Evening Star Newspaper, December 2, 1926, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON D. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2 1926. e e ——— — — — — — — — — — THE EVENING STAR 'av. In cases in which .xzmnauu-lmm explorations hefore producing ‘With Sunda; WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY. .. .December 2, 192 y Morning Edition. 8 THEODORE W. NOYES. ... Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Rusiness O 1110 S1.and Pennas) New Tork Office 110 Fagt 4ind Chicate Office” Tower Building Buropean Offce: 14 Regent St Fogland don. Evening Sar. with the Sunday morn within ™ Ing eition, 1a ashver e mty at 60 cenis E auly eenia per month undays only. conts w ‘monih. Oruers may he sent hr mail or Rane Main 5000. Collection is made by lar a1 ena of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dally and Sundar 1y 1 mo ity mie s 1 1 mo. 3 nnday only J1vrl 830001 mo ANl Other States and Canada. Dally and Snnday.. 1 vr. $17.00: 1 mo. $1.00 Doy Smpe T mnT- ] Sr P5R00: 1 el 1A Siinday wniy 130 34001 ma: asc Member of the Associated Press. ciated Preas in excius relr entitled fateRes eradited 'n 11 or not otherwiss cred ted in This paper and aiso the local nawa ouBlishad herain All rights of publication F wpecial dlspatchen her P Taxes and Politics. Tax legislation in the coming ses- slon of Congress will be considered There seems 10 An- aleng partisan lines. he not. the alightest doubt of this. neuncement of the plan of the Demo- eratin membera of the House ways and means committee for a $350 OAAAAD cut in the Federal tax lev: while the administration remains ada- mant against a change in the ta rates today, has set the stage for a rontest in the halls of Congress. Out af this conteat thera will, in all prob ahility, emergs no ent In the taxes at this time. Thix may turh out a blessing in Alsguise. For If the surplus now ex- pected in the Treasury is not tam- pered with, It may he used to reduce the war debt. The reduction of the war deht Ix sound finance and gives promise of tax reductions in the fu- ture. 7t is not difficult to under- stand, however, that if members of Congress helieve there is to he a sur- plus of more than $300,000,000 in the Treasury. the demands for appropria- tians for rivers and harhors, for pub- lic buildings and other governmental expenditures will bhecome deafening. Pressure far appropriations in various sections of the country will become insistent. The Demacrats propose immediate reduction of tax rates to ahsorb the expected surplus. The President and his advisers are opposed to such a reduction, fearing that if it he made net only will the surplus be knocked out, but it non-formitous conditions arise in another vear, it may he nec emsary (o increase taxes. In the par- timan hattle aver taxes now expected the ts will seek to make it appaar that the Republican leadership i withholding tax reduction while they support it: they will declare that the purpose of the administration is {n wait until the eve of the next na- tional campaign and then hand the people a fax reduction. when, as a matter of fact, it could be made im- mediately. The Republicans will clamor for thrift and caution in the finances of the country. They of course, block tha Demacratic plan for tax rate cha The Democrats, on the other hand. can block the Presi- dent’s proposition that the taxpavers he given a credit on the payment of their taxes for the present vear. It 10 ook like a stalemate, with taxpavers holding the hag. A ervstallization of sentiment among the penple for the President’s plan or for tha Temacratic plan might have its oftect. however. In a “short” slon of Congress the chances for legis- latian are slim when partisan politics enters the dehate. Some day, perhaps. the .Democrats will awake to the fact that any tax reductions made during the adminis tration of the Repunlicans and while they retain a majority in the Congress will he credited (o the Republicans. The party in power can alwave claim succensfully legislation which ix en- scted during its supremacy. The Re. publicans have had the hest of the breaks in the consideration and enact mant of tax legisiation during the 1 aix This had become xo ev: dent that at the last seasion the Dem.- | merats virtually permitted tax reduc tion te be considerad in a non partisan wav. Rut the minority party. appar ently. has now determined to go back te ita old tactics. The wisdom of the early pavment of the war deht has heen well “sold” te the country. There is compara tively little sentiment in faver of the | peliey of Demacrate to temporize | er Aelay dehi payments in order to #iTe the taxpavers A maximum of ve. | duetion at this time. Demoer can, ses- vears. (! the disciplinary the power of | nvoked, ; Lewis cucumstances appear the zovernor may b In this Judee takes the ground that the weitare of society is |of paramount importance. In the| modarn practice of the Jaw the tend- lom_- has heen to give too much con sideration to the accused. He hus hesn afforded the benefit of innumer- able technicalities in the taking of avidence. He has been granted pro-! |tractea appeals upon points of lay. He has been given minimum rather thAn maximum penaltics when found zuilty, and his conviction is finally afirmed. He has been granted parole and probation and pardon and has re- ceived the advantage of curtallment of sentence for “good behavior,” which means merely compliance with rules of the prison. He has had altogether the better of the situation. In New York State the Baumes law is the remedy and reaction from this tendency to pro- tect the gufity. There are two phases to the effort 1o increase the efficacy of the law as A preventive of crime. The process of trial should be shortened and ren- dered more certain of results for the | protection of society. The penalties | should be made more severe and more positive. The Baumes law works to the latter end. There remains to be effected & quickening of the judicial process through the elimination of the clogging practices which, In the guise of justice, actually defeat justice by delay and by denial. £ oo = Make It Half a Million! The little penny seal is at work again, that tiny bit of paper that looks like & postage stamp and that can be used only on the back of & letter. It j& a messenger of mercy. It in likewise a token of intelligent selfishness in the protection of the community from disease. For this little penny seal represents a vitally important work that is heing con- ducted in every city throughout the country. Last Christmas 3850438 of these heaith seals were put to work by Washingtonians. For them the peo- ple of the Capital paid $38,504.36, and this money was used for nine purposes, all connected with the cam- paign agaipst tuberculosis: child | health education, the Summer health camp for tuberculous children, school luncheons for underweight children, occupational therapy, nursing serv ice, health education, nation.wide heaith work in affliation with the national association, informational publicity and the maintenance of an executive office. “The record of the work done in 1926 by these little penny seals ik remark- able. Five trained health workers conducted or helped to organize f ty-nine health habit classes, weighed 15,886 children to discover those who were seriously under weight, gave minations and dist uted health literature to teachers and thousands of parents and children. The Summer health camp for tuber culous children was maintained for seventy-nine days, with an average attendance of fifty-one. All of the children improved and eleven of them recovered from the disease. Measured by this one item alone the penny seals did an invaluable work during the year just closing. They saved the lives of eleven children. That fact should stimulate the sale of the meals ‘this xeason, should cause one of these little tokens of mercy appear on every letter, should raise the total of the sales far heyond that of a year age, and should thus make 1t possibie to carry this henefi cent work further to reach more of the people who are menaced by, if not already in the grip of, tubercu- losis 1t is not enough merely to buy the seals. They should he used and dis- plaved to spread the word of this endeavor. Half & million should be the 1926 circulation in Wash'ngton. —a—s Washington Is now so big a town that the assemblage of Congress, while representing an increase in in- tellectual urge, does not involve much numerical significance. S Observers in De lussey's lane were willing to atay awake all night. Jurors went to sleep during the trial. It is an eyewitness who gets the real thrill. o As a fisherman. President Coolidge 1e still regarded the good people around Paul Smiths as a great states- hy man. o Paying Bus Fares. For some time paxt the Fifth Ave. nue Coach Company. operating in New York City, has been trying out the pay-as-you-enier system, after many years of fare collection by hand after B = | Olues are what make a mystery in- | teresting. There were 100 many them in the Hall-Mills case to he | handled satisfactorily e The Protection of Society. Tn rendering a decision on the new Beumes law. which is in a seriea of statutes and not a single en- ! satment, a New York Rtate Supreme Court fustice has reversed the judg ment of a county judge In the case of reality { celved in such volume that the com- | panvy finally put the matter to a vote | balloting the result has just been au- the passenger has taken his seat. Pro tesis agalnst this innovation were re- of the patrons. After several days of The total number of ballots of which Of the rema nounced. received was 61,921, were defective. 812 valid hallots plar wud 28,855 fuvored the old vne, u | majority for the pay-enter system of 442, But that does not govern the de cision. The company has stated that | in view of the heavy negative vote and 4109 & defendant accused of grand larceny. | The man had heen allowed to plead | guity am a fiver offander. but it was @Aiscevered that he had heen convictad three times previausiv, and this auto- matieallv rendered him suhject to life | fmprisonment. The lower court sen- | temosd him to three The | higher coort has remanded the case | fer the Impesition of the life term .The matter will probahiv be taken to | the highest court In the Srate for an Interpretation of the law. In his rul-| ing Judge Lewis makes a stutement | ‘which goes te the root of the matter The offender and victim cannot alene be considered. Aliogether 100 frequently the rights of the people; are everlooked. It does no ‘ence | te any constitutional provision of the State to rid itaelf of hardened offend. | ers when efferts at reformation h.\ol fajled. Those who commit murder in | the firgt degree invite the punisiment | previded fer hr gatute. and thase | whe mammit four nMerses n ‘elogies likowigs By thesr acte hmne upon thamsalves the punishment fixed by o vea | in transit. ! casional entrance of the conductor and the fact that the clvic organizations have adopted resolutions againat the pay-enter method the new aystem will bhe abandoned and the old one restored. So that hereatter the conductors will | pass up and down the aisles with their little hellringing cash collectors, hiough which the dimes will drop into the paim of the hand, registering Here is a case where the majority does not rule. The company has doubt- les decided wisely. An innovation should not be adopted unless greatly favored. The pay-enier syatem hax some advantage. It prevents the oc- his brashing through the aisies. B it 1s Inconvenient to those who have | 1= thankeul. not mastered the faculty of holding a dime ready for deposit while clinging ta 2 hand hold and malintaining hal ance an a na:raw platferm. lnasmuch as a large percentage of the bus riders are women, who must! in cer- thy cu ¢ faces, the pav-enter plan ix cal ted to slow the traffic. The pay-within system is all. vight when the vehicie is run on a fixed limit of capacity. 1t cannot be wofk- ed when the aisles are used by pas- sengers. It was the old method on the street cars of Washington, and other cities, when the conductors had to plow their way through dense crowd? of “standees.” That time has passed, and everybody Snow-Bound Touris Reminiscent of the early days of the United States, when hardy trap- pers set 1o rescue unfortunate travelers who were marooned by the deep mnows with their wagons and stock, was an expedition yesterday to save the occupants of thirty-one au- tomobiles who were caught by a blizzard and drifting snows high up in the Montgomery Pass in the Sierra Mountains. Setting out from Tonopah after news of the plight of the motor- Ists had been flashed by telephone throughout the mountain reglons, Dan Haskin, a veteran stage driver, and Bill Farrington, an old-time musher, literally burrowed their way out through the snow-blocked roads to the summit of the pass. There they found the party of stalled tourists blue with cold and suffering from the effects of a two-day fast. Each car was pulled out,and sent back along the road traversed by the rescuers, who brought up In the rear of the procession to be sure that no further trouble was encountered. Tn 1846-47 a party of eighty-eight persons was trapped in almost the identical spot. With their wagons and their families these hardy pioneers had been pushing to the west. Caught in a blizzard,, forty-two of them perished hefore «id could he given. Thus is shown the progress of civilization. A telephone call, if there had heen such a thing, would have resulted as happily for this party as it did for the stranded motorists who were pulled out yesterday. Modern science 18 undoubtedly prolonging the life-span of the human, although there are many fatalities divectly at- tributable to it. However that may be, the stranded motorists of vester- day are thanking their lucky stars today for the invention of the phone and the saving of their lives, 2, s American tourists in France ought not to ridicule the large amount of French money they receive in ex- change for a United States bill. A sense of humor is a delicate matter. It may indicate refinement on the one hand, or coarseness on the other. S ——.— Rumania would no doubt like to £0 on contributing to American social news instead of figuring tional possibilities of diplomac in sensa- Kuropean e A juvenile party is regarded as a success if all the participants get back into the hands of their parents with none of them detained by the police. e Many hooks are being w. former officials. Governmental gMce has become a means of d-mmfl. a remarkable amount of previously un- suspected literary talent. tten hy The Republicans are still in control of the T'nited States Senate; assuming, of course, that the United States Sen- ate can be controlled. o Apparently, the only people who were not tensely intereated in the Hall-Mills case \were several jurors who went to sleep. Sttt Rumanian politics alarms the world. It should be possible to re- duce its discussions to its. legitimate local limitations. SHOO RS- TING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, Santa (Inc.). 014 Santa Claus is drawing nigh. He broyght us gifts in dave gone b, But that was in the past so dim, When honestly we trusted him. He now reproves our wiser doubt And murmurs, “Get vour check book out! Yet we do not complain, because We are a part of Santa Claus As each of us contrives to think He holds some share in Santa (Inc.) For each can send good cheer about And humbly bring his check book out. ment Problem. ou come to go Employ “How did polities?” “I'wanted to do something for my country,” answered Senator Sor- ghum. “T was out of work at the time and couldn't find any other emplover.” Christmas Carol. We hear the Merry Christmas song So pleasant to remembes All faithfully it comes along vear, in bleak December. into The ancient carols are unknown, Although we're far from su [ Instead of “Blessings” we intone The ditty new, “Shop Kar Jud Tunkins says publishing the photographs of great men is r suring evidence that they have sisted any advertising temptations to get hooked up with beauty parlors. “Money,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is a Joag to whon we tose paper more or leas satisfac- torily indorsed.” Friendly Intereat. “My bootlegger cailed on me yes- terday. Try to sell you anything? “No. I gueas he only wanted to indulge a friendly apirit and assure himself that I was still alive.” In Jersey. The beauty contest on the shore ‘That thrilled us once—Iit is no more, As we in fascinating gloom Still speculate on Which killed Whom! “lee.” waid Unele Fhen. “is like ather friends—a comfort when Sum- mer skies are blue, hut a nuisancwn the Winter of adversity,” 3 up and down| Pictures of great Ameritans of the past give one the impression that their clothes did not bother them. This is only interesting because modern men's clothing does so often look unescapably uncomfortable and binding. Men of today, of course, are not all great, any more than the rank and file of Emerson’s compat-lots were .en- titled to that designation. Therefore, in comparing actual photographs of great men with the everyday-fact pictures of men around us we do, in a sense, become some- what unfair te our cotemporaries. Yet how effortless seem the clothes of the great Kmerson m that famous photograph of him showing the American philosopher as he was at his prime! How careless the effect of that turned-over soft collar and that large bow tie! These were as much a part of the man as his smile or his large, decided nose. This was Emerson. Fven in the favorite photograph of him, which graces most of the col- lections of hix poems or essays. he wears his stiff coflar and the same large tie with a nonchalance. Perhaps it ix that big bow tie tha wins our heartieat approval today. U the bet of his business life by not re- introducing that particular style of bow. There are bows and bows, of course. Men still wear bow ties, but with a dif- ference. ok ok % The greatest fault of the modern bow, in wur opinion, is that it almost Invariably allows the shining gold collar button to show. en. again, it permits the festive to grab it by one end and pull its carefully adjusted knot-asunder. Our third point against it is that It fnvariably tilts itself either poft ov atarhoard, tickling one's chin un- mercitully. ' Ralph Waldo Emerson, if we may judge from his photograph, was free from all that. His tie had a “knot"” like a pillow, and the whole affair was tucked underneath the collar, so that it did not bother him a bit. Surely it had a nobby look. too! No doubt some of the total effect of Emer'son’s lectures depended upon that bow tie. Over it jutted his good Jaw. and over it hung his grand nose, while above all heamed his forcefui eves, filled with wisdom and kindness. Emerson, specimen of the pure thinker, owed a lot to his how ti and the careless freedom of his cos tume, at once so characteristic and vet 5o a part of the man. He did not look “all dressed up.” a8 50 many men today do, with their pressed suits. felt hats, big overcoats, carefully adjusted mufflers, colored- hordered handkerchiefs in the pockets, and o on. It i not known whether Emerson wore suspenders rather than a belt, but we rather suspect that he did His waist has none of that constricted look which we wearers of the belt dis play around the midsection. * ok ok K William Cullen Bryant's bhow 1¢ng string affair, dipping down Now, was undernéath the lapels of his coat, the knot hidden by his large, bushy and was in no sense the equal erson’s, but hix whole habit one the same impression of doubtedly some haberdasher is missing | THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. |treedom as characterized the costume of the mo-e modern Emerson. Fdgar A. Poe wore a sort of modi- fied Buster Brown collar, points at least 4 inches apart, this space being filled by the amplitude of hia neat biack tie, something like and yet something unlike our ideal, as shown in the photos of Emerson. Walt Whitman, who flourished dur- ing the Civil War, wore no tle at all, nis collar being the original of the rtie collar,” which had its brief some vears ago. All there wide open collars aped the world-famous one of Lord Byron, but that emimnent gentleman did, indeed, display around his handsome neck a rather better cut collar than any of his later imitators, He did not show quite so much neck. James Ttussell Lowell, who some- times struck true fire on his lyre, sneered at the poetic tradition by wearing the more prosaic cravat. Now a cravat demands a knot that fits up close, that is not too large or |too small. that pleases others even | more than it pleases the wearsr. The | ®00d point, that a cravat may be tucked into the vest, is more than discounted by the fact that the knot may slide down and reveal that un- nentionable gold button. Perhaps Lowell, of all the so-called with the | chief American poets, looks the most | bored with his clothes, and we attrib- | ute it largely to that cravat. which all his whiskers could not hide. * ok ok ok Longfellow, great poet despite the modern sneers leveled at him, wore a how, narrower than Kmerson's, but which well filled up the width of white shirt front between lapel and lape Oliver Wendell Holmes had a flat how beneath a bat-wing collar. Just what collar and tie style Sidney Lanfer had we are unable to an- nounce at th time, since the only photograph we possess of him shows his luxuriant black heard usurping the whole space helow his chin John Greenleaf Whittler, too, had such bushy whiskers that hix tie ix almost invisible, but it appears to be a bow. Yes, one can be reasonably positive that it is a bow tie, probably such a narrow one as Holmea wore. ‘The one thing noticeable in all these portraits in the ease of manner of these great men. Although these were all formal photographs, not one of them shows an uncomfortable- Appearing man. They wore their clothes with an air. As the manpart of the cen- | taurs appeared and was a true mate to the horse-pari, so the clothes of our great men of old were part and parcel of their being Instead of being standardized men, | as so many of us are today, these gentlemen rather chose to standardiz their wearing apparel. Once having fixed their outward regalia. these worthies stuck to it for life. and let others criticize as they would, which they did very Iit- tle. on account of the eminence of the men. Picture Emerson, if you can, in a snap-brim felt hat and a tube over- coat! Put Longfellow, if you dare, into Oxford bage, or Poe into an English- cut suit! Immediately you would see the dif- terence, and agree that the puffy how tle was their salvation, and the plain black suit thelr best friend. | | | As Advanc Another tremendous step in the British development of democracy is recognized by the American press in the announcement that the recent empire conference framed a mnew agreement covering relations of the self-governing dominions to the mother count his 1s a development in the spread of democracy throughout the worlq {hat is inspiring as it is momentou savs the Pasadena Star-News. ‘Brit- ain is ruling best by ruling least. Voluntarism is the very soul of the compact between the dominions and empire.” o ls mot . union of states with separate sovereignties,” the Hartford Times explains, “but a union o_l sover- eignty with separate organizations for its exerclse and use. In the United States the President »dfl!l not represent the local sovereignty of a State. The King of England doer represent the local ~sover eignty, not only of England, Scotland and Wales, but of Canada, for ex- ample, as well. Practically, we see the founding of a great political ex- periment, a purely voluntary federa- tion for what is in reality purposed to resemble a nation of nations, the maintenance and functions of which are to be intrusted to entirely separate governmental agencies in co-operation Wholly free. It is- an experiment fraught with jnnumerable trials, and which may be susceptible to grave dange! as to its necessary evolution and improvement.” sent form is tan “So far as the pre gible,” the Chicago Tribune points out. it creates a federation even less defl nite and substantial than that of our States under the articles of confedera- tion.” The Tribune visions, however, a possible “‘imperial union, somewhat with & common congress like ours, and a strong imperial executive, chosen not by the mother country, but by all members of the union.” The Rochester Times-Union observes that “Rritish statesmanship s depending. not upon political control, but upon a sentimental attachment, to _hnld to- gether the self-governing dominions of empire.”” The decision seems to that paper to be & “landmark in the history of Anglo-Saxon institutions.” E * ok K X “Free Institutions are to be its life- blood, free co-operation its instru- ment.” says the St. Joseph News-Press of “an interesting experiment in im- perial government,” and the Charles- ton Eveming Post remarks that “it is the sort/of step that has made Great Britain so wonderfully sudcessful in governing—more successful, indeed, than any other nation of either ancient or modern times. Yet how George 111 and old Lord North would have raged and gnashed their teeth at the sug- | gestion of such a policy, and how radical it would have seemed even to good old Queen Victoria!” suggests the Post. Nevertheless. the Manchester Union feels that “while there are to be some amendments to the rules, the game will continue to be played, and 1 be in essence the same old gam ““The self-government of Canada. for instance,” according to the Torento Daily Star, “has long been more com- plete in fact than it has seemed in form. As to our treaties. our own government has been making them. AS to our governors general, our own government has, practically, been se- lecting them. All our laws, we make them.” The New York Sun offers the judg- ment that the conference report "has done little more than to record the ex- isting status of the self governing do. mintons of the British commonwealth of nations and to propose methods for more convenient transaction of their domestic and external governmental affairs.” The Sun emphasizes the fact that “‘the ‘machinery suggested ta meet the eonditions specifically avnids the limitations inherent in a written constitution.” And the Lynch burg Advance finds it significant that i)omini(;n Seif-Rule Hailed e in Democracy the conference committee “recognizes the fact that the British empire is composed of ‘autonomous communi- ties, equal in status, in no way sub- ordinate to one another in any respect of their domestic or external affairs.’ x oK oK % “The King Is the keystone of the arch of empire,” states the Rockford Star. “He alone ix the visible symbol of all governmental authority, though he doss not govern. Subjects all over the world may think of him and feel themselves united, as they could not do without such symbol. The King alone, however, could mnot hold to gether such varied and scattered units. The real cement is the feeling of kin- dred origin and common culture and ideals.” ““These changes are calculated to remove possible grounds of friction be. tween different units of the empire and make it in fact a true common- wealth,” says the St. Paul Dispatch, while to the Wichita Reacon it ap- pears that “political self-determination Is being accomplished in the face of economic unification and consolida- tion.” The Lincoln Star hails “anoth- er demonstration of British sagacity and British statesmanship, which keeps *pace with the spirit of the times,” while the Passaic Herald ob- serves that ‘“the empire will be strengthened by this reorganization, but paradoxically, since the effect of the report seems to be weak- ening of the ties of empire. The Baltimore Sun looks forward to the making of the imperial conference an annual affair, with agents acting for the premiers of the distant domin- fons, these agents becoming ‘“perma- nent officials, outside the fnfluence of party politics.” “The world goes forward,” concludes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. * “The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on.' Great Britain, with her historical political sagacity, keeps step with the times." et Prisoners’ Children Are Basis of Appeal To the Editor of The Star: Will vou allow me, through your columns, to appeal to your readers once more on behalf of the wives and little children of the men in our prisons? i The Volunteer Prison League has for nearly 30 vears been helping such tamilies at Christmas time and ex- tending the help as far as possible during the man’'s imprisonment. Christmas is so pre-eminently the children’s holiday—the day of joy and gladness, of giftx and good things— that it is especlally tragic to think of the little ones who must be cold and hungry, poorly clothed and utter- Iy joyless on that da v close touch with the prisoners of this country brings me more and more into_contact with these V\KZ,\' families. We try to make our Christ- { mas gifts most practical—something that will last through the Winter, not only for the brightening of one day. Therefore, in addition to Christmas cheer and toys, we send warm new clothing and hundreds of pairs of shoes for the little feet that must tramp to school through mud and snow and which, but for our help, would be poorly shod. Will the readers of this message help me? We try to make every dollar go as far as possible. Checks, clothing or toys should be addressed to Mra. Ballington Booth, 34 West Twenty-eighth street, New York City. I might add that the Volunteers af America is a duly incorporated organization: that our accounts are carefully kept and andited and re ceipis sant et for every gift. MAUD BALLING BOOT! - ideclare to be “beautiful expression.” THE NORTH WINDOW By Leila Mechlin. Attention has lately been drawn to art in portraiture by an_exhibition of portraits painted by a British artist. H. Harris Brown, set forth in the spe- clal exhibitlon gallery at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, under the patronage of the British embassy: an admirahle portrait of Senator Rorah painted in the boardroom of the Corcoran Gal- of Art by a yvoung American artist, Margaret Fitzhugh Browne. and a small but extremely notable group of poripait etchings of Indians by Cadwallader Washburn at Gordon Dunthorne’s. Turning. the pages of a very beauti ful hook on “Famous Prints.” just fs- sued by the Scribners. containing facsimile reproductions of the greatest etchinge, engravings and lithographs that have been produced, with text by Frank Weitenkampf, head of the Di vision of Graphic Arts of the New York Public Library, the writer chanced upon this illuminating quota- tion from Hamerton, the great British authority on etchings, in comment on Rembrandt as a portrait etcher, “The difference.” said Hamerton, “hetween these portraits (of Rembrandt'si and too many modern ones is that these have dignity without pretense, whereas the other have pretense with- out dignity.” How splendidly this is put: How better could one define the difference between the portrait which does not signify and the one which does, x X o ox Al of RembrandUs portraits, whether painted or etched, have es. sentially this quality—dignity without pretenke. So have those wonderfully painted portraits of Raeburn's; we find this distinction even in the fash- fonable portraits by Gainsborough, Romney, Sir Thomas Lawrence aud. in later days. those of our own Sar- gent, of Cecilia Beaux. and frequentl: it not always. those of Leopold S fert. The etched portraits of Cadwal- lader Washburn have it in large measure: mo also has the freshly painted portrait of Senator Borah by Miss Browne. Perhaps it ia this very quality which glves to the paintinge of the English school auch value today iIn the eyes of collectors. Only last week, it will be recalled, a portrait of a voung girl, “Pinkife.” by Sir Thomas Lawrence, hrought at auction in London no less than $370,000, and for Gainsborough's “‘Blue Boy" Henry Huntington of Cali- fornia paid, it will be remembered, an even more sensational price. * K % % In this same book of ‘“‘Famous Prints” ia to be found another quota- tion, llkewise with reference to Rem- brandt, which iz {lluminating for those who are endeavoring to define art, to hold to tradition and vet meet the innovations of modern times. “Rembrandt,” says Howard Mans- fleld. who is a trustee of the Metropol- itan Museum of Art, by the way, “did not always seek the beautiful, but art if not necessarily the expreasion of the beautiful, but it is essentially heautiful expression.” Mr. Mansfleld is right, eminently right, and when art is not beautiful expression it does not fulfill the ideal: Let us find example in the field of the drama. There are many plays put on_ the stage today which are amaz- ingly clever—works of art, but which the most lenfent critic could scarcely ‘There is one play, at least, In New York at the present time which ful- fills this requirement. It I ‘apon- sacchi,” an adaptation of Browning's “The Ring and the Book” made originally by a “Washington woman, Miss Rose Palmer, an employe of the Smithsonan Inatitution, in collabora- tion with Arthur Goodrich, and splendidiy presented by Waiter Hamp- den supported by an excellent com- pany. From firat to last this play, while not necessarily the expression of the beautiful, is essentially beauti- ful expression, and, like all great art, it lifta the beholder into a finer, purer atmosphere than that in which the majority hourly live. * K % % It s interesting to know that authors and actors have had the co- operation in this instance of Claude Bragdon. an architect who has of recent years given practically his whole attention to stage setting and cene It 18 he who has designed and arranged the scenery and the cos tumes which give plctoriul setiing to the art of the dramatists und the actors in the presentation of this play. Claude Bragdon is essentially an in- dividualist, but he is at the same time a scholar. He has brought te bear upon his work in the theater the best sclentific knowledge of the day, unit- ing with this knowledge an instinctive and possibly inherent love of color and appreciation of artistic values. Again in this expression we find, as in great portraiture, dignity without pre- tense. From first to last in line, in presentation, in pictorial effect the play of “Caponsacchi” seems simple, natural, obvious, and the mind of the beholder is at no point distracted by consclousness of technique. EEE It has been sald that the hest way to make art popular would be to as- sure its introduction as a topic at fashionable dinner tables. Perhaps it will serve the same ends to have it introduced as a matter of course in popular novels. If so, not only Locke but Galsworthy are rendering real service. About a vear ago Galsworthy was in Washington and the result of his visit {8 set forth in a short story en- titled “‘Passing By," published in the current number of Seribner's Maga- zine, in which, in the qulet little in- closure of the lot at Rock Creek Cemeter reader meets Soames Forsyte, hero of “The Forsyte Saga” and a prominent figure in “The ‘White Monkey and “The Silver gazing in reverent wonder at Saint-Gaudens’ superb figure repre- senting “The Peace of God,” and learns that his temperamental daugh- ter Fleur and her husband, Michael, sre at that very moment viewing in the Corcoran Gallery of Art the cen- tennial exhibition of the National Academy of Design. To those to whom the Forsytes are real people such meeting is a genui Galsworthy, urprise. in the character of this to say of the Adams t was undoubtedly a work of art and produced a very marked effect. He did not remem- ber a statue that made him feel si theroughly at home. That great greenish-bronze figure of a seated woman within the hooding folds of her ample cloak seemed to carry him down to the bottom of his own soul. * * ¢ Some called it ‘Grief,’ some ‘The Adams Memorial.” He didn’t know, but in any case there it wag, the best thing he had come across in America, the one that gave him the most pleasure, in spite of all the water he had seen at Niagara and those skyscrapers in New York. Three times he had changed his posi tion on that crescent marble seat, varying his sensations every time. * ™ * A red oak leaf fell on to his lapel, another on to'his knee; he did not brush them off. Easy to sit still in front of that thing! They ought to make America sit there once a week!" A fine tribute! * % x % Otis Skinner and Andrew Wright Crawford of Philadelphia have dis- covered a new use for golf links. Through their natural beauty they are redeeming the stale, flat duliness of “Main street” towns. “They have brought,” sald Mr. Crawford in an address made recently before the city planning division of the American So ciaty of Civil Engineers. “a cultural opportunity te the dullast, drabbiest Q. What is the annual value of the products that come under the pure tood \. L. G. | A. The total value of foods and ! !aruge coming within the jurisdiction | of the Federal food and drugs act is| {more than $10.000.000.000 a year. ‘The cost of enforcing the act Is less than $1,000,000 yearly. Q. How did Sing Sing get its name and when was the town named Os ! sining?—G. M. A. Historians are of the opinion that Sing 8ing was named from the | Sin_Sincka Indians. It was incor- porated as the village of Sing Sing in 1812, In 1901 the name was changed to Ossining after several at tempts had heen made, the former name having become abjectionable owing to its assoclation with the prison. Q. How may woolen material he shrunk before cutting to make a dreas?—1. D. | A. A couple of muslin sheets. | which are not too new, mayv be used as shrinking cloths. Thoroughly wet these, wring out and spread on a flat surface. Spread on them the ma. terial to be shrunk and roll the two together. Let stand several hours or overnight, then open and allow the material to dr Q. What American made the fi dlublm‘t;t contribution to piano design A. The invention of the full iron frame by Bahcock. in 1825, was the first ouistanding contribution made an American. Q. What artists are heard during | the “Atwater Kent hour">—M. . | A. Some of them are such noted | artista as Reinald Werrenrath. Toscha Seidel, Louise Homer, Mabel Garri son, Albert Spalding. Anna Case, Hulda Lashanska, Vicente Balleater, Edward Johnson, Frnestine . Schu- mann-Heink, Olga Samaroff. John Powell. Marla Kurenko, Eva Gauthier. Charles Hackett, Felix Saimond and Mary Lewis ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS "BY FREDERIC 1. HASKIN. | the | a baritone. #ilk lnom with which she first made “woven wind." Fer 30 centuries China guarded the secret of silk making. Then, tradition has ir. a Chinese princess earried silkwarm egge to India in the lining of her headdress. Four Chinese girls also were taken by visiting Koreans hack to Japan. where they taught the art 1o the Japanese court. Justinian, mperor of Greece, engaged two Per- sian monks to smuggle silk worm sgge acroes the Chinese horder in their hollow pligrim staffs. From these sources the industry spread to all the world. Q. What 1« the Jewish population of the world?—W. & A, exiimaiad at 11,000,000, and approximately 8,000,000 of thess are in Furops Q. What i& meant by the “archale mammais"?—E. T. €. A. The so.called “archaic mam- mals” were the earliest forms of the mammalian group to exiat. They ap- peared in the early Eocens pariod and wers very primitive and gen- eralized in typs. These first mam mals soon died out. ziving place (o the modern mammals. which are of an entirely different stock Q. What is a gyrfalcon” M. M. O. A. It s a glant white® hawk hav- ing long pointed wings Ita true home is Greenland. but occasionally it comes as far south as the northern United States, although it has rarely been seen in this countsy. Q. Was Jean de Reszke a baritone | or & tenor>—G. L. He began his operatic career as After a few vears he be- came convinced that his veice was & tenor, left the stage for further study and returned as a tenor. Hix brother Fdouard was a famous bass. .Isan de Reszke died in 1925, Edouard in 1917, A Letters are going every winute from our free information bureau in Washington telling readers whatever they want to kuow. They are % answer to all kinds of queries. on all Kinds of subjects, from all kinas of Q. How was the secret of silk mak- Ing brought out of China>—N. T. T. A. The making of silk was started in China in 640 B.C. during the reign of Hueng.ti. His 14-year-old wife, Siling-chi, written in Chinese history as the “Goddess of Silk,” 18 credited with the invention of the BY PAUL V. in one difference between There Frasmus and the United States Su- preme Court. It was stated of Fras- mus by a famous Scotchman, Dr. John A. Comrie, M. D., B. Sc., F. . C. P., lecturer on the history of medi- cine, University of Glasgow: “Erasmus praised the usefulness of physicians in his day (1500), referred to the high esteem in which they were held, so that even the pontifical and imperial laws submitted to their judgment on certain points. Erasmus claimed for doctors an ability which we do not stress at the present day, for he say that only very able physiclans can discern whether in persons who are possessed the devils are of the grosser kind and liable to medical treatment or whether the disease has penetrated into the recesses of the soul so that it has no connection of the body.” Now the Supreme Court seems to hold the law—whether pontifical, im perial or Volsteadian—higher than even the right of a physician to use his own judgment in prescribing spirituous liquor in excess of one pint in 10 days to any one patient, no mat- ter how deeply the “disease’” has pene. trated the soul. i In the cause of (Dr.) Samuel W. Lambert va. Edward C. Yellowley et al. Dr. Lambert set up the claim that as he was a scientifically educated M. D, the “law was an ass” in at- tempting to tell him how much alco- hol was good for his patients and that the court should enjoin said Yel- lowley (prohibition official) et al. from interfering with his medical p e. The Uhited States Supreme Court rules: ““He asserts that to control the medi- cal practice in the States is beyond the power of the Federal Government. Of course, his belief in the medicinal value of such liquor is not of controlling sig- nificance; it merely places him in what was shown to Congress to be the minor fraction of his profession. Be- sides, there is no right to practice medicine which is not subordinate to the police powers of the States.” The Supreme Court may recognize that “civilized man cannot live with out cooks’ (as the poet enunciates), but by this decision it relegates the medicine man below the cook, for it unequivocally decrees that if the doctor interferes with the police power, 80 much the worse for the doctor. Civilization may exist with out him. The court adds: “When the United States exerts any of the powers con- ferred upon it by the Constitution, no valid objection can be based upon the fact thet such exercise may he attended by some or all of the inci- dents which attend the exercise by a State of it police powers.” * ¢ * “High medical authority being in confiict as to the medicinal value of spirituous and vinous liquor as a bev- erage, it would, indeed, be strange if Congress lacked the power to de. termine that the necessitiex of the liquor problem require a limitatic of permissible prescriptions, as by keeping the quantity that may he preseribed within limits which will minimize the temptation to resort to prescriptions as pretexts for obtain- ing liquor for beverage uses.’ * * k¥ The American Medical Association. in 1917, when Dr. Hubert Work (now Secretary of the Interfor) was its president, resolved: \Whereas we believe that the use of alcohol as a beverage is detri- mental to the human economy; and “Whereas its use in therapeutics, as a tonic or a stimulant or as a food, has no sclentific basis: There- fore be it “Resolved, That the use of alcohol as a therapeutic agent should be di couraged. For several years prior to thut res- olution, alcohol had been omitted from the pharmacopoeia—the official list of medicines recognized by the American Medical Association. Of course, throughout all the di: cussions, there were some advocates of the use of so-calléd “stimulants —which modern scientista now de the question again came BACKGROUND OF EVENTS - | the skull of the ) clare are depressants and not stimu- | lants-—-but such advocates were a #mall minority in the association In 1921, people. Malke use of this free service iwhich The Evening Star is maintain- ing for you. Its only purpose is to help you, and we twant you to benefit from it. Get the habit of writing to The Evening &tar Information Bu- reau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Waghington, Iv. C. - . COLLINS. up in the American Medical Assocta- tion, and was referred to the Council of Sclentific Assembly again in 1922 and 1923, but the council refused te recommend a reversal of the 1917 resolution. In 1924, however, at the 8t. Louis meeting. the House of Dele- gates recommended that they ‘‘en- deavor to have the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the prohibition commissioner issue revised instruction on the use and prescribing of alco- holic liquors for medicinal purposes by physicians.” 'The Supreme Court now rules that Congress, and not sub- ordinate executly decldes that whole question. This last resolution fails to reopen the original dictum that the “use in therapeutics, as a tonic or a stimulant or as a food, has no scientific basis,” but the resolution was merely a ges- ture to the effect that the doctors wanted the privilege of =0 prescribing anyhow. . Don't they prescribe hread pills, when so “indicated”? That i what Dr. Lambert undertook to gain through his injunction effort ruled by the Supreme Court. * ok %k Dr. Charles Mavo, the most famous surgeon in America, said in his in- nugural address hefore the American Medical Association, in 1917, when he was elected president period over- “Medicine has reached a when alcohol is rarely employed as a drug. being displaced by better remedies. Alcohol's only place now is in the arts and sciences.” United States Senator Royal S. Copeland, M. D.. dean of the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Flower Hospital, says, “The atti- tude of the homeopathic school has always been against the use of aleohol for medical purposes.”” Dr. Howard A. Kelly of Johns Hop- kins Medical School, addressing 1.500 medical students in Philadelphia, ad- vised them never to prescribe alcohol, despite the advice of older physiclans, who, he declared, ‘“prescribe lquor from force of habit.” * x x ¥ 1t takes a progreasive to keep up with the advanee of medicine. and woe be to that doctor who falla he- hind the procesison! How long age was it when Bishop Berkely introdue- ed tar-water as a panacea for all allments? According to the Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences, volume VI, “The fifth Leondon Pharmacopoeia (1746), while it pro- fessed to condemn the old astrological and folk remedies. and while It drops human fat, spider webs, moss from human_skulls, unicorns’ horn. hone from the stag's head. and the like, still retained mithridate. theriae, crab’s eves, wood lice, pearls. bezoars, vipers, coralg, etc.” In 1745 Heberden had shown that “the actual formula for therlac was h leaves of rue, 1 grain of salt nuts nd 2 dried figs—a decent compound. instead of the hodge-podge of 200 or more in gredients which later pharmacists had componunded it of." The same Reference Handhook fur- ther ad like other system makers, claimed that nature had ne healing power. and that disease must he abated by active measures. So he deprived the patient of ail food, and leeched him from head to foot. So taking was this new system that, in 1833, 41,500,000 leeches were imported into’ France and only 9,000,000 or 10,000,000 were exported.” There ara men atill living—not too old—who remember when leeches were used. and the lancet was also, in bleeding patients. Medical history indicates that medicine has not vet erystallized into {an “exact science” and ceased to de- | velop. It has progressed through dis- [tinct stages—from vipers and pider webs to leeches—from leeches to “snake-bite” panaceas—from whisky |to auto-muggestion. Practitioners. like anderthal man. are distinguished by their stratificatior In the last one or twn decades | medictne has made revolutionary ad varees, and since this is A Govern- ment of majorities. Congress and the Supreme Court hase their Jaws upoX Ithe consensus of the majoritv of those hest qualified. as repreaented hy the American Medical Association and fact to his attention; he himself has true. Mr. Crawford in this same address emphasized to his engineer hearers the difference between construction and design, and declared that unless regional planning was done with the consideration of beauty paramount it would have to be done again before many years, for the people would not stand for it. “An investment in ugli ness,” he said, “was as extravagant an investment as the directors of a corporation, the councilors of a city since tested it out and found that it is ' all the prominent medical colleges, nd relegate “medicinal alcohol” with spider web, moss on human skulls, vipers and leeches. * % & ¥ When the Volstead law and the Willis-Campbell law regulating pre- scriptions were enacted in 1921, 7 States already had forbldden the prescribing of lquor of any kind for medical purposes: 3 States permitted such prescriptions only when the llquor was first made unfit for 15 States permitted only any group may make,” adding f Washingtorj, Paris and Pasadena show the monez-making power of mu nicipal attractiveness, how completely dn Hohoken, Weehawken and Mana- ge: alcohol for medicine—not whisky nor brandy nor wine; 3 States atricted the amount prescrined. Hampshire was the only State with- out restrictions as fn medical use, town that heasts a course.” It was | yunk demonstrage the sheer cost of other than the Federal law Otls Skinner who first brought this uglinessy’ Eos (Covyright 4928. by Pamd V. Collire.)