Evening Star Newspaper, March 22, 1926, Page 8

8 THE EVENING ST With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY........March 22, 1926 THEODORE W. NOYES . Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Thicazo Office: Tower Ru European Office: 14 Rezent St Togland Tondon, th_the Sunday morn Ing edition, 1 delivered bv cariiers within the city at B0 cents per month: dajly only 45 cents per monti: Sunday only. 0 cenis per ‘month, Ordera may be sent he mail Telaphona Main 5000 Collection is made L carrier at the end of each month The Evaning Star. Rate by Mail—Pay: Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday....1 yr. $9.00° 1 mo Daily enls ... 1 0 1 mo. Sundas only $00° 1 mo. All Other States and € Dafls and Sundav. 1 vr. 1700 Daily oni <5 o Sunday’ only . $1.00 1 mo.. £1.00 1mo 1 mo.. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is rxelusively entitled tn the e for cenulieatioy of all news atrhes credi 3 T niblished b ot tpecial disr Framing a New Organic Act. the sn ot oof 1 ubstituting 1sked to amend stantive law, the organic as amended in hy the lump-sum payment plan for the definite proportion plan of national contribution toward Capital mainte- nance and upbuildir In their protests hy petition azainst this substitution the people the Capital community have pointed out vigorously and Iy the unwisdom of this proposed enactment. If the lump-sum payment plan is to be continued either porarily as the result of tentative ap propr ner by ame law, Congress in molding the nie act into equitable shape less give tho two Congre of nest vear tem tive legislation or permanantly ment of the substantive e will donht sug which community makes in this connection: () The basic lump-sum appropri of $9,000,000 ought he annually in amounts and for specified, and (2) if there imum limitation national tribution toward Capital upbuilding through the District hill there should be also some reasonable limitation upon the corresponding contribution exacted without their conse the local taxpavers. Wit such limitation, or some dev complish the same end ing appropriations for great perma nent improvements in which the na tional interest dominates. from con- sideration in the District bill, injus- tices will result, like those which have been conspicuous and fagrant in ap propriations so far made for expendi tures by the National Capital Park Commission and in utilization of the Capital's accumula plus, These appropriations for zreat tions the Capital to increa ren i a max- upon con. pub, lic improvements can he made in some other supply bill Whan the District hill and financed Nation and Canits specific equi- | table the ump-sum Without vice the entire cxpense, fo of construction of the new w tem may in effect be thrown upon the local community either as taxpayers or as water consumers and rent pay ers, the United States participating only as the unlimited user of free water. In framing the District's latest fis cal organic act Congress will doubt- | less give to this task the same thoughtful, unhurried consideration of all the equities involved that marked | the molding of the original organic | act. * The proposition vigorously urged hy Representative Zihlman and Repre- | sentative Walton Moore that a joint committee consider thoroughly the proposed radical change in the fiscal relations of Nation and Capital and report for the consideration of Con. gress a rounded, definite, carefully constructed, equi ving fiseal system clearly the wisest and fairest framing of our new ganic act. Arts of song hetween taxpavers hy apportionment ontside of 20,000,000 on. contribng some such protective de- ample, ter sys. promises exercise peculiar charms, surpa those of states- manship. Tt may be douhtgd whether Mussolini will succeed in establishing an emotional sway comparable to that ing The League of Nations is organized for purposes of peace—one of the most difficult things in all human history to attain. A little obstruction and de- lay should not invite discouragement. ————— “Bobbed-hair bandits' are no longer referred to except in connection with the prices charged for a feminine hair cut. [EESE———— New York's Vehicular Tunnel. Several vears ago work was ‘startefl on the driving of a pair of tubes under the Hudson River between New York and Je City to accom- medate vehicular tr: It s announced that the first motc will be sent throush one of the next June and th will be put next twelve month of the construction, it will be $36,000,000, with an addit $10,000,000 for engineering and ad- ministrative expenses. Computations place the capacity of the two tubes at 46,000 vehicles daily as against 32,000 handled by the fourteen ferry lines. The hourly capa of the tubes at the peak of traflic is Agured at 3,800 cars in both directions. This vast undertaking will, it is expected, bring great relief to New York and New Jersey in the matter of moving traffic across the river. But it may result in in~reasing the trafic congestion in New York itself. At present comparatively few motor- ing residents of New Jersey take their into the eity. Most of them train hecause of the nz the 'North River = tubes nel the | st the entire within The total e into serviee is estim: cars commute” by diffienlty of © ferries may not mean, however, an equivalent addition to the number of cars daily reaching Manhattan from the Jersey side. In all likelihood the v use will fall off materially. Already there is talk of another tunnel for vehicular use. [t will not | be started, however, until there has been a chance to observe the werk- ings of the present one. Engineers estimate that the next under-river tube can be built much more cheaply and more speedily. This tube now appreaching completion presented particular problems, differing from those solved in the driving of the rallroad tubes now in service. The vehicular tunnel is twice the size of the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnel, being large enough for a two-and-a- half-story house to he shoved throu the bore from end to end. The ven- tilation problem is particularly sel ous in a vehicular tunnel. The ema- nation of combustion gases makes it necessary to change the atr freely and frequently. It is computed that by means of ducts with openings every fifteen feet there will be a continuous supply of fresh air entering the tun- nels throughout the entire length, the air being completely changed every ninety seconds, Plans for the construction of a sus- pension bridge across the Hudson, re- cently announced as approved, will be pressed despite the prospect of an early completion of the vehicular tun- nel. New York needs both znd more. e No Sweatshop Methods. Recently Secretary Mellon addressed memorandum to the heads of bu- of the Treasury Department them to endeavor to effect nsfers of two hundred employes under the program of curtail- ments, notably in the Internal Revenue Bureau, will he dropped at the end of the fiscal year. The purpose was, of course, to make shifts from the shrinking hureaus into others that are more stable in personnel, where va cancies are naturally occurring from time to time. to be filled either by transfers or hy new appointments, The thought simply was to give preference in the filling of such va- cancies to the two hundred who are to lose their places at the end of June. Now comes a member of the House of Representa#fves, who recently ac- quired some notoriety by a wholesale, indiscriminate attack upon the Gov- ernment’s personnel, and criticizes the Secretary of the Treasury for this humane endeavor. In a letter to the the Representative asks: “Why should you seek to keep two hundred useless employes on the Fed- eral v roll when there are already tens of thousands more Federal em- ployes than could be justified by the most liberal interpretation of the pub- lic need?" Congress determines the number of employes in the Government service. It has the last word on appropriations. n cut the Treasury force in two ar, but it does not do so because it well understands that the personnel is not excessive: that in many bureaus of the Government there is need of maore rather than fewer clerks of all grades. Secretary Mellon could not himself reduce the personnel without violating the law which provides for a certain number, and should he do so he would be subject to the severest criticism for neglecting his duty. The bureau of the bhudget carefully examines into the needs of every bu- reau and branch of the Government service. It ascertains the state of the wor the percentage of currency of administration, the amount of work done by each group of clerks daily, week! monthly, yearly. It prunes the estimates of every department and bureau chief to the limit of endurance and submits those estimates to Con- for approval or disapproval. Usu- ally the estimates are pared in enact- ment with the result that in practi- cally every office of the Government there is a shortage of force. From time to time the work of certain of- fices is diminished through legisla- tive action, as in the case of the In- ternal Revenue Bureau, the task of which will be lessened by the newly enacted amendment of the income tax law this vear. But in the other bu- reaus of the Government the work is increasing and the ‘clerical force does not increase in proportion. Uncle Sam should never be legis- lated into the role of a slave driver, imposing harsh conditions upon his workers, pushing them to the limit of human endurance, adopting sweat- shop methods to extort the maximum of product for the minimum of pay, which is the standard of Government compensation. Personal criticisms such as that just voiced may make good campaign material, but they are mighty bad legislative advice. et A few more years of study in Balti- more may enable Prof. Scopes to step forward and settle once and for all any controversy on the subject of evolution. —_————————— 1t is difficult to see why the world should not eventually organize on a peace basis, considering the success that has attended mergers in big busi- reaus sking tr: who, present Secre S Reduction of taxes makes no differ- I ence to the hootlegger. He did not pay any in the first place. e Shuffling the Buildings Pack. Adoption in committee of the whole of an amendment to the independent offices bill appropriating $250,000 to meet the expenses of a readjustment of certain offices of the Government will doubtless be followed by final action to this effect. It is important that the funds be provided, as a make- shift pending the completion of build- ings under the general construction program, which, it is hoped, will be authorized at this present session. The Government’s situation with regard to office housing has become serious. The lack of room is ham- pering every department and bureau. Combinations have become necessary to mect the most pressing require- ments. Yet even though offices are erowded together with only a rugdi- mentary regard for relationship, it and of findi age space for their cara in Manhattan. The addition of trapsit capacity for 46,000 cars a day i 3 82,000 now. carried by, the sto has heen found that 110,000 square feet of space is still available, and is rated as “wasted,” This space can, it i estimated, THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO THIS AND THAT bination of certain branches of the Department of the Interior under the same roof, that of the great depart- ment building at Nineteenth and G |- streets. To comprehend the manner in which the Government has, in the absence of a comprehensive building construction program, been compelled to manipulate its office housing, it is necessary only to point out that while some branches of the Interior Department are scattered outside of that structure, certain branches of the Department of Commerce are located there. The office of the so- licitor of the Internal Revenue Bu- rean is also there located. Thus the “Interior Building" contains parts of three departments, and not all of its own. With the $250,000 provided by the amendment that was tentatively adopted on Saturday it will be possi- ble to make a new shuffing of the Government-offices pack, to the end of saving the 110,000 square feet of spacé now wasted and to bring some- thing a little closer to order out of the chaos of room and building allot- ments. But this is only a palliative meas- ure. It does not actually provide for any more room and it makes no pro- vision whatever for future szrowth, certain to come. The only cure for the present wasteful, costly condition is the erection of a series of buildings, on a large scale of present and future provision, beginning immedi- ¢ That cure is proposed in a ure which is rated as one of the most urgent of the session, zction upon which is to be expectad before the gavels fall. Our Tax Burden High Enough. All loyal Washingtonians wish a maximum of development of the Greater Washington as the City Beau- titul, the City Healthful, the City Wise and the City Good, and a maximum of fair play in the taxation of them for National Capital purposes by a taxing” body in which they are not vepresented. All of Washington desires that the millions necessary to meet the accumu- lation of neglected war-time munici- pal needs, to maintain adequately the fine progressive Capital of today, and to develop worthily the Greater Wash- ington of the future shall be appro- priated and spent. All Washington also desires with equal fervor that equity shall dominate the division of the cost of this great projected develop- ment between the Nation and the N tional Capital local community between the taxpayers of today and those of the future, in such fashion as to cause the latter to bear their fair share of the cost of great permanent improvements of which they among Washingtonians will be the main bene- ficiaries, The District's 1926 property tax levy of over twenty million dollars and its per capita tax levy of $43.21 are high enough. The District is now bearing in com- parison with other cities an adequate tax burden and a sufficiently heav tax rate in view of its high standard of assessment®and of its comparative fullness of tax collection and of the peculiar disabilities under which it labors. hese contentions are to he elab- orated in a series of articles of edi- torial correspondence, the first of which is printed elsewhere in today's Star. r———— As professor in a school of journal- ism Trotsky may hope to establish a system of expression which will pro- vide for censorship at the source, r—————_ Every now and then the stock mar- ket asserts a disposition to be exclu- sive by shaking out the non-profes. sional traders. ——rwte Agitation in favor of light'wines and beer shows an impartial Inclination to- ward both France and Germany. e — SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Faith. ““April Fool! the rohin sings, And the crocus gayly flings Colors to assure the eya That the Winter has gone by. Storms again no doubt will heat Through the highway and the street; Yet, beyond are sunny skies— April Folly proves most wise. A Dry. “Are you a ‘wet’ or a ‘dry} " “Dry,"” answered Senator Sorghum. “I go further. When selecting cham- pagne vintages my sentiments are ex- tra dry.” Cleaning Up. The Coal Strike is over, they say. But it's sure to be many a day Till we're all clean and neat and serene. And the Charwoman isn't the Queen. Jud Tunkins says no man ever gets to be as smart as he wishes his grow- ing family would think he is. In Fashion's Discard. ‘What has become of the old hoop skirts?"” “The girls are off them forever,” answered the department store sales- man. “A hoop skirt looks too much like an enlarged mouse trap. Tut's Obsequies. We give him a funeral splendid, in- deed. His wealth—we make bold to em- ploy it. A pity it seems, as we humbly proceed, That he couldn’t have lived to en- Joy it. Fluctuations in Florida. “Real estate valugs fluctuate.” “Naturally,” answered the gentle realtor. “Everything depends on whether you are showing property at high tide or low tide. Crime. “Bootlegging is a crime,” remarked the law-abiding citizen. “Selling wicked whisky,” answered Uncle Bill Bottletap, “always was a erime. “Talk i8 cheap,” said Uncle Eben. “And judgin’ by de price of admission tickets even talk seems liable to git D3 oecome kind-@' Scazcs ApH-esnesivad, _ fONDAY, MARCH 22, 1926 BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘What an interminable amount of thinking and planning one can put upon something that another would regard as altogether inconsequential! We, having conceived the building of a terrace in the back yard, find sthers strangely uninterested in our project, It is true the thing cannot be re- sarded In the same light as the Lo- carno treaty, or the world-wide un- employment problem, Perhaps the prohibition issue Is paramount. Maybe the questions of schools, playgrounds, the sad state of modern youth and the necessity for the abolition of excess bugs are to be studied first. Rut that terrace, now! Having con- ceived the project, we find it daily as- sumes large importance i our eyes, and we wish our friends would become interested in it, too. We intend k about it early and late, tace project, So that friends everywhere will be forced, in the long run, to talk ter- race 1o us, as we desire to talk ter- vice to them. We are so interested in this race business that we might : hecome scientific, and look up definition in the dictionary that too big to he consulted every (That is our excuse for heing lazy.) “Ter-race,” says Webster's, “1. A raised level space, step, or platform of earth, supported on one or more faces by a wall. a bank or turf, or the like, whether desizned for nse or pleasure, often one of a series ar- ranged one above the other on a slope.” ter- well the is * o ok ok There we have our primary defi- nitlon. Now for the secondary: “Also such bank of turf, etc., and the raised level callectively, or a natural plat- form resembling such a raised level and such slde or sides.” Now we will have to make a defi- nition of our own, for the sort of ter- race we intend to build is neither a platform of earth nor a raised level collectively, nor a platform resembling level and such side ¢ our ter true enough, but it will be of fancy slabs of stone, and as for its side or <, it _or they will be formed of materials! Yo, the kind of terrace we contem building, is simply a stone to =it on, built adjeining the ack of the hou: the sun strikes so infrequently that flowers grow poorly there. This use of the word “terrace! becoming more common in the E having been imported from nia, we believe. Such a ter made of flagstones and us pergola over it, on and thr ne climbing r ome might call it " bhut, right or wrong, we prefer “terrace’ and will so designate what we intend to construct. Already we speak in terms of tons. Talking 1o a very pleasant woman who has the distinction of owning a quarry, we found out that we conld secure a ton of threedinch slabs for $8, which struck us as a isonable pr ugh which We like reasonable prices. Most people of experience at all have thefr own ideas as to reasonable prices, we have discovered, and will not ohject at all if the price quoted helow, what abov When the price, however, siderably over what they WASHING BY FREDERIC s con- rd as Tt's unlikely that the episode pro- voked by Ambassador Houghton's re- port on the European situation will blow over without consequences in a ety of directions. There are three distinc gles to the incident. One is international and may involve Mr. Houghton's own fortunes. Another concerns the purely American polit- ical aspect of the affair. The third brings up the ever-ticklish question of the relation of the Washington corre- spondents with administration news sources. Dispatches from and Paris indicate that Houghton's extraordinarily plain speaking—as ca- hled to Europe—has riled Rritish and French public opinion to the depths. 0ld World governments and peoples are immensely more sensitive to such things than we are. They have their being so directly and so constantly in an international atmosphere that events which ordinarily p: unno- ticed in the United States assume gigantic importance in Furopean eves. Of such a nature undoubtedly is the gloomy picture of transatlantic militarism, diplomatic intrigue and disarmament insincerity which, Eu- rope hears, Amt dor Houghton painted on his arrival in Washington last week. Foreizn envoys some- times do not survive the impairment of their usefulness, which commonly follows such developments. * ok ok ok 1f plans that were brewing during the week end eventuate in action, the Houghton episode is destined for an airing on the floor of .the United States Senate. Certain fighting mem- bers of the Democratic minority, who do not consider it a slander to be termed internationally minded, take undisguised umbrage at the methods ‘theyl think the Coolidge administra- tion employed on the Houghton occa- sion. They believe that the Ambas- sador was thrown into the breach, either willingly or involuntarily, to make anti-league and anti-World Court propaganda. These Democrats say they have never been persuaded that the administration’s interest in European co-operation is 100 per cent fervid. They believe that Republican irreconcilables, like Borah, have thrown a powerful scare into the G. O. P. high command on the sub- Ject of the League of Nations, and that the fear of Republican losses in the 1926 senatorial elections has sud- denly inspired Coolidge leaders with a desire to get out from under on in- ternational issues. As the league ship was rolling in very heavy seas over the question of admitting Germany, and for a day or two looked as if she might founder, Democrats dis- cern a -Republican anxiety to back out of *“entanglements” while there is still time. Hence, it is argued, the barrage of pessimism let down by Ambassador Houghton. * ok ok ok Several of the most responsible newspaper correspondents in Wash- ington, including representatives of the principal administration organs, left little doubt that Houghton on March 17 made the most depressing reports on Europe to President Cool- ldge and Secretary Kellogg. One of them went the length of asserting that the Ambassador had advised the Presi- dent to renounce the league’s disarma- ment conference on account of Eu- rope’'s “‘insincerity” on that subject. The State Department’s ‘“official denial” sets forth that the contents of Mr. Houghton's reports to his su- periors were not dischosed to any “un- official persons.”” That. of course, is a thrust at the Washington news writ- ers who disclosed them to their read- ers. The whole business has a cousinly resemblance to the stir caused in De- cember, 1924, when the White House, e is golng to he a level, | on the north, where | nd very little if it is some- | London reasonable they will object, often strenuously, too—and the joke is that most often they are right. You can fool all of the people—- * Kk kX The quarry owner informed us that we could get a ton of her stone for 8 iron men, and that said ton would cover hetween 35 and 40 square feet. A ton seemed an enormous amount of stone—but we should have known better. We have bought coal. Upon going home we got out the yardstick, which some chartable firm had kindly left at the front door—the name is on the stick, but we cannot remember ever having looked at it-—and proceeded to meas- ure the space whorcon we propose to superimpose a terrace. ‘This, to our astonishment, ured 9 by 8 feet, or a total of 72 square feet, which would require some 2 tons of stone slabs 3 inches thick. The bright idea then came—why 3 inches thick? Would not an inch and a half do, thus doubling the amount of coverage, making one ton do what two normally would. “But the lady said the should he 3 inches thick prevent them from be the fros Tis truy we helieve. The question meas. slabs ¢ to %0 the lady said, and so v resolves itself down to whether we would prefer to have 3-dinch slahs and have them whole, and pay $16, or he the proud possessor of 1tgdnch slabs in our terrace, and run the risk of having them erack, and pay $8 So the thing hoils down to a_matter of simple mathematics, with the old pockethook hold the key to the situation, as usual * %k ok We noticed a letter in an advertise. ment the other day in which the writer thereof declared he alwavs had liked the best of evervthing, and that was why he had purcha Well, we, ton, like the hest of ever: thing, but often the hest costs more than we fre 1o pav. Mayhe | you have similar difficnlty would prefer the Z-inch the thinner ones ought to do ahout as well. First, we propose to imply place them on top of the turf, and then erect a trellis on one side and allow morni glories Brow . The Kk steps, with their rafl, will form the other trellis, on which will he trained a similar screen of anese morning glories of the la | rufed variety. Along the front of this terrace of ours we intend to dig two small beds ahout 1 foot in width and pe haps 3 feet thus leaving an entrance was feet wide in the middle. o who are wrestling with the problems of the universe may not he much interested in what we will plant in those two heds, but we, who long ago gave up the joh of rounding up ind putting our brand on the world, are much interested in it As we sit at_our ease in the most comfortable rock: we can find, roc and forth on our fancy we want to he able to our flower heds into the r garden. We want to see our and our small friend, the hird. So we must not plar that will_grow more than feet tall. What shall it he? Suppose 1he slabs refuse to “stay | put.” and wiggle up and down? Ah, I building a terrace is just one thing after another! CRVATIONS WILLIAM WIL n | | | ont ove of our | gladiolus | hummin | flowers tions rega some publ remarks of the French Ambassador, forthwith disavowed them. The painful result < that newspaper men who had re. ported the White House spokesman in good faith were “left ont on a | lmb." Th in grave da they feel, of being deposited on the same | kind of a precarions lodging place on {the p t occasion. The Washington correspondents are not a unit on the hest method of reportin Aministra tion ne Some of them, objecti to hecoming the ats” whenever the exigeney requires, strongly advocate system of direct que ion of offi- Js. in order that responsibility on every occasion may be fixed. Other writers think the existing svstem whereby officialdom can disclaim re- sponsibility, has more advantages than drawbacks. * kK K than 1hitior to toga, which th 4. 1 No fewer bama Dem Osear will he off on They will fiht it out in the appros ing primarie the nomination, course, heing equivalent to elee John Bankhead, 5 tor from Alal Representative in the House, is a leading His rivals include Judge J. field of the State reme ( mer Gov. Thoma, Kilhy, Black, a distinguished lawyer, who ranks as the Ku Kiux Klan vorite, and another man, less well known in Washinston, named Mullins. Senator Underwood is maintaining strict nen- trality, hoping only that the best Democrat will win. The Senator’s fu- ture plans, bevond placid residence across the river in Virginia, are unde- termined, though memoir writing is in his mind. ad's M 4 h- of n. and a brother of inkhead, who is now andid. J. urt, for- Hugo * %k k¥ Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt, Assistant Attorney General in charge of prohibition_enforcement laws, isn't terrified by the big wet vote which newspaper polls throughout the coun- try are piling up. Notwithstanding them, Uncle Sam'’s “Portia” professes confidence that a_referendum on the eighteenth amendment would reveal a heavy sentiment in its favor— heavier even than existed when it became the dry law of the land. Straw votes, Mrs. Willebrandt says, never mean anything. She points out that the people with a grievance are the ones who vote and that those who are satisfied don't trouble to send in a ballot. James Montgomery Solicitor General of the United St is sailing for Europe in April a unofficial ambassador of the centennial at Philadelph chairman of the Federal commission which will have charge of Uncle Sam'’s exhibit at the exposition. Few American public men, though he never held office abroad, are better known in Old World capitals than the lawyer whom many of his co patriots look upon as the country’s master orator. 2 * K ok ¥ Over in the sculpture section of the National Museum there’s a bust of Calvin Coolidge on exhibition that is immensely more the real Coolidge than the Laszlo portrait now hanging in the White House state dining room. The artist, a Russian resident in Washington during. the past few years, 1s Moses W. Dykaar. He has portrayed the President’s stern coun- tenance, thin lips, aquiline nose and general mien with such utter faithful- ness that one almost expects the marble image to burst forth®in an economy program manifesto, The bust was designed for a place in the gallery of vice presidential ma bles in the Senate wing of the Cap- itol. * ok ko Senator Carter Glass, Democrat, of on.the floon of Gen. Grant’s Father Was Guest at the White House o the Editor of The Star: All Washington was interested in reading the article by Robert T. Small in The Star of Friday, March 19, to the effect that, within the memory of the oldest inhabitants of the National Capital, no one recalls that Presidents of the United States other than War- ren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge ever had the privilege of entertaining their fathers at the White House. The article in question seems to have been correct in o far as enter- tainment overnight is implied, but there must he a great many persons still residing here who can recall the t administration of Gen. U'lysses 8. Grant's fathe < Root was alive first term and was present at his first in anguration and thereafter at inter- vals came to this city and visited with land Yode with his illustrious s In chapter XI1I of Hamlin ¢ exhaustive book Gr Life and Character mother (Hannah Sim not present at the inauguration never saw Washington, never saw her son surrounded by the evidence of his power and attainment. ‘Uncle Jesse' was present with his daughter, Jennie, but they were not marked figures. * * * Old Jes weasionally came on during the administratjon and put up t a cheap hotel not far from ecutive Mansion. He called on his son or went driving _with him, but did not seek close companionship with the autocratic Father Dent. Mrs. nt desired her family togbe with and her sisters as well as her her and brother became residents of ashington and were often at the White House. pter XTV occnrs the following “During the first year of -ond term Jesse Root Grant in the $0th vear of his age. { Although the Presid k a special train he did not arri ime 1o see his father alive. 0l was re- puted to have said proudly, ‘I am the only man who ever lived to his son elected twice to the presidenc His last days were peaceful, though full of pain The elder Grant's record of which he thus boasted seems to be as yet secure. The al's failure 1o get there in time was erunner of the present Exeet « sad experience. rland’s nt: His in Jess hop Claggett and the Washington Cathedral. Bi: To the Editor of The Star The following may bhe of interest to Mr. Augustns Y, ay, whose “Plea for Memorials to Maryland Heroes” was published in The Star for March 1 The Right Rev. Thon vhn Clag gett, D. D.. first Bishop of Maryl nd, and the first hop to he conser ed in the United ates, died in 181 nd w buried heside his wife at Croom, Md. In 188% the g convention wal Church, meeting in the time. learned that 1s “not guarded by a mon- ument memory tions to the very hezinnings of our ec- clesiastical life” and they appointed a committee to arrange for the proper honorinz of his memory. In consequence of this the remains of the hishop and his wife were re moved to St. Alban’s Church, and from there, as soon as Washington Cathedral was sufficiently well ad vanced, to a vault in the crypt, where they are at present A immittes of the House ops has been wpointed to Washington Cathedral, when fi mpleted, a tomh like English and Eur a fitting memort was g0 prominent in the e hoth of church and state—for he was the first chaplain of the United States Senate, as well as the friend of many eminent peaple of his dav. And as Washi n Cathedral is de- signed to be nal cathedral, it could well be r memorials | not only to Maryland heroes, but to | those men who Live labored for the upbuilding of the Republic at any place and at any time. Consequently Washington Cathedral and its comple- tion may become a worthy object for the attention of all patriotic Amer- < (REV.) H. W. TICKNOR. v Capital’s Streets in a Disgraceful Condition of Bish orect in that edi those To the Editor of The Star: As a native Washi taking pride in the National I think it is an absolute disgrace—the condition of the streets of Washington —the most beautiful city in the world. Tt certainly seems to me that the American Automobile Association and the citizens' associations of the Di trict of Columbia would take this mat- ter up with Congress and that one of the papers would fight for better as- phalt streets for this beautiful city of ours. To those owning automobiles it is really no pleasure to drive over such ‘bumpty-bump and uneven thorough- fares—with holes in the asphalt asap- pears on at le 75 per cent of the streets of the National Capital. Bal- timore and Philadelphia, which are manufacturing cities—their streets in the business and residential sections are in far better condition than the streets of Washington. 1 know this to be a fact, as I have driven over them many times. ‘We, the automobile owners, pay a personal tax on our cars and it cer- tainly seems that we are entitled to better street conditions. I trust yvou will publish this, and I would like to see other automobile owners and prop- erty holders write to the paper, and also to the District Commissioners and members of Congress that are on the Distriet appropriations committee. Here's hoping Washington, the pride of nearly one-half million people, will have the finest streets in the world, which it should ! FORR ST H. RIORDAN. Danger of Luggage in Aisles of Street Cars. To the Editor of The Star: Is it -possible that something can he done to prevent passengers in street cars from placing their lug- gage in the aisles of the street cars where other passengers are likely to fall over the luggage to their serious injury? Such happened to me the other morning in going to the office, in a crowded car. You are at the mercy of any careless person who puts his lug- gage in the aisle for his convenience. It does seem to me that there should be some protection to the public from such carelessness. Is there any law to protect the pub- lic from such carelessness? Is the street car company liable to me for any damage that I may sustain? . J. W. HUNT. the Senate denied Senator Bruce's charge that the Virginian drinks both wine and heer. ‘What Glass concealed from the Senate is his real vice— molasses candy. He seldom goes to the Capitol without a supply and often offers It to friends and callers. the | Q. How much wine is drunk in France’—C. F. A. Last year more than a hillion gallons were consumed. Q. Please drift."—L. C. A. Al space is supposed to be filled with an imponderable substance called the, Taninieraie ather. 16 thie 16 true, we should be ahle to measure the ther drift,” or the motion of the earth through the ether, but all pre. vious attempts to do o had failed. Einstein said that such measurements were fundamentally impossible, and his theory of, relativity is b in rt on this assumption. Dr. Miller s now bheen able 1o measure this “ether drift” and has shown that pre. yus failures were due to insufficient de. the ether apparently heing ted along near the earth so t its drift past the earth can be tected only on high mountains. proof s likely to make necessary maodification gf the Einstein theory. Q. Is it proper In addressing a let- explain about “ether ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]J. HASKIN. and ofl of turpentine are also used in some varieties, Q. What is the population of Rus sia?—V. R. A. The is about 135,000,000, Q. Why is K street in Washington |so much wider than the other streets?—C, M. K. A. In 1792 or 1793 a bridge was constructed across Rock Creek ex- tending from K _street, and the theory of making K street as wide as Pennsyivania avenue was that @& great deal of wagoning would cross | the creek and go on out toward Bladensburg. latest estimate Q. Why is Becthoven's “Moonlight Sonata” so cal S, A M A. It is due to the fact that the ‘ritic Relistab likened the first move- ment Lake Lucerne by moonlight. Q. When did the first Jews come to the United States?—E. E. A. There are indications of isolated ter to a person in the same city to address it “City” or should the name of the place he written out?—', I, ( AT st Office Department does not advocate the use of the word “City" when a communication is heing sent to an addressee of the same city ax the sender. It is less confusing { for al clerks when the eity e are written after the street is address, Q in Are there ; Amerjca?—C. B. The blackbill and cnckon occur commonly in Summers throughout the ['nited States an stern Canada, but pass the Winters in Central or South America. The blac of the Rocky Mountains in midyear. The vellowhill cuckoo is known as the in crow. Its note ix supposed to predict rain. hirds here vellowhill Q. What is the purpose of th mitte on Public Relations of n Railroud: W, I . It is an association by ‘the Eastern railre auestia that the wants about the r | Com- maintained ds to answer zeneral is in that seetion ning of the name 0. MeN n Indian equivalent “Lake of Many Waters."” Q. How is wallpaper? —C. W. A. Paperhangers’ paste is wheat or rve flour beaten in eold water to per- fect smonthness and the whole just brought to a boil while being con stantly stirred to prevent hurning. A little ‘creosote or earbolic acid will make it keep much better for paste made to put en Q. What is the highest recorded in Virginia in years?—E. . The Weather Bureau says that the high mark for that period is 108 degrees Fahrenheit. It reached thiz point at West Point, August 16, 1918, Q. How current loss?—T. §. A. It depends entire of the wire. An ele carry fart Q. What does {eontain?—c. M | A. This varnish, which is nsed on | cast-iron goods to impart an enamel like surface, is composed chiefly of lampblack and turpentine. Asphalt tempe the last r will a rry withe valt electric noticeahle on the size eurrent will rEer wires, Brunswick black s | viack pepy bill cuckoo does not ocenr west | public | arrivals in the colonies, but the first {important _ settlement wis m in ‘ew York hy a party of Jew | il 16, | @ What is the der; | wora “taritt”: —B. | A. There was a the north coa of Moorish pirates levied passing ships. Our word comes from that. Q. | white and black peppe | A, White pepper is r. in ation of the town, Tarifa, on Africa whenee tribute on probab! What is the difference hetween A B.D; well ripened | Q. Of what form were the anc poisoned rings?—T. W. D. A. There were two forms poison rings, those simply afford in the hezel a secret receptacle. that the poison might alwavs be at | service for the purpose of suicide and those provided with a hollow point to which, on touching the sprin 1s in @ snake's far the venom ran | %o that the murderer could xive i king hands. atal scratch while s the st ng first English @. When adulteration | conmion lof food A was he legal statute in adulteration of food appears from the reizn of King John, England, 1203, when a proclama- tion was made throughout the nation enforcing the lezal oblization as re gards bread In the following reign of Henrv Il a statute was passed entitled “Pillory and Tumbril | act™ for the express prirpose of “pro- tecting the public from dishonest practices of hakers, viytners, brewers, butchers and other: This _statute, which carried severe penalties, was not repealed until the reign of Queen Anne in 170 Gen. Rohert E. Lee said: The thor- ough education of people is the most efficacious means of promoting the prosperity of the Nation.” These words of the distinguished Southern general are none the less true now than when he spoke them. Our Washington Information Bureau is ane of the greatest agencies for the distribution of free information and cducational data in the world. Its services are free to readers of this paper. ALl yog need to do is to send in pour query together with 2 cents in stamps for return postage. Address The Evening Star Information Bu- rean, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. | | In Face Pushing its way into the first rank lof editorial discussion. -like the in | sistent flapper nerself. once more the | question of whether or not bohbed | hair is to stay or go is being debated {in the public press, following prognostications of doom by tain parties,” professionally | mistic. Commenting on the announcement that emanated from the recent an- nual convention of the American Master Hairdressers’ Association in ew York City to the effect that bed hair is to find an _immediate | finish,” the Waterbury Republican ! sees considerable overconfidence in {such a flat statement as it notes that “modern woman, fortunately, is in- dependently arriving at her own con- clusions as to what she will wear. We suspect that even though the hafrdressers are giving dire threats of fmpending baldness among women, this effort to drive out hobbed hair will fail.” says the Republican. as it hazards “the guess that for at least a generation to come they are more likely to change the styles of ha pessi- * ok ok K The decree of the master hair | dresses in the opinion of the Terre Haute Star, “comes as a sad jolt to the people of the land. right at this time. when the last grandma in the Uhited States has | Ainally succumbed to the prevailing |fad and put her long. grayv locks under the shears. RBut the decree | of the hairdressers is the de- declares, as, continuing. it say final decision will be made by American women. “Reports of the passing of bobbed hair and the return of long tresses for women have been persistent,” remarks the La Crosse Tribune and - Leader Press, and yet “it is apparent that women are cut- ting their halr shorter and shorter, with the end not vet in sight. Young to the quite universa! conclusion that ‘shingles,’ ‘boyish hobs' and the mul titude of other styles ot hobbed hair are sanitary, convenient, time-saving, becoming and belying to age, and that hobhed hair is a blessing to woman- | hood in younger vears.” affirms this journal. * ok ok ok at the vouth-conferring power of bobhed hair has interested Ameri can women more and more in other forms of heauty aids is the statement of the Topeka Daily Capital. which sayvs: “The bob has democ art of beautification. Formerly women of wealth could afford patronize a beauty shop. Now heauty shops derive their chief support from stenographers, housewives, office workers and shop girls. Popularity of the bob has led to the almost uni- versal adoption by American women of other alds to personal adornment."” Even the voice of Paris seems not to be as effective on this matter of styles in hairdressing as it was wont to be on styles in attire. Says the Ann Arbor Times News: “Bobbed hair may be right or it may be wrong, in principle. Our opinion is that the question is largely a matter of every woman'’s own business, her only obli- gation being to arrange her tresses in the most becoming manner. Anyway, we shall be disappointed in the Ameri- can woman if she permits any French- man to-decide the question for her." This remark is occasioned by the fact that M. Magnanaro, the superin- tendent of the “Societe du 1'rogr e la Coiffure,” a French hairdressers’ orzanization, has also stated that “hobbed hair is doomed.” Comment- ing on this news from overseas. the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader advises “those who fancy bteing in the van- guard of ney fashion devotees to take notice, and. from under while the Bobs Still Shake Defiance the | “cer. | cutting than revert to the long hair." | especially | and old, male and female, have come | of Hairdresser | getting is good. as it announces to | its readers thAt “the latest reports from Paris sav the bobhed hair regime |18 about over, and that another year will see the end of ft." * ok ok % The St. Louis | | figuratively speaking | to M. Magnanaro ving: “As for us he-men—we fellc ith hair on our | chests—for us, the passing of the bob is an occasion to cut loose. Let every last one of us lift a zippy glass of to M. Maznanaro and just like that.” ing of bobhed hair 1= by no means a universal custom in the United States is the contention of the Worcester Evening Post. which states: “That the vounger generation is not entirely devoted to bobbed hair leaves the question open as to whether they ever will he. The two vouns women most talked about in this count; continue to wear their hair long and they have no relish for bobbed hair. They are Helen Wills and Marion Talley. Both are netable examples of poise and self-control and hy ne means are be considered freakish in their tastes. There are | thousands of other capable girls, continues the Post, “who alse wear | their hair long." * t Dispateh, raises jts glass to * % Referring to n that certain harbers who the fair sex is losing its womanly charm.” the San Fran ecisco Bulletin believes that *'a protest from barbers would seem to be the ast word in ingratitude. seeing that bobbing has added millions of dollars to tonsorial revenues.” The Bulletin “if the fashion continues, women will become not only bald but bearded,” and says Dl Woman has not vet gone the length of imitating man by boxing the head in an air- tight compartment. As for the spread of beards and baldness among women. that is a matter of less concern for the present generation than for pos terity. and as a humorist once re- marked. ‘Why should we worry about posterity? What has posterity ever done for us?' " ———— “War Between the States.” mes. whivh has described by a corre- as “the leading paper in refers to the Civil War as War Retween the States.” is_correspondent, however, fakes the Times 1 K and declares her - ny war between s, There was a_ war by 11 in rebellion to destroy the here ig no use discussing these old tters. The only thing that the uth has ever contended was that there was ample justification in the Constitution for secession. There fs no contention that it would have bean best to have two republics in this country, but the men who studied the constitutional history of America have founded their position upon the docu- ment as originally formed. Strange to say, all this discusflion originated from the announcement that the Louisiana State University would dedicate its new plant in April. No less a personage than James G. Blaine emphasized before the world the doctrine that Louisiana was a sovereign State and that the General Government was net responsible for her acts. This was after the lynching of Mafia members in New Orleans when the kingdom of Italy protested against the treatment of itx nationals. Whatever one may think of the war between the North and the South, the New York Times is right when {instead of characterizing the Civil ‘ War as & war of hellion, it al- ludes to f#t as the War Betweep *%e States. -