Evening Star Newspaper, November 9, 1926, Page 8

NOVEMBER 9. 1926. . . T THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]J. HASKIN. THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WABHINGTON, D. C. TUBSDAY. THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Ly 5 Rininase OMce: e oty a5 Pennie Europasi Stice’ Ave. bt 2 %2ng a1 ‘ower Bullding. at 8t.. London, The St the Snndav morn- s titon 18 Acllvered” by cariiots riers within tho dty at 60 -ani r month: dafly onl omn month: Bundeya ouly. 2 month. rdars’ may ha sent by mi hene Wain 8000, Collention ia ma carrier at end of each month. Rate by Mall—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginii m ang Sandey 13r.8800:1 = Ondas only 173300 1 e All Other States and Canada. .00 : ” undsy only ... £ 28e Amociaied Press is excln use for republication of od 10 it or not ot vaper and also the All rights of tchas harein are »y 7 Sailcation publica 80 reser ved Sound Fiscal Policy. Prasident Coolidga's latest tax re- duetion plan has a strong supporter in Secretary Mellon of the Treasury. Tn a stetement covering the fiscal and economic conditions of the American Government and country, Mr. Mellon entlines a snund poliey which will eammend itaelf 10 the people general- 1v. He calls attention to a fact which | some of those demanding an imme- Afate change in the permanent 1ax ratex aither willfully overlook or fall to appreciate. The sources of revenur of the Faderal Government are i eames. customs duties and min Ianeous internal ravenue taxes. The raceipts from these sources may fuc- tuate violently, according to the pros- perity of the people who muat pay the taxes. Whila a surplus of $250.0b0,000 i expected at the end of the fiscal vear. Tune 30, 1927, thare is no assur ance that the following fiscal vear, un Aer present rates of taxation. will pro- @uce 3 surplus. Mr. Mellon urges the legislators not to place the country in jeopardy of tax increases a vear or twn from today, at a time when the people and the husiness of the country | might he far less able to bear taxes. Mr. Mellon makes no suggestion that the people should not henefit in the surplus aceruing in the Treasury from Federal taxation. His plan is to give the taxpayers credita on the income taxes which thay would pay to the Government during the first half of tha vear 1927, these credits 1o he met out of the Treasury surplus. Under this plan. the tazpayers hensfit just as surely as they wounld henefit next vear from a reduction in the rates of tazation. and at danger of future trouble from a too precipitate change in the tax rates Is| eliminated The country today is on the crest of & great wave of prospervity. The very Aurplug of taxes is 1ha best evidence of this rondition. A people lacking prosperity does not roll up hundreds | of millions of dollare in its Treasury Ne signs of a hreak in the good times are discernible on the horizon. Rut this country has still billions of war dehts 1o settle with its own people It is settling them far more rapidly than had at fArst been believed pos- aihle. The time to pay debis is when there s in the pocket, when the packet is empty. When the dehis are paid, the country will be hetter able to faca any emergency that may arise. Whoe wonld venture tn predict that the United States will not in the future face emergencies he-| aide which those of the last war pale tnin insignificance” Tinder the guiding hand of Secre- tary Mellon, taxes have heen reduced| or aliminated during the last six vears, the public debt has been rveduced hy billions of dollars. His present advica is te avoid hasty tampering with the tax Tates. so as to escape danger of tay inereases later. The Mellon tax re- Anetion plan calling for drastic cuts in the higher hrackets of the surtaxes | has proved its wisdom. Tax receipts have increased despite the reduction af tax rates. A recalcitrant Congress Aslayed the adoption of the Mellon plan in 1924, The present Congress showed greater wisdom and followed his advice. A bhattle aver the latast Coolidge- Mallan plan for tax reduction is im pending. Not hecausa it is unsonnd, hri@ bacaunse its opponents are seeking pelMlesl advantage. Some of these | apponents songht political advantage | in 1924, when they blocked the Mellon tax reduction plan. It is not on rec- erd they gatned by their opposition. | - | Russian flme are imitating Ameri- | ean mevie stars. The Soviet idea ap-| pears t6 hava axtendad to the thonght that reputation as well as property sannot be held 28 & private possession the same time the | money not - - e Jail Breaks. Tafl braaks have become so frequent of late as 1o suggest that a concerted movement is nnder way the so- eallad underworld of crime to defeat the penal aystem of the conntry. A faw Aavs age a group of desperate lawhreakers, awaiting trial for homi. | elde, triad 10 esc prison in New Vork City and after | Killing two of the officials they were | anrnered and then killed themselves rather than he retaken. The guns which they uised in their dash for free- | Aom had been smuggled 1o them from | “autside” and thev had, it is suspect- | ad, the aid of prison guards suborned | by friends of the criminals. Yesterdav | at Columbus, Ohio. thirteen “lifers, | all convicted of homicide and belong-| Ing to the “red shirt gang of in- mates tao desperate to be put to work, organized a hreak and succeeded in getting out after a fight. Later all| But one were retaken in a cornfield. That there is & constant atream of eommunication between the confirmed oriminals in this country cannot be doubted. That it reaches those who heve been taken by the law and are In jall or penitentiary i suggested py the coincidence of breaks, in one i institution after another, of which those in New York and Calumbue are by pe from the Tombs .November 9, 1926 | 7! i e | | cities j-ered. For some time past the Cham- ber of Commerce of the Oranges and Maplewond, N. J., communities, has been brogdcasting “crime editorlal from the KEast Orange radio station These talks have been in the natu of warnings to the people againat the practices of the lawbreakers, calculat- ed to stimulate a public demand for more drastic laws and punishments. For three weeks the manager of the station har received telephonic warn- | Ings against continuing these talke. Then a bomb was exploded which wrecked the station, doing damage to the extent of $20,000. Certain groups of criminals are war- ring upon one another in some plac in Chicago, whe.e the “gang wars" are in progress. But in the main there is a fellowship among the crooks | and cracksmen, the hold-up fraternity and the gunmen. That many of them { are under the control of men “higher up,” so called master minds, is con- fidently believed by the police of the| large cities. Of course, there are many independent operators. But whether associated in definite organization or not, these criminals are of one mind regarding the police, the courts and the prisons, which are enemles of their order. Law-abiding society is supposedly organized for protection. lLawless 8o ciety is its foe. The lawbreakers are in the minority, but they have an ad- vantage in the ease of armament and, in modern conditions, the ease of escape and, if caught, the compara- tive ease of evading punishment. The safeguards which the law has afforded in the course of judicial procedure to the innocent who may be accused of crime have been transformed into safe- guards for the criminal. Mora severe penalties, following swifter trials and surer convictions, with stouter barriers againat escape, should be the State's response to the challenge which has been given by the criminal class, Traveling Expenses. Controller General McCarl has ruled that no longer can the District gov- ernment pay traveling expensex of its officials out of appropriations for the maintenance of the particular depart- ment with which the official is con- nected. For more than thirty vears the District has paid, without ques- tion, the bills for inspection trips of its various officiale out of thewe appro- priations. The controlier general, however, hus decided that if Con- gress desires certain emploves of the government to travel at the taxpay- ers’ expense, a special stipulation in the appropriation will be necessary and that he will decline to approve all “expense money” until such autheri- zation is given. This ruling deserves the immediate attention not only of the Comminsion- ers, but of Congress. Officials of the various departments of the local gov ernment gain valuable information on these trips. In municipal engineering, in fire apparatus, in electric lighting and in traffic, study and inspection in other progressive cities are neces- sary in order that the National Capi- tal can keep pace in its development. The controller general is unque: tonably correct In his decision and the Commissioners should lose no time in bringing the matter officially to the attention of Congress for the purpose of mecuring specific appropriations. The District cannot afford to remain stationary in its development; it can- not afford to let its officials afe, and it cannot afford to be penny-wise and pound-foolish in its progress. This matter, therefore, should be brought forcibly to the attention of Congress for remedial action. The spectacle of officials paving their own expenses on a trip for the District government cannot be tolerated, and unless the situation ix explained to the legislative body in positive terms Washington faces a condition which no resident contemplates with pride. st E One of the interesting questions in- volved in the Hall-Milla case is that of how long & small town homicide mystery can be made to endure in public attention - 1t was at last imposaible for Uincle Joe Cannon to vote. And the Demo- crats apparently took every advantage of the fact. e LS i McCarl tions are concerned the United States has much ground to gain before it can hope to compete with countries overssan. Business will be immensely bene- fited by the new air express service. Packages suitable for air transport will be whisked from city to city, picked up by trucks and delivered with the utmost dispatch. This new enterprise, therefore, should not lack for support and with this co-opera- tion forthcoming it will mean & new era in commercial flying in the United States. P - Police Pistol Practice. Police pistol practice has been re- | sumed in the old armory of the de- partment in the basement of a local theater. Korty officers a day are heing assigned to target shooting, and Maj. Hesse has announced that the work will continue until every man in the department has attained the necessary proficiency. Because of the wave of banditry which has been engulfing the coun- try, marksmaoship is now one of the most imporiant features of police activity. Entirely too ¢ officers have been killed by criminals in Washington as well as in other cities, and every policeman should be capable of defending himselt against murderous attacks. Bandite have no hesitation about shooting to kill when they are cor- nered by guardians of the public and they are generally deadly marksr To meet this new condition police- men should not only be thoroughly schooled fn the ume of firearms but the latest and must effective weapons should be provided for every mun, No community should stint on police equipment, whether it be in transportation units or guns. The underworld is too potent a factor in the civilization of today for half-way measures to be used in combating It. Policemen daily risk their lives for the protection of the public and the least the public can do in return i% to furnish its protectors with the very best and, if necessary, the most expensive arms and equipment carry on the work. To protect their own lives and to carry out their duties policemen should strive to become efficient in the use of pistols. A dead bandit instead of a dead officer may be the result of such practice and the police atill have a long way to go to even their score with the criminal ele- ment. With congressional realization ef the necessity for proper equipment and police proficiency in defending themseives and the community, Washington may become such an unhealthy place for the underworld that there will be an almost com- plete exodus of its members ——— to Most officials find time for vaca- tions, but the “busy day” sign is ways assumed to be hanging in front of the office of Controller General The term “watch dog of the Treasury” used to be regarded as a figure of speech. Mr. McCarl takes it in all practical seriousn: e ——— Jurors in the Hall-Mills case are not permitted to attend church. Yet there is no group of men who would seemn more entitled to moral encour- agement and religious consolation in order to sustain their faith in hu- manit; e A movie director shoots himself because of overwork and a nervous breakdown. Providing entertainment for others often means a hard life and an utter sacrifice of personal relaxation. e r———— The price of turkey is expected to be more reasonable than usual this year, though not low enough to be explicitly mentioned in the Thanks- glving proclamation. — e Massachusetts threatens to become a rival of old Maine itself as a State to which political forecasters look for shadows cast by coming events. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. From Lamb te Pig. Flying Express. A logical atep in the transportation development of the United States was taken vesterday when the American Railway Express linked its organiza- tion with the newiy created National Alr Transport, Inc., the speedy dellvery of expre packages. The first route will be from New York to Chicago and the second from Chicage to Dallas, Tex., with service to inter- mediate points on both lines. The air company will operate planes on a fast schedule, flving both day and night, and it Is expected that one full dayv will be saved between Chicago and the Eastern terminus. These two routes, which officiale of the combined companies announce will be in full opération by April 15 of next y are the beginning of what eventual will be & nation-wide network of air for | express lines. The wnion of these two organiza- tions is the fivst large.scale commer- cial movement for air transportation, either express or passenger, in the United States, and is consequently gratifving in the extreme fo the peo- ple of this country who have been desirous that America keep pace with the rest of the world in the develop- ment of its aviation potentialities. Europe, both in England a0d ou the continent, is far ahead of the United States. Commercial organizations sbound and passengers and freight are carried speedlly and with the | maximum of safety to all of the large The Paris-l.ondon service is world famous and a huge amount of baggage In carried in addirfon to the passenger traffic. Except for the United States mail and a few passengercarrving lines | there has been no concerted develop- ment of air transportation in this country. The mails are being de- livered swiftly and with satisfaction but the latest instancas in thls connectien & significant. in- and thia progressive branch of the Government comes insfor bish praise, Mary had a lamb, we see As into books we dig. Our favorite now appears to be The lady with the pig. v news we seek to learn That witnesses uncork, Not to ‘‘our mutten’ we return, But daily to our pork. For gentieness the lamb holds fame As he his way pursues, e pig Who is not near so tame Keeps rooting for the new: Relaxation of Interest. “What are your reasons for saving You are out of politica?” “I didn’t say I was actually ent of politics,” answered Senator Sorghum, “but so long as I am safely re- elected I'd like to be as nearly as possible an innocent byvstander for awhile and rest up.” L Sclence. The sclentist discovers things That help the world along, And still the sad reformer sings The ancient sorrowing song. Though facts through centuries con- cealed Now time and labor save, No way has Science yvet To make us all behave. revealed “Power,” saild Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “may come through for- tune, but only knowledge can speak with true suthorit; Atmosphere of Unrest. The Balkan war cloud's hovering With ferce suggestion strong. Folke bring when they come visiting Some of that cloud along. Jud Tunkins says he never argues. ‘When vou have an opinion you like, why take a chance on havin' it dis- turbed? “Cheerin’ an election,” Uncle Ebe tn’ got no mo' true efcacity dan hollerin’ at a crap game. ‘ceptin’ tn de extent dat it celisves -ds-mind.” ('] at said cident just reported it to he enn!ld-!huv as far as commercial ornnluv! The book snob is akin to the music snob. Now there are two sorts of musical anobe. as the world well knows. Firat comes the gentleman (or gentiewoman) who positively cannot abide a tune. Melody Is %o vulgar! Why, John Jones may like it! And it positively would not do for us to praise any thing that John Jones prefers. we go in foP\lesser master works, composed when the master had a fit of indigestion, only in those days they called it “an obscure melanchola.” | The second sort of musical snob is the lady (or gentleman) who simply cannot endure anvthing lesk in the plano line than a grand. It hurts his ears to listen to an upright. The {fact that millions have enjoyed music {on them makes no difference to him. | The tone—ah, the tone!—is not the me. How it be, with so much strings, and the action— n the two, vou know. An up- |right piano is betier than no piano at all? Why, really, he does not think mo. Positively, no! Book snobs also fall into two broad cluswes. most obnoxious ix the fellow who thinks that “being up to date” in one’s reading is all that counts. He knows the names of the “hest sellera” for every month in the vear but if v seller for the year 1910, for instance, he immediately changes the subject. v is the booklover who values a hook only for it« age. He has gone to the other extreme in books, in the broud world of which there should be no extremes, and gen: ix not, in the mind of their friends. The second classification of book snobw ix the bibliophile, who measures a book aceording (o its monetary cost. To him an old rare edition that costs $100 ix worth exactly twice what the same work in a later edition at $50 in worth. If a new bhook costs him $5, and you secure an equally read- able copy at $1, he values his copy at precisely 5 times the value of you If e were dealing with money, of course, instead of books, he wouid be eminently correct in his valuations He is, however, a banker who mis- takenly calls himself a booklover. He should have become a certified public accountant and handled the funds, not the books, of the Public Library. real conminin basically in removing the accent from the main fssue and carefully placing it on & minor detail. Thus the musical snob refuses to consider the grand aspects of music, favorite plaything of gods and of men, and insists on considering only his chosen little aspect, that of the grand plano, for instan or that of dis- sonance, as opposed to melodious har- mony, for no better reason than that melody is preferred by the masses, forsooth. The whole tremendour scope of lit- erature is forsaken by the book snob for the precious consolation of hud- dling in a corner with his expensive editlons, or conflning one’s attentions to the “latest” beoks, which may or may not be good. he true lover of books cares for rare first editions, too, and also for recognized in America as the prime bulwarks of lberty. To attack them is to set up an intolerable tyranny. They were guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Thelr abuse and restriction had been part of George IIU's tyranny, which had led to the Revolution. But freedom of speech, whether oral or through the printed word, is no part of the renalssance of “order- Iy government” in continental Eu- rope today. Mussolini long since abolished it. and now comes Marshal Plisudski, the dictator of Poland, with & decres which, if sanctioned by the Sejm—the Polish Parliament—will ab- solutely suppress such liberty and put all power into the hands of the dic- tator and his supporters. Yet, Pil sudski denfes that he is aiming at the kingship of that republic. The Pllsudski decres makes it a penal offense to publish “news which excites 2 public demonstration.” The truth of the news is no defense. The cause of such a public demonstration does not release the printer of the news—he goes to prison and pays $1,000 fine. To print any criticiam of a public official is a heinous offense—punish- able with fine and imprisonment. Truth is no justification. It an editor makes a mistake and thing which the officlals derogatory to the govern- ment” it shall cost him $300 and a month in fall, besides confiscation of the newspaper. All who fncur these penalties may appeal to the courts, but the govern- ment officlals themselves are empow- ered to enforce the penalties ‘without trial or any form of evidence. No jury can be called. It appeal 1o courts be made within seven days, the courts can review the case, but in the mean- while the fine is collected and the prison sentence enforced, regardless of the “law’s interminable delay.” The decree goes into effect immedi- ately, even while awaiting its consid- eration in the Sejm. Like the rule of Judge Lynch, the culprit is sum- merily hanged, and then the court may spend all the time it pleases in quib- bling over his gullt or innocence. * ok ok X In Ttaly, liberty of the press has not existed since the Fascists 'I.il:\!fl control of the government. —Now Mussolini proposes to intensify his concentrated power—and N0 paper dares protest—by abolition of the Parliament. P! Dictator Mussolini says: “The new economic policy 18 to work more and to recognize decisively ull”the sacri- fices that appear necessary” —appear, not to the people at large, as in a free country, but to Dictator Mussolini and his Fascists in power. % At the height of his military con- quests Napoleon Bonaparte sald, “If T loose the bridle of the press I nl’l\nll not remain three months in powe a naive confession that “the pen is mightier than the sword. The Russian Czars, as well as to- day's dictators—the late dictator of Greece, Kondy Mussolinl_of Italy, Pilsudski of Poland and de Rivera of Spain—recognize the perll to their power in tolerating a free press. he first act of the Soviets sup- pressed all papers which refused to publish the Soviet political program. The direct result of official control —or big business control—of the press is proportionate loss of public con- fidence and influence of the preas. War-time conditions justify any nec- essary limitatfons on speech and press, but peace cannot exist and prosper without freedom. * k% month in Manchester, Last Eng- honor of Mr. C. P. Scott, upon his $0th birthday, in celebration of his 55 years as editor of the Manchester Guardian, one of the most influential papers in Great Britain. In response, Mr. Scoft said: “A free press in assential fo the working of the modern demacratic atata, A democracy. uminformed 1s a there is simply no comparison | The first and probably the | ly | Free speech and a free press are; land, a bronze bust was unveiled in | | land up api _ THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. that are only mediumly old or new and cheap books as well & sive ones. Tn short. the booklover loves booke The snobs love exclusiveness, the ability to enjoy something that every Tom, Dick and Harry cannot or does not have. It gives them a feel- ing of superiority. Much has bee said about the “Inferiority complex. but there is a superiority complex, too, and many have it who do not deserve it. It is too good for them! ok x % The man who really loves books. the man or woman who has the soul of the educator, rejolces over cheap editions of the great books. 80 long as they be really cheap and at the same time are well bound and well printed on good paper. England, as one might imagine. leads in this direction. The good cheap editlons which come from her presses are impressive to one who looks into the matter for the first time. In recent vears the United States has put on the market a number of good cheap editions, and the American branches of the English houses have put their small books on sale here. The result ix that today one may buy more good hooks cheaply than time since the war and prob- ably even before the war. Thus every ome who really has the urge to read good books may buv them. To many booklovers, including those well able to buy more expen- sive editions, there i a peculiar sat- istaction in getting hold of a really good cheap edition of a buok or un uuth Especially in democratic Americ there should be none of this unfortu- nate book snobbery which values a volume according tv the price pald for ft. Of course, there are many splendid books appearing every year which, by reason of their nature, must be put out in large books at comparatively high prices. We do not speak, in our praise of cheap boeks, of volumes retailing for $5 ce. These are not cheup books. Then there is an amazing number of well-off persons who shy visibly at paying so much as $5 for u book. Somehow or other, we have comie to the conclusion that a dollar is the proper medium polnt for the cheap book. The price may go as far below that as the printer can make it, but it must not go very much high When a volume gets to $1.75 or $2 and up, it can no longer he called cheap, except in relation to elabo- rate books selling at $10 and up per volume. Miserably printed books, with type %0 small that there ought to be a law against it nse, are not in- cluded in our designation of cheap books. We speak of good cheap books as previously stated, printed in type fit for a human heing to read, on moderately good paper, in good, dura ble binding: Above all, a good cheap book must have something “hooky” about it. This aspect of cheap hooks we will discuss in this column tomorrow, with examples now on the market of what we call good cheap books. BACKGROUND OF EVENT BY PAUL V. COLLINS. blind glant, who may destroy the very things which he ought most to value and who may end by destroying him- self. The first act of a tyranny is to suppress or shackle the press. Let us never forget that the liberty of unlicensed printing is the foundation of all our libertles. At a dinner in London given last month in connection with the perial conference of all the prime ministers of the empire by the press associations, Prime Minister Bruce of Australla said that “although the im- perial conference was a great thing, it could do nothing unless it had pub. lic opinion behind it, and it waa the prens which could educate public opin- lon.” X ok ok X Freedom of the press was first at- tacked in Italy. In fact. when the printing press began to ciroulate in- formation among the people every- where it was recognized that it was dangerous to an absolute government and {mmunity was not conceded. Restriction came Into effect in 1515, when the Council of the Lateran. of the Roman Catholic Church, decreed that no publication should he fssued, where the church held jurisdiction, without a sanction from the church inquisitor or the bishop. Gradually presa censorship grew up in Furope, until today, in spite of for. mer constitutional safeguards in most natlons, the true freedom of the press is a myth, vet only in countries now recognizing dictators Is all semblance ol’_‘tt'raodom abolished. was 10 years after the adoption of the American Constitution hgfnr- the Fox libel act. in England provided that in all cases involving libel or fres- dom of the press the jury should be judge both of facts and law. Vet even England to this dav provides that to publish anything against the estab- lished form of government or the con- stitution (unwritten constitution) is an indictable offense, although it ir seldom enforced. * ok K x The laws of the United ‘States, both Federal and State, recognize nice dis. tinctions between general freedom of the press and of spesch and seditious or libslous abuse of that liberty. Americans are so jealous of freedom in oriticlzsing public servants in office that there is hardly any limit to license, restraining abuse and ridicule. We Americans therefore have little conception of what a Mussolini or Pilsudski would do to our licenss to tell what we think of them if thev undertook to suppress our political critfolsme. Mussolini boasts that he has abolished the ‘“Smmortal princi- ples,” the pillars of Roman law, on which much of our own laws is based. Yet while our Constitution makes freedom of apeech one of its own “‘im- mortal principles,” that provision was the first to be overthrown by Con- gress. which, under the pressure of President Adams. passed the Alien act, June 25, 1798, and the Sedition act the following July 14. These acts were inspired by efforts | of the Government to stop the agit tion of sympathizers with France in the Napoleonic wars with Great Brit- ain. Tt was the policy of the admin- istration to refrain from taking sides in “European entanglements,” but there was virulent political opposition to that neutrality. The Allen act was aimed not at American citizens, but at alfens living here and cortspiring for the interests of their own countries—particularly France. The act gave the President power to deport them or, if they fafled to go, to fmprison them at his will. The Sedition act imposed a penaity of two vears’ imprisonment and $2.000 | fine for printing scandalous matter concerning the Federal Government, either the President or Congress. (Copyright. 1926, by Paul V. Collins.) ——e— Round the Circle. York Werld Now Queen Marie knows something of the trials of campaigning in Ame From the Nei = ) expen- | im- | NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM LG M. | THE GREAT AMERICAN ASS: An| Autoblography. Anenymous. Bren-| tano's. 1 Not. strletly, an autoblography. Rather Is it the biography of & trihe| and a system from the definite emer. | gence point of this writer, member of the one, victim of the other. The Puritan forefathers with the plan of education created and fostered - by them stand pilloried here on the pub- lic highway of this man's free avowal and accusation. The keynote of such wide-open disclosure is protest steeped in wormwood. Indeed. reading. one envisages the writer as a thinned- out Puritan, disease sucked into the blood. glands secreting vitrfol, gall working overtime. Still there is about the whole so clear a sincerity, 80 flaming a sense of individual injury. 20 fearless & stand against a bulwark of Americanism. such a flercely frank beating of fists against a mountain wall of impregnability, that the book becomes a performance of plain au- dacity. Nevertheless, it draws and holds attention, not wholly by virtue of its daring and Impetuous attack but by its sense of tribal history as well, ¥ keen psychology, by its true record of special achievement and equally special failure on the part of the tribe. Meet a lineal descendant of John Alden, Puritan, whose succeeding gen- eratfons have stretched a line of mi- gration from New England to Kansas, where the early vears of this writer were passed. Let's let the man him- self talk. Choosing almost at random. watch the grains of truth that fall from these volumes of personal self- pity and general appraisa “Education was the grindstone on which Alden smartness was to be sharpened into deadliness. Kducation is the one thing that the Mayflower descendants have promoted. ‘They would sell their shoes any time to fur- ther its lofty purposes. They bufit colleges in a string through the wilderness hefore they built roads. Their first dollar went to found a uni- versity and their second dollar to put a roof over their own heads. How comes it that a tribe who had no other generous quality was the giver of American enlightenment? Because they were born teachers, militant teachers, the kind that orders other people’s lives. Thelr ‘education’ was net really education, but tribal propa- ganda. The Pilgrims were teachers instead of soldlers, because the man whom a soldier takes the bavonet to is himself armed with & bavonet, but u teacher uses a snob club on helpless intimidated mentalities. The man who indulges in ‘education’ satisfles an ap- petite—the appetite to ram his tyranny down his fellow citizen’s throat. Be- cause the Pilgrims had stomachs they robbed the red man's corn cribs, and it was theft. The Pllgrims had land lust: they killed the Indians for their acres, and that was murder. The Pil- grims had opinions; they rammed them down the throats of their vi tims, and that was education.” Vio lent, untrue, nonsensical? On the whole—perhaps. Still, there are the grains of fact tumbling out with this flow of exaggeration. “Our nelghbors"—out in Nebraska or Kansas—'"were largely Bohemians. Rut we Bradleys were the Americans; our living story writ large across a continent. Tittle did we, dream that the new alienism of the Bohemians was destined to tread down our old Bostonlsm on those prairies. Now the buffalo are extinct. Boston is forgot- ten and the Bohemians are the Amerl- cans of Nebraska.” “I am descended from that pure asinine stock, the Purltans. Their song has alwaye heen the Hebrew psalm and their psychology that of the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. Later they were al-| ways losing Zion to an alien invader and finding new frontlers in their Diaspora * * * and alwaya hank ing for the mystical homeland. Now as I look back upon my forebears and see their souls stained with the land lust of the Old Testament I realize that generations of reading and be- liéveing the Book have made the Roundhead rascals fancy themselves God's true chosen people.” “Our Puritanism 18 a remembering backward, instead of a thinking or moving forward. In this new world, boasting that we are pioneers, all our Puritan pioneering was really a re- treat. Do you see and hear us * * * depending everlastingly upon a claim to ancesiry——Pilgrim Fathers, Found- ing Fathers, Direct Descendants, First Settlers, Sons and Daughters of the Revolution—all ancestry? We wel And as for this country which we mowrn as our violated Zion—2 These United States were peopled and built up by the ‘aliens’ we despise, the men and women who, having no ancestry to lean upon, set to work to found their own tradition, flower their own family tree and create a new nation. Puritanism is a peering back- ward into the tribal childhood to find victory, peace, righteousnes: Bear in mind that not all of this book is given over to diatribe, nor that even a large part of it is. The body of the story has to do with the dafly life out in the prairie country of this family of Puritan strain. Here are multitudinous and vivid pletures of the detalls of that life— of ite skimped existence, of its penny thrift, of its reticencies and reserves, of the autocratic rule of the head of the house, of the Il feelings existing between the father and his sons, of the restiess desire of these sons to be away on their own. A vei plcture of this life is given. But here and there shot through it are these violent Ifghtnings and thunders against the Puritan nature so re. pressive, not onmly to the family itself, but to the community as well, 80 in contrast to the receptive and welcoming attitude of the ‘“alien Bohemian, Swede German, come to the new land to make it thefr own—: as they actually are doing, in the judgment of this Puritan observer, ‘‘After grandfather's funeral the nelghbors ~discussed how odd the whole affair was and what a queer set the Rradley famlly seemed to be—'s0 self-centered, secretive and queer.’ " It Jooked as if they didn't want the neighbors to come to the old gentleman's funeral. Death fs the time when human sympathy shows itself.” “When this came to my ears I reaiized for the first time thet we were a queer family, we lacked the knack of trailing with the tribe, wa wers born to be rene- gade. We Aldens have lived in Amer- ica 300 vears and vet have not be- come Americanized. After living in England a thousand vears without being able to join the English tribe, our family packed their steamer trunks, and that's why we're here today. Oliver Stuart Bradley, whose old bones we laid beneath the Kansas prairie grass, had ploneered half-way across the continent and had been a part of every rude mo- clety in which he lived * * * But his Alden wife never entered his world of realism; she scoffed at such a world, belleving it impaipable, imaginary, worthless. She was a dream queen in the empire of sejf- kidding.” The story goes on with the au- thor's university training—though he lis it anything but training be- cause of his tribal handicap. It con- tinues with his ambitions to be a Q. Do the colors in Chinese rugs have any particular significance?—R. E. The Chinese have six symbolic coiors: Red signifies fire and the South: black. water and the North; blue or green, wood and the Fast white, metal or mist and the West vellow, earth and the center. Q. How _long has lodine been known?—T. O, A. Todine was discovered in 1811 by Courtofs. It was only 31 years ago. in 1895, that E. Baumann announced that fodine was a mormal constituent of the thyrold gland. Q. How much fresh air should a person breathe a minute?—J. E. R. A. An adult_should breathe in 16 barrels of fresh air a minut Q. Which is the largest and which the smallest national cemete) A.R. A. The annual report of Q. M. Gen. Cheatham says that Arlington is the largest both in area and number of interred. The smallest is at Balls Bluff, near Leesburg, Va., about one- half acre in extent and containing the bodies of 1 known and 24 unknown dead. Q. Will the proposed road from the Florida Keys to Key West affect the Gulf Stream and thersby our ¢limate? —M. M. M. A. The Weather Bureau says that this road will not aitér the volume or temperature of the Gulf Stream, nor in any way affect our climate. Q. What breeds of chickens do not have talls?—G. A. C. A. The Department of Agriculture says that all chickens have talls. A South Amerlcan breed, the Araucana, may appear to be tailless, but in real- ity has a very small tall. This breed 1s the only one known which lays a blue egg. Q. What newspapers have the larg- est circulation in the world?—J. W. W. A. Sells Newspaper Presa says that Le Temps, Parla, and the Petit Paris- ien, Paris, nave the largest circulation of all the newspapers in the world with approximately 1,400,000 each. The Tondon Daily Mall comes next with approximately 1,000,000 daily circula tion. Q. What kind of glasses used to read aerlal photographs?—C. T. W. | been with this eclub for 21 years A. The lensas of the atereosceplc glasses used by the [inited States Army 1o read aerial photographe and maps are the same as the old stereon ticon gluss which waw 1ised vears ago. A double picture i used in order to get the proper effect. Q. What is the meito on the T.th- erty Rell>—G. R. A. The inscription on the hell i “Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof.” Q. What Is blue water ges? -H. H A. Blue water gas is a gas formad by the reaction of steam on live coals. It is used for city gas, but ordinarily s enriched with oil gas. Q. Why in the Latin langnage pre- ferred in medicine?—1.. P. J. A. Latin is used in medicina hacanse of its unchangeableness: hacaune It ix n old language and the most uni real. Q. What in the greatest numbar of miles ever recorded for a pedestrian in & single day?—W. W A. There is an old Greek legend that Esclides, before the Christian era. was sent to bring the sacred fire from Delphos to Athens. and made the journey there and back, 125 miles, in one day. Fdward Payson Weston in 1876 walked 115 miles in a single day. Q. How many years has Tv (‘ohh heen with the Datroit club of the American League”-A. . M. A. Cobb has never played with any club of the American l.eague other than the Datroit club. He has 15 as a player and 6 as a player-man ager. Ty Cobb is now owner of the Atlanta club and will probably play with that team. Stop @ minute and think about fhis fact. You cam ask The Evening Star Information Bureaw any question of fact and get the answcer back in @ personal latter. It is a great educa- Honal idea introduced into the lvea of the most intelligent people in the world—American nawspaper readms It is a part of that best purpose of a newspaper—service. There is no charge except 2 centa in stamps for return postage. Get the hahit of ash- ing questions. Address your letter to The Evening Star Information Ru- reau, Frederic J. Haskin, direotor, Washington, D. €. WHAT D. C. GOVERNMENT NEEDS BY WILL P. KENNEDY. I—Representation in the Law-Making Body. Note: This is the first of & series of ariicles discussing 10hat 10ill probadly be dereloped dnring hearings. starting to- day. by the speciol subcommittee of ae: meniers of the Honse Distric comm Tee. which hax been authorized 10 make o comprehensive and systematic study of ihe municipai adminisiration of the N fionai Capital Reid, Republican i ‘subcommitree. business and ci Representative Frank Illinois, " represent 1as asked some 2. c'leaders: “ What is saaiter it " ihe Disirice governyent What can 1ve do 10 make it Setter?” A Sirst requented:(hem 1o voice their views at"a ‘public hearing, to which 1% re iponded on 24 hours’ motice, and he Nas Stuce axlced them fo submil their recom- mendations in rriting i1 - First, let it be distinctly and em- phatically understood that we have the best municipal government in the world—on a strictly cash, pay-as-we-go basis, entirely out of debt, with ab- solutely no graft. Having just celebrated the 150th birthday anniversary of self-govern- ment, the 96 members of the Senate and the 435 members of the House, about to return from the 48 States and 4 dependencies of Alaska, Hawali, the Philippines and Porto Rico, should be mindful that they are coming to the one place under the Stars and Stripes where the people have no part in making the laws under which they are governed. The Declaration of Independence, that masterpiece of democratic doc- trine that announced to the world our innovation in government, expressed with clarity and force man's true re- Jationship to government, in the new doctrine, that “Men are created equal, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” # L It is a poignant thought that we here in the Capital of the Nation, un- der the Government that *‘held the world safe for democracy,” are held apart from this freemen's right to share in self-government and to pre- sent properly before the law-making body our cause, independent of the in- terests of any other community. Here we are, more than a half mil- lion people, psrforming duties as citi- zens in fullest measure, who obey na tlonal laws, pay more national taxes than many of the States and more than eight States combined, who over- subscribed every war-time fund, who supplied our fighting forces more than 18,000 men in the World War—a larger number than any one of seven States—still living under an anoma lous condition, with no volce in the National Government that controls hoth our national and our municipal affajrs. ‘We have made our piea to Con- grees, using the very words of the ‘ounding Fathers.” that “Taxation without representation is tyranny'; that “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the gov erned,” and in order that “Govern- ment of the people, by the people and for the people” may become an ac complished fact for all the people of the United States. This plea is pending for national representation as a distinctive basic right of the American citizen, in a representative government, exempli- fled by Congress itself, which insep- arably couples taxation and arms- bearing with representation. We have pointed out that in genuine represent. ative government rights and obliga- tions are inseparably wedded. but that while we meet fullv the national obligation. bearing _cheerfully our #hare of the national burden, although entitled to all vital national rights and privileges, we are among the people who are governed, but not among the people who govern! * ok ow Kx Aside from the ethical principle of representation in the making of laws that govern us, what practical good would we get out of an elected rep- resentative in House and Senate, members of Congress ask, suggesting that we are now hetter off with all the members of Congress fo take a special interest in us. There are some very pertinent facts that bear against that line of thought: While we hear much talk in Con- gress about the $9,000,000 lump sum appropriation grudgingly made from the Federal Treasury as the National amiable, gullible ass, Henry Adams. He maundered in culture-cluttered Boston and sought a meaning of life in books, plctures, concerts, conver- sation in civilized Europe. Suppose his forefathers had broken ont in a new pioneering rash and in their da- lirlum had marched across the con- tinent, tearing up the virgin sofl with the labors of their women and fertilizing the land with the sweat novelist—but John Alden stood in the way. And at the close of this ego- | bela tistical self-exposure and self-pitying plaint_he draws his own picture: *“I, Roy Bradley, the ass who would be an gle. went soaring to the sun. Now. T am =0 many hones sonehow together in an ase skin. | think of my kin In_aditlon, of their offspring” Would he have had a different history to write of the Education of Henry Adams?’ Truly the New England legend wrought only a sense of frustration in this, its truly bewildered and re- sentful exponent. A strange atory, hut, indubitably, a passionately s cers-one, Government's share toward main- taining and developing the Capital City on a pretentious scale, far be- vond the mere municipal require- ments, we do not hear any spokes- man for the District answering this- wise: There is no city in the world where 20 much of the property is removed from taxation. one-third of the total, a large part of which is held by the Federal Government and much by embassies and legations and inatit tions—simply because this is the Capital. We do not hear the same furore about hundreds of millions of dollars contributed in Federal ald 10 the States. with Congress discriminating against the District of Columbla. Take the $150,000,000 road-building budget, not one dollar of whish ix spent on our arterlal highways and bridges. while we spend $3,000,000 to $3.600,000 a year to maintain boula- vards 160 feet wide for people from all over the country, who come here because it {s the Capital. Do we ever hear about the vast sums paid into the Federal Treasury by Washingtonians in internal rev- enue taxes—between $18,000,000 and $20,000,000 & year—which is spent in all the States, but not here? This is twice as much as the Federal Govern- ment contributes as {its share in financing the National Capital. and considerably more than is pald into the common fund by eight States that have sizable delegations in Con- greas. Do we ever hear membars of Con grese emphasizing that the District of Columbia was forced to pay half the cost. of the Key Bridge and one-half the cost of the Highway Bridge, which is just as important to the State of Virginia as a part of the highway system, and yet Virginia pald nor one cent? Now the Chain Bridge must be replaced, but while Virginia has a very active and ahle spokes man we have none in Congress fin declare holdly that it is an injuatice to expect the District of Columbia to pay practically the entire cost of the new atructure. * * * ow . Congress enters into contraci ex press or implled with the Diatrict people, and then at will breaks the contract and saddles unfairly heav and unexpected obligation on the District taxpayers—who have no spokesman in Congress to proteat. The connecting link bhetween the TRock Creek and Potomac Parks af fords an example. The Government authorized the purchase of certain specified tracie of land. to be pald for 50 per cent from tha Faderal Treasury. But Congress held down s0 tight on the necessary appropria tlons that prices advanced on the sites to be acquired, and an extra $600,000 was needed. Congress summarily dj- rected that this amount in full should be taken from the surplus revenues »f the District. These ‘‘surplus revenue: them. selves represented still another case in which the Federal Government made appropriations of Distrlet tax money without matching it in definite ratio—as the contract called for whether it was accumulated under the 5050 or 60-40 proportion. - xox o, ar a question of athical right under our fundamental dscuments and as one of practical justice in or- dering how the money we ralse in taxes shall be spent, it is loglcally and conclusively évident that the peo- ple of the District of Columbia should have representatives in Congress whom they themselves have chomen. Participation in the National Gov- ernment on American principlea will thus arm us with a power which will tend 10 protect us againsi injustica both in respect to national and mu. nicipal issues. We shall have a voice. like other Americans, in legislation affecting our national as well as our local taxes | Our votes will help to decide whather we shall have increased supertaxes or tax reduction; whether or not our national taxes, to which we contribute millions. shall be economically and wisely expended; whether or mnot the Volstead act shall be modified, and whether or not we shall send our sons to war. In addition to these practical ben- efits, national representation will he- atow upon the Washingtonian fhe priceiess right and powar of a share in American sovereignty Tt will cure his political impotency. cleanse him from the stain of un-Americanism and restore his self-respect tional representation ix placed at the head of the list of District needs: (1) Because the right bestowed in Americanigsing the Washingtonlan s fundamental and vital in American citizenship. and (2) because voting power in Congress and the Electoral College will help 1a to secire satisfac- tion of every other real legislative meed on the District's lst.