Evening Star Newspaper, February 12, 1927, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, 2 THE LIBRARY TABLE THE EVENING STAR Whh Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY..February 12, 1027 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .ITditor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office e Evening Star. with tne Sunday morn- tion. {a delivered by carriers within 1§° S, 88 60 cente per month: daily only. o per monih: Sundavs onis. 20 tent, th i) sent by mail o ! Magn 5000 Uollection is mais by 20" of each month: it b Rate by Mall—Payable tn Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Pally saf Sundar. .1 r Shan: 1 mo: Sunday oniy’ 5 001 1 mo Al Other States and Canada. unday..] yr.. $12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 1y gwon: 7B 1mo ;1 mo. 350 Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press fs exclusively entitled fo 'he use for republication of all news dis = ited to it or not ntherwiso cred- Jieq i aper and alswo the local news - in. All rights of publication ©1 ¥pecial dipatches herein are also reserved _— 1 The Smithsonian at & Crisis. | The remarkable character of the | Smithsonian Institution was demon-; strated by a meeting held vesterday. at which the present needs and the future possibilities of that great scien- | tific organization were considered. It} was a threefold assemblage. I%irst there was the establishment of the in- stitution, the President, the Chlef Jus- tice and the members of the cabinet. "There were then the regents, compris: | ing members of Congress and citizens of distinction. There were finally | those classed as “invited conferees,” men eminent in many lines of finance, industry and science. The purpose of this meeting, which was called by the late Charles D. Wal- cott, secretary of the institution, who on his deathbed requested that it be held despite his fliness, was to con- sider the future of the Smithsonlan. The institution has come to a crisis. 1t faces a heavy task of scientific re- search and development, but lacks the funds to permit it to be undertaken on a proper ecale. Chlef Justice Taft, presiding at the meeting as chancellor of the board of regents, noted that the Smithsonian 1s an institution which enjoys the pro- tection of the United States Govern- ment and is yet a private organiza- tion. Founded upon the beneficence of James Smithson, it has done a won- derful work in the advancement of sclence in America. Its meias have never been adequate. It has been aid- ed by private benefactions and gifts. Its resources, however, are not stable and are quite insufficient. The sup- port of the Nation is essential to its further development. Whether the Smithsonian Institu- tion is given more liberally the finan- | cial support of the Government, or is compelled to remain dependent upon voluntary gifts, it must go forward. It has already contributed incalculably to the resources and the wealth and the knowledge of the people. It has aided in the development of great Goy- ernment bureaus, the Fish Commis- slon, the Weather Bureau and also the National Museum, It is the co-ordinat- ing factor of the scientific energies of the American Commonwealth. 1h his address to the conferees and regents Acting Secretary Abbot noted the fact that millions of specimens in geology, zoology, botany and an- thropology are “piled up” under the Smithsonian’s direction, unexamined, unclassified, undescribed and useless. For lack of funds this great wealth of knowledge lles undeveloped. The Smithsonian is, in fact, heavily in ar- rears in its work. Meanwhile time is pressing. Encroachments by the white | man are obliterating forever the re-| mains of Indian civilization in Amer- ica, and the next fifty years will offer the last opportunity to learn the story of the native tribes of this continent. Without funds to conduct these re-| searches on the scale required and to carry on a full study of the ma- terfals already collected, the Smith- sonfan is at a critical point in its his- tory. It is due to the memory of the man whose endowment established this great institution and of the four men who in its eighty vears of existence carried on its work so ably and with such broad vision that the Smith- sonian be now relleved of its financial stress by public appropriations or pri- vate gifts, or both, to insure i complishment of the work which lies | befere it—a work of insstimable bene- fit to mankind. | | | Memoirs are published which con- sist largely of things which, if true, | might better be forgotten. i R ) The New Botanic Garden. Approval by the joint library com- muttee of Congress of plans for the de- velepment of the new Botanic Garden south of the Mall, with a recommenda- tion that funds be appropriated at this | present session to carry the work into effect, virtually assures the immediate undertaking of this important project of public improvement. Recently a | fund of $520,000 wus authorized for the acquisition of the necessary site south of Maryland avenue, and this latest action favors the appropriation | of $876,000 in addition for the neces- sary structures, making a total of $1,696,000 for a Government garden | that will be a credit to the Capital. For many years the Botanic Garden has occupied an inadequate site in the Mall, immediately west of the Capitol, When plans for Mall development ware proposed it was evident thu -eventually this establishment would WYY %o be shifted to another location. Varlous sites were suggested, some of them 8o remote from the center of the city that they were obviously unsuit- able. Inasmuch as the time had not arrived for the undertaking of the park development, the decision on the futyre location of the Botanic Garden { equipment of branch libraries in not { branch libraries in rented quarters in | Kederal sary to spread it over an adjacent area, with the result of crippling its activitles, Patience has been exercised in the treatment of this problem, and now the happlest solution has been found in the decision to secure a large space South of the Mall and thereon to create a Botanic Garden that will be not only of service, but will be an at- traction and a means of public educa- tion. Designs have been produced for the structures, assuring that the Botanic Garden will be fittingly housed and equipped. When they have been carried into effect Washington will {have a mideity hotanic collection of | importance and significance in a suit- able xetting. It s proposed to remove to the new Botanic Garden the Bartholdi Foun- | taln, which for many years has occu- | pied a conspicuous place in the Mall. It belongs to the garden. It has a c | special significance. Not many now realize that it was the work of the eminent French sculptor who modeled the great Statue of Liberty which stands in New York Harbor, the gift of the government of France to the United States. Its preservation and estoration to service will be assured ecommended. - —— The Public Library Program. From a parrow beginning in 1896 the Public Library ius stowly but surely forged ahead. It now affords excellent library service to such Washingtonians as live near the cen- tral library or of the three branches or two subbranches. The library has, throughout most ts life, with the greatest difficulty se cured the most meager appropriations absolutely needed to meet demands at the central library and at the one suburban branch, which comprised its service agencies until very re- cently. During the last few years, however, conditions have heen more tavorable. The operation of the classification act has improved library salaries, and latterly the Budget Bureau and ap- propriations committees have been more generous toward the library. Two new branches recently estab- lished in thickly populated ceniers have, in rendering competent service to their swarming readers, furnished demonstrations of what ought to be established and maintained in other centers of population throughout the District, 2 Thus far Andrew Carnegle and the Carnegle Corporation have supplied the funds for the erection of the four bufldings of the Public Library, but recently the corporation has refused funds for. more buildings on the ground that us the inftial demonstra- tion has been @ success the units needed to round out the library sys- tem should now be secured from pub- iie funds. In the expectation that the Car- negie Corporation might sooner or later stop turnishing library buildingy to Washington as it had long sinde stopped furnishing them elsewhere, the library authorities last year se- cured extensive amendments to the Ubrary law specifically . broadening the library's charter. The most significant new provision in the law Is that defining the library as con- sisting of a “central library and such number of branch libraries so located and so supported as to furnish hooks and other printed matter and in- formation service convenient to the homes and offices of all residents” of the District. Inasmuch as the Public Library does | not measure up to the standards set | In its organic law, in order promptly to bring it about that the people of the present generation shall have the library resources that (ongress has by law decreed they should have, it now appears to be necessary to secure from Congress another law providing for a five-year building and extension program for the Public Library sys-| tenr. This libfary extension program bill has recently been introdu~ed in the House by Representative Ernest W. Gibeon of Vermont as a result of hear- ings before his subcommittee in De- cember. It is designed to authorize estimates for appropriations to make possible within five years from July 1, 1928, the furnishing of library facili- ties and eervice convenient to all Dis- trict homes and offices through the enlargement of the central library bullding; through the construction and equipment of eleven branch libraries in thickly built-up areas: through the one of i exceeding buildings twenty-five public and school not exceeding eight neighborhoods not otherwise served, and through the establishment of not exceeding three branch libr, “ies in and District Government buildings, if available, to provide gervice in downtown sections, By law the Public Library is de- clared to be a “supplement of the public educational system of the Dis- by the enactment of the measure now | Foot Guards in 1845. He served thirty straight years with his first regiment; later he commanded an- | other in the same brigade. Among the last acts of his long, honorable and heroic life was his appearance at the dedication last year of the memorial to guardsmen who died in the World War. But a fetv days ago he got a thrill from hearing that a portion of the Coldstream Guards, whose colonel he was from 1879 to 1584, had s for service in China. . Gen. Higginson was past thirty years of age at the outbreak of the {Crimean War, that conflict which would have been so ridiculous had it | not been so tragic, a struggle whose ,\4)nly tangible results have been cata. ilogued as Tennyson's famous poems commemorating the charges of the Heavy and Light Brigades and the in- { terminahle comic song “Abdul Abulbul Amifr.” He was twice promoted on the {fleld of action for personal bravery Perhaps he saw Scarlett's heavy ca alry cover themselves with glory on the field of Balaklava and, later in the same day, may have had a view of the six hundred gaudily-clad hussars, lancers and light dragoons of the so- |called “Light Brigade” walting the bugle's signal for their deathless ex- ploit. Certainly he must have scen and have loved Florence Nightingale, from whose devoted services modern { war-time nureing has developed. | What a Imik with a fardistant past [was this ancient warrle His su- I perfors in the Crimea were largely | veterans of the Peninsular and Water oo campaisns against Napoleon, whose combined ages, us a British {military writer has remarked, | "amounted to something terrific.” | With his predilection for army life he probably knew and admired in his vouth men who had fought in Amer- ica with Burgoyne, with Howe and with Cornwallis. Gen. Higginson died in his sleep. Let it be hoped his dreams that last night were such as to make him smile in his slumber. — ——— Anarchists masquerade as com- munists and bolshevists. They are not as eastly d.sposed of as was poor Johann Most, who, after declaring himself an enemy to government, was cornered under a bed and consigned to hopeless ndicule. It may ve assumed that neither Ford nor Rockefeller is much worried over the popular discussion as to who is the richest man in the world. h enjoys a reasonable security against want. et It is made quite clear that if Elbert H. Gary should decide to resign from the chairmanship of the United States Steel Corporation the action will be the result of an orderly and deliberate gentlemen’s agreement. — vt - Candidates for “presidential nomina- tion on the Democratic ticket are still sufficiently numerous to promise in terest when the convention calls-them to tell their troubles to the micro- phone. New' York theatrical managers are required to clean up some of the shows. The problem of teaching old dogs new tricks arises. In international relationships it is recalled that the English language includes a Jarge amouut of Latin along with its Anglo-Saxon. ot Paris has ceased to set the fashions in clothes. The Paris label on a di- vorce is a conspicuous mark of distinction. Sl AR The orator is no longer very influ- ential. In order to be sure of getting the ‘“ear of the people” it is now nec- essary to be a radio announcer. vt Even in radio affairs there must be some arrangement to protect simple merit against the spotlight grabber. oo SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. “Wishin Wishin' for a lazy day When skles are blue an’ warm, Even if the lightnin’s play. ‘With threats of comin’ storm. Wishin’ for the bumble bee To buzz a little tune; ‘Wishift’ for a chauce to see The rose that smiles in June. Wishin’ for the butterfly That floats, here and away. Wishin® for the winds that sigh When twilight ends the day. A little dreamin’ now and then Will set the heart aglow- But what's the use o' wishin’, when You've got to shovel snow? Money in Politics. here §s too much 'money in poli- tics!” exclaimed the constituent. “And yet,” said Senator Sorghum, “you couldn’t expect a man to get elected by golng broke and advertis- ing it.” Wear and Tear. trict.” The obligation in existing law is complete. With Carnegle money cut off, library resources, buildings as well as books and service, can be sup- plied only and should be supplied exuctly us the public schools ure sup- plied—from public funds, The five. vear cxtenston bill is stmply designed They tell me I a smile should wear. 1 take those sunshine pledges; Though smiles grow sad when here and there They fray along the edges. Jud Tunkins says many man is remembered more a by to speed up the expansion of library tacilities in accordance with u definite program. The bill should be speedily enacted. Since its passage at the short session is unlikely, the community should get squarely behind it to the end that it may become a. law promptly when Congress again con- venes. | oo | In not many more years it may be | expected that there will be airship | parleys instead of naval parleys. The Happy Warrior. A retired general in the British | Army, born in the reign of George IV, | died the other day at the age of one hundred years. This man, whose life- time encompassed the entire relgns of i was wisely postponed. The location in the Mall section of two monumental memorials lessened the space available for garden work, and it becsiem neces- Willlam 1V, of Victoria and of Edward VII, not to mention parts of two oth ‘was Gen. Sir George Higgin- son, who was commissioned in the n birthdays than by his services. Effectual Reform. “Is prohibition a succ son Gulch?” “It i3, answered Cactus Joe. “More than half the population has quit drinkin’ in the last ten years, owin’ to bein’ in the cemetery.” Uncomfortable. 1 dreamt 1 had a harp and crown And robes and angel wings, 1 sighed, “I wish I could cimb down And wear my usual things.” in Crim- “There arve too many languages,” afd Wi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, *There would be fewer fights if every- body understuod precisely what every. body else was trying to explain.” “Dar ought to be some way,” said Uncle Eben, “to prevent a man who starts a crime wave f'um :fmaginin’ dat he's a public entertaine: | i““Sweet are the uses of adversity, | Which like the toad, ugly and venom- | ous, ¥ | Wears yet a precious jewel in his head: : And this our life, exempt from public haunt, ; Finds tongues in trees, books in the unning brooks; ; ; Sermons in stones, and good in every s —“As You Like It.” Tliness, too, unless it be too ill, has ite place. 1t it were not for those periods of enforcad idieness, when one is ill abed, most ot t would become intolerably conceited. i+ takes lylng flat on one’s hack to give R proper perspective. Out in the sonlight of good health. Lwhen the blood is flowing freely, the museles working smoothly and disas- ter of any kind scems impossible, one is Hkely to have something amounting i t for illness. : ng of intolerance calth, has Jed some to enun- ciate the doctrine, "To be sick is a crime.” Of course, one may agree with that, in its special sense, but, as a general proposition, no. y in fact, a healing process of Nature. kness i« a erime against health, not a crime of the individual, even it that individual has “brought it on imeelf” by the violation of sundry ‘health laws." self-same “laws <o in dispute that even the doctors imnot agree on many of them. And Uwhere doetors disagree how can i men be expected to comply? ; And. even if all the laws ! plain as the nose on your fac lite ix his own life. even in this in- { dustrialized nge, and if he gets himself i, now and then, that Is his own business. e is the worst suffever. This is a point too little hered. The sick man, after all, is the one to be pitied. We & of course of real illness. not of the sort in whic vour friends find you out when they call with condolences. ; A real illness is one in which your eves and_mnose run, and Your back aches, and you cough, and that makes 1w tomach sore. and your throat 3 re, too, and your head aches, and vour left arm, for no apparent reason. feels as if it were going to dron off. When even the medicine the doctor gives you won't stay down—that's be ing ill, my laqd! e i ndeed, bred by hi remen- ¥ % The contemplative soul in ing but will try to make a sort of game out of what is going on inside him. Mostly it seems inside organs he previously took on cided fashion. If his symptoms are which. any reader will recognize as those of influenm, he will discover that he has, indeed, us the physiologies v, 4912 miles of sweat ducts, or er many miles they if placed end on end. which is exactly the one way in which they will never, by any chance, be placed. All ‘the poor ‘patient has to do is to sit up and the perspiration starts pouring down in a bedside imi- tation of Niagara Falls without the Nlagara. And what strange didoes the epiglottis can kick up! The epiglottis is a neat little contraption in one's throat, a marvelous trapdoor that kicks ‘open at the touch of food or drink, allowing it to go into the stomach instead of the lungs. It {belongs to the list of automatic body machines in which the heart is the greatest. It is, unless our ‘bhysiology is terribly at sea, what one swallows s those given, curious that « little hird and a motion of the throat should have the same name. “swallow"! { When one has the influenza or grippe {(no. not a “cold"—a “cold” fs easy in comparison) Friend Epiglottis never seems o be able to get enough liquid flowed over him. Fach swallow then fulfjls Wilde's Idescription of a clgarette as a type | of the perfect pleasure. “It is delight- ful and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more do you want They used to treat fevers by with- holding water from the sufferer. but today. one Is encouraged to drink. This is where the epiglottis shines. Every time the little trapdoor “does iliness | will not spend all his time complain-/ on faith begin to| ! manifest their presence in a most de-| D. C. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. lits stuff,” as the young d {saying, there results a mo | sensation in the neck. To be able to concentr: | seconds of bliss and forget t is to extract from legitimate pleasure that e on these sickness. * ok % abed has some wery good points. i« there that great sporf piglottis, there are any high spots’ 't in wl sick Not only with one's number of | good case, of the s ich one is doubt nbout favorable after all. Chief among _ thes of being waited on the hand and foet,” tricts. How expressive that phrase is is { known only to a good wife, who smiles away the growls of the sufferer and complies willingly with demands for cracked ice, and a hundred other such |fancies. It always seems as If any- thing a sick person wants is at the other end of the house. The patient has but to express a wish and some one is ready to ful- fill it for him. He wants a certain { book: the book is brought. He tires of nd demands magazines. 5 » too large; they tire hir \ wo I v high, there < too much light. They ‘are lowered there isn't | light_enough! I Sureiy, only a | such attention when well. | We knew a man who preferred tu |live in the Philippines because he could ave three or four servants there to | wait on him. and he liked it. He said {it made a man feel like somebody. Maybe he was right and maybe he | was wrong, but his viewpoint is un- derstandable. The great bulk of men In the world do not have others to jump at thelr bidding, except, per- chance, under specialized conditions. Most must become ill to have their whim become law. If this happens now and then, it is good for all par- ties concerned, and must be reckoned among the benefits of. illness. EE now this is easily understood by d 111 alike! lock the patient is still a very sick man. The doctor’s medicines do ‘not seem to be functloning. He still_perspires, his throat is sore, hig ugh racks his diaphragm. Suddenly, at 6 o'clock. these symp toms, as if by magic, disappear. A delicious coolness passes over the rame; the friendly epiglottis bound joyously at the touch of cold milk; the | cough is practically gone. The dead {ly drug codeine, skillfully administer- ed, has got in its work. There is an absolute point’ in time when one ceases to he a_patient, and becomes a. convalescent. He admits to himself that he is, if not exactly well at least not really ill any longer. A little sensible lying around the house for a few days and he will be as good as ever. As a matter of fact, in many_cases he will be better than ever, for Mother Nature. alded by the doctor, has cleaned him out. The respite from food too, has done him good, even as the respite from active life has helped his outlook as a whole. Then if one gains physically and mentally from his period of incubation it can be said to have some decided points of geodness in it, and to live | up to (in some degrec) Shakespeare's | kreat lines. The bard was wrong {about the toad having a jewel in fts but what difference does that Iliness, too, wears no jewel; we must make ourselves see “what | good there is'in it, else we will miss the plain henefits that it has. To be ill gracefully—that thing. To recognize that Nature, like a father, is “doing this for your own £ood"; to feel sure that “this hurts { me as much as it does you, my son.” | These attitudes of mind are as neces. cary, in illness as the recumbent posi- tion of the body, if one is to derive from a sickness all of its lasting { benefits. i The disclosure in the Ford tax hear. ing that the automobile manufacturer more than once refused a billion dol lars for the business that he controls strongly impressed the country, and has caused interesting speculation as to what could be done with that large amount of money in actual cash. “The human mind cannot grasp the dimensions of a billion dollars- -« mil- lion times 1,000,” observes the Belling- ham Herald, “but by comparison it ets a hazy idea of what one man has done in a new industry in hardly more than a quarter of u century One thing we know is that the I Mr. Croesus and all the other piuto- crats of other days were mere pikers, What {s the greatest single thing he could bu, asks tho {answer is Vermont. 1f M send his agents in with a billion dol- 5 imate placed ermont by the Census Bureau in 1 , he could own everything purchasable in the State- the real estate and improvements, liv stock, farm and factory implenient and machinery, water works, Stenm raflroads, trolley Iines, motor vehicles and gold and sfiver, - All these, includ- ing sap buckets, were valued at $842 000,000. 'The odd change would leave Mr: Ford something with which to pa taxes. On the same basis, a billion would also buy Delaware, Nevada or ew Mexlco.” The significance of the billion-dol- lar valuation fs realized,” says the Macon Telegraph, “when it is consid ered that only. the United States Steel Co, and the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. are regurded us bil lion-dollar corporations. Standurd Oil is, of cour billion-dollar business, vided into 29 different con The Kpringfeld Unio his little nest g ord could at current wnric rates pay off a quarter of the cost of the Civil War, reserving 50 milllons for himself to keep the wolf uw from the door. The total cost of th Louistana Purchase was 15 millions, or about one sixty-seventh of the offer to Ford.” Yo g “It has not been calls the Lima Ne York bank rev Thad exceeded the billion-dollar mark for the first time in the institution's history. But in that instance the accumulation of this great wealth is represented thousands of de. positors and is invested in business enterprises of all kinds in all paris of the civilized world.” The Lo Angeles Times finds a further sub ject for speculation in the report that Mr. Ford has two big stores in Detroit and that “on a singlé day re: cently these twin stores disposed of nearly 10,000 pounds of butter an 7,000 dozen eggs. The cash registe: rang up nearly $70,000,” continuer the Times, “and it was a cloudy day at that. Unless some effort is made to contract his powers, Henry may Billion-Dollar Offer to Ford Starts qu-thpend-It Debate vet take it in his head business in the count: tanooga News asks: “Can a great financial rival of New York be de- veloped fn the Middle West? And is some such purpose in the mind of Ford?” With the confession, “We can scarcely visualize a billion dollars, es- pecially if it be in copper pennies or dollars bills—to us a billion is rather a mental abstraction than .a concrete, material thing,” the New Orleans Item announces, “So we just set it down in 11 signs and symbols for whatever these signify, and let it go at that— $1,000,000,00( “What intrigues the _financial world remarks the Rochester Times-Union, “is not so much the valuation placed on the Ford plant as the fact that a man whose judg- ment is highly respected in Wall Street believed it possible to sell promptly to the investing public the securities involved in such an’ enor- mous transaction. Andrew Carnegie took his $300.000,000 in underlying bonds of the Unted States Steel Cor- poration. Apparently the Ford fam- ily, sole owners of this mammoth en- terprise, were to get cash. This gives a new measure of the American in- vestment market.” = L The Hartford Times emphasizes the intended profits of the brokers who made the offer: ‘““The public wouldh't I buy it for a billion, by any means. It would have to pay back to the brokers | all they had to put in, plus a profit, iand then the brokers, while manag- Ing the business, would be running it entirely on the public’s money. Mail says that' o do all the ' The Chat- nished a fine fleld for glorfous pick- ings on the market and been subject to the usual manipulations, but the plant would no doubt have suffered in consequence. Speculative business and creative business are frequently two different things,” continues the Daily Mall. “For sentimental rea- sons, as well as others, we are re- joiced that Henry Ford did not ‘bite, whether the thing was worth biting at or not.” “Fancy a man dodging another, who pursued him with a billion_dol- ‘ars cash in hand!" exclaims the Har- risburg Telegraph. “In doing that u“\lhem-dnf thing, Henry [ord dis. Nays a new angle to his character— Bat of the individual who loves work nore than mone! But the Lynch- hurg Advance argues: “Kord is not vet an old man. He is 63 years of { e and apparently in good health. Every year since he started in busi- ness has witnessed a growth in his susiness and a growth in his wealth, ‘n 10 years’ time, if he lives that long, ord’s fortune may be double or reble.” The Albany Evening News, com- menting on the great increase in the wmber of millionaires, adds: ‘“Wealth seems to fall into the hands of those who know how to use #t. Not. t maharajali cas get | | is the| pst exquisite [attitude of the public toward Iliness is usually not all pain, and |’ if one tries to find the “good in every- i tion thing.” he will discover that being|gjiog are overcrowded and many stu- 1 n average | cargir i ctty sick. but there is never much | outcome, as they still say in the country dis-|Education, of which | | The | | attempts , How does he differ from the uneducat- | | ear { 19217 By the Booklover. “The evidénce is unmistakable that lelight in|there is an important change in the| educa tion. ¢ ¢ ¢ Perhapsatno time since he pains | the thirteenth century has tho desire illness all the |for knowledge so nearly approached s | v _one has|mass movement,” says Everett Dean a right to expect from a first d“”‘-\h\rlh., AIaitGE b Ae PbBIERTH: stitute of New York. in his new book, “The Meaning of a Liberal Educa- American schools and univer- are each year turned away. and increasing numbers register Iy for correspondence and uni. extension courses, The de- mand for education is aiso shown by increasing number of lecture our; forums, labor colleges, and by the movement for adult education annu is the pleasure |which has just takeén organized form in the American Assoclation for Adult Dr. Martin is chairman of the executive committee. That the present wave of interest may not be a genuine movement the au- thor warns us it “people are led to believe that they are educated when they are not: if short cuts are sought by people reeking information for the same reason that they buy an auto- mobile on the installment plan—Iliving iiiteniectualiy beyond thelr means in the effort to keep up appearances.’ Dr. Martin has written this book from the standpoint of one who is concerned that his own education shall not stop when he leaves school. He asks and to answer the questions: “What is an_educated person like? The theme of his book is that education is more than information. or skill or propaganda; that education is, in fact, “emancipation from herd opinion, seif-mastery, capacity for self- eriticism, suspend judgment and urbanity, * ok ok % The quality of this book can best be given by culling a few from the hundreds of quotable passages. “‘Until recently,” he says, ‘‘people have thought of education as something wvhich a man either got or missed in his early years—something which he generally _forgot in mature years. s Now higher branches of learning are being pursued by num- oers of people outside regular educa- tional institutions. * * ‘While much of the demand for education is renuine and spontaneous, miuch of it ® spurious, Iirrelevant, inconsequen- tial. * * * The average mature individual * * * must earn his liv- ing and seek education during his ‘efsure time. * * * modern men insist that the spiritual values of life be realized not in contemplative aloof- ness, but in the life of actuality. They also demand a satisfactory existence for as many people as possible, hence all are to have the opportunity to share the cultural goods of civiliza- tion Education is made universal and, below a certain age, compulsol But it is obvious that unless edus tion is to remain the privilege of pro fessionally trained scholars large numbers of people must be given the facilities for continued study after iwchooland college days are passed. * * ¢ The aim of adult education is the cul- :ivated amateur. * * * Learning which is discontinued when one leaves school has been, for the most part, wasted affort. * ¢ ¢ Nearly three million persons are said to be annually enrolled for various courses of study outside the resident classes of established insti- tutions of learning. ® * * Widespread as this interest is, popularization of knowledge is not the same as human- ization of knowledge. * * * The surest way to defeat learning is to place it in charge of those whose own educa- tion has stopped. *.* * Adult education is not something to be ‘given' to the masses, while college education may be kept for the sons of privilege. There is no such thing as ‘mass edu- cation.’ * * * With all the ald possible from others education is necessarily an individual achievement. * * * We need adult education for the same reason that we need any education at all.” Dr. Martin is very critical of the achievements of public education. He says: “The habits of reading good hooks, ability to know the good ones from the inferior, capacity to enjoy | books for the beauty and wisdom that may be found in them are essential parts of a liberal education. A school which implants good habits of dis- criminating reading is a good school. One that fails to do this is a bad school.” W is_education? The au- thor answers: ‘‘Education is a spirit. ual revaluation of human life. Its task is to reorient the individual, to enable’him to take a richer and more significant view of his experiences, to place him above and not within the system of his bellefs and ideals. If education is not liberalizing, it is not fducaflnn b hhi ey use the term liberal” * * in its original sense, meaning * * * the kind of education which sets the mind free from the servitude of the crowd and from vul- gar self-interests. * ¢ * It is the search for the ‘good life.’ Education Is itself a way of living. * K K ® Famous women of beauty and wit and slight virtue (in the réstricted sense) have always been found inter- esting subjects for memoirs. Ninon de Lenclos has had more than her share of biographers, but another has recently been translated from the French — “Ninon d Lenclos, by Emile Magne, translated and edited by Gertrude Scott Stevenson. Ninon e: erted' almost as great an influence among her cotemporaries as Louis XIV himself. She was admittedly the most brilliant and charming woman of her time. One of her maxims was, “It is not enough to be wise: one must be charming as well. M. Magne shows Ninon as inheriting h qualities from her father. who was a witty, irresponsible sensualist, and not from her mother, who was sober- minded and religious. Ninon estab- lished her salon when she was only a young girl and soon drew to it men of reputation like La Fontaine, Boi- leau, Moliere, La Rochefoucauld and Saint-Evremond. The other reigning courtesan of the age, Marion de Lorme, was her friend, as was also Mme. Scarron, later Mme. de Mainte- non. Ninon live to be 85 and retained her beauty unill ;’Ql;y late in her life. ] ‘What, then, ‘“Men who require their three meals per day at regular intervals had best not travel far—nor do I advise them to live in the jungle. They will die with promptness and dispatch.” This is the advice of John W. Va dercook in his book, “Tom-Tom." de- scriptive of life in the jungle of Dutch Guiana. He says that the numerous fruits, nuts, berries and roots which grow in such profusion in the jungle do not furnish for men the luscious' food supply which one might sup- pose, for nearly all of them ‘“contain a poison deadly to men, though not to beasts. A nut which the monk eat and thrive upon will kill a ma: despite the physiological resemblance between the two species. Even the cassava root must first be drained ot its julces, or it will grlp a man in death within an hour.” Yet jun- gle diet has its advantages after one learns to be selective and overcomes the three-meal-a-day habit. The few non-polsonous fruits, cassava cakes and occaslonal fish or roast monkey provide enough to maintain strength without endangering the - symmeiry of one's figure. Jungle life need not take into account measures for flesh reduction. 8 have put the world in mill | e B e et A | BY FREDERI Do people eat more po other kinds of meat?—W. I3. A, Yes. The average yearly meat bill of the American consumer during the five-year perfod 1919-1923, inclu | sive, contains the following items: Lamb and mutton, 5.4 pounds; beef and veal, 67.7 pounds: pork, 756 I pounds. rk than M Q. What per cent of college stu dents zo outside of their States to at- tend school?—H. P. B. An_average of 24.4 per cent of the college and university students of the United States go outside the State fn which they reside ln order to attend college, while 75.6 per cent of them remain in their home State. Q. What is the cause of the Kala- hari Desert in southern Africa’—E. S. The Kalaharf Desert in Afri, 18 caused by the aridity of the region, as ave all the great continental wastes ving within the tropical and temperate zones which are scantily watered by rain. This desert is bordered by mountain ranges which deprive the east winds of their moisture before they pass beyond the interfor slopes. Q. Who was known as “the Black Napoleon" L. 8. A. Dessalines, whose statue stands in the Champ de Mars, Port au Prince, Haiti. He drove the French out of Haitl and a century after his death ‘his monument was erected bear- ing the epitaph, “Founder of the Republic.”” Q. (an you give me the date of the Eastland disaster, and how many lives were lost”—L., 1. D, ' | A. The Eastland disaster occurred jon July 24, 1915, Eight hundred and | Afty-tWo persons lost their lives. Q. In what year was the first of- ficial standard United States penny made?—L. b. A. The first one-cent piece was cofned in 179 Q. What is meant by the ‘coro- nach”?—I1. M. F. A. This is the Gaellc name for the lament or dirge formerly sung or played on the bagpipes on the occasion of a funeral of an Irish or Scottish person. Sir Walter Scott in “The Lady of the Lake” has one of the finest coronachs extant. Q. What is meant Ly the “Janu- ary thaw?"—R. B. A.In the minds of the general public, the term “January thaw’ fs applied to a relatively warm spell in January, but the justification for this is the apparent meteorological fact that in decidedly more than 30 per cent of the vears, at least over the Northern Central and Eastern sec- tions of the country, the records show a relatively warm spell of weather occurs in the last week of the month, ~that is, between the 20th and 28tk. The warm spell does not gccur at exactly the same date each year, but generally it falls in the latter part Once upon a time, there was a book written under the startling title, “Uncle Sam Needs a Wife.” But that was before this week's . 1mily council in Washington of the 200 or more “wives” in eonference. Uncle Sam is still some 800 behind King Solomon, but Huckleberry Finn saw the weak- ness of Solomon’'s predicament when he explained: “Solomon, he no wise man! Solomon had a thousand wives! Oughter had a biler factory, ‘caze ef he had a biler factory and wanter sil- ence, he might shet that down. Never could shet down a thousand wives It is a long stretch from the days of Huck Finn to the “Women's Patriotic Conference on National De- fense,” which opened, last Wednesday, a three-day session, in Memorial Con- tinental Hall of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The ladies listened with patience to speeches by ten male statesmen, cabinet officers and generals—and with profit and in- spiration to constructive advice by three woman members of Congress, and by the president of the Daughters of the American Revolution and ths president of the American Legion Auxiliary, the president of the Massu- chusetts Public Service League, the president of the Society of War Mothers, the “Chairman of legisla- tion, Daughters of 1812,” and other representatives of the 27 patriotic organizations participating. s At the conclusion of the confer- ence resounding resolutions were unanimously adopted, giving Uncle Sam a genuine curtain lecture on patriotism, on preparedness of armed defense In the Army, Navy, in avia- tion forces and chemical warfare and in curbing subversive activities of the pacifists, Soclalists and Communists who seek to undermine our Govern- ment. The amazing feature of such a feminine conference is always the exact knowledge the speakers demon- strate of the essentials and details of their topics. Men may fumble, but no woman ever flunks or guesses when she appears on such a program. She knows. She has studied the sub- ject at leisure and with thoroughness. Even men in the audience conceded that Uncle Sam might do worse than answering the call to take a wife's friendly counsel, even if it comes Xantippian and with the hard end of the broom. There was not the slightest pussy- footing when it came to resolutions. Every one was expressed in the lan- guage of the proverblal “spade.” even in_denouncing the subversiveness of colleges, universities and churches, which, as charged, listen to the sen- timentalism of “opposition to war.” As if there were mothers and wives and daughters in existence who, hav- ing suffered the pangs of suspense and grief through war's disasters, yet were less opposed to war than the pacifists. Not only were virile resolutions adopted, but, on motion, they are to be sent to the presidents of certain universities, as well as to congres. sional committees and to cabinet offi- cial nd the spokesman of the White Housge. One of the resolutions called upon Congress to recognize ‘“The Star Spangled Banner” as the offic ly adopted national anthem-—which the Army and Navy and “we the people” have so recognized for a cen- tury. * x X F One speaker characterized the radi- cals as those Americans who para- phrased the motto made famous by a naval officer and she said these mal- contents make their motto: “My coun- try is always wrong. KEven if it is sometimes right, 1 shall claim it is Wrong anyway. Mrs. Brosseau, national president general of the D. A, that greatest of all patriotic women's organizations, with its membership rapidly approach: ing 175,000, said: “In the 1925 review of a certain well known organization there is a refer- ence to ‘professional patrioteering so- cleties’ and their activities. We trust that title includes all of these various groups here tonight. T speak for the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, at when I say to Alphonse with true Gastonian gallantry that we are among those present in this lassification, and what is more, we NSWERS TO QUESTIONS C J. HASKIN, of January and is emphasized Ly | beirg followed by materially colde: | weather, which occurs on the last days of the nonth and the first d | of February. Of course, in some « the years no such feature exhibit itself, but long records ehow the tendency to the presence of temper- ature changes of this character at many stations in the country, Q. How man; American play marbles?—M. H. A. A. Dr. H. C. Lehman has compile’ statistics which show that about 4n per cent of bovs play marbles. The: are most interested between the ages of 8 and 12 0. How did name’—L, G, A. “Grapefruit” is so called becauss it 1s borne in clusters like a bunch of grapes. This fruit appears to have been brought into this country by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, and many desirable varieties have bee; originated here. Q. What are the indications for building operations during the coming year?—N. F. J. A. A nation-wide survey of the con- struction industry, recently completed by the Bullding Economic Researci Bureau of the American Bond and Mortgage Co., New York City, esti: mates that not less than $6,250,000,000 will be expended on new comstruction’ during 1927. Building operations total- ing & .000,000 are already planned under way or about to be started, g T ] Q. Tlas thie tourist travel'to Florlde: fallen off much since the boom?—! M. G, LI i the past ‘year 71847 A During motor vehicles, carryl J11 pas- red sengers, ent Flos ax the Jacksonville-St. Johns. River Bridge. Undoubtedly {Mr‘e boys ‘srapefrult” get ite at Jacksonville. were thousands of others o1 the State over other th i ing- the height of the \ the number of cars usall-r over. 8t Johns River Bridge was 102,462, and they carried 396,448 passengers. ~ postchetiy % Q. ‘T8 “Mothet’s day” observed - it Sox!hAAm«flu?- o ke % g recent ‘magazine sy that’ “the mstitution of Mo continues to céapture 'the hearts & minds of the Latin American One of the first of the Latin A% countrles to adopt the idea was Vehe zuela, in 1921 Peru fivst paid tribute. to the mothers of the nation in 19%4; Have we had the pleasure of serv- ing yow through our Washington in- formation burcau? Can't we de of some help to you in your daily prod- lems? Our business is to furnish you with authoritative injormation, end we invite you to ask us any queation of faot in which you are interested. Send your inquiry to The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. . Inclose 2 cents in stamps for return postage. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. ok. D. D, LL. D., and revised by Re Julius H. Seelye, D. D., LL. D., forms president of Amherst College: “War is righteous in defense of the national freedom. The life of no as- sailant of a nation’s freedom is too sacred to be cloven down in its de- fense. The State is responsible for the end of its being, as a sovereign, to the full extent of all its resources. ¢ * * The freedom of the whole for all generations is of more consequence ll’hun the lives of a part in any genera- | on.” - Mrs. McCluer added: x “In taking this position, T am voie ing the position of American War Mothers, ad expressed in various reso- lutions unanimously passed by their State conventions, by their executive conventions, by their national execu- tive boards and by their last three national conventions. * * * It had as well be known now as later that as long as a non-resistance policy is Advocated and the song of the slacker is heard in the land, and as long a&s the refrain, ‘Onward Christian Slack- ers, Were Marching to the Rear.' fl‘mts back to us, and the Socialist- k‘:’r’.“mlums'\\'““\‘[""y:. continue, the erican War Mothers will nev a demobilized,” i * % Before the conference ended an or- ganization was made for continuing such conferences throughout America, especially in large cities where sub- versive activities are manifest. There will bé a national conference in New York v in April, and another in Chicago soon. The women are thor- oughly aroused to the importance of exposing the treason and demoralizing influences which they allege are now permeating churches, religious and so- cial socletles and schools, and other organizations masquerading under de- lusive names. Like their great-great-grandmothers of Revolutionary days, they are read to seize the {dle arms of the men, and, in any disguise or none, take their stand to give battle to their foes. History relates that just after the battle of Lexington, when all men had gone to Boston to meet the enemy there, rumor came that the enemy was approaching. The women discovered guns and uniforms belonging to their absent men: they organized s com pany and took up their stand Lravel to defend a bridge. The rumor sroved misleading, but they did capture Tory messenger with dispatches. there are American Joans and moder: Mollie Pitchérs, as well as nurses and bandage makers. It s that American strain that has now set forth to lead in arousing American patriotic senti ment |ln ‘the face of what they esteem a peril far greater than. is ciy realized. Ll Recently the National Federation « Women's Clubs, which had been ac cused of pacifistic aberratio; P nounced, through its natfonal presi dent. Mrs. Sherman, a determination to_do real patriotic service against subversive treason, not by asking local clubs to do sleuthing, but through outspoken disapproval of subversive sentiments in churches and clubs an! schools. The extension organization of the Women's Patriotic Conferenc: on National Defense will take the i itiative n a ive action and fits activities will extend throughout the land. (Copyright. 1927, by Paul V. Collins 1 R Rk American Wives of Foreigners. In your “Backgréund of Events" in the issue of February 8 you state that “‘at present a native American wom an married to a foreigner takes her husband’s nationality and loses her American rights.” This statement is incorrect. A law was enacted Septen: ber 22, 1922, designated “:in tive to the naturalization and citiz ship of married women' (Public, N 346, Sixty-seventh Congress—H. 12022), in which it was provided follows: 2 > “'Section 3. That a woman citizen of the United States shall not cease to be a citizen of the United States hy reason of her marriage after the passage of this act, unless she makes a formal renunciation of her &itizen- ship before & court having jurisdic- tion over naturalization of aliens."” The law also provided for the nat- uralization of American women who! had lost their Sitiseashlp by marry.!