Evening Star Newspaper, December 7, 1926, Page 8

il THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C A d MRR: 1 THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY. ....December 7, 1926 THEODORE W. NOYES. . ..Editor ‘The Evening Star Newspaper Company | Bustness Office ! 11th €t and Peanaylvania Ave, New York Office: 110 Eant 42nd 8t. Chicago Offive: Tower Building. Buropean Office: 14 Regent St.. London, England. Tue Evening Star. with th elive per month. Ord v _be Ealephone Matn 5000, Collection 18 made carrier at end of each month. Rate by Maill—Payable in Advance. | Maryland and Virginia. | Dally and 4 9.00: 1 mo., 78¢ Dally and Sunday. .. 137 88:00: 1 mo. A0c| Bunday only 11yr.83.00: 1 mo., 26¢| e | All Other Stat Daily and S 1 Daily only Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. | The Assoriated Preas le exclusicely, entitled | to o0 the use for republication of all news dis- Paiches credited to it or mot atherwiss cred- ted in this paper and also the local news pblished herein. All righta of publication | ©0f special dispatches herein are also ed. | The President’s Message. * Reporting upon the state of the Union, President Coolidge today sends to Congress a message which is con- siderably the longest he has yet !ub—‘ mitted and in some respects the most | interesting. It is notable not for any | sensational or surprising feature, but| for its clear review of the conditions| affecting the people and its recom- mendations for the advancement of legislation looking to the correcting of those failures or absences of law which remain to be adjusted to meet national requirements. Recognizing that in the short ses- slon *no great amount of legislation is possible,” the President neverthe- less submits a budget of proposals that, with diligence and abstention from partisan debate leading to no conclusion, can be accomplished by Congress. Favoring personally a re- fund of a portion of the surplus of Federal revenues estimated at $383,- 000,000 by the end of the fiscal year, he urges this measure of temporary relief from the tax burden, with the ulternative of the application of the surplus to the reduction of the debt. Having stated his own view, he leaves it to Congress to determine which policy is to be pursued, either being in the nature eventually of tax re- duction. Reviewing a long list of measures ndopted during the past five years for the relief and aid of the farmers, the President points out that further con- sideration should be given to the needs of the agriculturists of the country. He advances no definite plan, though stressing the question of farm marketing. His words in con- clusion on this subject are significant: “It a sound solution of a permanent nature can be found for this problem, the Congress ought not to hesitate to adopt 1t.” The word “sound” is the crux of the matter. For the further development of an ‘American merchant marine the Presi- dent urges that the great need is not for more ships but for more freight. American merchants are altogether too indifferent, he says, about using American ships for the transportation of goods which they send abroad or bring home. He repeats his recom- mendation that the operation of the fleet should be placed under a single responsible head, leaving the Ship- ping Board free to deal with matters of policy and regulation. Paragraphs of the message which tire of particular interest’ to millions of radlo users deal with the necessity for legislation to regulate broadcast- ing, now in chaos. In respect to the national defense the President notes that the one weak point in the whole line is our still stupendous war debt. Debt reduction therefore i3 a measure of protection. An offer to carry further the limita- tion of all types of warships, accord- ing to the Washington conference ratio, is still pending at Geneva. In respect to prehibition the Presi- dent lays particular stress upon the fact that the States are jointly «harged with the Nation in providing for the enforcement of the eighteenth umendment, and he repeats in the fol- Jowing words his views previously ex- pressed regarding observance of the fundamental law: Some people do not like the amend- ment. Some do not like other parts of the Constitution. Some do not like any of it. Those who entertain such mentiments have a perfect right to seek through legal methods for a change. But for any of our inhabit- ants to observe such parts of the Constitution as they like, while dis- regarding others, is a doctrine that will break down all protection of life and property and destroy the Amer- ican system of ordered liberty. Taken as a whole, the message is kn important survey of national con- ditions, a businesslike record of na- tional progress and an encouraging review of needs that can readily be met by concerted legislative action. No problems that are beyond solution present themselves. Prosperity pre- vails. Constructive economy is the watchword of the administration. The American people are indeed blessed with good government. et It is the duty of the Speaker to say **The House will be in order.” The Lrophecy is not invariably accurate. et The Soul of America. A paragraph in President Coolidge’s snnual message which is of particular {mterest to the people of Washington sheuld appeal with equal force to the country generally and to Congress. Bt asks for no specific appropriations @r any definite project, but deals $roadly and inspiringly with the plans now in process of development for “the making of a beautiful Capital City.” The President’s words on this sub- ject should be repeated rather than paraphrased, for they most explicitly express the ideal that should be sought by lawmakers and by execu- | support of armaments, "|find a city of stately building program for the city of Wash- ngton. The Memorial Bridge is un- der way, with all that it holds for use and beauty. New buildings are soon contemplated. This program should | represent the best that exists in_the art and science of architecture. | these structures, which must be con- | sidered as of a permanent nature, | ought to go the aspiration of the Na- tion, its ideals expressed in forms of beauty. If our country wishes to com- ! pete with others let it not be in the but in the making of a beautiful Capital City. Let it express the soul of America. Whenever an American is at the seat Into | of his Government, however traveled and cultured he may be, he ought to proportions, symmetrically laid out and adorned by | with the best that there is in archi- tecture, which would arouse his imagination and stir " his patriotic pride. In the coming years Washing- ton should be not only the art center of our own country, but the art center of the world. Around it should center all that is best in science, in learning, in letters and in art. These are the esuits that justify the . creation of | those national resources with which we have been favored. Today there is a wide margin be- tween the ideal which the President so eloquently expresses and the ac- tual which meets the eye of the visitor to this city. Yet that margin can be readily and quickly closed with works. Indeed, there are now in progress and, as the President says, in immediate contemplation works which will to a great measure ad- vance the plan to make Washington a model caplital, a city of beautiful utility and the object of admiration of all beholders. It is for Congress to continue that program through adequate appropriations, with such measures of provision as development requires and such other measures of prevention as heedless enterprise ne- cessitates. ——r——————— Congress and the Public. In times past much resentment has been evidenced on Capitol Hill at the oft-repeated assertion that Congress has lost caste with the country, that the Nation has not the respect for its law-making bodies today that it enter- talned for them in years gone by. That there is a considerable founda- tion of truth back of the charge can- not well be denied. There was a time when Congress was about the biggest thing in the country, and the biggest men in the country sought member- ship in its houses. But the country has grown so rapidly, its interests have become so diverse and opportuni- ties for leadership are offered along 80 many other lines that men think less about Congress and pay -less, at- tention to its doings than they did a generation or two ago. Besides, in times past the questions dealt with by Congress were largely. political, and Congressmen were able to play upon the emotlons of the people. Today Congress deals largely with economic questions, and the appeal must be an intellectual one. The average citizen is likely to be interested only when he sees an immediate effect on h's own pocketbook. But the unpopularity, or perhaps rather the lack of popularity, of Con- gress is not due entirely to changed conditions over which the law makers could exereise no control. For some of it their responsibility is direct. The American people, as a whole, have de- parted from the more or less leisure- ly ways of former times, and today are worshipers at the shrine of ef- ficiency. They like to get things done. And the belief is widespread that Congress is not efficlent. They think too much time is taken up in talk that gets nowhere, that Senators and Representatives too often are more concerned with ‘“playing politics” than they are.with transacting the business of the Government. Session after session they have seen needed legislation fail of enactment because Congress has talked the weeks and months away. This is a condition the remedy for which lles with Congress itself, and the ‘“short” session which convened yestecrday offers a splendid opportu- nity for the two houses measurably to rehablilitate themselves in public es- teem. If they will adjourn politics for the next three months and get down to the business of passing the supply bills and shaping up such needed con- structive legislation as farm relief and tax reduction or refund, Congress will stand a great deal better with the country on March 4 next than it stood on the first Monday in December. It is difficult to see any good reason why this should not be done. As there is no national election next year the need of making political capital cer- tainly cannot be urgent, and the major problems with which Congress will be called upon to deal are not political, and division upon them is not, and ought not to be, along politi- cal partisan lines. ———— Congress again includes, along with the elephant and donkey, the lame duck ad an emblem of American states- manship. The Borland Law Inequity. A decision just rendered by the District Court of Appeals declares invalid that provision of the so-called Borland law which levies a front foot assessment upon adjacent prop- erty for street improvements. It would seem as though this decision went to the very root of the statute under which the property owners of the District have for some years past been mulcted in direct assessments for street openings and street pave- ments. The court draws a @istinc- tion between assessments for streets and those for water mains, sewers and like improvements. It holds that a street is not a “local improvement beneficial chiefly to the immediate property affected, but a public im- provement, the expense of Which should be borne by all the property of the community on an equal pro- portionate basis.” This is precisely the reasoning upon which opposition to the Borland law was based at the time of its proposal and of its enactment. It was held then in opposition to this legislation that a street was a gen- eral public improvement for the benefit of all the community, and that no part of the cost of its open- ing or its pavement should be borne enues. On no other theory than that can the streets of the city be considered as public property. That they are public property is established beyond question. The property owner is not responsible for the care of the streets or its pav- ing or its maintenance. He has no share save, under the Borland law in the cost of establishment and maintenance, in its upkeep. cannot dictate the character of the pavement laid upon it. He cannot make any effective recommendation regarding it. All that he can do Is to pay a part of the cost propor- tionate to his frontage, thereby be- coming as to the burden of expense a joint owner, but in no other re- spects enjoying the prerogative of ownership. A public street is for the benefit of everybody, every member of the community. Its utility depends upon its connection with other public streets, with the whole system of highways. It is utterly illogical to specify certain streets as quasi-pri- vate in ownership through particl- pation in the cost, while others are wholly public through the use of gen- eral tax funds for their installation and thelr maintenance. This decision of the Court of Ap- peals comes late, but is nevertheless significant and, it is to be hoped, effective even though it applies im- mediately to the owners of the specific properties involved. It is baged upon a definite principle of law which shouid apply to all streets. This decision virtually declares the law unconstitutional, for it hold: To thus tax all or an unequal pro- portion of the burden of a general improvement against the property of a single person or a group of per- sons, to the exemption of the public generally, falls within the constitu- tional inhibition forbidding the tak- ing of private property for a public use without just compensation. Repeal of the Borland law should: be the logical outcome of this de- cision, which so definitely declares its inequity. Such a repeal should be sought even though years have elapsed since the enactment of this unjust mode of street extensions and street surfacing was forced upon the District. ————————— Three hold-ip men secured & little over four hundred dollars each. The present standard of wages would have enabled them to earn more in a com- paratively short time. A robber is never enough of an expert accountant to see that he is being repaid insuffi- clently not only for his moral sacri- fice, but for his personal risk. —o—a————— A new Commissioner for the Dis- trict of Columbia will help to make the year 1927 interesting. The District of Columbia government has rapidly ad- vanced in public attention and is af- fording opportunity for initiative and originality. ‘Withdrawal of allled troops from German sofl will be another of various welcome assurances that the war is over. History offers many reminders of how much more rapidly & war may be started than finished. —_———————— The United States Senators in most instances do not look at all pleased ‘when it is suggested that Santa Claus may bring them a nice, new set of rules. —————————— A juror who goes to sleep dufln"- trial may perhaps be regarded with sympathy. There are intellectual strains to which, eventually, weary na- ture must succumb. ———t A number of recent books warrant the suspicion that an eminent pol- iticlan may be only an author in dis- guise. - SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Santa Claus? Unlimited. I used to worry some, because I heard there was no Santa Claus; I once thought it was understood All T need do was just be good And wishes all would come my way Abundantly on Christmas day. The gentle, generous Saint would bless My life of righteous idleness, And benefits to me allot For many things that I Did Not. That dream I could not quite forget: I've not completely wakened yet. How often has my hoping turned To favors that I never earned! And still the old Saint lingers near As holidays approach, each year; Not merely one of him we find, But countless millions 'mongst man- kind, Each one resolved to do his best To make life happier for the rest. Go forth, O Friend, and strive anew; Remember, Santa Claus {s YOU! The U. C. “Don’t you think the ultimate con- sumer is entitled to aid and protec- tion?” “In some instances,” answered Sena- tor Sorghum. “But 80 far as prohibi- tion enforcement is concerned out home, the ultimate consugper appears to have things pretty much his own - Family Pride. ‘We truly love the Christmas Saint ‘Who comes each year, ‘With whiskers long and clothing quaint, To bring us cheer. Yet, Santa, I must gladly say, Because it's true, None of my relatives today Resemble you! Jud Tunkins says friends are people who know each other well enough to be aware of what topics of conversa- tion must be avoided. “We invented mah-jong,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown. ‘““We next invented gunpowder, in order to wake up the players.” Monetary Musie. “Sing a song o’ sixpence,” ‘The ditty makes you laugh. Today ‘'most anything will cost Two dollars and a half! “Some me! He | ijssued by the Board of Temperance,’ said Uncle Eben, “hab by the owners of the properties im-|a way o’ singin’ ‘Heaven Is My Home’ fives in dealing with the Federai City: We are emharkine.on an ambitious mediately adjacent, save as they |dat sort o' spoils Home, Sweet Home, contributed to the general tax rev- | right here on dis earth.” - ., TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1926. BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “The tobacco habit is becoming un- thinkable,” says Guy Fitch Phelps, in a leaflet entitled “Ten Reasons Why No One Should Use Tobacco,” just Prohibition and Public Morals of the Methodist Episcopal Church, In the first place, let us admit that the ‘Methodist Episcopal Church, or any other church, has a perfect right to have a board of temperance, pro- hibition and public morals, if it wants to. It also has a right to “stick its nose,” as the saying is, into any mat- ter that attracts it, so long as it does it legally. Perhaps a few more boards of the same hature might not be a bad thing in a country that seems bent on dupli- cating all the factors that led up to the decline and fall of Rome. Half- dressed and painted women on the streets, adoption of masculine habits by women, the increased use of furs, amounting almost to a mania, the em- phasis placed upon sports and amuse- ments of all sorts, the building of huge stadia— Are not all these things to make the thoughtful pause? It is extremely difficult, when something is going on— and it is very exciting—to look at the affair calmly, and yet play the role of Jeremiah, too. Perhaps these boards serve the same purpose, in a modern sort of way. Take this tobacco pamphlet, for in- stance. Its “ten reasons” will appeal to those who do not smoke, and will be generally branded as “bunk” by those who do. Reasoning, as a general thing, does not correct habits. Men do what they want to do in the end, and they want to smoke. Ten times ten reasons w:ulg not stop them. * % The present writer believes him- self in an unusually good position to write about tobacco, because about six months ago, after a lifetime of abstinence, he deliberately took up pipe smoking. As a result of these investigations, more or less scientifically made, at least in epirit, he belleves that no amount of inveighing against the habit will ever do any good, for, it is now too firmly rooted in the minds of men as_masculine. ‘What is sald against tobacco may or may not be true; it makes no dif- ference to the man who likes to smoke. The present writer has failed to see that tobacco hurts men who really like it. It may, he be- lieves, to a certain extent even tran- quilize their nerves. Its inimical ele- ments are uncommonly slow in their effects. This is why the average man “takes with a grain of salt” the tirades against tobacco. He knows too many healthy brutes who smoke all day‘long. Their health, however, is their protection and salvation, and is in no sense an argument against the “weed.” The leaflet referred to says: ‘Among those who have been free from the deflling and disgusting to- bacco habit the following may be named: Abraham Lincoln, John Rus- kin, John Burroughs, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles E. Hughes, Chief Justice Willlam Howard Taft, Robert L. Owen, Georges Clemenceau, Wood- row' Wilson, Willlam Jennings Bryan, Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Gifford Pinchot, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Henry Ford, Judge Ben Lindsay, Sir Horace Plunkett.” A good list, surely—and yet an equally fine list of smokers might be compiled. As a matter of fact, the names of every European who ever lived before Columbus discovered America might be added to the list of non-smokers! The “ten reasons” of the pamphlet follow: 1. Tobacco is physically unclean. 2. Tobacco fills the body with dis- ease. 3. Tobacco carries some of the deadliest poisons known. 4. Tobacco using destroys physical fitness. 5. The tobacco habit is a fearful waste of money. 6. The tobacco habit leads to worse habits. 7. Tohacco users make it hard for others to be clean (free from the habit). . 8. The tobacco habit is a curse to the unborn. 9. Tobacco using is & nuisance in the home. 10. Tobacco violate the rights of others. Our reaction of these, briefly stat- ed, follows: 1. Itis. - 2. Perhaps. 3. True—but the human system can stand a lot. 4. This depends upon the person. This depends upon the view- point. The writer of the pamphlet would have done well to have left out “Qur annual tobacco bill would build four Panama Canals and finance the Methodist Centenary for 147 years.” The annual tobacco bill would endow the present writer for this life and the next, and yet—— 6. This is true, to some extent, at least. 7. All habits are contagious, both good and bad. 8. This is far too inclusive a state- ment. We know too many fine, beau- titul children whose fathers smoke. 9. This is more or less true. 10. This is very true. * ok ok ok The pamphlet would be improved greatly, we believe, by the omission of such terms as “the stench of this diabolical thing,” “this unbearable thing,” “their disgusting vice,” and 80 on. Such language smacks of pure prejudice, rather than reasoning, and militates against the title and pur- pose of the pamphlet. By pure rea. soning, indeed, one might be able to reach many, and really reform some, but by induigence in such intemper- ate invective one simply offends those ‘whom one hopes to reach. For surely the pamphlet was intended to be read by smokers, not gotten up just to please those who do not smoke? The ninth and tenth reasons appeal especlally to us. Surely tobacco is a nuisance in the ‘home, and smokers do heedlessly violate the rights of others every day everywhere. One cannot even go to a ball game without being assailed by clouds' of smoke from rank cigars. A good cigar {8 a smoke, so the song says, but a cheap stogie is'all this pamphlet says against'it, and worse! ‘Those who enjoy their pipes and cigars and cigarettes ought to take to heart the “tenth reason’: “There are thousands of persons whe for moral and spiritual reasons (he might have added, too, constitu- tional, physical aversion) abhor the tobacco habit in every form and yet the users of the disgusting weed con- stantly violate the rights of this class. ‘The first principle of good breeding 1s to consider the feelings and pleasures of others, so that true culture rests upon unselfishnes Enter any restaurant where smok- ing is permitted, and see what the average smoker does when he has fin- ished his dinner. He calmly blows his smoke into the faces of those who have not, of course. Bad manners, however, are not confined to smoking. users U. S. Public Opinion Still Calm In Viewing Mexican Problem American public opinion shows no tendency to become inflamed over the latest flare in the troublesome Mexi- can problem. As usual, comment in the press is restrained and, while the insistence of the United States Gov- ernment on recognition of property rights is upheld, there is some sympathy for the Mexican point of view and a general tendency to urge continued caution in dealing with the situation. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram holds that “if our Government had wanted war, there have been many times in the past that precedent would have sanctioned it, when this Government had been flouted. There is no doubt that subconsciously the Mexican gov- ernment counts on this American forbearance. It is this which has made baiting the United States Gov- ernment a useful device of "Mexican governments seeking to retain their power.” “Behind the dntroversy are pro- visions of the Mexican land laws which set at naught former pledges and amount to a discrimination such as few countries exhibit toward the nationals of another,” asserts the Oakland Tribune, while the Quincy Herald-Whig remarks that “‘with prop- erty ownership insecure, it is small wonder that our sister republic is having trouble with development.” The Chicago Tribune states that “the legal situation may be ‘Incomplete,’ as Senor Calles puts it, but it is up to our Government to see that it is not completed with deflance of American rights.” The New York Herald Tribune ad- vises that Americans “should refu: to be elther Irritated or excited “This country,” it insists, “cares noth- ing for gestures, however inflamma- tory. The sole question is of justice, of American rights, of the basic principles of international intercourse. As to these, Mexico must sooner or later make a decision. Whether it will be to go the way of Russia and cut herself off from civilized intercourse or to maintain her status as a great and respected power of the Western ‘World, time alone can decide.” * K kK “Elementary honesty” is the theme of the Wall Street Journal, which as- serts that “we have shown a patience for taking steps that might lead to war with her than there is for taking steps toward other nations whose gov- ernments we do not admire. If the British interests can stand the Mexi- can regulations, which, by the way, are pretty much Mexico's business, surely American interests can man- age to get along under them.” The Charlotte Observer points out that ‘“‘enforcement of the Mexican laws becomes effective on the 1st of January, and if any trouble is to come, it may develop then. If Mexico should undertake to enforce its nationaliza- tion policy against Americans,” says the Observer, “then a rupture might be precipitated. But even severance of relations would not necessarily mean war with Mexico.” . * ok ok % “It is sought to protect, by the method which has been approved,” ac- cording to the Christian Science Monitor, “vast resources which it is believed will otherwise be monopolized by those who have their own, rather than the public interest at heart. It should hardly be expected that an overwhelming public sentiment in the United States can be aroused in op- position to that particular manifesta- tion of nationalism.” The Portland Oregon Journal believes that ‘“Mexico desires to work out a reasonable solu- tion of the problem,” and suggests that “there is little reason in threat- ening to sever diplomatic intercourse :vitho t a ‘\":ré" eargest effort to reach n understanding by calm discussi and deliberation.” o “There 1s genuine affection and friendliness for Mexico on this side of the border,” declares the Los Angeles Express, with the prediction that “the sentiment for this erratic neighbor will have to be reckoned with by those in authority.” The In- dianapolis News brands the “making of faces at a neighbor” as “a pretty poor and_childish business,” and the Madison Wisconsin State Journal ad- vises that “we ought to hold our tem- per in rein and go through to the finish.” The Port Huron Times-Her- ald expresses the opinion that “disre- garding the immediate nature of the controversy, there would seem to be just now nothing quite so important as the maintenance of peace and good will and understanding between the United States and Mexico.” as long as the Summer day, and it has been outraged and flouted time after time. The country is starving, continues the Journal, “and Calles knows that he has alienated every- | thing native which is of good repute in Mexico. There is something con- temptible about the plea that we are demanding more than justice for our citizens because Mexico is smaller than we are. On that plea, the New York police must let every gunman go free. International good faith be- comes a mere question of size.” “Until the atmosphere has cleared, until all of the facts are known, until there is evidence justifying some criti- cism, the path of wisdom and patri- otism seems to be in full and adequate support of our own Government,” in the judgment of the Tulsa World. The Racine Journal-News takes the posi- tion that “without our recognition Mexico would be in a sorry plight; the use of blunt, firm action may be well worth trying. As to the chief issue, the Newark Evening News says: “These Ameri- cans hold Mexican property. Their title to it may. be anti-ethical, anti- social, anti-neighborly, but it is legal. It may give them a control which should remain in Mexico’s own hands, but it was acquired in accordance with legal forms.” ‘While admitting that ‘Mexico al- ways is annoying,” the Duluth Herald feels that “there i§ no more reason “'At the present time our grievances against Mexico are purely academic,” in the opinion of the Winston-Salem Sentinel, “and concern not wrongs al- ready committed, but wrongs we fear may be committed in the future.” The Milwaukee Journal finds “nothing in {?tern'.n;lonf.lhhw that gives other na- lons the right to tell Me: e mene X xico how to Hail the Hero! From the Flint Sunday Journal. A Frenchman who has played a cor- net for 70 years is a candidate for a Legion of Honor medal. He ought to l?iave one—if he escaped arrest all that me. Self-Consideration. From the St. Paul Ploneer Press. Abandonment of: the world revolu- tion program may leave the Soviets more time to think about possible revolutions at home. The Dissemblers. From the Anaconds Standard. In other words, the Republicans love President Coolidge, but occasionally a good many of them fof various rea- sons take the liberty to dissemble their love. -~ ‘ » AVOWALS. George Moore. Boni & Liveright. Moore—Outside of poetry English genius has accomplished little or nothing in lerature. Gosse—You wouldn't go o far as to say that English genius has ac- complished nothing in prose. Moore—It has found abundant ex- pression in the essay, but English prose narrative is the weakest part of our literature. English fiction is a hackney. French and Russian narrative shows more breeding. A scrap of talk, this, between Ed- mund Gosse and George Moore that points the purpose of “Avowals” and ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. What place has been called ‘A‘?'h Crossroads of the World"?— G, A. Times Square, New York City, has been thys designated. Q. Are there any passenger pigeons now in the United States?—F. C. H. ' A. The last passenger pigeon died September 1, 1914. Q. What did the new Paramount Theater and Building in New York City cost?—R. B. G. A. The value of this structure, to- gether with the land, is said to exceed $16,500,000. Q. Have any carriages been used at the White House in recent years?— indicates the_critical character of its I M substance. Revolutionary and chal- lenging of attitude, subversive in judgment and conclusion, the discus- sion stretches from Fielding to Kip- ling, a sequence of concrete evidence in support of the contention in hand. “Pure effrontery,” say we, schooled in the long English tradition of liter- ary self-pride. And, supporting us, the ghosts of Fielding and Smollett and Sterne and Dickens and Thackeray pass by, along with a host of later writers both in the flesh and out of it. Impregnable as we are, we can listen in security to this suave, smooth-speaking Irishman who, for the greater part of his life, has steeped in the rich brew of many lit- eratures. Talking with Gosse in the warm and welcoming fire-lit room, Moore goes on to say—at the moment speaking of “Tom Jones"—that the subject of literature will always be, in large measure, a description of social life. And he reminds Gosse that social life in England at the time when “Tom Jones” appeared was a very new thing. More famillar were the English then with the moated castle than with the drawing room, with the sudden defense or attack of the lord and his retainers than with the social urbanities of the salon. “Tom Jones” was the response to a new need for which neither the writer nor readers were ready. “An entirely empty book, vague, like a fog, yet without mystery, and so im- personal that we begin to doubt the existence of the author, and in self- defense have to urge outselves out of the belief that the book proceeded from some curious machine, a lost invention of the eighteenth century. Machinery was in its infancy in 1750, so we know that a living man must have written it or dictated it, and the theory that it- was gabbled into a phonograph is untenable. Even so, the impersonality of the ‘book would surprise us, so empty are the pages of all traces of preferences and aversions. In ‘Tom Jones' we are in a fleldless, treeless, flowerless planet; but even Fielding’s indifference to nature would not matter if the book were mnot passionless; any sudden movement of passion or feeling would provoke our sympathy, and we should see in our imagination the sun light- ing up the middle distance and the raincloud above it.” Moore admits that Fielding writes with “gusto, & quality we seldom meet in modern literature, perhaps because we are becoming more thoughtful; and he keeps it up like an actor who .knowu he is playing in a bad play.” Just remember that George Moore is here speaking of a generally accepted ex- ample of the classic in English prose narrative. Just remember, too, that this is one of the books to which we, as students coming along the ways of education, are required to pin our literary faith. To be sure, we don’t read “Tom Jones,” except in cleaned-up issue freed from ‘‘gusto, but that is an unimportant detail. There isn’'t time to mention even what George Moore has to say about Walter Scott's novels. Too bad! for it would be a great joy for many o suffering student to sit down with Moore here. To Jane Austen he gives spontaneous praise, quite reasoned praise as well. Let's catch an opinion here and there, unfair as this way is—but there is no time for more: “Dickens’ mind was richer, more abundant than Thackeray's; Thack- eray's always seemed tomea meager, sandy mind, an essentially ungener- ous soil, that produced only starve- lings. He was interested only in the drift and litter of social life.” He goes on to say that Thackeray was lacking in human sympathy. ‘““What he did understand, though, were prej- udices and conventions, and that is why his novels seem ol fashioned to “George Eliot is a trivial writer. Stevenson is an unfortunate one who “tried to write books of adventure but who merely wrote a succession of acci- dents, in contrast to De Foe, whose ‘Robinson Crusoe’ is a masterpiece of creative fiction.”” In it “every incident 18 necessary; and every one is shapen perfectly and fits into its place; at the right moment we are told"—and <o on. So on through long talks that wan- der richly and come back: laden to the thread of discussion Moore and Gosse experience together the facts of Eng- lish fiction. For the reader it pro-, vides an intimacy and spread of vicarious companionship with half- known writers that proves to be a deep delight. For the first time has “Avowals” come into the hands of the average folks, for it is a book of exclusive implications. Nevertheless its best use is in the hands of the many, for it is one of the few books of criticism calculated to break down the walls of dogmatism that shut off any independent thinking on the stib- ject of books. Never was a time when readers stood more in need of com| tent guldance than now when books are so overabundant. Never was a time for individual thinking more needed than now when so few really do think at all. Critics—wise, cul- tured, untrammeled—like Moore and Swinnerton and Joseph Collins, to name those at the moment in mind, are necessary adjuncts to the present general business of hasty and thought- less reading. Such as these are to off- set critics who sweepingly damn— like the young man out West who raves and drivels by turn and who should be shut up safe somewhere with his own noise. Or that other one who in the role of El Toro paws the ground and lashes his tail and shakes .his horns and rumbles deep in his own insides. And not against these alone are the constructive critics making way in the interest of the gen- eral reader. It is their influence that will in time break down the wall of dogma. that, like religion, learning de- veloped in its descent to education. The narrow say-so of narrow schoo! men has set the standard of literature up to about this time and it has done worse than that, for it has shut off individual thinking on the part of those enjoying the blessings of com- mon education. With such critics at hand as George Moore and Dr. Collins and Frank Swinnerton and William Lyon Phelps, the hocus-pocus of criti- cism falls away and true criticism is seen to be no more than plain think-|¥* ing, than reasoned application of means to a desired end, such as is needed for the carrying out of any project. To be sure, under this treat- ment applied in thoughtful incepend- ence by readers many of the olC idols among, writers will fall away, nany a masterpiece will lose its high estate —but many, too, will remain with the intelligent and enthusiastic support of readers who are competent to judge them and to gather the patterns of actual life from these creations so identical with themselves. As a re- lease from the bonds of educational dogma, ais a call to new and high in- tellectual adventure, or as golden hours for the already learned and ‘wise, ““Avowals” comes just now into the hands of general readers from the of a very great writer. A. The last White House carriage was used as late as June, 1926, by Mrs. Jaffray, former housekeeper for the Presidents. ‘What is the history, briefly, of silk ctiture in America?—F. N. A. All the early attempts to estab- lish silk culture in America were fail- ures. The first trial was under Cortez, in Mexico, in 1522. James I was no more successful than Cortez when he’ attempted in 1609 and 1622 to rein- state the silk worm. Benjamin Frank- lin and others were engaged in re-es- tablishing the industry at the time the Revolutionary War broke out. A speculative mania swept America in 1838, and as late as 1866 the State of California offered bounties to silk pro- ducers, but the last serious attempt at such production was in 1926. Ref- erence has been made here, of course, only to “pure silk,” and not to any of the artificlal silk fabrics which flood the market in many variations. Q. Wil you please tell me the num- ber of cardinals that elect the Pope?— M. P. A. The maximum number of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Hierarchy is 70. The cardl- nalate is seldom filled, the number av- eraging between 60 and 68. Q. In Spain are people from the United States known merely as Amer. icans, as they are in most other Eu- ropean countries?—H. E. A. A. It is said that in Spain, as in South America, the word “American must be qualified. One must desig- nate whether he is from South or North America. Q. Is there any way of cleaning the calfskin head on a banjo to take the dirt from it without injuring the head?—J. M. S. A. Art gum is used in cleaning the head of a banjo. You can buy it at a stationery or department store. How many in the last census gave their profession as artists?— B. C. ‘A. The census report lists 85,402 artists, sculptors and teachers of art. thvgll‘n gasoline fade any colors?— 'A. The commercial cleaning trade tells us that only two known dyes are fugitive to dry cleaming solvents such as gasoline. These are malachite green and magenta. Q. What is the name of the largest and where is it found?—L. G. A. The python is the largest snake in the world. It is found in the East Indies and in the Philippine Islands. Specimens 30 feet long have -been seen. st Q. What key in music is known as the “joy key”?—T. B. A. The Etude says that D major is frequently termed the “joy key.” Q. Was James Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian Institution, an American?—R. M. F. A No, he was an Englishman and had never visited the United States. Nevertheless, when he died he left his fortune of $550,000 in trust to this country “to found an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” Q. How much revenue does tho Government derive from the importa- tion of sugar and molasses?—A. B. M. A. Approximately $140,000,000 per year in revenue is derived by the Gov- ernment from the customs duty on imported sugar and molasses. The 1922 tariff act provided for the collec- tion of duty on imported molasses on the basis of total sugars, and it has therefore been necessary to develop precise methods for testing such mo- lasses for its exact sugar content. . Is it true that the skin of sharks can be utilized for making shoes?— B. D. C. A. From the average shark 10 square feet of leather suitable for soles and uppers of shoes are cbtained from the hide alone. The s:omach supplies a raw material from which a similar quantity of soft but strong leather is made. Q. How often are cattle tested for tuberculosis under the accredited-herd plan?—M. Q. A. The Bureau of Animal Industry says that under the accredited-herd plan cattle are required to be tested against tuberculosis once a year. If tuberculosis Is found in the herd an- other test is taken in about 90 days, and successive tests follow until the herd Is free from disease. Stop a minute and think about this fact: You can ask The Evening Star Information Bureau any questicn of fact and get the answer back in a personal letter. It is a great educa- tional idea introduced into the lves of the most intelligent people in the world—American newspaper readers. It is @ part of that best purpose of @ newspaper—service. There {8 no charge except 2 cents in stamps for return postage. Get the habit of ask- ing questions. Address your letter to The Evening Star Information Bu- reau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. One-halt the world does not know how the other half lives—but it is determined to find out. So there are coming to the United States delega- tions of experts from New Zealand, Australia and Europe to Investigate our wonderful industrial prosperity. At the same time, the American Farm Bureau Federation, now in session in Chicago, with an attendance of 3,000 farmers, announces that, next Sum- mer, at least 500 farmers are going to make a pilgrimage to England, Scot- land, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Denmark and the Island of Jersey, to study, not how the farmers there produce, but how they market their productions co-operatively. The American farmer’s problem is market- o * ok ok Kk This international movement of mutual research for success is a com- paratively new phase of civilization, and a most interesting development, which is likely to intrease with the evolution of means of communication and travel. The specialists of the Department of Agriculture and of Congress, who are already in touch with farm methods abroad, deprecaie the practical value of the coming excursion of the vallant 500 farmers. The experts declare that the farmers cannot possibly gather data in their hurried tour which have not already been secured by the trained investi- gators of the department. On the other hand, it is pointed out that if 500 farm leaders see with their own eyes, the lessons they will bring home will have more practical in- fluence upon organized farmers here than can the bald facts as presented by the department experts. * x * x There is much contradiction in the farm data which reach the public. From the Department of Agriculture come data to the effect that “the net income of agriculture for the year 1920-21 was only $375,000,000; for 192425 was $2,656,000,000, and for last year, $2,757,000,000.” These are offi- ‘clal figures, but who will explain what ig “net income” for farmers? And who will explain how it is eight times as great in 1925-26 as it was five years ago? For in 1920 land values, reflecting the inflated pros- perity, under war prices, reached the peak of speculative figures. President Coolidge has sald—was it sardonic humor?—that ‘“the farmer has been practically relieved of any Federal income tax"—which state- ment is uncontradicted by the farm- er's warmest champions, for where there is no income exceeding $2.500 there is no tax for anybody. The National Industrial Conference Board of New York reports regarding farm- ing as follows: “Actual earnings of the farmer in 1924, for his labor, are computed by the board at $730, on the average, as against average earnings of $1,256 per wage earner in the manufactur- img industries in the same year, average of $1,572 by transportation workers, and $2,141 by clerical work- ers, an average of $1,678 by ministers, $1,295 by teachers, about $1,650 by Government employes and an average of $1,416 per worker in all groups other than farmers. * * ¢ ‘The report allows also an Income for farmers from the investment, at 2 per cent, of $400 a year, making a gross income of $1,130. From that is deducted what food, fuel and housing come from the farm itself, estimated at $630, so that the actual cash income of the average farm owner and operator is $500 a ear. Out of that $500 he pays for food and clothing bought, $475—so he has only $25 left for extraordinary ex- penses such as sickness in the family. Those are the figures for a term of five years, showing average per vear. It is indeed true that the average farmer ‘“pays no Federal income tax.” * %k H The distress of the farmers Is not of interest alone to the farmers them- selves. The conference board above mentioned (which is not composed of farmers) calls attention to the fact that “the agricultural industry nor- mally buys $6,000,000,000 worth of the goods and services of other indus- " and the “total capital invested in agriculture in 1924, at current values, amougted to $65,000,000,000, as compared v*t«m 000,000 invested in manufactures. If conditions were such as to restrict industrial workers to an earning capacity of less than $500 a year, and reduced the trade of the farmers’ $6,000,000,000 by only $100 per farm, it would bring nation- wide strikes for better industrial wages and bring bankruptcy to the manufacturipg industry such as this country has never known, according to the economists of the Departmen: of Agriculture. * K K K In concrete proof that the farm dis- tress is not limited to the Midwest, the census figures are taken shéowing the decrease, 1920-25, in farm popula- tion all over the United es. Towa is the most vociferous-in protesting the conditions, but that State has lost net only 27,000 farmers in the last five years—3.4 per cent. Massachusetts has lost 18 per cent; Rhode Island, 23 per cent; Maryland, 10.7 per cent; Delaware, 4.8 per cent; Missourl, 9.7 per cent; South Carolina, 15.1 per cent; Montana, 19 per cent; Illinois, 9.3 per cent. All these are net losses of farm population. The banks of Iowa today are trying to avold receiverships by a general appeal of the business men of their respective cities where the banks have taken farm loans, with mortgages as security. The method adopted in sev- eral cases is to persuade all depositors to waive control over their checking accounts, with the payment of 65 per cent cash and the other 35 per cent to be paid in installments covering the next four years. Another group of banks proposes to pay their depositors 10 per cent of their accounts March 15, 1927; 10 per cent October 15, 15 per cent March 15, 1928, and so ex- tend payments up to October 15, 1930. In Spokane, Wash., according to the statement of the Federal Land Bank, the banks have charged off their books farm real estate amount- ing to $2 94 taken on loans to- taling $93,493,000—a loss on securi- ties amounting to over 3 per cent. From Parizh, in central New York, comes a statement that half the farms of that county are now abandoned, and of the others a quarter of the farmers are living on earnings in in- dustry, which keep the fafm from abandonment as a home, while others are “living up the land"—steadily ex- hausting the equity by living ex- penses. . The universal panacea for farm de- pression is “diversification of crops,” but it is pointed out that the mair form of “diversification” in most sec- tions has been merely the substitution of one crop for another. For exj ample, when cattle raising in Tex: became unprofitable, the *“cow men’ abandoned cattle and turned to col ton. When wheat was a losing crop in Minnesota, the farmers turned to corn. This simply shifted burdens from one section to another; of course, that is not diversification. * K k% Farmers attack all projects of rec- lamation of swamp or irrigation or clearing of other waste land. They complain that we cannot even now farm all our acres profitably, so why add to competition? They are led to hope that the loss of farm poptlation through the superior attractions of industrial wages will ultimately sta- bilize conditions, and, by increasing the consumers and reducing the pro- ducers, may eventually equalize sup- ply and demand. But they are dismayed upon read- Ing in the Department of Agriculture Yearbook that reclamation projects cover 120,000,000 acres which would thus be added to available farm land. When it is remembered that all France has only 123,000,000 acres of farm land, Germany only 110,000,000 acres, Canada (under cultivation)109,- 000,000 and the United States, up to the present, only 391,000,000 acres, the worried farmer “views with alarm” a policy that would add to the compe- tition here of nearly a third of our present acreage, or create a new France. We had been told that our last acre of wild land had been taken up and that, from now on into an indefinite future, as our population inevitably increased, the demand for food would force enhanced values of farms. There are several projects before Congress, each claimed by its au- thor to contain the best solution of the problem, but no one who is in- formed discounts the- seriousness of the situation. N (Copyright. 1076, by Paul V. Colltne) '