Evening Star Newspaper, July 24, 1926, Page 6

s " THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1926. | THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY.......July 24, 1926 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company 11th St. B“‘é“;’" Oml“‘ ia A St. an Vi . New Fork Office: 110 Fast 42nd. St. . Ohicago Office: Tower Building. European Office: 14 Regent St.. London, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morn- ine cdition, {8 delivered by carriers within the city at' 60 cents per month: daily only. 45 cents per month: Sunday only. 20 cent’ per month. ~ Orders may t by mail or telephone Main 5000, Collection is mase by carrier at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Paily and Sunday aily only .. Sunday only . All Other States and Canada. aily and Sunday § sr..$12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 aily only yr.. $8.00: 1mel, " 7Bc Bunday only $4.00; L mo., 3bc Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusivaly entitled 10 the use for republication f all news dis- patches credited to it or ot otherwise cred: ted in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rizhts of publication ©f special dispatches herein are also reserved. Mussolini’s Sagacity. Evidence of Mussolini’s sagacity and capability in statesmanship is afforded by an interview which he has just given to the correspondent of the As- sociated Press in Rome in which he sets forth the broad program for the realization of his ideal of Italian de- velopment. When asked to state the precise meaning of his oft-repeated phrase, “Italy’s undeniable colonial sent to bathe in the Pactolus, which then became a gold-bearing river. It seems to be history that Croesus ob- tained part of his wealth from mines a vow to keep that he would never be robbed while he was alive, reached for his gun and, ducking behind the counter, blared forth with such a near Sardis and from the gold-bearing | withering fire that the criminals beat sand of the Pactolus. there has been no mention of mines and river gold near Sardis, and there is no doubt that the mines that were in Timolus: were worked out one or In the news |a hasty retreat. With his clerk dying on the floor at his feet the “fighting jeweler” pur- sued the robbers out of the door and, kneeling on the sidewalk to take bet- two thousand years ago and it seems | ter aim, shot true and straight to Kill that even the traces of the ancient workings are lost. The wealh of Sardis lured adven- turers, cynquerors and plunderers. Cimmerian Gauls overran it. Romans took it and in the fifteenth century of our era Timur was there, but it was provably a poor place when Timur- the-Lame was conquering Asia in the Middle Ages. ———————— Concurrent Sentences. A young man who was convicted of burglary on two counts was yes- terday in the District Court sen- tenced to serve a year and a day in prison on each count. That would appear to make his term in the peni- tentiary two years and two days, for two distinct crimes. But it'so happens that the sentences were made to run “concurrently.” In other words, for two separate offenses the pris- oner gets the penalty for only one. Something like a bargain, or what is called in trade the ‘“one-cent sale” system. The court has, of course, full dis- cretion in such matters and cannot be criticized for the exercise of its judgment. But it would seem to be in order to suggest that the ‘“con- current” sentence system is not con- rights,” and to tell exactly how he in- tends to achieve the fruition of them, the premier answered: Our colgnial aspirations do not con- stitute a menace for any one. Italy asks only what is indispensable to her and what is just that she should have. It is certain that she will obtain ful- fillment of those desires by a policy of peace and friendly agreements, since no nation would want to assume the grave responsibility of obstructing the achievement of such legitimate and, ity, such unexcessive aspira- one word of definition. Not a gle geographic term. No mention of any particular zone of expansion. Yet be- neath these “glittering generalities” lies an undeniable purpose on the part of the “Duce” to expand. And, more- over, it is to be noted that the sugges- tion is deftly conveyed that if Italy is denled her aspirations through a pol- fey of “peace and friendly agree- ments” there will be recourse*to other means, involving “grave responsibil- 1 on the part of any obstructing nation. Those who have conceived a mental portrait of the dictator of Italy as a swashbuckling, blustering bravado must amend the lineaments. He is a diplomatist of the first rank. He sus- tains the national spirit of his own people and he serves notice on the world beyond that Italy’s aspirations are not to be denied. He flourishes no sword of menace. He can, it is true, ©on occasion, indulge in “direct action,” as in the case of recent exchanges with Germany regarding the situation in the Tyrol. But for the present pur- pose he confines himself to words of reason and exposition. Italy’s expansion program is doubt- less being left undefined in geographic terms until the domestic situation has stabilized. Just for the present Mus- solini has on hand an extensive and difficult economic program to establish and ‘promote. It is not to be expected that even the superman can work out that and a colonial expansion pol- icy at the same time. And the failure to specify in detail, in the course of the interview just given at Rome, is thus double evidence of the sagacity and diplomatic wisdom of the real ruler of Italy. ———at— The city man who uses baker's bread hopes to share in the general rejoicing over the reports from sec- tions of the West of an abundant wheat crop. N, When a drouth threatens the coun- try is unanimously and uncompro- misingly “wet.” - Sardis Recalled. Excavations at Sardis, a notable work in the interest of archeology and history, are recalled by news of the filing at Yonkers of the will of Prof. Howard Butler. It is said in the news that Prof. Butler spent years excavating in Sardis and other parts of Asia Minor for the wealth of Croesus, supposed to be buried there. The Sardls excavation was prompted and pursued by love for that science which aims to bring to light cities which in the past ~were important. TReferences to some of those cities are so scanty or obscure that the question is often asked whether they were cities or legends. Sardis never got into the class where it might be considered a legend, for the site of the capital of ancient Lydia, and once the chief city of Asia Minor, has been known for centuries. It is doubtful if its site was ever lost. For an unknown time it was a village marked around with mounds at the foot of Mount Timolus. Before arche- ology became a science people in that part of Little Asia had the tradition that the mounds covered the ruins of @ once rich, large city. The Pactolus River flowed there, and wise men sald that where the mounds were lived Croesus, King of Lydia, more than 500 years before Christ. There have been uncovered the tomb of Alyattes, father of Croesus; a cemetery of wide extent and great age and a temple of Cybele. When it was published that Prof. Butler was excavating at Sardis the report was current that he was look- ing for the buried riches of Croesus. It was true that he was looking for the riches of Croesus, but that was not the main object of the work. It was the matter, however, which took hold of popular interest, for “treas- ure” is a gripping word and “buried treasure” is an {rresistible lure to most people. Two men of the ancient world stand out for wealth—Midas and Croesus. Midas. was a Greek myth to whom Bacchus gave the golden touch, and ducive to those results of correction that penalties - administered for proved crime are supposed to yield. A year and a day in prison may suffice as a punishment in this case, whether there was one crime only or two. But if the same principle of collective penalties were to be ap- plied in all cases it might happen that a housebreaker who has entered ten dwellings or twenty and stolen in each might be given just the same penalty of a year and a day in all however many concurrently running sentences ‘are formally entered against him. Of course, circumstances govern in all such cases. This particular burglar may have been just start- ing on his career as a housebreaker and the court may have concluded that a single minimum sentence would serve to correct the tendency to crime. But why not let the sec- ond case be held in reserve to give an opportunity to see how he be- haved after leaving at the end of his first term, to ncte whether the punishment “took™ as a corrective? And if it did not the second sentence might then be imposed. A “concurrent” opinion generally held in this country today is that the prevalence of crime is largely due to the leniency of the courts in administering punishments. This may not be a case in point, but cer- tainly it affords ground for the sug- gestion that mercy for the offender is likely to prove an injustice to the law-abiding citizen. New York’s Strike Revived. The Interborough strike that gave New York a few days of inconvenience early this month and was formally called off by its leaders Thursday was renewed yesterday when the remain- ing strikers marched to headquarters of the subway company and applied for their old positions, only to be told that they must wait until there were vacancies. The leader of the strike declares that the company double- crossed them. The company rejoins that there was no double-crossing, that no agreement had been made to take the men back, and that furthermore it would deal with him only as a mo- torman and not as the president of the newly organized union. So Leader Lavin marched his four hundred men_ back to a hall and an indignation meeting was held in which language unsuitable for the hot weather was ut- tered. By the end of the day, how- ever, eighty-five of the striking motor- men and switchmen returned to work, making a total of 486 of the old force on duty, as against ninety-eight at the peak of the strike. There are now about 250 out, and a representative of the company states that there are places remaining for about 200. Very evidently the strike is lost despite its renewal. ——— Americans buy champagne in Paris and are insulted. An interna- tionalization of the Volstead act may become necessary for the comfort of tourists. —————t———————— It might be advantageous to Harry Thaw if he could hire a press agent capable of showing some talent in keeping him out of the newspapers. e emie The “Fighting Jeweler.” New York’s “fighting jeweler” has paid with his life for his bravery and courage, but not before he sent two of the underworld denizens to theil graves. Aaron Rodack, although plump and mild of face, with no hint of aggressiveness, made up his mind more than three years ago that if robbers entered his store he would shoot it out with them before he al- lowed the theft of “even a pair of cuff links.” Bandits, in three encoun- ters with the “fighting jeweler,” as he came to be known, have never ob- tained ‘“even the cuff links,” but Thursday, in_his last battle, they snuffed out his life after a furious fight. In 1924 Rodack was visited by three criminals, who, on entering his estab- lishment, ordered him to throw up his hands. Instead he grabbed a con- venient pistol and returned their fire. Running as fast as his short legs would carry him he chased them out of the store and down the street, where they escaped. On January 18 of last year four bandits essayed to rob him. He pursued the same tac- tics, exchanging hot fire at close range, and was uninjured, although he killed one of his assdflants. His last encounter was with five men. They leveled pistols at the head of when he wearied of wealth he was R'mk and his clerk. Rodb:k.»'ith X one of them and to injure others be- fore a bullet ripped through his head to end a brave career. Such courage as this is rarely seen and should be duly noted. Rodack died with “his beots on.” He asked and gave no quarter'to the under- world in the relentless fight. He mét his attackers as they came regardiess of the numter, and as he paid with his life for his bravery his name will be revered as an indomitable fighter in the age-old struggle of le- gitimate business against banditry and murder. An 014 Friend Reappears. Well, here is the sea serpent again, and right on time! Every Summer fllO{lg comes this monster of the deep, seen off shore at resorts or perhaps en- countered in midocean. It seems to be a Summer farer in the waters around North America. Just where it spends its Winters remains a profound mys- tery. This year there is an even greater mystery than ever, for the sea serpent has appeared in a lake in British Columbia. At least it must be a sea serpent, or a lake serpent, al- though the description of it given by the manager of a local land company does not suggest the true snake form. He says that the monster, which for several hundred yards raced a motor car that was being driven along the shore road, had a head like a sheep, a dark-colored body, showing about flve feet above the water, and appeared to be about fifteen feet in length. This testimony is verified by three other passengers in the motor. They say that the creature raised a swell about a foot high and made the spray fly ahead of it as it cut through the water at about the same speed as the auto- mobile, The attention of William Bebee is respectfully called to this account. He should proceed at once to Lake Okanaga with his diving helmet and try to locate and identify this strange creature. He has braved the sharks and the groupers off the Galapagos Islands and Cocos Island and should have no fear of a fifteen-foot monster. It would seem that the Okanaga crea- ture is possessed of a keen sense of curiosity. Else why the sportive com- petition in speed with a motor car? Surely the appearance of a strangely hooded being on the bottom of the lake, emitting great bubbles of air, would attract its attention. Mr. Bebee, whose zest for adventure is unsated, may try the experiment of hunting it. Of course, this may be the veritable sea serpent of the Summer resorts which by some subterranean passage has reached the interior lake. Maybe Lake Okanaga is its true habitat, perhaps its breeding ground, from which it emerges to beguile the shore dwellers and the seafarers. There are strange things in the sea and man has only begun his acquaintance with them. e — Frederick Town is engaged in a warm discussion of reducing the poem about Barbara Frietchie to terms of historical accuracy. History is in- extricably combined with legend. Why spoil a splendid and inspiring bit of verse for the sake of technical and at present practically unimportant accuracy? ~ e A French cabinet is easily changed, but in reconstruction almost in- evitably reverts to some of the old material. As some philosopher has remarked, political fame is merely a habit of popular thought. ————— With the enthusiasm of the in- ventor of a formula, Mussolini as. sures Europe that fascism will cure almost everything. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Wheat Field. The good old wheat fleld turns to gold; As we our ways pursue, Its blessings generously unfold And gladden us anew. It gathers sunshine from the sky And leaves no soul forlorn. It does not rough-house like the rye Nor cut up like the corn, Influenced by Experience. ““Washington told us to beware of foreign entanglements.” “Maybe,” replled Senator Sorghum, “he was supersensitive on the sub- Ject owing to the difficulty he had in getting himself and friends out of one of 'em.” x Deflance and Debt. Mars sounds his anclent rattle And gives us all the blues. ‘When not engaged in battle, He's writing IOU’s. Jud Tunkins says if the saxophone is a sure enough musical instrument, so is a cow. Refined Color Scheme. “Crimson Gulch has changed a lot,” remarked the commercial traveler. “It has,” answered Cactus Joe, “We're thinkin’ of changing the name of this thrivin’ metropolis to Pink Ravine.” The Optimist’s Retort. “I told you so!” The cynic sneers. “A world of woe Again appears.” ‘The gentle breeze, The twilight glow Bring kindly ease— “I told you so!” Nuffin’' takes a man’s mind away fum religious comfort,” said Uncle Eben, “so much as an argument 'bout religion.” t Wy No doubt the real reason the Lord ran Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Bden was because they were such noisy creatures. ‘What other animal on the face of the earth is as noisy as mun? Man e inseparable. So the growing tired of the inces- mor set up by the first p ingel with an ouster order. that this huge world on we live rushes through the ether without a sound—at least so far as our ears are concerned. Trees grow noiselessly. No one has heard the gladiolus bulb send its leaves and flower spike into the air with a grinding nois: The whole work of the garden is carried on quietly. That is the real reason many so love this work—it is so pleasantly noiseless, free from the hurly-burly of the ordinary world of meh. The fishes swim through the sea with scarcely a splash, the tigers and prey lions pursue their feet, the tremendous tropics creaks oc: 3 The noises of Nature are mechan- ical noises only, s s that cau river ove: on padded ion of the precipice, as exemplifie or the roar of the s waves break upon the sandy beach. * ok ok % Man alone of living creatures finds it necessary to make a continual noise. The less reason he has for being noisy the more uproar he cre- ates. He even attributes noise to the stars, which he declares “sing to- gether.” From the cradle to the grave he is accompanied by clamor, in which he usually joins with a right good will. Puppies and kittens, bear and lion cubs, little ones of all species, content themselves with small noises at times, but babies of the genus homo bawl throughout the night. Growing up, the baby turns into a small boy, perhaps the noisiest crea- ture in the world, uniess it be that same living organism a few years later, when he takes on the rights of man.’ But to return to the bo: He never speaks—he yells. He never raises his voice-—he shrieks. He roars when he might call, and he screams when he might talk. He had rather be making a noise than doing anything else in the world, In fact, he makes more noise doing nothing than he will years later doing something, if such be possiblé. The average small boy is never so happy when he is (all unconsciously) fi ting himself for his future yea: For that is what he is doing, ¢ course, when he runs, building up muscle and lung p when he scream: ell: i , thus ex- panding his ¢ a good thing for a youngster to do. Hence the sensitive person who shrinks from so much racket will at the same time realize that it is all for the best, and that the quiet boy ought to be prodded into the same noisy ac- tivity of his more natural comrades. * K K K It will be seen that to be noisy is natural to man. As-we have pointed out, the Lord saw that the natural tendency of man and woman was noisy, and that there would never be any peace in His garden until he turned them out. Man earns his bread, therefore, not only in the sweat of his brow, but THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. also in the noise of his mouth and amid the uproar of his own creations. One has to go to a prairie, or to a great farm, or the top of a mountaln, or five milés up the beach at the sea- shore, in order to escape brass bands, phonographs playing * dios grinding out jazz dance tunes by the hour, motor trucks hauling gravel land sand, open exhausts on passenger vehicles, banging screen doors, rattle f typewriters, absurd smacking of ands upon hands in theaters, screech- ing of automobile brakes, roar of trains and street cars. Stand on the highest peak in Darien and let God’s quietude sink into your soul. Hear the gentle rustle of the corn on the farm, see the man on the plow a half mile off, distant, silent. Sit here on the shore by the bit of wreckage, be soothed by the funda- mental roar of the sea, where even the human voice is softened for once. Contrast all this with the mighty noise man_ makes in transporting a load of Jumber, or bricks, or what not, from one end of town to the other. God can make a world more quietly. His divine agencies of light waves cut the ether for millions upon mil- lions of miles without so much as a sound escaping them. He sends us every day immortal messages of happiness and cheer, caus- ing the grass to grow that the cows may eat it and give us milk, and He does all this and infinitely much more with far less noise than we take to haul a bit of lumber across town! * Kk % High school and college, boys, not satisfied with the individual nolses they can make, organize to roar in chorus, appointing a ‘‘cheer leader” for this fell purpose, It hardly need | be said that th cheerful individual is highly successful. in his social gatherings man is outrageously noisy. The so-called ‘mob mind” prevails, and otherwise staid persons become vehemently merry, Sweet mothers laugh and giggle, stern fathers unbend and guf- faw, proper young persons play merry pranks. 1t you were suddenly to descend upon the scene from another world than ours and calmly put the evening party under observation, you might 'he tempted to think you were watch- |ing the maneuvers of a group of | id rather than a party which is duplicated 10,000 over throughout the city. Downtown is no better, rather worse. Everywhere there are men who seem to have conspired to outwit silence. Silence shall not reign to- night! Not by a streetful, not by a theaterful, not by a parkful. If we can do nothing else, we can sing. Every activity seems to require some sort of no machinery. There s a never-ceasing grind of metal against metal, the click of typewriters and other business machines, the toot- mg of horns and the heavy roar of the trucks. Public busses, labeled “five-ton truck,” masquerade in resi- dence sections as passenger vehicles. Lucky is he who has accustomed himself to the thousand and one noises which surround him in a modern city, for there is no escape from them. Poor Herbert Spencer, who tried to blot out noises by wearing a pair of earmuffs! He was typical of count- I noise-worn persons who hope for rest but never get it, for the world grows noisier and noisier all the time. Prosaic once, immortal now, has been the fate of S-51, the name by which was known~the submarine that was rammed in the dark by the steamer City of Rome., Manned by brave men, it plunged to the depths of the ocean, and by brave men it was resurrected, that it might add another chapter to the glorious ani s of the American Navy. The press of the country finds those who went down with the ship and those who, after months of heart-breaking toil, rescued it from its grave “heroes all.”" “American sailors have again pre- served the traditions of the sea for coming generations of men who man the ships,” says.the Charlotte Ob- server, as it pictures how, “up from the mire of the ocean’s depths, las been raised all that remained of 18 seamen who went to their death and were buried within the cold, wet walls of a sunken submarine. For months these rescuers of the bodies of the heroic dead labored that the sea might be cheated in the end,” continues the Observer. ‘‘Under the bronze chests beat gregt hearts such as men of the sea have, and up from the waves came mute appeals from fellow craftsmen claimed by the deep. Such is the spirit of quiet understanding that binds sailor men as one.” The grip that this story has taken upon the hearts of the people of the Nation is expressed thus by the Can- ton Daily News: “Not in all the events of recent days, not even in the ventures of men into unknown lands, with all their dangers, has there been anything so appealing to the sym- pathy and the imagination of people as the successful effort of the men of the United States Navy to rescue the bodies of their comrades.” The Kan- sas City Journal calls the accomplish- ment a “herculean feat,” and the Columbus Ohio State Journal declares that “the salvage efforts off Block Island are reminiscent of the best tra- ditions of the American Navy.” ® % kK Describing the problem that had to be faced, the Fort Wayne News-Sen- tinel explains that “the wreck lay submerged in 130 feet of water on a soft bottom and settled deep in the oozy sand. Divers went down, bur- rowed their way through the sandy slime beneath the boat and slipped hawsers under her keel. Work like that means playing with death,” says the News-Sentinel, and its successful result “stands today as one of the greatest engineering feats in the his- tory of the Navy.” Adding its meed of praise, the Lansing Capital News declares that “the officers who had the salvaging in charge are to be con- gratulated for their coolness and good judgment, and the enlisted personnel Who agsisted in the exploit deserve all credit for high personal valor.” Seemingly impatient to get to the surface with the tale she had to tell, the submarine herself almost set at naught all the work that had been done by sticking her nose above the surface prematurely. Of this the Springfield Union observes that “only the cool courage of the sailors, work- ing in a_ tumultuous sea, prevented the complete failure of the effort.” ‘When the hulk was finally made fast at the dry dock in the Brooklyn Navy Yard it was revealed that the rescued dead were worthy of their living rescuers, as had heen expected. “No monument that can be erected, no service that may be held, will be so impressive as the announcement of how the bodies were found,” says the Peoria Transcript, recording how ‘“‘the men gave up their lives at their posts of duty.” As the Pasadena Star-News pictures it, when investigation was made of the hull in dry dock, “the mute but eloguent witnesses were there of herolc action in the face of death—men at their places, ready to do or die, as Fate decreed.” The St. Joseph News-Press, moved by the revelations of heroism, asserts that “in the pages of fiction the reve- lations of the S-51 would be regarded as descriptions of impossible condi- Traditions of Navy Upheld tions. They would be thought to be highly colored by an imaginative writer. For those who manned the boat to be at their posts 10 months after their death, still guarding the sunken vessel until it should be raised from the bottom of the sea, is worthy of a weird story by Sax Rohmer, Kip- ling or Poe. s As the Waterloo Tribune chronicles, “the radio operator was sitting at his |post. He was trying to send out mes- sages of distress to the last. There was the engineer in the engine room reaching out for the lever that would cause the ship to rise to the surface. The commander was at the controls giving out his last orders. Other men were. at their places carrying out the orders given them.” And the Tribune | epitomizes the acuteness of the trag- edy when it says “but in spite of all | :heir efforts the ship didn’t rise again.” To the Milwaukee Journal this mute | testimony is ‘“more gripping, more conclusive than would have been any verbal description by a man who might have been saved that night.” Although recognizing with others that “the S$-51 in dry dock is as worthless as at the bottom of the sea,” the Day- ton Daily News rejoices that “the bodies of the men who went down on her have been recovered. A non- utilitarian_work like this is needed now and then to show the Nation has a heart,” continues this paper, and the Asbury Park Press in similar vein says this act proves that ‘“‘America, with all her seeming carelessness, does love and care for her own.” “The Nation stands in reverent sa- lute to the honored dead removed from the battered hulk,” is the tribute paid by the Worcester Gazette. Now that the last sad rites have been observed, the Lynchburg Daily Advance says that the next step is to ‘place the bfume for the disaster,” since ‘“‘proper action in the case of the S-51 may prevent similar catas- trophies in the future.” -For_ Cleaner Yards. Woman Reader i)eplnrea Rub- bish and Speaks for City Pride. To the Editor of The Star: It has been brought to my notice quite frequently during my sojourn of the past 18 months in this beautiful city that Washington cannot boast much in the line of well kept lawns. Street after street reveals patches of-ground that flaunt their untidiness under the misnomer of front yards. Many have lost all semblance of or- derliness and have become littered, weed grown and unkempt. Some peo- ple even seem to revel in tin cans, paper and weeds. ‘What has become of the city's pride? “White wings” once were numerous in the streets and not so much as a slip of paper could escape their vigilant eyes, in bygone days when Washington was clean, so I am told by old residents. Now many streets and yards hobnob together in dirt. 3 4 “Why don't you get a rake and clean this place up?” I'once asked a prop- erty owner. ‘“What's the use?” he said. ‘““The city will. not take away yard rubbish. I pay taxes, taxes, taxes, but if I kept my yard looking nice I would have to pay a man every week to take away rubbish, so I let the yard go.” o Isn’t this a reflection on civic pride on the part of the individual and the city? Are the city’s public servants overworked? Is the city stingy? It doesn’t augur well for co-operation, good will or pridé on the part of the individual or the city. In other cities yard rubbish is regularly removed with the rest, and it seems to me, with a little co-operation on the part of the District, citizens might have more incentive for keeping their yards mnsrmmc.wn conclugions, . e 'with Dr. THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover. The intensely American, intensely individualistic, intensely heretical, in- tensely iconoclastic H. L. Mencken has recently been a brief front-page wonder because of some alleged in- decencies in the American Mercury, of which he is editor. Having begun newspaper work at 19 as a reporter, he is at 45 editor, freelance writer, critic and author of numerous volumes of essays, most of which have been developed from his newspaper articles. Perhaps his most characteristic books are the “Book of Prefaces,” “Preju- dices” (four series) and “The American Language.” The chapter on “Puritan- ism as a Literary Force” in the “Book of Prefaces” summarizes what he has attempted to combat as a literary critic. He believes that moral obses- slon has disadvantageously dominated American literature and that so long as ethical rather than esthetic con- siderations are given the preference in American criticism great art will not be produced. He gives as an example of a moral boycott of a great plece of literature the treatment of Theodore Dreiser's “The Genius.” What he calls “comstockery” 1is his pet detestation. He uses his critical lance in behalf of the writers whom he looks upon as fellow iconoclasts, such as Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, Joseph Hergesheimer, Eugene O'Neill, Ring Lardner, James Joyce, Havelock Ellis, Lord Dunsany, Strindberg, Plo Baroja, Hauptmann and Sudermann. Mencken has no respect for anything because it is established. He is al- ways on the lookout for gaps in the wall which he may attack with his critical wedge and mallet. In the fourth series of “Prejudices” he abuses the American Government and the American people about as vigor- ously as is verbally possible: “It is « . . one of my firmest and most sacred beliefs . . that the Gov- ernment of the United States, in both its legislative arm and its executive arm, is ignorant, incompetent, corrupt and disgusting . . It is another that the foreign policy of the United States . . . is hypocritical, disin- genuous, knavish and dishonorable « « « And it {8 my fourth (and, to avold too depressing a bill, final) con- viction that the American people, tak- ing one with another, constitute the most timorous, sniveling, poltroonish, ignominious mob of serfs and goose- steppers ever gathered under one flag in Christendom since the end of the Middle Ages, and that they grow more timorous, more sniveling, more poltroonish, more ignominious every day.” His version of the Declaration of Independence in “The American Language” illustrates his hum When things get so balled up tHat the people of a country have to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hock, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are on the level, and not trying to put ro(hlng over on nobody.” In view of the fact that Mr. Menck- en has never been a creative thinker or writer, but always a critic, living off the writings and doings of others, it is a curious phenomenon, perhaps symptomatic of the age, that he, a man of but 45 years, presumably with many years of writing before him, should be the subject not only of numerous articles in the literary press but also of two books. One of these, “The Man Mencken; a Blo- graphical and Critical Survey,” by Dr. Isaac Goldberg, runs to nearly 400 pages. It is minute in detail and written as thoroughly as though its subject had been dead long enough so that his place in literature had been as well established as that of, say,” James Russell Lowell. The other book, entitled simply “H. L. Mencken,” by Ernest Boyd, is only 80 pages in length and furnishes quite as much as is needed by the general reader, who is not also a member of the Mencken cult. By apt quotation from Mr, Mencken's own writings and the criticisms leveled against him, Mr. Boyd treats him as American, as phil- osopher and as critic, with glimpses of his personality; he shows the strength and weakness of his doc- trines and lays the myth of the Menck- en legend. * ok ok k “Lolly Willowes,” as a title, s sug- gestive of Pollyanna and the sunshine philosophy. The book is something better than that, however. In it Syl- via. Townsend Warner has drawn the personality of a quaint and not at all obvious maiden lady of the old school. From her father's country place in Somerset, sheltered by all the tradi- tions of family and wealth, she views life and interprets it narrowly, be- cause that is all she is capable of doing. First her invalid mother dies and Lolly becomes mistress of Lady Place. Then her father dies, Lady Place is leased and Lolly goes to Lon- don to live with a married brother. There, as “Aunt Lolly,” she becomes the useful, unattached female relative, who helps in all the family tasks, big and little, which no one else wishes to perform. Eorts to find a husband for her bring no result, perhaps be- cause she does not ably second them. But Lolly, with all her gentle reserve and traditional outlook, is touched by the spirit of the twentieth century. She longs to live before she dies. Mildly she resents the fact that she has never had a life of her own. Her method of self-expression is not very adventurous, but it is her own and she insists upon it. Putting aside the protests of her family, she leaves Lon- don, which she hates, and goes to a small village remote from everywhere to live by herself. Freedom from her relatives, freedom to think, freedom to do the simple things she likes to do, is what she wants; and she goes after it and gets it. In this she is modern; in all else she is Victorian. Maria Edgeworth, perhaps more than Jane Austen, seems the literary an- cestress of Sylvia Warner in “Lolly ‘Willowes.” * % ok % Another attempt to prove that Ger- many did not start the World War is made by Harry Elmer Barnes in his book *“The Genesis of the World ‘War: an Introduction to the Problem of War Guilt.” Prof. Barnes substi- tutes M. Raymond Poincare for Kaiser ‘Wilhelm as the arch-demon whose machinations plunged the world into war. According to him, Germany and Austria had no desire for a general war at the time of the ultimatum of Austria to Serbla, and the Kaiser made sincere and energetic efforts to pre- vent the Russian mobllization which put an end to hopes of peace, He be- lieves that Polncare, who had" visited St. Petersburg between July 20 and i!‘Itxlja zai adfilaedmRuu:;‘l warlike at- ude, for n military prepara- tions began July. 24, directly after Poincare's visit. He holds that Rus- sian mobllization, preceding that of Germany, was equivalent to a declara- tion of war. . Barnes does not stop with this analysis of the events coming immediately before the out- break of war. He tries to show that as early as 1912 Poincare and Izvolski, Russian Ambassador to France, were forming a conspiracy to bring on a general war, with the object of re- covering Alsace-Lorraine for France and securing the Dardanelles for Rus- sia. Sir Edward Grey he considers an unintentional partner in the con- spiracy, use most of his inter- national acts from 1906 on tended “to encourage a European situation fa- vorable to war.” It is doubtful if either historlans or students of his- tory will accept most of Prof. Barnes’ Q. Why does a neswpaper article say that Nurmi is unable to sprint?— J. H. McC. A. In referring to Nurmi not being able to sprint. :he newspaper means that Nurmi is better in a longer run requiring speed over a longer course. He has greater endurance, which does not wane, than other runners who make faster time over a shorter dis- tance. Q. How wide is the boundary be- tween Canada and the United States? —D. A. ‘A. The bcundary has no width. It is merely a line between the termina- tion of the United States and the com- mencement of Canada. Q. What is an officer on duty as a watchman on a ship called’—A. C. A. An officer on duty as watchman on a ship is called “The Officer of the Watch.” On a Navy ship he is called “Officer of the Deck.” Q. Do fine singers lose their voices and recover them again?—C. H. A. Many singers have lost their singing voice. Among the noted sing- ers who have had this experience are Lucrezia Bori and Evelyn Herbert. A severe attack of laryngitis or bron- chitis may cause the loss of the voice. In the case of the two noted artists referred to above their voices return- ed after a long period of rest. Q. What became of the camels that Jefferson Davis as Secretary of War in Plerce’s administration purchased for the Government?—A. L. A. The War Department says that after several years' trial it was demonstrated that the animals were not adapted for military transporta- tion in this country, and the entire herd was sold at auction. The records of this department show that on March 8, 1866, the quartermaster at New Orleans, La., was authorized to sell 66 camels then in Texas. The highest bid received for the animals was $31 per head, at which price they were sold. No record of these ani- ‘mals after their sale to private parties is found. Q. How many college and univers- ity men and women work their way through?—B. S. N. A. According to a survey of 122 colleges and universities, 39 per cent or 60,000 men and women are work- ing to defray their expenses in whole or in part. Of the number tabulated 55 per cent of the men and 22 per cent of the women attending these institutions are included. Q. Recently I was discussing the custom of placing a flag or pennant at top of a high bullding when a group of workmen finish their part of the operation. Can you give the origin of this custom of topping out? —A. H. C. A. The editor of the Contractors and Engineers’ Monthly says that the origin of the custom of placing a flag or tree when the highest part of any structure is completed he believes originated in Germany. It is simply a good luck omen and was designed to protect the building from evil spirits. In other countries, it is still the cus- ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. men to “drinks” as soon as the tree is piaced on the ridge pole. Q. Please explain the growing use of the inverted envolepes, those which have the flap at the bottom instead of the top of the reverse slde—~W. M. C A. This is a kind of envelope made for the special purpose of use for postage permit. The new automatic machines are made so that the en- velope flap prevents the envelope from going through the machine. For this reason the envelope is turned upside down, which makes the flap at the bottom after the envelope is stamped or printed. Q. What is the cause of corruga- tions of-surface across many gravel roads?—D. L. H. A. Corrugations appear to be formed by the kick back of surface materials arising from the spin of the rear wheels of automobiles as they de- scend after the bounce over some ob- stacle or depression, and also from the impact of both the front and the rear wheels of automobiles. A small obstacle or depression in the road will cause a vehicle to bounce and strike the road with the above mentioned effect. A few such occurrences are sufficient to form a corrugation, and this corruga‘.on may result in the formation of oae ahead, and thus the process continues. This theory is con firmed to a certain extent by the fact that corrugations very rarely occur on grades, where assending cars will cling more closely to the road, and de- scending cars in neutral do not give much spin to the rear wheels in de scending after a slight bounce. Q. What kind of a diamond make= the best drill points?—I. T. C. A. Carbonado, 2 massive, black, or dark gray variety of ‘diamond, also called black diamond, which is opaque and therefore of no value as a gem, is the hardest substance known and i8 the most desirable for use in diamond drills. Q. Will covering a cake of ice in an fce box cause it to last longer, but give out the same amount of cold?>—H. D. R. A. The Bureau of Standards says wrapping ice in paper, cloths, or blankets will preserve the bulk longer, but it is as impossible to keep an ice box cold without melting the. ice. as it is to heat a house without burning the coal. Q. What constituent of the onion gives it the distinctive flavor or strength?—M. M. S. A. The volatile oil of the onfon gives it its peculiar flavor or strength. 3 What do you need to kmow? Is there some point about your business or personal life that puzzles you? Is there something you want to know without delay? Sudmit your tion to Frederic J. Haskin, Director o our Washington Information Bureau. He is employed to help you. Address your inquiry to The Evening Star In- formation Bureau, Frederio J. Has- kin, Director, Washington, D. C., and inclose 2 cents in stamps for re- tom for the owner to treat the work- turn postage. EVENTS ACKGROUND OF BY PAUL V. COLLINS. “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it,” remarked Mark Twain. Yesterday it was noted on all street cars and in all offices that Mark had been a keen ob- server, for the weather was the sole topic, yet who turned a faucet to let the heat out, or the humidity to dry up? There were no whereases or resolutions addressed to the District Commissloners, nor was there a pop- ular appeal to Dr. C. G. Abbot of the Smithsonian Institution to knock the spots off the sun, nor to the Weather Bureau to call off its dogs. People Jjust continued to talk in a do-less and submissive manner. Everybody could tell everybody else that Prophet Brown, who had guaranteed a “heat- less Summer,” should be compelléd to stand by his bargain or be roasted at the stake in the broiling sun. * kK ¥ The weather is the one tepic on which most persons feel free to di- vulge . wisdom; they have known weather all their lives, so they know what is what concerning it. It is sim- ply amazing how much they know that isn't so. .The weather—she's a lady, for she always goes by con- traries and changes all rules of con- duct as often as she pleases. For example, scientists tell us that “More air goes up than ever comes down"—when measured in volume. Also when air is pushed north, by a current from the south, it invariably blows eastward. Also, the way to dry the air is to rain through it, and to cool the atmosphere, heat it; or to warm it, just cool it first. And while all solar heat comes from the sun, the closer the sun is to the earth the cooler is the air, and the most torrid parts of the earth are covered with the coldest air. There is a weather adage: w ER P The notion that noon is the hottest part of the day -was demonstrably contradicted this week, as it invariably is, for the scientists of the United States Weather Bureau declare that “As the sun descends, the tempera- ture ascends.” Was not the climax al- ways after 3 o'clock? Comdr. Byrd recently told a swel- tering world, after his sail over the North Pole, that the coldest spot in the world is really the South Pole, but he was talking just plain English and not the language of the Weather Bureau, which says, “The absolute maximum diurnal insolation is at the South Pole.” To demonstrate this thesis even more clearly, the good Dr. Humphries of the Weather Bureau explains: “If I is the solar constant, or quantity of solar energy per minute, per unit area, normal to the incoming ‘radiation at the limit of the atmos- phere”’—(Whew, let's get that clear!— ‘at the limit of the atmosphere’—not photosphere, but actually at the top wave of the stratosphere, that's the limit, ‘en comble’)—"then the total amount Q of solar energy, per any consecutive 24 hours, per unit area of a horizontal surface, also at the 1imit of the atmosphere, is given by the equation by “'Q equals 1440 divided by some Greek, I (H sin 1 sin d cos 1 cos d sin_H). Doesn’t that prove that the man who sailed over one Pole and says it was mildly chilly compared with the South Pole is a “Byrd”? Science of the weather is simply grand! when_we take the temperature of both Poles plus that of Washington, the average weather is just perfect, even if the Weather Bureau does' spell cos with an o instead of a u and double ss, while it talks so piously of * .k ok % It may be all right for the sclentists to cos and sin about the weather, but they are not the only ones interested in the facts about it. . . ‘What it is moulds the life of man? Wha '":m:ré black and others tan? TRt T e % '#fi%&- fo.in fure and freese? * .‘ * % Institution, and his co- And | they adjutor, Prof. H, H. Clayton, meas- uring the heat of sunspots and attributing the weather to the con- trol or modification of those sun- spots, and with the United States Weather Bureau winding up its thermometer and barometer without any regard whatever to the sun climate, it is growing more and more confusing to the layman. The Smithsonians have the facts —the record of the years since they began to measure the temperature of the sun in 1919—and note how the @ of many spots across the center diameter of the sun has been invariably followed next day by cooler weather on earth, and a day or two later by increascd heat They find that the sunspots have caused a variation in the sun’s heat amounting to 2 per cent or even more, and as it is possible to note those spots as they slowly pass with the revolution of the sun upon its axis, it is possible to know, several days ahead, exactly when they will cross that center diameter; hence, meteorologists could compute, a week or longer ahead, what the weather is going to be. But the meteorologists fail to accept the spot theory or to note the “deadly parallel” of the Clay ton-Abbot lines upon the charts covering the last six years, with the line of weather records for the came period. Have they not discarded all other prognostications equally simple, such as noting the thickness of fur on wild animals ‘and the abundance of nuts hidden by squirrels in the Fall, as indications of a hard Winter? * % x % The fact is that the Abbot-Clay- ton sunspot idea does not rest on such long-range forecasting of sea- sons. Nor does it rest upon the idea that 2 per cent decrease or in- crease in the sun's heat will be answered by direct equal variation on earth. Dr. Abbot explains freely that the earth’'s temperature is in- fluenced by its barometrical pres- sures and resultant winds. If the wind is from the south, we are go ing to have warmer weather; if from the north, colder. But what changes the direction of the wind? It may be that when the sun grows even 2 degrees colder, by reason of the e of many spots across its axis, the difference may change the air currents upoh earth, and by cooling the air, in one zone, it may cause warmes air to flow to replace that cooles &r and thereby warm up that region—for does not the weather proverb, ap- proved by scientists, tell us that to make the weather warmer we must cool the air, which will then con- tract and let in a flood of the sur- rounding warm air? It that does not make everything clear as to last Wednesday's and Thursday’s heat—it is quite too warm to argue about it. Besides, the Weather Bureau announced last Sat- urday: “North and Middle States— Mostly fair weather Monday and , but local thundershowers are probable the middle or latter part of the week. Somewhat cooler Mon- day, but temperature will likely aver- above normal during the week.” Didn't they tell you so? Definite— just like that! Dr. Abbot relates a parable in re- ply to his critics who refute all his observed facts by protesting that cannot be true, since they con- tradict sclentific “averages.” He tells a critlo to observe a certain fleld in which there are very tall objects. The critic refers to his record and finds that the average height of growth on that fleld is 4 inches, but Dr. Abbot retorts, ‘“There are flow- ering shrubs there at least 6 or 8 fest high and trees at least 46 feet high. “I regret to differ with you,” an- swers the critic, “but I am sure my averages are right, and so the mathe- matics are against you.” “But really, sir,” replies the doctor, “the Washington Monument is in that fleld. -The fact that there are also 17,000,000, blades of grass there cannot shorten it any, though iti brings ”acwn your ‘average’ to 4 (Covyright, 1020. by Paul V. Collins.) = -