Evening Star Newspaper, June 30, 1925, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY........June 30, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES. . . .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th St. and Penneyly: llnAVl. Neg Vork' Gifice: F0 East t2nd 1. { Tower : Ruropeas Omce: 16 Nerent St.. Londom, England. The Evening Star. with the Sunday morn- .Ing edition, ls de red by carriers within the clty at' 60 centa per month: daily only. 45 cents per month: Sunday onl{; 20 cents Por montn. - Orders may Te went by mall of elephone Main 5000. Collection is inade by carrier at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. itz and sundy. . Sindes "onts . Dally and Sunday.. Dafly only . Sunday only . Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the Use for Tepublication of Al news dis- Patches eredited To It or not ptherwiss ted in this paper and also the local news bublished BIIJII. All hta of publi hud“ of apecial dispatches herela ate also reserved. Santa Barbara’s Disaster. California has again suffered from a severe seismic disturbance, with loss of life and heavy destruction of prop- erty. Following quickly upon the tremors felt in the Rocky Mountains over a wide area, but with compara- tively small damage and no loss of life, came the shock which laid the City of Santa Barbara in ruins, caus- ing the death of nine persons and the injury of many more, and property damage estimated at from $15,000,000 to $30,000,000. It is one of the strange freaks of the instability of the earth crust that theshock at Santa Barbara, no great- er than those felt in the mountains in the northern Rockies region, should have caused far more destruction than those earlier interior tremors. The mountain shocks were distributed over a wide space, sparsely populated. The shore shock chanced to center in a community of 20,000 inhabitants. Probably the area of disturbance was much wider than the urban section itself, but Santa Barbara appears to have been the focal point and conse- quently received the full force of the blo Naturally it is distressingly disturb- ing to the people of California to find thelr State from time to time the scene of these disastrous quakings of the crust. Memories of the San Fran- cisco disaster of 1906 are not yet dulled by the lapse of nearly two decades. Whenever the earth shakes on the shore side of the Sierra Nevada Moun- tains there is the keenest apprehen- sion. The Santa Barbara disaster is, however, much smaller in magnitude than that of San Francisco, where several hundred lives were lost and the property damage amounted to half a billion dollars. The greater part of the destruction in San Fran- cisco was due to fire, which swept the city for three days with practically no check, owing to the breaking of all the water mains. Fire is always a gravely menacing factor in the case of an earthquake. Small blazes that start in the debris spread rapidly and cannot be fought effectively owing to the disruption of the condulits and the demoralization of the defensive forces. In Oriental cities where severe earth- quakes have occurred losses by fire are greater than those by the actual shocks themselves. The Japanese dis- aster of September, 1923, was of this nature. Fortunately at Santa Bar- bara fire appears to have done but little damage. Most of the losses were due to the wrecking of buildings and to a flood which swept in upon the city from the sea. Relief works are already started. Tunds are assured for the immediate succor of the afflicted people. The War and Navy Departments are in readiness to render ald and the Red Cross s acting as in all other disas- ters for the prompt succor of the in- jured and care of the survivors. Al- ready the indomitable spirit of the West is manifest in plans for rebuild- ing, formed even while the earth con- tinued to shake with the after-tremors that swept through the devastated region. A new and better Santa Bar- bara is promised. There is no thought of fear for the future even though the earth may still hold its menace on the seaward side of the Sierras, ——oe—s. Prohibition prospects would be im- proved if bootleggers could be com- pelled to lay off as easily as enforce- ment agents. ————— A Rival Economist. Gov. Al Smith of New York, in his address to the Governors’ Conference, belittled President Coolidge’s economy program and extolled his own. Whether the people of the country will be impressed by this rather boy- ish attempt to discredit the accom- plishments of his political adversary, while at the same time boosting his own game, is doubtful. First, the peo- - -ple generally have felt the benefit of tax reduction in the last two years, felt it materially. Second, since his entrance into the White House Presi- dent Coolidge has preached and prac- ticed economy, the officials under him have followed his recommendations, and the people have listened and ap- plauded and given him their support. The Governor of New York at least has grasped the fact that economy in expenditure and tax reduction is a great popular issue in the United States at this time. He wishes the people to try the Smith brand instead of the Coolidge brand of economy, and frankly says so. But the people so far have been pretty well satisfied with the Coolidge brand, and unless all signs fail they are going to reap further benefits from the Coolidge pro- gram through & considerable reduc- tion in their taxes next year. In his attack on the claims made by the President of economy and sav- ing, Gov. Smith calls attention to the fact that the expenditures of the Gov- ernment due to the World War were enormous. The reductions effected in recent years have been made possible only by the return of peace. Of course, the governor is correct. If war had continued the country would bave ceatinued to pour out its wealth ~ - of men and money. But in bringing about the reductions, and in the effort to keep the ordinary expenses of gov- ernment to the lowest possible figure consistent with efficlent Government, the Coolidge administration has ac- complished much. Furthermore, the President from the White House has spread the doctrine of economy and more economy as it has not been spread before in many generations in this country. It is a leadership that the people appreciate. The President and his supporters have not hesitated to urge the need of economy in State and municlpal gov- ernment. Criticism from whatever source is mot without its sting. Pos- sibly the suggestion that the States might follow the example of the Fed- eral Government has rankled in the bosom of Gov. Smith and other State executives. If now there is to be a real rivalry between the State governments and the Federal Government in the race for economy, the people of the coun- trv will benefit infinitely. If*the chief executives of the 48 States will under- take to preach and to practice econ- omy as strenuously as President Cool- idge has done, so much the better. It Gov. Smith’s talk of economy to the Governors® Conference is to result only in raising his lightning rod a lit- tle higher, even from a Democratic standpoint, the value of his speech will be questionable. The interjection of partisan politics into the Governors’ Conference Is scarcely wise. The New York Governor's flgures show that the Federal Government in 1924 raised $4.98 for every dollar that it raised in 1914, whereas the New York government, State and munici- pal, raised $2.90 in 1924 for every dol- lar it raised in 1914. Gov. Smith might have called attention to the fur- ther fact that the billions of dollars of war debt and war expenditures have been left to the Federal Government to settle, and not to the government of New York. Today the major part of the Federal Government's expendi- tures is due to the war and the lesser part to the ordinary demands of gov- ernment. ——————— The Police Court Congestion. The proposal to Congress to es- tablish a traffic court in the District of Columbia to care specifically for cases growing out of violations of the traffic rules was based upon the knowledge that the present Police Court could not possibly serve this need. The ordinary business of the Police Court fully occupied the time of its judges and crowded the build- ing in which it is housed. It was known that even with an increase of personnel on the bench and in the administrative offices of the court prompt attention could not be given to cases. Congress refused to estab- lish a separate court, however, on the ground of economy, it would seem, and directed the appointment of two additional judges, with only a small increase in administrative personnel and mo increase in room or accommodations. The result has been a congestion at the court, from which the publie has suffered seri- ously in delays. Now additional room has been granted the Police Court in the Dis- trict Supreme Court Building, and from the 6th of July until the 1st of September two chambers will be placed at the disposal of the Police Court for jury trials. This, it is believed, will permit speedler work and will somewhat lessen the annoy- ing, costly delays from which de- fendants and witnesses in traffic cases are now subjected. But this will only continue for less than two months, and after the lst of September the conditions will be at least as bad as at present. With the resumption of the full work of the District Supreme Court this space must be taken away from the Police Court and all four judges of the latter must resume work in the same small building that has been outgrown for several vears. The particular purpose of a spe- cfal traffic court is to permit the im- mediate trial of cases. A driver breaks a rule and is caught on the spot, with witnesses directly at {hand. With a traffic court operating separately from all other judicial or- ganizations it is possible to take the case at once before it. If a jury trial is demanded, there need be no pro- tracted delay. Such a court, prop- erly equipped with personnel and properly housed, should never be congested. Under the present conditions, which will be somewhat relleved for two months during the Summer, traffic rule offenders are thrown into a most humiliating association with male- factors in an atmosphere of crime. They and the witnesses in their cases are compelled to wait, often for hours, sometimes for days, while se- curing attention. Justice is often de- feated in these conditions. This situation should be stated to Congress in the most distinct terms at the next session in order that it may reconsider its action in attempt- ing to solve the traffic problem iIn the District by a mere expansion in part of the Police Court personnel. At the least, if a separate court is not created wholly distinct from the present Police Court, provision should be made for an adequate build- ing to accommodate all branches of the Police Court, which are now suffering from a physical congestion highly inimical to the welfare of ‘Washington. ——r———————— In addition to domestic complica- tions China, in a mood of hostility to visitors, is disposed to invite foreign entanglements. An Epochal Tidal Wave. Sympathy for quake-shaken Cali- fornia is keen in all parts of the coun- try, and particularly in the East, where the earth rarely shakes. When- ever word comes that the transsierra region is hit by a temblor there is a great mental disturbance in this part of the country. Yesterday this dis- turbance was particularly severe. It centered {n The Star office to the ex- tent of shifting the continent com- pletely end for end. As a consequence the Atlantic Ocean was moved across 4,000 miles of plain and mountains and placed on the far side of the Golden State, while the Pacific slid off some- where into the far beyond. A. geo- graphical diagram of the scene of the selsmic spasm showed this great trans- fer, this unprecedented tidal wave. It is inexpressably relleving to learn that in fact the oceans did not change places, and that the Atlantic is still laying the shores from Maine to Florida, while the Pacific is lapping the coast of California. No apology for this lapse of geography is ade- quate. It must be attributed to the acute sense of neighborliness which is felt for the people of California by all Americans. Lighted Match and Gas. Two little boys yesterday found an automobile in a garage that looked as if it had been abandoned. With true juvenile curfosity they thought they would find out whether there was any gasoline in the tank. They discovered the gasoline. They did it by lighting a match and peering into the opened inlet and the gasoline told them that it was there. They were both taken to a hospital in a serious condition of injury. This juvenile prank that may have fatal consequences is not at all un- common. Boys are constantly doing things like that. And not only boys are doing it, but people of maturity. Every little while an ambulance takes 4 man off to a hospital after he has gone into a cellar with a lighted match to find the source of a gas leak. Sometimes it is curiosity that causes these accidents, sometimes just plain stupidity. ———ree—. California, one of the happlest and most admired States in the Union, is brought to sorrow from time to time by earthquake. No favorable fortune can be forever unalloyed. Even for the most enviable lot there must be sym- pathy as well as congratulations, and this sympathy California will have abundantly. —————— The Hohenzollerns are In possession of their former royal estates, and the French are preparing to leave the Ruhr. Germany will soon be in a posi- tion to give her undisturbed attention to an industrial reorganization that will enable her to pay her debts, thus setting a good example to all debtor nations. —_————— Food conditions the world over may develop on lines demanding encourage- ment of people in Russia and else- where to neglect politics long enough to give attention to the old farm. ———— Every assurance is given that the coming Fourth of July will be safe and sane, excepting as It must share with every other day the perils of reckless driving. ——ee—. There is every expectation that Muscle Shoals will prove a powerful piece of natural mechanism if Henry Ford can in some way be harnessed to it. ——————— Experts declare there is no danger of serious oil shortage in the near future. This leaves nothing to worry about except the price. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Crushing Experience. We have attained a stato so beatific We're always in a happy frame of mind In spite of all the problems so prolific In arguments to interest mankind. There's only one event that serves to , make us Relax our joyous and perpetual grin. Thera's just one time when pleasant thoughts forsake us And that is when the home team doesn’t win. We go serenely on, although we're hearing Of mishaps cn the land and on the sea; Of people who are bent on interfering With laws which should protect the brave and free; Of threats concerning new investiga- tion, And rumors of frivolity and sin— * All undisturbed we meet each agita- tion, Excepting when the home team doesn’t win. 4 Value of Backing. “That was a fine old motto of Davy Crockett’s, ‘Be sure you're right and then go ahead.’” “For my own guidance I have modi- fied it slightly. My motto is, ‘Be sure you're in right and then go ahead.’” Demoralization. ‘When Music, Heavenly Maid, young Sweet, simple strains she'd utter. Now, so much ragtime she has sung, The Old Girl seems to stutter. was Jud Tunkins says one way to make evolution popularly interesting is to put it out of the school books and dis- play it on the newsstands. Arctic Lure. Talkin® 'bout the fashions as they come and as they go. I haven't any likin' fur the passin’ Summer show. As I go wandering on my way about the busy town, I care not if they roll their stockings up, or roll 'em down, For when July draws near to em- phasize the Summer glow, Imagination fondly turns to realms of ice and snow. And I long to be up yonder for at least a little while ‘Where sealskin coats and snowshoes are eternally in style. Admonition Heeded. “All last Summer we were told to keep cool,” remarked the woman who studies politics. “Ye: replied Miss Cayenne, “and this Summer we're dressing accord- ingly.” “I believes de world is gettin' bet- '* said Uncle Eben, “but de world allys has a way of lettin’ de good peo- ple mostly keep quiet while de sinners make de noise.” THE EVENING STAR, BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “Lorna Doone” is one of the books that seems eternal. A spacious ro- mance, filled from cover to cover with sentiment and nature in equal parts, It is as popular today as it was 50 years ago. June marked the one hundredth an- niversary of the birth of its author, Richard Blackmore, who- holds some: what the same relation to other au- thors of his day that Reginald de Koven does to Victor Herbert. Both of these American light opera composers, dead within the past five years, wrote 4 score or more musical plays, yet one opera of the former per- haps will long outlive all the comedies of the other. In “Robin Hood,” perennially popu- lar with the Amerfcan public, de Koven achieved something that Her- bert, with all his greater wealth of melodic invention, does not seem to have done. “Robin Hood,” because of fascinat- ing music wedded to the old folk-lore story, must continue to entertain for many, many years. In fact, it is dif- flcult 'to see when it will not please English-speaking peoples. Blackmore was not—with the mighty exception of “Lorna Doone"—one of the really successful authors of his generation, yet because of that fresh masterplece he bids falr to outlive many who produced a larger number of “best sellers.” - Today there is scarcely an issue of “classics” that does not contain Blackmore's best. It is printed and reprinted in small type, in large type, in expensive and inexpensive editions. Almost_every Christmas sces some new, elaborate edition, setting forth the ‘adventures of the gigantie John Ridd and his strivings for the hand of Lorna. ke 1 am indebted to a chance copy of the London Observer, which came wrapped around a magazine, for the remembrance that this is the one- hundredth anniversary of Blackmore's birth. J. L. Garvin, in an interesting ar- ticle in that paper, tells the following little-known facts concerning the way “Lorna Doone” became a success: “The odd thing is that Blackmore was in his 40th year before he turned novelist in earnest. He wrote for over half a decade without making his name. “He might never have made it but for an irrelevant stroke of luck, sur- passing any improbability that @ mod- ern novelist dare bring into his plot ‘At the end of the 60s he wrote ‘Lorna Doone.' It was destined to run into scores of editions and millions of copies, to be read throughout the English-speaking world and to become Inseparable from the western moors as Dunkery Beacon. No such success of its kind has been achieved since Scott. Amongst historical novels ‘Lorna Doone’ has had mere readers than ‘Esmond’ or ‘The Cloister and the Hearth.' “‘But for 18 months after it appeared the book seemed a dead failure. The publishars lost money. The critics shrugged. The chief journals damned it with faint praise. “Then, in the Spring of 1871, Prin- cess Louise married the Marquis of Lorne, with whose title Blackmore had imagined his heroine connected. He had not the faintest suspicion that what he had meant for pure fant: would come to be associated by the in- comprehensible public with a national event then altogther unforeseen. “Popular sentiment had been car- ried away by the royal wedding. As Blackmore himself said. it gave his novel ‘golden wings.' ‘So grand,’ he added, in his sturdy way, ‘is the luck WASHINGTON, . D.- C, 'TUESDAY, JUNE THIS AND THAT of time and name, failing which more solid beings melt into oblivion’s depth.” “He resented the manner of his good fortune, and it made him un- fair to his own creation. For a long time he professed to think that ‘Lorna_Doone’ would soon be forgot- ten. He maintained that two at least of his other novels, especlally “The Matd of Sker’ and ‘Springhaven,’ ‘were superior. “Of course, he was wrong. ‘Lorna Doone’ took the world by storm after the world’s attention was accidental- ly drawn to it, and is still alive and gay after half a century.” L One wonders how many great books lie buried in oblivion because they did not have the luck to become as- soclated with some event which in- trigued the popular imagination. “Many a rose is born -to blush unseen,” said ray, and probably many a book lying forgotten on the shelves in the Library of Congress is as great and fine as many a vol- ume known throughout the world. These chances of time and fate come not only to men, pushing the fortunate into place and fortune; they also come to books and other works of hand and mind. One who writes, or one who labors in any other way toward sélf-expres- slon, may solace himself with this ac- count of the happy luck that made “Lorna Doone” famous. Merit is merit, whether universally recognized or not. It took Kipling 14 years, it is said, to get his short stories ac- cepted. “Lorna Doone” was the same book when written it is now. The prime necessities, therefore, are determination, concentration and some amount of self-uppreciation. Only the one who has faith in him. self arrives. Without the latter qual- ity Henry Ford would not be the richest man in the world today. So most of us can take hope from Mr. Garvin's account of how “Lorna Doone” became famous. ‘What a grand old story it is, to be sure, and how well it deserved all the success that came to it! In these days of hustle and bustle, of rapid-fire short storles, it is refreshing to step back, by means of Blackmare's book, into the days when the fresh smells of nature did not have to compete with the odor of gasoline along the roadside. “Lorna Doone™” is & big book, both in intent and physical scope. If you undertake to read it, either for the first time, or again, select a drowsy Summer afternoon, or, rather, sev- eral, for no one can read this story in a day. It is not that sort of book. It rolls on with the sweep of the downs, setting forth a romance that lis sweet to the taste of all who are not sophisticated. Romantic love is something that the world does not willingly let die. In a world that sometimes appears 10 be too animal. romantic love came ii;(e a breath of sea air, to sweeten {lite Whatever one may think of knight- hood and the days of chivalry, the idea of love which they started lives to this day. It has its best resting in novels such as “Lorna Doone.” Reading that book, one is suffused, for a time, at least, with a certain sense of * ‘eetness and light” which cannot be set forth in words, but which is real, nevertheless. There are many historical novels which achleve this result, and the world is in debt to every one of them. Among them “Lorna Doone” takes high rank How Useful Are Experts In Fixing Sugar Tariffs? President Coolidge's rejection of the report of a majority of the Tariff Commission in favor of reduced sugar rates has drawn attention to the fail- ure of the Government agency to “‘put over” its decision. This has resulted in discussion as to the value of such a body, even though composed of ex- perts. “Upon the prospect of large further growth in the sugar industry, states the Chicago Daily News, “rests in no small degree the hope that the Ameri- can farmer within a few more years will win a reasonable measure of pros- perity. In these circumstances it is not surprising that President Coolidge | declined to reduce the tariff on raw sugar as recommended by the major- ity members of the tariff commission.” “President Coolidge has, of course,” according to the Chattanooga Times, “the New England passion for pro- tection, and he would seem to be right in his contention that if we are deter- mined to protect the manufacturer— and that is what we are—we ought likewise to protect the farmer when- ever it can be done to his profit.” Common sense {s credited to the Presi- dent by the Portland, Me., Express in his decision not to cut the sugar tariff. “He went outside the report of the commission,” says the Express “found that the price of sugar was not unreasonably high, and that the proposed cut would mean loss of rev- enue of $40,000,000 and would injure if not destroy ihe beet sugur indus- try,” TImportance is given by the Grand Rapids Herald to the cleavage in the Tariff Commission, by which it divided three to two in {its recom- mendation. “The President is entire- ly right,” asserts the Herald, “in con- cluding that so important a domestic industry (with an eye particularly to beet sugar) should not be put to the hazard of lowered tariff protection when so doubtfully proposed.” * ok k% fichigan, as one of the big beet sugar producing States,” remarks the Lansing State Journal, “certainly his no reason to quarrel with the re- fusal of the President to lower the present tariff on sugar imports. Pro- tecting the beet sugar industry of the State from keener competition from imported sugar will mean many thou- sands of dollars for the beet raisers of the State.” The Trenton Times adds that “once the farmers give up raising sugar beets, the cane growers will get control of the industry, and housekeepers, confectioners and bakers will find the prices of all grades of sugar greatly increased. The added statement that ‘‘there can be no complaint at this time of the price of sugar” is made by the Allentown Call. The explanation of differences within the commission is given by the Bos- ton Transeript, which notes that they “were due not so much to individual high or low tariff leanings, as some surmised, as to disagreements-as to what costs should be taken as a basis for reports.” Taking exception to the attitude of the President, the Utica Obeserver- Dispatch declares that “the reason the decision is important is that it is a deadly blow to the whole principle of scientific determination of tariff rates by & fact-finding commission charged with taking care of the interests of producers and consumers alike.” After reviewing the long history of the case the Fort Wayne Journal-Gagette con- tinues: “The sugar tariff touches every spoonful of sugar for 110,000,000 mouths. It has taken two years to discover that the commission, dealing with a real occasion, cannot be trusted to know what it is about.” % k¥ The “farte” has continued entirely too long, asserts the Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, which asks: “Why should taxpaying people be required to pay the upkeep of a commission ose findings of fact are certaln to be flouted by the executive, disregard- ed for 12 long months by the execu- tive and finally flatly rejected?” The long delay is also condemned by the Little Rock Arkansas Democrat, which gives credit to the big Cuban crop for lower prices, and adds: “The Repub- licans can't claim that they cut the price of sugar, in o far as any haste to carry out the commission’s rec- ommendations was displayed.” The Birmingham News also asks: “What's the use of having a tariff commission if it must be emasculated?” and vet, in the opinion of the Newark News, “it is just this pretense of tariff flexi- bility that is causing no end of ill will abroad because it sends the Treasury's snoopers about demanding access to cost of production figures in the books of foreign exporters to the United States.” “It {8 not unlikely,” states the Day- ton News, “that President Coolidge will yet have to recast his views, if it is the farmer only whom he wants to please. The tariff policy fools no one but the farmer, as he will learn when it fails to hold up prices In the face of a domestic shortage. World p;’ices are created by the world sup- ply.” As a political factor the question is considered beyond the realm of eco- nomics by various papers. “The tariff will remain a political question so long as there {s profit in it for a large number of persons and-corpora- tions,” the Lynchburg News holds, while the Baltimore Evening Sun re- marks that the tariff “is one of the chief assets of the party which em- ploys it and can be used to bind to that party more groups of citizens than any other device.” s Replying to these criticlsms, the Spokane Spokesman-Review _states that the commission “submitted a re- port. when the price of sugar was high, but the President acted upon an entirely different situation; sugar prices have fallen.” Safety in All Things Rests in Providence ‘Whenever man seems to think he has solved all the problems in the universe something happens to prove to him what a very little really he has accomplished. After all that has been done to provide for safety in the development and use of the air- plane comes now the demonstration there is another disposition of af- fairs than that which is planned by man. Man has made the airplane to fly higher and farther than any bird has dared to go, annihilating time and distance and ail but overcoming law of gravity. He has discovered safety measures to overcome known dangers, but always there is something left to fathom, and safety ultimately is in the hands of Providence. Now is told the story of a new and ever-present danger to the aviator in the play of atmospheric - electricity. ‘With all equipment to make for safety Serg:. Lowry, a London wireless op- erator, met his death in the air, the result of a stroke.of lightning which passed through his body. Each day brings new discoveries to make for greater safety, but.nothing can eliminate all danger. It is when there is the greatest possible assur. ance that nothing can happen that disaster comes out of the unknown.— Springfield Daily News. Just Oversight. From the Birmingham Age-Herald. Germany is not keeping up to her record as an advertiser. One never Bees “Made in Germany” labels on the Beotch whisky that they are getting nowadays. Re=) 30, . 1925. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM L G. M. O'MALLEY OF SHANGANAGH. Donn Byrne. ‘The Century Co. Donn Byrne writes under other motive and {n another spirit than the common motive and spirit that ani- mate the majority of his fellow crafts- men. The Byrne stories have, there- fore, a quality that sets them apart from the work of this majority. Like these othe: to be sure, men and women are his material, his great pre- occupation. But where they, the best of them, appear satisfled with a fair portrayal of character and personal- ity working out plausibly through the medium of outer circumstance, Byrne drives deeper in an irresistible urge to “capture the elusive, unbearable ache that is the mainspring of hu- manity.” He is in pursuit of that ache 0f homesickness which at some polgnant moment every human feels, that deep nostalgia for some other where lying beyond the reaches of personal memory, the homing instinst of a race it may be. He is in quest of that ache of loneliness in the midst of friends that sweeps over all of us now and then, or ef that out- ward yearning of the spirit toward far and almost forgotten kinships. He i8 on the trail of that universal un- rest, source of what man already is, of all that he is yet to be. Such is the single goal of Donn Byrne when he sets out upon the ways of literature. Romanticist? Yes, if to pursue that which cannot be over- taken and no more than half-divined be a sign, then Donn Byrne is a stmen-pure romantic. * k % % It is the Donn Byrne temperament that makes this choice of literary ways inevitable—the essential temperament of the -mystic, the seer, the poet. These, the three ever pressing close to that strange borderland lying in be- tween the known and the unknown, where eyesight passes into mindsight and into the visions of the spirit. Now the reaction of most writers faced upon this cul-de-sac of human life is a different one from this. These, as a rule, turn their backs squarely upon it, give over trying to solve the unsolvable. Some of these—the Ar- lens and Huxleys and Osbert Sitweli and the rest—lapse into social sophis- tication and satire, more or less subtle and damning. Some take to fantasy, and fable. Others to overlong chron- icles of smalltown drearinesses. But Byrne possesses neither the acid chemistry nor the vanity of the cynic turned satirist. Nor has he the wild imagination required for the brgeding of fantastic tales. Nor, again, the prolix power of the 500-page novelist. Instead, a simple and friendly man searching out the more secret ways of the heart, the more hidden paths of life. And in this pursuit he makes use of the Irish people as his chicf medium—"the race I know best, & race that affirms the divinity of Jesus and yet believes in the little people of the hills, a race that loves its own home and yet will wander the wide world over, race that loves battle and yet always falls, So, with a true heart- beat for romantic Ireland and in a child's freedom of fancy, with a poet's 8ift of words and a master weaver's hand and eye for fitness of pattern and design, Donn Byrne creates stories of life’'s deep significances in the terms of simple Irish lite. * ok o % And this is how we come upon O'Malley of Shanganagh. “In any city you would have noticed that fierce old man, but in Dublin he called for no more than a passing glance, so many are there who seem exiled kings.” Be fore us ‘the past of this one “exiled King™ is spread as, silent and austere, he moves from tavern to inn drinking forgetfulness. The beginning of this past of O'Malley of Shanganagh is a bright dream, all the rest a bitter realty. And {n the dream a golden outh rules his fair demesne of Shan- ganagh, while on the other side of the wall of a nearby sisterhood a maiden stands, white and luminous as a silver mist. And once again life proves itself more than religlon. Again the immemorial spark is struck and for a little time the flame burns high, then falls to a gray and sodden ash. For a thousand vears of implant- ed dogma teaches well the lesson that only Heaven is good, that the joys of life are but snares bringing the unwary down to destruction. And so in no great time the half-opened gates of the sisterhood take back the wan- derer, who, truly repentant, sets her errant feet at the doorsill of Heaven, in her hands the wreckage of a man and the shreds and tatters of rified Shanganagh, evidence of the good God, these, of her deep and single love for Him. And all this, so poign- ant in pain and truth end beauty, is why we now come upon old O'Malley of Shanganagh moving from tavern to inn drinking forgetfulness. * ok ox ¥ And here, too, as a part of the Donn Byrne quest is the story of a wan- dering bard of Ireland, “Blind Raf- tery,” who draws from the taut strings of his harp the transmuted smell of the tarred ships riding at an- chor in the bay, the scent of the dulse, the rare and fugitive fragrance of the little flowers in the clefts of the sea rocks, the clean breath of the heather and the tang of the peat smoke from the cottages. And under the hand of the blind bard this grand and melodious thing can re-create for the distant eye and heart the purple hills of Connemara and the sweet charm of the Clare County. and the unrest of Spring and the June warmth of the sun honey smooth in its touch. And out of the strings you can see great drowsy Shannon going by and hear the leap of the trout and the plunge of the water within its flow.” And beside Blind Raftery you can see Hilaria, whose “sweet low laughter is like a wood pigeon's croon- ing.” If you look close you will see a wicked man following the two bent upon harm to them. The man who put upon Blind Raftery the greatest wrong that man can suffer by way of the woman he loves. But this is a story of triumph not of defeat. It is the vie- tory of real values over all the spuri- ous stuff that struts as virtue. And sweet Hilarla’s low laugh of content- ment follows us out of the little story like- a benedicion and a promise. * ok k% But, best of all, better even than the enthralling ‘“Messer Marco Polo,” is Donn Byrne's tale of the young man, Shane Campbell, blown to and fro across the world, and back again, touching at strange ports, soaking himself in strange sights and sounds, but always with his heart a-longing for the home glens of Antrim, alwa; ‘within his credence..and affection the little people of the hills and the mys- tical ways of small animals and many an unseen thing. The fortunes of Shane Campbell, set down here, prove beyond doubting that “‘the wind blow- eth where it listeth,” and the sons of man, hearing the sound thereof, know not whenoe it cometh nor whither it goeth, therefore they, like Shane Campbell, are unable to trim their salls or to throw up barricades or to seek deep shelters. Instead, they, like him, must, perforce, take what comes in this uncharted scheme of life. And what comes to Shane Camp- bell are the fortunes of youth— strength. and confidence and love, women and change, other women and again change. And among these changes are beautiful moments in the fields of home heather in the cool glens of Antrim, all around the crow- ing grouse and the whinneying cur. lew and the eagles harking along the cliffs. Then off and out again where the wide seas sweep—and again meet- ings and partings and change. Just life, just every ome's life, set out in the clean young body of Shane Camp. bell, born to beauty and steeped ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. What is the best record ever made on the Indianapolis speedway for 10 miles’—R. J. D. A. The speedway record for 10 miles was 7.5512, made by Alitken July 2, 1910. Q. Do the wild tribes menace travelers who cross the Sahara?— E. D. A. Many parts of the desert are still inhabitated by wild desert tribes which attack tourists upon occasions. It is wise before making a trip into the desert to insure proper protection. Q. What causes paralysis?—A. M. G A. It may be caused by lesions of the brain, of the spinal cord, of the nerve trunks or their terminations. Q. How does the number of women in college today compare with 50 years ago?—M. A. A. There are now 216,000, while 50 years ago there were about 4,000. Q. Where 1s agate found?>—H. B. A. Agates are found universally and are much used, when cut and pol- ished, for ornaments and jewlery. The principal supply comes from Uraguay and Brazil, in South America, whence they are sent to Oberstein, In Ger- many, where their polishing is an im- portant industry. Q. For whom are Douglas firs named?—W. O. H. A. The Pseudotsuga douglasii, closely related to the firs, and often regarded &s a fir, is named after the Scotch botanist, David Douglas. He visited the Pacific coast in the first half of the nineteenth century. Q. Are any water snakes poison- ous?—B. R. A. Bfological Survey says that the cottonmouth _moccasin, a reptile found in the South, while not purely an aquatic snake, lives in the water a great part of the time. This is a poisonous snake. Q. When was the Chateau de Ramezay built?—H. O: W. A. It was erected in Montreal about 1706. Q. How long is the standard work- ing day in Germany?—M. R. F. A. The eight-hour working day was provided for in Germany by regula- tions of 1918 and 1919. Under the emergency powers act of 1923, a fed- eral order was {ssued January 1, 1924, making a number of exceptions to the eight-hour regulations. This caused considerable disturbance and much protest on the part of the unions. Q. What State got the most con- gressional medals for the World War? —C. W. R. A. New York men received the greatest number. The following is a list of several of the States which stood at the top: New York, 14 | Tlinois, 10; California, 7; New Jersev, 7; South Carolina, 6; Tennessee, 6. Q. How old are military societies in Europe?—F. 8. L. A. Military socleties as organized to- day are of comparatively recent in troduction In Europe. During the Middle Ages plain soldlers were not organized. Persons of noble birth in the military service of their country, however, frequently jolned the mllf tary and religious orders, such as the Knights Templars and the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, which are among the earliest orders of history. The French Legion of Honor, & gen- eral military and civil order of myerit. open to all citizens of France after 27 years of service, was established by Napoleon May 19, 1802. Q. How does the density of the pop- ulation of Manchester, England, com- pare with New York City?—F. L, A. The population of Manchester in 1921 was 730,551, or approximately 33.57 persons per acre. In New York City the average number of persons per acre is 52.2. Q. In what continent is the greatest number of foreign missionaries oper ating _at the present time?—C. L. McD. A. According to recently published statistics, the number of missionaries is: Asia, 88,635; Africa, 43,181; Latin America amd the West Indies, 6,094 Australasia, Netherlands, Indfes and Pacific Islands, 12,559. Q. Which of our ¢ greatest VDR, A. The value of exports originating in Texas in 1924 amounted to $7 218,927, giving that State first place in the country’'s domestic export trade followed by New York, with domestir exports valued at $731,593,502, while Pennsylvania, the third in export val ue, shipped only $295,299,153 worth of domestic merchandise to foreign coun tries. (“What will you det that you err right?” Many an orgument ends in those words. And if a wager is loid it is often hard to get the issue settled Many disputes remain forever unde- termined. There are authorities to be consulted, books to be read, erperts to be reached. But these are not read ily available to every person. In fact there are few agencies in the world that can ansicer cvery legitimate question of fact. This paper has one in a highly organized information bureau that has been built up in Washington. Itsonly object is to serve you in your quest for information You are invited to call upon it as freely and as often as you please. The only cost is 2 cents in stamps for re- turn postage. Address The Star In- formation Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Twenty-first and C streets northwest.) tates exports the amounts of merchandise”- A New Principle of Office Holding in Our Government To the Editor of The Star Within the last few years there has begun to be established a new principle, or at least a new custom, entirely forelgn to the fundamental conception of our form of elective government, in choosing whom we would have serve us in the National Legislature. This new principle, or recent custom, whichever we may call it, has apparently escaped the atten- tion of the students of the science of political government. T refer to the several instances where a member of Congress having died, the wife of the deceased member has been elected or appointed to fill out the unexpired term. And one might in this connection call attention to two Instances of somewhat similar nature—one where the wife was elect ed to serve as governor on the death of her husband, and the other where the wife of a “discredited” governor was elected governor in order to vin- dicate the husband. i Now it is proposed, or rather it has been suggested, that the late Senator La Follettee's wife or son be “given” the right to serve out La Follette's term. Next we might hear that, should President Coolidge dle, his son or wife should be elevated to the office as his “next of kin.” Ye shades of Thomas Jefferson and democracy un- defiled! Why has not William Jen- nings Bryan looked into this and given us his opinion on the matter! * % ok % Are our elective political offices to become hereditary family offices, the same as under the government of a king, or emperor, or other absolute potentate? The instances mentioned have excited no political comment of more than passing sentimental inter- est. Which reminds one “we -first abbor, then tolerate, then embrace.” Walter Bagehot, in his admirable work entitied “The English Constitu- tion,” says in substance the best rea- son for the continuance of the Eng- lish hereditary family ruler is now primarily based on sentiment—its strength and power for good is senti mental, rather than materal. So, t0o, I believe, the appointment or election in the instances of succession above mentioned are based on the same rea- son, even though these ‘“sentimental” elevations to a family inheritance serve no useful purpose, but, indeed, do present a menacing precedent. * % %k We are taught in all of our text books on the science of political gov- ernment and in the history text books, as well as the numerous works of our scheme of political govern- ment, that the dividing line that marked the difference in the political philosophy of _Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson was almost wholly based. not on who shall rule, but on how long the ruler shall rule. Hamilton was in favor of electing the President for life, for life, and the appointment of the governors of States by the President of the United States for life. Jeffer- son believed in the election of men for short terms and they not to be elegible a second time to the same office. Hamilton believed in a strong- 1y centralized government; Jefferson believed in a weak national govern- ment, but a strong State government, but which in turn would be amenable at all times to the subdivisions of the State government. Jefferson was also against the “law of entail” and the “law of primogeniture”—thus he carried his theory of government down to the “family” government. And while it may be said with entire Justice to the record of history that Jefterson did not always in impor- tant instances live up to his profess- ed democracy, he, in the main, did where expediency allowed him to, earry out his theory of “rotation in office.” * K K X Of course it may be indelicate to suggest that Mr. Bryan study this new principle or custom in our scheme of government and then give us his mature opinion on the matter, since he was three times condidate for President, and then saw fit to induct his brother into the candidacy for the vice presidential nomination—a sort of hereditary family affair, as it were. Probably it is_from Bryan that McAdoo and in the romance and sentiment of Ireland. Different from all the others, differ- ent in mood and purpose and sheer of achievement, is this writer, Donn Byrne, Irishman. the Senators | Smith got the idea of making the leadership of the Democratic party 4 family affair between the two of them—or rather, on the death of one or the other. as for instance. when the hatchet is buried in the skull of the opponent. * k¥ x To furnish food for thought for the easy-going political sentimentalists I quote from the writings and acts of Thomas Jefferson on the dangers of “hereditary office holders.” Nepotism.—“I am influenced by neither personal nor family interests and, especially, that the field of publi office will not be perverted by me into a family property.” Nepotism.—"In the course of trusts I have exercised through life with powers of appointment, I can say with truth and with unspeakable comfort that I never did appaint a relation to office and that merely be- cause I never saw the case in which some one did not offer, or oceur, better qualified.” Nepotism.—*“The public will never be made to believe that an appoint ment of a relative is made on the grounds of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they ever see with® approbation offices the dis posal of which they intrust to their Presidents for public purposes divided out as family propert Rotation in Office—“To prevent every danger which might arise to American freedom by continuing in office the members of the Continental Congress * * * it is earnestly recommended to the several provinces, assemblies or conventions of the United Colonfes that in their future elections of delegates to the Conti nental Congress one-half at least of the persons chosen be such were not of the delegation preceding * * * Rotation in Office—"The second amendment (to the proposed Consti tution), which appears to me essential, 1s the restoring the principle of neces sary rotation, particularly to the Senate and Presidency; but, most of the last * * *' The natur: progress of things is for liberty to vield and Government to gain ground.” Rotation in Office—“That there are in our country a great number of characters entirely equal to the management of its affairs cannot be doubted. Many of them, indeed, have not had opportunities of making themselves known to their fellow citizens; but many have had, and the only difficulty will be to choose among them. These changes are necessar:. too, ‘for the security of republican government. If some period be n fixed (to limit the time an office may be held), his office, though nominall elective, will, in fact, be for life and that will soon degenerate into an_inheritance.” Rotation in Office.—"“I am sensible of the kindness of your rebuke on m determination to retire from office at a time when our country is laboring under difficulties truly great. But if the principle of rotation be a sound one, as I conscientiously believe it to be with respect to this office. no pre. text should ever be permitted to dis pense with it, because there never ‘will be a time when real difficulties do not exist, and furnish a plausible pre text for dispensation.” * * * % Only recently President Coolidge took the States to task because th allowed, in fact, have almost con pelled, the Federal Government to exercise purely State activities. This new disposition to elect to office, or to appoint to office, “the next of kin” by the State without consider- ing the proved abilitles of the ‘next of kin,” 1is practically positive evi- dence that the States are, to use slang phrase, slipping. One can hardly imagine George Washington or Abraham Lincoln or Andrew Jacksor asking that their wives or ‘sons o daughters be appointed or elected to serve out the remainder of their terns of office in case of their death, no matter what- office they might be holding. With them it would have been a question of special fitness— not one of sentiment. Ag a Natlon we are always shouting “more democracy!” but in the political action of the majority we are demand- ing that the Federal Government as- sume more and more of State gov- ernment and family government re- sponsibilities. Give the office to the 'wife, give the office to the son—we are too lszy to worry about it. GROVER WARREN AYERS, i !