Evening Star Newspaper, August 26, 1925, Page 6

6 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO 1925, THE EVENING STAR| With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. H WEDNESDAY . . .August 26, 1925 . Editor THEODORE W. NOYES The Evening Star Newspaper Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicazo Ofce: Tower Building. Buropean Office: 18 Regent St.. London. 2lan: The Evening Star. with the Sunday morn- | by carriers within dafly onls. Ing edition the city at 6 45 cents ner per month telephone M n carrier at the on Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. e delivered or month Daily and Sunday 1 vr. $8.40: 1 mo., T0c | Daily onlr 1 ¥r. $8:001 1 mo! Sunday only ... 1 3l $21400 1 mo.. All Other States. Duily ana 5 1 vr. 510.00: 1 mo.. ”-‘ul’: only i 1 v:. £7.00: 1 mo.. Sunday only . Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is oxclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- tehes credited 10 it or not otherwise cred- fed in this paper and alsa te piblished heretn, ANl rihts of n are also reserved. of special dispatches her President and Budget Boosting. President Coolidge is commander-in- chief of the Army and Navy, and, in- deed, of the entire executive depart ment of the Government. a fact which officials of these services may do well to bear in mind when the President’s budget recommendation: are under discussion. In iing the budset which is to be submitted to Congress. the responsibility President’s and Tt the Presi-| the authority is also the dent pares the estimates the Army and the Shipping Loard tor efficiency, in the end he must bear the | hlame But if there is to be discipline in the service, with the Chief Execu- tive and commander-in-chief deter- mining the policy of the administra- tion, this is no time for officers of the Army, the Navy, the Shipping Board or any of the other executive branches of the Government to raise their voices in criticism. The President <hown di nleasure zlleged to have emanated from officers of the General Staff of the Army and from Chairman | O'Connor of the Shipping Board, criti- | cizing the proposed budget. It is to he presumed that the President has called in the Army experts and the Shipping Board experts before reach- ing a decision as to what the appro- priations for these services should be ring the next fiscal vear, and that he has reached a decision after weigh- for too low has his reports at ing all the facts. If his decision be faulty, it is still his decision. For subordinates to attempt propaganda against his policy does not augur that measure of co-operation required for efficiency. Men who have spent their lives in the service of the country may regard with deep regret failure to make ex- penditures which they consider vital to the service. But if the system of Government which places the Chief Executive in entire command for a period of four years is not to fall, the decision of that Executive must pre- vail, so far as the executive branch is concerned. Congress, a co-ordinate branch of the Government with the executive, may not accept .the President’s bud- getary decision either for the Army or the Shipping Board, or for any of the other departments. But that is a vastly different matter. The commit- | tees of Congress may call before them officers of the Government to get their views with regard to the proposed re- ductions in expenditure for the Army and the Shipping Board, and those officers would properly be at liberty 1o express their honest convictions. And with the evidence before it Con- sress will determine what the appro- priations shall be. Even then, the President by his veto power could override the Congress unless that body by a two-thirds’ vote exercises its right to supremacy. President Coolidge's economy pro- &ram has been popular with tne peo- ple at large. Should the people be- come convinced that this program is heing carried too far, that it is result- ing in injury to the national defense 2nd to the efficient administration of the Government, dcubtless the Con- gress would smash the program at various points. That Congress will Zo to the bat against the President, how- ever, unless it becomes convinced, that the people are against his pro- gram of economy is entirely unlikely. Congress must be re-elected next year. S Hindenburg is grateful to Ameri- cans who have taken an interest in German affairs. The hope of Ameri can solicitude is the sustaining in- fluence among many world states- men, who cannot imagine how any country could fail to be attracted by = fascinating a series of tempera mental complications. o The County Fair. ° The county fair season in the Wash- ington country is in full tilt, Mont- gomery in the van. Later will come nccounts of the annual fair of Prince Georges and perhaps Charles, St. Marys and Anne Arundel will have the spotlight turned on them, and, of course, the Virginia counties which draw much of their inspiration and wealth from Washington and furnish our people with produce and vaca- tions, will be in the procession. The county fair is an institution. It Aates far back in the centuries. There are city people who do not know much about the county fair. Many city people are not educated in country matters. There are city people, mak- ing a pretense of wisdom, who do not know how to set a hen or milk & cow, and as to breaking a colt, they would look on that as a dangerous amuse- ment, almost as risky as getting on the other side of a trafficroaring street. Some of our most prominent citizens could not pick out a, Berk- shire from any other kind of a hog, and Guernseys, Jerseys and Holsteins look alike to them. They could not shuck an ear of corn and deliver an extemporaneous address on its tech- nical merits. Many have the idea that a county fair is a carnival where owners of slow-going race horses take money from unwary and unwise men. They think of popcorn and lemonade as jmonds in important parts of a county fair, whereas trey are but trimmings. The county fair is the rendezvous, the central market place, the forum, the convocatio of the homo rusticus. They gather to see the best and lutest things in cattle, hogs, sheep ang crops and to get pointers from men who have been successful in corn, wheat, Potatoes, lima beans and 2 hundred- and-odd other important things. A prize for a farm product carries honor and marks the winner as an expert and a successful man in some of the highly usetul things of life. Domestic arts have their place in tiie county fair and there woman pits herself against woman in making quince preserves, grape jelly and biackberry jam. Only a woman who really and truly knows how to put up preserves has a look-in for honors at the county fair. Wives and daughters enter the lists as cake and biscuit makers, and the girl who takes a prize for biscuit, johnnycake, shoit- cake or hoecake, poundcake, fruitcake and the like can wear her plumes and tassels more queenly, walk with a prouder step end carry her head higher. . In the city men meet (o read papers, which are usually dull, telling of what they have dome in certain lines of human endeavor. At the county fair men bring before the pedple the proofs l‘;( what they have done and qualified udges sit upon their wor ——————— Jazzing Shakespeare. A capacity audience last night in a London theater cheered a performance of “Hamlet” up to date. This “1925" st version of Shakespeare’s play was dis- | tinguished from the innumerahle ren ditions of the past only in the matter of dress. All the characters were at- tired in modern costumes. Hamlet ap- pearing in the graveside scene in a ol suit, and he and his associates of the cast at other times in correct fternoon dress, the men with creased trousers and spats, and the women with frocks of the latest pres- ent-day styles, some of them with bobbed or shingled hai: In one of the scenes a male character lighted a cigarette. he purpose of this revival in anachronistic setting, it was an nounced, is to demonstrate that the play has an appeal for moderns as stronz as when it was first staged But no departure from the traditions possibly appeal. Rather is it to be said that the pl appeals to modern taste, even though it is taken out of its true historic at mosphere, despite the outrage to the dramatist’s concept. Yesterday formance, on the contrary, proves that a London audience ishes novelty. It is inexpressibly sad thus to see Shakespeare ridiculed. It is a danger- ous step to costume the cast in the clothes of today, for it is but a short step farther to take other liberties. For instance, Hamlet in his voyaging can prove such an merely rel from Denmark to England and return | may be transported by airplane rather than taking the perilous passage by sea. | How can an audience take seriously the discourse of a man in “plus four about the hazards of the wave? Is not the spectacle of knickerbockered gentlemen of 1925 fighting to death with swords an inconsistency that’de stroys all illusion? The pity of all this is the ness of the public to receive and ap. willing- If a is plaud such an incongruous mess taste for modernized Shakespeare developed there is no end to the pro- cedure. The honk of the motor horn will be heard on the stage. Cacsar will be slain by automatics. Lear’s daughters will be ultra-mas fessional ladies. Shylock will appear in a flat-topped derby, wearing dia- his shirt front. Antony and Cleopatra will languish on the deck of a motor boat. Malvolio will strut in a dinner jacket. Radio will summon the sprites for Calaban. Twaddle about the “modern appeal” is simply camouflage for commercial enterprise. The real fact about this libelous London performance of | Shakespeare is that a theatrical pro ducer has hit upon a new scheme for drawing a crowd and shamelessly seeks justification by quoting Shakes. peare himself to the effect that “the vplay’s the thing,” whatever the garh B £ S The great Huropean capitals are having their troubles, but mnone of them reports the difficulties with trafic regulations that multiply in ‘Washington, D. C. ——————— If Uncle Sam holds on to his real estate in Florida, he may eventually be rich enough in his own right to run the Government without taxation. ————— There have been astonishing im- provements in the airship, but the ac- cidents show that it still needs safety appliances. ————. American Banking Billions. American banking resources are es- timated today at over $60,000,000,000, an increase of $57,000,000,000 in the last half century. These figures, which are almost beyvond comprehen- sion, indicate the enormous. develop- ment of the country, productively and commercially, since 1875. At its annual convention to be held this week in Atlantic City the Ameri- can Bankers' Association will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. In 2 call to its membership to attend the meeting, William E. Knox, president of the as- sociation, takes occasion to emphasize the real reason for and duty of bank- ing establishments. They are not so much for the mere amassing of money as for the inculcation of sound eco- nomic principles in the people who are served by the banks. Today there are 30,000 banks in the United States, where fifty vears ago there were 3,000. Today the capital funds of the banks aggregate more than $7,000,000,000 and their deposits are $50,000,000,000 plus, while in 1875 the capital funds were in the neigh- borhood of $1,000,000,000 and the de- posits about 00,000,000 This tremendous growth of banking resources has been due to the natural wealth of the country, to the industry of the American people, and to the sound banking laws and system developed. Stability and the confidence which it engenders have brought to the Ameri- can banks the billions which they now boast. At the coming convention of s per- i uline pro- | the Dbankers' association important questions of policy will be discussed, including tax revision and economy in expenditures, Selfish determinations of these questions on the part of the banking interests can have no good effect. After all, it is the people whose imoney the banks hold in trust to whom consideration is first due, and the vast majority of the depositors are persons of moderate means. Becuuse of the business which they transact and the places of trust which they occupy, the American bankers &re in a position to give valuable ad- | vice, and it 1s to be expected that this |advice will be based on sound economic principles and in the interest of the great mass of those whom the banks serve. | ———— An Oriental “‘Rarity.” An excited citizen the other day hastened into the office of the curator of the Staten Island Museum with a remarkable find. It was a queer- shaped insect about two and one-half {inches lonz, looking like a cross be- tween a grasshopper and an airplane. The curator of the museum received it gratefully and told the donor that he recognized it as a praying mantis, a strange Oriental insect which had been imported from the Far East a few years ago for the purpose of waging war on the caterpillars and other garden pests in Staten Island. | Only isolated specimens of it had pre- | viously from time to time been found had arrived on incoming ships. Residents of Washington will | of this remarkable entomological dis- covery in Staten Islaund with soms amusement. familiar creature in this region, .has, indeed, been a gurden commonplace from time immemorial. It is better Known perhaps to most people as the “rare horse.” Though it is quite a harmless creature, having no venom or means of attack, it is held in awe by most youngsters until they learn its innocence. Indeed, one of the favorite outdoor sports of some boys is to capture a pair of these insects and harness them up with threads. | The mantis, or rare horse, is said to { be the only insect in creation that can look over its shoulder. Its capacity for turning its head almost completely |around to stare with its great bulbous eves in any direction adds to its odd ity. When aroused and “r'aring” with its forelegs pawing the air and its head turning as on a swivel it is one of the most laughable creatures in nature. If this rare horse of the Washington { region is an import from the Orient it has surely found a congenial home and multiplied until it has become in- digenous. 1f Staten Island Museum wants more specimens they can readily be supplied from the backyards and {vacant lots of this city —————————— { Labor day will end the vacation season. Many a man will welcome | the return te an eight-hour day and a six-day week, instead of the con- tinuous strain involved in an effort {at extraordinary enjoyment. ———re———— Ancient discoveries are jmpressive, | vet nome of them is in. reality as wonderful as a modern apartment, with electric lights, telephone, pho- nograph, radio, kitchenette and a mo { tion picture theater just around the ‘cornenx R Many people think that the World Court, designed to keep order, should jbe something in the nature of a | police court. R The katydid's song continues to an- inounce the coming of frost, but the coal dealer’s announcement is a more reliable signal. ——— Russian politicians may not regard Trotsky as especially useful, but { reter to have him in office, where they can keep an eye on him. ———— England would be glad if the Eng- lish Channel were as hard to fly over as it is to swim acros ———e—s SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON The Cost of War. In reading about the relations of | nations | We're sometimes impressed by the | fact That militant nations create obli- gations Whose terms are too oft inexact. We find that, 'mongst nations, the poorer relations Are scrappy as scrappy can be; 'Twere best that such nations make new regulations And fight all their wars C. 0. D. | The Age of Mechanism. | “Are you going to make any | speeches when Congress convenes?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. I may be called on now and then to help out in a little filibustering. But in that case I'm going to see if I can't save my weary voice by using phonograph recorde.”” Words Fail Instead of “wave lengths,” we must now Of “kilocycles” shout: Which will not stop the jazz, 1 vow, Nor keep the static out. Jud Tunkins says with traffic signs on both sides of the street and on the pavement, the only suggestion he has to make is that they put some smoke writing in the sky. Imperviousness. “The man who drinke some of this bootleg licker has a cast iron stomach.” “More'n that,” rejoined Uncle Bill Bottletop. “He has a gutta percha throat and a bone head.” Not Superseded. There's a newsstand full of stories Which are full of pep and thrill— Yet we love Shakespearean glories And we're quoting Dickens still. “De lazy man,” said Uncle Eben, “don’t take no interest in speed unless it's de kind he kin get arrested tor.” A | there, and it is presumed that they |the oman phrase had it, to be de. al The praying mantis is a | turies, the Roman mother undoubted I jbeen no homes such as we know them | THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. A man, a woman and a home. ‘This is the true eternal triangle. Other ‘“triangles” have received more publicity, but none deserves it 50 much as this one, the structure of all that is good in life. Civilization culminates triangle. All past ages have been working toward it. ‘Today in the United States it stands in every village, town and city, at once the pride and ambi- tion of America. The home, of course, is no new thing Every land, as almost every in this century, has had its homes. But no- where, perhaps, in all the world, or during any age, has the triangle reached such perfection as here and now. Rome, in the days of its pride, had its houses, too. Many of them were built of marble, were kept by huge retinues of servants (slaves) and held a dignified matron and children. Simply as domiciles they were very good. Centuries were to pass before man- kind again had such sanitation in their dwellings as the high-class Romans had. Yet, they were not homes such as we know. X Imagine this—when a baby was born. being shown to the father, if the latter took it up in his arms, the child was permitted to live. If the father. however, frowned upon it and refrained from picking it un. it was condemned to death, taken from the mwother and “exposed.” as voured by wolves, or otherwise die. Other ~days, other customs, of course. While the heart of motherhood has been much the same through the cen- 1y did not regard such a modern mother would. The “pater” of the familv was the law of the household. as well as the head of it. and custom of centuries alreadv had made such treatment of the newborn tolerable, that no great grief was caused by the decli nation of the father to pick up the infant. Yet one may imagine that many a tear was shed as th' unfortunate lit- tle ones that failel to obtain the pa- | Barbarity as ternal approval were sent away to their death. | The individual was nothing, the state everything. The children scarcely were ed as human beings in imperial Rome until they arrived at man's estate, al though, strangely enough, they wore purple on their robes, the color only worn by high state officials. This was @ theoretical admission, at least. on | the part of their elders that there | was something sacred about child- | hood. For all the glitter, the much-herald ed zrandeur of Rome. the whole an cient world, which this city domi- nated, must have smacked of the shambles and the jungle, wherein a dog-eat-dog policy largely prevailed. | The unscrupulously clever managed | to live—the rest skulked. There must have been but one sal- ation for the peaceful person—to be | one of the commonality, 0 low in sta tion that one was lost in the common | herd. In regard- such a sta o there could have today. Undoubtedly out of the mil- | lions who lived and died under such governments some did achieve a par- tial resemblance to a modern home. On the seven hills of Rome. and in provinces under her sway, some lucky | ones must have lived their lives in | fair peace, and gone to their death | our eternal triangle. | third side quietly. But even then, out, the true ‘‘eternal triangle” not’ exist—save in dreams. During the so-called Middle Ages the world lost some of the progress to- ward real homes which it has achieved under the Roman rule, as little as that was. Open marble palaces gave place to cold, dirty stone bufldings, wherein hu- man beings and animals lived in con- fusion. In the great halls of the Danes, centuries before, left-overs from the tables were thrown to the dogs in the rushes. Only the huge health of the early peoples enabled them to pull through such living conditions. Iven at the time of Elizabeth unutterly filthy liv- ing conditions prevailed. Terrible plagues, the result of dirt, finally swept Europe, brushing away as pointed did some of the contagion that clung foul- | ly around human life. The Lord, it is true, wind to the shorn lamb. Under such conditions men build up a certain resistance, so that they sur- vive conditions that would decimate later and more tender generations. The word “tender,” in this connec- tion, simply describes different condi- tions. Men habituated to living amid fleas will develop tough hides, whereas those who do not consort with fleas are easily bitten by them. Our poetry, our novels, seldom if ever touch upon these points in the lives of their heroes and heroines of past generations. For all we know to the contrary, the lily maid of Tenny son might have been as dirty as a pig, could we have seen her in fact as we do in fancy. ‘There is more than a sugpicion that many of the lovely creatures of our novels and poems would have turned out to need a good soaking bath Yet one and all were working toward the completion of the real eternal tri angle—a man, a woman and a house. What is the man? What is the woman? What is the house? The man is a certain amount of the divine intelligence. The woman is a certain other amount. The house is the place where these two work out their destiny. There are 100 many of these divine intelligences today trying to work out their destinies rolling around in auto- mobiles or sitting in motion picture houses. These things and places, admirable as they are, are not components of Civilization ha been building up to the home, and h achieved it, in America, at least. We are in some danger, sometimes, of for getting the third element of the tri- angle—the house. - Iiven those who possess houses are tempted too much to leave them for outside amusement. One reason for this is that they camp out, in their own homes, rather than live in them. It is amazing how many families camp in their own houses. Little thought is given to beauty, attractive- ness. The false plea of economy, com- bined with procrastination, results in bare, uncheerful living quarters. Having failed to build up their of the triangle, it is no wonder they are always on the road. The ‘true homes of America, on the other hand, are attractive, clean, con. the tempers taining plenty of wholesome recrea tion, at the same time catering to the taste for the beautiful. Such a house may be small, or it | may be larze, it makes no difference. After all, a house is just some place to live. It is the living that counts. Those who make an art of livin: know the Leauty of the real eternal triangle—a man, a woman and a hom Pan-American Seen ‘as Increase of national highway sys-| tems in this country is predicted. an hopes for pan-American routes are ex pressed, as a result of recent develop- ments. Action by the Interstate Highway Board, at its Washington meeting, in designating a national system of roads by markers, covering the country and touching every State capital, emphasizes the growth that has been achieved in less than a dec- ction of the Joint Board of Inter- state Highways,” says the St. Joseph News-Press, “in designating 50,000 | miles of Federal roads, gridironing the United States from border to bor- der, may be regarded us a forerunner of a new Federal policy in road build- inj It is especially significant in view of the expression of President Coolidge in his messuge to Congress last December that ‘Federal subsidies can be curtailed with benefit both to the Federal and State governments.’ There is little doubt that the question | will be considered by the Congress in the coming session. Amer! is a na- tion on wheels: no people is more mo- | bile. It is time that a general road planning be made a regular part of our provision for national highways. o e Evidence of the “tremendous strides that have been made in much less than a decade ‘in the development of a well articulated road plan from coast to coast and from the Lakes to the Gulf” is seen by the Indianapolis Star in the designation and marking of the system. “The change has rev lutionized travel methods and habits; millions of persons spend their annual vacations on automobile tours,” adds the Star. “Universal use of the au- tomobile and motor truck,” accord- ing to the Atlantic City Press, “has taken the lesson of good roads into every section of the country. Where the railroad goes, the permanent high- way is necessary as an auxiliary. Where there are no railroads the hard-surfage road must serve the pur- pose. “With the completion of each na- tional highway,” declares the Kansas City Post, “the Unitel States {s more closely knit together. Each State is nearer every other State in communi- cation and in fact. The interchange, commercial and social. makes for a Nation of greater solidity, and the highways as a medium thus lend ef- forts for national success and per- manency. Sectional differences and crossed purposes do not arise in n tions where each locality understands and fraternizes with every other lo- cality.” Under the plan, also, accord- ing to the Faribauit Daily -News, “much will be done to untangle the maze of the multiplicity of named trails which have so far served more to confuse than to guide the motorist along his way.” * Kk ox % 4 A dream of a future condition “‘rather than as of something about to come to pass soon” is the comment of the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times on the proposed system of more than 70 roads forming a network over the en- tire United States, but the Gazette- Times finds that it “does suggest sys- tem in road building and, carried out, would make every section of the land Highways U.-'S. Roads -Gain ment of such traffic in the diversion of interstate commerce from the rail lines. 1t is by no means improbable that in the future a national highway Politics at Large By G. Gould Lincoln The farmer of the West and the Middle West is fast getting a reputation for being prosperous. Indeed, the pros- Pperity of the farmer is coming to be almost as much a byword these days as was the depression of agriculture a couple of years ago. The Republic- an leaders are “pointing with pride” to the better conditions that prevail today in the Northwest. And condi- tions really seem to have improved in a marked degree. On the other hand, too much Republican talk of farm prosperity may prove a boomer- ang The farmers are not yet quite out of the woods. They still have debts -to pay, many of them. Much will depend on the price they receive for wheat and corn and hogs and cat- tle this vear. While the talk of farm prosperity continues, Democrats and progressives are trying to drill into the people of the West the idea that New England and the East generally have a grip on the Republican administration, and that the real benefits of the adminis tration go to those sections. Here and there this doctrine seems to be hav- ing its effec But with prosperity, the Northwest is Republican, and will continue so. What the Republican leaders are hoping is that good times will continue through next year. when j the new Congress has to be elected { It seems rather ridiculous to be dis- cussing the election of a “new” Con- gress when the Congress elected a year ago has not vet even held its { first session. But that is the way the Government works under the present system. A new Congress does not get together in regular session until 13 months after it has been chosen at the polls. * % % % The Republican national committee has a problem on its hands in Wiscon- |sin which it had not bargained for Assurances were given by the regular Republicans, the “stalwarts,” of that State that they would get together on a nominee for the Senate 1o oppose Robert M. La Follette, jr., in the Re publican primaries. But they have fallen down on the job. Theré are three candidates in the fleld besides young La Follette—Roy P. Wilcox, choice of the Oshkosh convention former Gov. Francis E. McGovern and Barry, who wanted to run first as a candidate of the “La Follette- Wheeler party” ‘of last year, but found that no such party existed, and that under the State law he would either have to run as an independent, as did the La Follette-Wheeler elec tors last vear, pr enter the Repub- lican primaries. % 5on | With a good-sized row on in the | stalwart faction of the party, the na- tional committee is wondering just how far it ought to become invoived in the campaizn in the Badger State. There is u feeling in some quarters that Wisconsin cannot be run from | Washington and that if the regular | Republicans are to gain control in the ate they must do it themselves. * k% % Senator William M. Batler. chair {man of the Republican national com- mittee, will leave New England to go to Chicago soon after Labor day, ac cording to present plans. He will look in on the Wisconsin fight and then jas far West the of next vear. The Farmer-Labor party s0 active in the Northwest a few short years ago, Seems to -have hit the tobogzan, due Frgely to-the lessen- ing of hard -times in that section. Magnus Johnson, who was defeated for the Senate last vear. is in eclipse, and Senator Shipstead, the other | Farmer-Labor Senator from Minne. | sota. will have a hard time gettin | elected three years from now. Lt | been a party” of protest n;(nr‘ un- | usual conditions, und as those condi. | tions have subsided, so has the party. | If young La Follette is elected as which was has may be a distinctive reality and thatja Republican to the Senate, will he the United States shield posted on it | will be sign and warning of Federal authority.” “Some objections to the system, however, are suggested. “It is diffi- cult,” the Grand Rapids Press assert | “to imagine the least use for any such system, in view of the ample informa tion and splendid maps of State sy: markings everywhere, and the free interchange of highway advice regard- ing interstate routes.” The Atlanta Journal calls attemtion to the fact that the ‘marks will relate to “route numbers, curves, railroad crossings and other conditions of the roads,” and states that in the program for Georgia there is no provision for cer- tain roads. “Scores of such deficien- cles are obvious,” it says. ’ * % % Ambitious as is this national proj- ect, one even more ambitious has heen contemplated, s is pointed out by the Pittsbursh_Sun, which refers to the meeting of the Pan-American Road Congress, to be held in Buenos Aires October 3. at the invitation of the Ar- gentine This meeting zovernment. will have for “one of its objects,” savs the Sun, “the construction of a pan- American highway which will unite the countries that compose the Pan- American Union.” “The day will come,” predicts the Sioux City Trib- une, “when tourists from this country will' glide down over well built con- nected highways onto the highways of South America.” The Oakland Tribune sees “pleasure jaunts to the tip end of Chile and Argentina” in prospect, while the San Antonio Ex- press visions this “pan-American highway system” as preceding the “dream of prospective empire build- ers, that of a raflroad spanning the Americas trom north to south.” New Rules Tend to Slow Traffic Movement To the Editor af The St As a motorist for nearly 20 vears, principally on the streets of Wash- ington, my opinion is that the present spced limit of 22 miles per hour, checked by the frequent stop signs, does not give any better speed average than the former speed of 15 miles per hour. On a trip across Washington from east to west, it is necessary to stop your car where the streets are traversed by trolley lines, also at Six- teenth street, to permit north and south bound traffic to pass. The stop signs at street intersections _like Sixth, Tenth and Eighteenth delay traffic, as usually no traffic is ready to pass at the time the sign tells you to stop. The obliterating of the stop signs by the wear and tear and weather conditions causes further in- fractions of the law, particularly at night. If motorists were held to strict ac- count of the present traffic regulations it is reasonable to state that practi- cally every one will be haled into Traffic Court during the year. readily accessible.” The spirit in- volved appeals further to the Colum- bia Record, which believes these ‘‘sys- tematic markings will unite the Na- tion into one loyal band of accord,” and continues: ‘“We have blotted out State lines in road building and we should carry out the idea all the way through the program, because the highway system is a national one, in that Congress has certain rights over post roads.” . “Federal control over interstate traffic operating over highways,” the My statement is made of present conditions and is not intentional criticism other than I believe that a el K : tor La F teths available, the improved state of | 5 be accepted as such by the party or- ganization of that body, or will he be read out of the party., as was his father, the late Senator? If he is ac- cepted, what becomes then of Sena- | tor Brookhart and Senator Frazier of { North Dakota, who were dropped ! from party councils along with Sena- liette” For a year now there has been no Republican national committeeman and no Republican national committeewoman from Wis consin. The last resizned because they were La Follette supporters, and as the control of the Republican State committee has been in the hands of the La Follette faction, no successors have been named. This is another problem which the national Republic- an organization must face sooner or later. o Ko Senator “Jim” Watson of Indiana, who comes up for reelection next vear, is in the State looking after his | “fences.” His supporters, while con- | fident that he will be renominated and re-elected, would like very much to know what former Senator Beveridze is going to do. If the latter went into the primaries, it would make an ugly fight next year. * % % % Notwithstanding rumors to the con- trary, Chairman Clem Shaver of the Democratic national committee has not the slightest intention of resign- ing his job now or in the near future. Democrats who talk of spending money in an effort at this time to “start something” for the party are about as popular with Mr. Shaver as a budget- busting Congressman with President Coolidge. Although Mr. Shaver is not talking for publication, it is known that he does not believe in the old practice of letting the party debt run along every four vears, until it car be paid off by the bid of one of the big cities for the honor and pleasure and material gain of holding a Democratic national convention within its confines. New York got the convention last vear by agreeing to pay off the Demo- cratic debt. And look what it did to the party. This system is all wrong in the opinion of Mr. Shaver and others who support him. The debt is going to be paid, if he can bring about that desired end, before the party does anything else. From different quarters of the coun- try comes the word that Democratic leaders—some of those who supported McAdoo and others who fought to the bitter end for Smith at the New York convention are now determined that there must be a new deal, and that neither of these gentlemen shall be allowed to upset the Democratic apple cart in 1928. They are beginning to realize what happened to theé party in the New York convention, and the per- sonal ambitions of no individual, if they can prevent it, are going to jeop- ardize the chances of the Democracy [in the future. There is not a little pri. vate discussion of ‘“‘outsiders,” men who are unidentified either with Mec- Adoo or Smith, some such man as President Alderman of the Univer- sity of Virginia. The demands made last Winter and Spring for a gathering of the leading Democrats of the country, or of the|native county in Ohio, regretting his 1 as Pacific coast |largely in the interest of the con gressional and senatorial campaizns | Q. What is the ratio of explosives used to coal mined?—C. A. A. Last year in bituminous coal mines 165,543,000 pounds of explosives were used. This amounted to 342 pounds for each 1,000 tons of coal produced. In anthracite mines 43, 837,117 pounds of explosives were used, or 709 pounds per 1,000 tons of hard coal produced. Q. Which is correct “An error would result in a subscriber being charged with a call,” or “a subscrib- er's being,” etc.?—H. M. H A. The word should be er's” A noun modifying ubscrib. a_ verbal sessive case. Q. Has cooked cabbage as great a vitamin content as raw cabbage’— [F- M. B A. Cooking cabbage reduces the vitamin content two-thirds, the most marked differences being in vitamin C. Vitamin B remains the same and vitamin A is reduced Q. What is Guido's scale in music? —H. L. ¢ A Guido's _scale in music wag in- vented by Guido d'Agre 0 (900-1050) and is substantially the same one as we now use. The syllables were taken from the first line of a Latin hymn, “Ut re mi fa sol la ut.” The usual note “si” was not recognized in Guido's tim ‘Do” has been sub stituted for “ut.” Q. Please give some information about_British Honduras—J. W. & A. The climate of British Honduras is hot, moist and zenerally unhealthy {for foreigners. The coast is, as a ule low .and swampy and a large |part of the interior is covered with forests vielding large quantities of mahogany and logwood. Over 50,000 acres are under cultivation and vield fruits, rubber, coffee, etc. The colony is administered by a governor, and has an executive and legislative council. United States gold currency was adopted as legal tender in 1594 The majority of the population is composed of negroes, mulattoes and Indians. Q. Can an American citizen range to have his old mother come to this country even if the quota fis filled 7—A. Z. that an American citizen can petition for his aged mother to come into thi country under the “Preference quot: Q. Why do French watches have numerals from 1 to —T. G. M A. The French do not divide the hours of the day into shifts of 12 but count up to the numeral 24 Thus: 1 pm. is 13 o'clock, 2 p.m. is {14 o'clock, and so on. Q. The newspape; that women make d ers than men. M. 8. A. Doubtless arti cles to which the newspaper ou refer related to the Chicago to the Pacific. Old-timers can child encountered—in the Middle West | particular and literal hordes of them either have jalready gone there or are preparing to migrate. City ler and townsman alike ot Tall stories of meteoric culate from mouth to mouth, and from {house to house, and the average per borrow or steal for the purpose of taking a town lot or an acreage flver try. 1 ** % x Found myself in Indianapolis. beau- tiful capital of my native State, dur- jing “Greater Indianapolis week. Was told that Mayor Lew nk, Hoosierdom’s most picturesque tician, organized the ‘‘week for the specific purpose of taking Indianap. itans' minds off Florida. Shank an auctioneer and storage warehouse. {man by occupation. He discovered that his premises were choked household effects of people who had closed their homes in order to go to Florida and tempt fickle fortune in the magic field of real estate. It was said in Indianapolis during the third jweek of August that there was not a sleeping car berth for Florida avail- able for a_month to come! Mayvor {Shank’s object was to make people fine opportunities for profitable land speculation continue to exist, so he launched a “Boost Your Own City” campaign. It remains to he seen whether it will serve its purpose, for the Florida epidemic is widespread and raging. N Indianapolis was revisited by this observer for the first time since early boyhood, ‘when his father, a cotem- porary of Thomas A. Hendricks, took him to the capital for the late Vice President’s funeral. The Hoosier metropolis_has become one of the handsemest the country. Its famed ‘“‘circle,’ scity, with its imposing soldiers and i sailors’ monument towering into the heavens. is as fine a_civic adornment as can be found in the United States, or, for that matter, anywhere. The abutting form of architecture re- minds one of London’s quaint and celebrated “quadrant” in Regent street. * ok ¥ % No episode of with delightful more pleasantly than a passed with Senator Samuel AL Ralston at his farm on the outskirts of Indianapolis. Despite reports of his failing health, the Hoosiers' fa- vorite son—men of all parties admit that ‘‘Honest Sam"” is the most be- filled lingers a Summer experience factory. condition, both bodily and spiritually. He plans to return to Washington well before Congress reaggembles and to take an active hand in thé biz affairs of the suc- ceeding session. Ralston is a genuine dirt farmer, operating 26 acres, on which he raises nearly everything thdt grows, including horses, cattle and chickens. I can-testify that he breeds good pumpkins and good apples, for he spread a feast of pumpkin pie and cider—a menu no true Hoosier believes that Lucullus himself could excel. The other day Senator Ralston in a letter to his number of modifications should be | national conimittee, to smooth out the [inability to attend a centennial cele- made to handle the volume of traffic |late unpleasantness have not been |bration, revealed his deéply religious as it exists at the present and new |answered by such a meeting, nor is|strain. » | there any such in prospect. It is fear. | stilled into his mind in early boyhood | —“God is good, and 1 am His child"— | regulations placed in effect only conditions merit them. ed that such a meeting would be used He said that the lesson in- Sane driving necessitates the maxi- |for the advantage of one or the other | has remained with him as his philos. mum speed to be made between blocks {faction, and instead of healing sores, | ophy of lite. and a slowing down at street inter- | might tear thé wounds open again. |league. My Washington col- Hornaday of the In- “Jim” sections, with necessary stopping to|When the proper time comes—prob-|dianapolis News, was a caller at the permit traffic to move in the opposite |ably next year—the national commit- | Ralston farm on the same occasion. direction under the rule of the ma- Philadelphia Bulletin suggests, “is a fogical consequence of the develop- chine on right having the right of way. WALTER, L. CARTER. tee' will be called together and plans made to ald in the campaign for the election of a Democratic Congress. Once upon a time Mrs. Ralston and “Jim" were rival reporters an In- ‘diana country mewspapers. The one {understand ‘that in Indianapolis itself | in the heart of the | morning | noun or gerund must be in the pos- | | | | | ar- {of a billiard cue?—J A. The Bureau of Immigration savs | small | He the bug. |gres: affluence cir. | possibilitie: 1 | son is in consequence minded to beg, | him by sizht, or even rec in the alligator and Everglades coun-| That is because Lawson had a ps | | \ | voli- | with | | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. men 0.59 seconds, and the average variability of the women 0.17 seconds and that of the men 0.22 seconds. Q. When was the first shutout in base ball’—D. M. A. A. The first shutout in professional ball was made at St. Louis, May | 1875, when Chicago beat St. Louis by a score of 1 to 0. Q. Why do the wheels on antomo. biles seem to turn backwards in the movies?—P. M. A. Motion pictures are in realitv a combination of still pictures. The firat picture of the automobile shows the spokes of the wheels in one position If the next exposure of the film were made when spoke No. 1 had advanced far enough to be in the position of spoke No. 2, the picture would show no motion, as spokes are identical If spoke 1 had advanced less than halt wayv to position of spoke 2, the forward motion would be noticed. If however, spoke 1 advances more than half way to the observer, it would have the effect of spoke 2 moving backward, as that distance would be shorter and the apparent motion would be in that direction. Q. How much ground can be cov. ered by the motor thrasher in a da —F. T. 8 A. The motor-driven harvesie: thrasher reaps about 40 acres a day The farm tractor makes it possible to prepare and plant the land rate of 45 acres a day. Q. What countries have ministers of education in their cabinets’—C. R A. The principal countries having such portfolios are: ¢ Britain. France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia. Den- mar Esthonia, Hungary. Iraly Netherlands, Norwav, Poland. Sweden and Germany Q. When was the first minimum wage law passed’—V. T A. The first minimum wage law for labor engaged on public works was passed in 1887 in Belgium, while the first law of this character applving 1o private emplovment was adopted Vietoria, Australia, in 1895, at Q. What is tthe length and weizht , McE. A. In billiards the standard length of cues is 4 feet 9 inches. There no regulation in reg: to weig! They range in weight from 1 ounces, (Even Uncic Sam is inquisitive Just now ke is trying to discover the most popular sizes of women’s stork ings, the chewing power of false teeth whether a solar cclipse interferes it radio and how tough beef is. These arc but a few of the many problems the Bureau of Standards is 1working on. This branch of the Government as well as all the other departments is constantly engaged in research and investigations that will benefit the 4 American citizen. Our Washington Yureau is in a position to reach these great resources of service and infor- mation gathered by the Federal Gor- tests recently made by Dr. F. A. Moss | ernment and pass them om to you of Georze Washington University and | This service is frec. State your ques- H. H. Allen of the United States Bu- | tion clearly and inclose © cents in reau of Standards, in which 25 men |stamps for return postage. Address and 10 women were put through a | The Star Infurmation Bureau, Fred serfes of tests and it was found that | eric J. Haskin, director, Twenty-first the average reaction time of the wom- | and C streets northwest, Washinglo en was 0.56 seconds and that of the D, ; . WESTERN OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. l Farewell impressions in the West|that could write the most was ean have a Floridian hue. Florida is|sidered the best reporter pretty much ‘“ueber alles” through- | % 2 out the reglon that stretches from| ..o - G4 recall nothing like the scramble to|her zreatest sons—Victor Fremont get rich qui around Miami and|Lawson, editor and publisher of the Palm Beach since the Klondike gold | Chicago Daily News. Lawson was # rush. Every other man, woman or|man of 21 before the Chicago fire laid the Western metropolis waste, so his talks or dreams Florida. | life history was very intimately wran ped up with the development of the imperial city by Lake Michigan's sho had the true Chicagoan’s ive confidence in the community and became one of its master builders. Yet not one persc in ten thousand in Chicago ever knew gnized his photograph_when the papers publi ed it the day following his passinz on the for self-effacement. A pioneer in development of foreign news, Americ at large, and not only Chicago. will revere his name as a practical fomenter of international understan ing. This reporter's first newspaps job was that of a reporter on L. son’s old_ Chicago Record, which sent me to Europe to “cover” the Iioe War from London. I received o Lawson's own handis assignment at an immortal occasion in my ered career. His high-minded ception of the ethies of journalisn chec indelible. From the dizzy heizhts « the Tribune tower. Chicago’s nes and most magnificent architec glory, the flew at half-staff in | Victor Fremont Lawson's hono mute tribute to the esteem in which even his fiercest competitors held publisher who -always plaved ame. * ok % o { | | | San. Francisco's Chinatown exhibit phone exchange maintained by the / Bell Co. Situated in the heart of the Celestial district, it is constru in Orlental pagoda style, inside most _interesting ed and outside, and is served exclusively an Ameri; born Chinese hello girls They dress in native Chinese costume, and, while bi-lingual, give wrong num bers and cut off conversation mostly in Chinese. There are about 3.000 Chinese connections in San Francisco listed in a special telephone directory printed in Chinese. The exchange in Grant avenue is the only kind outside of China ¥ Nearly every eity in the West is grappling with the automobile traffic problem in its own wav, and trying to work out something better (han any other place has evolved. The most picturesque, if not the most ef- fective, stop-and-go stheme I encoun- tered is in Louisville. There traffic policemen stand in the middle of in tersecting streets and switch on t signals with the aid of a bham’ fishing pole, which turns “stop” and “‘x0" signs hanging from #he trolley wis.s overhead ’ - e There's money to be made in hotels in the West. Several big citics of the Denver type are still without loved man' I the State—is in satls. | up-to-date establishments of the first grade. Many such communities have so-called high-class hotels with noth. ing modern about them except their prices, and these are extorted with gay abandon. Younger places like Spokane and Seattle are blessed with hotels that would do credit to New York. Chicago is filling up with won- derful caravansaries. ~Soon it will have a couple of de-luxe houses with more than 3,000 rooms each. In the West there's a tale of a great “bol- shevist hotel” in New York—1,000 rooms and one bath. * ok Kk One of the most modest nooks in the West is the mnorthern sector of “Bill” Borah's 1daho. A Coeur d’Alené newspaper, asking in the language of William Allen White, what's the mat- ter with its home county of Kootenai. answers its own question, and says: “All that Kootenai County needs is 1,000 more dairy cows, 10.000 hozs, 100,000 chickens. support for the can- nery, more prospectors in the hills. furniture and toy factories, the manu facture of its clays into salahle articles, and more Summer cottages surrounding Lake Coenr A'Alene," “(Copyright. 1998:y the Chinese tele ’ i