Evening Star Newspaper, October 23, 1926, Page 6

(] THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition, WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. . ...October 23, 1926 pEmmete s i The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business ¢ 11th St. and Penn: Wew York Ofen ast 42 Chicago Office: Tower Building. uropean Oftice;_13 Regent 5t.. London, ngian . st . ® “iniThe Evening Star. with the Sunday morn, Ing adition. in delivered by carriers withif the city at' 60 cents per only. 43 cents Der month: Sundays ority. 20 cents oL, month Orders may he sent by mail or lephone fain 5000 Collection is made by carrler at end of each month. month: dail Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dafly and Sunday Dally only 2y only All Other States and Canada. afly and Sunday..l atly only .01 Sunday only ... ‘Member of the Associated Press. The Associate] Press is exclusively entitled o the use for republication of all news dis- i1y the tornado was headed eastward instead of westward or northward, and Florida escaped, with merely the in- convenience of a few hours of high wind, which did no damage worth mentioning. Yesterday morning a series of earth shocks occurred on the Pacific Coast, affecting several midwestern California counties. They were felt in San Fran- cisco, the residents of which recall with horror the visitation of 1905, when that city was wrenched and broken and then burned. As the ground began to tremble and as walls swayed and glass cracked and fell, the people instinctively fled from their homes. None could tell when the tremors would become so violent as to bring buildings crashing down, tak- ing lives and perhaps starting a con- flagration. In a little while, however, the shakes ceased, gradually a feeling of securlty was restored and the “panic” was over. Those who have never passed through such a terrifying experience as a hurricane of the violence of that which swept Florida a few weeks ago, atches cradited 10 1t or not otherwise ered- i m this paper and also the local news published heren. All rights of publication 2 special dispatches herein are aiso reserve No Need to Change the Law. Opposition cannot fail to be vigor- ously interposed by the citizens of the District to the suggestion that the law governing the appointment of District Commissioners be £o changed as to permit’ the selection of persons who, while “residing” here, maintain their voting residences elsewhere. In the first place, there is no need for such a change. Despite the evident diffi- culty of selection when occasion arises for a new appointment, there is no lack of available and efficient “talent” for the position in the bona fide resi- dents of Washington. Such embar- rassments the Chief Executive meets in making cholce arises rather from the abundance of material than from a deficit. The primary purpose of the law of three years' residence, without claim of residence elsewhere, was to pre- vent the appointment as District Com- misstoners of persons with no interest in Washington, political place seekers. Its effect has been to give the District the service during the nearly fifty years of its continuance of capable local men, familiar with the local con- aitio cquainted with the people, sympathetic with their needs and am- bitions for their advancement and their welfare. It is perhaps true that during recent yvears there have come to this city for residence numerous persons from the States who have established themselves as Washingto- nians and who have become well ac- quainted with conditions and require- ments and limitations and aspirant for the progress of the Capital com- munity, but who have retained their votes in their States. In respect to these and women there is no doubt that they would make excellent Commissioners. But so long as they preserve their voting qualifications they ave not in truth, they are not in spirit, citizens of the District. This ggestion presents in vivid manner the anomaly and the injustice of the privation of the District peo. ple of the franchise. They are denied any right of participation in the selec- tion of their lawmakers and their Chief Executive. That is why many newcomers, attracted by the ad- vantages of this city as a place of re dence, retain thelr voting rights in the States. They plant one foot in Washington and keep another foot in the voting precinct of a distant juri diction. They are not to be criticized for this Colossus-like attitude. They are merely holding on to the basic right of citi ship which is denied the Washingtontan. Grant the right of national repre- sentation to the Washingtonian, to which he is entitled in his character as a citizen of the Republic, and this situation will be corrected. There will then be no oc on for the newcomer to this city, making it his actual home for the sake of its delightful situation and i superior advantages, to retain residence elsewhere for the sake of the wvote, which every Ame: an cherishes, though he may not hgbitually use it. Give the W hingtonian a vote for President and a voting representation | in Congr: thro h popular election, and the barrfer set up now agains the importation of administrative tal: ent will no longer shut out from selec- tlon any truly desirable possible per- sons, for such will have become in all respects under the law eligible to ap- pointment. Surely t men e will be no respons Congre: to the suggestion t disfranchisement of the Washingto- nlan be made even more oppressive and inequitable by the removal of the sole clause of the organic act that in- aures a local administration, through executive selection, by actually rep- resentative Washingtonians. ————— Visitors who announce frankly that they desire American money are wel- come none the less. That mental at- titude is in accord with international custom. o 1f all the stories of death-dealing in- ventions are true, any “next war’ will | be fought in the laboratories as well s on land and ocean and in the air. +ome Nature's Reminders. Disasters breed fear as well as cause @estruction. When any community is hit by a storm of great violence it dreads the possibility of another visita- tion. When a region is shaken by a tremor of the earth's crust its people ever after live in apprehension of a recurrence. This week has been mark- ed by two instances of acute dread In- duced by the close approach of dis aster, in repetition of previous experi- ences, The other day southern Florida be- came greatly alarmed when a re- port was received that a storm of intense fury was raging in western Cuba, destroying property and ship- ping and taking lives. With the mem- ory of the storm of September, which took such a ghastly toll, still vivid, or as the quake and the resultant fire which despoiled San Francisco twenty- one years ago, can quite appreciate the reaction caused by a recurrence or a menace of a renewal. The stout- est hearts quail. Panic may not en- sue in terms of wild, frantic rushes, but the instinctive tendency is to escape, if there is any way toward probable safety. In this latest conjunction of experi- ences, at the extremes of the con- tinent, there is perhaps some consola- tion to Florida, which has been hard hit in prestige as a resort for health and pleasure by the September dis- aster. California, a rival tourist mecca, is not well served by Nature in this renewal of the reminder that the soil of the State is still in process of set- tlement and adjustment and that that process is unfavorable to the peace of mind. The Smithsonian Centenary. With the imminent arrival of Wash- ington’s long-looked-for giraffe, it is worth remembering that without a “Zoo™ there would be no home for His Highness here. And the reason that the Natlonal Capital enjoys such a remarkable collection of animals is the fact that there exists the Smith- sonian Institution, which established and administers the National Zoologi- cal Park and which today celebrates a happy and successful centennial. To a majority, perhaps, the Smith- sonian is known as a dark brown Nor- man structure on the .11, which houses “a lot of fossils and a bunch of highbrows.” It has some fossils at that, and some of the highest brows in operation, but there is noth- ing fossillike about this remarkable organization. It is very decidedly alive and has been described, with- out exaggeration, as “the world's most wonderful clearing house of facts.” One hundred years ago today an English chemist, named James Smith- son, with a broad-minded eye toward the opportunities afforded by the future of the young republic, named the United States of America as the trustee of his fortune, which was to be used to found an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge. This country accepted the bequest in the spirit in which it was offered and through the wise ap- pointment by Congress of Joseph Henry as its first secretary, started the institution on a career which has been fruitful for science and educa- tion, agriculture and commerce throughout the world. The Smithsonian is not a building; it is, as its name implies, an institu- tion—a living, ever-growing thing, far bigger than any building. Established under the President and all the mem- bers of his cabinet and administered by a board of regents hended by the Chief Justice of the United States and by a permanent secretary, whose name is known and recognized wher- ever knowledge is valued, it includes the National Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, the Bureau of American Ethnol- ogy, the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, Interna- tional Exchanges and the Regional Bureau for the United States Cata. | logue of Scientific Literature. To enumerate all the different types of service which the Smithsonian In- stitution has rendered, is rendering or may render to man, would be an impossible task. The National Capi- tal congratulates the organization on the completion of what is is hoped will be but the first of many centuries of patient, valuable labor; it congrat- ulates itself, the Nation and the world at large. = Cuba has her tragedles as well as Florida, and will no doubt display the same energy and determination in re- building. There is no disaster to which human enterprise does not now rise superior. - e A New Russian Marriage Law. Russia has enacted a new bigamy law, which punishes by a fine of $250 or by imprisonment at hard labor any man who takes more than one wife at a time. Exemptions, it is explained in the news dispatch, are provided in the cases of those who acquired mul- tiple wives prior to the present enact- ment. It is further explained that this new law applies particularly to the mid-Asiatic areas, where many of the natives are polysamous. This Is most praiseworthy, though difficulties are likely to be met in the enforcement of the anti-bigamy statute in Asia, perhaps even in European Russia. And it should be noted fur- thermore that there will probably be some confusion in all of Russia grow- ing out of the change of mood on the part of the ruling group of com- missars. TUnder Soviet rule marriage has been made so easy and divorce so facile that the family has been well nigh de- stroved. The general situation has been a virtual state of progressive polygamy, a successive bigamy, so to this close approach of another hurri- cane caused a state of mind near to! panic stage. P were made { for defense and many people living in the area of the earlicr visitation fled to suppasedly safer places. ar <peak. “Off with the old love and on with the new" I the national so sars argue that if divorce is so sy there Is no justification for actual Thele reasoning is perhaps Doubtless the com- sound, but it is a bit too subtle for| the Muscovite mind. If this change of law regarding big- amy and polygamy reflects a change of heart on the part of the Soviet rulers regarding the marriage institu- tion, it 13 to be welcomed as an index of a further relapse into the soclal order which was so rudely and violent- ly abandoned when Bolshevism was established in Russia. PO T A Temporary Airport. Impetus was given to the District of Columbia municipal airport move- ment vesterday, when representatives of the District Chapter of the National Aeronautical Association called upon Lieut. Col. U. §. Grant, 3d, executive officer of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, to urge es- tablishment of a temporary airport pending congressional action upon a permanent ficld. In asking for action by the commission the committee pointed out that even if Congress acts promptly on the project it will be at least five years before the proposed site, Letween Hunter and Gravelly points on the Potomac, can be filled in and made available and suitable for an airport. It is for this period that a temporary fleld is needed and the committee expressed hope that means may be found by the commission to provide the necessary facilities. There is not the slightest question but that a municipal airport would be a desirable addition to the con- veniences and improvements of the National Capital. It is a project that has received the indorsement of busi- ness men of the city and is one that would in no wise interfere with the beauty and orderly development of any park area that might be selected. On the contrary, if properly regulated, it would tend to enhance any such area because of the betterments that would have to be made in order to render it a flying fleld of a high standard. Five years is too long to wait for culmination of the plans for a munici- pal airport. The commission should bend every effort to make a park area available for airplane use. Washing- ton should take its place with other progressive cities in this respect and, vending congressional action, plans should be worked out for the tempo- rary airport which is so earnestly de- sired, not only By the aeronautical in- terests, but the citizens of Washing- ton as well. e The expenditure of money in politi- cal campaigning seems great. Yet the present purchasing power of the dol- lar modifies the enormity of the out- lay, even in comparison with the ancient custom involving a torchlight procession, a few barrels of lquid re- freshment and two dollars a head for representatives of the floating fran- chise. —_— Philadelphia’s Sesquicentennial was an event of historic interest which found the eitizens, without sacrifice of patriotism, welcoming a queen on soil where once a king was bitterly denounced. B e The Tunney-Dempsey fight caused a great deal of money to change hands, and will cause still more to change hands at the vaudeville box office. Talk is not cheap when pugilistically presented. . s become practically | ‘The new radio beam makes wireless service still faster. In this era of mar- vels there is nothing that can go so rapidly that it cannot still be speeded up a little. ——e————— Politics has its unchanging habits. The question of protection or free trade never disappears from debate for any great length of time. —_— v It sometimes appears that many people do not realize what a good of- ficlal a man has been until he an- nounces his decision to resign. o SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Not the Same. Talkin’ politics is not Like it used to be. 0ld orations are forgot Ringin’ out so free. Arguments sound kind o’ queer Passin’ as polite Words which once would pretty near Start a real fight. Stately sentences are lost Which applause might win; Ragtime flippancies are tossed In the general din. Of arithmetic a lot, Every day we see. Talkin® politics is not Like it used to be. Adaptable Opinion. “Are you a wet or a dry” asked the voter, “I don’t know at this moment,” an- swereg Senator Sorghum. “Whichever you are, I temporarily agree with you.” Hard to Swallow. The Autumn skies begin to frown And as we eat or sup We know, while anythirig goes down, The price of it goes up. Jud Tunkins says he hankers for the old Thanksgiving when you could think about how the turkey would taste instead of what it cost. “The laughter of the multitude,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is coined into gold by the cold wisdom of the few.” Silent Witness. There in some old Egyptian tomb | A mummy lies in splendid gloom. The scientist with manner brave Isteems it fine to rob a grave And prove by means of buried lore We know-—just what we knew before, “Learn to say ‘no’” sald Uncle Eben, “but don't start i ttyin' to practice on yoh creditors.” — e ‘Wonder Why? From the Syracuse *Herald Now that we come to think of it, we haven't seen a sign “Cider Mill for Sale” for almost seven yvears. o The Short Term. Bluetield Daily Telegraph. Gets Ten Years in'Prison.—plead- line. Which means that le have to stay till after C! THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “Simplicity is a state of mind,” said Charles Wagner. A little consideration makes this plain, What do ignorant men usually do when they come into a little money? Generally they Wulld elaborate and ornate homes, and their womenfolk buy the most costly dresses, ornamented with large quan- titles of lace, beads, metal jiggers, and so on. In the course of time, however, as experience overtakes them, they com- monly see the error of their ways. Then they build them more stately mansions, while their women take to severely simple lines for all their frocks. Nine out of ten persons, given the money and opportunity, will run some such gamut as that described, going from the elaborately decorated thing to the severely simple. Their search for expression of them- selves in their homes, their furnish- ings, their clothes, inevitably leads them from ornateness to simplicity, from elaborateness to severeness. Their first garden was filled with huge marble benches and fountains, torn through power of money from their Italian settings, where they were appropriate, and placed in inappropri- ate American gardens. In later years, however, they junk these things and hire a landscape gardener, who supplies them the artistic taste which they originally lacked, but are now getting around to love. Nowhere {s this tendency more strikingly seen than in the subject of clothes, especially women's cloth- ing. Here the whole process, from costly overdoing to even more *costly simplicity, is brought out in high re- lief. Sudden wealth but gives it a higher light. It may be seen leaven- ing the dress of a nation, as salaried men and women make more and more money, and thus progress from good things to better things. Ninety-nine out of a hundred women, given thelr free will in this matter, will choose elaborate dresses. The more lace and feathers they can pile on dress or hat, the better pleased they are with it. After a time, they come to realize that something is lacking. The orna- mentation did not give them the satis- gaction they thought it would. They look around them, and see that those who are abte to buy anything thy please, for some strange reason, never go in for such gorgegus decoratlons. They try the idea themselves, and pay for lines, for style, for fine ma- terial, instead of for feathers, beads, laces and so on. They are delighted, generally, with the result—and why not, for they have achieved that happy result, sim- plicity? “Simplicity is a state of mind,” said Wagner. * ok ok There will be at least one person out of every ten to whom the severely simple will come naturally as the ex- pression of his or her individuality. These include gentlemen who wear plain tles, and ladies who go in for straight simple dresses, no matter what their station in life. One may often see the thing worked out to per- fection in a restaurant where there are several waitresses. Four of the will wear their hair in elaborate piles, or, bobbed, much frizzled. The fifth, however, will have on a plain dress and have her hair absolutely untouched. The chances are 9 to 1 that the latter will wear no rouge, either, and, after working hours, put on a severely simple hat. Life resolves itself at the last, on the part of the discriminating, into a BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS, A most distinguished foreign gen- tleman will arrive in Boston tomor- row, and, after a brief stop there, will proceed to Washington, where he will take up his permanent residence. His coming will so eclipse the recent glory of the visit of Queen Marie—at least so far as concerns a certain part of our citizens—that it is well that her roval highness will be far from the Capital, lest her dignity be of- fended, and she become jealous of her rival. The name of the distingulshed im- migrant is a secret, not to be disclosed until after his reception, but readers will rest assured that he will out- top any king on earth. The Bible says, “There were glants in those days,” but how many real giants, if they marched down Pennsylvania ave- nue, would be looking into our second- story windows, as—on the level—his royal highness will undoubtedly do? It is probable that he has never be- held such interesting scenery. If the climate of Boston, where the people are rather *cold” and it is said there is already swow, should cause the new arrival to become hoarse, it will be simply terrible, for he may have 10 or 15 feet of sore throat, and there would be a famine of cough medicine and red flannel to tie around his neck. 2 * %k % ok Here is the message which came vesterday announcing the impending arrival: “Docking Sunday, Boston. Storm. Giraffe safe. Have 7 large, 10 small cats, 5 hyenas, 25 reptiles, 70 large and 300 small birds, 60 mammals, be- sldes antelope, 70 monkeys, 4 swine. Spitting cobras living in coal bunkers. Will need Baker and Blackburn. MANN." All that a plebelan can say is that it is obvious that Mann will need a whole bakery, not merely one Baker, if his _entourage is to be dined and feasted with anything like the abun- dance of the Queen, who has so much relished American cooking. And just think of his toting around with him 17 cats! Maybe he has to carry all those birds to feed the cats. The White House spokesman has de- nied that America will modify its laws barring more than the legal quota of immigrants from the Mediterranean region, but it looks suspiciously like preparing to let down the bars for more organ grinders when one Mann brings in threescore and ten monkeys. That raises the question as to where is the “balance of trade’—so many “monk"” and no more organs. The great mystery of that message is why they keep the spitting cobras rather than the four swine in coal bunkers, for swine naturally get into the feed troughs, but the explanation is suggested that perhaps they are try- ing to teach the cobras that it isn't nice to spit, and want to humiliate them by making them see how much wovse they are than pigs. It is going to be embarrassing in Washington to supply empty coal bunkers in No- vember. What a flurry all this company is making in the preparations for them out at the Zoological Garden! Such sweeping and dusting! And Supt. Baker is as busy as a_grandmother xpecting all her children for a Thanksgiving homecoming. 3 * ok ok ok It is said that there are Washing- tonians who have not visited the Zoo for many months, though, with the crowds, _every Sunday ranging from 35,000 to 75,000 visiiors, and half that many on the other six days in_the week, thers'is room for loubt. With its 169 acres of monkeys and bears and elephants and hyenas and buffalo and deer and boa con- neverything wild,” it is all sive that mamy thousands stroll from interest to interest and not be crowded any more than the lonesoms folks at a §esqui. How- ever, mAybe tomorrow Wil be the Jast D. O, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1926. search for simplicity. After awhile, whether long or short; the mind sees the futility of decoration, or, at least, of the vain search for satisfaction in elaborateness, and turns to the simple as the ultimate expression of life's longings. Undoubtedly, one of the ap- peals of the Christian religion to mor- tals has been its simplicity. As taught by its founder, Christianity is the es- sence of simplicity, simplicity is the essence of Christianity. The real ornaments of life are seen to be hugely simple, whether one con- siders the realms of mental or physi- cal activity, whether one turns to horticulture or physics, whether one searches for good tobacco or fine lit- erature. In each case the unadorned is found to be the best. The law of gravity took no more than a falling apple and an uplooking mind for its discovery. Lovelier flowers resulted from the application of a great sim- ple man, Luther Burbank, working wonders by working with Nature. Good tobaccos are not too sophisticated with sauces. The great books are those that read right along, so that when one has finished he wonders to himself, “Now why could I not have thought of that myself?"” Sverywhero one sees the same thing. The great sights of Nature are simply such things as a river pouring over a precipice, or the grand stretch of ocean or rolling prairie, trees in their elaborate sim- plicity, little children with their shin- 4ng hair. The underlying compli- cations of things must not for a mo- {ment be thought to militate against the fundamental simplicity of which wo speak. From one standpoint noth- ing is slmple. Modern science has shown the atom to be divisible, and the electron to be more elaborate in construction than the atom used to bo thought. These essential compli- cations of things are inwrought by the Creator, and their contemplation but brings us face to face with the simplicity of which we speak. For “simplicity is a state of mind,” as the wise man said. * K Kk This good state of mind leads one to value lightly strivings for effect, such as one finds in certain writers who imagine that the unrestricted use of adjectives will make their work “peppy.” It accounts for the aban- donment of the old ‘“gingerbread” atrocities of the 80s, when the; more facades that could be put onto a house the better house it was regard- ed. This state of mind resents any striving for an impression in oratory, any “flag waving,” as it is called. It demands simplicity in thought, action and speech. It values honesty of pur- pose and takes with a grain of salt the otherwise good aphoris that “nothing succeeds like succ It is because more and more this state of mind has come to America by rea- son of widespread education and greater leisure that men and women are refusing to be led into discussions of matters which simplicity has set- tled for them beyond the necessity of argument. Our own Emerson said that ‘“noth. ing is more simple than greatne: indeed, to be simple is to be great,” and thereby enabled all men who ap- preciate simplicity to feel that, to this extent at least, they are great. Sure- ly a most satisfying thought. He, then, who lays aside his elaborately carved meerschaum for a plain, straight brier is a great pipe smoker; he who reads ‘“Alice in Wonderland,” no matter what his age, is a great reader; he who loves the gentle Christ, a great worshiper. chance to come early and avold the rush which is sure to crowd after the arrival of Dr. Mann's entourage., For that aggregation of the greatest ani- mal show outside of Africa since Bar- num'’s haleyon days will be equal in popularity to a new family of cub bears—and that is the climax. * ok ok K The National Zoological Garden is 86 years old, and men who were schoolboys when it was established in 1890 are now taking their grandchil- dren there, just as their own fathers justified going to circuses to take their children to see the animals. But this is not the oldest zoological collec- tion known. Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, had a great zoo before Cortez conquered him. The ancient Egyptians, living from 5,000 to 3,000 years before Christ, used to have menageries of wild ani- mals, besides several species of do- mesticated animals. Mostly these animals were worshiped. There was the bull, which they called Apfs, and which represented the sun, the cow representing the moon, and known as Athor. Athor stood for the moon and for eternal night, out of whose chaos were constantly being reborn all things that existed in Nature, even including the sun. And the snake was the husband of the cow, etc. In the Egyptian Pantheon one finds today representations of 25 or 30 ani- mals which were held sacred—hip- popotami, crocodiles, cats, lions, wolves, dogs, etc. There were also birds. Later the Egyptians became more practical and got rid of the more savage beasts, retaining such as could be domesticated, like cattle and sheep, and some of the sheep raisers became kings. Rich farmers used to keep little menageries on their estates, just to show their wealth. Still, there were some great na- tional zoological collections. Power- ful kings learned to use elephants and other wild animals in battle to af- fright their enemies or grace tri- umphal parades or to make a Roman holiday in eating the captives, in arenas, for the enjoyment of royal sportsmen. * K K ok especially, | A historical description of a Greek festival tells of a procession: ‘After that came 24 chariots drawn by elephants, 60 drawn by goats, 12 drawn by lions, 6 drawn by long- horned African antelopes, 15 drawn by buffalo, 8 by ostriches, 4 by wild asses and 7 by deer.” Readers who have seen presenta- tions of “Ben-Hur” need not to be re- minded of the uses of wild beasts in devouring martyrs in Roman arenas, and travelers in Mexico and Spain lare familiar with the arenas of the bullfighters. * ok %k Modern zoological collections are for no such barbaric purpose, but for general interest and entertain- ment of the public, and for the edu- cation of sclentists in animal breed- . ing. Here in the National Zoo, the ’Deparlment of Agriculture, through experimented in crossing a horse th a zebra, in the hope of develop- ing an animal hardy enough to resist certain horse diseases. The public schools make excellent use of the Zoo by the visits there of | classes of pupils under the guidance of their teachers. After seeing the difterent animals and birds, it is nat- ural for the student to become inte ested in learning their habits and en vironment in their natura! states, and | so geography and natural history take on increased interest. (Copyright, 1926, by Paul V. Collins.) ———————— i Owners of cattle herds in East Afri-| can tribes think it a digfrace to part | with & cow, even thoug] iog, i by THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover. Fashions change in literature as in clothes. Standards of critical judg- ments are fundamentally altered or are profoundly modified with the lapse of time. Books at one time considered immoral have now become required reading for high school girls. Strik- ing examples of the truth of these statements have been collected in th{: book, ‘‘Notorious Literary Attacks,’ by Albert Mordell, who has edited the volume and written an introduction to the 15 curlous and hostile articles and reviews on great English and American authors and books of the later nineteenth century. The editor has deliberately avoided reprinting cel- ebrated or notorious reviews already available in the collected works of es- sayists or in earlier similar collections, but has brought together for edific: tion or warning mordant criticisms of Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Coleridge, Shel- ley, Byron, Carlyle, Dickens, Tenny- son, Swinburne, Rossettl, Charlotte Bronte, Thomas Hardy, Robert Louls Stevenson, Hawthorne and Walt Whit- man. R In view of what present-day critics and jreaders accept as good literature and good morals, it is curious to find that an American bishop in 1851 slated “The Scarlet Letter” as a work that had ‘“‘alre: done not a little to de- grade our literature and to encourage social licentiousness,” and that a woman critic, writing in 1848 of “Jane Eyre” in the Quarterly Review, pro- nounced it as “‘pre-eminently an anti- Christian composition” and said of the author, “Whoever it be, it is a person who, with great mental powers, com- bines a total ignorance of the habits of society, a great coarseness of taste and a heathenish doctrine of religio From internal evidence this woman critic satisfled herself that the author of “Jene Eyre” could not be a woman! The English Saturday Review in 1858 predicted that “fifty years hence our grandchildren will wonder what their ancestors could have meant by putting Mr. Dickens at the head of ,the novel- ists of the day.” Twenty years later the same review expressed an equally unfavorable opinion of Walt Whitman, saying, “Apart from his scandalous eccentriclties, his writings are poor stuff.” When Carlyle's “French Rev- olution” appeared in 1837, the Athe- naeum described it as “three long vol- umes of misplaced persifiage and flip- pant pseudo-philosoph: The only criticfsm of a_book by a living writer included in this collection is one by Andrew Lang attacking ‘Thoma, Hardy’s “Tess of the D'Urberville: Though Lang criticized the hook | severely, he confessed that in dofng s0 he was “in,an insignificant minor- ity.” One is glad to have rescued from the files of the Pall Mall Magazine W. E. Henley's very interesting and | very personai review of Graham Bal- four’s “Life of Robert Louis Steven- son,” in which he charged Balfour with making Stevenson a “Seraph in Chocolate, this barley-sugar effigy of | a real man. * ok ok K The Kenworthys, that Illinois small- town family introduced by Margaret Wilson in her novel, “The Ken- worthys,” are again the persons of a novel — her third — “The Painted | Room.” The family is now sadly de- pleted. The brilliant, erratic boy, who held our interest in “The Kenworthys,” is dead, and his cousin Martha hardly takes his plac It is Martha, how- ever, whom we are asked to follow through the book, to New York, Chi- cago and other places, where her be- havior worries her nice mother, Emily. Emily, it will be remembered, was the guardian angel of everybody in “The Kenworthys.” Being Emily's daugh- ter, Martha does not turn out so badly, though things look black for a time. * ok ok K Memory often gives more polgnant Joy than experience, and the fear that memory may fade sometimes mars the happiest moments. William Beebe 1s especially sensitive to the treasures which may be taken forth and enjoyed from the storehouse of memory, and in many of his books refers to the necessity of filling the storehouse well and guarding its con tents carefully. He continually ad- monishes his memory to retain some unsual sight, sound or smell. He pauses at critical moments of jungle experfence and concentrates all hi: senses in order to make a lasting Im- pression on his brain. This storing of new memories is evidently one of the more personal objectives of all his scientific voyages and explorations. Of a strange, silvery sound which led him to a luminous tree in the jungl at night he says in “Jungle Peace” “As I left I remembered with grati- tude the silver wire of sound which had guided me, and in a far corner of my mind I stored a new memory, one which I could draw upon at need in distant times of pain, or of intoler- ance, or perhaps in some lull of bat- tle—the thought of a tree all aglow with living flames (fireflies), in the moonlicht of the Convict Trail.” Of this same rare moonlight night in the Jungle he say: 0, with the mist set- tling down and tarnishing the great plaque of silver, I left the jungle, glad that I could be far away before the | first hint of dawn came to mar the | magic. Thus in memory I can alwa keep the dawn away until I return. * ok ok % Dual personality storfes in psychol- ogy pale before Fanny Hurst's latest heroine, Joan Herrick, alias Orchid Sargasso. Joan is born the child of a rising New York lawyer, but is stolen from her devoted parents and thenceforth becomes acquainted at close quarters with the slums, under the name of Orchid Sargasso, surely far more colorful than the name as- signed her by her parents. The | name of the novel in which she car- rles on her disjointed life is “Manne- quin” and it has been awarded a $50,000 prize by the judges of Liberty, as the best novel by an American | author written in 1925. | * K K ok | The paths by which success has | been reached are always being | searched for by vouth. One of these paths is traced from its beginning by Harvey §. Firestone in his book “Men and Rubber.” Harvey Firestone com- menced his business career 30 years ago by selling cough sirups and lotlons in a small Ohlo town, at a i THE. SIVENING. STAR, WASNTNGYON, D. U, BATORDAY. OORGREN M S ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. Why is Capt. H. D. Campbell called the safest flyer?—V. D. A. Capt. Campbell, who is a mem- ber of the Marine Corps, was awarded the Schiff Memorial Trophy as the aviator compiling the greatest number of hours in the air during the fiscal year 1926 without serious accident. His total time was 839 hours 40 minutes. This is not only the record in the Navy and Marine Corps, but also in the Army. Officlals of the National Aeronautical Association say that his time establishes a world record. Q. By whom was Scotland called Caledonia?—W. O. A. Caledonia for Scotland. Q. What cut of beef is used for dried beet?—O. T. D. A. The round is commonly used. Q. Was Jules Verne's story “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” based upon actual facts? —C. R. A. No. The story as the Latin name was written ship, it being the most popular suffix used in that conneotion. Q. What causes the center of blooks of ice to be milky and have a pecullar taste?—T, W. D. A. The Bureau of Standards says that concentration of impurities in water frequently causes the center blocks of ice to be milky and have a peculiar taste. Usually the core water is removed and replaced with fresh water when the block has been nearly eolidifled. Q. Is Eaton's Department Store of Toronto the largest in the world?—L. E. A. It Is sald to rank second, with Marshall Field's of Chicago ahead of it in size. = Q. What is belng done in this cou try for the care of dependent childre: —R. M. F. A. The Children’s Bureau says that in the United States there are ap- proximately 218,000 dependent chil- dren under the care of private and public agencies and institutions; 200, 000 crippled, deaf or blind children are many years before the successful period of the submarine. It is true, however, that vessels capable of sub- merging and of traveling about beneath the surface of the water were built and more or less successfully demonstrated before the story was written. It is said that a crude sub- marine boat was bullt in the reign of James I of England, to be moved by oar: Other such boats were con- structed at intervals, including the American Turtle, built during the Revolutionary War and used in an un- successful attempt to blow up a British war vessel. Robert Fulton, the inventor of the first practical steamboat, built one with which he secured fairly satisfactory results. The Confederate government built several during the Civil War. One of them blew up the steamer Housa- tonie in Charleston Harbor; it was it- self swamped and its crew drowned. Q. Are the canisters on gas masks painted different colors to indicate their different uses>—A. M. E. A. Yes. The three most usual in- stances are green, used as a protec- tion against ammonia; white, hydro- cyanic acid, and red, carbon monoxide and smoke. The last named is more commonly known as the flreman’'s canister. The actual face mask does not ry, its chiet qualification being air-tightness. Q. What is the science of decipher- ing anclent writings called?—A. C. A. It is referred to as diplomatics. Q. Who Mr. Greatheart? —R. E. V. A. He is a character in Bunyan’s “Pilgrim's Progress,” the guide of Chri: n's wife and children upon their journey to the Celestial City. Q. How close to the North Pole do people live’ F. W. A. According to the late Admiral Peary, permanent human life exists within some 700 miles of the North Pole. None is found within 2,300 miles of the South Pole. Q. What 1s the fastest thing in na- ture?>—R. T. A. Dr. Charles H. T. Townsend be- lieves that the fastest living thing as overed by man is the cephe- or_deer botfly. This fly is a native of North and South America and parts of rope and can travel 815 miles an hour, was Q. Do women have the right to vote in Quebec, Canada?—S. B. T. A. Quebec is the only Canadian province where women are not en- franchised, except in federal elections, when they may vote in conformity with the national act. in hospitals and special schools; 135, 000 mentally defective children are in special schools and other private and public institutions, and 130,000 chil- dren are given public aid in thelr own homes. Q. What was the natfonality of ther Damfen?—N. S. A. He was a Belgian priest who de- voted years of his life to the lepers of Molokal. Finally he contracted the disease and died at the age of 49 years. Q. How long did Palestine remain a Roman province?—R. D. (', A._It remained an integral part of the Roman empire until 614 A.D. Q. Has the bus and passenger car traffic hurt the railroads?™—R. 1. A. The reports of the railreads of the United States for the current fis- cal year show an unu degree of prosperity, apparently not affected by the increased number of bus lines, pa: senger automobiles, etc. The prosper- ity of the Nation at large and the in- creasing desire of people to travel and see all parts of the country have more than offset the addition of transporta- tion facilities. Q. What do the cheapest air mail stamps cost?—F. P. S. A. The cheapest air mail stamp is an 8-cent stamp and will carry a let- ter from New York to Chicago by air mail. A 10-cent air mail stamp will carry a letter for 1,000 miles. Q. Tell me how a transparent mir- ror is made—one which i3 a true mirror when lighted in front and transparent when light is made be- hind it.—W. K. C. A. The Bureau of Standards says that a transparent mirror is like the ordinary mirror, with chemically de- posited silver, except that the coating is very thin. The thickness of the coating is governed by the length of time the mirror is left in the bath. Q. What bird stays in the air the longest?>—H. B. F. A. The albatross is thought to be able to stay in the air longer than any other bird. This is because of its great length of upper arm and forearm and because the number of flight feathers carried on the wing exceeds that of any other bird. Alba- trosses will follow vessels for days at a time and they are almost the only visible inhabitants of the wastes of the Southern ocean: There is no other agency in the world that can answer as many legiti- mate questions as our free informa- tion bureaw in Washington, D. C. This highly organized institution has Q. Is it true that “maru’” means ship in Japanese, or is it a description of a certain kind of ship?—S. T. A. The Japanese embassy says that maru means, first, a sphere or circle, and secondly, perfection, entirety, completeness. Expressive of perfec- tion, it was formerly used as a suffix to the names of persons, sword mas- terpieces, etc.,, and to ships, but at present the last usage has become the common one. Thus the word maru, when used in conjunction with a proper name, may be said to designate been built up and is under the per- sonal direction of Frederic J. Haskin. By_keeping in constant touch with Federal burcaus and other educational enterpriscs it is in_a position to pass on to you authoritative information of the highest order. Submit your queries to the staff of experts whose services are put at your free disposal. There is no charge cxeept 2 cents in stamps for return postage. Address The Evening Star Information Bu- reau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Press Assails Helplessness Of Chicago in Gangster War Chicago is being belabored by the rest of the country again—or still— for her helplessness in dealing with gang warfare and crime generally. Describing conditions in Chicago with such phrases as “machine guns on a main street,” “attempt to blow up the county jail” and ‘“reports of police officers working hand in glove ith bootleggers and gangsters,” the Cleveland News asks: “What will a future historian of American munic- ipal conditions in the twentieth cen- tury write when he proceeds to re- view Chicago? Obviously,” continues that journal, “that a great American | city reached the nadir of degrada- tion.” One of Chicago's own great dailles, the Dally News, discerns in the con- ditions “the hateful shape of official tolerance,” and adds: “It is, of course, incredible that little gangs of savage lawbreakers should find themselves free to go on killing one another as an incident to amassing wealth through traffic in booze and commer- cialized vice, if they were not able to command protection in high quarters.” The Dayton Dafly News declares: “The Chicago gangster knows his town. He has seen the working of its lezal machinery. He {s familiar with the weakness of that legal ma- chine, Too often has he looked upon loose legal procedure. But one thing has been denied him, and that one thing might have stamped out law- lessness long ago. He has seen too few members of his own world and his own flk standing with the noose about their necks.” ok K K As an example of how other cities handle their eriminals, the Columbus Ohio State Journal says, “Detroit has salary of $50 a month. Five years later he organized a small company for the manufacture of rubber tires— | for carriages, for the possibilities of | the automobile were yet in the future, He had about a dozen employes and little machinery. Today the Fire- stone Tire Co. does a business of $115,000,000 & year and produces mil- lions of tires of all kinds. Mr. Fire- | Stone has also recently leased 1,000,- | 000 acres of land on the coast of | Africa for ralsing rubber. He is an | its Bureau of Animal Husbandry, has ' authority on the rubber industry and | gives information about it to Presi- dents. * ok ko Henry Sydnor Harrison, the author of “Queed,” “V. V.'s Eyes” and ‘Angela’s Business,” does not write €30 books or even one book a year, as 0 many fluent writers are able to do. He has just written another novel, however, " called “Andrew Bride of Paris.” Tt is a story of youth and the Sursuit of art in Paris; of youth, how- ever, which cannot forget its Ameri- can nationality. Marie, whom Andrew has met in Paris, says to him: “We're Americans, you see. Rooted in the soll, bred in the bone—settlers, pio neers, woodsmen, farmers, villagers, | be starv- | townsmen—generation after generas |to clean u appears. tion. It's in my cells and tissues.” | York Sun, declared war on thugs, policemen have been instructed to shoot to kill in clashes with these raiders, and to shoot quickly; no quarter auto bandits and stick-up workers.” The Akron Beacon Journal lauds the | action of San Francisco in dealing with the bandits who recently started to terrorize that city, as it describes how, after the initial operations of the outlaws, “more than 1,000 detectives, policemen and deputized citizens, armed with upon the job. Speedy automobiles car- |rying shotgun and machine gun | squads were posted at strategic points. | In addition, there was a thorough | search of hotels and rooming houses. | so-calied soft drink parlors and the ! known haunts of criminals and drug addicts. This inquisition did not pro- duce the gunmen,” says this paper, “but it has given San Francisco im- munity from any further daring ex- ploits by them or their kind.” while, on the other hand, “Chicago for months has tolerated conditions much more menacing than the outbreak vhich aro Francisco,” “The w Chicago situation,” according to the opinion of the New ig that “despite Mayor ns that he is trying city, no hnprovnmz apparently Dever’s assel to be ghown, wed-off shotguns, came | not become aroused so long as the gangsters restrict their killings to one another. The Texar! zette describes these gangsters as “engaged In war- fare for the control of the beer busi- ness and general banditry,” and de- clares they cannot be dealt with “by any half-hearted measures.” As the Trenton Evening Times sees it, “when the Chicago rum runners, bootleggers and beer distributors use machine guns in their warfare on one another, it is time for the State authorities and the enforcement agents to try to do the work which the local police are either unwilling or unable to do— clean up the cit The Toledo Blade, commenting on the ‘‘rival crime gangs that now seek supremacy by blood and fron in Chi- cago,” says “the gang guns roared a challenge to the good citizens of Chi- cago, who are in the great majority to the State of Illinois and to the Fed- eral Government, and the gangs will 8o down. They are opulent and pow- erful, but not invincible.” The Helena fontana Record-Herald believes that ‘since the criminals of the moment have developed a new technique of crime with deadly guns and swift-mov- ing vehicles, the police of the cities will have to evolve tactics to meet and match.” * K K ok The adoption of actual implements of war by criminals in their activitie the Seattle Daily Times sces as a fac tor that “increases the difficulties of the authoritics in their efforts to en- force the law,” who, nevertheless, must make a ‘“determined drive against gang rulo. Considering American crime condi- tions in general, the Baltimore Sun says: “The next time we feel like lec- turing China on her disor furnishing marines for the civilization of the Caribbean countries, it might be rational to’recall that charity be- gins at home.” The Nashville Banner scores our “maudlin_sentimentalism,” as exhibited in the Russell Scott case, which encourages other : feel that they “need not fe a‘mi certaln justice in this day and time.” In the same vein, the Los Angeles | Express observes that “quick convie- jtion and certain punishment take the glamour out of the life of crime.” Of reports that some citizens of Chi- cago again are turning their | ward Washington in the hope of help, the New York Times sa. “What- ever the truth, it Is not to be believed that Chicago will confess herself so impotent as not to be able to deal with her own crimes. Crime ts local in this country and must be dealt with by the local authoritles. Otherwise our whole svstem of Government would break down.” argues this paper. The Lynchhurg News believes that *“the police power of the State of Illi- nois should be competent to dwal with the situation. and, if it is not, the rem- ledy lies with the people of Chicago |and the people of Illinols, not with | the Government on." Certainly, the Manchester Union |Bods, it “1s a job which only Chicage can carry out.”