Evening Star Newspaper, December 28, 1926, Page 8

THE EVENING THE EVEN NG ST AR'nhnuflu metaphor, this possibility is la better chance of safety by sticking With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY....December 28, 1088 ‘W. NOYES. .. .Editor THEODORE The Evening Star Newspaper Company | 110n 50"t Panmrivants A1 @ st."ana Pannavivanta Ave. New York Office. 110 East 42nd Bt. Chicago Office: Tower Building. Turopean Office: 14 Regent St.. London, Engiand. St with the Sunday mom- | at’ 60 centa per month: daily ¢ i nih: Sundaye only. 20 cens Tmonth. Oriers may. he sent by mail r Talephona Main 5000, Collection in made by carrier at end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payvable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. ly and Sunday....1yr. $0.00: 1mo. iy onis 1 anday only ... 31 86.00: 1 mo. J1yr.$300;1mo.. All Other States and Canada. e 1 yr.. $12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 yr.. $800:1mo. 7be $400 1mo. 80 The f0c; 286c aily oni Sunday on! i Member of the Associated Press. The Associate] Prees is excinsively entitled ) to the usa for republcation of all news di ntehes creditad o it or not otherwise cred tad in thia paper and aiso the local new: publisha: Alj “rights of publication of epeci 80 reserved n are Casting Out Communism. Recently the garmen:t workers of New York, who had been on ‘strike for some months and had secured a partial victory, took drastic action against thelr e leaders, whom they accused of protracting the trou- ble for purposes of communistie prop- | aganda, and, ousting them from au- thority, quickly effected a settlement more satisfactory to all. They are 20w in consultation with the officials of the American Federation of Labor with a view to the reorganization of their union and its affiliation with the larger body. At a meeting of one of herei ! southern Mississippi esting speculation. Dr. Pupin thinks that the great orb itself “speaks.” Could the inhabitants . of the red planet, if it is occupled by ! sentlent beings of the “human” kind, | 1dentity and respond to signpls from {the earth? Are they as “a@vanced” as is the human race on this sphere? Novelists have in thetr imaginative writings peopled Mars with beings of superintelligence. Perhaps it s. Man has no right to deny existence similar to that of his own on other members of the planetary system which com- prises his “univers: Sl i o A Year of Heavy Water Tosses. This waning year Is continuing its record for water disasters in the United States. Several States in the Valley are suf- fering from inundations that hve al- ready taken a toll of twelve lives and have rendered at least four thousand people homeless. The damage tQ prop- erty 1s not yet reckoned, for the floods re continuing. Rain s still falling over a great part of the arem, and while there has been some subsidence in the smaller streams, the larger rivers are rising and It is possitile that the devastation will increase. That section of the countny has often suffered from these visitations and countless damage has been in- flicted. Sometimes the floods come in the Spring after the melting of the snows, but more often they result | from heavy and protracted rafinfall. The Mississippi itself, into which all these streams flow, has wrought an enormous damage. Vast sums have been expended in the raising of its banks for the protection of the Jands through which it flows, and even with revived and becomes a theme of inter- | to the ship. these precautions the *“Father of the locals of the garment workers’ union just held in New York, attended by 1,000 cutters, Hugh Frayne of the A. F. L, decrying the prevalence of strikes in New York, declared: Any fool can call a strike. Had you taken the advice of Morris Sigman, president of the International, there would have been no strike and you would have rained as much as you have now after weeks of unemploy- ment. Tt 1s to be hoped that the experience of these garment workers will teach & corrective lesson to other trade or- ganizations that are now under the influence of the radicals who, operat- ing In direct relations with the Mos- cow Soviet and the Third Internation- ale, are seeking to promote commu- nism in America. These agents of Moscow, as they are in fact, care noth- ing whatever for the welfare of the in- dividual workers in this country. They desire only to foment discontent, to breed hostility between workers and employers and to develop a commu- nistic spirit on the part of the indus- trialists. The longer a strike can be protracted and the less satisfactorily it can be settled, the more discontent they engender. They are professional strikemakers, not strike preventers or strike settlers. In other trades than in that of the needleworkers the communists are busy. They have gained an influence with the silk workers, chiefly in the Paterson and Passaic districts of New Jersey, and they have galned some foothold emong the textile workers of New England. Most of these workers are of foreign birth and are more sus- ceptible to the pernicious influence of the radicals than are the native Americans. Fortunately, the influence of the American Federation of Labor, which is wholesome and corrective, is at work upon these groups, and it will be effectiva for good if the ex- ample of the New York garment cut- ters in custing out their false leaders is followed. et American citizens residing in other lands are not only valuable in develop- ing business enterprises, but they also help in bringing forward some strong arguments for peace. ————— “Shop early” is still an influential motto. Business announcements al- ready show that the season for ex- ceptional bargains is at hand. The Voice of the Sun. There may be some comfort for radio fans who have begn bothered in their reception by static interfer- ence in the statement by Dr. Michael L. Pupin at the annual meeting of the Americen Assoclation for the Ad- vancement of Science that the howls and squeaks that break in upon the broadeasters &re, in fact, volces from the sun. Dr. Pupin declares that the time will come when not only men will be speaking to men all over the world by radio, but that the earth it- self and also the sun will be speaking to meh by means of electrical com. | munications, “and men will under- stand the message.” This, he believes, will come within a quarter of a century. This is not merely speculation by the eminent physicist, but s the re- sult of a series of observations. He has, he says, already watched on his instruments the arrival of these cos- mic messages. The earth currents in transatlantic cables and the *fading” of radio messages rise and fall very slowly, “taking hours and hours to complete a cycle.” Dr. Pupin says it 1s llke watching the deliberate and fr- resistible breathing of a cosmic giant, and he believes that this pulsation is due to a constant, slow, rhythmic change in the electrical relations be- tween the sun and the earth. This is theory now, but the 'next generation, Dr. Pupin says, will know for a certainty. His confidence is based upon the extraordinary advahce that has been made in electric com- munication during the past twenty- five years. It is this confidence that has already produced marvels of science which are now commonplaces. The first skepticism regarding the pos- sibility of etheric transmissions has been succeeded by assurance. Men have wrought wonders in laboratories through their faith in the possibility of accomplishing what only a few dec- ades ago was deemed the impossible. The project of “talking with Mars” has been whimsically suggested on several occasions of late, In view of | nuisance by flyers. Dr. Pupin’s prophecy, which s not | rellable and, in case of accident, the 10 be regarded as a mere fantasy nr‘pllot invariably belleved that he stood ‘Waters” breaks through the dikes and the levees and spreads over miles of territory. Much of this flood damage in the Mississippl Valley is due to the de- forestation of the higher lands form- ing the great watershed. The strip- ping of the hills has prevented the absorption of the moisture by the tree-protected sofls so that the rain- fall rushes down into the rivulets, the brooks and the small rivers in heavier volume than their banks can hold. Concentrating at their junction with the larger streams, these torrents can find no outlet save over the banks and into the flelds of the lowlands. ‘The sofl itself is gullied by these rush- ing waters and silting down into the watercourses the earth chokes their beds and renders them less capable of carrying off the natural drainage. Repeatedly it has been urged that the States of the freshet region un- dertake the reforestation of the hills as a precaution against floods. But little has been done to this end. Prodigal waste of timber continues without thought for the price that is paid in terms of ruined farms and damaged towns and cities. Expendi- ture of only a small fraction of the flood cost in reforestating operations would prevent the greater part of these losses. In some cases the rainfall is too heavy for even a well forested land to hold in safety. Protracted heavy downpours will fill any stream beyond capacity. This year there has been exceptionally heavy rainfall in cer- tain sections of the country, with nu- merous floods, and it would seem now that the year will close with a con- sistent record of losses by water which, if they could be totaled, would reach into the hundreds of millions. Stolen Savings. A Washington man puts his sav- ings, $1,700, in a bureau drawer, thinks it safe, looks for it, sees that it is missing and calls the police. It is a story that is told too often. It is pathetic. A man, and often a ‘woman, saves a large or small heap of treasure. The process is long and it may be painfil because the bits added to the hoard stand for pleasures and comforts self-denied. It is pitiful that a person loses such a pile of saved money. It is pitiful that, in this age when reading is universal and when the experience of any man may be common knowledge of all, a man should willfully take the risk- of car- ing for his savings. To secrete a hoard recalls the days of misers and the days when banking was a private business not governed by public law. It is painful to know that in our time any person would think it better to put saved money in a drawer, the chimney or under a plank of the floor than hand it to a recelving teller in a bank and have the sum entered in the depositor’s bank book. The chance {of loss is nothing compared with the ‘chance of loss the owner takes by hiding his money in the house and carrying it in his pocket or sewed in her skirt. The frequent loss of hid- den savings should lead people to put their savings in a bank instead of hiding it in the house. In addition to the security given by the bank, the savings will earn a small but fair return in interest. ———— ‘Watching the New Year in is a time-honored custom. The couvert charge is an indication of the great prosperity which justifies good cheer. ——————— An Exclusive Club. The smallest and most exclusive club in the world has just been formed. As time goes on the mem- bership will doubtless be much larger than it s at present, yet it is hardly possible that any one will deliberately attempt to become a member. This club is known as the Caterpillar Club, and in order to qualify an aviator must save his life by landing with a parachute from a disabled airplane. There are mnow twenty-five or thirty members in the organization, which was created by the .‘rmy Alr Service at McCook Field, 1 .yton, Ohto. One of the members is a three-timer, that is, he has thrice qualified, while one of his buddies is & two-timer. These intrepid pilots form the nucleus of the club. It was not so long ago when parachutes were looked upon as a They were un- Now the situation is As for the sun,ichanged. Parachutes have saved | many lives and they have even brought ungulded planes to earth without serfous accident. No one, not even an aviator, con- templates with indifference a jump into space with only a frail “um- brella” to save him from destruction, and so it is unlikely that the mem- bership of the new club will grow at a rapid rate. It is easy, however, to visualize a more perfected chute and more perfect plane. Then pos- sibly the club will become so large that it will be necessary to spift it into sections so that the members may not lose their individuality, al- though even at that time there will be little competition for membership and a very small waiting lst —— Missing Stop Signs. Traffic Director Eldridge is alleged to have complained that hootleggers were stealing the stop signs at Inter- sections of boulevard streets so that they would be unimpeded in thelr fast trips with Christmas cargoes. Regard- less of whether Mr. Eldridge did ex- press himself in this manner, some one, bootlegger, butcher, baker or candlestick maker, is responsible for the lack of stop signs at Massachu- setts avenue and Twentieth street and at Massachusetts avenue and Twenty- first street. Whether or not there were ever curb signs at these points is a moot question, but there were certainly signals painted on the street which served as stop signs. These, alas and alack, are no more. Just why these particular points should have been selected for removal is undetermined, because neither in- tersection would appear to tempt the sign stealer. They are entirely too public, and, besides, there are plenty of freshly painted stop sig- nals in the suburban districts, which, if a person Is so inclined, can be stolen every day In the week without much chance of molestation. These signs at Twentieth and Twen- ty-first streets have been missing for some time. In the beginnimg of the boulevard era in Washington, they were almost the first to be placed, and they stood out like lighthouses on & rocky coast. Their absence, there- fore, 1s keenly felt by the cltizenry, and there is hardly a dry eye among the thousands of motorists who pass these points in their daily pilgrimages up and down town when they note the now bare corners. Of course, it will not be long now before this section of Massachusetts avenue will be resplendent with the automatic control signals, in continua- tion of the system extending at- the present time to Eighteenth street, but in the meantime the little stop signals should be put back to control traffic at these two Important intersections. ——————— A million people reverently watched the cortege as the remains of the late Emperor of Japan were returned to Tokio from the royal villa at Hayama. The incident {s another evidence of the reverential respect for high au- thority which distinguished the Japa- nese people, and which, in turn, com- mands respect for them as a nation. ————— It 1s autheritatively denied that Ger- man inventors tried to sell plans for new artillery mechanism to the U. 8. A, With peace plans so earnest. ly promoted, an artillery invention would seem more or less like a gold- brick, anyhow. ———————— The Fourth of July has been made “safe and sane.” Bootlegging may yet be regulated in ¢ way that will do as much for New Year eve. ————— It is when the holiday bills come due that father realizes regretfully that there {s no Santa Claus. It oocasionally takes years to ar- rive at the finish of one base ball game. : SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, Survival of Happiness. When Christmas melodies arise ‘With gentle sweetness to the skies, We listen and forget the grace Of rhythms at the modern pace. ‘We hear the story and the song For which, like children, still we long; And welcome that old, jovial saint, ‘Who contrast brings with humor quaint. ‘While we pursue the reckless way Of pleasure, to a flippant lay, 0ld joys we put unto the test—' And find them newest and the best. Adjustment. “I bhave always applauded your speeches,” sald the loyal constituent. “Well,” answered Senator Sorghum, “you showed facile edjustment in keeping up with the changes of opin. fon I have been impelled to make,” Renewals of Custom. A Dbit of pork, in early days, Men were forbid to touch. ‘We may revive those anclent ways Because pork costs too much. Jud Tunkins says & man who ar gues on the wrong side of a case is in many cases making an honest ef- fort to earn his pay. “We worship our ancestors,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “in the hope of encouraging our posterity to become In turn ancestors worthy of respect.” Ending the Story. “And so the romance closes, they lived happy ever after.” “No,” answered Miss Cayenne; “they lived unhappy for six months and then very sensibly got a divorce.” Figures. ‘Within her stocking she would hide The liberal funds she had acquired. It spolled her shape; yet it implied A figure much to be admired. ‘George Washington couldn't tell o lte,” said Unclo Eben; “leastways when he sald what he meant dar wasn’ nobody dat amounted to much Wit nerve enough to conterdict him.” STAR, WASH TON, “Dear Sir: Having noted in your al- ways Interesting column a 'certain open-mindedness and willingness to penetrate into the hidden mysteries of human conduct, not to mention feline felictties, 1 am moved to ask your help in a matter that has glven me many fying moments. | to the largel custom here in Washir by no means unive ton entering an elev woman fs ridir or to do so In the event that a woms enters the elevator while riding in it sided in New time in Philadei which citles it Ya for a in neither of I commpn for s quite he prevaili 'd ere in W it w om in this re ington. “But, having noted the fact, I found myself trying to fathom the basis o the custom, which to my mind had little of logic or common sense to rec- ommend it. The same men who sub scribed punctiliously to this rite in the narrow and crowded space of an office or store elevator are not at all averse to wearing their hats in the corridors of the building in the com- pany of women or in public vehicles, such as street cars and busses. “What, then, is the guiding motit of this act of presumed courtesy, often performed religlously by men who continue to smoke in the faces of thelr fair elevator companion: Also I could not help noticing that if the woman in = given elevator hap pened to be old or poorly dressed the act was more likely honored in its neglect, while never, or rarely ever, have I seen hats removed in favor of a colored woman, however well dressed or well mannered. “If you look at the matter from the standpoint of the present wintry pe- riod, there is much against the cus- tom from the standpoint of health, as elevators are often extremely drafty, and bared heads may mean colds. Then in the crush of crowded department store elevators mere economy of space would suggest the advantage of keeping hats on the heads rather than to carry them in|aw the hand, with the added danger of having them crushed. “These are only a few of the phases of this problem which I wish that you might illuminate to the ad- vantage of the progressive and think- ing readers in your large and grow- ing audience. “Very sincerely yours, E. 8. P." * ok ok % This is a problem in which courtesy and foolishness are so {nextricably wound that it is difficult to discuss the subject. The case agalnst taking off one's hat in an elevator is so well stated in the excellent letter of our corre- spondent that it is scarcely possible to_add to it. We may, however, look into the public social customs of the National Capital, which, until the World War, was a unique city. A real city, in every respect, it yet reminded many of a large village. There was a certain ease of getting around, a tendency toward taking one's time, that smacked of the old home town. The writer can recall—it does not seem nor was it very many years ago—standing on Pennsylvania ave- nue one hot Summer afternoon, and D. €, TUESDAY THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. one wagon and two street 15 i sight from the Capitol to the Treasury. This was years after tho automobile came into general use, too. In such a city as this there were two publlc sets of courtesy toward women which were universally fol- lowed. The first was getting up to cive a woman a seat on a street car, and the other was taking off one's hat in an elevator. These, as all such customs, were simply graceful acts, first begun by gentlemen, and found so delightful by all that they permeated the ranks of soclety. Small hoys were taught by their mothers to offer a lady their seat in a streot car, and were equally trained take off their lats in elevators in_which women were riding. It almost seems that wera the two public marks of a Washing- lan, for there were, even at that time, but few men who indulged in hese acts of courtesy in such great clties as New York and Philadelphia. In other words, Washington had the time to be courteous. PR Washington was, too, in a sense, a Southern city. In a sense, it still is, g at least. Smerson, in his journal seeing but “No man has travelled in the United States from the North to the South without observing the change and amelioration of manners. In this city (Charleston, S. Car.) it is most ob- | From it emerged also an imaginative | servable, the use of the conventions of address among the lower classes, which are coarsely labouring classes at the North. $Two negroes recognize each other in the street, though both in rags, and both, it may be, balancing a burden on their heads, with the same graduated advances of salutation that well-bred men who are strangers to each other would use in Boston. “They do not part before they have shaken hands and bid good-bye with an inclination of the head. There is a grace and perfection, too, about these courtesies which could not be imitated by a Northern labourer where he designed to be extremely civil. Indeed, I have never seen an vkward Carolinfan.” The leisure for being polite was Washington's untfl the World War— then added population, crowded street cars, woman suffrage and a few other factors entered into the case. The first result of all this was that | Washington men -stopped getting up | to give women their seats In the street cars. Women who never re- turned thanks for this courtesy also had something to do with its aban- dopment. A similar, though slower, movement is taking place in the National Capital with regard to this business of re- moving one's hat in an elevator when a woman steps in. Today there are many men, polite enough in other respects, who simply refuse to remove their hats in such confined cars unless the lady in ques- tion is personally known to them. There has been, as yet, however, no general abandonment of the cus- tom, and we predict that it will die hard. Although foolish, it is, forsooth, a graceful courtesy, one of the few lingering acts of chivalry remaining in_n most unchivalrous age. When it passes entirely, as we be- lieve it will, women as wage earners will have won another victory, but Vlfl'omen as women suffered another os: Profound Interest Is Stirred By Hope of Ending Drug Habit Profound interest has been aroused by the New York Medical Journal's announcement that ‘“‘narcosan,” a treatment for drug addiction develop- ed by A. 8. Hcrovitz, a Hungarian chemist, has been used successfully on hundreds of addicts in New York correctional institutions. “The most inspiring story of recent relation in medical annals” is the comment of the Charlotte Observer, which refers to “over 400 victims of the drug habit” who have “left the hospitals and are now going about their various businessesi. 'The rescue of a large portion of humanity that was kept in slavery by the drug,” continues the Observer, “might well be hailed as the Nation's greatest Christmas gift. It might be regarded as the big release, and the chemist who wrought the work has establish- ed a name that will be called blessed in all parts of the globe.” The Rock Island Argus, estimating that there are at least 200,000 drug addicts, and that the average addict is a criminal, declares that “if the Hungarian’s cure is absolute, his discovery is of the highest import sociologically.” ““The announcement to the layman,” according to the Jersey City Journal, “4s so startling as to be unbelievable, One has only to think of the terrors of drug addiction and the raving, wild-eyed, struggling humans, trying by the bitter and terrible process of reduction of dose to break the shackles of drug addiction in jails and hospitals all over the country, to wonder if it can be possible that there is a substance which, if introduced into the blood of the victim, can, with- in a few weeks, make free men and women of slaves.” * ¥ & % Drug addiction is discussed by the New Haven Register as one of the great enemies of society. “To it can be traced,” continues that paper, “many of the more vicious criminal acts perpetrated by modern bandits, both male and female. If the remedy proves all that is claimed for It, or even half, it will prove a godsend to humanity. There is nothing more pitiable than the sight of a fine speci- men of humanity depraved through the use of drugs; there i{s no crime more damnable than that of pander- ing to use of drugs.” The Charleston Dally Mail speaks of the drug peddler as “on a par with the rat in the bu- bonic plague,” and calls him the “most dangerous influence for wrecking hu- man happiness, destroying character and blighting lives that exists.” Reviewing the history of the prob- lem, the Los Angeles Times remarks that “it was just the virtual impos- sibility of cure that made the Federal and State anti-narcotic laws so inef- fective. By shutting off all legitimate sources of supply,” aedds the Times, “these laws made it at once immense- ly profitable to deal in narcotics ille- gltimately, and the dealers also found it worth their while to create new clients for themselves by making new addicts—often among school children. The addicts found themselves chained in a far worse servitude than any chattel slavery that ever existed. Turning to the New York investiga- tions, the California paper declares that “since three complete cures in 400 patients was about the expectation of any previous method of treatment, it appears that the Nation and the world have received a Christmas pres- ent of inestimable value. Society can breathe easier if narcotism has been conquered.” * k X X “May the announcement prove to be a new emancipation proclamation!" is the wish of the Omaha World-Her- ald, which recalis that “on the medical side, curative methods which have been employed were of such a rigor- ous nature and of such doubtful suc- cess that little headway has been made iIn that direction. On the po- litical side, the effort to head off the forming of the drug habit at its source has been little, if any, more effective. Although the Federal Government has attempted to prevent habit-forming drugs from falling into the hands of any but'persons legally authorized to have them, a great fllicit traffic goes on.” “The announcement that a pro- longed test has proved an efficacious treatment for drug addiction must be hailed as promising redemption for thousands of the world’s most unfor- tunate men and women,” says the Dallas Journal. ‘“The only question remaining, according to the report from the commissioner of correc- tion, is that which relates to the permanency of the effect of narcosan. But temporary rellef is a very def- inite step toward permanent relief, and the treatment at its present stage of development, it widely em- ployed, should prove a boon to affifct. ed and perverted humanity. In due course of time, it might so prove its worth as to rid the country of one of its greatest evils and provocatives to crime. There is hope in the out- look for both the drug addict and the Nation.” * oK ok % Quoting the report that ‘“of 366 drug addicts treated with narcosan, but one resumed the use of narcotics after being discharged as cured,” the Dayton Daily News states: “If that percentage can be maintained, then narcosan is to be classed as a god- send. If but one-half of those treated are permanently cured, it is a blessing !oThumunityA” he Worcester Post is impressed the fact that “while no rapah clnlr‘t?; are made of permanent cure, there is evidence that narcosan restores the patient to a normal condition generally, leaving him as little desire for narcotics as the ordinary, healthy Individual. To that extent it appears 10 be a permanent cure, and superior to all previous methods along the line of ‘reduction cures.” The head of the Pittsburgh Police Bureau's anti-narcotic squad s quoted by the Sun of .that city as offering the bellef that “dope flends will be glad to avall themselves of the oppor- tunity to be cured”; that thus there is hope that if the new medicine ful- fills expectations, it may be possible to relleve the taxpayers of part of the enormous burden that is Involved in combating the drug trafic and the crimes that are committed by per- sons crazed by dope.” Room for Kicking. From the Baltimore Sun. It takes 78 yards of material to make a dress for a Turkish woman. And yet we kick about short skirts! Crude rubber is the leading Ameri- can import this year. ———————————— A kite over 14 feet tall won a recent kite-flying contest. e Water distilled in metals has a de- cided toxio effect on plants. —— e Benjamin Franklin published a pa- per on causes of earthquakes. R e — Umbrella ants of South America carry their burdens over their heads. ———————— There are more than 24,000 epilep- tics In Institutions In the United States. ————————— A synthetic mineral ofl s bein, made from coal in England and Gei many. One-fifth of the entire population of the United States crosses from one State into another every day. DECEMBER 28, 1926. —_— NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM LG M. SHOT TOWERS. John T. MclIntyre. Frederick A. Stokes Co. Now that the hubbub and hurly- burly of the peace-and-good-will period in exhaustion it is down in ease and quietude to that which, not so long ago, was a usual and profitable part of the general Christmas celebration |itself. Before the automobile turned every other man into a set of wheels bent desperately upon the business of trying to run away from himself, Christmas reading was as truly a share of holiday time as were Santa Claus and the reindeer and the Christmas tree. It was then that Dickens annually came to life again, | and the Apostles, and Wilde, and many another writer of understanding heart to warm and freshen the common out- look upon a New World created by Jesus Christ. It was then that Yule- tide reading—either for a new intake of inspiration, or for sheer pleasure, {or possibly only in plous deference to | literary habit—was a joyous essential of the season and one not to be sur- passed by any other measure of per- sonal restoring and recreating. * ok ok X I came to know John McIntyre by way of “Blowing Weather,” a lure of romance about Colonial Philadelphia. An Individual method—original and | striking—projected this novel of the |early days In an American seaport. ' gift of new and unusual quality. fine and breezy talo is A “Blowing neglected by the Weather,” one still growing in its ef- | | fects of mellow power. This holiday | “Shot Towers” has come my way. I {met it eagerly and read it in an ab- | sorption of interest. Then I, too, was | caught in an overwhelming tide of the season’s good cheer, thereby tem- | porarily turning recreant to both duty and a very real pleasure. But it's not | too late to tell you something about | this book, since for (ue first time in | weeks 18 there ‘now lefsure to read anything. T'd not delay about this {novel if T were you, for it is, In es- { sence, part and parcel of hollday time. * X X X Again this author sets a story in Philadelphia, in the city as it was about half a century ago. You do not, in effect, begin here to read a romance. Instead, on a cold night along toward Christmas, you arrive in the old town. And never once do you read. Rather, do you go along with the multitudinous affairs that gather g0 vividly here and there. A fascinat- ing time and place! So Immediately near and human! The streets, snow-drifted, are filled with beautiful horses, or so it seems to us, now that the horse is well on jhis way to join the dodo. Bells ring, runners creak, laughter floats out from fur-packed sleighs, horse-cars plod, and vehicles of every sort speed ! behind splendid_teams and tandems |and singles. Windows gleam with lights from little shops. From in- numerable heart-warming homely inns shut doors, gusts of steamy warmth and delectable smells of things to eat and drink. Here are old nooks and corners of the city, reaching the heart with their reminiscent charm. Here are common folks going their common ways. The story drifts through the seasons of the year, each one as keen- arrival ‘The story action is that of a stolen patent—or 8o some very activé ones. would have you think. It does look too, at first sight, as if Mrs. Carey— Lord love her'—had been deeply wronged by a man who, after her son’s death, took and worked his patent so successfully. Somehow, though, you'll not be able to see Joe Kyle as a thief. However, let that go. The story ie for vou to discover and enjoy. Little Mrs. Carey—old, poor, gentle and wise—is a_heroine to love and remember, long after the regulation sirens and vamps of romance have moved into complete forgetfulness. Here is a really beau- tiful story, but even this is not the crowning point of “Shot Towers.” That rests upon its amazing content of the life of a past day that John McIntyre has recreated in a bodily actuality of effect. And the chief in- struments of this re-embodiment are the five senses of the author, to which is added a very Inzenious method of portrayal. I'm sure that never in any other novel have sight and hearing and touch and taste and smell worked more diligently and more effectively for its author than these have here worked for John MclIntyre. One shivers in the cold that Le creates, or snuggles to the fires that he builds. One’s mouth waters over his foods and drinks. And these sense impressions ‘work their way on to the warming of the heart and to the wakening of human sympathy. An odd method goes along with this clear literary genius of the senses. When Mr. Mc- Intyre wants to build a horse, or a man, or a place, or an incident, he throws away the usual pack of dilut- ing grammatical inhibition—conjunc- tions, prepositions, relating mechan- isms generally—and packs that object with the sheer qualities that make it what it is. And there you have, say a man or an animal, to put your hand to talk to face to face. Queer ? Not at all. If it were you wouldn’t know it, because you are not reading. You are taking part. In the same way he makes his “atmos- pheres,” that bugaboo of the average writer and clear despair of every reader. Realism, whatever this may mean? I guess so. Certainly the realist thing I've met in reading in a long time, and, without doubt, one of the most Interesting. A Christmas story to last the year round, as it should. * ok K X A YOUNG MAN’S FANCY. John T. Mclntyre. Frederick A. Stokes. Just pure fantasy and a very deep reality besides. The young man falls in love with a beautiful girl—a wax girl in a shop window. More charm- ing every day does she become under the holden eyes of the dreamy young Pickering. On the beach or on the golf links, hunting or driving, just lounging or being a social belle—it is all the same to Pickering. Here beyond doubt is the Incomparable one. Gusts of love, spasms of jeal- ousy, long confldences, easy hours of companionship, come and go in turn here to ‘mark the course of Picker- Ing’s wooing of the wax figure. Non- sense! It does look like that, doesn’t it? But it, In reality, Is anything but that. And this brings the matter to the peculiar gift of imagination pos- sessed by John Mclntyre. Here is an imagination that works In artistry and power to produce, on the one hand, the complete realism that marks “Shot Towers,” and on the other hand to create a whimsical but actually plausible effect out of 80 tenuous a theme as the one chosen here, Rooted, no doubt, in the same Celtic source, these two products of the imagination are of a really con- tradictory effect. But, here they are! To be sure, this is, in a sense, a little story, but it is a beautiful one, carrled forward- seriously and understandingly to an outcome that removes it from a merely fanciful invention and places it with the more familiar forms of the love story. The real depth of this little story, how- ever, lies in the deep and universal fact that everybody in the world re- ceives his greatest satisfactions in companionship through his own art in playing that the companion, that the interc e, is something differ- ent from t it really is. And, to my mind, this is the deeply signifi- cant it of this charming * % there come, with hast.ly opened and | ly alive as is this Winter time of our Q. Can more than one kind of ap ple grow on one tree?—C. B. A. Yes, ‘a different variety of ap ple can grow on each branch, providad that variety has been grafted on. Q. What were the principal vege table substances formerly used to dye hair?—A. R. E. A. Logwood, walnut, henna and in digo formed the basis of hair dyes a century ago. . Who won the Internatlona Oratorical Contest?—T. N. A. The first Intern fcal Contest was hoid | |D. C. October 16, 1926. “rance, England, co and the United 'States were represented. Th contest Herbert Wer nal ashington, first fall jometer is Q. Why does the mercu and then rise ‘when a th placed in hot water? A. The Weather Bureau say both the glass of the therme and the mercury, or other fluid, in it | expand with increase of temperature |and contract with decrease of tem | erature. For equal changes of tem | perature the expansion or contraction of the inclosed liquid is greater than that of the glass. When the bulb is put into hot water the glass wall { heats first, and it in turn h | inclosed fluld. Of course, the wall does {not heat up fully before any h gets to the mercury, say, but duri the first half second, or 0, it tinctly warmer than the merc 3 | first, then, the glass, being much mare | heated than the mercury, is more ex panded. Hence the mercury falls to isome extent. Quicl W the | heat gets to *he mercury, and it ex | pands faster than the glass, and there | fore rises. Q. Does fireproofing wood make it unsuitable for use as beams end rafters”—L. V. M. A. The Forest Products Laborator: | says that as far as it knows the treat- ment of waod with fire retardants such as ammonium phosphate, fm- monium _ sulphate or _ammonium chloride does not Injure the mechani- cal strength of wood so as to maks it unsuitable for use as Jjoist, studs, rafters, etc. Oflohts Department derive the greatest revenue?—C. S. B. A. The principal source of the pos- tal revenues Is the postage paid on mail, the receipts from this duting The United States has made a | treaty with Panamh, by which the | two countries agree to stand by eich | other against any enemy threatening {or committing acts of war upon |efther of the “high contracting par- {ties.” Immediately, in some quarters. | there is expressed the fear that this treaty will be taken as an ' for Germany and Austria unitin The American-Panaman treat. | conflict with the terms of the Panama | membership in the League of Nations; | therefore, what is going to happen? | Will the League denounce the treaty {and substitute its own protection of Panama for that of—the Monroe Doc- | trine? Which form of protection of things American is of greatest an- tiquity? Which 1is most potent Which is founded upon conditions precedent as to Panama and the American lnterocle(:nlu canal across republic? i Hitle Gemate, the idea that our treaty just completed with Panama | has any bearing upon European com | plications s laughed at by Senators | of both partles, for the Monroe Doc- | trine and American rights in protect !ing the Panama Canal are not party | questions. | * % KX is generally believed that while th:‘newgtrealy puts in written !Ur‘m the right and obligation of the United States to defend Panama and generally to maintain peace upon the | Tsthmus, the said right and obligation already existed by the very nature of things, for Panama is so reslriu!f,d in territery, so proximate to the Canal Zone, that & bonfire in Panama would | menace a conflagration in the vital passageway between the Orfent and Occident, owned absolutely by the United States, but held in trust for the peace of the world. When the original treaty was made | with the new Republic of Panama, in 1903, under which the United States paid Panama $10,000,000 cash, and agreed to pay her, after 1907, annually $250,000, in perpetulty, we received. in perpetuity, the Canal Zone, 10 miles wide, across the Isthmus, with the right fo such additional territory as might be needed, and to complete the canal, for which we paid the French company $40,000,000. With- out our investments Panama could never have maintained her in- dependence from Colombia and become established as a free republic. Since | then we have paid Colombia an addi- tional $25,000,000 to soothe her re sentment for our alleged support of her seceding province of Panama. * Kk kK Tt is sometimes forgotten that Pana- ma had been independent of Colombia (or New Granada) in years past, and had been coerced by a political party, the Liberals, into accepting absorp- tion in that more powerful country. The connection with New Granada was never an act “of the people, by the people” of Panama, and her re- volt came because she believed that the connection with that distant South American capital, Bogota, was against her interests, for the ag- grandizement of revolutionary “ban- dits” of Colombia, who were capltaliz ing the canal project as a means of extorting an unreasonable sum from the United States as the price of the concession to build and maintain the canal. By the Spooner law, Congress had authorized President Roosevelt to negotiate a treaty with Colombia for building the canal, provided he couid do so on reasonable terms, and, as an alternative, the Executive was au- thorized and instructed to make a treaty with Nicaragua for a canal across that country. The people of Panama were fearful that if the Colombia Congress per- sisted in its palpable attempt to stand out for more money, and adjourned without ratifying the Bunau-Varilla treaty, then pending, we would turn to the Nicaragua route and leave Panama forever marooned in its fsola- tion. Therefore, within three days after the Colombia Assembly had ad- journed, Panama declared independ- ence—November 3, 1903. On Novem- ber 6, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama; on Novem- ber 10, France did the same; shortly thereafter, recognition was given by Germany, England and Russia. It transpired that while Colombia was holding off on ratification of the American _treaty, she was feeling out the possibility of making a similar treaty first with Germany and then with England, but was rebuffed by both countries, because of our Monroe Docirine and their desire to main- tain friendly relati s with the United States, It was through that same desire that Great Britain had pre- viously consented to our superseding the Clayton-Bulwer treaty (which had bound the United States to take no | Orator- | Canaca, | From what source does the Fost | fiscal year 1926 amounting t cent age p. d the 358 | REHIL | v expendl | the year was $4.97, | revenue, postage Q. Please glve the volume of wate flowing H. C. M A. The mini Ganges River is d; the maxin feet per out of the Ganges River t o teet per 00 cubf flow, 494,0 im ou 1hi second. Q. How ¢ beads are there I n Catholic ary?—S. T. B The usual rosary used by Roms 59 beads A | catholies lle schools glve operating? 1 to be the onl: | - < kind has late been in the public hig! school at Wheeling, W. Va. Q. Tn what month of the year ara colds most common? ~H. D. A. One survey le='s to the conclu- jon that colds are mmost frequent in October. A second wave strikes the country about Christmas. Q. Where is the largest dry dock in the world>—D. M. C. | A. It 1s difficult to raake a definite | statement_concerning the largest dry | dock n the world and in the United States, as there s none that has the sreatest length, width and draft com ned. Some of the principal ones are: Floating dry docks, Kiel, Hamburg, srtamouth, Mont New Orleans; graving docks, ¥ and Levis, Quebec al on Q. What is Helen Keller doing now? —K. M. A. She 18 occupled in ralsing an en- dowment of $2,000,000 for the Ameri- can Foundation for the Blind. She is an author and lecturer of note. The keynote of the times is eficten’ service. In supplying its readers with @ free Information Bureauw in Wash- ington, The Evening Star is living up to this principle in deed and fact. Wa are paying for this service in order that it may be free to the public. Sub- mit your Queries to the staff of e»- perts whose servicea are put at your Inclose 2 cents in stamps to | cover the return postage. Address The 3 ing Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. | disposal. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. by inference at least, in the absence of forbidding restrictions, to fortify and protect it with all military and naval force necessary, according to our independent judgment. x kK X Under our 1846 treaty with New Granada (of which country, Colombia, including Panama, was then a part, together with Venezuela and Ecua- dor), the United States became ob- ligated to protect the Isthmus and maintain peace. When in 1885 a revolution broke out there against | Colombia, the United States landed marines to protect free transit across the Isthmus, in accord with that 1348 reaty. That act accrued to the in- terest of Colombia, New Granada no r being in existence. nama had revolted from New Granada In 1841, but the rebellion was suppresse ! and then the Colom- blan governn <ii gave Panama au- onomy, as a recognized ‘State of Panama.” In 1885, the Centralist party of Colombia abolished this ’anama autonomy, and forced it into s former subserviency, as a province ruled by a governor appointed in Bogota. Frequent rebellions were sup- pressed, and, as President Rooseveit deciared, there were several revolu- tions preparing in Panama at the time he decided that America was no longer obligated to ‘“step on the fuses” In the Interest of a “bunch of bandits” holding up the treaty to extort more money out of the United States. President Roosevelt was ac cused of fomenting the revolution, be cause this Government recognized the new republic within three days after it had been declared. We were oblizated to maintain peace upon the but we did not agree to the army of 400 boys only 17 and 14 years old, which landed, the day after the declaration of independenc not knowing it had been declared—only to be immediately imprisoned and shipped out of the country the fol- So the republic was established with no interference on our part, bé- yond protecting free passage of com merce across the Isthmus. History gives many _Instances, both in America and Europe, of immediate recognition of _revolting nations, Brazil and_the French Republic be- ing examples—the French Republic, both in its-revolution of 1793 against the Baurbons and its revival in 1871. It 1% a question not only of the existence of a de facto mew govern ment, but of our own self-interest and expediency as to when we shall recog- nize a de facto government. This principle was ably maintained while the matter was in discussion, fn 1903, in an analysis of inte tional law by Prof. Willlam C. Morey, D. C. L., of the Rochester bar, quat- ing both Grotius and Vattel, found- ers of international law, in main- taining that “each nation posses an interest fn a right of way across the domalin of other nations, in cases where she finds herself deprived ¢ the necessary use of certain thin |if she were absolutelys barred from using them by the consideration thut they were other people’s property.'” This principle has been contes repeatedly. Great Britain attemptec to lay claim to the English Channel —and war with France compelled her to relinquish it. Denmark claimed the RBaltic and established “Sound dues” upon all commerce, but in 1857 was obliged to relinquish t claim. Turkey tried {t as to the Darda- nelles, and was strong enough to maintain the exclusive control of the Black Sea until in 1774 Russia dal- vided the control with her, and not until the treaty of Parls fn 1871 was the strait thrown open to interr tional commerce. Spain, by reason of Balboa, claimed ownership of the Pacific Ocean. In 1879 tary Evarts announced that “The Government of the United States will not tolerate exclusive any nation whatsoever to its of Magellan, and will onsible any government that undertakes, under any pretext what ever, to lay any impost or check on United commerce througli i By the same principle, the United States is bourd to hold the passage of the Panama Canal open to all nations. Also, if ever any canal be constructed across Nicaragua, we hold exclusive right by treaty to constru®t and maintain it, but only upon recognizing an_ international right of commerce. Hence we are obliged to see that anarchy, calling for foreign Intervention in Nicaragua (as well as in Panama), be controlled. According to Morey, having, by our Monroe Doctrine, warned other na- action in Panama without Great Britain's co-operation) by the Hay- Pauncefote _treaty, Wi left free, not only to bulld the canal, but us . the right of way across tions from intervention, we must pro- tect their Grotius-Vattel claims to the Isthmus. (Copyright, 1926. by Paul V. Collins.)