefere, velocipede, draisine and pedestrian curricle, and then the crank-driven velocipede, the tri- cycle and the two-wheel velocipede. The “improved velocipede,” or crank- driven bicycle of two small wooden wheels, had @ boom in the United States in 1869 and 1870. It may be dis- puted, and probably will be, though it is set forth in books on the subject, that “the velocipede with two equal- sized wheels with steel rims and solid rubber tires was patented in Englend in 1869. Later the front wheel was made large and the hind wheel small. That | style appeared in England about 1871, | and in that year and the next was seen in the United States. The exhibi- tion of big and little wheeled bicycles at the centennial exposition in 1876 gave a stimulus to that type of bi- cycle in the United States, and in 1878, at the instance of Col. Albert A. Pope, the, manufacture of Columbias was be- gun by the Weed Sewing Machine Co. of Hartford. The pneumatic tire was applied to bicycle wheels in 1889, and up to 1890 the United States Patent Office had issued 7,573 patemts on bi- cycles and bicycle parts. In the census of 1900 it is written that the number of bicycle manufac. turing plants in the United States was 312, the capital invested $29,783,659, number of workmen employed 17,525, thelr annual wage $8,189,817 and the value of the product $31,915,908. Since then there has been, as everybody knows, a vast dedline in the United States in bicycle bullding and riding. —_—— The worst that can happen is war, There is enough uncertainty as who may get the Worst of a war to encour- age every nation on earth to seck honorable means of avoiding a clash. ———— The climate has moderated to a de- gree which encourages hope that March will go out like a lamb. Bears in the stock market show a disposi- tion to favor this belief. —_———— One tradition after another is shat- tered. The United States Senate will be much surprised if the Vice Presi- dent hereafter succeeds in leading a quiet life. ———— Fishermen are now walting to see whether the many rum cargoes dumped overboard are going to make the fish more foolish or only less am- bitious. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Melancholia, The comic picture makes we weep ‘When. T wbuld fain be gay. Misshapen figures dance or creep In such a doleful way That I would fain avoid the sight Of each enormous nose And bid the cross-eyed crew flight . 2 Somewhere to seek repose. I'm sorry for the man whose wife On beating him is bent, And for the parents to whose lite ‘The kids bring discontent. ‘When backward falls some startled elf As repartee draws nigh, I really don't enjoy myself— I almost want to cry. Sad Story. “How did you first break into pol- take answered Sena- tor Sorghum. “The people out home got kind o’ riled at the Government in ‘Washington and decided to send me to Congress out of spite.” Second Thought. Our U. 8. Constitution brings A faith that must redouble; But the amendments are the things That seem to cause the trouble. Jud Tunkins says it's gettin’ so you can't hardly belleve anything you read except the resignation rumors. - Subdued. 4 “Nobedy draws a gun in Crimson Gulch these days.” “We're tamed,” answered Cactus Joe. “The flivvers are workin’ so fast that we haven't no heart for addin’ to the damage. Protecting an Investment. He vows the show is one of worth As he applauds and hollers. He wants to get his money’s worth— His ticket cost four dollars. * “It:160ks to me,” sald Uncle Eben; “like humanity was gittin' divided into two classes—dem dat plays golf an’ dem dat works." STAR, WASHINGTON, D. ©., SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1925." THIS AND THAT +BY GHARLES E. TRACEWELL' i 1 dreamed I Had taken up golf and was using fresh eggs as golf balls. Even wseasoned golfers will have to admit that I was “going some.” So terrific was my drive, and so hot the day, that the eggs flattened out through the power of the stroke and were fried by the heat as they sailed through the air. i My course around the links was marked by these yellow-centered dises, flylng along at tremendous speed. At each stroke, of course, it Was Necessary to use & new egg. 1 cannot recall just what was done with the fried ones, but undoubtedly they were used as f0od along the way. Eighteen holes on one's first attempt at playing the anclent game would make any one hungry. < ‘This horrible nightmare was caused, undoubtedly, by the insistent advice of several of my friends that I ought to “take up golf.” One even went S0 fur as to poke me in the abdominal region and declare that I ought to get rid of Chat.” ow, willingly would I get rid of That. ‘That is beginning to become considerable of a nuisance. Little did 1 ever dream, a few years ago, that I would ever have That. To be frank, that is the bane of my young exis- tence. , How to get rid of That is another story. The more you garden, the more you take “bending exercises,” the more That persists. Intensive walking reduces every part of the anatomy except—That. It was because I took the golfing advice seriously, 1 suppose, that I had my terrible dream about the golf eges. My plan of walking so many miles a day has fallen flatter than my egg& golf ‘balls, that is the reason why 1 am- being driven Into golf. Readers of this column will remember that twice I told of the progress of the walking, but that recently no men- tion of it has been made here. There s a reason. There al- ways is! * K ok ok H. W. D. pulls the truth out of me. In & letter as bright as these Spring days he queries: “By the way, have you given up walking? There has been no recent report.” This is my report, eggs, golf., walking and all. The walking, which was elaborately argued to be almost as good as golf, has proved to be insufficient. It lacks interest Interest is what the world must have. You remember the men of Athens, who did nothing but hear or tell some new thing? That was be- cause the new thing is interesting. Interest is to life what salt Is to baked potatoes. It is possible to eat baked potatoes without salt, of course, but not as well. Modern education has seen the light, to some extent, a great effort having been made in the last 20 years or so to really make the chil- dren interested in what they are doing. Interest is the primary factor In attention. Touch the electric button of interest, the front door of atten- tion is opened by the servants of the mind and knowledge will come down the big staircase to greet you. Where walking, as exerc falls down, and falls down hard, is in its lack of interest. Maybe there are those lucky folk who can get a “kick” out of a set walk, but I have found out that I am not one of them. Even with the best of walking comrades the set walk soon becomes a set task. Set tasks, looked for- ward to each day, have a decided tendency to become monotonous, and .monotony is the little brother of boredom. The dally for about two weeks. to get tiresome. With sorrow I walk remains pleasant Then it begins ad- mit it, bit' the: truth 1s mighty and will prevail. Stlence sometimes. is better”than the truth, ft must be ad- mitted, but not in this case. Pitiless publicfy will: do wonders, in this instanc. ward preventing any othér adventuresome wight from undertaking something; which he 1is not going to carry through. e Personally;" T believe in ‘carrying through whatsone starts out to do— except a set walking program. The first week, doingia mille a day, 1 salled along, fine; The second week, doing two miles a day, I gave it up. The third week -was {o have seen three miles per day, the fourth, four miles each day. Alas, alack! The second week got off to a bad start, to use the lingo. of the race horse fans. It was raining “cats and dogs,” as the saying id. (As a cat fancler, may 1 remark that the wis- dom of the peoples has thus given the cat the premier position. It never rains dogs and cats. The cats always lead.) ‘Walking in the rain is plctured as the favorite outdobr sport of the Eng- lish people, being held responsible for the fresh complexions prevalent in the tight Nttle fsland. A gentle drizzle is one thing, & downpour another. The latter makes a walk something of an obstacle race, at least for those of us who have lost the old pioneer spirit. At that, I don't fmagine even the pioneers cared for rains and snows very much, except in so far as the former helped the crops. When I walk please let the sun shine! Well, that rainy afternoon put an awful crimp in my program. I tried to get enthusiastic about the beating rain, and the nice squshy feeling in my left shoe, but somehow falled ‘o muster up much. When I got home, as far as I could see, my complexion was not a bit bet- ter than when I started out. Besides, some of that fresh metallic paint put on the roof in the morning had washed off onto the back porch. * ¥ x % Golfing and gardening, then, are the only exercises left to me. “Set- ting-up” exercises, which must be done standing up, despite their name, are impossible to a bright and alry spirit. I never heard of any one doing them more than a week. One has a suspicion that one would have to work in a garden at least 12 hours a day to get any real exercise out of it. It is a contemplative sort of endeavor, though, and has a charm all its own. This chronicler already is a gardener in a small way—a very small way—and expects later to tell some garden adventures. Golfing, as I have stated before, has the decided advantage of being a sport that has interest attached to it Or, rather, it makes walking inter- esting.. In other words, a man will walk on a golf course where he would not otherwise do it. Never having played any golf—ex- cept in my dream—I do not hesitate to say that it {s like chess, in one thing, at least. If you cannot play it reasonably well it hurts you. I won- der if feeling that you have done your best satisfles? Especially if Your best is pretty rotten? One must have to make a mighty resolve before he takes up golf that he will try to play his best, and only his best, all the time, so help him. It must be the most miserable feel- ing in the world to be the worst player. Rather than become the champion golf dub, yours truly will stick to the innocent recreation of gardening, and play golf only in his dreams. with hard-boiled eggs. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. The Egyptian Parliament, elected after a bitter campaign, was dissolved last week at the end of its first day —a session of violent partisan de- bate, with the election, as president of the chamber, of that great progres- sive leader, Zaghlul sha of th Natlonalist party, or “Young Egypt A new election is to be held May 2 The issues involved are of more than national interest in party poli- tice. They center in the conflict of interest with Great Britain in the Sudan. 1In turn, they may affect American cotton growers, if the Brit- jsh gain control of the upper Nile in Sudan and develop cultivation of the million acres of Sudanese cot- ton land through irrigation at the expense of the Egyptian water supply of the lower Nile. On top of that crisis in far-off Egypt comes the news that the widow of the late Gov. Folk of Missouri has sued the Egyptian “wafd”—the “committee” of the government of Egypt—headed by Zaghlul, upon a claim that Gov. Folk was the paid agent to dissemi- nate propagande in America with which to influence our Congress and State Department in the support of Egyptian independence from Great Britain. Mrs. Folk claims that Mr. Folk was to receive $5,000 « month, together with certain additional bon- uses of $100,000 in case he had to ap- pear before the League of Nations, and another $100,000 when Egypt threw off the British yoke and completed her in- dependent rule over the Sudan. A sum of $30.000 balance due is now clajmed by the widow. The State De- partment is reticent as to the ethics of an American’s secret activities in propaganda for foreign _interests against those of a friendly nation. | * ok ok Ok “The river that is Egypt’—what floods of international complications it may bear! From the dim centuries of history, Egypt has been the scene of melodrama, through all of which has run, like a _thread of gold, “the river that is Egypt.” Through the season -of growing crops, not a drop of that river's precious water ever reaches the sea. When the Summer is passed, the waters increase 12 times in volume and the incalculable wealth that such abundance poten- tially represents is a lure which has caused wars and will, perhaps, vet bring other conflicts. Even today that river holds the key to Bgypt's peace and independence, or to Brit- ain's dominance over her prosperity and national life. For the population of Egypt has reached her maximum capacity to feed without expansion of fertile territory, and such expansion is impossible except it be watered by the Nile. The population in 1910 was 9,000,000; today it is 14,000,000, and each year is adding 200,000 net in- crease of people to a land already straining with 1,000 per square mile. There are two political parties fighting to control Egypt's policies. Ong ‘is led by Zaghiul, the patriot who demands; ‘as hig political plat- form, that Egypt shall be free, and that she shall be permitted without forelgn Interference to work out her destiny and develop her potential re- sources, even though it require. ad- frontiers in which to impound the flood waters of the Nile, that they may. flow 'in abundance while the thirsty erops are growing. The venerable Zaghlul is ‘a pro- gressive—not @ radical—a practical patriot who 1s almost worshiped by “Young Egypt,” though opposed by conservative “big interests” which see ‘their profits endangered by add- ingearea to the cultivable land. At present the government of the Sudan 1s a partnership between (Copyright, 1925, by Paul ¥, Collina,) { graduate of the school. ditlonal reservoirs beyond her own’ Egypt and England, but with immi- nent danger of dissolution of the joint control. While England exer- suzerainty over Egypt, as well as the Sudan, there was ne division of interest as to the development of Bgypt rather than of the Sudan, for Egypt was fertile, and her wealth flowed naturally toward England. The ®udan, in comparison with Egypt, is an undeveloped region peopled by uncivilized non-agricul- tural tribes. Her population of 5,000,000 spreads over 1,000,000 square miles—5 per mile—in contrast with Egypt's 1,000 per mile over that part which s watered and, therefore, fertile. The northern part of the Sudan resembles Egypt in its natural fertility along the Nile. * kK ok In both countries the belt of ir- rigable land extends only about one mile on each bank of the river—in #ome restricted parts spreading to five or eight miles from the stream. Beyond that extend vast deserts, all much higher than the river—hence, won-irrigable. In 1879 the natives of Egypt rose in rebellion against forelgn interfer- ence, which brought the combined fleets of Gr Britain and France against Arabl's troops of rebels, re- sulting in his defeat and exile. That defeat. loosened the hold of Egypt upon the Sudan, and, in 1882, Ahmed, calling himself the Suddn savior, or messiah, revolted against the Turks, then in power in Egypt. The govern. ment, having neither an army nor a treasury, called upon England for help. The English sent “Chinese Gor- don,” who, organized an army of Egyptians to fight Ahmed. Gordon was killed_in_ the battle of Omdur- man, but the English-Egyptian army ultimately triumphed, and Egyptian supremacy over the Sudan was re- established in 1899, with Great Brit- ain sharing authority. The partner- ship provided that the Governor of the Sudan should be nominated by the British and appointed by the Khedive of Egypt. At the outset o€ the World War Great Britain purchased co-operation of Egypt by conceding her indepemd- ence, with a proviso that the part- nership of the Sudan should be a subject for future diplomatic adjust- ment. That adjustment has never been completed, and therein lies the present crisis, in which the interests of Egypt and England confiict, since Egypt needs further control of the Nile by dams and reservoirs to be built in the Sudan, while England's manufatturers and land exploiters have discovered the latent possibili- ties of raising cotton upon the vast “desert oases” of Sudan, if irrigated. koK K K It is claimed that international law —or, at least, “equity”’— provid hat riparian rights are based upon the principle: “First in time; first in right” Under that principle Egypt, which has used the Nile waters for irrigation from a time immeasurable, “beyond which thé memory of man runneth not to the contrary,” muyst not now be jeopardized in those rights by development of irrigation of the Sudan, at the headwaters. Further- more, a commission of international engineers declares fhat for the future needs of Egypt It is necessary to trap more of the Winter flood water in great reservoirs,» which cannot be built within Egyptian territory, and must be in Sudan. ‘What effect upon American cotton will be the addition of hundreds of thousands of acres of “Egyptian cot- ton” in British Sudan? The Folk propaganda did not discuss that effect in America. THE LIBRARY TABLE ' BY THE BOOKLOVER. What {s the greatest of all longings in the ming of a normal thinking and feeling man? Joban Bojer asks this question in his novel, “The Great Hunger.” He replies that it s the longing to know the answer to the questions Whence? Whither? Why? as regard human life. Science gives no answer to these questions. The Christian religion attempts an an- swer—the answer of faith; but what of the man who Is unable to accept this? Bojer says: “We are flung by the different law of the universe into a life that we cannot order as we would; we are ravaged by injustice, by sickness and sorrow, by fire and blood. Even the happlest must die. In his own home he is but on a visit. He never knows but that he may be gone tomorrow. And yet man smiles and laughs in the face of his traglc fate” He smiles elther because he deliberately closes his mind to thought or because of an optimism which will not be defeated even when “sorrow leads us farther and farther out on the promontory of existence,” to the outermost point where there is no more. “So marvelous art thou, O spirit of man! So godlike in thy very nature! Thou dost reap death, and in return thou sowest the dream of everlasting life. In revenge for thine evil fate thou dost fill the uni- verse with an all-loving God.” * Kk ox X Peer Holm beglins life as an lllegit!- mate chlild, cared for by a Norwegian peasant couple in the little fishing village of Troen. His father, a “grand gentitman,” a lieutenant colonel liv- ing in Christiania, pays his expenses and is known as his “benefactor.” At the benefactor's death it is found that he has left a small savings bank ac- count to be used for the benefit of this unrecognized son. Peer has al- ways had a vision of himself as a bishop, one who might even rise so high that “he could go down into the place of torment where his mother lay, and bring her up again, up to salvation”—for Peer knows what his mother’s life has been. His dreams of his high spiritual mission are shattered when he learns how lit- tle money he has and how much money & clerical education would cost. But another dream, & more material one, succeeds the first. While working his way through the technical school he dreams of becoming a great en- gineer. This dream comes true At 40 he is the engineer of the great Nile Barrage, rich, retired, a landed pro- prietor, marrled and the father of children. He exults In his prosperity and that he, the fllegitimate walf. owns land and has a home and a fam ily belonging to him. Then success fal away from him and he experi- ences to the utmost Ythe whips and scorns of time.” * % % * Tn a blacksmith's cabin up in a se- cluded valley surrounded by mountain ranges Peer feels more poignantly than ever the “great hunger,” which has al- ways been with him even at the height of his success, to know the meaning of life—if it has any meaning. *I saw a man rush out into the night, shaking his fist at heaven and earth; a mad- man who refused to play his part in the farce any more, and so rushed down toward the river. But I myself sat there still.” When finally he and his herofc wife have made the supreme sac- rifice, the sacrifice of their bitterness, he fihds peace and a dawning of light on his haunting question. “Mankind must arise, and be better than the blind powers that order its ways; in the midst of its sorrows it must take heed that the godlike does not die. The spark of eternity was once more aglow in me, and said: Let there be light. And more and more it came home to me that it Is man himself that must create the divine in heaven and on earth—that that is his triumph over the dead omnipotence of the universe. Therefors 1 went out and sowed the corn in my enemy’s fleld, that God might exist.” * % % x Thomas Mann, author of “Budden- brooks™ and one of the leading present- day novelists of Germany, has written a trio of somber, powerful stories, re- cently translated by Kenneth Burk, un- der the title, “Death in Venice and Other Stories.” 1In the title story a middle-aged author, overcome by nos- talgia for a more sensuous life, leaves his quiet existence in Munich for Ven- ice, uges old In intrigue; but Venlce is plague-smitten, and there he meets death. Another story portrays life in a sanatorium. The third, “Tonlo Kroger,"” again analyzes a middle-aged author, who is driven from place to place by gadfly of morbidezza. To him the mel- low, almost rotten south has become sickening, and he turns back to his German home, only to find himself for- gotten and his old home made over into & public library, * ko % Under the title of “‘Convalescent ‘Children’s Literature,'” Montrose J. Moses says some sharp things in the March North America Review about what “children’s literature has had to suffer at the hands of educators.” He urges the leaders of public instruction to “join the library in a more persist- ent crusade for the better book,’” in order thus to “vivify all instruction by using the real book rather than the cut-and-dried text book.” He has found from ‘d ‘recent poll of certain grammar grades as to what books chil- dren like best when left to themselves, with the only criterfon of judgment whether things interest them or not, that they llked not stories of radio and acroplane adventures, or books pub- lished in endless series, but such old favorites as “Little Women,” “Alice in Yyonderland,” “Uncle Remus,” ‘“The Jungle Book,” “Toby Tyler” and “Huc- Ileberry Finn,” all published from 30 to 60 years ago. These preferences he &t- tributes to the persistent campaigns of the librarians, who have given long vears of unflagging devotion to the best Dbooks written for children in all ages. Through their efforts the publishers are more and more turning from the cheap and tawdry to the publication of bet- ter books for children, and especially to the republication of beautifully printed and illustrated editions of the classics, Mr. Moses calls on the school “to help.and not hinder toward a ren- aissance which will liven the imagina- tion of the child-and give him more to cling to when practical necessities of life crowd In upon him. * X ¥ X Readers who wish to take up the study of history, either the whole coursé of human history or the his- tory of some particular perlod, are often deterred from doing so for lack of a guide who will select for them out of the vast mass of books those thay are at once interesting and trustworthy. That lack has now been met by a little book, “How to Read History,” by W. Watkin Davies of Oxford, recently published in Doran’s “Modern® Readers’ Bookshelf.” TIn nine brief chapters, covering only 250 small pages, the author enumerates the most important books for each perlod. Wherever he is forced to mention books that are dul, inordi- nately long or mnot entirely trust- worthy, he so labels them; and he likewise whets the reader's appetite by his praise of brilllantly writtén books. The final chapter on Ameri; cax history is by Prof. Edwin W. Pahs low of the Ethical Culture Schoal of New York. Only books in English are mentioned and only 'h as the authors have personally found useful and interesting. 4 ¥ ok ok X ' More recipés than a normal woman could try In & lifetime are containad in *Everybody’s Cook Book,” a recent encyclopaedia of cookery, edited, by Isabel Ely Lord, former director of the School of Household Science and Arts of Pratt Institute. The book is based on the records of the Pratt In- stitute School for the past 35 years, and every recipe. has been tested by either a member of -the faculty or a 8 ANSWERS Q. Has Helen Keller ever mar- rled?—W. H. T. A. Miss Keller, who is now about 45 years of age, has never married. This remarkable woman, blind and deaf since infancy, has learned to talk, and Is now making vaudeville appearances. Q. Suppose yourself on an ideally smooth_plane, how is it possible to got off7—E. E. C. A. The Bureau of Standards says, “If you throw something backward you will go forward until stopped by resistance of air. Your breath will do.” Q. When dld the Tacna-Arica dis- pute arise?—D. F. A. Its foundation was 1aid by the treaty of Ancon of 1884 following the Chilean-Peruvian War. Tacna-Arica was to remaln in Chile’s possession for 10 years, then a plebiscite was to settle the ultimate desposition. The terms and conditions for such a pleblacite were not laid down and the countries could not agree upon them. Q. Was Sousa in the Marine Band or was he merely its leader?—K. J. A. In 1880 Sousa enlisted in the service of the United States and was appolinted leader of the United States Marine Band. He resigned in 1892 Q. Where was “Thres O'Clock the Morning” written?—B. N. A. This, contrary to popular be- lief, 18 an Argentine composition and was written in Buenos Alres. in Q. Where Was the powder made that was used during the Revolution- ary War?—w. F. A. Every one of the 13 States ex- cept Georgla and Delaware made some powder during the Revolution. The most important mills were lo- cated in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Penn- sylvanta. Q. In what city do the most people own thelr own homes?—S. E. A. In 1920, for cities of 100,000 or more population, Des Moines, Iowa, had the greatest number of peopls who owned their homes. Out of a population of 126,468, 511 per cent were members of families owning thelr own Homes. Q. What is meant by an augmented prime?—C. G. D. A. This term-is a synonym of “half-step” or “minor second”; the name applied to the smallest Interval recognized In music as it is taught in mest civilized countries. Q. Who was the first man nomi- nated under the Demberatlc two- thirds rule?—A. W. L. A. Mar Van Buren. Q. What Is henna powder made from?—H. 8. made from the leaves of a Persia and A It shrub grown in Africa, the East Indies. Q. What jet velocity has Prof. God- dard .been able to -obtain with his rocket, when discharging Into a| vacuum? What sort of fuel does he W. R. R Prof. Goddard of Clark Univer- Worcester, s., furnished us with the following information: “The highest jet velocity in a vacuum, measured experimentally, is 7,893 feet per second. Results of experiments indicate, however ,that the highest et velooity In air, §,000 feet per sec- ond, would have been 9600 feet per second in vacuum. Liquid propellants are employed at present, but details are being withheld until after a test has been made.” Q. Please list the tmportant earth- quakes since 1850.—A. H. A. The following are some of tha heaviest since 1850; August 31, 1866, TO QUESTIONS ° BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN fa | south {the conditions of fornia shock of April 18, 1906; MW sina_earthquake i 1008 'and Tokix earthquake of 1923. Q. When is Mothers’ day?—A. G. A. Mothers' day is the second Su: day in May. A red flower i3 wo: for a mother living, while a - ite cne is worn for a mother who is dead. Q. At what ages must children at- tend school?—M. L. A. Compulsory school attendance ages vary in different States. In no State ara children compeled to start to school before the age of 6. Nev Mexico and Ohlo are the only States which specify this early age. In sev- eral of the Southern States attend- ance is not compulsory after chil- dren are 14; & few States set 15 as a 1imit, while about 30 States require attendance until 16 years of age; & few States say 17, and several 18. Q. Pldase explain about a person’s shadow when passing & light.—Ls C. A. A shadow is formed when rays of light are obstructed by an opaqua body. Rays of light radiate in straight lines in all directions. As a man ap- proaches a street lamp the light shines on his face, and therefors his body casts a shadow behind. In pass- ing the lamp the shadow naturally moves with the man, o0 that when he is in front of the lamp the rays of light strike his back, and therefore cause the shadow to fall before him. Q. Of what material are the dolls of th Hopi and Apache Indians made?—H. S. W. A. The Bureau of American Eth- nology says that the dolls of the Hopl Indians are never made of clay, but ured from thes subter- h of the coiton-wood e not necessarily ra gods, although the need of rain is so present and these images are copies of certain idols which appear on rain altars, that they are some- times called rain god They i‘. however, not gods, but dolls, and &re mads by the parents and given to the children as playthings. The dolls of the Apache, as well as certain other tribes, are often made of adobe, and are probably used in much the same way as the Hopi dolls. Q. How many immigrants have been admitted since 18447—J. O. A. A. There have been approximately 34,978,404 immigrants admitted to the United States since 1844, Wh Q. t caused the Dayton flood— A. The Davton, Ohio, flood of 1913 was, in the main, caused by a record- breaking rainfall, which was due to the. meeting of three opposing air currents, one from’ the west, anot cold stream ~ from the third T J the the rivers flowing through the city and also by the bursting of reservoirs in central and western Ohio. Four hundred and fif- teen lives were lost, and the prop losses amounted to $180,000,600. Q. Was water brought from the Nils to Palestine? What was the prophecy- about {t>—D. H. A. A pipe laid across the Pe Sinal brought water from the Kantra, and just before the c Jerusalem this water was pumped into nsula of e from pture of Palestine north of Gaza at the rate of thousands of gallons per day. Tha g rophecy that you mentioned s an Arab years old. It read “When the Nile flows into Palestine the shall the prophet from the West drive the Turk from Jerusalem.” (The Star maintains for the pleasure and profit of its readers an information service under the directorship of Fred- eric J. Haskin. The scope of the burecu is national and international, and no subject is too elementary or too broad to enlist the personal attention of a spe- Charleston, S. C.; India earthquake of , Kangra earthquake of 1905, Cal cialist. Address The Star Information Burea, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Twenty-first and C streets northwest.) Praise for “Country Lawyer” Who Comes to Cabinet Post The selection of “a country lawyer” for Attorney General of the United States has furnished interesting ma- terial for comment in the daily press much of it complimentary to John Garlbaldl Sargent, second choice of President Coolidge. Some newspapers, while praising Sargent, take occasion to condemn the attitude of the Senate in rejecting Charles B. Warren. The personality and appearance of Sargent receive more than the cus- tomary attention. ‘“‘He is six feet six inches in height, two inches taller than was Abraham Lincoln,” remarks the Minneapolis Tribune. “His head is Websterian. In physique he looks as if he might have sprung direct from the granite hills of Vermont. He is as free and informal as those hills, but always the gentleman., He is as sturdy as those hills in char- acter and purpose. He is a frank em- bodiment of the genius of democracy. He values men for what they are, not for who they are. His knitting has been the law. The tendency to re- fer to Sargent as a country lawyer is cited by the New Orleans Times-Pica- yune, which says that in some quar- ters there seems to be & tendency to sneer because this is so. “Pray, why?" asks the Times-Picayune, and it continues: “There was a country lawyer named John Marshall whose name s writ somewhat high in the legal annals of America. There was another country lawyer named Thomas Jefferson whose views and writings upon politico-legal questions have had some slight effect, upon the relations between ~ Government and people in_ this land. There was yet an- other country lawver named Webster, and we believe there is a certain judi- clal milestone in our constitutional history based upon an argument which he made to the persuasion of certain other country lawyers who sat to hear him.” The simple career of the new cabinet member is re- garded as a factor in his fitness by the Christian Science Monitor, which states: “It can be surmised that the newcomer, fresh from the Vermont hills, with the background of vears of legal training, as a public pro: cutor, has in common with his d tinguished chief and neighbor ‘faith in the law.’” Comparison with Lincoln is made by the Canton News. “Mr. Sargent {5 regarded as old fashioned” remarks the News. “Thix does not djscredit him in the least. Abe Lincoln was old fashioned, 100, but he managed some way or other to make the coun- try . respect . him for his homely virtues. Mr. Sargent appears to possess the necessary .-qualifications to keep his department at even keel. He will not be spectacular, but he will be in all ways dependable.” Greater praise comes from the Al- bany Evening News, which declares that the new official “ought to be one of the best Attorneys General in years. He Is a man of high character. He looks upon the law of the land as something to be lived up to by every one. He can be relfed upon to con- tinue in the same path pursued by Harlan Fiske Stone, whom he suc- céeds.” Admitting that little is known of the new Attorney General, the Nashville Banner greets him with this favorable statement: "He has high rating in the section from which he comes. The President has known him for many years. The country at large is yet to become acquainted with him. There is every reason to believe him capable and in every way fitted for z:—dlnln‘ulshad post.” Some attention is paid to the ques- on of the effect upon ‘the enfores ment of prohibition of tfie new. &p- pointment. “After the ‘most - teresting development of the whols situation is vet to come,’ according to the Trenton remains to of t I Evening Thmes. “It en how the new hea partment of Justice Swil conduct the legal affaifs of the N: tion. including—and perhaps espe- clally—the Federal liquor regula- tion The Fort Wayne Joutnal- Gazette quotes a’ statement by Mr. Sargent an interview. on llguor law e ment {n which the offictal stated: “I intend to do my duty. I will do my best to enforce that as well as other laws." The paper cor “Unrestrained liquor wa . but it was scarcely & bad as a scheme of morals to which only liquor is reprobate. Mr. gent appears to have a broader T tion of his duties as chief agent of law in the Government. We be he has refreshed a great many minds throughout the length and breadth of the land, wearied by the constant din that everything else must be left to go by the board. but prohibition must be made paramount.” Differing views are held to the political phase of the confl is that prompt action was of the ing of conflict gent's uncontested confirn marks the Spokaue Chros “giv hope that the Senate is willing ta- effes} the co-operation President Caolidge should have from that body.in R@sdede legislation.”” The Knoxvilie Sentinel-finds the eettiement _satisfactory, the refection of Warren and asserts thag rgent seems to “present a prima facia case of a reputablo lawyer pure and simple.” The Attorney General's repu- tation as “the best lawyer in New Ine- land” is cited in his favor by the Hur- risburg Telegraph. Further protest sgainst the attitude of the Semate is made by the New York Evening Post which says, “So ends for the moment what the President describes as a ‘political controversy.” It was not a political controversy. It was & partisan Dblow to the whole syetem of responsit.i. party government.". Alleges Misstatement In a Cable Dispatch To.the Editor of The Star: VY Tn ybur issue of the 14th} March’ there appeared a- cmble patch from London comtaiming two ‘misstatements of facta concerning the Christian Science Benevolent Associa tion in Boston, Mass, Firstly he death rate at .the Christian nce Sanitarlum is not high, but, to the contrary, many “in- curable” diseakes are DBeing healed there. Secondly, contagiéus discases are not admitted to the sanitarfum,’ as implied in the cable dispatch. 1 the event of such a case appearing, it would immediately be taken care of according to thé regulations of the local Board of Mealth, The Christian Science Benevolent Association is doing a wonderful work, as shown by many letters of gratitude and appreciation sent to lts board of trustees, by those who have had the privilege of being its guests. Many of these letters are published from time .to time in -the Christian Seience Sentinel. _PHILIP KING, Christian Science Committes on Publi-. cation for the District of Columbla,; ’