Evening Star Newspaper, April 3, 1926, Page 6

6 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. THEODORE W. NOYES. . . . Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Bu-iness Office and Penneylvania Ave 110 Fast 42nd St wer Tuilding 14 Rerent St. Loodon. neland 11th st New Yo Office . Chicazn Office Furopean Oftice The Frepinz Star. with the $i InE edition. fs deiivered e e The it Bt GO sents mer month - daile only 45 cents per month: Sunday only. 20 cents P month. - Ordera mar he sent by mail or Talanhone Main 5000 Callection ¢ made by rriet at the end of earh month nday morn Jere within o Rate by Mail—Payable 4n Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Pute and Sundas =000 1mo Daiix nnly <001 mo Eundar only £3.00: 1 mo. 1w 50 1er oe 48 250 Al Other States and Canada. 230 Sundar .1 yr. $12.00:1 mo., 81 oaix v Tss0n: 1 ma onls 15r. $10001mol 00 ihe aBe Member of the Associated Press. The Acsnr tn the e pate o Duhliched horein of inecial Not Going to Geneva. 1t is indicated by the White House “spokesman” that President Coolidge 1< appreciative of the courtesy of the l.eague of Nations in inviting the United States to send delegates to Gieneva to discuss the Senate's reserva tions to the resolution ratifying the World Court protocol, but that the in vitation will not be accepted. This overnment. it is indicated. prefers io adhere its original plan of dis- enssing the reserv separately ecach the fortv.eight nations which are members of the court. If this the decision has heen reached the President and Secretary Kellogz it is to be assumed that they have zood and sufficient rea- ®ons for it which it has not been deemed expedient to make public. This lack of other apparent reasons has led to the conclusion, which must he embarrassing to the administration, rd Pros is exclusively rntitied hes craflitad to it or not otherwiss cred- A1 righ of nuhlication patches herein are als d reserv: o tions - with of s which by that its decision not to participate in | the conference is hased on the fact that the invitation was issued by the leazue ot Nations. To view is to accuse the American Gov- ernment of inconsistency. The United States has participated in other con- ferences called under league auspices, and rizht now is on record as being willing to send delegates to a league: called conference on the limitation of armaments. There must be other. and very compelling, reasons for refusal to participate in a conference to discuss American adherence to the World Court protocol. It is unfortunate that the reasons which have influenced the President and his advisers cannot be made pub- lie, for a round-table conference of the nation members of the court would seem to be not only the simpler and more effective way of resolving difficulties which may arise, but it would with the traditional American doctrine that friendly con- ference face to face is the besi pos sible way of reaching and maintaining international accord. 1t would be known to all the conferees, of course, that the American delegates would lack authority to agree to any change In the terms of American adherence to the court—that any changes pro posed would have to be referred back to the President for approval and to the Senate for assent. But certainly it would be much casier to reach an understanding around the conference table than by separate correspondence with forty-eizht separate governments. Uniess the United States intends to assume a “take it or leave it atti- tude with respect to the court it necessary that there shail be discus. and effort to reconcile con flicting views. The end would be the same. no matter which method of con sultation was adopted. Neither the President, by individual correspond ence, nor American delegates at the proposed Geneva conference, could accord is sion an change the terms of adherence to the | court without the consent of the Sen ate. And an understanding which pos- sibly could be accomplished In a few at Geneva mizht months and even years to achieve 1 meparate negotiations. R e The old moral will never be elimi nated from the story of the bold and clever criminal. Only n be felt for the career Gerald Chapman mizht have made for himself if he had decided o live no less energetically bt more honestly o weeks require regret c: How Many Gallons to a Tiger? When the Aaharajah pf P wants to go hunting he tells a tionary to tell another functionary to tell the head huntsman tell the head chauffeur to erder out his highness’ sport car. It was construct o4 specially big-gzame huntin It is enameled all over in camouflaze shades and patterns. It has search lizhts for pursuing zame at nizht. It has gun rests on either side of the rar so constructed that the weapons ran be brought into use instantly. It i« equipped with which the occupants can aim and fire with steadiness while speed. to for devices by traveling at any This car has buffers which enable it | ta force its way through dense brush #r to fend off stampeding animals. Tt has an exhaust whistle powerful enough to frighten off at taek. It has two-gallon ‘drinking water tank, space for four daye’ pro. visions, plenty of wines and liquors and a Red Cross outfit. It has. besides all these conveniences, luxuries too nwmerous to mention About the only things overlooked seem to have heen explosive shrapnel bombs and poison gas containers. Perhaps it has 2 radio, and surely an ice.-making ma- chine, The Maharajah climbs in and off he Woe betide the maddened tizer who shall attack it. or the buck that flees away from it. Safe as the ‘crew of a tank surrounded only by infantry- men. the ruler of this Indian state can blaze away. hit or miss, from dawn till dark, or, if he wishes. from Aark till dawn. He has a zrand time and brings back more trophies for his paraee or to present to distinguished cuesta. He need never irom his seat unless he wishes. His activities are somewhat comparable to those of any rear a ~ ....April 3, 1926/ = Tenunlieati of all news die- f in thik paner and alco the local newa | hold such a| lthe rea-bloodea American who back in the seventies rode out on the unfin- ished transcontinental rallway and jtrom plush seats slaughtered a few ,dozen buffalo. | Biil Smith of Plymouth Noteh, Vt {or Ed Lentz of Schuylkill County, Pa. ene Jackson living in Sevier {County. Tenn.. or Joe Ferguson of British Columbia. or Armand Thibault of Quebec decides to go hunting. He oils up his high boots, sets out his mackinaw, his heaviest shirt and his flapped cap, fills a haversack with doughnuts or & “pone” of bread and a | canteen with coffee, “split”” or “moun- tain dew.” grahs his forty-seven. {doNar rifle and his two-dollar-and-a- {half knife, tells his better half to ex pect him when she sees him and steps into the woods. He may meet a deer; {he may even meet a lvnx or a bear. | The chances are he gets him and ar \rives either with fresh meat or a !trophy on which there is a satisfving bounty. Alone. unalded, with his own | keen eves, his own sensitive nose and {his knowledge of woodcraft, he out- {smarts and outdoes in patience the | denizens of the wild. He has no horn: jor | no searchlights, no device for steady iming except his own lean, brown, left hand or, perhaps, a convenient limb. Comparisons are odious. They al- ways have been and always will be. But, generally speaking. when you fall into a daydream which hunter would you rather be? — rate— | 'wo-Minute ““Flights.” In view of the meticulous regurd for the letter of the law. which has { heretofore governed the decisions of the controller general in to | pay and allowances of officers of the | Army and Navy, the action just an | nounced in the case of Col. William Mitchell is surprising. Under the rules regulating the aliowance of fiy ‘mz pay, aviators must spend four { hours in the air or make ten fights | during each month. If they lose time they can catch up by making extra flights. During November and De- cember Col. Mitchell made no flights. He was otherwise engaged. preparing for the military court proceedings, which resulted in his sentence of sus- | pension from active duty. On the however. the colonel flights. Within respect { 16th of January { made thirty-seven seventy minutes he “took off” from the ground that number of times, { thereby making up his quota of flights for the period of three months. Kach fof these “flights” lasted little less than two minutes. It would appear from the decision that the controller | general considers a two-minute per- formance a sufficient compliance with the law, for he has made a ruling that the officer, now resizned from the service, should be paid on the fly- { ing pay basis and by this decision the dds $1927 to his final ex-officer | voucher It would seem somewhat | strange that no minimum time has | ever been established for a “flight.” { Obviousiy in this case the machine could nou have been off the ground !in any fight tor more than half a minute, counting the take-off and the landing =s part of the flight. The theory of higher pay for fving oficers is that a hazard is involved and that practice increases the offi- cer's effectiveness and future value to the service. The hazard in a two- minute flight s certainly not particu larly great and in this case the offi- cer's value to the service is not markedly increased in view of sub- sequent happenings. However, the decision, for the present at least. sets the standard that any departure from (he surface. however brief, is a flight. It remains to be seen whether this case will stand us a precedent, to en- courage permit fivinz officers to make up their quota of fAights by rush methods. to he 1 or oo A Bullet-Proof Shield. A bullet-proof vision shield tanks has been developed by the ord- nance b h of the army. and suc- | cossful tests have been held near San | Francisco. The device, which Is made | of steel, is a mushroontlike cap with {4 series of small apertures cut into it. | ‘Fhese npeninzs are too small to see | through when the screen is not rotat- :m;. but once it is in motion they { blend into « band of light which gives | excellent vision. ‘The heaviest fire | of muchine-gun bullets is instantly de- | fected when striking the shield. and | zuncers behind it have the novel sen- | Sation of seeing death-dealing missiles side within a foot of their for | turned & faces. Considering this and other inven- since the days of the World War, it is not difficult to understand that if warfare ever again envelops nations the carnage resulting will defy imagination. Under the water and in | the air. in bullet-proof tanks, with | lonz-range guns and deadly gases, the next war looms as one of extermina- tion that will dwarf the frightful toll of the world conflict. o Those who blame the Puritan fa- | thers for prohibition lack historical authentication. There was more an- tazonism in early New England to n to hard cider. Whittemore Wants Company. Richard Whittemore, head of a zang of gunmen thieves recently cap- tured in New York. wanted in Balti- more for the murder of a prison guard and in Buffalo for the murder of two bank suards there, has just been taken (o the latter city for trial. He recent- v souzht to secure immunity for his wife is under arrest, by promising to reveal the full story of his crimes, but this proposition was re- jected by the district attorney in New York At Buffalo, Whittemore, perhaps feeling that there is little chance of escape from punishment, {said to the prison guards: “Believe me, I'm not going tos burn aléne for this job. If I go to the chair some other guys are going with me.” The hope is that Whittemore will tell his full story. He was the head of a large gang of criminals, Just how far he was the “master mind,” as the phrase goes, is not yet clear, but it is believed that he directed an extensive series of criminal operations, in the course of which several lives were taken. Three murders at least are at- Liributed to him. Others are suspected. tions tea tha { i i who also men If he could take to the ‘‘chair” with him' all who took part in any degree in these murderous enterprises a great service would be rendered to society. But, of course, Whittemore is not thinking of society. He has no desire to protect people from depredations. No moral sense inspires him now. He is still “hard-boiled.” His threat that he will not “burn alone” is Actuated by a spirit of vengeance. A wholesale conviction and execu- tion in this case would be of great help in the fight against crime. It would break down the morale of gun and crooks of all grades and classes. So it is much io be hoped that this remarkable man will, with- out seeking or gaining immunity for himself, bring into the toils of the law those who worked with him, what ever their degree of At in his erimes, partic n e .- Subventions to Cities. Not only does the Nation expend millions (toward which District makes substantial contributions) upon the States without permitting the Dis. trict to share in this distribution, but the States (and counties) spend mil- lions upon their great cities in sub- ventions. ‘The national contribution for Capital upbuilding (a refund of about one-half of the District's cur- rent contribution in Federal taxes) is thus made to serve as an economical substitute, both for national aid to the State and State aid to the city. The census bulletins of 1923 show that in that year in such subventions New York received over 13 millions. Chicago, Philudelphin and Detroit over 3 millions, lLos Angeles. Newark and Oakland. Calif.. over 2 millions, and 1en or more cities over one million Not only does the Nation contribute a number of the States a greater percentaze of the money paid by these States in Feder taxes than it pays from the District's Federal taxes in upbuilding the National Capital, but these expendiiures upon the Nation's city are more unquestionably consti- tutional, move distinctly appropriate as national outlays and more In ac the to i cordance with the precedents set by other nations than most of the sub. sidies paid to the amount of hundreds of millions to the States. All the zreat nations of the world appropriate lurge 1y for their capitals without, however denving the residents of the capitals | any rights or privilezes. political Judicial. enjoyed by other nationals This subject is discussed in edito! correspondence printed today’s Star. elsewhere in — see—a 3 Controversy concerning, evolution 30es on despite the fact that it prom ises no solution of immediaie problems concerning taxes There s always a large amount of in tellectual enerzy ready to expend self on controversy sike. : or disarmament it [ — immediately produced hy pirit influence are heinz displaved in London by Arthur an Doyle, The patieni Summer sardener may he induced to investigute in the hope of arriving at rapid and methods. Flowers mo reliahle - As an exponent of Russian politica! literature Trotsky will find it difficult to keep up with the prestize secured by the exponents of Russian and daneing. music IS, Reduction of taxes will not prevent a Treasury surplus. No stock fuc tuations can contradict so convincing an evidence of national prosperity. o It now appears necessary to prove that the notorious joy party bathtub in New York contained less than one. half of one per cent of alcoh: ——ome A senatorial election from lowa may be prolonged in Capitol controversy to 4 point where most of the voters have forgotten all ahout it, P Employment o ex-convicts in Ohio to assist in enforcing prohibition offers a terrible temptation to backsliders. SHOOTING STARS. RY PHILANDER JOHNSON History Repeats Itself. We start with purpose very high: Our hopes are bounded by the sky; And next we say. in accents ters “Well. after all, things worse! might he The World, the Nation and the King, The Courtiers and the Serfs who bring A bale of hayv—a bit of verse- Unite and “"hings might worse!” say, Each generation plods along With arts of industry or song, And in the end, the solace nurse: “Let's all cheer up! Things might be worse! Beauty of Organization. “Many a man wastes his talents in politic: “Yes,” ‘veplied Senator Sorghum: “but politics enables many a man to disguise the fact that he hasn't any." Philosophical Acceptance. Man must be patient. here helow, Nor turn to vain regret. We just turn on the radio And take what we can get. ‘The Beneficiary. “Who got the hetter of strike?” T don’t know. But in my particu- lar household the pneumonia germ has been acting rather cocky.” the coal Jud Tunkins says blue laws are al ways sure to develop an epidemic of color blindness. Short Answer. irandmother was speaking of when she was a girl in short dresses. “What did she say?” “That the dresses aren't nearly as short as those she is wearing now.” The Champagne Bath. They filled a bathtub with cham- pagne: The world protests with might and main. . Should wine return? Oh, let us hope We need not mingle it with soap! “De boy dat minds his parents,’ said Uncle Eben, “is a good boy, an’ it’s up to de parents to lead de kind of lives to let him grow up to feel dat his confidence wasn't misplaced.” THIS AN BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. News of the death of Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, “pretend- er to the throne of France, carried interest 1o booklovers throughout the world. When the cables flashed that the Duke of Guise had succeeded his cousin as “head of the house of France” a world of memories came to readers of hooks. In the long list of historical novels by Alexandre Dumas. those names play a prominent part, so that booklovers. hearing of the death of Louls Philippe, imagined history it- self_had come to life again. What a world Dumas, the elder, spread out for succeeding agzes in the various volumes in which one of the possible heirs to the throne had bui 1o call out, “A son of France!™ | (o save himself! Those who have read serles, for instance. will feel as if meeting an old _friend in Louis Philippe and the Duke of Guise. The name of Henri. a son of the latter, who will be the next "pretender,’ sounds familiar. 100 Thus history. modern times, ro- nunce and science (through the cable) meet in the newspaper. as we read of those who have Kent alive the idea of a “house of France.’ To many readers the historical aspects of the matter were of prime inierest; o others, the literary. It is this latier phase we would con- sider here today. History, transmuted, even changed to suit the plot. is more agreeable in the guise of fiction to many whose | minds work more readily with pic- tures (han with names and dates, *ox ok % “I'he Conspirators™ (pre. snsidered in thix column) and gent's Daughter” we have the name of the Duke of Orleans on al most every wlong with much ahout the Guises In fact. these names <ucceeding Aukes came along in the decades, ob trude themselves in many of Dumas stories, as they were so wound up ! with the reyal history of Erance. Whether or not such history ax we | get in Dumas Is accurate is somewhat beyond the point. since the atmos. phere of the periods is given so capa- bly Thus it is a secondary matter if our names and dates are jumbled we may straighten thum out in any | encyclopedia or history | The “local coloring” of “The Con spirators.” for instance, will remain | with always This tale iz often printed under the title Le Cheva lier D'Harmenthal.” 1t is, as we have | said before. one of the best of Dumas’ | storles, for interest. construction and | the intangible qualify we have tried to label “‘atmosph re. Il Readers of the story will never for- | zet Philippe le Debonnaire. about whom there was a popular senz end ing with the words For T am Philinoe the debonnaire Philippe the debonnaire * The picture of Philippe scramb to safety over the housetops. as D'Harmenthal and his rowdies lurk in the strect below to Kidnap him. is as good as any to be found in fiction, although not o well known as some. | Throughout the story one zets a real | admiration for the regent. who really was ruler of France His carefree, though settled disposition, makes an hle character in a novel, at any the Valois In Dumas page. ng Interest in Prohibition F ight Intensified by Straw Voting Straw votes conducted by | papers in many sections of the'coun- | | try have served to intensify public { interest in the prohibition controversy | vefore Congress and to make more than certain bitter contests over this | i=sue in the Fall elections. | Whether the newspaper balloting is regarded as mere wet propaganda or ) & true reflection of public opinion, de- | pends upon the peint of view. For | instance. the St. Paul Ploneer-Press, [ while conceding that everybody knows that such polls are not absolutely ac- | curate, adds: “But they do reveal the | trend of public sentiment. And it is | significant _that every poll taken in the United States on prohibition has shown 4 heavy majority against it. |Just as confidently, the Houston Chronicle declares the polls are no in- | dication of the country’s sentiment hecause “only the persons with a deep personal urge in the matter vote.” x news- | Summing up the whole situation with especial reference to recent de- | velopments in the wettest of wet cen- | ters, the Newark Evening News ob- | | serves: “New York and New Jersey | | are two of the wettest States in the { Union, vet they (the wets) cannot | pass memorials in their own ‘wet' States, In face of this showing ‘wel who indulge in unrestrained jubilation over such signs as have appeared of a changed public sentiment are going too fast. A crack has come, but it is not wide enough to warrant expecta- tions that the country is ready at this time to alter the Volstead law.” That prohibition is to be the big ssue of the elections this year is no | novelty, according to the St. Louis | Post-Dispatch, which declares “it has | been a big issue in American politics since its inception.” But the one question to he settled now, s the | Post-Dispatch, “is whether the origi- ! nal republic, founded by the fathers, i to be preserved or a Kederal em- pire is to be established. It is high { time for the American people to check | the imperial movement. R The effect of all the agitation upon | Congress has been reflected in fury of debate alone, the Brooklyn Daily Kagle notes, with the “‘wets” naturally aggressive and the “drys” on the de- fensive. “Nothihg definite in the way of action need be expected at this ses- sion,” the KEagle thinks, but ‘“this much is certain, however: the issue will figure more largely in the cam- paign than ever before, and any means that aims to crystallize senti- ment one way or the other and give some measure of light to the law- | makers will be helpful to a better consideration of the most vexed prob- lem now before the American peo- e P The Dayton Daily News holds that a fairly and openly conducted news- paper poll cannot “be dismissed as | propaganda, as some dry leaders | would have it,” and the Columbus { Ohio State Journal continues in the | same vein, accounting for a change | in sentiment, “it is not due to wet propaganda, as the dry extremists | continually shout, but to the conclu- 8ion of a part of the sober-minded citizenship that, all things considered, prohibition has not improved moral conditions, but has had the opposite effect.” * K * The Grand Rapids Herald favors a straight-cut, legal settlement of the is- sue. An official restatement that “American majorities are ‘dry’ today as when the elghteenth amendment was promulgated,” this paper argues, would leave so clear a duty upon a law-abiding public that it no_ longer could e avoided or evaded. “We may be right or: we may be wrong,"” con- ¢cludes the Herald. “At any rate, we have sufficient confidence in this opinion to welcome the official ref- erendum which would settle it." . The Columbia Missourian believes | that ‘“‘the psychology of the situation | is in favor of the weis” because *‘those | such | shaking up. and they | lieve that THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON., D. €. SATURDAY. APRIL 3. 1926. D THAT “The Regent's Daughter,” a sequel to the foregoing, is a good tale, which we get more of the ‘‘insid story of the royal family, particularly some inimitable descriptions of the interlor of fashionable residences of that day. These two novels are distinguished by the picture of Dubols, the prime minister, a vulgar, sly, efficient fellow, whom the reader almost comes to like in the end. In these stories. ax in all of Dumas, it should be remembered that we are reading a historian of a different kind. In all seriousness, Alexandre Dumas regarded himself as a true historian. He believed that 1o give names and dates, official history, was well enough in fte way, but that better historical writing was produced when # man made a study of a period and at- tempted to reproduce some of the poetry and romance of it. 1t is much to his credit that at even %0 late a date as 1926 the most ““up-t date” biography being written through- out the world finds itself turning (o the very same method. Today the fashionable “method” in biography is to take a character and make a human being out of him, not @ hero cut and dried to order. Alexandre Dumas, although some will not accord him the credit, was a pioneer in this method as applied to the novel. There were “historical novels” be- fore his time, but when he came along he turned out some real ones. Even the critical English, in their most criti- | eal reviews. contrasted Dumas’ meth- ods with those of their own historical novelists, almost invariably to the dis. credit of their own story tellers, in favor of the Dumas method 6w A that hetter in “Margaret of Valois.” “Chi dester’™ and “The Forty-five than in many an elabo rate tome. In these Bumas stories various Dukes of Guise crop up. plot. counter plot snd go their way. There are fas cinating duchesses. some with golden shears swung at thelr girdle to crop close the hair of the king before he is exiled. In “‘Chicol the Jester.” incomparable story, one sees the Duke of Guise helding a secret meeting in a monas. tery. all the monks heing soldiers in diszuise. Unforgettable is the scene in which the plotiers seize him whom they take to be the king force him to sign his abdication, only to find in their hand a document signed: Chicot 1. Many other Dumas stories contain the names which appeared but last week in newspapers throughout the world With all the faults of the old nobles they were zreat in their way. and no one todav can blame them for being ud of their names and thefr fam . nor for desiring to zet back on a one, perhaps Life is life. human nature. Apparently we can change neither. One realizes all' this better after delving into the human docu- ments called the “historical romances of Alexandre Dumas.” Afier vou have read about the “pre- tender” ‘in the paper, turn to your Dumas shelf therefore as well as to vour history hook Thus history i the Guardsmen’ s one = iture is human 1 poll, while all those who are in of a modification of the Jaw as themselves clamorously.” ook ok “There is no denying that the pro- hibition storm has assumed formidable proportions and will do some damage somewhere hefore its fury is spent.” declared the Washington €. H Herald. “The drys have long needed a seem due to re. The Kansas City Post sugz gests, however, that dryx win the official elections. they can he content to let the wets pile up a straw-vote majority until the cows come home.* The Evansville Conrier does not be- the modificationists will be able 10 go very far.” for. “while the dry amendment remains in the Con- stitution—and it ix probably a fixture there for this generation. at least— beverages strong enough to produce veal infoxication in ordinary drinking vould be condemned by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, and would be an end of that.” * ok ox % The refusal of the New k islative assembly to approve a erendum on the question of morializing Congress for a wines and beer” amendment to the Volstead act leads the Spokane Spokesman Review to this comment The wets have overplaved their hand in their stronghold. There Is visible in New York a reaction for State en- forcement of the prohibition laws and against the defiant lawlessness of the lguor traffic. It shows that even in New York State. dominated by the most notoriously wet city in America, a large majority of the members of the Legislature, in close touch with their constituents, have not heen stampeded by wet propaganda for deceptive straw ballots in newspapers.” * % % ¥ “Despite the trend of the straw votes and the injection of this issue into the political affairs, we cannot conceive that America wants any repeal of pro- hibition,” declares the Uniontown Herald. The \Waterbury Republican insists that the newspaper straw bal- lot “‘simply furnishes further evidence of the activity and aggressiveness of the wets,” while the Winston-Salem Journal declares “if the ‘drys’ were as alert for the protection of their rights under the law and for the upholding of the Constitution as the ‘wets’ are for evading the law and changing the Constitution, we would have officers on the job in every nook and corner of the country who would command respect for and obedience to the eighteenth amendment.” o — Skepticism. From the Muncie Morning Star. The number filing for public service indicates some doubt as to the ability of the office to find the man. BN Sophisticated. From the Louisville Times. > An American feels that he is a cos- mopolitan when he can speak of the ‘cinema."” favor sert ceive it leg ref- me. “light ] Proper Time for Debate. From the Wall Street Journal. Right of our convicted murderers should be discussed only at the post- mortem. Another Job for Kenesaw From the Charleston Eyeninis Post. 1t looks as if what the tions needs:most of all is a dis. v o ne’of Na- Judge Lan. Another Respite. rom the Raleich News and Observer. Take heart. You have 12 months o who are 4n favor-of prohibition have no motive to express themselves In before you ne fear the warning, “Beware the Ides of March!™ i A s fong as vne] there | THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover. Poetry is 80 much the natural lan guage of Carl Sandburg that his biog- raphy “Abraham Lincoln, the Prairie Years” is as truly poetic as his verse. Through his treatment Lincoln be- comes the hero of an epic—the epic of ploneer life in the middle West. Nancy Hanks is a lyric figure and Ann Rutledge the subject of an elegy. Always to Carl Sandburg nature at very season 1s a mystery of beauty, and human beings are mysteries, (0o, whose souls are often entirely hidden from those nearest them. Of Lucy Hanks, Lincoln’s maternal grand mother, he says: “She believed in God, in the Bible, In mankind, in the past and future, in bables, people, ani mals, flowers, fishes, in foundations and roofs, in time and the eternities outside of time: she was a believer. keeping in silence behind her grayv eyes more beliefs than she spoke.” The description of the first home and first Summer of Tom Lincoln and Nancy Hanks after their marrfage is as fine free verse as (arl Sandburg ever wrote. “The Lincolns had a eabin of their own to live in. 1t stood among wild crab-apple trees. And the smell of wild crab-apple blossoms, and the low erying of all wild things, came keen that Summer to the nostrils of Nancy Hanks. ‘The Summer stars that year shook out pain and warning. strange laughters, for Nancy Hanks.” The death of Nancy Hanks, when her son was eight years old, was one of the many tragedies of that prairie life. “So the woman, Nancy Hanks, died, 36 years old, a ploneer sacrifice, with memories of monotonous, endless everydav chores, of mystic Bible verses read’ over and over for their promises, and with memories of blue wistful hills and a Summer when the ab-apple hlossoms flamed white and <he carried a boy-child into the world.’ * % % sad love story of Lincoln is touched with The hrief. and Ann Rutledge poetic imagination, vet with repres sion. “He was 6. she wa the earth was their footstool: the sky was 4 sheaf of blue dreams: the rise of the blood-gold rim of a full moon in the evening was almosi 1on much to live. see and remember.” When the heau- tiful “slim girl with light hair, blue-eved. pink-fair f malaria fever, she asked for Lin- coln. “Thev sent for him. He rode t from New Salem 1o the Sand Ridge farm. They let him in: they left the 1wo together and alone a las' hour in the log house, with slants of light_on her face from an open clap board door. 1t was two davs later thut death came | Again and again in the conrse this remarkable biography Carl Sund | burg pauses i his story to sing the ories of a wonderful nature. Lin coln at 11 often “worked alone in the timbers, all day long with only sound of his own ax, er his own voice | speaking 1o himself. or the crackling and swaying of branches in the wind, and the cries and whirs of animals brown and silver-gray squirrels, of partridges. hawks. crows. turkeys, sparrows and the occasional wild cats The tricks and whimsies of the sky, how to read clear skies and cloud weather. the ereeping vines of ivy and wild grape. the recurrence of dogwood | rain, drizzle, sleet waather comin the visitors of sky and zoing hour ¢ hour—he tried fo read their secrets he tried to be friendly with their myster But Carl Sandburg Knows { that nature is not always kindly: she has her hostile moods. “Pioneers are half gypsy. The lookout is on hori zons from which at any time another |and stronger wandersonz may come calling and take the heart. 1o love or | to Kill. with gold or with ashes, with | bluebirds hurbling in ripe cornfields or with rheumatism or hog cholera or morigages. rust and huzs eating crops and farms inte ruin ey In “Spinster, of Thi& Parish” Maxwell created a woman with a double persopality leading a double life. Outwardly a colorless spinster living quietly with a maid in an apart ment of a London parish, she was in reality having .a life love and ad- venture and was not at all ashamed of it In his new novel, “Fernande,"” Mr. Maxwell has drawn a4 woman of many personalities. all elusive Fer- nande is the Lilith woman. the Cleo- patra woman. the enchantress. Bul she has not merely the power of f: cinating, of enthralling. men: she has also a genuine gift for friendship. which, of course, makes her more dan- 1 gera Her husband is only a figure in her background—perhaps he has once interested her. Her charm. her art, her wit, her mpathy, are all dis. played for her lover, Cyril Faulkner. and his emplove, Eric Bowen. Among the accomplishments of this versatile woman is the power of a own characteg and the feminine char- acter in gemeral. One of her ohserva- | tions. which in her own case is pro. ]l-lw!l is: “But the fact most terribly effective weapon & man can use against a woman is kindness,” P olution 1. hy George H. « professor of zoology in Harvard University, is a clear. simple presentation of the chief scientifie facts about evolution, so brief that it Iy be read in two hours, 'he author states the evidences for evolu- tion from comparative anatomy. em- bryology. geology, from the geograph- ical distribution of animals and from rudimentary organisms. lle discusses the principal explanations of evolu- {tion, including Lamarkism or the in- heritance of acquired characters: Dar winism, or descent with modifications |as the result of natural selection: and the mutation theory. 1In the author's final chapter. devoted to human ap- plications of the theory of evolution, he holds that “man ax an animal is a product of evolution’: that although man’s nature fis n many respects contradictory o that of the animals below him™ it is grounded on the same basic principles. “He has evolved far hevond the vast majority of creatures, and though -he has reached a level where conduct is di- rected in new ways and under novel conditions he is nevertheless still sub. ject to the old laws. There is, after all, only one kind of life the uni- verse.” , The author makes no at. tempt to' reconcile science and religion. . * ¥ ok %k Ralph Paine, whose - posthumou novel, “In Zanzibar; was recently | published,6nce had a job in a smail grocery " that catered {o.' the negro trade employed in a neirby sawmill. Molasses was a favorite commedity, and sufficient containers for it a prob- lem until youriz Paine advocated paper bags, which worked %o long as the customer was careful in carrying them. ““One night the store was crowded with negroes who had come for their week’s supply of molasses. Two of them got into an argument. Instead of drawing a razor. ene of the negroes swung his bag of molasses W. B “What Parker. As Paine described it, ‘That re rained molasses. Every nigger's 'fiwn was full of it."” KEnsued rapidl: razors, police, complete wreck of the store, and unjustly, it would appear, Paine's dismissal. The various and picturesque story of his life, “Roads of Adventure,” has just been issued in a new edition. %% The Witter Bynner undergraduate poetry prize of $150 was awarded for 1925 to Countee Cullen of New York University. ‘Nineteen other students received honorable mention, among whom four were students at Smith College, three at Mount Holyoke and two at Cornell University, The judges were Sara Teasdale, George Sterling and Witter Bynner. ¥k K * A Masefield’s_poems and plays has. Just corn-silk | lay dving | of { the | of | blossoms in Spring. the ways of snow. | vzing her | that the | and burst it on the other’s head. The | explosion touched off a general riot. | ANSWERS TO | BY FREDERIC i Q. Who are the Basques? A. The origin of the Basques ix un- settled. The name is applied Lo a pe. ! cullar race, dwelling on the slopes of | the Pyrenees. They occupy the prov- inces of Biscay, Alava, Guipuzcoa and Navarre in Spain, and two French de- partments, Bayonne and Mauleon Q. Where did the game of bowling originate?—O. M. S. A. It originated in Europe, probably in Germany or the Low Countries, Q. Who introdu {Into our language A. Gouverneur Morris, who was in- fLerested in establizhing the financial system of this country, introduced | the word. Q. How is enamel paint A. A. Paint is mixed with varnish. this making a product that gives a hard, smooth surface, which does not catch | or hold dust and dirt readily. | the word “cent’ w made? golden age in ngland?—.J. G. A. The term {s applied to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was a period | in which patriotism assumed propor- | tions never before attained in KEng-| land. Famous explorers, such as Sir Francis Drake, Frobisher and Gilbert, set out upon adventurous quests. The navy of England swept ihe armada | from the sea. Christopher Marlowe, Lyly, Kidd, Peele, Stern and Shake- speare were creating the so-called | Ellzabethan drama. Q. How much of the copper used does the automobile industry take C. A: W ATt uses appr cent of the copper country. tely <um large are Creat sels?—P. A. P AL The larzest Q. How Lake ves Great Lake vesseis are those operated by the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Co. 1t is proh- able that the largest of these vessels is the City of Detroit 111, which i« 500 feet long from stem to stern. Q. What is tertilizers?—W. K. A. They are made up of potash nitrogen and phosphoric acid. | Q. How are shots made in a shot | tower?—B. M A. The process of manufacturing | the shol commences with hoisting up | | the 1ead by endless chain or {windlass driven by steam. It is then i melted in kettles at the various drop-| there in commercial BY PALL I All facts of nature are important to the seientist. The Smithsonian In- stitution is dispatching an expedition to Africa to brinz home, alive. lion rhinoceroses and giraffes and all sorts | of smaller animals and birds, to grace { the National Zoological Park. there to he zazed at by the daily visitors| |nv|mhp| ng from 40,000 to $0.000. | To Guatemala another expedition departing for flies and other in sectx, to be pinned up in the National | Museum, there to be examined, classi- | | fied and discussed in meetings of | | scientists. Dr. L. O. Howard. chief | entomologist of the Department of | | Azriculture, gives emphatic assurance | {that one dead iy in that collection ! | will be worth more than all the live lions and other beasts of prey. for flies and other insects are far more formidable enemies of mankind than long-necked ziraffes or roaring Kings of Beasts. | It takes a few score men 1o feed | the animals in the Zoo, but it takes| a million Americans, working hard | all the year. to feed insect pests. for | they eat from a tenth to a fifth of | | all that our farms produce. * x k% The expedition to catch the animals is heing financed by Mr, Wal- ter Chrysler, and is headed hy Dr. | William M. Mann. director of the Na- | tional Zoological Park. It will oper-| ate in British East Africa, setting traps and snares for the prey wanted. he entomological party will be under Dr. J. M. Aldrich, associate curator |of insects of the National Museum. | Neither of these enterprises aims {at direct economical values, though |the latter may lead to discoveries of | |insects” which will serve as enemi |of other insects which are taking {such-heavy toll from humanity. One {little insect stinging the Smyrna figs {of California solved the mystery {why Smyrna trees, zrowing there, failed to ripen their fizs. Now we raise as fine figs in California as are grown in” Turkey. but they must be stung hefore they will mature | After the Spanish war. the Gov ernment sowed red . clover. in the Philippines and it flourlshed only one {season, then failed to reproduce. be cause the islands had no bumble bees. After bumble bees had been taken there, red clover grew luxuriantly. Dr. Howard says that if we knew as much about nourishing and caring for our beneficial insects as we do about growins pigs and cows, we could add billions of dollars a vear to our crops. If we fail to discover {how to control the srowth of enemy insects. some day a pair may break from their restraining limits and. in a year or two. so multiply that there will not be room on earth for man- kind Some one has computed the very few vears required for one pair of insects 10 create u mass of progeny larger than the whole globular sun. * x % ¥ Dr. Howard is authority for the statement that there is a parasite feeding on fleas, with its own parasite laying its eggs within the first para- site, and a smaller one within the sec- ond parasite and a fourth one inside the third, but the story about “ad infinitum,” like the premature story of a certain humorist's death, clares, is “greatly exuggerated fate of humanity may depend upon the “birth control.” mot of man, but of insects and their parasites. The voc wrought in the cotton of our Southern States. due to the vavages of the boll weevil, is one ex- wmple of our costly ignorance of en- tomology. That weevil was harm- !less in its Guatemalan habitat, but when we admitted it into the United States and turned it loose amid its vlenty of cotton. it_became monarch, wild Two volumes are de- ne to verse play and His best poems are been published. voted to poetry, one to prose play. probably “The Everlasiing Mercy, “The Widow in the Bye Street.” ‘Dauber” and “The Daffodil Fields.” His best known play (prose) is “The Tragedy of Nan.” PR A Summer on her Vermont farm, where she breeds Shetland ponies, is described by Anne Bosworth Greene in “Dipper Hill.” The Summer is ull of happy activity provided by Mrs. Greene's daughter Babs, her young guests and the 30 ponles. Gar- dening, milking, apple picking, riding, camping and mountain climbing are all part of this idyllic Summer. * ok ok K The romantic biography of Shelley, “Ariel,” by Andre Maurois, has had all the popularity of a novel. Byron 1s now the subject of a blographical Interpretation in the novel “Glorious Apollo.” The marriage of Byron ta Anne Milbanke, which was ‘such a | tragedy, is the center of the story. | The author, E. Barrington, makes the scandal of Byron's relations with his- fourwvolume editlon of John | half sister, Augusta Léigh, the causel little, -~ o Lady Byrons leaving her husband. v |in lis | cents QUESTIONS I: "A;I(l‘ . ping stations, alloved -and prepared for' dropping. An iron handle or holder is then hung over the hatch way, which is open from bottom 1o top, and in this handle is placed a box, with the bottom perforated with holes of the size of shot to be manu factured. The descending streams separate into globules of exactly spherical form, which are cooled by their passage through the atmosphere. and finally fall into a reservoir of water. From the water tank the shot is raised by a ladle, or machinery.and passes into the dryer, where it thoroughly dried, and thence 1o the polishing cask, or cylinder. wher a ltile black lead is added and a swift rotary motion soon produces a high polish. There are some half a dozen shot towers in this country. con suming annually from 000 1o 200,000 kege of lead and turning out 5,000 tons of sho! Q the Koran written? w. When ah A. The Koran was divulged in 816 was first published by Ahu Bek: 635, was It Q. Will all the parts of a human body turn to Invisible gases? Is it a part of naturé’s plan to make the whole man finally invisible after death”—G. V. A. A. The chief ingredients of the human hody turn to gases—water vapor and carbon dioxide. The others caleium, phosphorus, etc.. turn into solids which become a part of the soll The body changes not to gas alone but to gas and dust Q. What is which Babe Ruth hasex?—M J A. A time record is not given. Tt enerally conceded that Bahe i€ not a particularly fast run He makes his home runs h hits the shortest time has circled in the Ruth ner. lon “ Find out ithatever pmu n know. There is uo room for ignoranee this husy world. The person who Inses out is the one who guesses. T person who gets on is always the one who acts upow reliable information. This paper employs Frederic J. Has- Kin to conduct an information burcau in Washington for the free wse of the public. There is mo charge except in stamps for return postas Write to him today for any facts wou desire. Address your letter to The Evening Star “Information Burean. Frederic 1. Haskin, director, Wash- ington. D. €', want BACKGROUND OF EVENTS . COLLINS, and has eaten the South almost of house and home. far as e growing is concerned. Today. our corn belt is confronted with a corn borer quite as terrorizing as the boll weevil. A short time ago there was a conference of experiment station directors and corn specialists -0 consider the fmminent danger of the corn borer. Alongside of the confer- ence was a cornfield, in which the borer had Invaded every stalk of corn. One of the experts had a hox of corn borer parasites. and in the presence of the group of scientists the pandora box was opened. A few minutes later the sclentists cut open numerous corn stalks and discovered that the para sitical insects had Immediately bored through the hard. thick stalks and laid their ezgs under the skin of the Destiferous horers. The corn crop next vear, or the next. will be at the fmercy of those parasites fizhting the borers, There is no crop. no manner of fruit, which does not owe its life to the suo cess of fighting some inseet pest or to the presence and co-operation of bena- ficial insects. The fight may be car- ried on by a microscopic parasite, or by a bird, or man may aid the fight with poisons spraved from airplanes or from air guns. but the chief com. bat force is the live insect or bird * % ox % We have certain “undesirable izens” amonz the birds—aliens ported from Europe or Asia—but not one of them assists in fighting our pests. They don't earn their board. _Everybody has a ready condemna- tion of the fighting English sparrow. Of what good is it? But there is the tramp starling. It was only after four attempts to introduce the starling that he “stayed put,” after being turn- ed loose in Central Park, New York, in 1890, He has spread as far West as Wisconsin. Now he is a greater pest than the English sparrow, and threai- ens to starve out other birds by his rapid multiplication and insatiable ap- petite. We have imported more than 1. kinda. of birds, but not ane WHleet a bug or rid us of a pest. We are still importing an average of more than 1.000 individual birds a day. including game birds, such as pheasants, quails and doves. All pay duty at from 25 to 50 cents apiece. The skies are paths for migratory birds which know ne national boundaries. and. in view of the demonstration that no imported species aids in fighting insect pest while native and migratory birds are invaluable for - such services. Dr Howard points out* the vast impor tance of further study of how 1o de- velop control of the pests through birds and parasites. ke Modern modes of gavel have greatly magnified the mean¥ of spreading in sects and other pests. They ride trains and automobiles: a day or two ago an aviator was nearly wrecked when in midair, a mile above earth, a rat jumped upon his lap and so star- tled him that he lost control of his ma- chine for a moment. Such an inei- dent illustrates the fact that while eeonomic entomology utilizes the most advanced means of combating the pests, the very same modern improve ments are also used by the pests (o ex tend their fields of activity. Fifty vears ago, the grasshoppers spread over the Northwest causing in one season a loss estimated at $200, 000,000; they flew, some days. 1,000 miles, eating all green vegetation en route. Sci has no means to pre- vent a repetition of such a visitation. Advance of knowledge there has been, but the pests, too. are advancing in formidability, at least with eqnal speed. Perhaps a method will he found for breedinz the “praying man tis,” which preys upon the grasshop- per and may be capable of keeping the pest in check. But will the praving mantis prove harmless after he has eaten up the grasshoppers? The mongoose would kil all of our snakes and rats. but he would also kil poultry and all creeping things. Who would then kill the mongoose? There are many animals abroad which might be introduced to fight pests here, but the scientists refuse to name them lest the very fact that they are forbidden might tempt some one to smuggle them in. The gipsy moth was brought in by a scientist for experiment purposes: a wind spilled the specimens and within a few vears they had almost ruined the Eastern orchards. 2 There is no field in which it is%ruer that “knowledge is power” than the field of entomology. When economic entomologists learn what insects will fight injurious in. sects, they will control the pests with man's friendly aids. That is why great expeditions traverse the earth to study: even dead flies and other creatures about which we know so LY. Colna). it im (Copyright. 1926, by Pau 4