Evening Star Newspaper, January 26, 1926, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY. ..January 26, 1926 A THEODORE W. NOYES Xhe Evening Star Newspaper Company 11th St mmfl"y" Omx‘w ia Ave and Penpsylvania Ave. New York Offie: 110° East 4ind St Chicago Office: To Building. Furopean Off 14 Regent St.. London, ngland. ¢ morn- wAthin only: Singay onls. 0 cents et Ty mail or Maction 15 made by ) month The BEvening Star, with the Sunda ng edition, he city at' 60 cent. 85 cents por month Per month. Orders ma: telephone Aain K000 carrier at the end of ea Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sund Daily only .. " e Sunday only All Other States and Canada ily and Sunday.1 yr. $12.00: 1 mo., $1 00 Y Gniy Sunday- ] 3T SR 00 1 mat The i3 v only . . $400°1mo. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Prass Is exclusively entitled to th for repubiieation of all news dix n:l redited to r not d in this paper and also Senate Cloture, But No “Gag.” Cloture, as applied to the debate on the World Court protocol by a vote of sixty-eight to twenty-six in the Senate yvesterday, means that each Senator may speak for one hour With a total membership of ninety- six, that means a possible discns: horwise ered e loral uews legislative days of six hours each on an average. At least that is the possibility, under the rules. As & matter of fact, yester- day’s vote, with its emphatic demon- stration that more than two-thirds o the Senate will vote to adopt the pro- tocol in some form, signifies the clos- ing of the discussion much sooner than the e possibility. The final vote may come within the next forty-elght hours. For there is noth- ing now to protraction of the debate. The minds of Senators are definitely made up as to their courses. Debate will not change them. Furthermore, several Senators voted against cloture yesterday who, it is expected, will vote for the protocol, while none who voted for the cloture will vote against the protocol. of treme cloture in such circum- Btances o “‘gagsing” process is ridicu- Sous. This rule to close debate has been invoked after saveral weeks of discussion. While there has Leen no filibuster, according to the leading op- ponents of the proto=ol--though the Record has shown decided symptoms ©f a maneuver to kill time—ample op- portunity has been afforded for a full discussion. But for the protraction of single speeches over two and in some cases three days there would have been a chance, had they desired, fer all members of the Senate to take the floor to expound their views. Cloture was Invoked only when all £ttempts to fix a time to close the @ebate by unanimous consent agree- ment had failed. 1t was not applied until a measure of importance had been reported from committee and lay on the table awaiting attention, with urgent reason for its early considera- tion. Even at the moment before it was definitely brought to a vote in the Benate effort was made again to se- cure unanimous consent for agree- ment upon a voting time on the pro- tocol. Objection was made. The op- position to the World Court was determined to compel ths Senate to invoke the rule of cloture. It veri- tably asked to be gagged, If that word can be applied to the process of inter- posing the hour-limit barrier against unstinted talk. Any effort to causs it to wppear that the World Court protocol was Jammed through the Senate without consideration for the views and feel ings of the minority will be absurd in view of the facts, which are rerfectly epparent to the people of this coun- try. There is no tolerance for the dis- position to protract discussion. The popular response to Vice President Dawes’ appeal for a change of rules which will make clotura atter a rea- Konable period of debate a matter of routine proves that the sentiment of the country does not sunport cbstruc- tion to legislation, whatever the cause. Clamor against this present course of #he Senate in making possible a vote on the protocol nearly two months after it was taken up for considera- tion at the present session will only intensify the fecling that the rules Should be so amsnded that drastic measures will not be required 1o bring that body to the point of action. ————— “Roxy and his gang” are worried about a five-thousand-dollar expense Rccount in connection with a hospital benefit concert. Roxy enjoys millions ®f dollars’ worth of popularity, which may be hard to figure as an asset when the question of tangible cash Jooms In sight. —————— 1t s to be feared that no Arctic ex- Plorer will ever be able to assert him- Belf as a complete hero in the eyes of Sther explorers. ————————— French Women Seek the Vote. ‘The women of France are asking for the suffrage, as did their British sisters some vears ago. But unlike the fair crusaders of Albion, they are not golng to use militant methods to obtaln the vote. They have decided in thelr suffrage alliance that there is pothing In heckling, aggravating le England got the vote despite and not because of the militant methods employed. But while they prevalled those methods were picturesque and spectacularly interesting. They fur- nished much amusement for observers at a distance, though they caused keen distress to official minds in Eng- land. The French women are to be congratulated upon their adoption of the pacific policy in going after the vote, but it exceedingly interesting to watch them wage a campalgn such as that the women of England conducted a decade and @ half ago. They would certainly offer a vivid drama of sex revolution. o Mitchell Case Officially Closed. President Coolidze's approval of the court-martial sentence imposed upon “highly censurable conduct,” is ac- companied by a modification that srants to the officer one-half of his vegular pay and all of his allowances during the perfod of his suspension from active duty, five yezrs. This partial remission of penalty is spe- cifically stated to be “during the pleas- ure of the President.” “This closes the Mitchell case, of- ficfally. It may be reopened by the commission of some act which war. rants the revocation of the grant of half pay and allowances, or by the resignation of the otficer. which has been intimated as contemplated Whether such a resignation would be accepted is not assured. 1t might be rejected, under the law, for the officer is under sentence, which he may not and frritating the lawmakers, espe- elally as France is now in a financial erisis and the legislators are in stress of mind over economic problems. The French suffragists do not expect immediate enfranchisement. They are willing to walt until the country is tranquillized and the franc is stabilized and the budget is balanced. Mean- while they are going to work. They will create a public sentiment by educational processes and they will meek to “instruct” members of Parlia- ment. Cajolery and enlightenment are to be the methods employed. Early in June will be held in Paris the Tenth Congress of the International Suffrage Allfance, which is to be made the occasion of a concentrated attack upon the male political conscience of Trance, as a part of the campaign for enfranchisement in that country. at pleasure nullify by withdrawal from the service. Suggestion has boen advanced that if the resignation is tendered as “for the good of the serv- ice” it might be accepted. In his final finding the states the case against Col. in clear terms. He say. The theory of government implies that every officlal, so long as he re- tains office, shall deport himself with respect toward his superior. This is especially true of those in the mili- tary service. Unless this rule is ap- plied there could be no discipline in I'resident Mitchell would be, nevertheless, | Col. William Mitchell, found guilty of | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1926. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E, TRACEWELL. now a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mrs. Gold will make a good pupil Any one carrying out such a rigidand laudable purpose will try twice as hard for “good marks” as one who takes schooling as drudgery. It is hoped tha. she will graduate from college at the head of her class. Storm at Sea.: The Winter of 19256 very likely will be set down in weather annals as one of especfal turbulence on the North Atlantic Ocean. Several times this ‘Winter storms of remarkable violence have swept the ocean, and yesterday and today the air and wires brought stories of extraordinary wind and seas jand of delayed and damaged ships, |and there have been SOS calls from stricken vessels. Loss of life has been reported, two of the crew of the Amer- fcan steamship Prerident Roosevelt dving in a smashed lifeboat while set- ting out for the rescue of the crew of a British freighter midway between Europe and America. A distress call from another Rritish freight ship half-way across the Atlantic was the reason for suspension of radio broad- casting for three hours and twenty- five minutes Monday night. Large pussenger steamships which are sel- dom off their schedule are sending news to shore that they will be thirty- six hours to two days late. Happily, no great disaster has been reported, but with such a storm as has been stirring the Atlantic into tumult there Will perhaps be numerous reports of grievous loss. Not all steamships are fitted with wireless, and a large num- ber of relutively small steamships have been tossed about by this storm. Most of them, and one hopes all of them, have weathered It. A thought must go out for the safling ships, a large number of which are still going and coming on the sea. J —————— Bequest of a Spanish hat by the late Frank Munsey to President Cool- idge is surmised from certain memo- randa left by the eminent publisher. the Army and Navy, without which those two forces would not only te without value as 1 means (f defenre but would actually become a menace to society. That is all there is to this affalr. Col. Mitchell violated the rules of dis- cipline when he publicly rebuked his superfor officers and the officlals of another department of the Govern: ment—and by implication the Presi- dent, as commander-in-chief of the Army and the Navy—in a statement bearing upon a serles of aviation dls- asters with which he was not aseo- ciated. By special grace at his trial by court-martial he was permitted to set up a defense of fact, whereas, strictly speaking, *he issue bore only upon whether or not he uttered the offending remarks. Whether he suc- ceeded in proving the truth of ks assertion was not to the point. The court-martial was not competent in law or in the proper practices of the military service to pass upon such a question. It was limited in its find- ing to the issue of the utterance and whether It constituted a breach of discipline. It answered those ques- tions distinctly, to the point of con- victing the accused of conduct preju- dicial to discipline, and sentenced him accordingly, showing, indeed, mercy in not recommending his dismissal. The case is not without its historic parallel in regard to the sentence im- posed, which has just been spproved with slight modification. In October, 1808, Commodore James Barron was tried by court-martial on a charge of having, as commander of the frigate Chesapeake, failed to have his ship in proper condition for defense when she was fired upon by the Leopard of the British Navy. He was convicted and sentenced to suspension for five years without pay. This sentence was approved by President Jefferson. Bar- ron entered the merchant service and went to Europe. His suspension ended in 1813 during the war with Great Britain, but he did not return to the United States and seek 1einstatement in active service untii 1818, when he was restored to his rank. In conse- quence of feeling against him on the part of naval officers, he fought a duel with Commodore Stephen Decatur and slew him on the “field of honor.” Vigilantes Disband. ‘While Washington bars horse-drawn vehicles from certain of its streets to expedite automobile travel, and Lon- don has inaugurated the “institute of the horse” to stimulate the use of the equine instead of the motor cars, Sus- sex, N. J., has bowed its head in de- feat, and the Horse-Thief Vigilantes, an organization founded in 18567, has disbanded because the automobile has ended its usefulness. At a final meeting the Vigilantes decided that in view of the steady onrush of motor transportation and the consequent scarcity of horses and horse thieves, the organization could no longer perform what in the old days was a highly important public service. Bills were paid up, the $225 left in the treasury was voted as a donation to the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Linn Hospital, and the records of the com- mittee, which contain thrilling ac- counts of the capture and suppression of horse thieves, were turned over to the hospital for preservation. Thus civilization progresses and the faithful horse again feels the sting of relegation to the past by the ad- vance of mechanical ingenuity. —————— The middle class masses are still the representatives of polite propriety. While the miners and operators are conducting controversies, only the con- sumer recognizes the formal obligation to say, “If you please.” . A Determined Student. A lifelong desire for an education has at last been realized by Mrs. Frances Chapin Gold of Holyoke, Mass. Twenty-five years of walting beyond the time when men and wom- en generally enter college, Mrs. Gold has enrolled as a freshman at Mount Holyoke. In order to make good her de- termination, Mrs. Gold attended high school with her youngest son and graduated in the same class with him What President Coolidge would want with a Spanish hat is a matter for conjecture. One thing Is certain: The Chief Executive is not likely to be tempted, even by grateful sentiment, to attempt the establishment of a new fashion in headwear, S With every peculiarly atrocious crime the suggestion is thrown out that Clarence Darrow ought to inter- est himself. The fact that this emi- nent pleader is opposed to capltal pun- ishment should not be interpreted as Indicating his readiness to Justify every low-brow who in the common opinion has 8o conducted himself as to deserve the extreme penalty. ————— It was formerly the custom to make & little fan of weather predictions. “Old Prob.” (short for *Old Proba- bility”) was greeted with genial ridi- cule because he was so frequently mistaken. A weather bulletin is now regarded with respect which permits no persifiage. To be absolutely accu- rate is to be helpful; but it forfeits at- fectionate famillarity. It will require many a New Year resolution to persuade the Philadel- phia politicians to request the return of Gen. Smedley Butler. ———— The coal consumer may be forgiven if he attaches more importance to the weather reports than to the confer- ence reports. —————————— The North Pole has been the sub- Ject of more “important if true” items than any other institution known to civillzation. ———— Regulations are now demanded that will prevent snow plows from parking cvertime when they should be in ac- tion. No reader of the Congressional Rec- ord is going to feel that he missed much because of a limitation of de- bate. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Approximation. The Kilkenny Cats! How they fought, Tearing fur, Because in a trap they were caught! So they were! There remains a historical doubt As to what they were fighting about. Those Kilkenny Cats! How they rowed All Intense, With sonie cause indistinctly avowed, Yet immense. They should have been bidden to cease Through some Conference looking to peace! Responsibility. “What 1s your opinion of a political boss?" “He's the sort of chap, nowadays," sald Senator Sorghum, “who, rather than not be noticed, would take all the blame.” Literary Survival. 1 wrote for weary hours Upon an essay grave— Applied my patient pow'rs To bid my brains behave. The essay that I wrote Attracted readers few; But creditors still quote My simple I. O. U. Jud Tunkins says tellin’ a man what you think of him has at least the flat- tering assurance that he was the sub- Ject of a think. Lure of Gold. “Here are some pictures of King Tut’s tomb." “How charming!” Cayenne. “They were secured at great ex- pense.” “‘Of course. The opportunity to as- sume the role of profiteer is irresist- ible, even in the case of a mummy.” Rave On! I would not be a prohibish detective, Nor yet a bootleg elf, with sordid glee. 1'd rather be & hermit, self-protective, And while this old world raves, just let it be. “Walkin' is fine exercise,” said Un- cle Eben, “but dat ain’ gineter per- vent folks f'um payin® exclaimed Miss carfare, go's to 3% baa been sald that the women of{}jst Juns, vmmmmm-uummuwu@"» Walter Savage Landor, a little read but fine English poet, wrote four lines which for proud defiance have no peer in the world's literature: T strove with none: for none was worth my e Nature T loved. and, next to Nature, Art: I warmed both hands befors the fire of life: It sinks, and 1 am ready to depart. John Keats, a less belligerent soul, phrased somewhat the same thought more quletly: When I have fears that T to be Borniam il Lan e i, Before mah-‘unnd books. in characte Hold like ‘rich karners the full n: When I behold. upon the night's starred face, « cloudy symbols of & high romance, Hug: And think that T may never live fo trace Their shadows, with the magic hand of on Angt when T feel, fuir_ereature of an hour. ‘That T shall never 160k, bon. thea more, Never have relish in the, fasry power unreflecting Jove —Then oh the shore Of_the ‘wide wiild 1 atand lone. and {hink Titl 1ove und fame G0 Bothink Landor was “too proud to fight,” ln:(‘llu-‘e he did not find strife worthy of the best in his nature. See him, friend of Naiure and Art, warming both hands before a big fireplace. The fire sinks low, the fire of life, and Landor voices his willingness to #0 a8 soon as the last spark dies. He looks toward the door, the door of death, out of which he must wander, s all men have gone before, and as all will go hereafter. The lust spark flickers, and goes out. “I am ready to depart,” he says. * ok ok Keats draws us a different picture. His fear is that he will not live long “nough to trice even the shadows of the huge shadowy romances which he sees In the night, and which well up in his poetic heart. Death means to him that he will never see again his 'ove, Fanny Brawn, whom he dubs a “falr creature for an hour.” See Keats, poet, lover, standing on the shore of the wide world. He stands alone, as all of us must stand, in the last analysis. He makes no proud obelsance to the powers of darkness, but remains in thought, till even love and fame finally sink to nothingness. He was one of the first to chant the power of the mind. It is notable that such thoughts as the above he, put in sonnet form, hard to handle ‘properly. but, when rightly done, rivaling a Greek temple in_lovely symmetry. ‘While we admit the beauty of the temple, the thing looks cold and a bit forlorn to us who are used to steam and hot water heated apart- ments and houses. So few care for the sonnet, naturally an appreclation of its delicacy must be won by the hard work of reading many of them, until at last the reader comes to see that out of the hun- dreds of indifferent attempts there do stand forth certain models. “On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer" is one of the classic sonnets which combines with its perfect lines & sad story. Keats never read Homer in the original. With his natural love for mythology, what joy he would have had out of the true Greek! His knowledge of Homer, first of poets, came second hand through the translation of Chapman, which stands today, as it did 4 hundred years ago, as one of the best. This ought to be encouraging to all of us who know little Latin and less Greek. Keats' sonnet reads: Much have I travelad in tha realms of gold, And many ‘goodly states and kingdoms Round many w riae oen b Tomer ' ruled aa Yot Sovar 2iA T breath it et mever reathe its pure se Till ‘T heard Chapman speak out loud and Tlien 1 felt like some watcher of tho ckies en & new planet swims into his ken: Or Lke stout Cortez when with Lis cagle bened He stared the Pacific—and all his men Logke — Sl o R SRR * % %% Many attempts have been made in the past quarter of a century to abandon the anclent verse forms wrought out by the hands and minds of many men of all races over the run of the years. Our own Walt Whitman tried it and succeeded only in imitating the King James translation of the Bible. Scores of lesser poets without the law (of poetry) have attempted the feat, with lamentable results. Firm against such onslaughts stand the standard forms. Truly one has to be a poet born to handle them. Many shall try, but few succeed. Keats was one of the successful ones. Take his famous “Odé on a Greclan Urn.” He looks at the urn, muses, then writes: Thou still unravished bride of Thou toster-child of silence and slow ti Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy Of deities or mortals. or of hoth. - In Tempe, Or the vajes of Aready? What men or gods are thess! = What mafdens lotht What mad pursuit? What struggle to es- . cape What pipes aud timbrels? What wild ecsta Heard melodies are sweet. but those unheard Are wweeter: " therefore, yo soft pipes. play on: Not to the sensual ear, but, more endearcd. Pipe to the spirit deiiies of Bo tona: Falr“youth, bencatn the trees, thou canst e Thy song. nor ever can those trees be Bold lover. never, never canst thon kiss, Though winhing near the goal—yet. do She cannot fade. though thou hast not thy bliss, Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair! Ahy bappy. happy boughs! that cannot shed our lraves, mor ever bid the Spring adien And, happy melodist. unwearied, FOMeVEl Dipiog sonige forever new More happy love ! "more Lapyy. happy Forever warm, and still o be enjoyed Forever panting, and forever youn, All breathing human passion far above, That leaves 3 heart high-sorrowful and A burning forehead, and a parching tongae. Who are thess coming to the sacrifice? To ibat green aliar. O mrsterious priest, Lead'st thou that heifér lowing at the skies. Aud il ber silken flanks with ariands What little town by river or seashore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of ita folk, this blous morn ! Anct iitte town. (hy streets forevermore Will silent be and 5ot @ soul 10, tell by thou art desolate. can e'er return | O Attic s, alr attitude! with brede 1d_maidens overwroyght. the trodden rm i dost tewse us o1 hoa g As doth etornity: cold Pastor. When Gua age hall this ke halt rematn. in woo Tuan oure, thou sy st. Beanty i« truth, triath beauty—that is all Ye know o earth, and @il ye beed to know love! -, an ration waste, dst of other a friend to man, to whom at. * ¥ % 1 have seen the above poem printed in a beautiful volume, with the word “brede” printed “bre there. So is Keats corrected! The word “brede” {= archalc now; it means braid or embroidery. So, too, we have seen the poet “corrected” in various editions, 8o that he reads “Beauty is truth, truth is beauty.” Perhaps it would have been better had he punc- tuated it as follow: “Beauty is truth; truth, beauty. Reading over again these old poems, many readers will wonder how it comes about, If the writers speak truth, that old verse forms are en- tirely out of date, that Keats sull holds sway over the minds of those who enjoy poetry. Is it not simply due to the fact that nts|Keats did what he set out to do— write some real verse? Just as ar- chitecture has its laws, and music its legitimate forms, has modes, forms, patterns, call them what you will, which real poets work with, and observe. Hughes’ Remarks Denounced As Attack If Rupert Hughes, as some of his many critics suggest, merely was seek- ing publicity when he assalled the pop- ular conception of George Washington by emphasizing human qualities of the first President, his recent speech be- fore the Sons of the Revolution was a distinct success. From North and South, East and West, came hearty condemnation, which the novelist's later explanation that he meant to be complimentary did not soften. Says the Seattle Daily Times: “America never will suffer a decline if 1t can produce to meet each recur- ring national crisis a George Wash- Ington—with all his faults—but, abovo all else, with all his virtues.” The ex- aggeration {n the terms applied to Washington's acts by Mr. Hughes 1s denounced by the Hartford Times. “A man who swears occasiona’ly when he has to is by no means a curser, any more than & man of the eighteenth century who distills whisky s a whisky distiller,” declares the Times. “Mr. Hughes has forgotten that men are to be judged not by thir unim- portant weaknesses and mannerisms, but by the prevailing direction of their lives. Thus seen, Washington psases the test of the most Pecksniffian American.” . * koK % “If the Volstead test of perfection is to be applied to the fathers of the Republic,” the Syracuse Herald re- marks, “let us anticipate the result by admitting that they were nearly all hopelessly bad men.” As for Wash- ington, the Herald continues, “let him who is without sin cast the first stone at his majestic figure. The mass of his countrymen, in whose hearts his memory is forever enshrined, will not doE‘:-’pruling bellef that somewhere “between the George Washington of Parson Weems and the George Wash- ington of Rupert Hughes we may get a fair portraiture of the character of the ‘Father of His Country,’"” the Charleston Daily Mall draws its own pieture of Washington: “Neither super- man nor canting saint, but a red- blooded, sensible man who lived the life of his class in his time, there was yet in the man something that singled him out from among his compeers and exalted him above them.” Concerning_the manners and cus- toms of Washington's day, the Fort Worth Record Telegram reminds us: “Everybody drank to some extent in those days, played about as many cards as does the ordinary man of to- day, had almost as many—but mnot the same kind—of things to ‘cuss' about and doubtless took the gentle- man's place about half way between the ‘sheiks’ and the sissies of his day and time. Washington wore no halos either dally or Sunday. He was a characteristic _type of the ‘landed gentry’ of Virginia, and made no bones l.bo;:flbah;‘ :\o beu!;r l.nd$ worse, speaking in terms of perso: habits, than those of his associates who lived in the same environment.” x ok Xk “In other words,” as the Des Moines Tribune puts it, “as to the morals and decencies of behavior, George ‘Washington was a conformist in his . On the other hand, continuez this journal, “Let us but recognize in addition that in certain affairs, for instance the problem of the colonies” relation to the mother country, Wash- ington was not a conformist, that he upset the established order.” W‘uhl:yan'- “'zhrr:m- ‘Was rec- ognized by men of own generation on Washington Buffalo News. Acknowledging that Washington was “very human,” the Savannah Press also recalls: ‘“His neighbors and cotemporaries ap- proved of him. The estimate of his times has been confirmed by the ver- dict of the world. He was a splendid landmark in American nistory, even though he did swear at the battle of Monmouth, and made corn liquor at Mount Vernon.” *® ok ok ok The purpose behind the statements of Rupert Hughes was the gaining of ‘“cheap publicity,” as the San Fran- cisco Bulletin sees it. “It is a late time in the day to project one's self into public notoriety at the expense of characters established in the hearts of the American people,” de- clares the Charlotte Observer. And the Roanoke Times suggests that “Now that Rupert Hughes has had his little say about George Washing ton, it may be in order to wonder what the Father of His Country would have thought of Rupert Hughes.” Washington had a “saving grace,” according to the Jersey City Jersey Journal—‘he did not write any of Mr. Hughes' novels.” The Nashville Banner declares *‘there 18 nothing to be said in pallia~ tion of the recent attack made by Ru- pert Hughes upon the fair name of George Washington.” Comparing Mr. Hughes with a recent defamer of An- drew Jackson and his wife, and put- ting these authors both in the class of character traducers, the Banner continues: “He (Mr. Hughes) should have known that such an attack would be harshly resented, and the odium which comes upon him will be entirely deserved.” Theosophy and the Messianic Movement To the Editor of The Star: A correspondent in your issue of January 15 claims that the present Messianic craze as reported from In- dia has nothing to do with th=osophy. That Is exceedingly interesting, be- cause several million people in this world consider Mrs. Annie Besant cne of the highest of high priestesses of theosophy; and Mrs. Besant has for years diligently nurtured the lad Krishnamurti toward the avowed end -of Messiahship. And now if it tran- .spires that Krishnamurt! and Mrs. Besant both are merely “some who call themselves theosophists,” we shall be tempted to wonder if St. Paul was a Christian and if Abraham and Moses are facts of history or oniy Jewish fables. Maybe the darkness of , India is even greater than we thought. And when your correspondent pleads for the ‘“application of the fundamental principles of all re- ligions" he is leading us into some- thing worse than the World Court, because those same fundamental prin- ciples are as diametrically opposed to each other as Communism is opposed to monarchy. Any religion teaches man to reach after God, but only the Christian religion describes God as reaching out for man. 3 ‘W. 8. MEAD. A Political Test. From the Decatur Herald. No farm legislation will be success- from a political poin! tul, t of view, un- u..zm..,nu"é...m e | cern. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM LG M. JGAN OF ARC. Albert Bigelow Paine. The Macmillan Co. Despite the challenge of its gallant | bearing of high emprise, it is a lonely figure—that of the mounted armored youth with sword uplift that tops the hilicrest of a_fashionable quarter of the Capital. Yet, only a street-width distant great houses line themselves in imposing array. To and from | these men and women, deep in the pleasure or business of the hour, come and go with never a glance toward the equally unmindful figure across the way. And along the inter- vening thoroughfare unheeding travel speeds, feverishly engrossed in its little hold upon the fleeting: hour. An instant of pause, maybe, is granted by the hurried sightseer, fumbling un- certainly for facts of time and place and circumstance, vaguely evoked by this buoyant presence. Not strange such mutual uncon- On the one hand, this soldier- maid; on the other, men and women of the crowded present. For, between the two, half a thousand forgotten years lie. When this Joan of Arc lifted her sword “for God and France” more than 60 years were yet to run before Columbus, looking for some- thing else, came by accident upon a new world. Then {gnorance and superstitition were the rule, the printing press not yet realized as an eventual highroad to common knowl- edge. Unforeseen, at that time, the great schism that produced the Protestant religion. Then science ap- plied to the daily uses of life had not entered even into the dreams of man. Then France itself was but a battle- ground both for rival kings at home and for the marauding kings of Eng- land as well. Such mutual indiffer- ence s, therefore, but to be expected since the narrow roadway between the two is in fact a chasm 500 years deep into which time has cast thou- sands of effacing and diverting events, * ok ok ¥ “The most interesting humun Leing the world has ever known.” Such is the deliberate judgment of Albert Bigelow Paine at the end of a long and searching acquaintance with Joan of Arc in her personal life, in her service to France and in her martyr- dom at the hands of this same France. It was 30 years ago that this au- thor, by way of Mark Twain, began his pursult of the life of the Maid of Domremy. Twaln, you recall, in order to serve the purpose of his “Personal Recollections” of Joan took upon him- self the personality of Louls de Contes, an old man who spent his days in tell- ing over and over again of the time when be was page to the great girl leader of the king's armies. As with o0ld folks everywhere, the past was the present to Louls de Contes. From every possible ungle of approach, from every conceivable change of day and circumstance, Twain here makes the old man retrace the glorious days when he was with Joan at Coudray, at Orleans and at Relms. You know with what drama and effect of reality Mark Twain recreated the vouth of Louis de Contes Ly way of the happy reminiscent pictures of his service to France through his devotion to the savior of France. You know with what startling vividness he re-em- bodied Joan herself by way of this intimate personal story-telling. x % % % It was from Mark Twain's “Per- sonal Recollections” that “‘for me the Maid of France emerged from the land of myth and fable to become a reality”—Mr. Paine talking. “Read- ing and re-reading that vivid story, I was prompted, first, to follow in per- son the footsteps of the Malid, then to seek out and set down the verita- ble historic sequence upon which that luminous and tender romance had been constructed.” And the author goes on to tell us that the time came when he was able to realize this desire—to visit every place “where she is known to have set her foot.” Domremy, Chinon, the way of the coronation journey, the prisons at Beaulieu and Beaurevolr, the trail that leads to her last grim prison at Rouen—these but a handful of the many points at which this pitiful young life touched. Not & task, the writer says. Rather a pil- grimage, the reader makes out of it. along which Mr. Paine lingers here and there to let soil and lanascape and story sink into his heart, where a deep sympathy serves to touch his imagination with the very presence of the young and untaught girl mak- ing her way through the confusion and enmity and superstiticn that then was France. This pllgrimage over, the author took upon himself another one, that of following Joun's story through a maze of records--letters, official documents, every sort of chron- icle of the day. “My chief endeavor bhas been to step as nearly as pos- sible on the Malid's precise historic tracks, co-ordinating the testimony” without slight or distortion. “Also I have thought it worth while to sup- plement the episodes with some de- scription of such localities and land- marks as may be still identified: places that Joan saw, objects that she may have touched.” How rizhly “worth while” this has been every reader will feel to the bottom of his heart, will acknowledge in deep gratitude. * ok ok % Perhaps it is the method that gives to this history its crowning touch. It is this method, without doubt, that im- parts to the whole the sense of imme- diate reality and contact, that gives to one reading the effect of an actual partaking in the sequence of events leading from Domremy to Rouen. By means of this method the witnesses themselves, in so far as it is possible, appear and speak. Joan tells her own story. Those who know her best tell of her life and acts in their own words and phrases. Her accusers, also, come forward, on their lips such words as “‘sorceress,” “heretic,” “blas- phemer.” Scenes shift in an amazing realism. People come and go in their own persons. Events unroll as vividly as do those of the actual present. This is no reading. This is experience— experience in events of an almost un- bearable pity through which a young girl walks alone and undefended. And so she will continue to walk an ever- lasting testimony, on the one hand to courage and truth and piety and love of courtesy, on the other hand an ever- lasting testimony to the ignorance of a period, to the essential brutality of the human in every perlod—so far. “She was just a little peasant girl like her playmates, and these have told us very exactly the kind of a Mt- tle girl she was™ * ¢ * “I have come to you on the part of my Lord, in order that you may send word to the dauphin to' hold fast, and not to cease war against his enemies.” “Who 18 your lord?” asked one. “The King of Heaven,” said Joan. * * * ‘Then, long after this—"Of Joan’s final day in prison there is no record. What happened on that 29th of May while the judges were voting away her life will never be known. She must have known that her end was very near. She was only 19. Did there come to her some memory of the years not so long ago when, in a far-off, quiet val- ley, she had at this season followed with her brothers’behind the sheep, or danced and sung under the Fairy Tree, or sought alone the little chapel of Our Lady of nt?" ¢ & * “The executioner abated the flames to let the people see that she was dead, then heaped on fresh fuel. The spectators melted away: the soldlers went to their belated dinner, the fire died down. That which had been Joan of Arc, armor_had juered she who in silver ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. What were the dates of the big freezes in Florida?—T. T. A. Thess inemoreble coid waves came in December, 1894; February, 1895; February, 1899, and Decembei 1906. Key West is practically th ;)nly city In the State which never has rost. Q. Was there ever such a man as Capt. Kidd?—A. C. R. A. Willlam Kidd, better known as Capt. Kidd, was a real person, who lived from about 1650 to 1701. He was born in Scotland, went to sea at an early age, and became a trader out of New York. He was commissioned by William III of England as a pri- vateer and he was given permission to capture pirates. A company, which may have included the king, benefited financially by his successes. About 1696 his adventures began to take on a piratical character, he was proclaim- ed a pirate, arrested in 1699, and after an_unfair trial he was condemned and executed. Since he held govern- ment commissions authorizing him to suppress piracy, it is hard to deter- mine what part of his operations were legitimate and what part other- wise. There has been much rumor concerning treasures buried by him prior to his capture, and the coast of the United States has many times been searcned. The Quedagh Mer- chant, an Armenian vessel which he captured, had a rich cargo and part of this was recovered from its hiding place on Gardners Island off Montauk Point, Long Island. Q. If a patent is rejected by the Patent Office, is the fee refunded?— A. The first Government fee of %20 {s not refunded when a patent is rejected. Q. Who invented or devised the sy tem of standard time now in use?— C. A. It appears to have been suggest- ed first by Charles Dowd of Saratoga Springs, in 1870. In 1879, the ques- tion was ralsed anew by Sanford Fleming, chief engineer of the Cana- dian Pacific Railway, and the plan was published in the Journal of the Canadian Institute of Toronto for 1879. The plan was adopted in 1883. Q. Who was the best violin maker in Germany in the seventeenth cen- tury?—J. M. C. A. Jakob Stalner was the leading violln maker. He specialized in small models and in eweetness of tone. Stalner’s Instruments are second only to the finest Cremonas. Q. What is a signature in music?’— . 8. A. A signature is a sign placed on the staff of music at the beginning of a plece, or at a change in movement. The clef signature determines the ab- solute pitch of the notes; the key sig- nature the group of sharps or flats which determines the key, and the time signature determines the time and the rhythm. Q. Is a railroad to the Sahara Desert? A. The building of a railroad cross {ng the Sahara Desert has been talked of for years. The French government has selected a route and if the railroad is constructed it will be operated by the Paris, Lyons and Medilion Rail rogd. Q. How many Musquakie Indians are there?—C. M. §. A. The Bureau of American Eth- nology says that the Musquakie In dians today number about 375 and are located in the vicinity of Tama, lowa Thelr original population apparentl: was between 1,200 and 1,500. Their authentic history begins in 1640. They were the {nveterate foes of the French and the conflict raged for years, but later they became friendly. The de. crease in the population can be as. cribed especially to the epidemics of smallpox and cholera which they en- countered after the removal to Kan- a8 (1842-45), and about 1901 there was another epidemic of smallpox, which carried off 50 in round numbers. The original habitat of the Musquakies (Foxes) was near Green Bay and near the Fox River. Q. How high and low a note can the human ear hear’—E. C. A. The Etude says that pass of human hearing ls notes, piano. Q._How many veterans of the Mexi can War are now living?—H. A. A. There are only 11 on the pen sion rolls as survivors of the Mexican War. All are over 95 years of age Q. What part of the world’s suppl: of coal is produced by the United States?—H. M. A. In 1924 this country produced 1,354,300,000 metric tons, or 383 per cent of the world supply. Since 1911 our share of the production has ranged from 37.9 per cent to 453 per cen' (in 1918). Q. What part of the elephant considered edible’>—E. L. M. A. The Smithsonian Institution says that elephants are eaten by the natives in the countries where these animals are found. The heart and part of the trunk are especlally tasty. and the meat when dried is served in practically the same manner as we serve beef. What do you need to know? I there some point about your busines or personal life that puzzles you? Is there something you want to know without delay? Submit your question to Frederic J. Haskin, director of our Washington Information Bureau. He is employed to help you. Address your inquiry to The Evening Star Informa tion Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, di- rector, Washington, D. C., and inclos: 2 cents in stamps for return postage be built across . the com about &8 or the extent of the modern BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLIN: President Coolidge so recognizes the serfousness of the trafiic problems brought by the milllons of automo- biles that he has again invited all governors of the States to appoint commissions of five experts from each State to meet in conference in Wash- ington to discuss ways for adjusting conditions to greater safety, efficiency and economy. The conference will be held March 23 to 25, inclusive, under the direction of the Department of Commerce, but the details are being worked out by the Nationgl Chamber of Commerce. This will be the second conference upon the subject. The problems multiply and increase in serfousness as the 38,000,000 net in- crease of motor vehicles per year crowd the streets and highwaye. £ ¥ K k¥ it is only a century since it was necessary for a horseback rider to pre- cede all railroad locomotives to warn the people of the approach of the modern transportation monster, which breathed smoke and steam and screamed fts threats of death to men and beasts. In a few years that mod- ern juggernaut had almost driven the familiar canal boat traffic off the face of the earth, just as canals had out- rivaled in the previous genemuc'm the wagons and ox carts upon the “turn- pikes.” Yet what improvements had been those ‘‘turnpikes” upon the mountain paths and dirt roads! In pioneer days the great lumbering carts with their 8-foot wheels of hand- hewed oak could be heard for miles screeching their way across country at a dizzy speed of two or three ralles an hour. Yet they were such im- provements over earller pack horses that they seemed almost luxurious. The evolution of transportation turns so rapidly that within the mem- ory of the middle-aged, today, there rises the picture of the first pufiing “horseless carriage” a third of a cen- tury ago. How it scared horses! a governor’s conference of 1910 Gov. Draper of Connecticut told of the ad- vanced strict laws of the Nutmeg State, which required every driver of an automobile to slow down and give timely signal with his bell or horn when a horse was_approaching the frightful machine. He explained that 20 miles an hour was the speed limit on country roads, but if a notice were posted warning Au::mobllea away they st not approach. ml(’}ov. Fortpnl New Jersey stated that in cities the speed must not exceed 8 miles an hour, but on roads where houses were 100 feet apart—so un- settled a reglon—the machines might be sent flying 12 miles an hour. No subsequent governors' conference has had anything to say about the prob- lems of traffic. Today, not only do automobiles dom- inate the highways, but horses must ‘beg for permission to trot where fliv- rs “rush in,” and not only are the orseless carriages” crowding equine ‘has-beens” off of ‘President Avenue,” but in traffic even pushing locomotives off the track as easily as did the scared runner clear the track when he cried to the jackrabbit to get out of the way and let “some one run who could run.” Millions of tons of freight and millions of passengers ride in automobiles in- stead of upon steam trains. What a far cry it is from the pack-horse and coach of the days of the Revolution to the motor truck and limousine of to- day! Tomorrow—the airplane. * x k% There has never been so tremendous a problem of engineering thrust upon civilization as that of handling the suddenly overwhelming traffic of auto- ‘mobiles, both passenger and motor car. The juggernaut was never so ferocious in mowing down its victims as is the American automobile. This country was grieved beyond the power of words when war took its toll of 67,818 American soldiers killed in battle or who died from wounds, and of 192,483 wounded and 14,363 “missing" or pris- oners. That was our toll of 20 months in the greatest war in history. It to Reims, had become no more than a heap of charred cinders which the executioner carried to the Seine, in order that no relic of her might be preserved.” A great and pitiful story. A story to bring out of every heart a deep tribute to the courage and plety and patriotism of Joan of Arc, wher- ever her jo] stands, wherever this and faithful 18 read, E 1 averaged about 3,400 a month of deaths, - ‘Today of automobiles more than vear—two-thirds as many a month a- all the bullets and gas of war slew per month. The fatalities are increas ing at the rate of 8 per cent a year The number has doubled in seven years. ‘The war wounded 10,000 Americar & month; today’s automobile is_cri} pling more than 700,000 a year—358.33. average per month. Look over vi first 150 {riends. One will be seriou injured next vear! These are offic statistics compiled by committees o the National Chamber of Commerce as to automobiles, and by the Wa: Department, as to the World War. * % ¥ x The danger is not confined crowded streets of the large cities Casualty maps show that more acci dents In proportion to people occur in the suburbs or country, where it is impossible to maintain guards to warn of the danger, than happen iIn the buslest streets. Methods under consid- eration for crowded thoroughfares can not be thought of for outlying regions For example, it has been suggested that elevated viaducts be built for all pedestrians in business streets, with in clined approaches and with bridges into the second stories of business places. we are killing in the track 000 & * ok ok Railroad mileage in the United States has not increased since the World War. The coming of the pneu matic and solid rubber tires is though by many to mark the decline of rails until only trunk lines for heavy and least valuable freight will so travel. Already many railroad companies are using automobiles in place of “peddler freight trains” for the car rving of local iraffic, while the com petition of trucks even for iong hauls as well as passenger travel has proved serious competition. According to a report of the burean of public roads of Connecticut, the State highway system of that little State carried motor truck traffic in the year ended September, 1924, amounting to 10,600,000 gross tons, be- sides 15,400,000 passenger car traffic Nearly half of that traffic was con fined to 366 miles out of the total of 1,780 miles of roads. The railroads are able to carry freight on level roads at about half a cent a ton mile, but that is over tracks costing from $20, 000 to $50,000 a mile to build, with proportionate expense to maintain The motor trucks traveling over high- type paved roads cost for fuel 1 cent a ton mile and over earth roads 1% cents a ton mile. Concrete roads in Connecticut aver- age cost of construction $40.500 per mile, and the savings in gasoline will pay their cost in 20 years. Advocates of the motor truck declare that the economies of truck hauling and house. to-house delivery are radically great in comparison with the old method of terminal to terminal. * * * ¥ ‘These are but a few of the problems to be discussed at the March confer ence. In addition, there will be mucl to say about the economic changes in soclety wrought by the automobile— the widening of habitable territor into distant suburbs, the broadenins of available markets for the dairyman the fruit and truck producer, the stimulating of health and appreciation and benefits of open life in touch with nature. * x % x There is no undertaking to set up a Federal control of intrastate nor even of interstate traffic. In his cloging re marks at the first conference Secre- tary of Commerce Hoover said: “Now, again, it has not been our purpose, nor has it developed in your debates, that we are engaged in the establishment of new organizations, but rather that we should establish co-operation between o1 izations and different localities. * * Not government from a central authority, but government by stimulation of the local community to its responsibilities and education of the local community to lr::,ll!lf!nt action. To me that is a far , a far greater solution than the constant drive to centralize the Government of the United States.” That principle, too, coincides with President Coolidge's recent declaration in his speech calling upon the State authorities to take upon themselves more of their State responsibilities in place of leaning upon the Federal Government for what the individual story | States should do. 4Copyrishi. 1930. by Paul V. Collmald