Evening Star Newspaper, December 19, 1925, Page 6

T8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. ..December 19, 1925 THEODORE W. NOYES. . ..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company l|\|ld’n;_‘ss OIH;\‘M“ s S 'l“l‘n) East 49nd St. Towar . Building 14 Rexent St.. London, ‘England, The Evening Star, with the Sunday morn Sng edition, is delivered by car within the city at’ 60 cents per month: di )g onlr. 43 cents per month: Sunday_only, 20 cents per montth, . Orders may, be sent by mail or Telephone Main 5000, Lollection is made by rrier at the end of each month, 11th St Yew, York Offie: Chicago Office European Office Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday. .. 1 yr.. $0.00: 1 mo., 78 Daily ‘ony nday: - -1 35 85:00: 1 mos 80e Sinday"ohly 170 35:00: 1 mo 3a¢ All Other States and Canada. Daily and Sund yr. $12.00: 1 mo., $1.00 Sanday only 1yr, $4.00: 1mol 35¢ Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Associated Press is exclusively entitled 10 the \l»én for republication of all news dis- IVIV“‘vfu credited to it (;lr ot ;\)Lgrl"‘\:lc\:f rx;‘wflp i i this baper and alse ih ahes sl :l;‘l rights of publication also reserved published herein of special dispatches herein ar Tax Reduction Speed. Within two weeks from its first consideration by the House of Repre- sentatives the tax reduction bill has been passed and is now on its way 10 the Senate, a record in peace-time vevenue legislation. So thoroughly nd well had the preliminary com- mittee work been done that the weasure, supported of course by the Itepublican majority of the House and, save in certain respects, sup- ported also by the Democratic minor- ity, was subjected to only slight amendments, and tho: chiefly of phraseology, proposed by the commit- tee itself for the perfection of the language to insure definition. At the close of the proceedings a formal mo- tion to recommit with instructions 1o increase the surtax and inheritance rates was defeated by an almost strict party vote. On final passage the vote was 390 to Z5. Both parties, as represented in the Iiouse, want substantial tax reduc- tion. If there is any difference on the question it is as to the surtaxes. The Democrats want a larger portion of the tax burden placed upon those of larger means and the smaller tax paver given the benefit of the greater part of the reduction. On some other matters there are differences in par- tisan judgment. But on the whole there has been a meeting of minds, and the result is a tax reduction amounting in the aggregate to $ 000,000, relieving all classes grades of taxpayers. Tt is hoped that final action may be had before March 15. The Senate certainly can accomplish this if it concentrates upon this task, which is the most important on the con- xressional calendar at this session. While it is true that the World Court protocol now holds the boards there as the unfinished business of the open executive sesslon—which means that this subject cannot be displaced save by a vote to that effect—the com- mittee work on the tax bill can pro- ceed and the measure prepared for the earliest possible consideration. It has been intimated by the Presi- dent that the process of economy in and +dministration has practically reached its limit. It is possible, therefore, that this is the last of a series of large reductions of taxes. Other re- visions doubtless will come from time to time as adjustments are required in the tax bill, perhaps if large pay- ments on foreign debt accounts are received, permitting material pay- ments on the public debt and therek Justifying further tax revision. This latter contingency, however, is not to be reckoned upon as a likely prospect. With both parties anxious to ad- vance the tax reduction measure as a purely political move in response to the overwhelming public demand for a lightening of the tax burden, the pas- sage of this bill through jts first stages in record time is not so strik- ing a phenomenon of bi-partisanship s it might at first appear. the difference between the two par- ties on the score of surtaxes and in- heritance taxes, there is no issue be- tween them in this matter of lowel ing the rates in general and reduc- | 18 the total of revenue derived from axation on prosperity and busines — e The Mitchell verdict was one the easiest subjects the forecaster ever had to deal with. == ———— The Capital and Its Climate. the cou <e of the debate in the Senate vesterday on the bill to make next Saturday legal holiday in the District, complaint was made that are 100 many such stoppages 1blic and it It of the intol- ble conditions in some of the Gov- ernment departments, owing to housing. it has been found during the heated term on occasions to dismiss the en ployes for portions of the afternoon. It ted that the remedy for that situation is “to move the Capital into a decent climate.” This question of the of Washington heen often mooted in discussions regarding the Federal administration. there of y busines: was marked ti t as a res adequate necess i some was thereupon sugge: climate has A good many vears 4go the topic of the removal of the Capital was actively pressed from time to time. There once was a veri- table organization with that purpose in and conventions actually were held to forward the movement transfer of the seat of Gov- The chief promoter of the e was in favor of the shift from Washington to St. Louis. The idea of transferring the Capi- tal from Washington to St. Louis as . more agreeable Summer seat of Government has its ludicrous aspect. In the days of the Capital-moving agitation the climate was never cited as a reason for the proposed change. The argument was based wholly on view, for a ernment enterpr geographical ground that Wash- ington is too far away from the cen- ter of population. But when the Capital movers met and seriously dis- cussed the quegtion it was found that other cities than St. Louis were aspir- Despite | ants, and confusion rapidly developed in the ranks of the proponents of the change. They could not agree upon any one point. Just so would it be impossible to settle upon any specific location for the Capital on the score of a more clement climate. To shift the seat of Government to secure a continuously, uniformly and dependably bland and moderate range of temperature in one particular point would be a prac- tical impossibility. To move it about according to the season would be one }(\f the biggest jobs this country has ever undertaken. A peripatetic seat of Government, shifting with the sun {and the winds and the seasonal changes, would, of course, be an in- teresting spectacle but an extremely costly one. It was proposed yesterday to have a Capital in the mourtains in Sum- {mer and in Florida in Winter. This was promptly recognized as a bit of { publicity for the Peninsula State. But it has its parallel in the flivver mi- sration that has been in progress for | several years, in the course of which a large percentage of the American people have made gasoline tours with a tremendous total mileage. Washington is not concerned over the possibility of Capital moving. It was indeed never really disturbed by the most serlous suggestions along that line. Not everf in the days of Reavis, the archmover of all, who, about fifty-five years ago, was per- stent in his advocacy of a transfer, {did the District of Columbia worry jover a possible desertion by Uncle Sam. It is confident of standing up well in any comparison on the score nate, and it respectfully urges that the most practical and econom- {ical and assured means of correct- ing the condition which Senator Smoot yesterday described in the | Government departments in Mid- summer is to erect more and better buildings for Government housing and thereby make the Federal ad- ministrative establishments here more definitely permanent. e Maintain Washington's Record. Washington's record for generous giving at Christmas time to the As- sociated Charities’ fourteen opportuni- ties is being maintained this year. More than $5,000 has already been subscribed. Approximately $13,000 is needed in all to give happiness and a small measure of comfort to the fourteen families on whose behalf the appeal has been made. Six days are now left for the re- maining amount to be given by Wash- ington residents, who have never {failed to heed this annual call. For fifteen years the Associated Charities has been making up a list of fourteen | selected cases for Christmas aid, and in all this time the public of Washing- ton has subscribed 100 per cent. Sixty-nine individuals will face the tuture with the grim lines of worry over finances removed from their faces; sixty-nine individuals will bene- fit from subscription of this small amount, and sixty-nine individuals will bless the givers for their gen- erosity in enabling them to keep life together. Each one of the fourteen opportu- nities has been carefully investigated. The history of the family is known and the amounts needed to aid them to “carry on” have been computed. In most cases it is a very small amount. Take, for instance, opportunity No. 2, with a widow supporting six children under 15 and only $14 a week needed: or No. 14, where the plight of| two old people, not long for this world, is shown. In this case only $10 a week is desired. Washington's 100 per cent record s in no danger of being broken this year. [Each day brings the total nearer the goal and relief to those | lin dire need. When the campaign for | Christmas, 1925, has been officially | marked “closed,” $12,960 will have been subscribed by the public of the National Capital. There can be no! other end to the annual appeal for the fourteen opportunities. | ———— | Owing to the absence of Magnus | | Johnson, it is expected that the cow- ! milking contest will not be as promi- nent a feature as formerly in Wash- ington's social life, o It is stated that Mitchell now is in a position to take orders from a cor- | poral. Imagine the embarrassment of the corporal! = ———— _ | | It has become impossible to nlN'hl(’; | offhand whether a “good mixer” is a | commercial salesman or a prohibi- | | a tion agent. e The price of soft coal has advanced | to an unusual figure. This will make | |it easier for anthracite to compete { when the strike is settled. \ ; i i e e | The Elongated Boom State. | The State of Florida, bountifully gifted by nature, is at the same time by its configuration handicapped in | full enjoyment of the boom which it lis now experiencing. Roughly speak- |ing, the State is a great right angle, with each arm nearly 400 miles in |length. The distance from the Florida- | Georgia boundary corner by air line to | Key West is more than half as great las that from the same point to New York. From the extreme northwest- ern corner to Key West in 600 miles I by air line. These distances are in themselves |the cause of difficulty in transporta- tion, but it is the peculiar nature of the peninsula which constitutes the greater body of the State that imposes the most serious handicap. There is room, of course, for numerous trans- portation lines, but the boom has come faster than the railroad development, and so just now with a great inflow of population and a tremendous ac- tivity of construction the question of raliway transport has become ex- tremely serious. An absolute embargo has been placed on all express shipments into Florida, and a similar ban is declared on outward bound shipments of citrus | truit and fish. It is expected, however, that the latter embargo on perishables {will be lifted. These embargoes are THE EVENING § marked on the east coast. Certain frelght embargoes in existence for some time have so hampered ship- ments of building materials that water transport has been utilized, and in consequence the harbor facilities of the southern Florida ports have been congested. The express embargo on supplies has been brought about by a shifting from freight to express of goods formerly carried by the slower method, causing an express conges- tion fn turn. Additional railroad Mnes are being constructed, but work in that direc- tion is slower than the growth of the State in population. Were the State not so long and slim, with the zone of chief activity centered within a com- paratively small area at the tip of the peninsula, there would be much less difficulty. However, the spirit that is animating the Florida development is not likely to be checked by a mere geographical disability, and unless present measures bring relief doubt- less air transport will be resorted to as an expedient quite in keeping with the enterprise that is making Florida the wonder State of the Union. — December 26 2 Legal Holiday. A Jjoint resolution has been passed by Congress declaring December 2, 1925, one week from today, a legal holiday in the District of Columbia This enactment is to meet a special emergency. Christmas falls on Fri- day this vear, and the President, in the exercise of his executive author- ity, has already ordered the closing of the Government departments on Sat- urday, the 26th. With the stoppage of all public business on that day there is no occasion for the opening of the banks for the half day of Saturday. But the banks could mnot close for even that short period without an act of Congress declaring the day a legal holiday, for financial paper maturing on the 26th would be payable then. By this special act all such paper ma- tures on the 28th. Though the banks will all be closed on Saturday, there is no risk of loss or complication on this score. A similar special act was enacted in 1909 to declare the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lincoln, February 1 a legal holiday in the District, inas- much as although that date is a legal holiday in many of the States it has never been so declared here. The | passage of the bill, however, was ef- tected only on the day preceding, and owing to the lack of adequate notice there was much confusion. It is for- tunate that this situation has been handled in time this year through the passage of the necessary legislation a week in advance. In consequence of it Washington will enjoy a three-day holiday, from the close of business on Thursday, the 24th, until the morning | of Monday, December 28. —_— e The cost of living in the District of Columbia will have the benefit of a congressional investigation. Fol- lowing the investigation will arise the ancient and inevitable question, “What are you going to do about it? —————————— According to Will Hays, trade fol- lows the fllms as well as the flas. The American motion picture star assumes a patriotic in addition to an artistic responsibility. —————————— Every effort is being made to check the flow of so-called Christmas cheer. Nevertheless, the same old New Year resolutions will be in order for Jan- uary 1. ———o— Canada is favoring light wines and beer, thus drawing a geographical line across the North American con- tinent to separate the wets and the Idrys. ——e—. France mentions the possibility of a “dictator” rather confidently, in spite of the fact that there is no available talent in sight. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. - The Sparrows. Come on into the country Where youll have vyour little chance. Come out where the stars are gleam- ing, And the moonbeams softly glance. And the cat will prowl and search, But they'll never bring out the fire hose Just to drown you from your perch. have built humble, In a faith that was all complete; But even the trees are crowded As they stand in the busy street. You vour homes, so So, come on into the country, ‘Where the life is not the same, Where at least you can find a shelter And your chance to play the game. Discretion. “You never refer to the American eagle in your speeches.” “No,” replied Senator Sorghum. “Aviation has provoked so much con- troversy that I am afraid to mention anything that files.” Seeking Wisdom. The book agent stuff ‘Was an amiable bluff, But in all that he brought No sure lesson was taught That would bring coin enough To pay for the stuff. Jud Tunkins says a man with a million dollars can retire if he wants to, but financial uncertainties prob- ably will keep him lying awake o' nights. Severe Dealing. “How do you deal with bootleggers in Crimson Gulch?” “Severel, answered Cactus Joe. “We never pay 'em more than half of what they ask.” Christmas Eve Hero. The Christmas tree was blazing out, 'Mid laughter and applause. It took a fireman, bold and stout, To rescue Santa Claus. “A kind word is fine,” said Uncle compelled by the enormously heavy flow of travel, which has caused a seri- lous railroad congestion, particularly ] i Eben, “but don’t try to make it take de place of a kind action.™ | who had employed her. { wortn |[run away from the problem s TAR, WASHINGTON, D. ¢, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “She won't go back—she can't go back,” Mary kept repeating to her- self, bitterly, as she walked back to the hotel. ‘‘She won't go back—she can't go back. She, Mery Roque, had failed. The crack woman investigator had been floored at last! She has fallen down on her job with a bang. Ob- durate Maisie Ball had completely stumped petite Mary Roque, star-eyed Mary from Washington. Tripping along Ololkeye's side streets to the Hotel Lorton, Mary felt all the disappointment that comes to any suc- cessful person when they fail in what they have undertaken. Nothing that she had said had made any impression on Maisie. Her fa- mous smile had no charm for Maisie. The soft innocence of her voice pos- sessed no lure. Pictures of a heart- broken father had been met with jeers. She had left the girl sitting there in the dirty restaurant, drinking the dregs of her cold cup of coffee, while she, Mary Roque, had gone away to drink deep of the cup of disappoint- ment and failure. She was still drinking it. Being an aristocrat by nature, Mary had shrunk from the melodrama of suddenly confronting Col. Ball with his daughter. She had thought she could manage the affair in better fashion. And now she had failed! She felt sorry for her- self, and sorry for the kind old man She felt sorry for Maise. The Florida night had lost its charm. It was now 10 o'clock, Mary saw from a store clock. Three hours had gone by, and she had accomplished nothing. She sat down in a secluded corner of the park to think things ove The concert was finished, the park was deserted. Iven the hopeful George Roddick had gone. She had it almost to_herself. Mary was glad of it. She wanted to plan her next step. What a fool she had been to try to talk the girl around! How well we fool ourselves, she thought bitterly, when we want to! Never having seen the girl, Mary had reasoned that her persuasive smile and a bit of sob talk would bring her to term: The moment she had laid eves on Maisie she realized she had made a mistake, but was too proud to admit it even to herself. Now she was forced to. “I won't go back,” Maisie had told her. “You an’t—you can't go back,” Mary had said, with sudden conviction, and had left her. She wondered if she had given up too easi There wa st time in which to make another try of it, and, it that failed, to arrange an im- promptu meeting between Maisie and her father. No sooner had Mary thought of the scheme than she gave it up again. She dismissed it every time it crop- ped up. Others might do it, but not she! Mary Rogue would have nothing to do with it. She had a reputation for finesse in her work. Then she caught herself wondéring if success wasn't better than finesse. She said to_herself that it was not it. Mary Roque was Mary Roque. She would do it her way or not at all. “Then you fail, Mar: . said a small, still voice inside her. “You might as well go back home.” * k% % She grasped at the idea. She would she could Suddenly she realized she not solve! ‘was weary of Maisle Ball, tremen- dously tired of Florida. Back home the Christmas crowds were hurrying along F street. Dear old ¥ street! She seemed to see the automobiles, and the people, the old ladles trying to beat automobiles across the street, young girls displaying proudly their silk stockings, men walking, admiring. It came to Mary at last that she had no business ever undertaking such an adventure, after all. What had she to do with life in the raw? “Why, you—you are a fake inves- tigator, Mary!” she told herself, that inner self that hides away inside one, never seen, but undoubtedly there. “You had better run back home to mother, like a good little girl, and top trying te bluff the world.” It was a soothing idea. Brought up in cultured surroundings, Mary Roque, despite her unusual occupation, had dealt only with cultured people. Here, faced with just one person without real breeding, she was ready to quit. She had no fear of the word “quit.” Men shrink from being called “quit- ter,” but women do not mind the term at all, if it suits thelr purpose. “I'llI'll quit, then sald Mary, with vast relief. “I'll go back home, and close up my silly office, and settle down to life at home, where I belong."” She rose, in the shadows, and started for the hotel. She did not pass through the lobby, but took the same way in she had gone out. Col. Ball was still there, talking to the realtor. They had a big map spread out be- tween them. Mary ducked into her room, and sat down on the one straight-backed chair. She could leave on the midnight train for the North! What was Col. Ball to her, anyway? She would leave him no bill, she wouldn't accept a cent—— She seized a sheet of paper and wrote him a note: “Dear Col. Ball: “I have bungled the job of getting your daughter back to you, and so don’t feel that T ought to bluff you any longer. 1 am presenting you no bill for services rendered, because I do not feel that I have rendered any. “Your daughter is here. You can find her any evening at the Busy Bee Lunch. Drop in there about 8 p.m. and God bless you both. will be on my way back home when you discover this, so don't try to find me. *Please forgive me. I got beyond my depth. With best wishes, “MARY ROQUE.” She hastily sealed the letter, then tiptoed into the colon=l's room. across the hall. She placed the envelope on the dresser, where he could not fail to | see it, and tiptoed out again |, “I'm going home.” she whispered to | her reflection, as she got out of her fancy costume and into her traveling dress. “Back to Washington, where I belong. “And I'll walk F street with the best of them, and play the little lady of the home, which is what I am, at |heart. Don’t bluff yourself any long- er, Mary.” she told her image. And it smiled back at her, but there was a hurt look around the corners of that cupid mouth. “This is the quicket get-a-way Florida ever saw,” she grinned, as she walked down the staircase, small trav- eling bag held half-concealed at her side. She was going home! Before she stepped into the street, she peered into the lobby from behind a palm. The real estate man was orating to Col. Ball. She listened for a is no boom in Florida,” she beard him say. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS, “To the victor belong the spoils But when there is nothing left for the victor except “spoiled” territory, ruined cities and devastated homes, such as were typical of France after the World War, and the victor must advance her own ' funds for repairing the havoc | while the defeated enemy need only i to rekindle the fires in its own fa undamaged by bat- tories and mills, tle, there arises a question as to the | reality of triumph. Germany is boasting today of re- newed energy and unhampered pros- perity. Her mills and mercantile es- tablishments are working to the limit, and she is paving her agreed install- iments on the reparations, under the i | i | | i | { i | i i | Like the thunder rattle of a tropic sk Dawes plan. There is no unemploy ment reported in Germany, in spite of the fact that she had no special building enterprises to repair war's destruction. All her energy is put to construction of new wealth—not to re- placement of chaos. Germany is prosperous and bids fair to increase her prosperity as the years £o by. She is at peace With the world, because the allies in_their treaty of peace bound her to keep the peace. Thus the “penaity” her greatest blessing, as reported from Berlin. Furthermore, the experience— rather a novel one for militaristic Ger- many—that industry brings greater comfort than war, cannot fail to have a psychological effect upon the masses The hawk and the crow will threaten, | 4 (end to persuade the rising gener- ation. Clang, clang! the massive anvils ring; Clang, clang! a hundred hammers swing; The mighty blows still multiply— “lang, clang! Say, brothers of the dusky brow, What are your strong arms forging now?" Clang, clang!” There 1s no war coming to Germany while that “clang, clang” continues to echo and the mar! continues to jingle. * ok ok ok “Westward the Star of Empire takes its course,” and so across the Rhine rises imperialism—and panic. France is struggling with war in Syria and war in Algiers—and with increasing talk of utter collapse of her business. France, the victor in the greatest war of history! One political party is de- manding that a dictator should take over the reins of government and dis- band Parliament. Another party pa- rades the streets of Paris with banners calling for adherence to Soviet Com- munism. This week both parties plan- ned to march under the Arc de Tri- omphe, but the police forbade both | parades, lest they lead to revolution and violence. It “Peace hath her vic- torfes,” she also has her defeats. The opposition in the Chamber of Deputies has asked the government for the number of French killed in the Syrian War. The official report was 6,960. Since last July 1, the death loss of France In Syria numbers 861. How many have been sacrificed in the African War, still being waged with- out the dawn of peace, has not lately been reported. In both wars, France is fighting Islam, and today there are openly ex- pressed fears that Islam, world wide, may take up the fight. France's war minister, Painleve, confessed in the Chamber of Deputies, “There were painful incidents in Syria, in 1920, but out of patriotism we veiled them.” The Soclalists mock the word ‘“pa- triotism™ and declare that, not pa- triotism, but greed of empire, led to the hiding of the ‘“painful incidents” which, like the recent bombardment and massacre of Damscus, have been masked. 5 * The maintenance in the fields of her strong armies consumes more than the interest on her billions due the United States and England for World War loans. The attempts of her ministry to balance the budget by increasing taxes overthrew the minis- of defeat becomes | ter of finance, Loucheur, the persistence of the succe: M. Doumer, as minister of finance in the Briand cabinet in the same lines as those of M. Loucheur, is exciting street protests and threatening an overturn, not only of the present government, but of the constitution |and parliamentary government in its entirety. Inflation of the currency is the next step proposed by the cabinet, since there appears no other way to meet present obligations. The franc has already fallen to a value of only about |3 cents where par is 20 cents, and the threatened inflation is feared by sound financiers as the death blow to | its exchange value. Panic on the Bourse and in commerce has seized the nerves of the French. All the reparations payment to France by Germany not only fails to reimburse her for her rebuilding investments, but appears only to feed further costl | campaigns in her two current wars. ey It is not lack of ability of French | statesmen that today jeopardizes the nation, but an excess of partisan politics which overshadows the gen- eral good. It is the same French people who astonished the world with the quick recovery from the Prussian war of 1570, and the admirers of the | resiliency then demonstrated express hope that tods crisis will yet be met successfully The correspondent who wrote from Berlin so pessimistically _regarding France now writes from Paris more hopefully, as he has learned of vari- ous expedients which French finan- clers are considering. Among the plans proposed for raising funds for the government is one to capitalize the government monopoly of tobacco and sell its bonds to both domestic and foreign investors. Bonds to the amount of £5,000,000,000 francs may be floated. M. Caillaux proposes that the 60,- 000,000,000 national defense bonds which are outstanding and drawing 5 per cent interest should be bought with paper francs not drawing inter- est. The general currency, then, would not be inflated—for the bonds today are serving as money—and the interest burden would be lessened. Under the Dawes plan in settling reparations with Germany, France is to receive railroad bonds from Ger- many to the amount of 3,000,000,000 gold marks, bearing 5 per cent inter- est. One plan is to sell these bonds to foreign capitalists for approximately 10,000,000,000 francs. * Kk % x In the midst of the despair of the politicians of France over the impend- ing natlional bankruptcy, there now comes, most unexpectedly and glo- riously, a voluntary offer of splendid patriotism from a group of manufac- turers centering in Lille. This con- sists in a plan to raise 10,000,000,000 francs to be advanced to the govern- ment as a loan to constitute a sinking fund to take care of the national debt. The offer was broached to Finance Minister Doumer and Premier Briand within the last 48 hours. It was kept secret at first, but it was too good to hide, and is now announced. France is thrilled with the news. The whole world will rejoice at the proof that self-interest does give way before pa- triotism in time té save a nation. The leading statesmen of France forestall the possibllity that cynics will point to the fact that there may be some ele- ment of self-preservation also in the industrialists’ offer, since the Dawes reparation plan provides that some of the payments to be made by Germany are to be in goods and that all such deliveries will compete with French industry. Nevertheless, it is conceded that the Lille proposal of 10,000,000, 000 francs comes from a limited area and few men, while the result saves the nation from bankruptcy and gen- eral distress, if not from anarchy and revolution. (Copyright, 1925. by Paul V. Collins.) SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19 1925 THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover. Of the ever-increasing flood of books constantly pouring from the presses of publishers an ever-enlarging num- ber are written for children. Some of these are good—probably a growing number—but more are indifferent or poor. At this season most journals dealing with books, whether daily newspapers with literary departments or columns or weeklies and monthlies devoted almost exclusively to books, are likely to have one or more rather perfunctory articles on children’s books, written not by experts in chil- dren’s literature but by _egular re- viewers of adult books, whose opinfons on children’s books are just about as valuable as the Booklover's would be if he were to try his hand at such a task. To treat children’s books in this way is perhaps somewhat better than not to notice them at all, but not much, since usually the writers of such reviews lack the knowledge of child psychology and of the’reading tastes and interests of children needed to judge wisely and to separate the wheat from the chaff. But there is undoubtedly a demand for sound, discriminating, expert, crit- ical judgments of children's books from parents and librarians alive to the importance of choosing wisely the books to be read during the impres- sionable years when tastes are formed. To meet that demand the New York Herald-Tribune, in beginning the pub- lication a year or so ago of its new literary supplement, “‘Books,” under the editorship of Dr. Stuart P. Sher- man, has from the outset had as a regular feature a department devoted to children’s books. That department, entitled “The Three Owls,” has been edited by Anne Carroll Moore, director of children’s work in the New York Public Library and one of the leading authorities of the country on chil- dren’s literature. * x % A sclection from the New York Herald-Tribune’s page during the past ear has been made by Miss Moore, and has just been published as book, with the title “The Tree Owls From her long experience in library work for children and as a writer of children’s books, Miss Moore knows that few factors in children’s lives have greater influence on the minds and characters of children than the books they read. With the help of many other writers, children’s libra- rians and successful authors of chil- dren’s books, Miss Moore has each week in her department been bringing to the attention of parents, teachers and Jibrarians a wealth of material by reviewing the best, worth-while, new books for children and evaluating anew the great old books that form part of the literary neritage of every child. This experiment of the Herald Tribune may fairly be regarded as epochal, because it has‘never been done before and because it is still the only adequate weekly treatment of currently published children's bool Parents and_gift-making aunts and uncles will find much in this book which will prove stimulating and helpful. Every vear sees a greater number of scientists writing books that are at once comprehensible and interesting to the general public, The writings of Dr. Raymond Pearl have just come to the attention of the Booklover. Since the author struggles under the com- bined responsibilities of a professor- ship of biometry and vital statistics in the Johns Hopkins school of hygiene and public health, a_professorship of biology in the Johns Hopkin school and the directorship of the new Institute of Biology, he might be ex- | pected to turn out high-brow stuff in | language that could be understood only by holders of a Ph. D. degree. But he does write in language that is clear and human and full of humor. In the November number of the American Mercury he has an article on “The Biology of Population Growth,” which i1s an installment from a book just published under the same title, and in | the December Mercury he writes the leading article on “The Biology of Health.” He closes the latter article with this sensible advice: “Live as Christian Scientist is supposed to live, without thought or fear of disease. But when you feel ill consult a physi- cian at once and follew implicitly his instructions. He knows better than anybody else how to_help you.” e ko Biography from the medical point of view is discussed by Dr. Joseph Collins, neurologist, in his latest book, “The Doctor Looks at Biography.” In Dr. Collins’ previous book, “The Doc- tor Looks at Literature,” the idiosyn- crasies of several modern writers were plaine many readers agreed with the doctor’s diagnosis. That James Jovce, D. H. Lawrence and Sherwood Anderson are at least slightly neurotic was not hard to believe. Now the doctor discusse: some important biographies of promi- nent persons and comments on both biographers and subjects. Amy Low- ell's life of Keats was not necessary, he says (thereby agreeing with most of the English critics), but “she had a carious mother-feeling for him and she was determined to display it.” Dr. ollin® taste in biography is by no means entirely literary or conven- tional. He s The most diverting biography of the vear is that of John L. Sullivan, the man who shared with Theodore Roosevel: and Woodrow Wilson the widest popularity of their times.” * % x The Protestant farmers of Ulste are descendants of the settler north of Ireland during the revolution of Cromwell and the reign of William and Mary. In a novel called “The Longsiders” the Irish writer, Shan Bullock, author of “The Barrys” and “Irish Pastorals,” describes the life of these Ulster farmers. The story is chiefly about one family, the Nixons whose supposed prosperity and fee ing of superiority toward their neigh- bors are shattered at the death of the father of the family. Richard Jebb, who takes upon himself a dour sort of guardianship of the family, is the most strongly-drawn character in the book. The contrast between the hard- headedness, tightfistedness and self- dependence of the Ulstermen and the easy-going thriftlessness and mysti- cism of their Celtic neighbors of south Ireland is shown by Mr. Bullock in the course of his story. ¥ % ok ok Most observers are praising the 1 creasing beauty of the National Capi tal. The other side is strongly stated in “The Horrors of Washington,” by H. G. Dwight, in the December Har- per's. The author finds comparatively few things to praise in our official ar- chitecture and public monuments; he even suggests that if the District were to be visited by a cataclysm of nature leaving “nothing but a heap of ruins few tears would be shed by those who hold the arts of their country dear. He holds in special detestation the Pension Office and the old Department of Agriculture buildings and Lot Flan- nery's “Lincoln,” standing in front of the District Courthouse, but many other sins of commission and omis- sion are scathingly treated. The ar- ticle is a good antidote for too great complacency and should be read by capital planners and projectors of nublic buildings and monuments. * Kk X % A story of medieval Norway in three parts was begun by Sigrid Undset in “The Bridal Wreath” and is continued in “The Mistress of Husaby.” The time is the first part of the fourteenth century and the heroine is Kristin Lavransdatter. It is a story of do- mestic and political life and introduces many of X:he customs Pli‘clu}!la; to Nor- . way in that , especi those con- gemt,;d W?thafirfill. marriages and leaths. medieal | on pathological grounds, and | i n the Q. Is Walter Hagen a right or left handed golfer?—M. D. A. e is a right-handed golfer. Q. How large a house is White Court, occupied by the President last Summer?—N. C. W. A. The house is a wooden structure of 26 rooms, built in 1905, and consid- erably enlarged. It is painted white. On the ground floor a large entrance hall extends through the house, open- ing on the ocean side to a wide veran- da, beyond which is a terrace with red-tiled flooring. A dining room, a glassedin sun roam and breakfast ropm, a library, a large living room and a music room, which can be shut off from adjoining rooms, are also on the ground floor. The kitchen, butler's pantry, servants’ dining room and laundry, on the service side of the house, complete this floor. On the sec- ond floor are six bedrooms with baths and six servants’ bedrooms shut off from the main house. On the third floor are three bedrooms with baths on the eastern side and two similar rooms with baths on the western side. Q. Are clothes better dried in eun- shine or high wind?—B. J. P. A. Sunshine is more desirable in drying clothes than a high wind, since sunshine both sweetens and bleaches them, while a high wind may tear the clothes and will take the stiffness out of starched goods. Q. How many Secretaries of State have been lawyers?—R. E. W. A. Forty-three Secretaries of State have been lawyers. One banker, one editor and one minister complete the list of men who have had this port- folio in the cabinet. Q. How large is a bowling green? —D. R. A. A bowling green m: varying extent. Usually they are from 40 to 60 yards square. § space affords ample room for play; tretch of 35 or 40 yards for “trig” and “jack” is quite enough to play over. Q. What makes the sky blue?— E. B. A. The sky or air which surrounds the earth is filled with countless tiny specks of what we may call dust— particles of solid things hanging or floating in the air. These specks are ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN {ana for the first of just the size and quality that thev catch and absorb part of the rays of light which form our sunlight and throw off the rest of the rays, and the part which has been absorbed forms the combination of color which makes the sky so beautifully blue Q. When was the C founded >—W. E. C. A. The exact date of the founding of the City of Langres in France is not recorded. It was known to the Romans as Andomatunnum. It believed to have derived its present name from the Celtic people Lir gones. The bishopric was founded about 200 A.D. ty of Langres Q. What year was the first gold pen pointed with diamond, and the first with irfdlum?—L. E. W, A. Gold was first used in the mal ing of pen points in the United States in 1835, Soon it was found necessar to harden the points of these pens and this was done by protecting themn with diamonds or rubies, which made the pens very costly and consequent! very rare. John Hawkins, to whom is due’ the discovery that an alloy of irid ium and osmium soldered on to the gold would serve the purpose just a well as the gemstones and at mucl less cost, was the first to use iridiur In 1850 his method was superseded time iridium fused with the gold and a m stronger and a more durable penpoi was produced. Over 100,000 pens & manufactured every year by one firm alone. (What do you wish to know? How to raise canaries? How to can fruits? How to patent an invention/ Hou swim? The quickest and best routc for an auto trip? How to resilver mi rors? How to make bread? How to run the home with fewer problen and more content? How best to do the hundreds of other things that come up cach day? Then write today 1o our Washington Information Burcau—a great free educational institution es- tablished solely to serve you. Scnd i your question and get the right an swer. Inclose 2 cents in stamps to cover the return postage and address The Star Information Bureau, Freo eric J. Haskin, director, Twenty-first and C streets northwest, Washingto, D. C.) Marx Mistaken BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. The current number of Foreign Af vI"all!S rries the inevitable answer of {* German to the defense of himselt and of the French case generally with respect of war responsibility which ex-President Poincare published some time ago in the same magazine. Poin- care’s effort was not very distinguish- :d, and the German answer is hardly more impressive. The author of the German answer is the former ch: cellor, William Marx, who is perhay better remembered as the unsucces: ful candidate of the republican parties for President last Spring, when old Marshal Hindenburg won his notable and temporarily disturbing triumph. A member of the Catholic Center and a leval and sincere champion of the republic, Marx has never been a imposing figure, and the im- | portance of his article, so far as it has importance, lies in the passionate re- pudiation of the charge of exclusive war guilt, written into the treaty of Versailles, a denial which expresses the unanimous view of the democratic 1as well as the monarchistic elements in German: Extreme Stupidity | In point of fact this particular in- {dictment, which the Germans signed {only under duress and in the face of | an alternative which was appalling, might easi ¢ be reckoned the supreme stupidity of the famous Paris docu- ment. It expressed a wartime state of mind which even now is a bit hard to understand, and doubtless will sur- vive only as indicating how far the sense of proportion of reasonable peo- vle is destroyed by war. The notion of a criminal people conspiring under the leadership of archeriminal masters to let loose the world calamity has long ago been rel egated to the dust heap. We know now that William II, who once took on such colossal and terrible propor- tions, was after all only vaingloried. | noisy, vulgar, but, to give him hi due, essentially peace-loving. He wa a good deal of a fool and almost a much of a coward. But he was above all incapable of the sort of undertak- ing which Frederick the Great carried through when he stole Silesia from Maria_Theresa. As for Bethmann-Hollweg, so far from being a conspirator, he was an hones® man, who did his ineffective hit for peace, and could not forbear to blurt out the uncomfortable truth ‘hen events were too much for him. marck could edit an_Ems dispatch and make the Franco-Prussian wa: but Bethmann w asnot a iBsmarck: he feared war, he struggled to prevent it, and he feared the worst, rather ently, when at last it came. If ck the iron chancellor willow at most. 1 | Bism | Bethm: Younger Moltke. There remains in the t which used to keep us aw contemplating Teutonic superhuman malevolence the younger Moltke. But as to him, we know now that in six weeks he took the finest army that Germany or any other country ever produced, the finest fighting n ‘hine of human history, to utter and irrevo- cable disaster. And much of that dis- aster was due to his infirmity of pur- pose, to the ineptitude which was concealed behind the name which had evoked Sadowa and Mars-la-Tour, Sedan and Metz. With the legend that the war the result of a plot of these e tially weak men, no one of them hav- ing the stuff that real monsters are made of, the world is already done. The idea that a whole nation can be indicted for collective wickedness, which was denied by Burke, is now denied by most sensible people. The conception of @ pariah people lingers only in the backwaters of prejudice. Locarno supplies o pretty clear in- gieation of the change of world sen- timent. part umvirate 1ke nights was With the of Marx's article, therefore, which Is devoted to the pro- test against the injustice of such an indictment and the howling folly of foreing the Germans to sign it, it i easy to have undimited sympathy. This part of the treaty of Versailles is already *caput” for all practical purposes, although there is no con- ceivable fashion in which it can be solemnly denounced as the German Nationalists keep demanding for ob- vious purposes. While the world— that is, the allied world—acted as if this indictment was still in force, the German people had a grievance, a real grievance. But recent events in London, when Luther and Stresemann went to the British capital to sign the Locarno pact, show how effectively a dead letter this thing has become. Blames France and Russia. But Marx, like most other defend- ers of Germany, is not content with disclaiming what hardly requires dis- claimer now—namely, the notion of peculiar, exclusive and criminal guilt belonging to a whole people—but un- dertakes, in addition, to demonstrate that, while Germany was innocent, there was a criminal; that, in fact, there were at least two criminals— I | | in Indicting French and Russians for War namely, Russia and France. Thus would seek, while insisting that ti indictment of the German people i= criminals is unfalr, to commit the same stupidity with respect to the French and Russian people. The trouble with all such arguments is, of course, that they must rest upon a partial statement of facts. You give all the facts on your side and you suppress those on the other side, not perhaps deliberatel o1 Marx is an honest man and he is telling what he believes. But once you are launched on the course any | thing is possible; all depends upon where You begin. And to begin fairly is just as impossible as to answer the old question of which came first, the hen or the egg. There was change of French feel ing between 1905 and 1914. As Marx notes, that change led to a diffevent attitude of France toward Germany and toward Russia. But why was the change? Precisely because of the French reaction to the German tions at Tangier and Agadir. Franc extended her perfod of military serv ice from two to three years. Did this show aggressive purposes? Yes, if you believe Marx, but in reality Ger many expanded her army and Franc responded. . Russian Mobilization. Take the all-essential the last days bef cause of the war, the precipitating cause, says Marx, say all Germans, was the Russian mobilization, the general mobilization. But this did not come until Austria had issued its ultimatum to Serbia and bombarded Belgrade. And the Russian mobiliz tion was not a cause of war in itsell but solely because the German gen eral staff had formed a plan for Ger- man defense which depended for suc problem of the deluge. The cess upon crushing France bef Russia got her troops concentrate:d Tt wasn't Russian mobilization se which provoked the war; the n lization of France would not have a similar effect. But the German erals had sat down in full peace made a plan for war, which envisazed the invasion of neutral Belgium and the smashing of France whue 1 was completing mobilization. Eve thing thus depended upon finish with France before Russia was rea That was what poor Bethmann-Holl weg blurted out when he explained that “Germany could not wait. All the evidence shows that Moltke was scrupulously careful not 16 move until there was no more doubt of the fact of Russian mobilization. He se: messages to Allenstein, in Ea: sia, to get hold of a copy of the an mobilization proclamation The record absolves him of trying to procure the war. But when Rus mobilized he had to go to a trembling chancellor and insist upon the ultima tum which meant war, because all his plans went for naught if Russia armed before France was crushed. Paints Clever Trap. If vou believe what Marx believes, what many Germans believe, you will see the entente statesmen as clever. superhumanly clever, villains, arrans ing a trap which only fools could fill into, foreseeing all the mistakes the Germans were going to make and a1 ranging to act when these mistakes were made. But this conception just as infantile as that of the super- humanly criminal Germans. The best thing that could happen to day is for all hands to adjourn the i ion of war guilt, because the on now will rest with another generation. Sensible people have per- ceived that enemies and ailies han got to live together and that this ne cessity imposes certain other conse quences. And not the least of tk consequences is the tacit adjournment of debates upon “war guilt. Appear as Fools. The men of July, 1914, the st of the years immediately prec whether German or what was described as allied, are, with no ex ception, going to have a hard tim in_ history. But very little of their trouble will arise from any notion of their enormous and wicked cleverness Already they appear more as fools than knaves, far more the victims of forces which they neither understood nor could control, than monsters and masters of the most diabolical of all conspiracies. As for Marx and his current article when he argues against the Versailles indictment of the German people for exclusive and inherent criminality, he is preaching to the converted. When he undertakes to establish the same sort of thesis with respect of the op- ponents of Germany, he does no more than demonstrate that he has not yet emerged from precisely the state of mind against which he is protesting. M. Titulescu, the very clever Ru- manian Minister, who has been mak- ing the debt settlement in Washing- ton, once observed to me that the people who had no psychology lost the war. Marx is an example of the ®c- is curacy of this pronouncement. (Copyright. 1925.)