Evening Star Newspaper, November 12, 1926, Page 8

8 THE EVENING STAR \\'Ilhiu!ldl Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY.....November 12. 1926 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. . Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Englan: The Frening Star. with the Sund ning Star. with the Sun £ edition. (a dslivered by " ity 2t 60 conia per month: d centa mer month: Sundase enly. » month Orders may he sent by mail or lenhane Main 5000 Collection is made by rarrier at end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payahle in Advance. yland and Virgini v and Sunday... | yr. $8.00:1mo onlr 157360001 mo s only . 15 $300: 1 mo - All Other States and Canada. aily and Sunday..1sT.$1200: 1 mo. $1.00 ailz only L1l TeR00: 1 mal. 78 unday only . Member of the Associated Press. The Assoriated Press is exclus veis entitled 1o the use for republication of ail news dis- Paiches oredited ta it or not atherwiss cred- paner gnd also the locsl news ATl publication or v Advisory Council and Its Chairman. President Yaden of the Federation of Citizens’ Associations was today #worn in as chairman of the Citizens’ Advisory Council. Change in th® chairmanship of the council, following automatically change in the presidency of the fed- eration, will not. of course. he permit- ted ta check the full testing and de- velopment of the interesting and im portant experiment of a Citizens' Ad- vigory Couneil. deriving its representa tive strength from the sectional eciti- vens' associations and their federa tlon. Epeaking broadly. council has been wholesome and help- ful. The Capital community will wish for the federation's campaign for new members the maximum of success, 1o the end that its representative strength may be enlarged and that this increase of strength may be re- flected in the weight given to the ad- viee of the council. By avoiding the jealousies h would arise if the council claimed a monopoly of the right to represent and to express local public opinion, to the exclusion of other strong citizens’ organizations, trade bodies, labor unjons, women's organizations and the Mke. the Advisory Council can per- the advice of the wh form & function of vital benefit to the | welfare by steadily in community’s influential and effective participation in domestic concerns. without impairing in the slightest the ultimate tontrol by the Nation through the Capital City. President Yaden. chairman of oouncil, enters upon his important and difficult task well equipped in intelli gent intevest and active experience in community affairs. He has won recognition us a loyal and capable Washingtonian. All Washington will wish success to his administration, and will hope and believe that success will be attained community creasing the its Congress of the this Ex-President and ex-Chairman Suter | has made a fine record of uncompen- mated public service. He has demon strated courage, untiring energy. or ganizing and executive ability, and, as A rule, sound judgment. He is not, hewever, a fit subject for the eulogies of an official obituary. For he remains very much alive, and will doubtless he adding 1o the community's indebted nees 1o him for public service ren- dered for many years to come. Theories that America wonld he at & disadvantage in the unexpected avent of war do not take into consid- eration the rapidity with which activ ities move. The richest Nation in the warld could command speed s well as material. —— Dempsey desires another fight with Gene Tunney Neither, however, is lkely 10 desire an interruption of Winter vaudeville engagements for a mere incidental matter of fisticuffs, > S British Miners Surrendering. Evidences appear in the dispatches from London that the British miners’ strike, which has continued since May 1, I= soon to end. with a virtual vielding by the workers from their original position. Conferences have been in progress hetween representa- tives of the miners’ union and the gov ernment. the federation having vested the executive committee with 10t t for terms with a free hand. While no definite results have been ascured, there are indications that the long-continued strike will vary soon be declared at an end. Today's London finaneial exchanges reflected this ex pectation. with a marked improvement in quetatiane, especially in the ils. which have been seriousiy affected by the strife. According 1o the latest report the strike 18 likely to be settled upon the fellowing basie: The owners will gain the right to increase the peried of working beyond the statutory seven- power hour limit, and will undertake to pkyi temperarily in all but four districts Nerthumberland. Durham, Cumber- land and North Wales, wages at the general rate prevailing before May 1 and to reinstate the strikers as oppor- tunity offers. without prejudice to the men new in the mines This strike has cost Great Rritain enormously. It has impoverished the miners, who have subsisted on the barest minimum of feod for menths and have in many instances been ebliged 1o appeal for and accept char- fty. It has cost British industry in- ealeulably. in the slowing of manufac- turing and the impeding of transporia tion. It led to the general strike of Jast Summer, which itself, though quickly checked, cost a heavy sum. Finally, it has engendered intense bit- terness. The difficulty in the British mining industry is fundamental. It arises from the wide differences in the con- ditions in the various districts and be- tween groups of mines. In certain areas the “pits’ are exceedingly hard to work, and the muners can barely make § lving wage at the standard scale. i others the eperations are | ticket relatively easy, and the pitmen can| without especially toilsome A government subsidy was under- taken in an effort to equalize these conditions, and to enable the miners lin the dificult districts to earn good wages, through allowances granted fo the pwning companies to be applied differential wages. That subsidy was withdrawn last Spring and the strike was the result. The present zovernment i& definitely opposed to the aubsidy, which imposes a tax upon the people at large for the sake of a comparatively small group of work- ers. Yet in the situation that nature has created some adjustment is essen- tial to prevent bitter suffering in some of the mining sections while others are relatively prosperous. The mine strike has been a cause of the sharpest anxiety to all of Great Britain apart from its immediate con- as 4.00; 1 mol 35¢| sequences and the losses it has en.|Prac heen bred an | tailed. For from it h intense feeling of discontent with the existing political condition. Radical | agitatorsagainst the government have used the strike as a topic. The Labor party has been obviously biding its time for another “appeal to the coun- try” to capitalize this feeling and se- cure a return to power e The Olive Branch. Now and then a political chicken comes home to roost. The Republi- | can organization of the Senate, which, in its pride and strength fol- lowing the 1924 elections, read out of the party the late Senators La Follette of Wisconsin and Ladd of North Dakota, Senator-elect Brookhart of lowa and Senator Frazier of North Dakota, ix in abso- lute need of the votex of all Pro- gressives in the next Congress. Sena- tor William E. Borah qf ldaho, one of those Senators who always opposed the qusting of the four Progressives from party councils, is acting the jrole of peacemaker. He has written a letter to Sénator Watson of In- diana, chairman of the Republican committee on committees, suggest- ing that the old committee assign- ments held by Senator Frazier he resiored to him, which is tantamount to complete reinstatement in the Republican organization. Of ‘the four Senators ousted from the Republican organization two vears ago, two are dead and one, Senator-elect Brookhart, lost his seat in the Senate last Spring by reason the election contest bronght by Senator Steck, Democrat, of lowa. | { Senator Frazier is the sole survivor Lin the present Senate. Col. Brook- hart won the Republican nemination for the Senate against the late Sena- tor Cummins, was readopted by the Republican organization of lowa land headed the State Republican in the campaign this Fall. | There ix ne doubt about his admis- sion to the Republican organization of the Senate when he returns next vear. The late Senator Robert M. La Follette has heen succeeded by his | . the present Senator La Follette, <e Republicanism was recognized | {a vear ago. immediately after his lelection in Wisconsin. Senator Gerald P. Nve, # Progreasive Re- i publican, has replaced the late Senator Ladd, and he, 100, has been recognized as a Republican. Frazier i the last of the ousted insurgents remaining heyond the Republican or- zanization boundaries. To leave him in the outer limbo wonld be unwise politically and unjust in view of the action taken with regard to other Progressives, The Republican party is a great national party. From the time of its inception it has had its progressive and its conservative members. The day that the "G. O. P." becomes en- tirely conservative or entirely pro- { gressive, if it ever, does, will mark the beginning of a new political alignment in the United States. Al- though there have heen repeated efforts 1o bring about such an align- ment, with all the progressives in one pariy and all the conservatives in the other, none of them has been 56 fwh successful. The La Follette move- ment in 1924 was the latest attempt and it fell short of success by a wide margin. If the Weat and the North and the East are to b& held together in the Republican fold, the leaders of {the party must recognize the fact | that it cannot be all progressive or {all conservative. It is « lesson that has been taught them several times. Senator Frazier has always main- tained that he is a Republican. He has insisted that he is a Dbetter Republican than many of the men who veted in party caucus to deny him recognition as a party man. There is no reason why he should not take his place again in the Re- publican organization, and the sooner the better. —r———— ‘War songe continue to be circulated industriously. Old Mars is repudiated asx a civilizing influence and is reduced 1o the status of a “song plugger.” oo Departmental Reorganization. After a survey conducted during two years, & national committee of engineers has reported to the Ameri- can Engineering Council, meeting at Cornell University, a plan for a cen- solidation under a single. newly cre- ated exacutive department all of the public-worke activitiea of the Govern- ment. This new organization would be known as the Department of Pub- lic Works and Domain and would re- place the present Department of the Interior. 1t would involve a complete regrouping of numerous Federal ac- tivities and would change the atatus of more than & score of bureaus, boards and other agencies. Departmental reorganization is rec- ognized as an urgent need. It has been attempted frequentiy of late, and has advanced te the point of the preparation of a bill in Congress, rep- resenting the best thought of these familiar with the workings of the Government. But it does not advance to the point of snactment. For some reason. which i rather obscure, it is Raited just short of ences taversdls to THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY of the existing system have operated {manage o make a good “pay roll” to check it.. The study of the engineers was un- doubtedly guided by a practical sense of fitness in the co-ordination of the Government's active functions affect- ing the domain and the developfhent of the natural resources of the United States. It ix possible that the pro- posed reorganization is better than that provided for in the pending meas- ure. Those conducting the research have not been subject to any inhibi- tions or influences arising from the disposition of the components of the Federal organization to remain as they are, each jealous of is position. That material savings in cost of administration could be effected by reorganization and regrouping is not to be questioned. That higher ef- ciency. would result is also assured. The economiex of realignment accord- ing to sound business principles are evident. This is a situation in which tically everybody agrees that a change is desirable, and vet the change is not effected. It has been often said, with truth, that no’ great business corporation would tolerate’ a condition such as that which prevails in the govern- mental organization, with overlapping jurisdictions, duplicated works, divided responsibilities and unevenly staffed divisions of labor. It would natu- rally follow, if the laws of good busi- ness were respected, that the Govern- ment, the biggest business in the country, would proceed to reorganize itself, How long this delay is to continue, with a heavy resultant cost annually, is one of those things. ax Lord Dun- dreary used to say, that no fellow can find out. TR T The influence of the Hohenzollerns i8 certain to revive on new lines. Their” re-establishment as holders of large estales makes them eligible to rank among the world's greatest real- st Mussolini is a great leader, but he is not expected to set a fashion for the world that will prescribe the shirt of mail as a necessary incident of cos- tume for a gentleman official life. B The Queen of Rumania has had some difficulty in making it clear that she is engaged purely-in a friendly visit, with no ulterior motives for the revival of old-fashioned dances. New Jersey has had some wonderful beauty contests. They fade in atten- tion as De Russey Lane takes the place in popular interest of the Roard- walk. The Doheny-Fall case has reached 4 point where the lawyers can ren- der it so technical and uninteresting that decisions can be rendered without fear of popular emotion. G Literature is enlightening and also misleading. Life can never be so ter- rible as it is depicted in the newsstand magazines, —————rm—— A violinist plays the old, old tunes with success. 1In this respect the musician has an advantage over the modern political orator. —oons. A tornado plays ne favorites. village schoolhouse ruthlessly as hotel. — e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, The is destroved as the palatial seashore It's a Sad Slogan. I've read a shocking story, It was an awful thing: There wasn't any moral ‘Which mild relief might bring. Turned te book announcements, They left me rather glum; They merely seemed to say, “Cheer up! The worst is yet to come!” I read of the divorces In high sussietee, Of homicidal terrors Where slenths could not agree; Turned unto the drama, That slipped into a slum— The only answer was, “Cheer up! The worsat is vet to come! Discouraged. “A number of your constituents say you are too reticent.” o A number of others say I talk too much,” answered Senator Sorghum. Tet 'em fight it out among them- selves.” Valuation. The coin in an election paid Showed no financial dearth, And then the public said, dismayed, “He's not the money's worth!" Jud Tunkins says a woman prom- ises to “‘obey” when she gets married, but it's the man who actually does so. 01d-Time DNances. The old barn dances bring a thrill, And yet they seem a sorry bluff; Let's all sit still and hope they will Bring back some Loie Fuller stuff. “Politics,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is ne occupation for a person who is willing to work enly eight hours a day. Consclentions Humbug. P. T. Barnum gave a show— That was very long ago. Said the public liked to be “Humbugged.” And we must agree. P. T. Barnum playved no tricks Touching bootleg politics, Took his share of worldly gain And really tried to entertain. “It's a disgrace not to*Be able to read,” saild Uncle Eben; “an’ it's al- most as much a disgrace to be caught readin’ some o' de things you's liable to read after you learns hew." oo The Talking Dollar. From the Bristol Herald-Courier. Times change, and whereas the old- fashioned politician made the welkin ring, the modern product makes the cash register ring. —— et It is not yet known whether nitrogen gas, which is so plentiful about the earth, exists in the sun. * Fragments df cloth wrapped about ancient mummiés show that the art ptien. hflwlu "..‘2" dates back to at s 1 The joys of radioc have heen so often portrayed in print that it might seem impossible to add anything to them, but let us see— Pass up the lure of distance. the | blare of bandst the miracle of hear- {ing over nothing. all the hundred and one scientific aspects of this interest. ing art. Does not the real happiness in radio receiving come largely in the unexpected, the delicious bit unher- alded, the superior performance of some one number? Radio is alive, and so possesses all the lure of human beings, erring, re- joicing, sorrowing humanity. Here we have no static, but dynamic miracie. The quiet person who takes his radio seriously, hut not too seriously, gets great legitimate pleasure from small anecdoter sprung on a listening world hy good speakers. He appreciates even sentences, when jthey are good sentences. He gets a whole world of enjoyment out of the orator who has some trick of enuncia- tion or tone of voice differing from the average. A symphony concert is preceded by a few brief introductory remarks by 8 professor of music. in which the life of the composer of a certain short symphony is sketched. “He says that his teacher,” goes on the professor, instancing the most famous instructor the composer had, ‘“‘taught him to teach himself.’” “He taught me to teach myself.” A real thought, that, one which, if thousands of boys and girls could once get it firmly planted in their mental make-up, would go far toward Solving the whele preblem of education. And does Le. the listener, and a thousand thousand like him, apply it to himself? Perhaps it Is wrong to expect the average child to so regard education, but—how many elders do, either? “He taught me to teach myself.” Surely that teacher must have heen a real teacher. one of the chosen few. He did not allow human liking for praise and hlame to enter into his relation® with his pupil, but bravely put self away, and instead of impress- ing his pupil with his own knowledge, he showed him the pathway to self understanding. * ok % % From a distant point a man is speaking. Our listener tunes in just |as the man is about to finish. but in time to hear him relate the following: He had called to see a woman who was inconsolate over the loss of her little daughter, Elsie. Nothing that he could say seemed to have any effect upon her. Day and night she mourned: He went home, and, as he retired for a brief rest, happened to see a group of happy children playing out- side. In his sleep he dreamed that he saw a great multitude of little girls, each with a torch in her hand. They were bright and happy, and the radiance of their heavenly torches transfigured their lovely countenances. Eagerly he looked for Elsie, and at last he saw her, but her torch was out, and her face was in shadow. He saw the mother run forward. ‘Elsie, why is your torch unlit?” she asked, fondly. President Coolidge’'s Armistice day utterances on national defense bring @ good deal of relief to the Army and Navy. The administration economy program always sends cold shivers down the backs of the men respon- sible for maintaining our armed forces on what President George Washing- ton called ‘“a respectable defensive posture.” So whenever Mr. Coolidge. as he did at Kansas City, declares himself unreservedly in favor of ade- quate preparedness ashore, afloat and aloft, our soldier men and sailor men take heart. There is a very consider- able ferment in the Navy at the mo- ment over plans:for reduction of per- monnel. The President is reported to be determined that the manning of the Navy's expanded air service must be nccomplished with personnel taken from the existing fleet. If that is done aval leaders fear it may be necessary practically to dismantle certain essen- tial units, already manned, to a large extent, by incomplete complements. Reperts that Japan has just launched an extensive new warship-building plan induce our naval strategists to demand afresh that the Washington conference 5-5-3 ratio be maintained, as far as the American fleet is con- cerned, to the last ship and to the last sailor. oK Kk On Friday, November 19, the execu- tive committee of the congerence of governors will meet in Washington to decide place and program of the next conclave of State executives, The chairman of the executive committes is Gov. Ralph O. Brewster of Maine and the other members are Govs. John Hammill, ITowa; John W. Martin, Flori- da; Adam McMullen, Nebraska, and Mrs. Nellie T. Ross, Wyoming. Gov. Edward Jackson of Indiana is treas. urer of the committee and former Gov. Cary A. Hardee of Florida is secretary They will, as usual, confer with the President and probably sample White House cooking. * ok x4 The short and perfunctory session of the Senate on November 10, for dis- posal of the English impeachment case, looked like the reunion of a col- lege fraternity. During the 15 min- utes before Vice President Dawes rap- ped for order, the floor was the scene of an orgy of back-slapping, elbow- greasing and glad-handing seldom witnessed in the world's most delib- erate assembly. Statesmen who fell by the wayside in this year's pri- maries or at the election of Novem- ber 2 were the objects of affectionate greeting on the part of surviving club- members. “Jim"” Wadsworth, Repub- lican, of New York, was the center of & group of particularly ardent sym- pathizers and well-wishers. The smiles that wreathed his rotund countenance gave little indication that he is about to become a lame duck. lenroot of ‘Wisconsin seemed serenity itself, too, as did Pepper of Pennsylvania, Ernst of Kentucky and other notables soon to be privileged te write “ex” before their senatorial titles. Butler of ‘Massachusetts is no longer a Senator. Politics seems incapable of disturbing friendships. “Dave’ Reed of Penn- svivania, who recently called Nerris of Nebraska a ‘‘mongrel,’™ hebnobbed with the Republican Progressive as if they were long-lost brothers. * ok % X ‘Washington hopes some day to cap- ture the Army-Navy foot ball game— when the Capital ‘has a stadium worthy of that classtc. Meantime its most thrilling local contest, now be- come an annual affair, is the battle for the President's Cup between teams representing the Army and Marine Corps. This year’s clash on November 20 will bring together at the stadium of the Catholic University elevens from the Marine Corps headquarters at_Quantico, Va., and the Infantry 8chool at Fort Benning. The Army gained possession of the President's Cup two vears ago, when the contest was instituted, but forfeited the trophy in 1925 to the Marines. As the score thus stands 1 to 1, nexf week’s game iz certaln to be fastiand furious. ¥. Davis, of War, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. our tears, the child. | “have put it _out Thus, out of dzrkness and night. has | heen caught: as it were, a great les son, one which, the listener felt sure. would have more effect than any amount of sound advice, in the case given. and in all similar cases. A parable—no less—in 1926. * %% replied In the great floods of music that fill the air nightly, for the first time in_ history fulfilling the title of the old song. Music in the Air,” the ap- preciative listener is sure to find something or other that he likes. Music, being an appeal to the sense of hearing, co-ordinated with the mind and certain obscure tmpulses, termed spiritual for want of a more precise term, re upon opinion, of course. In the realm of music. as in all the other arts, including that of litera- ture, one man's opinfon of “what he likes arcely suffices for another person, although one opinion may he vastly more accurate than the other. As an opinion, unlike a greased Dig. is the easiest thing in the world to hold, as it likewise is the easiest to get, it follows that there are a vast number of untrues opinions. “I like that,” savs one, when ac- tually he doesn’t know what he ix ing about. “I do net like that.” says another, and he may be all wrong, too. Edgar Allan Poe first stood up in America against the old maxim that “‘there is no arguing about matters of opinfon.” Matters of taste are based upon knowledge and proper sensol or- gans, or keenly attuned senses, hence those best qualified to judge naturally have the beat and. in a sense. the only true opinions. That it is difficult to determine just who the judges shall be is another matter entirely. R In radio one with proper judgment may turn from the ja: orchestra, whose members fondly agine that accelerated {empo means “pep.” to the well balanced organizatien playing as NOVEMBER 12, | abundance, the composer ‘intended. The violinist who persistently.playvs “off key” may be left at his micro- phone for the performer with true pitch. The band poorly placed before the “mike,” with too blaring brass, may be tuned out for the band properly placed. ‘The greatest moment in radio music comes when a good orchestra, for in- stance, delivers through the air just that proper combination of tone, tempo, leadership and ability which stands forth as perfect. Thus one h: at home, the same elation of spirit as when hearing a great performer in the concert hall sing or play some masterpiece unusu- ally well. Even the great have their peak performances. The quality of voices, thelr “timbre,"” as It is sometimes called, offers unex- pected pleasures to careful listeners. Especially is it pleasing to hear a woman who is not particularly con- scious that she is “on the air.” Men generally handle the speaking voice better over radio, because th can usually do it more impersonally. Wom- en are individualistic by " nature, whereas men geherally fit more easily into the impersonal herd, and this is feflected in their voice. has dignified the contest with an offi- cial communique, which says: I am especially interested in these annual games, because they are the big service gamea from the enlisted men's standpoint and should lead to more and better athletic contests in the Army. For these reasons I believe that this game should receive the full sup- port of all Army personnel in and about Washington, and I hope that all will make it a point to be present. * ok ok % Brig. Gen. George A. L. Dumont, France's popular military attache in Washington, calls this observer's at- tention to an error in this column in connection with foreign honors to the United States Army’s world flyers. It was inaccurately stated that Japan was the first nation to pin medals on the bosoms of our globe-girdling avi- ators. Gallant France, as becomes the: country that blazed so many tralls through the air, rightly claims the distinction of being the first to decorate Smith, Arnold, Ogden, Wade, Nelson and Harding. Soon after their achievement, France offered the flyers the Legion of Honor. At that time Congress had not enacted the neces- sary legislation. As moon as it was permissible, the French sent the in- signia of the Legion to the men who flew a ring around Mother Earth. * Xk ok Irwin B. Laughlin of Pennsylvania, until recently American Minister to Greece, has returned to the United States and expects to abandon diplomacy for private life. He is one of the most experienced of our career men, having begun as private secre- tary to our envoy to Japan 23 years ago. Laughlin is a man of great private means, being one of the pro- prietors of the vast Jones & lLaughlin steel industry at Pittsburgh. He and Mrs. Laughlin (who was Miss Therese Iselin of New York) recently built one of the most palatial private homes in Washington. They expect to make the Capital their permanent home and maintain here the innumerable inter- national contacts Mr. Laughlin enjoys by reason of his service in many lands. . * K K % Mrs. Coolidge retains her member- ship in the luncheon club of senatorial wives, and seldom fails to attend its periodical meetings in a private suite attached to the Senate restaurant. Eight ladies act as hostesses on these recurring occasions, the groups being arranged according to alphabetical eorder. The First Lady of the Land, ‘who became a member of the club when she was Mrs. Vice President, is, as she is nearly everywhere, the life of the party. She particularly insists on taking her turn as a serving hos- tess, and alse in bringing to the feasts her statutory share of the “‘eats.” The story the senatorial women like best to tell about their mest popular member concerns her mishap in connection with & cauldron of White House creamed potatoes. Somehew or other, the bottom of the utensil fell out and cream streamed in countless rivulets over the floor. Mrs. Coolidge could not be dissuaded from getting down on her hands and knees and doing her share of the re- meoval process before the guests arrived. * K K K Queen Marie can’t be very much astonished or upset by trifles like squabbles aboard the royal train now taking its cantankerous way across the coumtry. Such things are every- day occurrences In all the palaces and castles on earth. Intrigue in the en- tourages of crowned heads s as much a part and parcel of the mo- narchial game as etiquette. Every- body, #sooner or later, somehow or other, grinds a little ax for favor- currying purposes. The jealousles, rivairies, back-bitings and wire-pull’ ing that result reach the throne, but seldom rock it. Thus, however vexa- tious the headlines represent hostilities aboard the royal Rumanian special to be, it's dollare to doughnuts that \nr‘iodflnu ;n'-im notQing but familiar reminders of home, gugeet homa. 10.-5:»."( 1926. ; | THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover. 1f Homer ever existed, he was the father of the epi Herodotus the father of histol Boccaccio was the father of the short story, though there were many stray short-story-children before his time, and good ones, too. Chaucer was the father of English poet Defoe and Fielding have for years been gquarreling from their graves over the fatherhood of the Knglish novel. Who fathered the soil novel? That question has never been settled ex cathedra, so we are at liberty to make our own researches or guesses. The earliest fiction of the longer sort was thoroughly romantic, and touched the soil only as the hoofs | of the richly caparisoned chargers pressed it when the knights and ladies rode to tournaments. Occasion- ally there is a hint of a soil problem, as in “Aucassin and Nicolette,” a twelfth century romance by an un- known author, when Nicolette, lost in the forest, comes upon some peasants who complain to her of their hard lot. Early pastoral romances there are in such as Sannazaro's Montemayor's “Diana. Sidney's “Arcadia” and Lodge's ‘Rosalynde.” but in these romances the countryside is veiled in such a rosy mist that It natural features can scarcely be seen. It is always a se- lected countryside, too, of the most ravishing velvety meadows, brocaded with primroses, cowslips and daisies, of the most sparkling, musical streams and the coolest woods, of stately trees, with no underbrush, no swampy places. It is a countryside for music and love-making, not for digging and sweating. The idealized country of the pastoral romance lin- gers even in the eighteenth century realistic novel. Squire Allworthy's es- tate in “Tom. Jones, though it is duubtless cuiuvated in private by farm laborers, seems in the nhovel chiefly a beautiful park for hunting— and poaching—and the daily rides of the squire. “The Vicar of Wake- field" takes us a little closer to the rerl sofl, but, after all, the vicar is only a part-time farmer, and waen his house burns down and he is taken to prison his farming ends. * K % % Of the great noveliste of the early nineteenth century, Scott chose ro- mance for his field, though his Scotch romances are full of realistic scenes of the soil, such as the picture of Dandie Dinmont’s farm in “Guy Man- nering”; Jane Austen knew only small- town and rural society; Thackeray and Dickens were both most at home in city life, and George Eliot and Char- lotte Bronte portrayed the country from the point of view of the country squire or clergyman. Until the com- ing of Thomas Hardy, no English novelist concerned himself greatly with the worker in the soil, his strug- gles, his poverty, his family life, his emotions of joy, sorrow, love, jealousy, hate. Four of Hardy's novels prob- ably represent his best work—'"Far From the Madding Crowd,” ““The Re- turn of the Native,” “The Mavor of Casterbridge” and ‘““The Woodland- ers.” Like Shakespeare, Hardy is a fatalist. and all his novels show fate controlling human lives—a fate which is the outgrowth of character plus environment, or we might say of heredity plus environment. In each of Hardy's novels some form or phrase of nature is the background and almost the protagonist of the story. In “Far From the Madding Crowd” it is the sheep-raising country and industry of southern Eng- land; in “The Return of the Native' it is gloomy Eglon Heath; in “The Mayor of Casterbridge” it is the cattle-breeding and farming country about Dorchester, and in ‘“The Wood- landers” it is the woodland country, with its industries of cider-making, timber-cutting, bark-stripping and hollow-turning. * K ok % The Russians, however, antedated. Hardy in the soil novel. Hardv's first novel. ‘“Desperate Remedies,” was published in 1871: but in 1831 Nicolai Godol published “Evenings in a Farm Near Dikanka." stories depicting the life of Littl ussia, and in 1837 his masterpiece, “Dead Souls,” appeared. Turgeniev's portsman’s Sketches,” portraying the utter wretchedness of Russian serfdom, came out in 1846, Fathers and Children” in 1862, ‘Smoke” in 1867 and “Virgin Soil” in 1877. The Russian influence can, it seems to me, be traced in Hardy's work. Bjornson, probably the earliest of Scandinavian soil novelists, pub- lished “Synnove Solbakken" in 1857 and ‘“Arne” in 1858. The French, Germans and .Italians seem to have no typical soil novels earlier than these dates. So we may perhaps con- sider the Russians the parents of the modern soll novel, and Godol, specifi- cally, its father. o The meodern moralist, a not infre- quent literary form, has often pre- sented a character which is a more or less allegorical suggestion of the Christ, acting as He might have acted in a modern community. Such moral- itles are “God's Fool,” by Maarten Maartens; “The Passing of the Third Floor Bacl by Jerome K. Jerome; “The Servant in the House” and “The Terrible Meek,” by Charles Rann Ken- nedy, and “The Fool in Christ,” by Gerhart Hauptmann. Most of them show In the course of their stories that, if “the way of transgressors is hard,” the way of reformers is even harder. A recent morality novel is “Harmer John; an Unworldly Story,” by Hugh Walpole. Harmer John, or Hjadmer Johanson, of Sweden, comes to the provincial cathedral town of Polchester, and loves it. lle loves it 80 much that he wants to make it better, and that is why he gets into trouble. He wants to clean up its slum, Seatown, to make it all more beautiful, to make its people happier. The trouble is that neither the best people nor the worst people in the town realize that it needs to be made hetter. The best people think that Polchester is all right, that the ca- thedral i& enough of beauty, and that their hypocriry, backbiting, snobbish- ness and pettiness are only evidences of superiority. The worst people down in Seatown find no fault with their wretchedness and only ask to be let alone with their fiith, their drunken- ness, their brawls, their indecencles. So Harmer John, after a brief rocket of popularity, finds his friends falling away from him and loneliness and animosity staring him in the face. Only cynical, aging Miss Midgele: {_lnlve. remote, old Mrs. Pentthen; 'om Longstaffe, Arcadia,” author remain true to him. * K koK The twenty-ninth—or is it the thirtieth?—of Joseph Lincoin's Cape Cod novels is in the book shops and libraries, ready for the lovers of quiet, pleasant, atmospheric stories who al- ways read Lincoln and recommend him to their friends. “The Big Mogul” contains the usual striking central character, this time Capt. Foster Townsend, wealthy prominent citizen of his town and country on the Cape. He is as real, though perhaps not as eccentric, as Mr. Lincoln’s other sea captains, and in interest quite over- shadows the young lovers of the story. * ok kK Several years ago the French- Canadian novel “Possession,” by Mazo de la Roche, seemed almost the work of another Thomas Hardy. Now the same writer has produced another novel, “Delight,” which in no wap measures up to ‘“‘Possession.” ‘‘De- light” 1s the commonplace love story of a voung English waitress who comes to Canada to work in a hotel. The humor of the story becomes farce and buriesque when Delight loses her place in the hotel and be- comes a berry-picker on a farm, then secures employment in a rival hotel. The @encusment is abéurdly tmprob- | George of England. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKI. Q. Do all the sons of the King of England have titles, such as the Prince of Wales?”—H. F. A. Only the two eldest sons of the King of England have special tities s the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. The other sons are merely known as Prince Henry and Prince Q. How long do dogs live>—L. 8. M. A. The mortality rate has not been compiled, but the average life of a dog is from eight to nine years. Q. Who was court dressmaker to Empress Eugenie’—E. L. B A. Worth is credited with having designed the gowns of Empress Eu- genle. Q. If relatives in Ireland are left money by a naturalized Irishman in this country, must the relatives come over in order to get the legacy? M. O'B. A. It would not he necessary. An attorney may be appointed or a trus- tee, who can receive the money and make it payable at a bank in Ireland after all duties assessed are pald. . How much whisky Is there in the , bonded warehouses now?— A.F. W A. There were, as of July 1. 1926, 23,814,140 gallons of whisky in the Government warehouses. These fig- ures cannot be recorded as strietly accurate, since much of the whisky was placed in the Government deposi- torles as early as 1911 and the major- ity was placed as early as 1917. A certain amount of lessening of the stock is due to evaporation and leak- age, which is estimated as nearly one- third of the total amount. Q. What is meant by “Plantation of Ulster”?—H. G. C. A. The Ulster Plantation was the colonization of a large part of Ulster, Ireland, by English and Scottish set- tlers, 1609-11. The troubles of the early seventeenth century resulted in the forfeiture of a large part of Ul ster to the crown. In 1608 a commis- sion was appointed to determine what to do with the lands. It was proposed to colonize the whole district with re. tired civil and military servants and colenists from England and Scotland. The lands were divided into portions of 1,000. 1,500 and 2,000 acres and each’ large proprietor was bound to build a castle on his estats and for- bidden to alienate the land to Irish- men. Q. Do more husbands or more wives obtain divorces?—H. B. A. Statistics show that women have been the plaintiffs in more di- vorce suit cases. In 1923 they consti- tuted 67.8 per cent of plaintiffs. The ratio has scarcely changed since 1887. Cruelty is the chief cause of action, followed by desertion and unfaithful- ness. Divorces have increased 31 per cent since 1916, but at no time have the divorces in a year outnumbered the marriages in the United States as a whole. The ratio was, in 1923, 1 di- vorce to 7.2 marriages. Q. Which are greater wrestier: the Japanese or Chinese?—0O. D. B. A. The art of wrestling has been brought to its greatest perfection in Japan, where the well known jiu-jitsu is extensively practiced. The present system of jiu-jitsu is the Chinese sy tem elaborated. Q. Ts it true that there is a cobble- stone house in Georgetown that was occupied by George Washington?—G. B. P. ‘A. No. 3049 M street, Washington, D. C., which is in the district known as Georgetown, consists of a two-and- a-half-story house, built of irregular stone blocks, not cobblestones. It is the place where in 1755 George Wash- ington organized the Georgetown Blues to aid the English in the French and Indian wars. Gen. Washington again occupied this house in 1791 while | calories per d ing the District of Columbla. Tt occupied by a sign painter. Q. Does a woman require as many as a man?--G. T. H A. A woman needs ahout the same number of calories does & man of her size and weight taking the same amount of exercise or doing the same amount of work. Q. Has the Panama Canal elec. tricity or is some other kind of light- ing used?—N. V. H. A. The Canal Zone s equipped with electricity. Q. How long has ore been taken out of the Cornwall Iron Mountain ore banks, near Lebanon. Pa.? Is it the only mine of its kind?—W. E. C. A. The United States Bureau of Mines says that the Cornwall Iren Mountain ore banks have heen in op- eration since about 1740. This iz an open-pit operation, and it is mined by steam shovels. ‘There are numerous pit mines In Lake Superior districts. Two of the large ore pits are the Hull Rust. at Hibbing. Minn.. which pro- duces more ore in a year than the Cornwall pit: also the Mahoning pit, which produces more, and adjolns tha Hull-Rust pit. The Hull-Rust and Mahoning pits give hematite are, while the Cornwall pit glves mag- netite. Q. Where was Queen Marie horn? —J. R. A. Queen Marie of Rumania was born at Eastwell Park, Kent, mear London, England, on October 29, 1875. Q. How much does the average city expend per capita on public health work? D. Q. A. According to Prof. William Ben- nett Monroe of Harvard University, taking an average of cities over 30,000, in 1924, about 70 cents per capita was expended annually in public health; public recreation, $1 a head, and pub- lic libraries, 31 cents. Q. Which are the sturdier chick- ens, those hatched nunder hens or those hatched in incubators?—J. H. B. A. The Department of Agriculture says that incubator chickens are ss healthy as those naturally hatched if the conditions in both hatchings are equal. The strength and health of any chicken depend on the kind of stock that it was bred from. Q. How many members has the So- clety of Friends>—N. 8. A. Numerically this is a small body, numbering only about 150,000 mem- bers in the world. Q. When was the State of Franklin formed?—G. H. R. A. It was formed al a conference at Jonesboro, Tenn.. August 23, 1784. John Sevier was the first governor. Congress ignored requests to be recognized as a State and at the ex- piration of Sevier's term In 1788 the State of Franklin ended. Q. What is an absence flag?—T. G. 8. . 1t is a small blue flag flown on the starhoard side of the spreader of a yacht to indicate the absence of the owner. There is no other agency in the world that can answer as many legitimate questions as our free in- formation hureaw in Washington. D. C. This highly organized institution has ‘been built up and is under the personal _direction of Frederic J. Haskin. By keeping in constant touch with Federal bureaus and other edu- cational enterprises it is in a position to pass on to yow authoritative in- formation of the highest order. Sub- ‘mit your queries to the staff of ez- perts whose services are put at your free disposal. There is no charge er- cept two cents in stamps for return postage. Address The Evening Star Information Bureaw. Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. WHAT D. C. GOVERNMENT NEEDS BY WILL P. KENNEDY 4—Local Taxes Should Not Go Into Federal Treasury Two other fiscal matters should be given very careful study by the sub- committee of the House District com- mittee that is now conducting an in- vestigation of the municipal adminis- tration: (1) The way in which District tax money is thrown into the general pot in the Federal Treasury, and the way in which these funds are handled there which results in a false Fed- eral surplus accounting. (2) The need for a local bond issue to provide funds for extensive public works, which can be pushed te com- pletion now more cheaply than in fu- ture vears, and in the cost of which future citizens should share, since they will get the principal benefits. Treasury officials and members of Congress have given little, if any, thought to a grave injustice done to District taxpayvers through the way in which their tax funds are handled in the Treasury of the United States as public funds. We are now operat- ing as a municipality on a strictly cash basis. With annual assessment of property and semi-annual payment of taxes and with an operating sur- plus, we are constantly putting mil- lions of dollars directly into the Fed- eral Treasury which are not drawing one cent of interest. If these millions were placed in a bank there would be a very considerable sum realized in interest, * Xk ‘The moneys paid In taxes by prop- erty owners of the Dfmtrict should never go into the Treasury itself. If they go into the hands of the treasur- er it should be as a checking account. They should never become a part of the Federal funds. There is no authority whatever in constitutional or statute law for the Government. to collect a tax on real estate in any community or State and to put'it into the Federal Treasury— but that is what is now happening here, Preferably, in the interest of the District taxpayers, the District ought to be allowed to deposit its tax col- lections in private banks where it would draw interest. There it would be entirély safe because the banks are under Federal supervision. 1f the revenues of the Diatrict had gone to a separate account to the credit of the Diatrict and had not been mixed In with Federal revenues, there would have been no need for any expensive audit or investigation of the fiscal relations. The accumu- lated surplus account would have stood out distinctly from all others. This advocated reform in the handling of District funds would be of national henefit in simplifying and improving the Federal accounting and auditing system, and would lead to a true bal- ance of the Federal funds, which is not now had. * ok ok two as the surplus. This is absolute- ly a false surplus which deceives the public and which would not be coun tenanced in any private business con cern. Such a surplus, for example, includes funds of the District of Co- lumbia which havé been obligated but not paid out. This really represents checks issued that have nol heen cashed. They should have no part In the surplus of the Federal Treasury. To illustrate by one specific item The District had about $10,800.000 balance at the end of the fiscal year of unexpended moneys, but that was not a free balance, because there were outstanding and unpaid obliga- tions equal to about half that amount. * ox ok ok 1t cannot be too often emphasized, for the enlightenment of Congress, members of which with regrettabie trequency show by their utterancea that they are entirely misinformed on the subject, that the assessed value of real estate here in Washington s nearer its true market value than in any other place in the country; that we are taxed higher here than prop- erty owners in any other city of com- parable size. William P. Richards, the District assessor, has worked out a mechanical and mathematical slid- ing scale system of assessment that is recognized by experts in assess- ment work as a model method. Many important public improve- ments are needed here, of a munie- pal nature, such as garbage disposal plant, refuse dump, school sites and butldings, parks and community ree- reation grounds, Police Court, fire and police stations, street extensions, sew- er and water main extensions and the establishment of a model municipal market. It will complain of a ateady increase the tax rate if these permanent Improvements are to be pald for out of current reve. nues, and at the same time oppose raising money to pay for such im- provements by issuing bonds. About two years ago the Engineer Commls- sioner and the District auditor, Dan- iel J. Donovan, submitted a list of permanent improvements that the City of Washington should have, which was_incorporated in the Con- gressional Record. * x ok x An investigation made at that time by Auditor Donovan and Represent- ative Moore showed that no city in the country of more than 30,000 peo- ple is without a bonded debt, except Washington and Fort Smith, Ark. Of course, it is better for an indi: vidual or a community to be entirely free from debt if possible, but equal- 1y, of course, it is generally .recog- nized that improvements that are to be enjoyed by people not vet alive should not be provided wholly at the expense of people now living. If the objection is urged that a bhond issue might lead to reckless use not do to in The District_ revenues should never go Into the Federal Treasury as re- ceipts, but if deposited at all in the Federal Treasury should be as a sep- arate account. Neither should the receipts from taxes and other sources of revenue for the District of Colum- bia be included*in the receipts of the general Gbvernment, or the expendi- tures under these funds be listed in the expenses of the general Govern- ment, or the balance be made a part of the surplus of the Federal Govern- ment. At the end of the fiscal vear the| of money, the answer is that we are obliged to rely on the good sense and good faith of the Commissioners, if powers not now ‘possessed are given them, and that after all no expendi- ture of the proceeds of a bond issue would be possible until authorized by Congress. A careful sur should be made of the public works to be carried on under a bond issue, their approxi- mate cost, how much of this District taxpayers should pay in a few years' time and how the remainder of the cost should he allocated through Federal Treasury considers the cash remaining and ¥fe cash pald sut, re- porting the difference between thase future years to he absolutely just to 0 must eventually redgem the bonds with interest.