Evening Star Newspaper, August 28, 1925, Page 6

6 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edijen. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY.... .August 28, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES . Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office : 11th St. and Penm ania Ave. New York Office: ]g’ at 8t. Chicago Ofce: Tower Bui pean Office: 16 Regent St.. London, England. The Evening § ing edition, is delivered by cf the city at'60 cents per month: dail 35 cents per month: Sunday only. 20 co B, ponth " Orders: uay he st b mal telapbone Main 5000. ‘ollection is made carrier at the end of pach month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday. 1 yr.. $8.40: lllmv.. D only . Jl1yri$8.00 Sunday only . 13msade: All Other States. thin on) r. with the Sunday morn- w1 1 or by 0c Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitied 0 the use for republication of all news die- Jaiebes credited (o ft or mot otherwiae "erod- ted in this paper and also the local news Dublished hervin Al rights of publication {3 dispatches herein are also reserved. Coal Strike Ordered. The issuance of the anthracite strike order, effective midnight, August 31, does not come as a surprise, though it is @ matter of regret. Were it not for the consuming public, which must rely on coal to prevent suffering and illness during the Winter and to operate the industries of the country, the struggle between the miners and the operators, with results confined to themselves, might be viewed with equanimity. Now that the strike has been ordered and there seems no prospect of pre- venting a suspension of work in the mines, the question is, how long will it continue. How long can the mine operators and the mine workers stand a stagnation of the industry? The resources of the operators for a long pull are the greater, and the suffering entailed upon the miners through the loss of a million dollars a day will be felt with increasing severity as their individual resources and the union's Qutside of their own small following they are rated as dangerous cliizens. If the sovietizing of the United | States is serously contemplated a higher grade of leadership must be established for the elements that are to work for the overthrow of the present form of government. These men, Foster and Ruthenberg, and others of their ilk have no influence outside of a very narrow circle. They are distrusted by the workingmen, who recognize in them enemies of public order and government. They may make a few converts here and | there among men and women who have been hovering on the borders of extreme radicalism, but their party does not grow in numbers. The conclusion is logical that the Foster-Ruthenberg communists are really not directly inspired by the Moscow influence or guided by the Soviet leaders. The men who have maintained the bolshevist administra- tion of Russia for nearly eight years are not altogether fools. They are not entirely devoid of shrewd under- standing, and, although they have made some serious blunders, they are not likely to have erred so grievously as to choose for the leadership of their Sovlet-extension work in America such men as those who have been identified with the communist organization here. The Traffic Turning Rules. * “Beginning tomorrow the English rule of passing on the left instead of the right for automobile traffic will be put into effect in Washington.” Such an edict from the traffic di- rector's office would be no more revo- lutionary than the proposed change in the right and left hand turning regulation which the director has an- nounced he intends to try on the hap- less Washington public. There are two salient reasons why the traffic director should let well enough alone, the first being that Washington motorists are satiated with new regulations and experi- ments, and the second that, regardless of how many times it has been used in other cities, it is contrary to one of the fundamental rules of traffic, strike fund decreases. Two years ago the anthracite workers went out on strike, but through the good offices of Gov. Pinchot of Pennsylvania an agreement was reached in a short time end the suspension of work was for three weeks only. By that settlement the miners received a 10 per cent in- crease in wages. Today, however, the operators insist that the business does not warrant the further increase de- manded, but rather a decrease. The strike comes at a time when the consumption of coal has been at its lowest ebb for five months, and the production has been in a measure for the accumulation of “stocks” to be used during the coming Fall and Win- ter. This is helpful to the consumer, who, warned of the approaching strike, has laid in his Winter's coal, or part of it. The stocks of coal above ground are greater by far than if the suspen- slon of work had come, for example, in March or April. Under these condi- tions and with the addition of substi- tutes, the public should be in a posi- tion to stand a strike now with less discomfort and suffering than at times in the past. But because the public may not suf- fer so much is no argument for the use of the strike in an industry that after all is vitaily necessary to the people. There should be some better system of adjustment of industrial controversies. The striké is an ap- peal to force. It is war, In which the public generally, as in most wars, is the great sufferer. With the fullest light, with all mat- ters pertaining to the industry dis- closed, the peaceful settlement of con- troversies between operators and min- ers should be possible. The great trou- ble in the past, and today, has been that one side or the other, or both sides, has not been willing to submit its case for adjustment on the actual facts. To decline to submit a case for such kind of settlement is an admis- slon of weakness. The public gener- ally 1s inclined to view with suspicion the declination of either the operators or the miners to arbitrate before an impartial tribunal controversies that arise. This year it happens to be the miners who refuse arbitration, though in the past the operators have de- clined to arbitrate. If the strike is of long continuance the question of credit allowed by the storekeepers and business men in the anthracite district will become a fac- tor. If the miner's resources are close to an end, and he cannot obtain credit, then the situation becomes still worse. | On the other hand, if the consumers of anthracite learn, as they may, that they can get along pretty well with substitutes for this fuel, and market for anthracite dwindles more and more, the pinch will come upon the operators as well as upon the miners. Should a strike of the bituminous miners be called out of sympathy for the anthracite workers and in part to gain better conditions for the soft coal miners themselves, the condition in the country would become vastly more serfous. But such a strike would be condemned from one end of the coun- try to another. e Chinese bandits desire to be admit- ted into the army, where the fight- ing is expertly supervised and the ra- tions more regular. — v Before entering the League of Na- tions Germany may be moved to re- quest assurances that there will be no rough play in the initiation. S — American Communist Leaders. It the Russtan Soviet leaders are actually, as is generally believed in this country, directing the radical forces in the United States through their organization and political actlv- ity, they are showing extraordinarily poor judgment. Yesterday at Chicago ‘Willlam Z. Foster was elected head of the Workers' Party of America, & communist organization, against C. E. Ruthenberg. Both Foster and Ruthen- berg are thoroughly discredited per- sons. They are known as extreme communists. They have been impli- cated in plots against the American Government, have been indicted, and have escaped punishment only through technicalities. They have no influ- ence with the body of the people. that rule which is blazoned high in the sky of driving instruction—never turn into through traffic; always keep out of the way. There are many more reasons, such as elimination of much of the valu- able downtown parking space; delay to motor traffic in execution of the necessary contortions to enable it to make a left or right hand turn; con- fusion to the individual driver, and the fact that the public does not want it. The director has announced that the proposed plan is to be merely an ex- periment. Experiments are all right. They make for progress. But a funda- mental rule of the road is not a fit subject for experimentation. It is too big to tamper with, and it concerns too many people. The present universal turning rule —universal is used advisedly because there are few exceptions, and these exceptions are at policed or signally controlled intersections only—is prac- tically foolproof. Individual judg- ment is almost eliminated. That is why it is successful and has been used from the beginning of automobile travel. The same cannot be sald of the right-hand-curb left-turn plan, because except at congested centers where po- licemen are continually on duty there is bound to be jockeying between the driver attempting to turn and the through traffic behind him, inasmuch as through traffic has right of way and the driver making the turn is blocking it. With the present rule the intention of the motorist about to turn is clearly evident, through traf- fic passes smoothly to the right and he completes his turn at the first opening. Whether the motorist is driving in New York or San Francisco or on the open road between he understands that he should make a left-hand turn in the accepted way, and he is only confused when required to change his tactics because of contradictory traffic regulations in some of the cities. It modification of the present left and right turns in Washington at cer- tain congested points will not suffice for protection for unregulated pedes- trians, eliminate the turns at these points altogether, but do not’ change the method of making the turn. At Broad and Market streets in Newark, N. J., no turns of any kind are permitted, and in Philadelphia left-hand turns are prohibited in many places. Some such arrangement can be judiclously worked out for Wash- ington trafic without conflict with a practice accepted throughout the United States. ——o——— Fame is its own reward. The real prize for swimming the English Chan- nel, or for the much greater feat of reaching the North Pole, is a first- page article in every newspaper in the world. —————— In spite. of all the improved voting machinery and the facilities for mod- ern communication, it takes a long time to get the Iowa senatofial ballots counted. —————t——— The Well Dressed Man. If American men are to be well dressed, according to the dictates of the National Association of Retall Clothiers and Furnishers, every male member of this national family must have at least eight suits and two over- coats, not to mention a high hat. What a talloring boom that would mean if the association’s mandate were to have the force of compulsory law! Though no statistics have ever been compiled on the subject, it is safe to estimate that the average male American has no more than two and a half suits, while many millions have no more than one. Here is the prescription of the asso- clation as the requirement of the well dressed man: A dinner coat for semi- formal occasions, full dress suit for formal occasions, four sack suits for business wear, a sport suit, @ frock coat for formal day wear and a high' hat to be worn with frock coat and full dress suit. He must also have two overcoats, one of dark material for formal wear and one of lighter color for business wear. Nothing is saidin this proclamation about replacements. It is safe, how- ] ever, to say that if gven & quarter of ‘the male populat'on of the United iitates were in 1926 to dress up ac- cording to this formula, with new suits all down the line, at.-least one- half of that number would not buy another suit for another five years. There are suits in clreulation right now in very respectable social circles that were made in 1922. Some men who regard themsgelves as adequately dressed for moderate soclal require- ments are still wearing suits that were made ten and twelve years ago. It would be a delight to everybody if the tailors’ assoclations’ advice could be fully followed. But there is 4n economlc aspect to the situation. A complete compliance with the man- date in made-to-order clothes would at the present rate involve an expendi- ture of at least $1,000, not reckoning on fancy prices pajd to sartorial artists whose labels alone are rated as worth 10 per cent of the ordinary cost of clothing. A man who can get an adequate clothing outfit, including overcoat and hat, for $200 is likely to view the declaration of the assocla- tion with scorn. He would prefer, of course, to bave eight suits rather than two, and two overcoats rather than one. It would give him great pleasure to be able in his “soup and fish,” or “evening” garb, to differentiate be- tween the formal and the semi-formal occaslons and needs. He would be glad to have four business suits for rotation, and a sport suit, even though he mever swung a golf club. But when the grocery bill has to be paia, and the rent to be met, and thot coal to be bought, and other domestic obll- gations to be liquidated, not to speak of clothes for the wife and chlildren, he is forced to eschew the dream of complete costuming and he is glad to bave something decent to wear on any occasion. R A cut in the price of gasoline offers a chance to economize. If the motorist will put the difference between what he has been paying and the reduced price into the baby’s bank, the young- ster will soon have a nice little nest €88, which by the time he is of age will be worth investing—that s, un- less the price goes up again and com- pels the motorist to shake all the pen- nies out of the bank. ———————— Every distinguished English visitor has expressed a high opinion of Amer- ican institutions, but none of them has gone g0 far as to suggest introducing base ball occasionally instead of cricket. No matter how broad a coun- try may be in human sympathy, each is inclined to be rigldly convinced of the superiority of its own favorite sport. ———— Hindenburg is adding to his reputa- tion as a man of force and discretion by the unexpected manner in which he has succeeded In keeping the Hohenzollern family in the back- ground. ————— When Mr. Darrow calls Judge Raulston a publicity seeker, it is only fair to remember that the Judge did not travel away from his own home to seek his publicity. ————— It might be cheaper for the con. sumer if the price of coal could be raised from time to time without the expensive formality of strikes to pro- vide an explanation. Citizens who are giving Mr. Ely dridge the “go” sign will remain un- heeded 80 long as the D. C. Commis- sloners continue to display the “stop™ signal. ——— * A great deal of base ball history has been written since the days when Washington and St. Louls were con- sistent contenders for last place. Chinese residents are earnestly re. quested to discard the “hip sings” and try for a little senuine harmony. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOENSON. ‘When Congress Comes. We know we must hear An eloquent flow That burdens the ear ' With accents of woe. ‘We know that some speech Will sound every day Intended to teach New forms of dismay. ‘Words gather about And dodge to and fro Untll we're in doubt On which way to go. The future 18 sad. New s0bs we rehearse. The jay walker’s bad; But the jay talker's worse. Self Appreciation. “What would you do if your constit- uents failed to re-elect you?" “Inasmuch,” replied Senator :Sor- ghum, “as I have been chiefly instru- mental in putting my section of the country conspicuously on the map, I should regard: my constituents ag having deliberately retired to private lite." Jud Tunkins says automobiles have made a big difference. It used to be regarded as a disgrace to get arrested. Now it's regarded as merely unlucky. Looking for the Motive. “Josh,” said Farmer Corntossel, “I appreciate kindness, byt I don’t want to impose on nobody. I've been kind o' down-hearted lately, but that mustn’t spoil the comfort of others.” ““Whose joy did you think you were Killing’ “Yours. I want you 'to tell me trankly whether you are wearin’ them new-fangled clothes because you like ‘em or because you're tryin’ to make me laugh.” ' Chopping Expenses. A helpful hint we truly prize, So, we would fain economize. Ga, tell the coal folks, if you like, ‘We can’t afford another strike. “A reckless driver,” said Uncle Eben, “gets so he thinks he’'s doin’ purty good to land in a police station instid of a hospital.” THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The trouble with most reference books is that you practically have to know what you are looking for before you can find it! ho has not had that experience? ne first inclines to blame all works of reference, then chiefly himself, then finally rests with g feeling of dissatis- faction with most such compendiums of wisdom. It i true that one's own lack of knowledge is often at fault, in failure to find what is being sought in a ref- ence book; but in the last analysis the blame rests squarely with such ‘works. b Their very name and place in the world of books connotes Some system Whereby the learner can find what he wants. If a person of opdinary in- telligence cannot refer to them with any satisfaction, why should they be called “reference books”? I speak of the whole tribe of en- cyclopedias, dictionaries, books of guol‘tlflnl and the like, compendiums f fact and fancy which no man since time began could possibly carry in his head, and would be a fool to do even if he could. Education has been defined as the ability to be able to find the facts one wants, not the knowledge of them in the head. This being more or less true, more attention should be given in schools’to the practical use of our books of reference. Take that huge library in itself, the unabridged dictionary. Even = the scholar is nonplussed now and then, at the great array of learning which confronts him, and the difficulty of finding what he wants often deters him even from opening the big book. As for-the average person, wWho per- haps makes no claim of being a scholar in any sense, he simply lets the “unabridged” alone. Anyway, its stand is always “busted.” &% As a simple illustration of what I am talking about, let me relate & per- sonal experience. A friend came to me with a request for “the word that means the science of treating eyes.” Sounds easy, doesn't it? The word, however, did not pop onto my tongue as it should have, and I do not believe one out of a hundred persons will know it, either, or that that one will know how to spell it, un- less he is an oculist. The only word that came to my mind was “optometry,” which I in- stantly set down-as not the one we were seeking. Looking up this word, however, to be reassured, we found it meant the measurement of the range of vision. ‘We looked up “oculist,” then, after stumbling around over two the word only having one, as we knew; only we were somewhat confused by this time. There was not the slightest refe ence under the definition for “oculist,’ which was defined as “one skilled in the treatment of diseases of the eye.” Now, would not one imagine that here was the very place for a cross reference to the technical title for “one skilled in the treatment of the diseases of the eye?” One surely would, and one still does! We had got so far in our search, but there was no reference to help us in this truly great work of reference. No, we had to know what we were looking for. or we could not find it. In vain we looked up “eye.” Perusal of the explanation of “optics” as “that branch of physical science which treats of the nature and properties of light * ® ¢ and the phenomena of vision” was entirely in vain. There were no clues. We had to practically know what we wanted or we could not find it. * % % *x Appeal to various learned persons failed as miserably as our search in the super-fat dictionary. “I had it on the tip of my tongue,” each one would say. Well, maybe he did—but the tip of his tongue must have been very broad, in that case, for the word we sought is quite & mouthful—as we found out later. That night the elusive word kept worrying me. Of course, we might have called up the office of some local oculist, and asked him the name of his sclence of treating the diseases of the eye, but then this awful thought assailed one: Buppose he did not know, either? Anyway, we were determined to make our reference books function. There they were, in all their glory, but the beasts of the fleld were not so dumb! In the morning, when we woke up, an approximation of the word we longed for jumped into our brain. ‘Words and facts have a habit of thus jumping into the mind after a night’s sleep. “Opthamology” was the nearest we could get to spelling our lost word, but at least it was an approximation. If it only had jumped into our head yes- terday, when we wanted it! At the office we hurried to the big dictionary. Eagerly we looked up “‘op- thamology” to find no possible space between other words in which it could be crammed. It was not there. We were not to be deterred, now, however. We were on the trail, and nothing could stop us. By a stroke of genius we managed to recall that our beloved English language, partly de- rived from Greek and Latin, loves su- perfluous Jetters—at Jeast they seem s0 to us t8day. The letter “h” was standing in our way! We looked up “oph.” then all was easy. There was our word: Oph-thal-mol-o-gy. The first syllable is pronounced as if spelled “off.” The term “Ophthal- mologist” was merely labeled “n. and not defined. P So. you see, we practically had to bake our own cake before we could eat it, too! Perhaps one should know every- thing—but no one does. Perhaps one should be familiar with the placing of all superfluous letters, but that would require a knowledge of all Greek, Latin and other root words, which knowledge no one in the United States possesses, with the possible ex- ception of one or two lexicographers. “If you hadn’t thought of that ex- tra ‘h,” sald the other, “we could have looked for that word until hell froze over.” Which was an expressive way of putting it. Not only was it expressive, how- ever. It was true. Unless you pra tically know what you want to find, in too many cases you cannot discover it. Only recently I had occasion to try to find the author of a certain famous bit of verse. The dispute was whetber Wordsworth or Tennyson wrote it. Search in two well known books on quotations utterly failed to reveal the verse. Probably it is in there, but it mizht as well not be, if the average searcher cannot find it. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. How the Japanese and the Soviet Russians regard each other is the theme of many & news report coming from Moscow and from Tokio! The rapprochement of those two peoples is the easiest text the correspondents can discuss, for, to most readers, the inner affairs of the Orient are sealed mysteries, about which one story is as plausible as another. It behooves a correspondent who writes from Rus- sla to please the Russian censor—or get out. There is said to be but one corre- spondent who has survived more than three or four months In Soviet Russia. It takes nearly that long for his dis- patches to be published in America and get back to Russia, even if he succeeds fn the first place in getting by the censor. Then his passports hint that he is done. But there is one correspondent, Mr. Walter Duranty, who has lived nearly two years in Moscow. He had the misfortune to meet with a severe ac- cident which compelled him to return to England for surgery and remain away from the scenes of his journal- istic exploits several months. He has now returned to Moscow, just in time to discover how the Soviets and Japa- nese have drawn together in brotherly love, and he tells about it. According to Mr. Duranty, since 1923 it has become evident that So- viet diplomacy was turning away from Europe toward Asia, for the European proletariat did not seem to appreciate sovietism. The awakening of a nation- listic spirit in China and Indla gave oviet statesmen the idea that they should turn from the Occident to the Orient. Simultaneously, Japanese statesmen realized that the Soviets might become valuable friends in an otherwise unfriendly world. (The fact that Japan had never fought any of the allies except Russia did not seem to impress these Japanese statesmen, 80 far as Mr. Duranty saw). The cautlous Soviets were wary of Japanese advances, since communism had made no headway in Japan, but at last their suspicions were allayed upon reflecting that the Japanese had had possession of Vladivostok for four years and had found the climate in Winter too cold. Russia was im- pressed with the thought that, al- though Japan must find an outlet for her surplus population—which is doubling every 60 years—she could not encroach upon Siberia, because of the climate. All fears being al- layed, Russlan orators began boast- ing that they, too, were Orientals, cousins of the Japanese, and that they should love one another. That rapprochement became the Oriental menace of the peace of the world, in the Chinese anarchy and the expect- ed revenge against America and the European allles. Russia and Japan united could conquer the world— maybe. * ¥ x % An official of our Government, who {s famillar with the Orient, upon reading the Duranty dispatch, re- marked: “How very little soap it takes to make a great bubbl 1f ever there was keen rivalry for trade advantage, such a contest is on right now, in the building, or at least the projecting, of rallroads by Soviet Russia and by her rival Japan, to connect with the inland nc&‘x?u of Manchuria and the Pacific ports. The Transsiberian Railroad, east of Lake Baikal, reaches Viadivostok via a route across Manchuria, which runs along three sides of an oblong. Russia has planned on paper a new connectlon across Mongolia, by which two days’ travel would be éliminated, but the Soviets have not the funds ta bufld that great road. The Japanese are building a rival road which, when in operation, will completely undo the usefulness of all that part of the Transsiberian road in Manchurianand Mongolian territory. As a prize in the Russo-Japanecse War, the South Manchurian Railroad, operated by Russia, fell to Japan. It rune from Peking to Taonfu, and since the Japanese took over its oper- ation the road has been rebuilt, with a double track, standard gauged and ecquipped with' $75.000,000 worth of American engines and cars. Its cap- ital stock, of which the Japanese government owns a controlling inter- est, has been more than doubled, with the aid of much American capital Japan proposes to build an extension from Taoufu to Teitsthar, located on the border between Mongolia and Siberla, near Lake Baikal, which ex. tenslon will make a short line through Peking, by raliroads already in opera- tion under Japanese control, to Port Arthur or Dairen. The result would be the elimination from trafic of half the Biberlan raillway through Chinese territory and the control by Japan of all the valuable markets of Mongolia and Manchuria. %k % The gateways of Manchuria are Dairen, Yingkou and Vladivostok. When the Japanese complete their new connection with Teitsihar and Harbin and outdistance the Transsi- berian road by two days' travel, it will kill the port of Viadivostok and build up that of Dalren. From 1908 to 1920 the groes tonnage of Dairen rose from 1,829,921 to 4,864,904 tons. Until 1014 no American shippage arrived at Dai- ren, but in 1920 American tonnage was 381,729 tons, which was within 40.000 tons of the British in the same port, and more than double that of all other countries except China and Japan. Manchurian imports, 1920, were $207,913,839, and her exports $221,- 517,637. Manchuria's trade with the United States in 1920 was $16,871,554 imports, and $16,514,377 exports. Prior to 1908 America's trade with Man- churia was negligible. These statistics are interesting as bearing upon the question whether Russia and Japan will unite against the world, or unite for their common interests, since all thelr interests are competitive and of a very aggressive character. * X ¥ ¥ A third party to the development and prosperity of Manchuria and Mongolia is China, whose nationalism appears to be awakening. China is powerless today, with her internal unrest and rebellions, to assert her soverelgnty over Manchuria and Mon- golia. At the Washington conference for reduction of armaments, one of the Chinese delegates was asked whether China claimed soverelgnty over those countries, and his reply ‘was that the modern Chinese flag is composed of five stripes, each repre- senting one of the five political divi- sions of China, two of which stood for Manchuria and Mongolia. There has been much discussion lately concerning the powers and their right to extraterritorial courts in China. What concerns China’s in- dependence and nationalism even more than extraterritoriality is her right to establish tariffs sufficient to give adequate revenue to the central government, wherewith the republic may subdue rebellious provinces. An int onal conference will be held in Peking, opening October 26, for the purpose of deciding what China may do in the way of her tariffs. The United States will be represented in that conference by our Minister to China, Mr. McMurray, and one other commissioner, to be appointed by President Coolidge. ‘While the Hay open-door pledge will be maintained, so that all coun- tries will be given the same privi- leges, there will be rivalry between countries for securing low rates on such products as they respectively ex- port, high rates on products in which they are not interested. It be a tariff for revenue, with only incidental protection to Chinese pro- duction, but it will be considerably higher than what now exists. (Conarishie 1535, by Paul V. Collinad - The Costumne Question In Shakespeare Plays To the Editor of The Star: Anent all the about the per- formance of “Hamlet” in London in the costume of the present day, and your editorial comment thereon of August 26, 1 would like to point out that in Shakespeare's day Hamlet ap- peared in the ultra-fashioned doublet, ruff and hose of the hour. No at- tempt was then made at correct his- torical costuming of plays. Let me quote two very eminent authorities: “‘Costumes made little attempt at fitness. It was enough handsomely to reproduce the passing fashions of the day. Indeed, a strong cotempo- raneousness that instinctively re- duces all things to the conditions of the present moment pervades the popular drama of the entire age (. e., Elizabethan). King - David, Corio- lanus, Macbeth—the doublet, ruff and hose impartially clothed them ail. Nor did the want of a sense of the fitness of things stop here.”—“Eliza- bethan Drama,” Fellx E. Schelling. Page 180. “But the actors in normal roles wore the ordinary costumes of the day without precise reference to the period or place of action. Anclent Greeks and Romans were attired in doublet and hose, or, if they were soldiers, In Tudor armor. The con- tents of the theatrical wardrobe were often of rich material and In th height of the current fashion.”—*“A Life of William Shakespeare,” Sir fg‘?i‘ey Lee. Dage 77, revised edition, We “moderns” in our smugness are ‘ofttimes like the proverbidl oo trich with his head in the sand. W. H. MACWILLIAMS. —— Music Festival Plan Should Be Supported To tbe Editor of The Star: It was with great pleasure and sat- Isfaction that I read in The Sunday Star of August 23 the announcement of a musical festival In ‘Washington which is to take place next Spring. Congratulations to the enthusiastic musical spirits who have conceived that excellent idea and who propose to carry It through. fle other Amerfcan cities have achleved considerable success in their musical undertakings, Washington, the Capital of the mightfest of nations, has in the past been satisfied with playing n inferior role in the realm of music. Should the plans as pro- posed by some musical leaders of our city be carried out successfully, then our Capital may clalm & place in the musical world worthy of its name. On the whole, Washington’s public 1s music-loving, and there is no doubt that if the new movement is well or- ganized and the plans and programs are properly drawn up, Washington's first musical festival in the Spring of 1926 will constitute & new honor page in America’s history of music. En- thustastic support should not be lack. ing, and the sooner the sponsors of this movement will make, at least their tentative plans, known, the bet- ter it may prove for its ultimate suc- cess. LEO BEHRENDT. e Detroit’s Traffic Rules Urged as D. C. Model To the Editor of The Star- In reading The Star of the I noticed an article on traffic as to the best way of regulating same. I don’t know what suggestions have ween made, as I haven't read The Star for almost three weeks. However, I have a suggestion to make which I believe if adopted and enforced would be a benefit to our wonderful city. I 1ave traveled by automobile in a num- ber of States, but I have never seen traffic handled anywhere as it is handled here in Detroit. At first T didn't like it, but after driving around a couple of days 1 began to realize how easy it was to get around with- out fearing some wild driver fromn the side streets. Why not find out how Detroit has solved the problem and adopt it. De- troit is about three times the size of Washington and has one car to every six people. My home is in Washington and 1 am Interested in seeing better traffic regulations there. JOHN August 23, 192i L. DUFF. Detroit Defying Economic Loss. Significant premonitory warnings which indicate the relentless operation of economic laws already too long defied seem to remain unheeded by both capital and labor in the United States. The economic_equilibrium of the world was upset by the disaster which was precipitated in 1914. As a result, the operation of established rules was for a time made impossible. There was no basis upon which values could be fixed. Production at any cost was the aim of the nations engaged in the supreme effort to win the war. The dollar, as a result, shrank in value as labor and commodity prices skyrocketed. But now, after the lapse of nearly seven yvears since the signing of the armistice, it would seem that the time bas come for the realization that a process of readjustment should be en- couraged. Yet on every hand there is apparent a determined and persistent effort to continue, as long as possible, a fictitous inflation of basic values and the consequent depreciation of the dollar. Opposed to this are nat- ural economic laws whose operation cannot much longer be successfully defied. World competition, the great leveler of values, is gradually com- pelling a revision of wage schedules in American industries. In the steel mills, in the cotton mills and in other industries where the market price of the commodities produced is, in the end, regulated in a_ considerable de- gree by European labor, the wages of operatives are being gradually re- duced, with a consequent lessening of the cost of production. It is the be- ginning of a revolutionary process, deliberate or rapid in its development, whose effects will inevitably become apparent in every branch of produc- tive industry in the United States. ‘Apparently unmindful of the opera- tion of this economic law, both the representatives of invested capital and the spokesmen for organized labor in some branches of productive industry are clamoring and striving to increase their nominal earning power. The breaking point is bound to be reached sooner or later. Selfish inter- est cannot forever control. There is a natural and compelling law of ad- justment which finally will operate. Fictitious standards cannot always be maintained. The wise course is to facilitate, rather than impede, the working out of this natural process.—Christian Science Monitor. Scandinavians Fear Increase of Divorces Scandinavians are gromi of their marriage and divorce laws, which are usually considered the best in the world. Yet in Sweden some uneasi- ness is felt qver the quite rapid in- crease in the number of divorces. A quarter of a century ago divorces in this country never reached 500 a year. By 1910 the number of 1,000 a year had been exceeded. Last year the total was 1,632 or a threefold in- crease in 25 years. Economic distress and the consut of Epirita are said to be leading factors. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. How long has the Cadillac been | semi-diurnal components predominate an 8-cylinder car?—I. C. H. A. The Cadillac Co. states that it has been manufacturing §-cylinder cars exclusively for 11 years. Q. What are various schools of modern Italian art?—B. M. A. A. There are six outstanding schools—the Florentine School, typi- fied by such painters as Fra Angelico, Carlo Dolci, Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Sarto; the Roman School, Michaelangelo and Raphael; the Lom- bard School, Corregio; the Venetian School, Titian, Paolo Veronese and Tintoretto; the Bolognese School, Guido, agd the Neapolitan School, Salzador Rosa. Q. What is meant by “Attic salt?” —M. E. G. A. This term is applied to the poign- ant, dellcate wit peculiar to the Athenians, while the ruder Roman wit is called Italian vinegar. Q. How many reproductions have been made of the noted Ardibil rug? —W. B. H. A. The Ardibil rug, the original of which is in the London Museum, has a double in this country, which was made practically at the same time as the original. This was one of Yar- key's collection and has since been sold several times. A great many copies have been made of this design in the cheaper grades. Q. How many games has the New York club of the National League won and lost?—S. F A. The New York Giants had won 5.728 games and lost 4,316 from 1883, when they entered the league, up to the close of the 1924 season. Q. What were the words President Wilson used when he vetoed the Vol- stead act?—W. W. ¥ A. President Wilson, in returning the message, stated: “In all matters having to do with the personal habits and customs of large numbers of our people we must be certain that the established processes of legal change are followed."” Q. Why does smoke near a smoke stack appear to be dark and then grow lighter and lighter?—C. C. A. This is & good illustration of the law of the inverse square of the dis- tance. At one foot radius from the center of the stack, the surface ex- posed in any section is very small and the smoke particles very close togeth er, and the passage of light through the particles is almost prevented. The smoke then appears black. At a two. foot radius the particles are twice as far apart and only one-quarter of the area is covered, allowing four times the light to pass through. This sec- tion is continuous, and more and more light passes through the smoke parti- cles, causing them to become of a much lighter color against the sky background. At some finite distance from the mouth of the stack, the sep. aration has been so great that there is practically no more interference with the light and the smoke dis- appears. Q. What is the relative food value of sweet oil and olive 0il?—T. C. R. A. Sweet oil, which is the same as olive oil, contains 4,082 calories per pound. Q. How many Protestant mission. aries does America send to non-Chris- tian countries?>—I C. S. A. Protestant denominations in the United States send out about 10,000 foreign missionaries. Q. Bay near Panama Cit is but one tide & day?—K. A. M A. The Coast and Geodetic Survey says that the tides along the entire northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico are principally diurnal, that is to say, only one high and one low water will occure each day during a large por- tion of each month. On some, how- ever, especially when the moon is near the equator, the tide may become semi- diurnal. The actual tide is a combina- tion of various component tides of different periods, The semi-diurnal components, which are included in one group, have periods approximately equal to one-half the lunar day and the diurnal components which are in- cluded in another group have periods approximately equal to the whole lu- nar day. While there are other groups of components, these are the principal ones. In most parts of the world the Is it true that on St. Andrews Fla., there and cause the tide to rise and fall twice in each lunar day, but 1n a Tew places, such as the Gulf of Mexico, the diurnal companents predominate during & greater or less portion of each month and cause the tides to become diurnal. The magnitudes of the various com- ponents depend primarily upon the shore line and the conformation of the bottom of the ocean. 1S, How 15 charcosl bleached?— R. A. The Forest Products Laboratory says: “We have never heard of charcoal being bleached and we do not beileve that such process is pos- sible. Charcoal {s naturally black in color and the more nearly & pure Cl.‘rbon is obtained the blacker is the color.™ Q. Is there a good automobile road from the United States through Mex- ico?—M. Y. A. The American Automoblle As- sociation says that there is @ road leading from the United States through Mexico and Central America to South America. However, it is practically impassable and only a few machines have made an attempt. Q. Can potato bugs and bed bugs fly?>—C. G. L. A. Potato bugs can fly; bed bugs cannot. Q. Is it true that there is a hill near Los Angeles where automobiles run up with the power off?—S. B. A. The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce says that the grade at the Magnetic Hill near Hollywood is an optical delusion. While it appears that it is an upgrade, it is in reality a 2 per cent down grade. Such cases of deceptive grade are common in mountainous country. lrrigation «d from a distance some- times appear to run up hill. How does a realtor differ from other real estate broker?—G . The term ‘realtor’” was coined indicate members of constituent boards of the ional Associatio Real Estate Boards. The courts k in several cases upheld them in thei determination to prevent any othe: than members of their assoclatior from using it. Q. Who said “Give me a long enough and I can move world”?—C. M. A. “Give me a lever long enough and prop strong enough, T car single-handed, move the world” is at tributed to Archimedes. to lever the Q. Do the Greeks in our count read Greek or English newspapers P. 7. A. Greek newspapers have a circulation among them. The av Greek is an inveterate reader newspapers and many of them c tinue to read papers printed in Gre after they have mastered lish language. Q. What States in the Union have free school text books?—P. C. M. A. The following text books be furnished Arizona, Delaware, Dist of Jumbia (elementary grades), Mai chusetts, Nebruski. , New Jersey. Penn Rhode Island, Utah (ele mentary grades), Vermont and Wyo ming. Local authorities are permit ted by law to adopt the free system in Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Towa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis souri (1913), Montana, New York, Nevada, North Dakota. Ohio, Oregon (1913), South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The following cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants pro vide free text books: Birmingbam, But. falo, Cincinpati, Cleveland, Colum Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, New Haven, New York, St. Louis, Syra- cuse and Toledo. (The world’s greatest stumbling block is the question mark. It causes more failures than any other thing. Those who get over it succeed; those who don’t fail. We can help you over it. This is a university of informa- tion, free and open to all. Just send wour question, inclose a S-cent stamp, and over the question mark you go Don't let it stand between you and success. Send your questions to The Star Information Bureau, Frederic J Haskin, director, Twenty-first and C sylvan strects morthwest, Washington, D. C.) American Public Op inion Brands Coal Struggle as a Suicidal Affair American public opinion is leaning strongly toward the tneory that the anthracite miners and operators are persistently so antagonistic to public interest as to threaten suicide for the industry. “Gouge” is the word used by the Buffalo News to describe the situa- tion. “Already dealers are complain- ing of a shortage,” observes the News, “although the anthracite mines are turning out more than 2,000,000 tons a week.” Referring to the abun- dance of substitutes, the Buffalo paper suggests that “if the public sits tight and refuses to be stampeded into the purchase of anthracite at prices be- yond reason, it may win its first v tory.” “Let them go to it and commit in- dustrial suicide, it they please,” say the Birmingham News. “Up to a cer- tain point, it is simply a family af- fair, which should be fought out within the family, without calling in the neighbors. True, a general strike is bound to affect the welfare of the East—but mostly it will hurt the an- thracite industry.” The Willamsport Sun adds that “the demand for an- thracite in the United States in a few years has fallen. off 40 per cent because of the high price of the ar- ticle and the uncertainty of a steady supply on account of perfodical strikes.” * % x % “Every present user of anthracite who is forced to find a substitute fuel will weaken the hold of the hard coal monopoly by that much,” remarks the Sioux City Tribune, while the Provi- dence Bulletin thinks “another un- called-for strike undoubtedly will im- press upon others the desirability of h‘mng Pennsylvania keep its anthra- cite.” “The quiet determination of thou- sands of householders to be done, for good and all, with fears of strikes, with ever-rising prices, with peren- nial anxiety and uneasiness” s rec- ognized by the Philadelphia Public Ledger with the further comment: “They have come to the limit of pa- tience and pocketbook, and are turn- ing to substitute fuels so rapidly that well-nigh one-third of the anthracite users of 1923 have disappeared within two years.” Taking up the organized efforts of New England governors to meet the crisis, the Hartford Times suggests that while “it is hard to believe New England could be persuaded to burn soft coal in a household furnace, vet other sections of the country do it and are satisfied.” The Times asserts that “‘certainly the parties to the an- thracite dispute would do well to con- sider that possibility as something mare than an empty threat.” A warn- ing that “it there is another long-con- tinued coal strike, it will be the last,” is given by the Albany News, with the explanation: “When a whole section of the country, made up of the New England States, where Win- ter is real wi‘mr.m to begin. an active campaign for use of sub- stitutes for anthracite, there ought to be warning enough o operatc and mihers.” Tt “In the conference of New England executives,” states the Harrisbur Telegraph, “lles the significant fact that slowly but surely it is dawning upon the consciousness of the country that it is not dependent upon hard coal for domestic fuel,” In similar vein the Utica Observer-Dispatch re- marks that “hard coal is no longer king in the eight or nine Northeastern states and the Province of Ontaric where it has long reigned with all the urance of a pig-headed tyrant.” The New England campaign, as viewed also by the Springfield Union, “may serve to impress the operators miners with the fact that about one more wring on the neck of the goose that lays the golden eggs would be fatal.” “The rights and welfare of the pub- lic cannot be disregarded long in a modern community S cago Daily News, “without i danger—the danger of the loss of that freedom which both employers and employes cherish so highly “If ever an industry deserved a good sound spanking it is the hard coal in- : says the Brooklyn Eagle, while the Wichita Beacon holds to th view that the “clear cut and inevitable ultimate solution is adjudication, and that adjudication must include not only the power to prevent strikes, but the power, on the other hand, to pr tect labor by fixing minimum wage: x K ¥ ¥ The Lynchburg News, however, holds that it is time for the Govern: ment to stop playing the operator- Neither side wishes to the News says. “To do s0 means loss of prestige. It would be so much easier if the Government would just step in and say that the interests of the public dictate that the miners do this or the operators do that. Just as long as Government con tinues to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for the operators and union lead- ers, just so long will they continue their non-co-operative attitude toward each other.” Real News. Great _events often are simply chron- icled. From Aberdeen comes the brief announcement that the claim of R. S McFadden, South Dakota wheat grow- er, to have developed by cross-breed ing a variety of wheat that resist all efforts to inflict it with rust, been tested by Department of Agr culture sclentists and found to be true. - Finding of a rustresisting variet of wheat means literally billions of dollars to the agriculture of the world, just as discovery of the Durum drought-resisting wheat meant its bil- lions of dollars. Such triumphs are of far more importance and deserv- ing of more public attention than news of the declarations of wars or the signing of peace treatfes—Fort Worth Star-Telegram.