Evening Star Newspaper, September 7, 1925, Page 6

] THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY. September 7, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES. ..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office 11¢h St and Pennavivania Ave New York Offce: 110 Fast 42nd St Chicago OMce: Tower Buildine Buropean Office: 18 Rexent St.. London England. The Evening Star. with the Sundas morn- ing edition. ia delivered by carriers within the city at 80 cents ner month: dajlx only. A cents per month: Sunday only. cents Per month_ Orders max he sent by mail or ielephone Main A000. Coliection is made by scarrier at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Ma Dajly and Sund Daile onlv Sunday only <840 £6.00 87400 1vr 1 1y 1 1 1 All Other States. Daily and Sunday v 1mo i 1% 1 mo 1mo Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusivelv entitled to the for republicatic all news natehes credited to 1t or otherwise cred- ited in this paper and also the local mews nublished herein. A1l rights ef publication 0 special dispatches herein are also reserved Col. Mitchell's Insubordination. A more flagrant case of insubordina- tlon than that of Col. Mitchell of the Army Air Service in his public criti- cism and denunciation of the War and Navy Departments in vespect o aviation policy and practice has prob- ahly never before occ tory of the American It is the more reprehensible of its deliberation. No mis- chance has actuated it. This officer, only recently rebuked and by demo- tion punished for a similar offense, has chosen not merely to repeat his excorfation of his own Army su- veriors, but to extend his remarks to those of another branch of the na- tional defensive force. Though he does not so specify, he in effect rebukes and challenges the President of the Tnited States, who as commander-in- chief is finally responsible for the acts and performances of the heads of the fwo departments. It any civilian subordinate official in any branch of the Government were thus to quarrel publicly with the nelicies and practices of his immedi- ate superiors he would be promptly dismissed. or at the least his resizna tion would be demanded. The case is worse when a military officer parades his violent difference of opinion. He = sworn to obedience of orders. He is bound by an age-long tradition to ac lishment hecause cept as final the judgment of those | who are by law vested with authority over his acts and his public expres. sion 1t not at all if Col Mitchell's criticism of the aviation policy of the Government is correct. He is insubordinate, and he knows it. He vaunts his insubordination, pends upon it for a martrydom which he deliberately invites. able course would have been for him to resign his military commission and, as a civilian with experience to warrant his pronouncement of judg- ment, to undertake a campaign to cause a change of national and de- partmental policy. As a subordinate officer of the Army Col. Mitchell has no right to condemn gratuitously in public the acts of his superiors and of the heads of another branch of the service. As a civilian he would have a perfect right to en- zage in an agitation to bring about a reform, to create a national aviation service not governed by either Army or Navy, but contributing to the ef- ficlency of both. The immediate question confronting the Secretary of War is whether to accommodate Col. Mitchell in his de- sire to be pilloried in punishment in order to make a national issue of the aviation pelicy of the Government. Obviously if he is not brought to book for his present broadside of attack he will continue. He cannot well offend more grievously than he has in this instance. If he is permitted to scold unchided or unchecked he will de- moralize the service. Discipline will be weakened, insubordination encour- aged. The issue will not be evaded. Respect for the essential principle of military organization, obedience of orders and silent acceptance of au- thority, demands that this recalcitrant oficer be placed whe> in honor a9 should be if he proposes to continue as a critic, outside of the service, a free agent of agitation, untrammelled by discipline and unhampered by of- ficial ties and duties. All this is quite apart from the merits of the controversy. Every word of Col. Mitchell's pronouncement may be true, every accusation justified, every suggestion sound. There is 2 deeided public feeling that he is right, and that the Government's aviation policy should be amended, whether a separate air establishment be created or not. Assuredly the subject will be debated in Congress at the next ses- slon and, whether Col. Mitchell re meins in the military service or not, there may be definitive and reforma- tery action. For the present the ques- Hon of urgeney is whether an officer of the Army can with imeoaity— even for the purpose of gaining martrydom to advance his end— fiout authority, ridicule syperiors and even, in effect, impeach the President of the United States for incompetence. Much as Col. Mitchell's courage may be admired, he nevertheless stands . forth as a poor examplar of fidelity. He may be rendering the county a service, but he is, perhaps consciously and deliberately, soiling a record of good soldiership and dis- crediting his chosen profession by his gross breach of discipline. matters o T . Labor day would be more heartily celebrated by the coal consumers if there were @ssurance of labor at the mines. An Insane Murderer. While in certain aspects similar to the Chicago tragedy of last vear, in which two youths of merbid disposi- tion slew a little boy for the sake of a “thrill,” the latest crime of atrocity in New Jersey, differs in details. vouth who had previously been treat- ed as insane killed a chauffeur in crder to secure his meter car, and then kidnaped a little girl and ehot urred in the bis- | military estab- | de- | A more honer- | ]or her father. He was quickly caught and now confesses the deed, pointing out the body of the child. Suggestion immediately arises that this deed of horror was prompted by |the Chicago case. That, however. is not probable. Had the youth Noel committed his crime a year ago, when the Leopold-Loeb murder case was {tresh in mind. cluded that this is simply an instance of the development of an insane homi cidal impulse, irrespective of prec- edent. This case indicates that there was an error of medical judgment in the release of the lad from restraint in an institution where he had been placed by his parents after suffering a mental breakdown. He escaped from the asylum, and on his return was re leased in custody of his parents, who later brought him back for examina- tion. He was then permitted to leave as indications pointed to improvement. Then came the sudden. unheralded murderous impulse that led to the tragedy. Confidence in the judgment of alien- ‘le who determine the propriety of |restoring freedom to mental patients | is shaken by this instance. There was |either a wrong diagnosis in this boy’s {case at the outset, or a faulty concept lof his condition later. Otherwise he | would have been detained in custody. | The error of judgment has cost the llives of two perso ek it Washington's Population. | of the ‘ in consequence l.-m corporation, which is interested {in the possibility of & traction merger {in Washington, it is possible to see | the Capital In terms of past growth |and prospective development. It ap- ! pears from this survey, the first sec- | tion of the report on which has just [ been presented, that Washington will have ultimately a population of 1,000,000 people within its present city limits, With a present population of ap- proximately half a million, the even- tual doubling of the number is by no means unlikely. Whether that is to come within 25 vears or half a century does not appear. The in- crease from 1200 to 1920 was less than 19 per cent. Continuation of { that rate of increase would vield the | predicted million within five decades. But it is impossible to predict future rates of growth. At present there is |no unusual influence such as that afforded by the war-time expansion of Government activities to add to the population. The city is now growing ‘on its growth.” as the phrase goes— that is to @ay, it is increasing by nat- ural accretion. As the population ex- | pands, its needs develop and business advances to supply those needs. and, giving employment to more people. this contributes to the expansion of the population. Computations of the future Wash- spect to transportation problems, be confined to the District area. This community virtually comprises those portions of Maryland and Virginia { which lie contiguous. The “Washing- ton population,” properly speaking, includes the inhabitants of both of those States who are engaged in busi- ness in the District. They must have { transportation. Therefore, the inquiry into the city’s transit facilities must comprise this wider area, within which a million people will undoubt- edly be living long before the million | point of strietly Distriet population is reached. This present survey discloses that {14.4 per cent of the people of Wash- ington live within one mile of a cen- tral downtown point. while 45.2 per | cent live between one and two miles from that point, or a total of 59.6 per cent of the population within a two- mile radius. Recent suburban real | estate developments, however, outward. Repetition of this present survey five rs hence would throw light upon that matter. War-time housing shortage stimulated suburban building and undoubtedly drove many Washingtonians over the boundary lines into Maryland and Virginia. At the same time the construction of apartments within the radius of two miles from a central downtown point has tended to check this outward movement somewhat. The purpose of this survey is to | determine the future of transporta- tion within the District of Columbia {and its nearby suburbs. How many people require transportation daily, how many supply their own trans- portation, and how many are depend- ent upon public utility services? Upon these questions with reference to to- day and tomorrow depends the an- swer of the financial prospect of the traction services, whether united or maintained separately. Inasmuch as the present report is only the first of a series, no deductions are to be drawn from it with reference to the wesder question of public utility eonsolidation. e No more holidaye until Thanksgiv ing. The fervent prayer of all those participating in teday's festivities is that there will be substantial reason tor giving thanke on that da; School Children and Traffic. Safety of children on the way to and from school has been the subject of a conference between the traffic director and superintendent of schools. Some special provision for safety will no doubt be made at street crossings near schools, and some way will be found to insure safety of troops of children at boulevard crossings. The superintendent of achools has said that in addition to any precautiohs that may be taken at street crossings, talks will be made again this year to | pupils in the classrooms to impress on them the necessity of care in go- ing to and from school. The director of traffic has said that he welcomes the opening of the schools, because he feels that the vouth of the city is ur der closer supervision during the school monthe. Protection of life in the streets is one of the eity's prassing problems. Statistics for 1925 ghow that the num the conclusion would | |have been justified. But in the view | of the lapse of time it must be con- {and no matter how much advice be ington, however, should not, with re- | have | progressed at a rate to suggest a | marked tendency of the population ! i ! THE EVENING her to death, later demanding ransom |ber of traffic deaths will be about the same as last year. The number of automobiles and the number of pedes- trlans increase each year, and the clpsest possible regulation of vehicle and pedestrian movement seems to be needed. Talks to school children advis- ing care in the streets will have their effect, but numbers of children will always be forgetful in moments of ex- citement or absorption in play. No matter what rules may be written, given to children or motorists and pedestrians it seems that the safe plan is to have police at street cross- ings near schools, and that children be compelled to keep within the crossing lines and move only on signal from policemen. PO, Labor Day. A prosperous country pauses in its activity today to honor labor by means of a holiday, which is the most effective method of commemoration. Save for the strike of the hard-coal |miners in Pennsylvania and troubles in the textile mills of New England there are no difficulties in the field qf | labor in this country. Wages are high, employment is general and there is no prospect of a change of condi- tions. No disputes outside of those mentioned are pending, and they are to be regarded as virtually seasonal and not indicative of any fundamental misadjustment Organized labor in this country fully appreciates its responsibility |n; | terms | branches of citizenship. In many of the organized trades financial institutions have been de survey | veloped which have an important bear- | undertaken at the instance of a finan- | ing upon the stability of industria!| conditions. More and more as the vears pass labor recognizes its obliga tion to the community 2t large. Radicalism plays but little part ir || the American labor situation. The great majority of American working men are conservative. They have no disposition to experiment. They dis- countenance the preachments of in- cendiaries who would disrupt the so- cial order, subvert the Government and establish communism upon the wreckage of the republic. The custom of devoting a day an- nually to labor is good. It turns the thoughts of people once a year to the mutuality of relations between those who work and those who hire, with those who use the products of labor and who pay both wages and profits as the dominant factar of the indus- trial equation. It is to be deplored that Labor day should ever find the country afficted with a strike which menaces the public weifare as does that of the anthracite miners A judge the other day ordered nine juvenile delinquents to organize a base ball team or go to a reformatory. This could scarcely be styled an inde- terminate sentence. ———— Washington's policemen and firemen are today demonstrating that how- ever the professional base ball for- tunes may run, a veritable cham- pionship belongs to the Capital, —r———— A week from tomorrow will prove whether the people of Greater New York regard Mavor Hylan as the best executive that big town ever had, worthy of a third term. e Trafie Director Eldridge perhaps is inclined to paraphrase an old remark to the effect that he cares not who makes the laws for long as he can paint its pavements. —at—e—— Today's thermometer affords but little comfort to the man whose empty coal bin is an indication of a long, hard Winter. S, Col. Mitchell puts a chip on his shoulder with a flourish that indicates a lusty nature in his youth. S SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JORNSON. A Literary Repeater. Voluminously T shall write, And lest T suffer writer's cramp T'll coin some piquant phrases trite And use them with @ rubber stamp. A Delicate Question. “‘Remember. my voung friend,” said the habitual adviser, “there it always room at the top.” ““Are you speaking,” inquired the diffident young man, “as a student of practical affairs or as a phrenologist?"” Human Emotions. “Why do you weep over the sorrows of people in whom' you have no in- terest when vou go to the theater?” asked the man. . “I don’t know," replied the woman. “Why do you cheer wildly when a man with whom you are not acquaint ed slides into second base?” Self-Reliance. '"Tis sad when nerve is not enough For worth to demonstrate its uses, But it is sadder still to bluff And get called with a pair of deuces. Charitable Limitations. Do vou forgive your enemies?” “1 try to,” replied Senator Sorghum. “I can't ex :tly forgive them, but I do my best to put them in a position where I can sympathize with them.” Imaginary Ills. They try to worry us about The evils that may come; They seek to fill our minds with doubt And leave our spirits glum. Yet most of the predicted things That tempted men to fret, From peasants all the way to kings, Have never happened yet. The comets that were due to send This good old world to smash, The strange explosions that would end Mankind's ambitions rash, The cataclysms that would leave Naught but a sign “To Let” Upon this orb, with none to grieve, They haven't happened vet. And when a decade hence we view With reminiscent eves The dangers which now seem so new Ana strong to terrorize, We'll look on them without disma, We'll speedily forget The old-time bugaboos and say. “They haven't happened vet.” the District so STAR, WASHINGTON. Flower in the crannied wall. ml'k you out of the crannies, 1 hold here. root and all. in my hand, Little Flower—but if 1 could understand What vou are root and all. ‘and aflin all, T'whould know what God and mas is. Tennyson wrote it—not Wordsworth. If 1 had not known its authorship all my life undoubtedly I would today, after being apprised of the fact by cor respondents from all parts of the Dis trict of Columbia. You see. {n a moment of abstraction recently T attributed the authorship of those lines to the great Wordsworth, whom one of the same correspondents declared wrote many things far su perior to anything Tennyson ever achieved. However that may be, Tennyson wrote “Little Flower in the Crannied Wall.” The fact that manv have taken me to task for giving it to the wrong man shows what « hold the great Vic. torian poet still has upon the English- speaking peoples. Yes, he was a great poet, this Alfred, Lord Tennyson — an incomparable cemposer of true poetry in what some | are pleased to call the old-fashioned style. Yet one may be forgiven for wondering If this so-called old-fash- ioned style is not, after all, the real style in poet Have we anvthing more perfect in its way than ““Crossing the Bar''? De- spite the fact that it has been hack neved by repetition. it still remains sublime and will be regardsd so as |lonz as the world is filled with lovers nd evening atar. e clear call for me ! And may there he no moaning at the bar. When 1 put out to ses. But such a tide as moving saems asieen. Too full for sound or foam When that which drew from out the hound less deen Turns again home Twilizht and evening hell ArAnd atter that the dark may there be no sadness of facewell When I embark. | For the, from out our bourne of Time and aca The flood may hear me far. hape 10 see my pilot face to fa When 1 have crossed the bar. * ok * x All that men may think or hope of death is condensed into those few lines. all the vast fears of, the cen- turles, dating from the far days when Savage ancestors gaccompanied the funeral procession: ull the tremendous hopes of men, begun in those same far ages, and carried down without break to this, our time. Death is no stranger to us of today. No. and as long as we feel its force —as long as there is no fireside, how ever well guarded, without its empty chair, as our own Longfellow nut it— so long, then, will we have need for such simple, great expressions as Ten. nyson’s “Crossing the Bar.” What will be the average person's amazement, then. upon lookinz for this poem in ‘“The Oxford Book of English Verse,” one of our sterling anthologies, to find it nowhere present. In omitting it the learned editor, 8ir Arthur Quiller-Couch. has violated one of his own rules of conduct set down in the introduction to that very fine volume. in which he says ““The best is the best. though a hundred judges have declared it so: nor had it been any feat to search out and insert the second-rate merely be- cause it happened to be recondite.” Upon this basis it is hard to see how Sir Arthur could have left out of his otherwise good anthology a poem that most readers, of all de. grees of education, will call one of the greatest lyrics ever written. Yes. it has been quoted ad nauseum but who cares” Surely not those who read poetrv in the quiet of their home. for whom only this mode of ex- pression fully satisfies the longing for a combination of muaic, sense and emotion on the printed page. Sir Arthur finds no place. either, for the “Flower in the Crannied " and yet 1 believe most poetry lovers will give it a prominent posi. Secretary Jardine has just scored his first triumph in the reaim of major agricultural policy by inducing the Chicago Board of Trade to mend its speculative manners. In one of his earliest public utterances after becom- ing Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. Jar- dine warned that organization that the Government did not approve of practices that permitted wild fluctua- tions in prices such as the wheat mar. ket experienced early this year. The | Chicago traders pledged ithemselves to take constructive measures for pre- venting “wide price swings.” Last week such action was voted in the shape of an amendment to the board rules, authorizing the creation of a new system for clearing trades in grain futures. Frank L. Carey. presi- dent of the Chicago Grain Exchange, declares it “a great forward step which will benefit every one interested in the marketing of grain.” He adds that the Board of Trade will strive to carry out the other constructive sug- gestions advanced by Secretary Jar- dine. Details of the new clearing house system, by waich speculs. 1ve orgies are now to be prevented, will be worked out in the near future. * * *w Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt, Assistant Attorney General of the United States, is winding up a maiden season on the Chautauqua platform in New England. For the past four weeks she has been holding forth in the big brown tents on a circuit that included the States of New York, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. In Vermont, Mrs. Willebrandt spoke in the section which is Attorney General Sargent's home territory, as well as the soil from which the President and Mrs. Colidge sprang. , The topic which Mrs. Willebrandt is ‘discussing is en- titled “‘Crooks, Court and the Consti- tution.” Her talk embraces a wealth of personal experiences garnered dur- in her five vears In charge of prohi- bition and taxation cases at the De- partment of Justice. “Portia’s” recital of her strenuous life in Washington excites the liveliest interest. Federal judges and United States district at- torneys everywhere along her line of o er hosts and interested auditors, United States Senators Len- root, Fess, Willis and Harrison are among Mrs. Willebrandt's chautauqua colleagues this Summer. * ok ok * The influential hand of Reed Smoot is visible in the suggestion that Presi- dent Coolidge may appoint Brig. Gen. Frank T. Hines, director of the Vet- erans’ Bureau to be the first Secretary of Eaucation, if Congress creates such a new department. Gen. Hines is a Utah than and high In Senator Smoot’s favor. Out in his own State, Smoot is given much of the credit for persuading the President to make Willlam M. Jardine Secretary of Agri- culture. Jardine was born in Idaho and appointed from Kansas, but spent his mature life in Utah. One of Senator Smoot's strong claims to favor in his home Commonwealth is his success as a go-getter of Federal plums for deserving Utah Republi- cans. A Supreme Court judgeship for lfisorle Southerland: the commis- sionership of the general land office for William Spry, and the secretary- ship of the American-Mexican Claims ‘Conlmllllon for Noble Warrum are {among Smoot's cotemporary tri- ‘umphs in the fleld of patronage. % X Washington will be host in October to the annual meting of the ‘Tele- phene Pioneers of America,” which will bring together a distinguished gathering of men associated with the THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. tion in their affection for all that. spite its fearsome rhyming of nies” and “man is." * ok ox % Quiller-Couchs _includes (not_one of my favorit of Shalott,” dear to e “The Miller's Daughter,” Lotus Eaters,” “St. Bugle, Blow. “Come Down, O Maid guatrains from that stiff poem. “In Memoriam™; ““Maud” and “Oh, That "Twere Possible.” T would like to know where is ‘Break, Break, Break” and the quat- rains from “In Memoriam' (great for all its stiffness), beginning with “Oh, yet we trust that somehow good will be the final goal of I1L" and ending with the lines about “An infant crying in the night?" How about those other stanzas. t0o. Out, Wild Bells, 1o the Wild a great composer has thought enough-of to set to musi When any one gives me a selection from Tennyson I want “Sweet and Low,” that touching song from “The Princess.” Have you ever heard a good soprano sing it? Sweet and low. sweet and low. Wind of the' western sea Low. low. breathe and blow Wind of the western sea’ Qver ‘the’ rolling waters o Come from the dying moon and blow Blow him again to me While ‘my Tittle one. sieeps Sicen and rest. sleep and reat Father will come to thea soon 1 mother s breast come 1o Thee soon ran- “Mariana “The Lady v_schoolgirl; while my pretty one ! out of, the west Under the silvar mhon Steep. my little one."sicen. my prettp one sleep * ¥ ok % too, has been set ‘o music. From the same poem. “The Princess.” in which woman suffrage was advocated before it was accom- plished. one takes those lines begin | ning, “Tears, idle tears. I know not what thev mean.” Then there i< another song. “The Splendor Falls on Castle Walls,” the subject of many a painting What child ought to miss Does Little Birdie Sa. What does littie birdie say In her nest at peep of dav’ Let me fly. ways little birdie Mother. lof me fly away. Birdie ‘rest a littis longer Till the Tittle wings are stronger | So she rests a littie longer Then she fiies away What does little bahy i In her hed at peep of d Baby saya. like Tiitte Dirdie | Let’me Tie and iy away Bahy. sleep a little longer. T ihe Tftle limba are atronger Tt she sleeps a little longer. Baby. (oo, shall fiy awas To my way of thinking. a simple. | unaffected bit such as that, better | shows the genius of a great man and | poet than some of his more severe, )‘h];:h—hmw' poems. for it takes a zenius and a gentleman to write |about a bird and a baby., whereas almost any bruiser may strike off something in_the zrand manner Taine, the Frenchman. in his “His- toryof English Literature,” says that w first attracted people were Tennyson's portraits of women. “Adeline, ~ Eleanore. Lilian. the May Queen. were keepsake charac ters, from the hand of a lover &n artist.” declares Taine. word is like a tint.” Of “In Memo. riam" he says: “He goes into mourn |Ing. but. like a correct gentleman.” The poem. Taine declares. is cold monotonous and too prettily ar | ranzed. The “ldylls of the King" were Tennyson's great tour de force. pretty though fine arrangements of the prose of the “Mort d'Arthur.” Be- tween these idylls and the “Tales of & Wayside Inn,” by Longfellow. there always seemed to me to exist a kin- ship. 1t hem That, zood “What you read them. vom but who reads them? will like WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WIL development of telephony invention, 50 vears ago telephone patent was filed at Wash- ington. Its number—174.465—has been made a part of the insignia of the Pioneers. The members of the Alexander Graham Bell Chapter of their national organization will be the hosts of the forthcoming meeting, which is in the nature of a curtain- raiser for next year's golden jubilee of the telephone. The greatest liv- ing American telephone pioneer is a long-time resident of Washington. Bmile Berliner, whose discovery of the loose contact principle and indue- tion coil made finally possible the tele- phone as the worid knows it today. * ok ¥ % President Paz Barahona of Hon- duras has issued a proclamation to the people of that stormy little Central American republic, which interprets the new policy of the United States Government in Latin American affairs. Senor Barahona calls upon the Hon- durans to stamp out ruthlessly any ard all inclinatiors in the diroction of revolution. His proctamation, of course, does not disclose the fact, but it is commonly understood in Latir Ameri can quarters at Washington that he was actvated by the State Depart- ment’s now well known disapproval of turbulence and militarist ambitions in the sister republics of the Pan-Ameri- can Union. The new United States Minister to Honduras. George T. Summerlin, is an expert on revolu- tions. He has had many vears of service in Mexico. * *ox % This week will prospectively witness the appointment of the new American ambassador to Japan. Announcement of his name is expected immediately after President Coolidge reaches Washington. The President adheres to the rule of making his own selec- tion for major diplomatic posts. but re- fraining from an appointment not ap- proved by the Secretary of State. Cases are on recent record, in which Mr. Coolidge has proposed. and Mr. Kellogg has disposed. There is no dearth of available timber for the Tokio mission, which is now regarded as one of the most important in our whole foreign service. It remains to be seen whether the final choice will fall outside of the so-called career men or be given, by way of promotion, to some minister or ambassador now in the service. If an outsider is named. he is expected, like the late Ambas- sador, Edgar A. Bancroft of Chicago, to be an outstanding Western law- yer. If a career diplomat is promoted, the appointee may be Joseph C. Grew, Undersecretary of State; Hugh Gibson, minister to Switzerland: Henry P. Fletcher, ambassador to Italy, or Irwin B. Laughlin, Minister to Greece. P since its The first * k% % ‘While the country was in the throes of the first shock produced by the wreck of the Shenandoah, this observer was called on the long dis- tance telephone from a seaside resort in New Jersey. It was an inquiry from an anxious woman who wanted to know if all hope had been aban- doned that Comdr. Zachary Lans- downe might still be alive. He was the godfather, she said. of her only child and the closest friend of her husband, a brother officer in the Navy. ’ (Copyright. 1 e - Bragging and Blessings. From the New York World You never hear the wife of a poor man doing any bragging about the blessings of poverty, 3 ‘ome 1o his babe in the nest. | Other Worlds e Pt Saobie ¥ive hundred years ago men thought the earth the center of the universe, all the heavenly bodies, they believed, were subordinate to it. Then came Nicolaus Copernicus who showed that the earth was merely one of.a system of planets revolving around the sun. A hundred vears ago the great English astronomer. Sir William Herschel, demonstrated that the sun, together with all the other stars that we see in the heav- ens, formed a vast system roughly the shape of a grindstone. And now, as a worthy successor to these great men, Dr. Edwin P. Hubble of Mount Wilson Observatory has shown that { the universe of stars is but one of many such universes, thousands of which dot the sky, and may be seen as far as our great modern telescopes can reach Recently Dr. Hubble told the mem- bers of the National Academy of Sciences of his work. Then he ex- plained how, with the great 100-inch reflecting telescope, the largest in the world, he had made many photo- | araphs of two of the nearest of these | universes, or spiral nebulae, as the astronomers call them. Previously they had often been photogrophed with smaller telescopes, and alwaya appeared as continuous areas of light, much the same as the Milky | Way appears to the unaided eve Hordes of Stars. Rut just as the Milky Way is seen with even a small telescope to con- sist of hordes of star, Hubble's photographs reveal the | stars of which these spiral nebulae consist. He told how, applying a method _successfully used on the nearer globular star clusters by his former collegue at Mount Wilson, Dr. Harlow Shapely, now director of the Harvard College Observatory, he had found their distance This method was possible because jthe photographs showed a number o f stars which undergo a perodic variation of light. and from the time t it takes the star to complete of these cycles of varying bright- the astronomer can calculate their actual brilliancy. bright bright sraphs, they actually are, they appear on their distance may be | measured, because light diminishes |4s the square of the distance in- creases. In such a way, Dr. Hubble found the distance of these two spi- rals was each about a million light vears million times six trilllon miles: the distance that light, mov ing with a speed sufficient to encircle the earth seven times in a second, can travel in a million years ut this did not satify some of the astronomers. “This method.” they said, in effect, “has only been tested on much shorter distances. We do not know whether or not they would act the same when so far away.” It is to answer this objection that Dr. Hubble is now working, and as 1 sat in his office one morning he showed me how, by two quite independent methods, he has arrived ar similar distances. He finds that the stars {in the spirals seem to behave the | removed so far from us. There have 1been observed in the andromeda nebula, one of the two that he has studied. 53 “novate,” or new stars These occasionally appear in our own svstem hen a star, formerly very faint, flares up for a while, and then gradually returns to its former magni tude. If we assume that the aver. |age brightness of those in the spirals is similar to those in the Milky Way, | their apparent faintness may be ex- plained if they are at a much greater | distance, and the distance is about a million light years. Photographing the Stars. Important and epoch making as this work is, it is merely a part of the { work going on at the Mount Wilson Observatory, which boasts a larger staff than any similar institution. The | 100-inch telescope. for example, is |used in a great variety of wa {is the 60-inch telescope, the third largest in the world. One of the chief and how the photo- | | | | of stars, from which, by Dr. Adams’ | method. their distance may be found. but these spectra also tell, to those who can read the message, many other facts as to the stars motion and composition. Photegraphs made with these two instruments are also used by Dr. Adrian Van Maanen in measuring stellar distances, or paral- laxes, by their displacements due tn the motion of the earth in its orbi and revealed when photographs made six months apart are compared tory was founded by Dr. George Ellery Hale, who was director for many years., until poor health forced him to resign and assume the posi- tion of honorary director, which he now holds, the sun has been one of the principal objects of studv. In- jdead, until & few years ago. it was officially called the “Mount Wilson Solar Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washingten,” but now the word “solar” in the title has been dropped. Erected solely for solar study are the two lower telescopes, ome 75 feot and the other 150 feet high. which may be seen surmount- ing Mount Wilson from the city of Pasadena and also from more distant points. Each of these consists of a steel tower. with a dome at the top. In each dome is an arrangement of mirrors which collect the sunlight and reflect it into a lens. forming an {image of the solar disc at the base. | With them direct photographs may be made, or else the sun may be pho- | tographed by the light of one of the {elements that it contains, such as hydrogen or calcium. This is accom- plished with the “spectroheliograph an ingenious instrument of Dr. Hale's invention. But this is not sufficient and under each tower-is a well, 30 feet deep for the smaller tower and 75 feet for the larger. At the bot- tom of each well is a diffraction grating, which. like a prism, breaks up the sunlight into a spectrum. This is reflected hack to the base of the tower, where photographs are made showing the dark spectral lines which mean so much to the astronomer. Every clear day. and with the southern California climate there are usually about 300 of them annually, the sun is photographed in every pos. sible way. This work has continued for many vears. and already has led to the discovery of a numebr of if- portant facts concerning the source of the earth's light and energy. Entire United States Is Claimed by Italy That troublesome question of Italy's debt to the United States has been settled, at least by one Italian news- paper, and the United States owes Italy ever so many billion dollars. The newspaper in question recently published a facsimile of a letter writ- ten by Christopher Columbus to his son soon before beginning his mo- mentous cruise across the ocean. In this letter the explorer promised to bequeath tg his son all the land that he might discover. It is ohvious, comments the paper, that the Italian people, the logical heirs of the Colum- bus family. have a legal title to every- thing in America. The ltalians, how- ever, are willing to credit -the United States /with the $2,000,000,000 trifle they owe and accept several billion doliars in the form of oil stocks or steamshipa or in any other form America finds most convenient. so did Dr.| Knowing how | me as our system would if it were | as | uses is In photographing the spectra | From the start. when the observa. | Q. How many gold and silver min are there in the United States?— | G. A. 8. . | A. There are 1,359 placer and 2.206 | deep gold and silver mines in this country. | — | rals nt Q. Why were there no_“gen between Washingion and G G. E. A. The rank was created by gress March 3, 1799, for George Wash- | ington. He died soon after. the office | remained vacant and in 1802 ' abolished. It was not reviv | 1866 for U. 8. Grant. Upon his acces- | sion to the presidency, in 1869, W. T Sherman was made “genera he retired in 1883 the rank lapsed un- til it was revived for P. H. Sheridan in 1888 and again in 1917 for J. J Pershing. Con Q. What is the name given to Au- gust 1 by the English?—H. H. A. It is called Lammas dayv. Tt was an Anglo-Saxon loaf-mass or wheat harvest festival ce ted on August 1, old-style calendar, er August 12, modern calendar. In the Roman Cath olic Church the feast is celebrated on August 1 in commemoration of the im prisonment of the Apostle Peter. Q. In the soldiers' compensation fig- | the basis of $1 per day or . P. McC. | eteran may receive “adjusted " for each day in exces of 60 days of active service after Apri 5. 1917, and before July 1, 1919 (serv ice must have commenced November 1. 191%, or earlier), computed at $1 for each day of home service and $£1.25 {for each day of overseas service. Q What are Florida's most valuable cropa’—S. T. & | A. The 1324 estimates show oranges leading., with a value of $1%,090,000. | Corn ranke second. valued at $13.722,.| 000. Q. Ts there an Institute of Psychol- | ogy in this country?—0. B | A. The first institute of this kind | bhas recently been established at Yale | University i Q. How many hours was Annette ! Kellerman in the water in her attempt | 1o swim the English Channel”—K. C. V. A. Previous to this Summer three | notable attempts to swim the Channel | have been made by women: Barones: 1. von Isacescu of Austria, 10 hours Miss Lly Smith of Engiand, & hours and Annette Kellerman, 5 hours Q. What statue of an English King | was melted into bullets to fizht against | him?—E. B. 1. | A. The equestrian statue of George IIT_which stood at Bowling Green, N. Y. was dragged from its pedestal July 9, 1776, and laid prostrate in the }dust. The statue being composed of lead was afterward melted and run into bullets and in 1802 the first statue of Washington was placed the pedestal it formerly occupied Q. What D. B A. Bobs was a South London fox | {terrier. In 1919 two policemen pulled { him out of a dog fight and he snapped at one of them. A Clerkenwell magis- frate sentenced him to death as a ferocious animal. The National Canine Animal Defense League thereupon re- tained one of the foremost barristers | of London, Sir Henry Curtis Bennett, | K. C.. to defend Bobs. Petitions were sent out and 20,000 signatures ob- tained asking for clemency for the ‘children’s friend.” The conviction was set aside and Bobs released was the Bobs case’—L. by @ How many words a minute as spoken in ordinary conversation and how does the number correspond to the number used in speechmaking’— K C A Ordinary conversation is about 175 words a minute, but is variable Billy Sunday in his addresses uses 250 words a_minute, William J. Br: used 200, Theodore Rooseveli spoke { 110, William Howard Taft and Charles { Evans Hughes each use about 1 | Q. Of what is fire damp composed? M. S. C | A "The term is applied to mixtures { of methane and air in which the pro- Portion of methane is from 4 10 30 per cent. Pure methane is not ex- | plosive, because a large amount of oxygen is required for its combustion The proportion of methane in the air {in a mine depends noi so much on | the amount given off hy the coal as | Revolutionar: | tion | mer Palace where | time the prisoner | “she | heim all $100.000 per vear. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]J. HASKIN. on the volume of air used in venti- lating the workings Q Can a man who steals an anuto | mobile be prosecuted under the Fed eral laws?—T. R A. The Dyer gress in 1919, wa tn punish criminals caught transporting stolen automobiles from nne State to another. Q. Are d by Con there figures which would compare the amount of ammunition fired to produce a casualty in the World War with those of the Revolu tionary War and the Crimean War”- J.F.H A. Statistics compiled do not dif. ferentiate between the artillery and the small arms ammunition fired in | order to produce a casualty in any war. Out of 1,400,000,000 rounds, small arms ammunition of the firing line and target practice included. our casu | alties of 286,000 (which figured about one-third higher than the German casualties) required approximately 0,000 to 40,000 rounds to produce a asualty in the World War. In the War there were ap. proximately 4,800 rounds of ammuni per casualty. Roughly. it re quired a man’s welght in shot 1o pro duce one casualty. In the Crimean War there were approximately 25,000 000 rounds of ammunition and than 25.000 casualties. which would require about 1,000 rounds per cas ualty. Jess a tunnel hetween the 1 Institution and the New National Museum?—J. W. F A. There is such a connection. made primarily for electric wires and pipes, but of sufficient size for as an emergency passag Q. When were brought out of China : A. The first specimens were hrought to England in 1%60. Admiral Ha found them in the garden of the Sum they had been abandoned when the court fled. The Pekingese are the sacred temple dogx of Peking. and were once so care fully guarded that their theft crime punishable by death Q. What does it mean says that a prisoner will serve sentences ‘‘concurrently’’’—E. & A. It means that the sentences both be served at the same time that on the expiration of the longer w be at libert ship Pekingese dozs when Wh: Q. spoken of as A. In some of the older languag such as Old German. from which modern languages have been derived all inanimate objects were given r culine or feminine zender way the moon was feminin sun masculine, and among other thinge, ships and other vehicles were nerally spoken of in the feminine zender. Modern languag have adopted this same idea: therefore, the on for speakinz of a ship and train as “she Q. What is the quotation about zold that say it dissolves every doubt and scruple??—P. T. B A. “Gold is a wonderful theater of the understandinz. It dissolves ever: every doubt and scruple in an instant It accommodates itself to the meanest capacity, silences the loud and tremu Jlous and brings over the most nate and inflexible."—Addison Q of today T a are the be: . W. T A. There are six well writers whose annual income ranges from $100,000%t0 $500,000—H. G. Wel W. Somerset Maugham. George Ber nard Shaw and E. Phillips Oppen Sir James ),000 and paid writer known Rarrie has an income of Sir Hall Caine of $500,000. (In its efforts to be as useful as pos sible to its 113.000.000 people, the Gor ernment of the United States is con- tinually carrying on practical investi- gations in many ficlds. These investi- gations produce results of great value | Our Washington burcau is in_a posi tion 1o pass on to Star readers the raluable knowledge collected by Gor- ernment agencies. It is to the mutual beuefit of both the people and thr Government to have this great agency which brings them together. This service is free to all. Make use of it Inclose 2 cents in stamps for return postage. Address The Star Informa- tion Burean, Frederic 1. Haskin, di- rector, Washinaton, D. €. | | Labor's attitude promises to furnish a new and complicating basis for dis { cussion the next time Congress tackles the tariff. The demand of William Green, president of the American Feg- eration of Labor, that reduced wages in textile mills be followed by with-| drawal of tariff protection from such | mills, is interpreted by many observ ers as a departure from the tra-| ditional policy of organized labor “Mr. Green's demand, if taken to Congress,” the Chicago Latly News, (independent) believes, “may result in a valuable discussion of the relation of protection to wages. and the possi bility of attacking monopoly. where it exists and abuses iis privileges, without injuring other interests.”” The | Daily News, suggesis, however, that “if the cuts in wages in the textile industry are due to necessity, it is difficult to see how Mr. Green would | aid labor by bringing about further demoralization.” Reviewing the textile industry whole, the Birmingham News, (in- dependent Democratic) observes: 'On the face of the argument as applied to the wool manufacturers, President Green's reasoning is entirely sound. But it appears that the troubles of the manufacturers and the unions en gaged in the cotton industry are larzely confined to the New Eng land district. In other sections of the country, notably the Carolinas, | Georgia and Alabama, there has not been the difficulty experienced by the Northeast. Obviously. this situa tion must be reckoned. too, particu- larly since recent industrial sur-| veys disclose that New England is too far from the center of distribu tion to compete successfully with the South in cotton manufacture. As- suredly, there must eventually be a lowering of the tariff, but this reduc- tion must come only when European and British spinners are unable suc- cessfull; 0 compete with American spinners. i as a W 1t is agreed by the Springfield, Mass., Union (Republican) that “conditions might be far worse if protection were removed and the whole industry com- pelled to face the competition of foreign-made textiles, which might prove ruinous.” The Worcester Tele- gram, (Republican) emphasizes the fact that organized: labor has not sup- ported the free trade theory, but has been for protection.” and asserts that ‘Mr. Green's tariff threatenings, to all who believe in protection, must seem unwise from the standpoint of both mill owners and workers.” The Worchester paper asks: “Would Sam- uel Gompers. if he were alive today, be considering an anti-tariff cam: paign’ % vertheless, the threat of labo aecording to the Wall Street Journal, “'is a_serious matter when it is remem- bered that Congress, in dealing with labor, has shown little backhone, It makes no difference that the cut in wages was a result of American com- petition. in part, and principally the, unconseionable Jjevel to which the Labor’s Attitude Furnishes New Tariff Complication wages had already been forced. Tariff or no tariff, they are high enough te compel the consumer to darn his old clothes.” The Atlanta Journal (Democratic) declares “if the rank and file of us are taxed, through duties, to insure the woolen interests and others a high cale of profits on the pretext that only thus can the workers' standar of living be sustained. and then the wages on which that standard resis re cut, the tariff hes failed and should he called to an accodntng. On_the other hand, the St. Lo Post-Dispatch (independent), asks: i the schedule on woolens has failed to protect American wages but has in flated the cost of the workingman's clothes. why should it be continued?" ‘Any industry that cannot give ifk employves a r wage, even when helped by tariff protection, is not en titled to this indirect subsidv.” adds the Newark News (independent) and the Grand Rapids Press (independent) remarks further When labor taught to expect so much from the tariff, actually gets less than nothing a.reaction of the sort expressed bv Mr. Green is not unnatural” The Knoxville Sentinel (idependent Demo cratic) notes that “The crv comes from an unexpected quarter,” from those “‘understood to be co-benefici aries with the capitalists in the pro- tective system.” The New York Times findependent Democratic), recalling that the “tarfff engages to furnish the textile indus tries in New England with prosperity and their employes with fat wages.' holds that “it has broken the con tract.” 1f tariff protection were withdrawn. as viewed by the Spokane Spokesman Review (independent Republican), “the inevitable effect would be a sharp re. duction of the wages of erican workers, to meet the intensified for- eign competition, or the closing down in part of the American textile indus- try and total loss of employment to & vast number of workers.” “Does Mr Green have an idea that the way to maintain wage levels is te lessen the income out of which wages are paid?" the New York Evening Post (inde. pendent) asks. Also attacking Mr Green's “new logic,” the Lowell Leader (independent), asserts that “the old logic says that the influx of cheaper foreign goods competes un- favorably with our own industries.” “Mr. Green is protesting against a state of affairs for which some of his own labor comrades are as much re sponsible as the textile manufacturers themselves,” is the judgment of the Lynchburs News (Democratic). To this the Morgantown New Dominion (independent) adds that ‘“labor, that buttress of the tariff argument, now leads the demand” for a change. The Topeka Capital (Republican) thinks organized labor “will not he without support in other quarters, referring specifically to farmers, and to Wall Street's interest in foreign commeres.