Evening Star Newspaper, May 31, 1925, Page 46

9 - THE EVENING STAR|>ouns fellow or a competent, steady- With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. BUNDAY..........May 31, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office - 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Building. ‘Buropean Office: 18 Regent St.. London, England. The Evening Star. with the Sunday morn- € edi ia delivered by carriers within the city at' 60 cents per month: daily only, 45 cenis per month. Sunday only. 20 cents Ter month_ Orders may be sent by mail or Telephona Main 5000. Collection is made by varrier at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Datly and Sunday....1yr., §8.40: 1 mo. Daily only 8.00: 1 m Sunday only 700 B0c - 20¢ All Other States. Daily and Sunday...1yr..§10.00;: 1 mo., Daily only . {1yr. $7.00¢ 1 mo. Sunday only . “13r. $3.00:1mo., Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled 10 1ha ‘use for republication of all news dis- Patehes credited to it or not otherwise ited in this paper and also the local news published herein. Al rights of publication o1 spacial dispat. American Aircraft Development. The aircraft industry of America, under the fostering care of the admin- sstration, is moving steadily forward. The policy of the administration is to encourage wherever it can the develop- ment of aviation, so vital to the na- tional deferise. The policy also has been that commercial aviation must Pay its own way, and this it has good prgspect of doing. President Coolidge, in his message transmitting the budget for the fiscal vear 1926 to Congress last December, veferred particularly to the need of engthening the aircraft industry, which he said was equivalent to strengthening the national defense. He called attention to the fact that the industry was almost cntirely depend- £nt upon the Government business. Congress appropriated and author- ized nearly $20,000,000 for aircraft, air- craft engines and accessories for the Army and Navy during the coming iscal year. In the opinion of experts these appropriations will materially nid in stimulating the industry. Furthermore, the Government has nided greatly through the development of the air mail service. The passage of the Kelly bill at the last session of Congress, giving the Postmaster Gen- eral power to contract with private enterprise for the carrying of the mails by airplane, gives added impetus not only to alr mail service, but to com- mercial aviation. The Government is watching with lieen interest the experiment of Henry Yord in the fleld of aviation, which includes, not only the construction of rcraft, but their operation in a reg: ular service between Detroit and Chi- cago. There is reason to believe that 1he service will prove profitable, and 1hat it bé only a forerunner of many other airplane services for fast freight @nd passengers between other Ameri- can cities. n @ memorandum submitted to the Tresident by Government cxperts on aviation attention is called to the fact 1hat the United States in matter of uir records for performance has out- istanced both France and England. 1920 the percentages of air records held by the three countries ran as fol- lows: France, 73 per cent: England, I3 per cent, and the United States, 8 per cent. But the situation today is different, the percentages for 192 vanging as follows: United States, Fmpnce, 17, and England, 0. There is eery reason to believe, in the opinion of the experts, that the United States will increase its percentage of records furing the year 1925. The United States has been always & pioneer in the art of aviation. In technical development it is still stead- ily forging ahead and, with the devel opment of commerclal aviation. the problem, so far as it relates to na- ional defense, will largely be solved. ‘The helpful attitude of the adminis- tration toward the industry cleariy is having its results. r———— It Is a matter of journalistic regret hat the remarks of Mr. Otto Kahn at ® private luncheon in Paris, with ref. erence to debt settlement, should have Yeen inaccurately reported. It should e his privilege to print in every news- paper an authenticated copy of pre- risely what he did say; for his position in the money world is important and W has the right to be protected from @ny misconstruction of his utterances. The Grocery Store. The American Wholesale Grocers’ Association, in its thirty-third annual convention here, has heard addresses by men who know a great deal about aroceries. 1t is a big subject. There was & time when groceries did not go much beyond fiour, meal, sugar, tea, bacon, sait mackerel, vinegar, molasses und pickles, but the grocery trade now carries evervthing that men will eat, gnd everybody knows how the list of 1hings to cat and of varieties, brands mrd trade names has lengthened. Many grocery stores are set in a way 10 please the eve and tempt the ap yetite. Cans with art labels and jars of rweets and sours in all shades of color fill the shelves. Some grocery stores are made as bright as a jewelry store or a flower shop. Two of the things discussed at the convention of grocers were improved business methods and ethics. The ex- yerience of most of us is that business mmethods of the grocery atore have im- proved. Not so meny of us carry the little charge book in which purchases @nd prices were usually illegibly en- tered. Not so many of us keep watch ©n that little book to be sure that the grocer has not made an unpremeditat- ¥4 or other kind of mistake in multipli- vation or addition. More of us pay pash for groceries and are free of the sed of buying in one particular store. fore housekeepers have their eves on the price lists and keep abreast of Guotations on potatoes, oranges, eggs @nd canned tomatoes. So far as outsiders see there has fheen improvement in grocery ethics, #nd surely there has been improve- sment in the upkeep of the grocery #tore. The clerk i= alert, quick and Zelpful, and nemrly alwaye is a bright going older fellow of long experience. If & customer is not too pernickerty, capricious or downright disagreeable by nature he or she ought to get along well enough in the modern grocery store. While there are no public compiaints to make against grocery ethics, there is complaint about grocery prices, but the grocer says he is not to blame and cannot help the prices. A strange thing about our high prices is that nobody is to blame. Nobody is re- sponsible. Prices just raise themselves. It does not seem that grocery prices have gone up in any worse way than the cost of buying houses or renting rooms, or have gone up in any more uncontrollable way than carfare, milk, shoes, shirts, collars and neckties, and there is organization in%the modern grocery store which seems to give us groceries as near the wholesale price level as can be and with as little over- head charge as possible. Not many speakers and writers, artists and poets busy themselves with the theme of the grocery store, vet it is an important place. e — Furniture Trust Indicted. Elimination of competition is alleged against the 269 furniture and refrig- erator manufacturers who have just been indicted in Chicago under the antitrust law. This is one of the largest and most sweeping accusations ever brought in the Government's ef- fort to break up monopolistic com- binations. The manufacturing com- panies are classified in three groups according to the class of products. One group, which manufactures bed- room and dining room furniture, radio cabinets and clock cases, does a bus: ness, it is alleged, of $80,000,000 yearly; another group, manufacturing refrig- erators, does an annual business of $15,000,000, and a third group of chair manufacturers does $15,000,000 of busi- ness also each year. Thus these three groups of 269 firms and companies have g yearly business of $110,000,000. This industry closely concerns the public. It supplies a necessity of gen- eral use. If the Government's accu- sations are justified trust methods have been employed by these firms and corporations without actual mer- ger and unified ownership. The in- dictment charges elimination of com- petition through understanding and agreement as to prices; also that ex- cessive and exorbitant prices are fixed by this understanding and agreement. It is alleged that through three asso- clations the member corporations and firms distribute for mutual informa- tion reports of the details of their busi- ness for the purpose of avolding and preventing breaches in the understand- ing and agreement. In other words, it is alleged that so far as the fixing and maintenance of prices are con- cerned the manufacturers in three different groups of the business are practically united as closely as they would be in single corporations. It must be said that if these 269 firms and companies have been brought together to the point of effective asso- ciation for price fixing and for distri- bution a remarkable plece of commer- clal engineering has been accom- plished. It is no small task to unite upon such a policy as that which is charged in these indictments so large a number of naturally competitive in- dustrial units. And the menace to the public welfare is the ‘greater for the dificulty and the magnitude of this task. The theory upon which the anti- trust law was enacted is that con- solidation and intercorporation agree- ment for the control of prices is con- trary to the public interest. Under the operation of this act the Govern- ment has conducted numerous “‘trust- breaking” suits and prosecutions. It has caused the dissolution of large corporations formed by the consolida- tion of numerous smaller competitive units. It has not, however, eliminated the trust The essential element in this prose- cution under the indictments just re- turned in Chicago will be proof by the Government of an effective com pulsory understanding between the in dividual firms and corporations, ef- fective in the actual control of prices and compulsory in that member firms and corporations are not free to follow competitive practices, being bound by contracts to observe territorial rights, to avoid rivalries and to exchange in- formation. If these points can be es tablished this combination, which is now attacked as a veritable trust, will be destroyed. —ee Madison Square Garden has been torn dewn, and some of the intellectual lights that made the Democratic con- vention memorable will move down to Dayton, Tenn. —— s The enly sure money involved in the Doheny oil leases appears to be the one hundred thousand alleged to have becn rassed along to Albert Fall. ————— There is a little pacifist sentiment in the U. S. A.. but not enough to pro- vido a grand “Welcome Home" demon- stration for Grover Bergdoll. The Wreck of the Hesperus. Somebody is always taking the joy out of life and the heart out of poetry. Here is a callous litsrary critic in Bos- ton who has gone researching into the files of the newspapers of 1839 and has discovered that there is no basi fact for Longfellow's ballad, * Wreck of the Hesperus,” which has been familiar to several generations of Americans. Browsing through Long- fellow's diary, this researcher came upon the following passage for the 17th of December, 1839: News of shipwrecks horrible off the coast. Twenty bodies washed ashore near Gloucester. One female lashed to a piece of wreck. There is a reef called Normans Woe, where many of these took place, among others the schooner Hesperus. I must write a ballad about this. Thereupon the researcher went to the flles to see just what kind of a storm it was and what actually hap pened, and he found that on the 15th ecember a furious gale had lashed the New England coast and about 20 vessels were driven on Normans Woe. But the Hesperus was not one of them. There was a schooner of that name, but she was in Boston Harbor, and the gale drove her against the William THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, 1 That, in fact, was the “wreck of the Hesperus.” This disclosure will not destroy the beauty of the poem or its endless ap- peal. It will stand always as one of Longtellow’s most famous works, even though the Hesperus was not wrecked, and even though she was not near Normans Woe when she cracked her bowsprit, which was all that happened to her. But suppose Longfellow had walted for the complete reports and had picked cut one of the ships that did go to pieces on Normans Wos and had based his ballad on that tragedy, and the unfortunate ship had been named, as were most of those of that day, something like the Sally Perkins, or the Joshua Higgins. Would the ballad have lived as long as it has? No, it would have been a commonplace performance. It was a combination of “Hesperus,”” a sweet-sounding name with romantic flavor, and “Normans ‘Woe,” a grim title of menace to sea- tarers, that gave the ballad its poign- ancy of appeal. The mischief about these historical disclosures with reference to lterary landmarks is that somebody always re- members them. And in years to come many of the readers of that ballad will recall that all that happened to the Hesperus in the great storm of 13839 was that she bumped her nose. Improper Film Enterprise. It is proposed, and, in fact, it has been planned to introduce in the line of Naval Academy graduates & few days hence a mnoted motion picture actor, to receive a “dipioma’ from the hands of the President, along with the actual graduates, as & featyre of a movie film which portrays life at the Naval Academy. Protest has been made against this use of a formal, his- toric ceremony for commercial pur- poses, and the plan may be abandoned. It shotild be abandoned. Surely there is no reason why the actual officlal ceremonies of the Government should be made part of film fictions. No matter how faithfully Government activities may be reproduced in this form, or how wholesome may be the public reaction to the display of such pictures, the fact remains that these films are made and displayed for busi- ness purposes, for profit. The Gov- ernment should not go into the amuse- ment enterprise or lend itself as an aid with discrimination in favor of particular companies. There is no need to advertise the United States Navy. This is peace time. The Naval Academy never lacks recruits. It is unnecessary to stimu- late the interest of young men in a possible naval career by means of film plctures. The Government, therefore, has no occasion to allow the use of its “locations” and its ceremonies to arouse the patriotic ambitions of the youth of the land. —_— e In many respects Col. W. J. Bryan is a lucky man. The need of his elo- quence as a foe of the evolution theory came just at the time when there is a 1ull in the Florida real estate market. — - Asa firm and experienced discipiina- rian Hindenburg may find it his mis- sion to restrain the Hohenzollern fam. ily from a reckless dash for the spot- light. S American tourists still visit Europe, but not yet in sufficient numbers to solve financlal difficulty by rendering United States money available in an indirect way. ———— Soviet Russia may be Inclined to make life easy for Trotsky if he can refrain from writing political essays and devote his penmanship to signing the pay roll. e Whenever there is a storm at sea rum runners succeed in landing a few cases of whisky and several thousand bales of “genuine Scotch” labels. ———— I Sc far a discovery of the North Pole has served chiefly to create interest in the prospect of its rediscovery. R SHOOTING STARS. RY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Conservatism. We're a very conservative Nation. In spite of the thrills we acquire From many a strange demonstration Which we are supposed to admire. In spits of divorces suggesting Another new figure in fame, ‘We pause, and once more are request- ing The news as to Who Won the Game! 1 In spite of each protest emphatic Relating to Science or Laws; In spite of elections erratic ‘Which bid us in caution to pause; In spite of Ambitions aspiring To foster a militant flame, Most earnest are we when inquiring As usual, “Who Won the Game?” Wasting No Flattery. ““What is your opinion of evoiution “There's no reason why I should favor the idea,” answered Senator Sor- . “A chimpanzee has no poliilcal inflience whatever.” Heaven! Celestial streets with gold are paved. What's more, if we with righteous grace Live on, we'll find there has been mved For each a proper parking space. Jud Tunkins says he can't expect much service from & workman who works eight hours a day and puts in the other 16 boctlegging. A Discouragement. “Why don’t you go into politics?” “I've been in politics,” answered Farmer Corntossel. “I once got elect- ed to the Legislature. And I found the Legislature was just as hard to im- prove as the farm.” A Market Martyr. ‘The Bull and Bear Cause me no care. My coin has gone To Bull and Con. A Consistent Theorist. “Why don’t you mend the holes in your trousers?” “I's economizin’,” answered Uncle MAY 31, Problems That Agitate Now Not New, Marshall Asserts BY THOMAS R. MARSHALL, Former Vice President of the United States. ‘Writers of books, especially au- thors in romance, continue to re- plow old flelds. Thousands of books of fiction may be classified together as to their ganeral character. Only a few are distinctive. The skeletons of most of them virtually are the same. In fact, a survey of fiction reveals that in romance little is new except the language in which it is clothed. Biography and history reveal sim- ilar characteristics, to a lesser de- gree, perhaps. The difference in biographies is not so much a difference in the anatomy of men as in the clothing they wore. As to history, the more we read of it the more we are impressed with the recurrence of moot Qquestions which we supposed had been perma- nently settled. All of which leads me to wonder whether mankind is as smart as it believes itself to be. We have more tools and appliances in the form of dictionaries and lex- icons, more ways of expressing our- selves, greater facllities of produc- tion and distribution, but what of our thoughts, emotions, purposes? Are they better or much different in this age than in the ages before us? Personally, I am inclined to feel that today’s distinction comes from the clothing which we use to hide from the gaze of the public the skeletons of the past. * ¥ To realize how old ideas and thoughts constantly may bob up in new garbs, one needs oniy to attempt to figure out how many different combinations can be made out of the 10 digits, or how many words may be formed out of the 26 letters of the alphabet. The coinage even yet has not ceased, nor will it cease so long as usage dignifies the introduction of slang into the English language. He would be a courageous soul, in- deed, who would assert that the same grade of mind, under similar circumstances, today would function differently from the way it func- tioned 2,000 years ago. I recall an incident which convinced me that under like circumstances 2 grad> of mind will produce the same thoughts from age to age. It illustrates how a person, guiltless of plagiarism, might use language which long be- fore his time had been reduced to print. We were in court ‘n the city of Fort Wayne. The haiuff of the court was an Irishman, fresh from overseas, smart but wholly devoid of academic training. “Look,” he said to a group of us who were enjoying a smoke during a recess of the court. He pointed out of the window to a lawyer we all knew, one who has gained the repu- tation of being extremely acquisitive and not altogether ethical in his pro- fession. ‘“What of him?” asked one of the group. “Can’t you see?” countered the Irish bailiff. ‘“Look at him. He has his hand in his own pocket.” %o We took this as an instance of native Irish wit. As for myself I had not the slightest doubt that it was such. Yet that very night, upon pick- Ing up a volume of wit and humor, T read that indentical joke which was credited to an ancient Greek. I be- came convinced that save for the ha- biliments of modesty or glory in which we clothe ourselves, we are not much different in our thoughts from men of other days. I got to thinking along this line after reading the argument in the United States Supreme Court touch- ing the status of a former post- master of Portland, Oreg. In this cause the court is called upon to determine whether the President of the United States can remove an official whose appointment was con- firmed by the Senate without the ad- vice and consent of the Senate. I would explain at the outset that I have no intention of expressing an opinion as to what the decision should be. That is a matter exclu- sively for the court, and from my viewpoint {t is improper for a citizen to express an opinion prior to the decision. I refer to the case merely by way of i{llustration. Many per- sons seem to think that it presents a new question in the conduct of Government. It does nothing of the kind. To the contrary, it discloses in the Senate of today the same state of mind that was to be found in that body at the very beginning of the Republic. Persons who now are com- plaining about the dilatory practices of the Senate, and about its spleen and malice, should realize that none of this is new. From the foundations of the Government, it has been very much the same. v As there are now, so in the first Senate there were Senators so anxious to exalt the President as to be willing to be influenced by his every nod, smile or frown. They constituted what was called the Court party. Then, too, as now, there were Sena- tors who felt that the Senate was a co-ordinate branch of the Government, which, within its constitutional rights, was of importance equal to that of the office of President. In the first session of the Congress the very questions now involved in the case of Postmaster Myers were the subjects of raging discussion. A bill was up, containing this clause: “Whenever the said principal officer shall be removed from office by the President of the United States,” etc. From the moment of the reading of this clause the fight was on. Mem- bers of the so-called Court party con- tended that officlals, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Sen- ate, ought to-be subject to removal by the President, who was responsi- ble for an efficient administration. Opponents maintained that if the President’s appointments were to be made by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, impeachment was the only process by which an official could be detached from his office. The discussion raged for days, and now, 135 years later, the questions involved in that discussion arise so garbed as to present a brand-new ap- pearance. I cite this to point out that, while the American people seem to feel that the Senate now contains men who are impeding the progress of affairs by not_yielding to the wishes of the Chief Executive, other persons in other years have thought similarly of other Senates. It has been so from the beginning. (Copyright, 1925, by 21st Century Press) MARK TWAIN’S CAVE IN DANGER BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN Near the banks of the Mississippi River, just two miles south of Han- nibal,” Mo., a near-tragedy is being enacted. The Mark Twain Cave, fa- mous wherever Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are known, seems doomed to destruction. The cave is of limestone formation. It is said by geologists to belong to a series of caves which run across Missourl, cross the river near Hanni- bal and proceed in a southerly direc tion through the famous Kentucky cave region to the gulf. These underground passages are thought to be the course of an un- derground river which flowed through them in distant geological ages. Whether the river was as long as the chain {s mot known, but all the caverns were formed by water. The theory has it that the river did flow through them all and that once they were connected, forming an immensa subterranean labyrinth. This iz mere- 1y theory, however, and at th> present time thers are no connections be- tween them, although at many places the walls which end the passages ring with a hollow sound when struck by a hammer or club. The Mark Twain Cave, as one of this series, is surrounded by extensive strata of limestone which fs essential in the manufacture of camen:. A Portland cement company owns par: of the hill under which it lies. The cement plant itself is but o mils or so south of “Cave Hollow.” Tts quar- ries have eaten into hills nearby and now are in the hill which houses the cave. A visitor to the cave who happens to explore beyond the customary routes feels the tremors caused by blasting and at times bits of rock fail from the ceiling and walls around him. Some of the more remote passages al- ready have fallen in, due to the shocks, and as the quarries come closer it is likely that the whole cave eventually will collapse. This is where the note of tragedy comes in. The cave is by far the most pic- turesque natural thing in the vicinity. Tt has a glamour of romance, an air of mystery about it, just as other caves have, plus the immortal touch that Mary Twain's pen gave to it. Five Entrances to the Cave. 1t is entered at the base of a high hill through an openh;g \'Mch“:u been enlarged to ample proportions and which s supported by artificial arches. This entrance was originally much smaller; it was a hole in the side of the hill. Then there are four other known ways in which the cave may be entered. These are holes of different size that are strung along the hillside, one very high on it, so that one must wriggle through its narrow limits and descend a steep incline to arrive at the level of the main entrance. All of these holes, save the highest one, have been boarded up to prevent children from entering and repeating the thrilling experiences of Tom Saw- yer and Becky Thatcher. This one, however, {s a serious gap in the pro- tecting net that has been thrown about the place. The boys of Hannfbal know of it, and there seems to be a sort of fraternal secrecy about it as the guides attached to the cave have never closed it. To the tourist a trip into the cavern costs 25 cents. He is guided about the labyrinth and shown such wonders as “Fat Man's Misery,” “The Devil's Backbone,” “The Ship,” “The Ele- phant’s Trunk” and others. These formations are dwelt upon in glowing terms by the gulde. Also there is a room which is called “The Parlor.” Here a divan of rock and a stone plano are shown the tourist. The latter ob- jects, however, require considerable imagination to picture the articles they are said to represent. One enterpris- ing shoe company has shown disre- spect for “The Plano” by carving an advertisement on the keyboard. “The Cross” under which the treas- ure of Injun Joe is supposed to have been hidden is in evidence. It is on the ceiling at the intersection of two passages and is formed by two deep furrows in the rock at the geometrical center of the Intersection. A few ger and she lost her bowsprit.| Eben. “Holes is cheaper dan patches.” | foqt from it 18 “The Elephant's Trunk” where local lore declares a man hanged himself. In another section of the cave is a room which is also an object of interest to the visitor. There are two entrances, both barricaded by a wall of rock over which the visitor must crawl to get into it. In this room, the guide declares, the James boys and their gang had a rendezvous where they retired when pressed by pursuing posses. It matters little that the James boys are not definitely known ever to have been in that part of Missouri. A Toppling Boulder. In another portion of the cave the visitor sees a terrifying spectacle. He comes upon it unexpectedly. A huge boulder, weighing 1iany tons, is wedged between the walls, approxi- mately midway between the ceiling and the floor. Tt hangs at a pecu- liar angle so that when approached from one side it appears to be about to topple over. One must pass be- neath this “Hanging Rock” to pro- ceed. Numerous freshets and springs are to be found and there are some stalactitds and stalagmites, although most of these have been broken off by tourists. The deeper one pene- trates, the higher the ceiling be- comes, and there are many places where the height of the passage is 50 feet. In some places the floor climbs almost to the ceiling and then descends into dark mystic valleys. The spring which quenched the thirst of Tomand Becky is there, not far from the original entrance Mark Twain wrote about. The prece- dent set by these two child lovers has been zealously followed and the walls of the cave, in the familiar parts, are covered with names and dates scratched after a candle had deposited a background of soot. Outside is a_beautiful valley, roofed by the branches of numerous trees, It is filled with wild flowers and birds, but its chief inhabitant is the chigger, which asserts itself vigorously when picnickers spread their repasts on the grass. A few hundred feet away is the Mississippi, while a peaceful little branch divides the valley. Just over the hill to the north is the cemetery in which are buried most of the Clemens family, and then comes Hannibal itself, where the name “Mark Twain” bobs up at almost every street corner. There is a Mark Twain avenue, a Mark Twain Hotel, a Mark Twain Automobile Club and numerous Mark Twain businesses. One of the “sights” is the former home of the famous humorist. Standing on the lip of a bluff over- looking the river in what is known as Riverview Park, is a statue of Mark Twain. He stands, a command- ing figure, surveying the miles of country that lie beneath him. Bridal- wreath, red-bud, may apple and wild roses bloom about him. In the distance the river loses itself in the hills. Just across and down a bit is Jackson Is- land, where Huck Finn's father had his abode. It is as if the great humor- ist were standing guard over the country he loved so well. The blasts will soon wreck the cave if something is not done to prevent. In Hannibal one hears’ of the unsafe condition of the remote passages and many people are loath to enter at all. Mark Twain said it would be there in the “afternoon of eternity,” but it is trembling before the cement work- ers. It may go down to oblivion with its traditions and lore and names of lovers and boyish dreams. - Has a Broad Meaning. From the Lexington Leader. ‘The poor forelgner learning Ameri- can can't tell whether “dirt” refers to oil, politics or literature. These Troublesome Parents. From the Toledo Blade. Parents are S0 set in their ways! At times the children simply can't do anything with mfi i 1925—PART Capital Sidelights | 9 BY WILL P. KENNEDY. Represedtative John Q. Tilson of Connecticut, who will come into the next Congress as floor leader of the House, has had a rugged, hard-work- ing, determined life. Ie knows how it feels to walk on foot from a moun- tain home in the South to get an ed: cation at Yale University and then earn his way through by doing any- thing he could lay his hands and will to theraby earning an honest penny. And House Leader Tilson is today just the same determined, frank, hon- est, sincere fellow—and fs going to tackle his new big job without any frills or conceit or aloofness. He says, “My first name {s John and T hope all of the gopd fellows who have worked with me and know me well will call me ‘John.' The omisslon of formali- tles and conventionalities always helps.”’ And “John" Tilson 13 out to get the utmost help he can from his col- leagues in expediting the passage of the legislative program. He explaini “This is not a one-man job. Of cour: I can move a call of the House or to adjourn all by myself, but to really do the job of floor leader teamwork is required. Since Jim Mann passed to his reward there is no man left living who could successfully do the job un- aided. Sometimes I think that even he would have been better off if he had allowed others to help him.” He has been making a careful study of his job and he has advised a way to get better teamwork by encouraging more members to know more about more bills than ever before. He con- templates the formation of something of an organization to do this work thoroughly without imposing too much of a burden on any one in particular. He is preparing for squally times, too, and has his “‘weather eye” care. fully focused. He says he realizes that “we cannot hope that we shall all always agree; that is, all see eye-to-eye on everything. It would, perhaps, be unfortunate if we did, but we should all make every effort to agree on es- sental things, just as far as possible. If there should come a time, as thers may, when my own personal views on a particular matter are different from those of the majority, it will make no difference as far as my official acts as floor leader are concerned. The ma- chinery of the House shall be used to the best of my ability to carry out the will of the majority of any policy that may be finally agreed upon.” He is also steeling his heart to say “No” and “Yes" at the right time, re- gardless of pressure and personal in- clination. He foresees that this can- not be helped, for he realizes that as floor leader he will not be representing himself alone but representing the en- tire party membership. Representative Tilson is a thorough party man and is encouraging every Republican member to strive to the best of his ability to work with other Republicans for the best interests of the parfy, explaining that “this, in our judgment as Republicans, is also for the best interests of the entire country * % % * That the Supreme Court has held unconstitutional only an infinitesimal fraction of 1 per cent of all the laws enacted by Congress and passed upon by the tribunal is emphasized by Rep- resentative C. William Ramseyer of Towa, after going carefully over the records with the authorities in the Legislative Reference Bureau of the Library of Congress He calls attention that the total num- ber of volumes of Supreme Court de- cisions is 266, with one or two more to come. These volumes run from 100 to 120 cases per volume, so that the total number of cases decided by the Supreme Court is something over 30,000. There were 47 cases in which acts of Congress were held unconsti- tutional. In contrast to this Representative Ramseyer points out that from the First Congress in 1789 to March 4, 1925. the end of the Sixty-eighth Con- gress, a total of 50.060 laws had been enacted. These laws are contained in 56 volumes with 48,000 pages. * % % % All sorts of interesting memorabilia and souvenirs and curios are to be found in private collections in Wash- ington, as well as In the great national and many institutional museums For example: Maj. Robert W. Shu- feldt, U. S. A., retired, has an excellent collection which includes the gold pen and holder used by his grandfather, Abercrombie, who was Washington's pastor in Philadelphia. This pen was used to write a letter of condolence to Mrs. Alexander Hamiilton when her husband was shot by Aaron Burr in their famous duel. Maj. Shufeldt also has a brick from the Great Wall of China and the fleld glass of Col. Makepeace of the British Army, which he carried in the Battle of Sebastapol. “What thoughts arige in the mind when one examines such unique rel- ics,” says Maj. Shufeldt. who, by the way. has made a very careful study of the wonderful incunabula in the library of the surgeon general of the Army. e ST Members of Congress and other prominent Government officials are going to historic Willlamsburg, Va., this week to assist at the laying of the corner stone of a memorial butld- ing to the 50 founders of the pioneer Greek letter fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa. which originated at Willlam and Mary College 149 vears ago. This building is to be completed for the big celebration in December, 1926. ‘Washington’s unique Phi Beta Kap. pa Assoclation, which has scholastic honor men from all the great educa- tlonal institutions of the country as members, under the leadership of Past President Representative R. Walton Moore of Virginia, formerly a mem- ber of the board of visitors of Willlam and Mary College, is planning for a reception in honor of the national president of the United Chapters of the Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Charles F. Thwing of Western Reserve Univers. ity, and Rev. Dr. Oscar M. Voorhees, the national secretary. These two national officers will lead the pilgrimage from the National Cap- ital to the birthplace of this oldest and educationally most exclusive of all the Greek letter fraternities, which is the first of a serles of pligrimages from all parts of the country. * % % % Uncle Sam has just signed up the king of all base ball pitchers,—the grand old man of the iron arm, who smoke-balled his team to the world’s championship last season. The re- doubtable Walter Johnson is starring in an official Government “movie,” as a perfect example of what the milk pitcher does for the base ball pitcher, He was filmed at the American League Park, Washington. In his toast to milk, Walter John- son sald to Miss Jessie M. Hoover, of the Bureau of Dairying: “I am a native of Kansas; was born on a farm between Iola and Humboldt. My real home is Coffeyville, Kans. When T was growing up we had lots of cows on our farm and we all drank milk. T drink it now when I can get it good and clean. It is good for base ball players, especially in the morn- ing and evening. I never take it be- fore going onto the fleld, but it is fine after the game. Of course, we never eat food just before taking violent exercise. That is the reason ‘we don’t take milk—for milk is a food. T have four children and they all drink milk—Mrs. Johnson sees to that. My oldest is a boy of 9.” “We all noticed,” said Miss Hoover, “his fine, strong, straight teeth: his clear blue eyes, his healthy skin and the strong straight posture of his muscular body.” Now {sn’t that distinction to arouse the ambition and admiration of the American boy to fever heat— world- ‘hero of th nd, and hero of the movies. Whe wouldn't drink milk. MEN AND BY ROBERT According to all the published re- ports of his recent speech at Bir mingham, Ala., Vice President Dawes made a faux pas which his oppon- ents in the fight over the Senate rules the not likely soon to forget. It be- gins to look us if every time the fighting general gets to going good in his campalgn something comes along to trip him up. Gen. Dawes s fighting for majority rule in the Senate. He says it is ridiculous, utterly beyond his com- prehension, how the country could have 8tood thess last hundred years and more for the doctrine of minority rule in the upper House of the Con- gress. The rules must be 8o changed that if 49 Senators wish to accom- plish & certain plece of legislation th other 47 must stand out of the wa. There must be quick and effective cloture. Debate must be shut off at a glven time. The opportunity for a minority of the Senators to fili- buster must be denfed. It has been pointed out by Senator Moses and Senator Wadsworth and other standpatters on the Senate rules that the condition which Gen. Dawes advocates would have resulted in the adoption of the League of Na- tions by this country, the passage of force bills and various other sup- posedly undesirable measures. Be that as it may, Gen. Dawes be- lleves in majority rule. But here comes the Birmingham faux pas. In the very speech in which he advo- cated majority rule, the general pro. ceeded to denounce in characteristic style the system of which States hav- ing less than one-fifth of the popula. tion of the United States are per mitted to have a majority of repre- sentation in the Senate.” In other words Gen. Dawes finds himself argu ing that if hid amendments to the Senate rules are adopted it will be possible for the representatives of less than one-fifth of the people of the United States to dictate legislation to the remalning four-fifths. That {8 majority rule with reverse English on the ball. The Vice Pres. dent’s criticism of the system which gives to the 77,000 citizens of the State of Nevada the same voting power in the United States Senate as the more than 10,000,000 citizens of New York may be good and valid, but it is not likely ever to be changed. What Gen. Dawes does not seem to realize is that the Senate rules as they exist today were designed in part to counteract the inequality of repre- sentation of which he bitterly com plains. More than often a small minority of Senators actually represent a ma- Jority of the people of the United States. Yet, under the Dawes plan of rules revision their right to stand out would be denied them and the so- called minority States could sway This and That By Charles E. Tracewell. Jack Spratt, cat-o’-war, popped out on the back porch, his eyes gleaming. ears erect, tail held rather high—all signs of the coming of night. Night to a cat is what day is to a man. It is the time for achievement, filled with hours of elation, minutes of progress. Men go forth to their labors; cats sleep. Men come home with the setting sun; cats wake, stretch, go forth to battle. The gleam of combat shone in the green depths of Spratt's rapidly assuming a large state, glowing darker and darker, as nature opened them up for the dark of the night. He swept the alleyscape. Not a sign of life missed he. He saw the waving | rose bushes, as a gentle wind swayed their soft, pink blossoms to and fro by the wire fence. Not a thing that moved he failed to see. Sh! What's that? Ah, nothing but a bit of paper, rustling there in the alley. What was that? No fear: just a Robin Red Breast yanking out | worms in the next yard. Yank away, Robin. I am too busy now to attend to vou. Tomorrow, in my hours of leisure, I will see if T can sneak up on you and devour you for my breakfast. Until then, fatten yourself well on worms. I am on the lookout for old Capt. Kidd, that white villain with the black tall; that animated hunk of fat; that sharp-clawed rascal from the next el- | ley, who made my life miserable all last Winter! I was only a small cat then: not vet secure in my growth. Today T have broadened out, my backbone no longer sways downward: my forelegs are limber. but strong. my claws sharp, my teeth sharper yet, my stomach fill- ed with bracing beefsteak. Come on, Capt. Kidd, T am ready for vou! * % % ¥ So Jack Spratt seemed to muse as he stood there on the porch for a minute, preparatory to sallying forth on the tmmemorial quest of his tribe for battle. Every cat's paw is ar- rayed against every other cat. Every cat walks by his lone, as Kipling said. The world of men may be walting for the sunrise, but the cats are walting for sundown when every feline geeks the great outdoors where cats are cats. It would be presumptuous for any man to declare his intention of setting forth the true wanderings of a house cat on the warpath. In the first place, no cat would stir a foot as long as he felt any one was watching him. In the second place, he would 3soon give you the slip. To follow him in fmagination, how- every is another thing, and this is what we shall do here on the trail of old Jack Spratt, all of whose nine lives hang In the balance as he fares forth to meet Capt. Kidd. Kidd is a veteran of the allevs. The oldest, the largest, the strongest tomeat in the neighborhood, he has been the terror of Catdom. He made Spratt’s life miserable for him for a year. Tonight—how shall it be? Jack ran down the path, stopping at the gate to peer up and down the alley. As if equipped with wings, his lithe legs hopped him up on top of the gate. He raised his head He looked intently afar. He saw—Kidd. There, more than a block away, sailed that freebooter, his black tail stuck straight out, his nose sniffing the ground. He, too, was on the trail! Jack jumped to the alley and siid along the fence to a garage. Darting between the wires, he hid in the tall grass there at the side of the tin wall, waiting for Kidd. * k k¥ Then night and storm' came down with a rush. Thick clouds obscured the stars and let down torrents of rain, while we indoors could but imagine what had become of Jack Spratt_and Capt. Kidd. | No doubt each hid himself under a porch, to walit the ceasing of the rain. Even a fighting cat prefers dry air to wet. The time came, too, when the rain ended; drain pipes went drip, drip; a bell in a distant steeple rang out the hour of 3 am. Then, if ever, tomcats issue forth to_battle. Through the moist air a wail burst. Surely no other cat had such a dulcet soprano, sang with so high a note, ranging from high G to high E, as Jack Spratt, cat ‘o war. There was no mistaking him. He had met Capt. Kidd at last, and they were telling their opinlon of each other. Mingied with the piercing screams of Spratt came the deeper rumblings of Kidd, ominous, menacing AFFAIRS T. SMALL. legislation will. Gen. Dawes has argued himself the position of advocating actual by a one-fifth minority over a fifths majority—provided thinks of American citizens as born free and equal * % 4 The White House hobby come to the fore again Coolldge's slight attack of ir last week was followed b the executive chambers that ident is really quite does look a bit fatigued revealed that, despite the fur over the first disclosure of the ence of the electric steed i L House attic, Mr. the nag and finds much benefit trom. All of which renewal of the alluring proy which has been urging all means to step forward and p: or $800 for one of the static The President did not pay however, for his horse is ti an old New York friend ar mate, now many times a m and an international banke: Here are a few exce cent description of new-fangled horse the kind of exercise getting “Do_you prefer the zait trained” Kentucky le-footer? you enjoy a sharp trot, or the broa swink of a gallop? Do vou wan gentle gait of a Shetland pon the long, smooth rhythm o Each of these gaits is exac cated by the mechanical e gives, not only the up and dowr tion, but, in’ addition, the forward-backward motion wr get when astride the It is a tribute to the pe the gait that many ridin use this remarkable definite help in instruction “Even the veteran hoi enjoy a daily trot or gallo the genuine russet leather sadc mechanism is silent oneration, ea: controlled tric_switch located in fr saddle. It operates from light socket and occupie space. While the cost of t mechanism is almo: cost of a good saddle horse, it all the advant of a saddle to the city-bound business maintenance cost.’ President Coolidge. be known as what alled a rider, for his horse broke down cently and had to go to the navy for repairs. That he first leaked out. (Copsrich Fifty Years Ago In The Star Washington grea rej Pennsylvania avenue was with wooden b Pennsylvania something more tt 50 vears ago, for Avenue. Copltats aain oughfare was thereb: semed from a condition which had become unbear able. The pavement, however, did not_prov a success. The Star of May “The ‘movement meeting * of business 1 Board of Trade rooms last even secure the repaving of Penns avenue, has not been commence t00 soon. The present unsi E unsafe condition of this fine thorou fare is not only discreditable to General Government, but positi injurious to those whose place of business are upon it and those whe have occasion to use the roadway business or pleasure. Indeed kfow of one case where a gent of high official and social position given orders that not be driven on doubt not there are of the same kind. At any well known that many persor it as much as possible, in shoppi as well as in pleasure driving, so th is great danger that the character the street will be dest d proy erty abutting on it depreci ated in value unless it is speedily pu in_repair “It is idle and worse than idle 1 discuss at this late day who i e sponsible for the existir of the street. It is enough that work of pavi it was authorized « v ongress, and to & ume that those char with the duty of selecting ment did the best they the light then before them. All t kinds chosen for it have. howeve: proven to be failures, and versy pensive ones, tc but the qu now is not with the past but with future. Other streets have been provided with pavements tha are in every way desirable for use and at the same time, so far as e perience has proven or scientific i tigation demonstrated, perfecti able: and it is only fair t sylvania avenue from the ] to the Capitol, in many respects t finest street in the world, should hue the best in use anywhere “During centennial year an usually large number of people. hot s and foreigners, are certain 1t visit Washington, and it is in highest degree important, not on that account but on account safety and comfort of our own el zens and the business interests of the city, that the work should pleted before that time + * Among the lively bids for the =i cess of the centennial,” says The Sta o of May 29 187 Centennial “made by the man = agers is a circula Ccnumnan" sent out by Hawley to the governors of the asking each of them to furnish thr names of not less than 50 men whp in 1876 will have reached the age of 100 years. It is proposed to supply free “transportation to the centennial exhibition to all centenarians und to entertain them as the Nation's guest: The New York Herald raises a ph. tom of alarm in the wide demorali zation of the aged community in volved fn this project. The numbe: of aged men who are in training for the centennial, it says, would startlr the country were it known. Dazzled by the honors which are bestowed upon centenarians, many of these in dividuals have gone. like prize figh ers, into a regular course of traininc to qualify themselves for an appeu: ance at the exhibition next year. The result will be that next year it will be hard to find an old man of 80 as it is now to find one of 100. fn the upper branch horse P Wi Coolic th which Mr. an, ua however, m ced th the 1 could the be conee Gen aten as if to say, “Back out of this, youns fellow, while there is yet time.” Came instantly a peculiarly curdling scream from Spratt: “You can't bluft me, you big hunk of fat. Yee.ow!" Silence—then a series of spitting= yowlings, howlings, growlings, end ing abruptly, as if the combatants had silenced each other forever. The battle was over, Capt. Kidd had defeated Jack Spratt as usual we_thought, sleepily. Hearty meowings at 6 o'clock com pelled us to lean out the window There, on the porch, sat Jack, proud. confident, without a cut or scratch on him. He had licked Capt. Kidd at last.