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THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON. D. O, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1925 THE EVENING ST AR’thln( on the farm. To suggest that ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY. ...September 15, 1825 THEODORE W. NOYES...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Coml;ny 11n o A BT vanta A mc‘;“v.n.:" :nnfl«v 1'55 “‘&x‘.‘im. cago Ofce: Tow g Furo fice’ - 1 Roeent 8t.. London. oA O petand: ine Star, with the Sunday morn- l'dallveud by carriers within e city at 60 cents per month: daily only. 3, e o gt Bl s ST arrier at the end of each month. The r edt 70¢ Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. y i 20c Maryland and Virginia. Balz and and Sunday. ...1¥r. 3§8.40: 1 mo.. 1 1yr Susday onl: SN All Other States. 1 £$10.00: 1 mo.. Baly an sundas - 177 840.00: 1 ;o Sunday only. 177 $3.00:1mo \ Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Preas s exclusively entitled to the ue {or republication of all news dis- atches oredited 1o it or not otherwiss cred TRa ™5 G775 aber and”"alye the 1ocal news published herein. Al rights of publication ©Of epecial disnatches herei also resarved 00: 1 mo. imco 1mo. The Aircraft Inquiry. There is no impropriety, in fact there is the best of reasons, in admit ‘ting Col. Mitchell to the witness stand in the inquiry into the Govern- ment’s aircraft policies and practices. However he may have offended in breach of discipline and in insubor- dinate statements, for which he will be tried and, if convicted, punished, ‘he remains the actuating cause of this investigation, is, indeed, the com- plainant. The President’'s commission will as- semble in this city day after tomorrow for the purpose of organization. It ‘will probably move promptly in the ‘work that has been assigned to it, per- haps sitting in executive session to determine the mode and order of pro- cedure. Tt will first of all dis- cuss and decide as to the question of publicity of sessions. It is assumed that the testimony-taking will be open. A secret proceeding would be regarded by the country as an effort to conceal “the facts, whereas it is plainly the President’s wish that the facts be known, not only to the executive heads of the Government, but to the people. Tt may be that certain questions relative to military and naval secrets will be considered behind closed doors. | Even though these matters may be known to other nations through the activity of their agents—who, though peace may prevail, are still alert in “research”—it would be folly to lay all the cards on the table face upward for the world to see. The fullest possible publicity con- sistent with the safeguarding of the defense plans from universal knowl- edge is required to restore public con- fidence in the strength and capacity of the Government's aircraft program. Col. Mitchell has brought the matter into the open by his specific accusa- , tions of incompetence and error on the ¥part of those charged with the con duct of this branch of the service. Whatever may have been the inten tion as to the holding of an inquiry of this character prior to the meeting of Congress, his criticisms neverthe- less are the cause of its present under- taking. Whatever may happen to him in respect to his military status In consequence of his deliberate indis- cretion, he stands in the eyes of the country as the accuser who has brought to a focus & question that would have required consideration even though the Shenandoah had not met with djsaster and the Pacific flight had not been so near to tragedy. ——— Washington's pennant-seeking ball team having developed a case of tem perament on the eve of the de- eision, the season may be- consider 1 as fn every respect normal. ——r———— The fact that a Washington motor- ist has just been arrested three times for driving without a license indicates that the law is at least patient, if not drastie. e — Representative Britten returns from Russia calling the Soviet leaders harsh names. Something evidently went wrong with the official sight- secing schedule. ————— The Tournament. " Short accounts of tournaments have appeared in The Star, and before frost comes many tilting Pests will have to be reported. It is tournament time. There may be men in Washington whose educatlon is so small that they do not know of tournaments, but they e to come to Washington from less favored parts of the country. There is only one section of the United States where the tournament reaches perfec- on, and that is the section on which Nature has spread most of her boun- ties. Can there be any one so dense, 9 bereft of understanding, as not to know that the part of the United States into which Nature dumped her richest gifts, watermelons, huckleber- ries, persimmons, fox grapes, black- haws and tourpaments, is that section through which the Potomac runs? But we of the Potomac country are broad shough of mind and merciful enough ¢ heart to admit, for politeness’ sake, that beauty and other goodness may b found in those parts of the country fhrough which the Patuxent, Monoc- acy, Shenandoah and Rappahannock flow. That the tournament holds its own in competition with golf. tennis, auto races, airplanes and motor cycles is testimony of the strong grip that chivalry has on our people. Knights still come forth to mount a steed and #couch a lance to plerce a ring. The bold and gallant successors to Richard sCoeur de Lion, Godfrey of Bouillon, Tancred ‘of Apulia, Hugh of Verman- dots, Ivanhoe and other dashing fel- | lows will still shiver a lance for their lady love. One thing that strikes a extraordinary i8 that there are any tournament horses left in Maryland and Virginia, and that a knight will ride a horse instead of roaring through the arches in a Ford. But a smooth-going gait is needed for lanc- ing rings. Years agb & young man's tournament horse was the Dbest-kept \ man as the tournament horse saould pull a plow or get between buggy sha’ts was an insult for which a man might have to answer on the fleld of honor. A successful tournament rider was as much honored in his county as the most gallant fox hunter, and had a highef social rating than the best partridge shot or the best dancer. If he also had a horse and buggy he was as much sought after by lovely girls as a young man today who owns a swift-running and easy-parking car. It was fame for a girl to be crowned queen of love and beauty. She might not be exactly thet, but everybody in the county knew that one brave knight thought so. In one of The Star's tournament ac- counts is & note that strikes terror to those who cherish the classic tourna- ment. It appears that the winning knight crowned his wife queen of love and beauty. The fear is that the knight was subjected to some undue influence. The wife is no doubt a lovely woman and her husband is a dutiful and obedient man, but it shows that something is wrong with the tournament when a man crowns his own wife. In Prince Georges, Charles and St. Marys Counties which are the real and true tourna- ment belt, it was thought a little con- trary to the code of knighthood for Sir Arthur to lay the chaplet of triumph on the brow of Lady Arthur. If the knight were marrfed, which was not often so, it was considered a fine point to crown as queen of love and beauty the sweetheart of a knight who had fallen in the combat, that is, who had not caught enough rings. There was a contrary opinfon that a girl could accept the crown only from her own true knight. The question is too long and hard for discussion in a news- paper, but it is one over which the authorities on chivalry and knight- hood have argued in such tournament centers as Port Tobacco, Leonard- town, Charlotte Hall, Piscataway and Surrattsville. cae———— An Anti-Soviet Movement. ‘Word comes from Paris that in the middle of November a meeting of Rus- sian emigres from all over the world will be held in that city for the pur- pose of planning a new offensive against Moscow, with Grand Duke Nicholas leading a fight for the over- throw of the bolsheviks. A secret meeting of Russian refugees was held in Paris @ day or so ago at which a committee of seventy-three headed by Serge Tretiakoff, former president of the Moscow Bourse, elected to perfect plans for the November con- gress. Evidently the secrecy of the move- ment is not effective. Publication of the plan for overthrowing the Soviet has advertised to the world that this movement, which has been brewing for several years, is seriously under consideration. Yet the circumstances were probably well known to the Mos- cow commissars. Every prominent Russian refugee has without doubt been trailed by agents of the Soviet. Grand Duke icholas, who has been living in France, has pre- sumably been watched incessantly. There is even likelihood that among the seventy-three emigres named as the organizing committee are repre- sentatives of the Moscow government. During the old regime, before the Great War, espionage was brought to a point of high efficiency by the czar's government. The cheka, or secret po- lice, kept in touch with every revolu- tionary center. So complex, indeed, did the system become, with the de- velopment of counter espionage, that the real status of some of the oper- atives of the cheka was mysterious. Nobody knew whether they were at heart revolutionists or government agents. % In this present situation, therefore, it 1s inconceivable that the triumvirate at Moscow should not have full knowl- edge of the plans of those who aim to place Grand Duke Nicholas on the Russian throne in restoration of the Romanoff regime. They have had ample time to prepare against a re- action of this character. Their danger lies not so much in any direct assault by military force as in a spontaneous uprising by the people in response to an appeal for an overturn. The Soviets have the military organization to suppress sporadic scattered upris- ings. Tt is doubtful, however, whether they could resist a general revolt of the peasantry in all parts of the country. That there is bitter discontent among the peasants is well known. They have been exploited and robbed. Their sufferings have been in places even keener under Soviet rule than under the czarist regime. The only hope of the royalist reactionaries who seek the overthrow of bolshevism is to appeal to the slow-thinking, slow-moving moujik in a manner to cause him to arise in his tremendous strength on behalf of his old enemy against the newer enemy, the Soviet. was ——— China is on such a vast scale that it is necessary to report the latest dis- aster there, due to the flooding of the Yellow River, in terms not of lives lost but of villages submerged, 1,100 having yielded to the flood e ———————————— Maine Approves a Power Project. By an overwhelming vote, approxi- mately 10 to 1, the people of Maine have in a referendum approved the project for harnessing the tidal waters of the Bay of Fundy on the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick. The vote was in reference to an act of the Legislature incorporating a com- pany on terms which included permis- sion for the sale of power developed within the State to consumers out- side. This is one of the greatest engineer- ing projects of the period. It involves the impounding of the waters of the Bay of Fundy and also of Passama- quoddy Bay by means of dams across inlets and outlets, the rising of the tide | filling these great natural reservoirs for discharge through penstocks at the | power-producing points. Electric power sufficient to supply the needs of the entire State of Maine with a large surplus for sale to other users will, it is expected, be developed on a cost basis which insures cheap current and a good profit. As these are international waters permission of the Canadian govern- ment must also be sscured, with the United States Government to be like- wise considered. There is,- however, little doubt of the securing of such permission. The question most serl- ously Involved was that of obtaining the assent of the voters of -Maine to the sale of power outside of the State. That having been given, the way to the undertaking of this gigantic scheme to harness the tides for the production of power i{s now practically open. Thus the sea will be put to work for man in & new role. ———— The 'ongs Kill a Rooster. Having failed to stop the tong war- fare by holding the leaders of the Chi- nese organizations responsible for killings, the New York authorities are turning to the immigration service for relief and asking for the deportation of Celestials who are suspected of com- plicity in the conflict. Five Chinamen have already been ordered sent out of the country, and fifty-one more are to be given hearings today. Perhaps it is the deportation threat rather than the prosecution threat, but at any rate the tongs are really showing signs of peace since the first squad was sent to Ellis Island. It is rumored that the warring tongs have killed a rooster, and sworn on his blood to live harmoniously. A rooster's blood is regarded as especially bind. ing. The expiring squawk of the fowl, however, has not caused a remis- sion of police activity, and Chinamen are being rounded up both on sus- picion of complicity in the recent kill- ings and for dispatch to Ellis Island. These sons of the East apparently have no fear of the American criminal law, but they have a very wholesome regard for their status as sojourners here. ———— British labor is reported to be drift- ing toward radicalism. But to every drift there is a counter current, and probably a test will show a large con- servative wing strong enough to keep the labor body from flopping complete- ly over to sovietism. o Comdr. Rodgers doubtless appre- ciated a good drink of fresh water much more than his promotion to even higher responsibility than flying to Hawail. ——————— Report comes that the wreckage of the Shenandoah has been nearly cleared away, thanks to the ghouls who looted the debris before the great airship had ceased to quiver from its tragic fall. —et—————— As Mr. Magillicuddy's athletes con- tinue to lose games Mr. Harris' pen- nant chasers more surely acquire the pose vernacularly known as sitting pretty. o Prediction is made that this season’s theatrical productions, will be less pornographic, though it is not assured that they will be more dramatic. ———————————— Tomorrow ends a campalgn for the mayoralty nomination in New York which has set a record for the use of the short and ugly word. ——o— Some of the income tax payments now being reported are so small as to cause wonder whether they pay the cost of collection. ———————— PN-9 No. 1 proved sea Mitchell’s eriti- At least worthy, despite Col. cism. —————————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Surrounded. “Don’'t you know that there are microbes all around us?”’ said the scientific alarmist. “I don’t care,” answered the man who dislikes noise, ““so long as they don't crow at 5 o'clock in the morn- ing.” ‘A busy man,” said Uncle Eben, likely to be unpopular. He's allus gittin' in de way of somebody dat wants to loaf.” In the Walks of the Worldly. “Did that young woman make an advantageous match from a pecuniary point of view?" “How can she tell?” responded Miss Cayenne. “She has been married such a little while that she hasn’t begun to think of alimony.” Disappointing. The pumpkin is most fair to see, For yvellow luster you can't beat it: Perhaps that's why it seems to be A “gold brick” when try eat it. you to Climatic Ethnology. ““The glorious Indian Summer soon be here,” said the enthusiast. “Indian Summer doesn't make much impression,” said the man who was figuring on the price per ton. '‘What gets on my mind is the possibility of an Eskimo Winter.' will Excusable Resentment. “It's really provoking,” said the fond mother. ‘“Baby always cries when we have company.” “Well,” answered Mr. Groucher, vou can’t blame children for disliking company. If it weren't for visitors they wouldn't have to recite or play pieces on the piano. ‘The Banquet Habit. A hero has ventured 'mid perils im- mense! Oh, how shall we show that we feel A gratitude vast and affection intense, ©Oh, how shall we honor his zeal? Shall we deck him with roses or crown him with bay, Or spread cloth of gold at his feet? Nay! Let us proceed in a practical way: Let's all give him something to eat. How often we've heard of the wolf at the door O genius in all walks of life! The statesman leaves office but seldom with more Than enough to buy gowns for his wife. The poet and painter oft blow out the gas, Declaring that fame is a cheat. So let's help the great ones along as they pass By giving them something to eat. | !given to postmasters to strictly ad- { substitutes due to absence of letter ' THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. Is Tennyson's “What Does Little Birdie Say?" a namby-pamby, puerile poem? A Virginlan writes me to that ef- fect, following the recent publication in this column of a tribute to the great poet, in which the bird and baby poem was quoted, as follows: What does little birdie sa; In her nest at peep of day’ Let me fly, says little birdie. Mother, let me fly ay. Birdie, rest a little longer. Tifl the iittle wingn are stronger. So_she rests a little longer. Then she flies awa, }”hll does little baby d.ly" By "saye. M Tin. virdie Lat ‘me rise and fly away. Baby. sleep a little o 3 Till_the little limbs are stronger It she sleeps a little longer, Baby. oo, shall fiy away This lullaby then was praised: “To my way of thinking & simple, unat- fected bit such as that better shows the genius of a great man and & poet than some of his more severe, ‘high- brow’ poems, for it takes a genius and a gentleman to write about a bird and a baby, whereas almost any bruiser may strike off something In the grand manner.” The man from Virginia writes: “I was pecullarly interested in your appreciation of Tennyson in yester- day’s Star. ‘Crossing the Bar' ap- peals strongly to a person of my age, and I have cherished it in my mind ever since its first appearance; it de- serves a place among the immortal English poems ‘Sweet and Low’ is another of my favorites; 1 have sung the bass to it in quartet many, many times. How- ever, 1 beg leave to disagres with you ‘when you say it should be sung by a sweet soprano voice, for, in my opinfon, it should always be sung to Barnby's exquisite setting and by & mixed quartet, free from the vibrato affectation. Even a male quartet can- | not tully develop Barnby’s inspiring harmony; a sympathetic mixed quar tet can make it heavenly. * ¥ % ¥ “I must take issue with you,” con- tinues my correspondent, “as to the poetic merits of ‘What Does Little Birdle Say?” which strikes me as puerile or namby-pamby. In exten- uation of my heresy I will relate my first impression of the poem. “Some 60 years ago 1 was a youth not given to the reading of poe:ry, and, though this poem was widely printed in the newspapers through- out the country, I had not read it till the editor of @ country newspaper quoted It In connection With a state- ment to the effect that Thackeray's Magazine paid Tennyson $1,600 for it. “This editor in a humorous strain belittled the poem and expressed sur- prise that so large a sum had been paid for it. and proceeded to say ‘Here's a poem of our own, just as good, for which we would gladly take a quarter: * ‘What does little frotal On the bani at peep of Gay Let me wwim. says listle frogie, Bulltrog. 19t mo swim away Frogzie, wait a little longe: Till your little legs xrow stronger Then he hopped onfo a chunk And into the pond. kerplunk “‘What does little piggie say’. his sty at rSw of day* Piggie tave. like. Jittle {roggie ‘o and root today Piggie, wait a little longer. rill your snout grows hard and stronger If you stay a little longer, Piggie then may root away.’ “I am quoting this masterplece from memory, and perhaps inaccu- rately; however, you doubtless catch the depth of feeling and lofty flights of fancy it contalns, and doubtless vou will not forgive the frivolity of your correspondent in indulging in memories of the past at the expense of your valuable time. HOW UNCLE BY WILLIAM ARTICLE II “Mr. is sick; he won't be down toda. Those nine words, or their equiva- lent, spoken thousands of times daily into a telephone recelver, probably have cost American taxpayers hun- dreds of millions of dollars, all told. | They became so prevalent in the Federal service during the early part of this vear that Calvin Coolidge's professional dollar savers, searching through the departments looking for financial leaks, began a quiet investi- gation. They started in the Post Office Department, that greatest going | branch of the Federal service where the bills run to almost $700,000,000 a vear. What they found made that department hard-boiled, so far as sick leave is concerned. Iliness that is illness wins a respite from the daily job without loss of pay: but illness that is largely mental hereafter stands on a different footing from its old carefree place in the past. To pick up the story of the investi- gation, however, as it developed, let the Bureau of the Budget tell it in the language written into its official records. Here it is: “It was found that notwithstanding the provision of the law that sick leave shall be granted only on satis- factory evidence of illness, the idea was somewhat prevalent that such leave might be authorized upon a mere statement of illness, and that there was. in fact, additional annual leave. Evidence Now Required. instructions were cordingly, minister the law authorizing the granting of sick leave and to allow such leave only in those cases where the evidence of illness is satisfactory. The form of application was also amended so as to fully inform em- ployes applying for sick leave as to the conditions contemplated by the law before such leave is justified. “Prior to January 1, 1925, post- masters were permitted to utilize such substitute service as might be neces- sary during the absence of employes on sick leave. To give the department better control of these expenditures postmasters have been required since January 1, 1925, to include in their nates for quarterly auxiliary rvice the substitute service neces- s account of employes absent on sick leave. “Another feature of improved ad- ministration that has contributed largely to the reduction in sick leave has been the establishment of medical or first-aid units in the larger post offices. “The annual saving in the cost of clerical work due to this closer super- vision of sick leave, is estimated at $750,000. ““The reduction in the cost of carrier sick leave necessarily cannot be so great as the reduction in the case of clerks because of the smaller numbers of carriers employed, and the “act that when a carrier is absent hi route must be served by a substitute, thus requiring full elght hours or more substitute service every day that a regular carrier is absent. “However, it is estimated that the annual savings in employments of carriers on sick leave will be $400,000, | making a total annual saving for both clerks and carriers of $1,500,000.” Cut Down Overtime. Having doctored the sick to the ex- tent-of saving $1,500,000 to taxpayers annually, the money-savers turned their attention to another big expense item in the Post Office Department— overtime. For that, in the !may think us a bit unmanly. | theretore, |one province of life, but finds its way | Into our literary judgments, so that TRACEWELL. “ ‘A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the best of men,’ and, as Roy Octavus Cohen would say, ‘one of them you is which.'” * k¥ No wonder my kindly and interest- ing correspondent “got off on the wrong foot” for life with “What Does Little Birdie Say!" This is as striking an instance of the power of ridicule, especlally in youth, as T have ever heard of. Cer- talnly no child who ever read that froggie-piggie effort could ever have anything but laughter left for its birdie-baby prototype. Yet how innocent, how clean, still | stands Tennyson's song, despite that early instance of muckraking. What Thackeray's Magazine paid the poet laureate such a huge sum for was his name and his idea. Because he was famous, the maga- zine was willing to pay him big, as we say today, to prevent some com- petitor getting the pocm. Competition established the price. Many incom- parably greater poems have sold for a few dollars. Price does not estab- lish worth in literature. Only time does that. Once Tennyson had conceived the idea of contrasting the bird with the baby, it was easy enough for any one, country newspaper editor or smart aleck city man, to write a burlesque. So it was that all could stand an egg on end after Columbus had shown them how to do it. * ok x % 9 Parodies of great poems are the casiest things in the world for an or- dinarily clever person to evolve. The shame of the darn things is that the better the original poem, the better the parody. In other words, it you chuckle at the parody, it is a sure sign that the original is very good, or there would not be enough contrast to make the former laugh- able. The very fact that practically every reader will be delighted with the froggle-piggie burlesque proves, it seems to me, the innate worth of Tennyson's birdie-baby lullaby. The trouble with poems that fall within the classification of tender is that they were written in the quiet of the study, and were meant to be read In the sanctity of the home, where- as all too often they are paraded in “the public prints,” to use a curious phrase, and have to run the gantlet of all ‘sorts and conditions of men, many of whom are not appreciators. “What Does Little Birdie Say? brings out, as well as any poem could, the necessity for poetry of the high est sensibilities being read in the home circle, where gentleness is not some- thing to be laughed at, nor tenderness something to be burlesqued. Our Anglo-Saxon heritage fs one of curfous contrasts. In our homes w listen with satisfaction to the mothes einging to her little one some foolish, | tender fancy, but when we get among our office mates we find it necessary to laugh mightily at the very same lullaby, for fear, forsooth. some one The so-called ‘“double standard.,” is not confined solely to we have one set of standards for our | public use and another for our private The editor of the country newspaper of long ago, stung by jealousy to think he had to work all year to make as much as Alfred Lord Tennyson, gar nered in a few minutes of pleasant writing, took his pen In hand and wrote a parody which he rightly val- ued at & quarter Then he went home and found his wife reading to their little ones “What Does Little Birdie Say?" SAM SAVES P. HELM, JR. that, in turn, is another way of saying that the taxpayer pays. “A careful stud says the report made to the Budget Bureau, “dis- closed that the overtime privilege was being greatly abused, resulting in greatly Increased expenditures and a dissatisfled personnel. Overtime work is, therefore, prohibited except in cases where substitutes are not available.” As a result, it is estimated that the demand on the Federal Treasury will be lightened to the extent of $293,000 annually hereafter. In many cities the Government con tracts with private trucking firms for hauling the mails. Not long ago the Post Office Department experimented with its own trucks in a small way, gradually extending the size of the experiment, to determine if the service could not be performed more cheaply by Government-owned and Govern- ment-operated vehicles. ‘The experiment was a success. Bi were invited for contract service in cities, beginning July 1, last, and the lowest offers made were compared with the cost of operating Govern- ment trucks. In these 27 cities, says the report to the Budget Bureau, “the aggregate of the lowest bids was $1,050,803. where- as the cost of Government-owned service, iIncluding operation, mainte- nance and overhead, amounted to $658,076, a difference of $3! 7 in favor of Government operation. Needless to say, the bids of the pri vate trucking firms were rejected in toto. On Basis of Costs. Articles lost in the mail must pald for, of course, where such lpsses are insured. That has been a big item of expense in the past. Early this year the department succeeded in making arrangements with big mail order and other houses under which these concerns agree to accept settle- ment on the basis of cost of the arti cles, plus overhead. Prior to that ar- rangement such losses had been set- tled on the basis of the selling price, including the profit to the mail-order house. “It s estimated,” says the report covering this transaction, “that these new agreements, of which 6,291 were received up to June 16, will result in a saving of $150,000 each year.” They are some of the big things written in the postal service record for the year. There are a host of smaller items, too. One notes, for instance, that $115 is saved on every carload shipment of postcards from Washington to the Pa- cific Coaast from the expediency of shipping the cards in otherwise dead- head space in mall-storage cars: that the substitution of No. 2 jute twine for No. 1 resulted in lowering expenses $11,250 for the year: that the use of brooms for cleaning the smaller offices instead of floor brushes cut expenses by $598; that taking cash dlscounts resulted {n saving of $8,871 during the year. Buying electric light bulbs direct for 42 post offices and stations instead of from dealers saved $1,385. And so it goes. The amount varies, but the story is the same. Twentieth century ideas are finding their way into the financial administration of the postal service. (Copyright. 1925.) ) ’ Speed. From the Sandusky Register. This age is so fast it has to reach :mcl:uva.rd to grasp time by the fore- ek, be Small Cause, Big Effect. From the Altoona Mirror. It doesn't need to'ewel & sl B = NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM L G M. TABLE-TALK OF G. B. S. Archibald Henderson. Harper Bro. Always interesting and pretty near- ly every time convincing, George Bernard Ehaw is even more stirring in the glve and take of familiar talk with a friend than he is in his fa- mous and more formal prefaces or in the dramatic projections of one or another of the world's shortcomings upon which these prefaces open the way. Dialogue is, to be sure, a stilted form of printed intercourse, too reg- ular and rhythmic in its formula of question and answer, suggesting the ticking of a eclock in its monotony. Even dialogue, with G. B. S, as the Darty of the first part, imposes a per- ceptible stiffening of the amazing fluldity of the man himself. This check upon free movement, inherent to the method, is, however, but a sur- face matter whose effect soon disap- pears or becomes negligible, in the skimming spread of themes presented here in the table talk between Shaw and his blographer, Archibald Hen- derson. * ¥ ¥ ¥ With the first “How do you do?" followed up by the query of how he does it, how he holds 8o lustily to youth, Shaw {s off on the subject of long life sturdily lived—this, really, the theme of his “Back to Methusa leh.” “I look my age. Iam my age It is the other peopls who look older than they are. What can you expect from people who eat corpses and drink spirits?” Headed at once upon three tremendous themes—longevity, vegetarianism, prohibition. Let's dodge the easy turnings of this ver satile man. Let's hold him, if we can, to the point so universally im- portant, that of long life. In no tim at all Shaw sweeps away as delusive and unsound the rejuvenating process that stirred up so deep an interest not long ago. “The Stelnach opera- tion has produced no results that do not occur spontaneously In occasional cases. And it is not contended that the operation has been more than oc- casionally successful. It i3 admitted that the alleged rejuvenations do not prolong life. And it is longevity that interests me, not the ghastly prospect of seeing all the bustling about, pretending to be gay young dogs. Then, admitting that the secret of longe 18 s0 far still a profound mystery, Shaw Is off on five minutes of brilliant speculation as to the effect of this paramount dis. covery upon individual character, and through this upon history itself. “Take your Louis XV or vour man Just turned 40, and convince him that he has another century or two to live. Would Louis have let things slide to provoke 17887 Would the man of 40 bank on his being over mil itary age and hound his juniors to war? It is the time ahead of a man that controls him, not the time be- hind him. When the secret of lon gevity is discovered = * the hu- man race will become quite aifferent to_our present short-lived mob." No nearer the point than we were. you see; no nearer the secret of long life—but started off, instead, upon @ most interesting line of thought that ends logically in entirely changed aspects of histor; if only the mys- tery of longevity had been man's free and open possession at any consid erable point in the past vears of the world. A provocative man, this George Bernard Shaw. And the pow- er to stir others to clear and inde. pendent thought is one of the su preme gifts to this generally un:hink- ing world * o ox x Jumping from topic to topic as friends across the table from each other are bound to do, these two, in no time at all, reach the overworn question of America's real reason for entering the World War. And here Shaw is so truly English that he is not Irish at all.” English in his deep knowledge of America’s inner being where her motives lie, English also in his power to place just the right interpretation upon all the overt acts of America. A really superhuman power which every English man and woman acknowledges when it comes to the evaluation of America -ant Americans. “No; they entered it to take Germany's scalp under all sorts of romantic delusions and pretexts. The Ku Klux Klan lynches and flogs and tars and feathers because it likes these sports; but it has to find patri otic causes for believing that negroes should be outlawed, Catholics exter- minated and inconvenient people taught Klan manners. Americans at large rushed to the front because they wanted to fight, to indulge in virtuous indignation, to see the Old World, to escape from their homes and have adventures of all sorts, to strike a blow for their ideals, and to prove to themselves and that they were not cowards. Also of course, because they could not help themselves. But—saving word—un der all these heads it is truer to say that they entered the war to r their skins than to save them. * + * War fever—another saving word—is | a curious disease and very infec- tious.” Interesting, as an opinion, this, whose basis s a profound un’ acquaintance with America, except such an America as the ready ima® ination of this English-Irishman has built up. L A scrap of interesting—illuminat- ing—talk between Henderson and Shaw about American writers follows here H.—Surely vou know Edith Whar- ton? S.—I seem to have heard the name, but cannot connect anything with ft. H.—Wllla Cather? ever heard of her—or him. H.—James Branch Cabell? S. ot Cable—no, of course not. he a Senator? No, that is Cabot, isn't 1t? T am afraid I'm out of it. H.—Sinclair Lewis? 8.—Nice chap. T met him Austin after “Main Street,” gave me “Babbitt.” H.—Zona Gale? No. ——Sherwood Anderson? v mind is a perfect blank. —Theodore Dreiser? —Frank Harris used to talk of him, but I never read him. H.—Upton Sinclair? S.—Yes, I know Upton. More power to his elbow! An American De Foe. H.—Stuart P. Sherman? . 8.—1I thought he was dead. A gen- eral, isn't he? H.—H. L. Mencken? S.—An amusing dog. and a valuable critic, because he thinks it more im- portant to write as he feels than to be liked as a good-hearted gentleman- ly creature. And so on. It sounds like one of the funny man’'s newspaper reports of the college graduate who falls down under a grade-school examination. Not a vital failure on the part of G. An interesting one instead. * x x % A 'good deal of talk here about the drama. And, on the part of Hender- son, about the growing interest of American playgoers in Shakespeare. Here Shaw shows clearly and from the point of history that no dramatist of that old time, not even Shakespeare himself, could take the theater seri ously. The British stage was forbid den to touch politics or religion, or to say a sincere word about sex. To be sure, Shakespeare tried “notably in Hamlet to accuse the world of being all wrong, but he attached these pro- tests to incongruous borrowed plots and tinkerings of old plays and never s ith Mary and he moribund people | |or continue the suzerainty of the Brit- others | made any attempt to get down to the root of the evil.” Politics, government, the League of Nati soclalism, the movies and ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. How many States have public land for homesteading yet’—H. M. S. A. There i{s public domain remgin- ing in 21 States. 3 Q. Where is the largest steel plant in the World>—W. P. 8, A. The largest plant converting plg iron into steel is at Gary, Ind. Q. Are any naval vessels propelled by compressed air jets’—W. J. P. A. The Navy Department says that no Navy boats are propelled by com- pressed air jets. This mannet of pro- pulsion is not practicable except in laboratories or in models. We are advised that one ship could not hold the amount of machinery required to propel a ship in this way. Q. Where is the Dinosaur Monu- ment?—P. T. D. A. The Dinosaur Monument is 12 miles east of Vernal, Utah, and the nearest rall approach is Watson Utah, on the Uintah Railroad. Q. What proportion of the cotton crop of the United States is consumed in this country?—T. T. N. A. For the last five years the United States has consumed an av- erage of 50 per cent of its cotton crop. For the fiscal year ended June 30 last the percentage was 43. Prior to 1914 the average domestic consumption was 37 per cent of the crop. Q. Is Robert M. La Follette, r., a | Republican?—D. §. | A. Robert M. La Follette, jr., i 1 candidate for the Republican nomina- | tion for the United States Senator in | Wisconsin | Q. Is glass everlasting?--H. F. K. A. Glass would slowly disintegrate when burled, especially in moist soil. The action on the glass would be due primarily to water and alkall. The | disintegrating action would vary with the composition or character of the glass and the conditions that obtained in the soil. This action would prob- ably be extremely slow with any glass and it would probably be centuries before some asses would be com- pletely disintesrated. Q. Who was the first Governor of Nebraska?—G. V. M. A. The first Governor of the Ter- | ritory of Nebraska was Francis Burt, | 1854, David Butler, Q. How does cabbage compare in food value with potatoes, onions, to-| matoes and spinach’—M. G | A. Cabbage contains 150 calorles | per pound; white potatoes, 295;| onions, 190; sweet potatoes, 440; to- | matoes, 100; spinach, 95. | The first tate Governor was 18! : in the | by 2— Q. What is the difference rules of foot ball and ru C. W. W. A. There fs no difference in the | rules of American foot ball and | rugby. However, there is a slight | difference in the play. For instance, | rugby s not as rough a game as American foot ball, and, although rugby still maintains the scrimmage and is not so much spectacular play ing, there is more teamwork in rugby. An English rugby team con- sists of 15 players; an American foot ball team consists of 11 players. The United States Foot Ball Association, as well as the English Rugby Associa tion, is a member of the Interna- tional Federation of Foot Ball Asso- clations, which was established in 1904. Q. L P. A. The test for a submarine {s 200 feet. Submarines are so constructed as o be able to go 100 feet deeper, reaching a depth of about 300 feet. Q. What is the correct temperatur at which to pour babbit metal?— R.E D A. It depends entirely on the brand or grade of metal. It is sald that the point at which it will brown a pine stick is the pouring point. Q. Please tell something of the old-time samplers—H. H. A. The making of samplers was part of every girl's education untfi the middle of the nineteenth century. The earliest of all known samplers i owned by the Essex Institute of Salem, Mass., and was worked by Ann Gower, first wife of Gov. Endicott, in her girlhood in England. ame to Salem in 1628 and died in The upper part consists of the alphabet and the lower of various examples of How deep do submarines go’— | needlework. Q. I have heard that orchids will no longer be the rare flower that they are at present. How do you account for the change?—C. T. G. A. British growers tn Surrey have discovered how to produce orchids on the mass production principle and how to germinate more than 20 seeds where nature could germinate but one. Q. How PP A. The stalk of corn that took the prize in a county falr in Jowa this vear reached a height of 16 feet tall does corn grow’- (The Washington information bu- reau in handling the personal requests for information from readers of thia and other representative papers throughout the country receives and answers more mail than any concern in Washington ezcept the Govern- ment itself. This statement proves how popular this department of The Btar is and what a useful purpose it is serving. If you have not tested its possibilities you are missing a worth- while convenience and educational service. The burcau is free to ail Send in your question with 2 cents {1 stamps to cover the return postage Address The Ktar Information Burea, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washing- ton, D. C.) BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. eat Britain holds a mandate from | the League of Nations over the King- dom of Irak, which mandate will ex- pire in 1828 anless renewed. Within | Irak, according to the version of the British, lies the vilayet of Mosul, in which extensive and very valuable oil fields exist. ‘Turkey disputes the right | of Irak to fnclude Mosul and its oil therefore she demands of Great Bri ain a full surrender. or at least a| plebiscite of the people to decide whether they will unite with Turkey ish. Furthermore, Turkey has massed an army of 70,000 upon the borders as a means of emphasizing her demand. France is accused by the British of being interested in helping the Turks in defeating British plans to renew the mandate for a term of 25 years. With millions of dollars’ worth of oil at stake, the situation appears to need only a match to start serious trouble between France and England, and actual hostilities 'with Turkey. * Ao King Feisal of Irak is the princely son of Husein, with whom Great Britain _bargained in the early part of the World War, agreeing to help him set up an Arab kingdom, in consideration of the help of the Arabs in fighting the Turks. Hedjaz was the product, and the Arabs expected it to include Palestine, Syria and | Mesopotamia. The French disputed title to Syria. and after a clash with British interests the dispute was set- tled in May, 1916, by an agreement glving France free hand in Syria and | reat Britain in Mesopotamia. Then arose a dispute as to the bound- | ary between Mesopotamia and Syria, which led to a conference and treaty of St. Jean de Maurienne in December, | 1916, which defined the boundaries of all the Near East and gave Smyrna to Italy. In 1919 the allles authorized Greece to occupy Smyrna, which re- ulted in the Turkish massacre of Greeks and a general unrest through- out the Near East. Now France is at war with a savage tribe—the Jebel Druses—in Syria. King Feisal, driven out of Hedjaz, rode north and established himself at Damascus, assuming that he and his Arab supporters were to rule Mesopo- tamia, according to the British agree- ment. He soon learned that France | claimed his kingdom there, and Frenc.. forces under Gen. Gauraud threatened Damascus. King Feisal retreated to Irak, which had been assigned under a mandate protectorate by the League of Nations to Great Britain. Great Brit- ain recognizes and supports King Fei- sal as ruler over Irak so long as the King recognizes the superior right of Great Britain's mandate and her con- trol over the oil lands. King Feisal has gone to London. os- tensiby to consult medical advisers as to his physical condition, but France asserts that he is there to confer with British statesmen as to the strength of his Irak throne. * % ok Two years ago, while France and Great Britain were at odds over France's occupation of the Ruhr, forc- ing Germany to keep her obligations, Turkey took advantage of the situa- tion to set up her claim to Mosul. Brit- ain declares that Mosul belongs to Irak, under King Feisal. She bases that claim on ethnical and archeo- logical grounds, holding that the vila- vet is populated chiefly by Chaldo-As- syrians and Kurds, the ancient Medes. Therein lie the tomb of Jonah and, ac- cording to tradition, the fiery furnace of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, though what that tradition has to do in confirming Irak’s title to Mosul is not apparent. * % Turkey is evidently willing to com- plicate the situation by involving the United States interests, though our State Department counts the effort as “ridiculous.” About three years ago Turkey gave to the American Rear Admiral Colby N. Chester, re- tired, a concession authorizing him to build a railroad from Kharput, in Anatol to Sullemanieh, on the Irak-Persian frontier; in considera- tion giving him all right to_the oil on both sides of the railroad a dis- tance of 20 kilometers—a strip about 20 miles wide. This concession crosses most of the territory in dis- nnfe between Turkev and England. other topics innumerable play leap- frog here in a swift-moving procession of acrobatic quality—all exciting, the most of it substantial despite its rapid- fire decisions, tremendously stimulat- ing and provocative as a whole. |is . COLLINS. the “Chester Bii- sion,” but if Tur key falls to hold itle against Great Britain it is lik<' that the holders would sell their cia’ms at a discount. Little has been heard of the Chester claim for two years and in offici quarters it is assumed to have lapsed, though at present the title nominally held by the Ottoma American Development Co., of whic Rear Admiral Chester holds contre S In the midst of the World War Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey trans- ferred all foreign concessions to his private purse, and sold the Mosul oil concession to Germany, fro whom it was promptly seized b Great Britain. Our Secretery of State, Mr. Hughes, reminded Grea: Britain that her claimed monopol ran counter te our policy of “‘open door,” and so the title was changed to that of the Turkish Pe troleum Co., whose stock is held by the Anglo-Persian Oll Co., the Roval Dutch Shell and the Deutsche Banik. That situation conflicts with all the Chester claims, and Secretary Kellogs is quoted as characterizing as “ridict lous” any idea that the United States will defend Chester investors. It reported that half the stock of the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. now belongs to It is spoken of lion-Dollar Conce | the Standard Oll and other American companies, not including Admiral Chester’s group of investors. ' Last _year the dispute between Great Britain and Turkey was re ferred by the League of Nations to a commission to investigate its merit= The commission now reports that Irak rightfully belong to Turkey | adding “Irak cannot claim the disputed territory, either invoking the right of conquest or any other legal right. It can only advance the moral argu ments to the effect that, since a State of Irak had been formed, the nature of its territory must be such as to allow of its normal development The commission does not feel compe. tent to decide what weight shall be given to these considerations; that is a matter for the council (of the League of Nations)." * ¥ %% A phase which enhances the serious ness of the crisis in the Irak (and no less a crisis in the League of Nations) is the fact that both Turkey and Great Britaln announce that they will not abide by any decision of the League Council which does not coin cide with their respective interests. Turkey not only says so, but mobilizes an army of 70,000 men upon the Iraq border in token of her meaning. She offered to accept a plebescite of the inhabitants, feeling confident of a majority of Kurds are in sympathy with Mohammedan Turkey, while Great Britain sees no reason for let- ting local interests interfere with ofl dividends, and flatly refuses to permit League votes to decide what is ex pedient for British profits. Prime Minister Chamberlain does not mince words as to the inconsist ency of England’s attitude in relation to the League's decision, for he said in the Council meeting at Geneva last | week: “We are prone to eschew the gen eral; we are fearful of these logical extremes, because, in fact, human na ture being what it is, logic plays but a small_part in our everyday life. . . . What was the protocol? Some- thing like a single code of law, a single constitution, for all the states repre- sented in this great assembly. In the British Empire we have more than once considered putting in black and white _our Constitution, and every time the representatives of our differ- ent governments have decided that in the very elasticity which our want of logic and want of precise definition afforded us, lay the Bsecret of our unity. . . Our object is to supple- ment the covenant by making special arrangements to meet special needs. . . . I hope we shall have the sym pathy and approval of the League of Nations, for we shall bring great sup- port to the League, a great increase in its authority and infiuence, and the largest contribution it is within our power to make to the preservation and peace of the world.” That being the British policy—to adopt whatever appears at the time to be expedient in British interests— the decision of the League's Council that Irak belongs to Turkey will not oust Great Britain and King Feisal out of Irak, whatever the Turkish army may do. (Copyright, 1925.-by-Paul V. Collinsd