Evening Star Newspaper, October 17, 1925, Page 6

6 THE EVENING STA_R'bs increased, and sudden death of an With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY.....October 17, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES.. . Editor The Evenlng Star Newspaper Company Busin 11h 8t and Fow York om hicago Office Ruropean Office punt idine. 10 Ryrent St.. London. Ensland: The Eventn: with the Sunday morn- fpe sufion™ T QAT Sy it €ity at’ 80 cents per month: dally only. 45 cents per month: Sunday only. 2! nte Par month. Orders may be sent by mall or telephone Main B00Y. Collecticn s made by carrier at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. g" Maryland and Virginia. ly ail and Sunday. Sunday only. . .. 700 §0e .. 200 only.... All Other States. o Sunday. ...1 yr.. $10.00: 1 mo., 85c Di !:m- unday. -1 I1- %3200 1 mo.. §0c Sunday oniy 00: 1 mo.; 26c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled o the use for republication of all news dis- redited to it or not otherwise cred- s paper and nise the local newe Dpublished herein_ All rights of publication ©f special dispatches herein are also reserved. Peace Pact and Arms Limit. Another disarmament conference— more properly limitation of arma- ments—Ilooms as a probable result of the adoption of the Locarno security pact by the representatives of Britain, France, Germany and Italy. If the pact means anything it means peace, and with assured peace the need of large competitive armies and navies shrinks visibly, particularly in view of the industrial and social needs of Eu- rope demanding attention. Indeed, the limitation of armaments may be con- sidered a vardstick to measure the sin- cerity of the contracting powers in this newest effort to stabilize condl- tlons in Western Europe. If these na- tlons intend to live up to the terms of the pact—and there is every reason to belleve that they do—standing armies and large navies may be greatly re- duced. The United States has taken the lead in the proposal for international limitation of armaments. It brought to Washington the powers of the world, East and West, for considera- tion of this important matter. By its evident sincerity it sent a thrill of hope around the world with its an- nouncement that it was prepared to lay aside its own plans for a navy surpassing that of all other nations. Out of that conference grew a limita- tion of the capital ships of the great navies of the world; there arose a bet- ter feeling among the nations and a conviction that some day the cause of peace would be further aided by other limitations of armaments. It is well understood that the pres- ent administration in Washington has been merely waiting for an opportune time to invite the nations again to a conference on the limitation of arma- ments. The unwisdom of gathering the nations in conference until after some agréement such as that now en- tered into at Locarno was apparent. The intimation comes from the White House, however, that President Cool- idge is prepared to act in this matter when the present arrangements for peaceful settlement of all controver- sies arlsing in Western Europe have been definitely consummated. The Locarno conference and the se- curity agreement, of far-reaching im- portance in themseives, are considered here as further steps to the readjust- ment of the world on a peace bass. The security pact follows the adoption of the Dawes plan, the settlement of the reparations muddle, the funding of many of the forelgn war cents. With- out these earlier steps, such a pact might have been long delayed. The Locarno pact, however, is expected to give still further fmpetus to the sta- bilization of the world on a peaceful basis. ———————— Tt will not be so easy for private in- dustry to compete with the Govern- ment for expert employes if the cus- tom of promotion for merit and ex- perience is definitely established. —.—— The theory that there is no senti- ment in base ball will be resented by every “fan’ who finds himself on the verge of tears when the home team loses. ——re— Safety on the Rails. A railrcad train, one of those fast passenger trains called a “fiyer,” ran fifteen miles with the engineer dead in his cab. This happened on one of the busy railroads of the East, with switches, sidings, stations and signals close together and no doubt trains running under a headway of a few minutes. Hundreds of passengers were without a thought of danger. It was good luck that there was mnot a crash. Had there been, the explana- tion would have been that the en- gineer ran by a danger signal, dis- obeyed orders or something of that kind. The engineer would be found dead In the wreck. The theory that the engineer was dead at his throttle before thie wreck and that the train was running wild would not be credit- ed. The engineer in this case dld not dle of apoplexy or one of several other ctauses of sudden death. The fireman found him dead, his head crushed, as the train rushed through railroad yards where it should have traveled slower. The theory is that the en- gineer was struck by e bridge girder or pillar as he leaned too far out of his cab window. Every now and then is published an account of a locomotive engineer found dead in his cab. Sometimes the fireman makes the discovery because the train s running at unusual speed or has gone past a place where it should stop. Sometimes there is an unaccountable wreck and the en- gineer and fireman are found dead in the wreckage. There is something in this to be thought over by ralroad men and travelers. Railroad com- pantes have come to the point where by physical examination and other ‘ means they seek to insure that the en- gineer taking out a train is fit for his work. Such precautions cannot be the highest measure of safety. A number pf years ago, when this question was up, there was a proposal that two en- gineers should be in the cab of loco- motives drawing fast trains, but it was decided that such a measure was engineer on duty was so rare that the precaution was not called for. The stoker was relied on to take care of the train should the engineer be incapacitated. The stoker has his own work to do, and has only odd moments in which to note what the engineer is doing. In this case the train ran fif- teen miles before the stoker knew that his engineer was dead. It is a subject for thought, but it is clear that as time goes on there will be gtrong demands for the adoption of every measure to promote safety on the rails, ————————— Punishment and Crime. District Attorney Banton of New York, in a radio talk in that city, has Just declared that while certainty of arrest and conviction with some form of punishment would déter some per- sons from committing crimes, severe sentences ‘“have never prevented crime and never will.” He asserted that crime can be prevented only by moral training, and the reason that that result has not been attained is that the individual has received in- structions but has not been compelled to practice what he has been taught. This raises a question which will be discussed throughout the country in the agitation for the solution of the crime problem in the United States. It has been accepted generally as established that slow court proc- esses due to the numerical inadequacy of the bench, the tardiness of trials resulting from postponements and needless protraction of procedure and the suspension of sentences have con- tributed to the prevalence of crime of all kinds. Statistics show clearly that lawbreakers are encouraged by, first, the good chance of escape from arrest due to modern facilities for flight, and, second, by the chance of escape from punishment through delay of trials and failure of convictions. All large cities contain hundreds of fugl- tives from the law and persons under charge awalting trial. The security of society is menaced by these conditions. A criminal who is at large awaliting trial, or who is on prohatl(:z or under suspended sen- tence, is nger. The New York dis- trict attorney says that safety lies in moral training. Who will administer such training to such people? The jails and penitentlaries are not train- ing men into moral ways, despite the adoption of easy discipline and educa- tional methods in such institutions. The men at large who have not been committed to prison are not under any restraint or under any sort of moral guidance. It may be that as a result of the softening of the prison conditions, the introduction of entertainment, the grant of privileges and the reduction of sentences, committals to penal in- stitutions are not as effective as for- merly. If so the fault lies not in the committals or the sentences, but in the tendency to make prison life easier and therefore less obnoxious and abhorrent to the law breaker. Punishment is a deterrent, but it must be certain and severe. When the chances favor escape from any pen- alty the potential criminal is éncour- aged. He sees daily accounts of crime, robberles, assaults, murders, that are practically certain to lead to long de- lays even when the perpetrators are caught. He reads accounts of easy times in the penitentiaries for the in- mates, of radio service for their bene- fit, of dramatic and musical entertain- ments, of diversions of all kinds. He has a good chance to escape arrest, a better chance to evade jail and a cer- tainty of a fairly easy life in prison if he should be sent there. What won- der, then, that he becomes a law- breaker? THE EVENING alternative to the introduction of Sun- day tall in those three cities, the league's schedule makers should con- sider the expedient of ‘‘double-head- ers" there, to avold the numerous open dates in the other cities and thus bring the schedule to a close in season to begin the world series by the 1st of October at the latest. So serlous is the effect of postponing & world serles game that decision to do so was rendered last Wednesday only after a long delay beyond the hour fixed for the start. In point of fact. no game should have been played on Thursday, so unfavorable were the conditions. Yet it was deemed neces- sary to take a chance in view of the two postponements already had and the public impatience for a final de- cision. A shift to earlier dates would greatly lessen the risk of such hap- penings as & game in arctic weather like that played here, and a game in the mud like that which gave Pitts- burgh the title. Modifying the Eternal City. Visitors to Rome will remember it not only for its monuments of an- tiquity, its impressive religious struc- tures, its atmosphere of history, but for its noise. It {8 probably the noisiest city In the world. Its streets are paved mostly with small, uneven cobble- stones, over which its traffic rattles with the effect of a machine gun bar- rage. Most of the taxicabs are horse drawn, and the drivers are emphatic with voice and whip in admonition, encouragement and Incitement. The tram cars screech on the curves, the brakes howl on the grades. Tram con- ductors blow whistles shrilly to start and stop their cars. Motormen clang bells in warning. Vendors of mer- chandise cry thelr wares. Motorists toot their horns continually. And as a background of sound is the hum of conversation, which in Ttaly is con- ducted in high pitch and with little restraint in publie. Rome is not, therefore, a restful city to those to whom nolse is trying. But this clamor in the Italian capital is part of the “atmosphere,” and to one who truly loves Rome it is some- thing not merely to be borne but to be appreciated. Nevertheless, the city fathers of Rome have begun a cam- paign against noise as a preliminary to a eolution of the traffic problem, which has developed there to an alarming point. Owing to the narrow- ness and the crookedness of most of the streets of the Eternal City the traffic dangers have become acute. The sidewalks are narrow, and con- sequently pedestrians swarm upon the pavements, and there is no sys- tem whatever in street crossing. It is a case of everybody for himself. In the move against needless noises it is now forbidden to use whistles on the street cars, the warning bells must be lowered in tone by an active, all mo- tor horns are to be modified in volume and range. Pedestrians are to be regu- lated, restricted to crossing streets at specially marked lanes, and some order 1s to be sought in the traffic movement to lessen the amount of horn blowing. If all these and the expected regu- lations that are to follow are en- forced Rome will lose much of its char- acter. It will not be so helter-skelter in movement and so clangorous in sound. Will it be the Rome of the traveler's ideal? It may be a safer, quieter Rome, but it will lack much that has made the Italian capital dear to millions of people. —————— The appointment of Col. MacNider to be Assistant Secretary of War is not only a high honor, but a brilliant opportunity i the promotion of Sec- retary Davis is to stand as a prece- dent. —t— oo The Prince of Wales is hailed with admiration by the English people as a man who can go all over the world and never say a thing that causes the slightest embarrassment. It is a rec- ord to be proud of. ‘Walter Johnson, whose disappoint- ment is greater than that of any one else, manages to preserve the attitude of a good loser. Real sportsmen among base ball fans should be able to do likewise. ————————— Germany is Interesting herself financlally in Russian oil products. Apparently Hindenburg is not only an able general and expert politician, but also a pretty good business man. ————————— Reporters at Locarno are indignant concerning their treatment by Mus- solini, and have decided to ‘‘snub” him. It s a large order. ——r———————— The word “flapper” is falling into disuse owing to a uniformity of cos- tume that prevents it from asserting any distinctive meaning. Play the Series Earlier! ‘Without in any way suggesting that ‘Washington lost the world series on that account, it should be urged upon the base ball magnates that a change of dates for the climax of the season in that sport should be effected to in- sure better weather for the contests. Opening the series on the 7th of Octo- ber is really too late in the season. The chances of wet, cold weather are too great. In the series just com- pleted postponements were compelled on two occasions on account of the rain. One game was played in bitter cold and the final game was played in the rain on a soaked field. The series was stretched over nine full days, im- posing & heavy additional expense to ticket holders froth other cities. The sport was not of the best quality. The late date is the result of the protraction of the regula. league sea- sou to beyond the 1st of October. whis is due to the fact that in playing a 154-game schedule many open dates are necessary toward the end on ac- count of the prohibitions against Sun- day base ball in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. These bans affect five clubs, two in the American League and three in the National. In conse- quence of the inability to play Sunday games in Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh the schedules have to be stretched during the last two or three weeks. If Sunday ball were permit- ted in the three cities named it would be possible to finish the regular sea- uot-needed, The cost of travel wogld | gon at Jeast one Week eaclien, As an 'The late Senator Ralston will be re- membered as one of the men who maintained a conslstent attitude of traditional dignity during the pande- monium at Madison Square Garden. ——————————— A flag for the District of Columbia will help to remind the country that a large and loyal citizenship respects its governmental responsibilities even though deprived of the vote. Aviation 18 & new art, and will need many years to develop to a point ap- proaching perfection. In the mean- time there will necessarily be all kinds of criticism. —————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Popular Favor. Now London cheers the noble Prince And bids him welcome home. He finds the grandest greeting since He started forth to coam. He never figured in base ball Nor swam the Channel rough. He seems to have no views at all On evolution stuff, Or any other thing that makes For oratoric skill; And yet the mighty cheering wakes ‘The welkin to a thrill. Some men must hustle for applause And tofl with volce or fist; And others get three cheers because They genially exist. Jud Tunkins says whether you agree with a sclentist or not, you've got to admire him for knowing what some of those long words mean. Mushroomination. Appearances mislead, we know. Avold, if you're a wise 'un, The mushroom with the gaudiest show. It's likellest to be pizen. Justifiable Buspicion. “You see a great deal in print that you can’t believe.” “I do,” agreed Uncle Bill Bottletop. “'Specially what's printed on the label of a fancy-looking bottle.” Immunity. A gay Eskimo 'neath the long starry glow ‘Was warbling in innocent gles, “I'm used, don’t you know, to the ice and the snow, So your coal strikes mean nothing to me.” “Dar ain’ no satistaction in playin’ said Uncle Eben. “You either wishes you hadn’t bet at all or dat you had bet a wholg IQ more." S TAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. One of the most perniclous forms of letter-writing is the so-called “chain prayer. Under the guise of hollness, this misgulded form of composition usually involves the grossest superstition. The unknown correspondent fn- closes a bit of a prayer, with the re- quest that it be copied and sent to “nine friends,” on pajg of bad luck, and with a promise of’blessing if the request is complied with. Each of the nine friends, of course, is given similar instructions, so that the chain becomes endless. No doubt such “prayers,” begun years ago, are still rambling around the world, bring- ing doubt and dismay into thousands of otherwise Christian homes. The latest form of this evil to strike ‘Washington has been received by sev- eral prominent young men. Probably it was begun ae a joke, but on the face of it has been around the world once, and aims to make the circum- navigation twice more. Japan, the north countries, England and America are represented in this particular chain—on the surface, at least—and now it is here in Washing- ton. At the foot of the list of names is the following: “Copy this and send to nine people to whom you wish good luck. The chain was started and should go around the world three times. Do not break the chain, for whoever does this will have bad luck. Do it within four hours and count nine days and you will have some good luck. With suc- cess to you, let's go ‘sailing through’ 1925 * K X ¥ Every such letter ought to end up in the waste basket, but very few of them do. Most people choose to re gard them as a joke, vet scrupulous- ly follow the instructions. Why? The reason is that back in the minds of each and every one of us les an ancient past. Although we stand at the very summit of human achievement In this year of our Lord 1925, we trail more than “clouds of glory” behind us. In the huge past of each one of us is a reservoir, a sinking fund, as it were, of superstition, which gathered about our ancestors when little was known, but much imagined. Our imaginations, indeed, are older than our wills. Coue was right. When he told us that it was the imagination, and not the will, that generally ruled us for good or evil he was nearer cor rect than many eminent writers upon the “power of the wlil.” The will {s mighty—if it is—but the fmagination is mightier. When our savage ancestors, whether descended from monkeys or not, huddled in their caves or other crude places of dwell- ing they had as keen an imagination as we have. N Perhaps we have somewhat refined upon him in the use of our imagina- tions, but the basfc structure was the same. The essential quality of the imagination, in some respects, is what distinguishes men from the animals— the other animals, if you prefer. Our cavemen predecessors imagined all sorts of things—and we are doing it yet. Out beyond his hiding place he knew nothing positively, so he dream ed much. Mankind was made that way in the beginning and remains that way today. The history of superstition is but tracing of the agile working of men’ imagination in situations in which they knew little. The last thing a man will do is to confess his ignor- ance. Anything but that! So early man preyed upon the cre. dulity of his fellows. The battle of mind against matter began away back yonder. Nor did mind then always fol- low the high paths that reach upward to the stars any more than it always traces the same glorious road today. Some of the clever looked upward, some led downward, with men scram- biing after them. Thus arose our great and our little ways of thinking, our high-minded religions and our grossest superstitions. * X ¥ ¥ The “prayer chain” is one of the oldest forms of this linking of the 1ight to the dark, the chaining of in- telligence to all those dark and un- wholesome fears that beset our an- cestors, The point is that those fears are with us yet. In our electric-lit homes, surrounded by police protection, liv- ing though we do in the great Capital City of our great civilization, we still fear, In some sense, the unknown. We regard the so-called “chain” as a joke, vet follow out the instructions. We find it easier to relieve our minds of the threat by passing it along to nine others than by the simple ex- pedient of plunging the whole thing into the waste basket. In similar manner, thousands of persons daily involve themselves in other superstitions. One of the most intelligent men I have ever known religlously, as we say, adheres to the “tapping wood” superstition. If he speaks of his health, fmmedi- ately he “taps wood.” Theoretically he knows it to be “bunk,” but actually he follows it to the letter. He realizes he is following in the path of the ““taboo” and making a motion to avert the evil power. The evil power of what? The anclent Romans believed that thera was some sort of evil nature in herent in many things, just seemed to be & beneficer other They calle Numen.” Our Christian idea of a great Father who tenderly cares for all His crea tures, even to the little sparrow been unable to blot out from ns’ this inner fear of the evil nature resident in_the world. Whence we have our “devil." The mere invoking of & curse held powerful sway for centuries. Even today one would scarcely court belng the ‘subject of a healthy, vigorous “curse.” This fdea of something evil. which Wwe must offset, is at the basis of all our everyday superstitions, such as that of the breaking mirror, walking under a ladder, seeing black cat cross path, picking up a pin, etc.. etc Every vocation in life has its pet superstitions. Fach superstition was begun uccidently, in all probability, just as one of our successful air pilots wears the same unwashed shirt in each of his aerial races. Once started, the thing grows by its v momentum, forming a sort of ‘hain” down through the ages. It is passed on from one to another, and whoever hears it thereafter comes un- der fts sw. Good luck—bad luck. The two are indissolubly linked. The unknown past threatens us at one end, and the equally unknown future balefully glares at us from the other. The high preterisions of men are mocked and the firm faith of our holy men cast If ever is a supreme oppor- tunity for a modern man to assert h God-given Intelligence and stand firmly in the paths of such wisdom as he possesses, it is when he receives a “chain letter. Let him throw the thing iInto the aste basket and put bis faith in his God of Light rather than fear th forces of darkne: Only thus can he live up to those great line I am the master of my fate I am the captain of my eouil WHY ITALY SUPPORTS LOCARNO BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. The decision of Italy to adhere to the Locarno agreement, and thus to become one of the g Franco-German security 5 been too promptly hailed on this side of the Atlantic ing an clusively pacifi political circumstance. Italy's adhesion is, however, mainly based not upon any profound interest of the Italians | in French security, but rather upon the fact that signing the agreement gives Italy a considerable position, while failing to sign it would lead to isolation. In the vernacular of our national card game, the Italian course signifies a willingness to “sit in and take cards.” Ttalian intérests are neither identi- cal with French nor in the main irreconcilable with German. On the contrary a German-Italian combina- tion would not be impossible, save for a single circumstance, namely, Austria. The Italians must oppose the unlon of Austria with Germany, because it would at one time threaten their own positiun both in the Tyrol and at Trieste. In the Tyrol Italy has taken a quarter of a million of German-speaking people in order to carry her frontier to the crests of the Alps, while Trieste remains the natural Adrfatic port of the Danube valley. * X % ¥ Tt Austria were joined to Germany, then the German advance southward would inevitably be resumed; Ger- many and Hungary would in the na- ture of things be united in alliance. Bulgaria, in turn, would adhere to this combination and Italy would find herself shut out of the Danube region in which she hopes to exercise both political and economic influence. Thus Itallan policy tends rather to join with that of Czechoslovakia in oppos- ing the Austrian absorption, and, since, Czech policy and French are {dentlcal, Italy so far stands with France. On the other hand, Italy profound- 1y resents the French influence both at Prague and in Bucharest and Bel- grade, and seeks to destroy the pres- ent dependence of the Little Entente upon Paris. Again, Italy has no earthly interest in Poland and would naturally support German claims against Polish in the matter of Danzig, the Polish Corridor and Up- per Silesia, since Poland is the ally of France. Not to perceive the fun- damental hostility between Rome and Paris is to overlook one of the con- tinulng factors of the post-war Europe. * k Xk ¥ ‘his hostility has its foundations 81’&9 in a clash of national feelings and of national interests. The Itallans resent the French position in Europe, ‘which they regard as partly, at least, held at their expense. They regard themselves as an equal and as an eventual superior of France in num- bers and strength. But even more acutely the Itallans resent the posi- tion of the French in North Africa, where Tunis, Algeria and Morocco seem to the Itallans Roman colonies which should have fallen to the estate of the Italian heir to Rome. Because France took Tunis, Italy Joined the Triple Alliance. Tunis still remains a very sore point, since it is a natural fleld for Italian immigration, but French laws both restrict thi: immigration and alm at the transfor- mation of the Italian immigrants into French citizens. Although Italy has acquired Tripoli, it is no counterbal- ance economically, politically or stra- tegically to Tunis and Algeria. Ac- cordingly Italy would be very glad to support Germany in the Polish mat- ter in return for German support in the Mediterranean, but finds herself condemned to stand with Frauce ex-| ted with | against in the matter of Austria. Germany e Again, while Ttaly sympathizes pro- foundly with all British endeavor to curb French influence and prevent French supremacy on the continent, Italy looks with almost as much bit- terness upon British as French power in the Mediterranean and resents Brit- fsh possession of Malta even more acutely than French occupation of Tunis. Above all. Italy passionately resents the British support of the Greek, who. economically and politi- cally, bars the way to Italian expan- sion in the Near East. Ttaly would then very naturally join with Germany in supporting Turkey agalnst Britain and against Greece in the Near East, preciely as she would join Britain and Germany in blocking France on the continent, but she is condemned in the nature of things to stand with France in the matter of the Austrian unlon. She is vitally con- cerned in_preventing Germany from crushing France because such a tri- umph could only be a prelude to the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia as well as Austria, the re-creation of Mitteleuropa and the death knell to all Ttallan aspirations in the Balkans and the Near East. B On the other hand, she needs Ger- man support, as weil as British, to engineer the restriction of French in- fluence in Central Europe. The Italian play is, then, quite obviously to ex. ploit the rivalries of RBritain and France and Germany against each other and in accordance with her own interests. She desires to become the deciding force of the continent, to hold the balance of power as petween France and Germany, but quite pat- she cannot afford to be left out of S0 important an arrangement as that now being sketched at Locarno. To clear his hands for the larger European game Mussolinl has already very clearly made peace with Jugo- slavia. As long as France could auto- matically mobilize the Jugoslav army on the Italian frontier, Italy was abso- lutely restricted in her operations against France. To freé her hand of this restraint Ttalv had to abandon her hostility to Slav aspirations in the Adriatic, she had to accept the fact of a strong new Slav state on her boundarfes. But she has done this, ‘while the reconcfliation of the Croat and the Serb seems to have cleared the domestic obstacles to Jugoslav unity and strength. * % %K X Now with great ambitions, clearly defined objectives which are only in part identical with the interests of any other power, Italy is joining in he Locarno decisions. Quite as much &s Germany she is the unknown fac- tor in the future, and quite as much as Germany she has aspirations which can only be realized as a detail in pro- found modifications of existing condi- tions. Thus her adherence to the Locarno pact cannot safely be set down to & mere readiness to join in the guarantee of peace based on the status quo. Like Germany, Italy de- sires to break French supremacy on the continent and destroy French in- fluence in Central Europe, but in do- ing this she has to avold any sub- stitution of German, she must get France out of Prague without getting Germany into Vienna or Prague. Italy, then, has to play the most complicated, difficult and outwardly bewildering gamo of any of the great powers in cotemporary Europe. And in following her play it is essential always to perceive that her ends are never identical with any other nation, although there may be momentary similarities or temporary advantage in taking one side against the other. [{ 19382 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1925. THIS AND THAT THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover. “Tell s hot. D4 you ever wonder why? But not all hells are hot. Among the pre-Christian Scandinavians hell was incased in snow and eternal ice. To the Norseman blue with cold, a hot hell sounded too pleasant to be hell at all. According to a story centuries old, a missionary to the heathen north- men preached & hell-fire sermon. ‘Now of course,’ said one of the cold ones, ‘we all want to go to that nice warm place you speak of. But tell us, do we have to be mean and kill folks and make a lot of trouble before we can g0 " * ¥ * No, the foregoing paragraph is not quoted from a treatise on theology, but is the opening paragraph of a book on economic geography—a sub- ject which too often calls out deadly dull books. In the case of Prof. J. Russell Smith's “North America,’” this good start -is characteristic of the style and interest of the entire book The relevance of the temperature of the lower regions to a study of our continent is promptly disclosed. Hell has been pictured as a hot place be. cause the Old Testament Hebrew lived on the edge of the desert, and to be lost in the desert and to suffer from heat and thirst was to him the most terrible thing imaginable. Marf's con ceptions are shaped by the place, the environment with which he is famil- far—the earth or the part of the earth in which he lives. This generalization leads up to the question: “How does the continent of North America in fluence man as he makes living and lives his life upon {t?" Prof. Smith's book s the astonishingly full and graphic answer to this question. * %k * Prof. Smith has not simply drawn on the stores of printed material, but has supplemented his studies by ex tensive travel and personal inquir The result is a fat volume, well writ- profusely illustrated, well ar ranged and packed full of attested ine on the economic geography the United States, but of not ¢ Canada, Newfoundiand, the V dies, Mexico and Central America. In discussing what it is that makes America fit to be the home of a great people he discounts the conventional explanation that the United gained her position in the world b cause she had the good luck to be oc- cupled by *“a people of amazing in- herent qualities,” who had the wisdom to adopt a republican form of govern- ment. He holds that the count history s to be explained in large large part, in term of fundamentals’—re- climate and location and ac- In working out this thesis he ikes the reader on a tour of the vari- ctions of the continent and gives him an exhaustive account of the re. sources and economic development of :h of them, together with sufficient torical and political exposition to complete the picture. In the course of the journey the reader finds ac- counts of things big and little, old and as clipper ships, the . abandoned farms of w England, the boll weevil, co-op- tive che aking, the tourist in- | dustry of Florida, the use of poison gas to exterminate prairie dogs and the motion picture industry of Holly- wood. The author tells us why green orn grown in Maine is better suited for canning than that of llinois, why half of the working people of Troy make collars and cuffs, why the larg- est scale factory is at St. Johnsbury and why there are fewer people in the neighborhood of Jamestown than there were in 1820, * ¥ ok % in 1l The last volume of the fourpart novel, “The Peasants,” by the Polish winner of the Nobel prize, Ladislas Reymont. has recently appeared under the title “Summer.” The same peasant characters appear as in the three previous volumes, with the addition of others. The old peasant Boryna, one of the mos sperous of his com munity, who {n “Spring” had become bedridden and was at the mercy of his_unfaithful second wife and his property-hungry grown children, dies at the beginning of “Summer.” The ceremonies and lamentations attending his funeral give a good idea of Polish peasant customs. Yagna, the widow of Boryna, becomes the chief charac- ter in this volume and the hatred and spite of the community toward her make her life a tragedy. The nar- rowly circumseribed life of the peas- ants, wherein the struggle for exist- ence is so sharp that kindliness and generosity can rarely be afforded, is made as vivid in this as in the former volumes. The four together make a great epic of the soil. * k x % A jungle thriller, and all true. is Willlam Beebe's “Jungle Days.” The country described is the same stretch of jungle in Guiana as in “Jungle Nights” and “Jungle Peace.” The mystery of the animal and plant life of the jungle impresses Mr. Beebe, as it does every one who lives for a time in the midst of it. At times every foot of the forest seems alive with the movement of animals small and large and the whispering of vegetation. The rule of the jungle is not “Live and let live” but “Devour or be devoured,” and =0 from the lion to the ant all life makes war on other life. Snakes, spiders, lizards, crabs, bugs and beetles of all sorts, as well a8 myriads of mon- keys, and some of the larger animals, swarm through Mr. Beebe's pages as they do in the jungle itself. There a chapter about his jungle work table, on which he studies under the micro- scope the forms of life about which he writes. Another chapter is on the falling leaves, another on the thousand- year life cycie of the mangrove tree, and another called “The Life of Death,” which tells about the wonder- ful adaptations of plant and animal life to environment and their way of living on the dead. The chapter “Old Time People,” develops a theory of human ancestry which would not please the fundamentalists. * ok % X In “The Matriarch” G. B. Stern wrote a big family novel; in “Thun- derstorm” she has taken a smaller and lighter theme. Johnny Morgan, a writer; Theo, his wife; Elizabeth, his cousin, and Capt. Locke, a pen- sioned naval officer, are all in Italy together, at La Collina, above the town of Santa Nucia, on the Mediter- ranean. The story turns on an in- trigue of Elizabeth and Capt. Locke to keep the Morgans in Italy when it is decidedly to their advantage to return to England. So the thun- derstorm brews and breaks and a furious quarrel insues, which is set- tled, without any of the four know- ing it, by Capt. Locke's old maid sis- ter Sophia. It is a story of fun and extravaganza. * ok ok % A book which supplements Arthur Norway's book is “The Blackmore by F. J. Snell. “From Ex- moor to Barnstaple, and from Lynton to Tiverton, he (Blackmore) relgns su- preme—and naturally, for this was his homeland ” Through this book we visit all the places of “Lorna Doone'— Old Blundell's School at Tiverton, where John Ridd went to school; Dul- verton, where Master Reuben Hucka- back kept a draper’s shop; the Doone Valley and Bagworthy Forest, the fastnesses of the lawless Doones, and Oare Church, where John Ridd stole the lead from the porch and where the brute Carner Doone shot Lorna on her bridal morn. Even though Mr. Snell seems to think that Blackmore has somewhat exaggerated the roman- tic wildness of the Exmoor. region, still it is sufficiently beautiful, and we are at liberty to embellish it fur- ther by imagination, as Blackmore Q. What did the names Stmon and Peter mean?—C. W. H. A. Some authorities say that Simon meant a movable stone, while Peter meant immovable rock. Q. Will the breath of the spreading viper or puffing adder kill a person 20 feet away?—S. C. A. Contrary to thé superstition re- garding this reptile, the spreading viper is harmless. It is not poisonous and the teeth are too short to inflict a wound in case the snake did strike at a person. One of the peculiar habits of this snake is that of felening death, which it accomplishes by rolling over on its back. When turned over it im mediately resumes this absurd posi- tion. | Q. What s the name of the Instru- | ment used to detect the speed of Navy craft?>—W. H. R A. The general term Is underwater log. The Forbes log is the one in use at the present time Q. Can rubber be hardened after it has been melted?—E. L. I, A. The Bureau of Standards says that when rubber is melted it is changed both chemically and physi- cally. It cannot be hardened. Q. Who sald that want of sense is the father of crime?—. H. D, A. La Bruyere, in “The Cha or Manners of the P'resent Age, II, Ch. 11), rays, “If poverty is the | mother of crimes, want of sense is the father."” Q. What is Origenism?—N. R. A. It is the system of religious and philosophical doctrine held by Origen of Alexandria, who taught a threefold sense of the Scriptures: Literal, moral and mystical; the pre.existence of hu- man souls; and the probable restora- tion of all fallen being: Q. What is meant b “neither hay nor g 2 —W. T. A, This term is used to “neither one thing nor another"; of things spoiled in the making. Q. What classes of foreigners com- the expression ing to this countr: re considered non-immigrant?—J. G. C. A. Officlals, visitors, In-transits, resident in-transits, seamen and traders under treaties are “non-immi- grant” aliens. They are at all times admissible to the United States with- out regard to the quota limitations. Q. When will the fair at Toronto, Canada, open J. G. 8. A. The Toronto fair will ba held between November 13 and 21, 1825, in | the Royal Coliseum, Toronto, Canada It is described as being the biggest live stock and agricultural show in the world. Q. What is the si7 and of Rigel?—R. J. R. A. The al Observator; magnitude of Betelgeu: fes from | 0.5 to 1.1; that is, from one-seventh to one-twelfth as bright as Sirius. The magnitude of Rigel is 0.34, about one- sixth as bright as Sirius. The diam ters of very few stars have been mo ured; that of Betelgeuse is estim to be about 200,000,000 miles an Sirfus perha; ,000,000 mi The distance of rius is approximately 50 trillion miles: of Betelgeuse, 1,000 trillion miles. Of Rigel can only be stated that it is probably much more distant than Betelgeuse, | of Betelgeuse says the Q. What are some of the character- | istics and uses of palm ofl7—W. N. N A. Palm oil is obtained from the BY PAUL V. Europe has made a concrete ad-) vance toward peace between certain nations, if the news from the Locarno conference be confirmed by the Par- liaments of the respective nations concerned. Peace pacts guaranteeing the Rhine boundary of Germany and guaranteeing that Germany will not invade France or Belgium, are ac-| cepted by those three nations, while | England and Italy stand as sureties for the fulfillment of the agreement There is no settlement of German: eastern boundary protecting Poland and Czechoslovakia. France becomes | entitled to protect her allies, Poland and Czechoslovakia, against aggres- sion of either Germany or Russia, but without the recognized right to march fes across German territory to right which, it {s alleged, she would base upon the precedent of Germany's invasion of Belgium. * ok ko Great Britain defeated agreement to the proctocol which was presented to the League of Nations last Win- ter to accomplish arbitration between all nations agreeing thereto. This week the same British leaders ear-| nestly led the efforts to bring about just such an agreement between in- Qividual nations. The proctocol which was rejected last March would have bound the members of the League of Nations to submit all their iniernational dis- putes to the league, which, in turn, would submit questions of interna- tional law to the Permanent Court of International Justice, sitting at The Hague, and the main questions to a | board of arbitration. All member n tions then would be obliged to “u economic, financial and military pres- | sure” to bear upon the “aggressor | nation” which refused to abide by the | edict of the board of arbitration, or which failed to respect an armistice ordered by the League of Nations Council pending inquiries into the Justice of the disputes. This plan included outsiders as well as member nations, so that in case a non-member nation came into dispute with a member of the league, the non- member would be invited to take upon itself all the obligations of a league member, or be treated as an ‘“ag- gressor,” regardless of the merits of the original differences, with the pen- alty of having all member nations of the league banded together to exer- cise “economic, financial and military pressure” against the ‘“‘aggressor. Whether the outside natlon so willed or mot, it faced—at least theoretically —a combination of nations against it. and might have to fight the world single-handed. The protocol was pre- sented to the council by Mr. Benes, premier of Czechoslovakia, but it was acknowledged as the work of both Czechoslovakla and France. Great Britain balked against su,- porting it, and the result was an in- definite postponement of its considera- tion, apparently with the view to ar- riving first at specific agreements, such as the ones now achieved at Locarno, but British opposition to the protocol last March was based almost wholly upon the fact that the United States was_not a member of the League of Natlons, and that, there- fore, such an agreement between members would not be adequate to in- sure the peace of the world—as if the peace of the world had ever been Jeopardized by America! * X Kk History recalls that the United States defled France in 1798, when she undertook to force this country into her war against England; that our Navy fought Moroccan pirates and established the freedom of the Mediterranean by conquering the marauders to whom all other nations were paying tribute; that we fought England in 1812 to establish the freedom of the seas; that we fought Mexico to uphold Texas against an usurper’s tyranny; that when Eng- land undertook to interfere in our domestic troubles we demanded repa- ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. | and because of its |its great libraries When f palm. sh it is of an tint, sweetish taste and v odor. It has the consist ter, for which it i3 some! and, like butte asily becomes rancid, It is used in candle and soapmaking pl nt odor 1t is also used as a scent In toilet prepars tions. mes Q. What was the original sale valia of Millet's “The Angelus?’—M. D. M A. This represent ing two pe © Angeluy in the evening twilig paintad in 1859. Millet sold for $160. After passin rious hands Q. What was Greek fire?—T. T. T, A. Tt was an Incendiary composition 4 used by the Byzar Greeks. It ia supposed to have been made of as- phalt, saltpeter and sulphur. Tt would burn on and under wate Q. What s Canopic vase? B. A. A Canopic vas usually of terra-c top in the form is a conical vase, a closed with a bhuman_head, used in anclent hold tha viscera of embalmed | The term s also applie vase of similag type found in an tombs Q. Was Ruba W a comedian like Ni A. Rube Wadde sort of funmake pitcher. Q. Is the inst i trance hall of the ne 1d. ing in Washington ti a cloek?—( ¢ Q1= the T nite P.A. M Wheat 1 tent in ever countries in the world 1 enough wheat to fee ple. Russia, the Dan United Australia and In for sale. The [ many, the Nether Belgium, ltaly, must import u « the wheat flo ites, the Arger Q. Which hol point nall or a lot —J. R K. The tory says goneral wa drives easier long-tapered 1 (The burcau Washington, D. (., is prepared to oive you accurate and authoritative mation_on_any question of fact t you ask. It has at hand th alleled resources of the Feder ernment with its hundreds of I tories, its thou specialis of informatio it It ix a un of information in the fullest sen the word. As an institution it precedented. The services purely its readers. There is no cost e 2 conts in stamps, which should be in closed for reply. Address star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Has Kin. dircctor, Twenty-first streets northwest, Washington, D. C BACKGROUND OF EV . COLLINS. under pretense debts, set M usurped throne fes 1 der and warne to recall their defense of the ) we sougk of dictation in the of the nation we delivered Cuba fro; Spain, without s part reparatior war, but have lion$ for {h tion, withov proiit; that we war England at v their occupatior countries, ac do but to interferg wi or Central A independence « we stand as pr tions of th as their we have led i1 Pan-American 1 tions of tiie hem an equal footing w tual = conference without one hirt of 1 United States « : h tl Seventy-five the ports of clusiv, Shoguns, _thereby and enabling their g within half a cent United States, not eq share Great Rrit its subsequent t of the World T\ ed thousands of men ar t the utonomy and de- t we refused compe share in territory the vi might mocra tion or achieved the iny by League o6f Nations the protocol enforeing upc members the principle of arbitration in place of war universally nted. Eng her dominions, together with 1 fuse to obligate themselves such a protocol, although will serve as a “balance of power ing Germany, France and B observe their peaceful ng * * % In Monsieur RBriand's Mr. Chamberlain’s apology for F non-support of the protocol last Mar he sald: ‘“The Britlsh document (read by Mr, Chamberlain) says, ‘Have you reflected that the league, owing to its ve stitution, has not at its dispo: the forcible means which it mixt sire? Remember that the absence of a great nation like the United States Iy, re- under an constitutes a weakening of its au. thority.' " Monsfeur Briand jolned with Mr, Chamberlain's regret'that the aloofness of the United States weakened the power of the Buropean league, and the French premicr suggested that it the league would assert its own power it would compel other natlons—meaning the United States—to join it under penalty of the united pressure of mem-~ ber natfons—"economic” (tariffs and custom regulations) “financial” (re- pudiation, perhaps, of the billions loan- ed by the outside natior to the mem- ber nations), and “military” (united armies and navles of the league mem- bers against the “aggressor” outsider.) Thus, by & supersovernment, sup- ported by all the resources of mem- ber nations, the “peace of the world will be maintained.” There have been ? earlier efforts along similar the days of Alexander, the Caes Charlemagne and Napoleon. ~But ration in our Alabama claims: that - of France and Austria, will govern the supergovernment? (Copsright, 1985, by Faul V. Collinsd