Evening Star Newspaper, March 9, 1927, Page 8

HE EVENING STA With Sundsy Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY. ... .March 8, 1987 — e THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 114h §t. and Pepagrivania Ave. : East 42nd St. xfl&%fl%fl:' Fower Bulldipe Burcpean T4 Regent St.. London, o Ensland. . on: 18 aelivered by FRRT only. 2 “Son oD P dR tent by mail or Felephons Main 1000, Collection 1s made by carrier at end of each month Eve Star. with the It Rate by Mail—Payable In Advance. Marylangd and Virginia. .1 yr. $0.00: 1 mo 0: 1 mo. 135 85001 1 o All Other States and Canada. A .$1.00 3B 35e . 750 L B0 » 26¢ Member of the Associated Press. 6 Associated Press is exclusively entitled fo the ‘use for republication of all news dis. 08 credited to it or not otherwise cred in this paper and alen the local new lished herein ~ All riehts of publicatioy al dispatches herein are also reserved The Three-Power Proposal. The three-power naval limitatior conference, proposed by the United States to Great Britain and Japan, is 1n line with the earnest desire of this Government to bring about reduction of armaments and the elimination of war. The refusal of France and Ital. to participate in a five-power naval agreement was a disappointment. Half a loaf, however, is usually con sidered better than no loaf. There is the chance, too, that with the United States, Great Britain and Japan set ‘ting a further example in the mat- ter of naval limitation the govern ments of France and Italy may revise their earlier decision that naval limita- tion must go hand in hand with and depend upon land and air limitation. Suggestion of a three-power confer- ence, since the five-power proposal fel! through, has been in the air, and #entiment in favor of such a confer- . ence apparently has crystallized in Great Britain and Japan as well as in the United States. A three-power naval pact, covering Cruisers and other auxiliary craft, en- tered into by the United States, Great Britaln and Japan, obviously would not look to a reduction in the present strength and building programs. With France and Italy outside the agree- ment and at liberty to build cruisers, submarines, etc., in any number they desire, the likelihood of a reduction by Great Britain is infinitesimal. The most that could be expected would be an agreement allowing Gueat Britain ts present large cruiser strength, with perhaps an increase therein. In an agreement of this character the United States would claim the right to as large a naval force as that of Great Britain, unless the sentiment of the country has changed mightily in the years since the Washington @rms conference. In plain English, the United States by such an agree- | ment would be committed to a great _eruiser-bullding program. There would | be no compulsion upon this country to enter such a bullding program, it is true. But once a ratio for cruisers, |- equal to that accorded Great Britain, has been established there will be in- sistent demands that the ratio be fived up to. Paradoxically, the three- | power naval limitation conferenge might give a big impetus to naval | eonstruction in the United States. It appears quite clear from all re- 3 from Europe that Great Britain ‘will look with disfavor on any pro- | posal for scrapping her own cruisers or other auxiliary craft—save sub- .marines, which she would like to have entirely eliminated from modern navies, With France outside the con- | ference submarines would not be re- duced. Japan’s attitude, too, is against & veduction of her present naval strength, The United Stated, at Ge- meva, will have no cruisers to scrap; " will be in no position to make the generous offer of the Washington con- ference. This Government is learning that it is easier to scrap its own naval wvessels than it is to persuade foreign governments to scrap theirs. The utmost that could come from a three-power naval treaty would be a limitation, not a reduction in naval strength. But should there come from such_an agreement the copstruction of & United States Navy which would ‘equal in all branches that of Great Britain a new situation might arise internationally. A combination of the British and American naval powers would be unassailable. ——— et Bolshevism has secured a great | @eal of undeserved prominence by adroitly creating the impression that it is responsible for every disturb- ance that arises in any part of the globe. Bolshevism has at least the modesty to refrain from assuming to be a contributing cause to the earth- quake in Japan. —— . Oliver Wendell Homes. Elghty-six years old and still going strong! Modeérn business men who contemplate “retiring” in their fifties or early sixties are invited to con- template Oliver Wendell Holmes, As- soclate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Of the nine men who adorn the bench of the world’s most august tribunal, none 1s physically more alert or mentally more vigorous. If he has uny *hought of laying down the labor he loves und does so admirably he has not con- fided that thought to others. Yesterday Mr. Justice Holmes cele- brated the anniversary of his birth by doing a full day's work. There appears no reason why he may not look forward to celebrating other birthdays in like manner and to ex- celling the record of Justice Taney, who was still a member of the court when he died, in his eighty-seventh year. The quarter of a century Mr. Holmes has served as & member of the Supreme Court have been years of honor and distinction, but even be- fore he was appointed to the bench by President Roosevelt he had won honors and distinction. Born into the intellggtual aristocracy of Massachu- setts, he drank in the wisdom of th “Autocrat of the Breakfast Table” and sat at the feet ‘of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others of the “‘Brahmin caste” of New England. Graduating from Harvard, in the footsteps of his sire and grandsires, in the year Sumter was fired upon, he doffed cap and gown to put on his country's uniform, and in his advance to a colonelcy was thrice wounded, through the breast at Balls Bluff, through the neck at Antietam, and in the heel at Fredericksburg. With the coming of peace he re- "« | turned to Harvard and the law, and for threescore years has adorned the legal profession as teacher, writer, 'THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, llawn of which he, and the neighbor- hood, and the city, may be proud. Roving dogs can be kept off of others’ grass; children may be taught to run as little as possible on the soft sward of early Spring; a proper spirit of tolerance may be cultivated toward the property of one's next-door neigh- bor. A woman membersof a citizens’ as- soclation recently told of having made a little speech to the pupils of all the grades in the neighborhood school, asking the children to help make and keep the lawns in good condition. Children normally like nothing bet- ter than to be made partners with their elders in the everyday work of practitioner and judge. For forty-five of those years he has worn the ermine of a judge, first as associate justice and later as chief justice of the Su- preme Court of Massachusetts, from which bench he was summoned to the dignity of the Federal tribune. Mr. Justice Holmes brings his duties not only the heritage of culture and acquired legal lore, but a mind that is liberal and progressive and keyed to the times in which he lives so fully and so richly. He is a fitting product of the environment whence he sprang and a type of pub- lic servant to give lovers of the Re- public confidence to believe that, de- spite passing discouragements of the day, all is and will be well. oo The President and the West. President Coolidge is going West for the Summer. Immediately politicians are busying their brains in an effort to decide whether his determination to spend several months in the West is a political move or just a Summer vacation. For the politically minded, this is the season of signs and portents. Every step taken by the President, every appointment, even his attend- ance at this or that entertainment is weighed in an effort to forecast Mr Coolidge’s attitude toward the Repub- lican presidential nomination next vear. It is not unnatural that the party leaders should be anxious to know what is in the presidential mind. If Mr. Coolidge is to be a candidate to succeed himself, none of them wish to stray to other pastures. If Mr. Cool- idge is not to be a candldate, then many of them would like to be in on the ground floor with the most likely candidate of the Republican party for 1928. That is practical politics. The “original” Coolidge men, the “original” Harding or Wilson men, are popu- larly supposed to have an inside track. The expressed wish of the President to go West has more than ordinary significance for the politically minded. The West has been the scene of such revolt as has arisen against the jres- ent administration. The President's veto of the McNary-Haugen farm re- lief bill has been reported as the signal of an outburst against Mr. Coolidge in the corn beélt. To pick the West now for the Summer White House is re- garded in some quarters as an effort to placaté that section of the country. On the other hand, the wish of the President to spend some time in the ‘West is not new. It antedated many months his veto of the McNary- Haugen bill. The President has a sin- cere desire to know iptimately the problems of the whole ntry so that he may deal with them understanding- ly and sympathetically. He is respon- sible not only for the administration of the Federal Government, but he is expected to make recommsndations to the Congress for legislation to meet the needs of the whole United States. Efforts have been made frequently to show that the President cares nothing for the problems of the farmer of the West. But these have been unjust. The feeling that the East does not understand the West and its needs, and does not care to understand them, is far too prevalent in the West. This feeling extends to Eastern men in high public office. It is unfortunate. The West needs the East and the East needs the West. The East cloth2s the West and handles in great part its huge crops. The West purchases the products of the East and feeds its workers. There has been talk in some of the Western States recently that the great need is a man in the White House with the Western point of view. The West, according to those who ex- press this view, has been treated like a red-headed stepchild. v ‘Whether he intends to be a candi- date for the presidency or not next year, President Coolidge is wise If he seeks to dissipate these ideas. Sectional jealousies can only do harm. All sec- tions of the United States are im- portant links in the chain which up- holds American prosperity and happi- ness. e A plain blizzard is in some respects more comfortable than an early March storm in Congress. Greening Grass, The greening of the grass in Wash- ington already has begun. Many lawns, indeed, are in almost first-class condition, as the result of the balmy days of February. Others have yet to be got into shape. Perhaps no one feature of the land- scape makes more for the beauty of a city than the lawns around private homes and business establishments. The term “lawn,” however, may cover a multitude of sins, as well as desig- nate a thing of beauty and a joy for- ever. Poorly kept grass is almost worse than none at all. It is unfortunately true that the ideals of many house- holders, when it comes to the grass, are not very high. A'few blades, in- terspersed with weeds, and patches ot bare dirt, satisfy. It takes effort, work and some money to make and keep a good lawn, but no finer effect can be se- cured for so little money, and no equivalent amount of work can get such large results. A city-wide movement toward good lawns this Summer would do a great deal to make the National Capital the beautiful city which every one wants it to be. This is the part that every individual home owner can play. One does not have to be a member of the Fine Arts Commission to help make ‘Washington artistic. Co-operation on the part of all the idents in a given community is ssary if every one is to have a life. Here is a fine opportunity for teachers of the District public schools to interest the children in a worth- while endeavor. An appeal to the children seldom fails to get results. ——————————— It might be necessary to change m'tho personnel of a board of theater jcensors frequently. A full season’s attendance at New York openings would be calculated to demoralize even the most righteous reformer. Liberal compensation should be pro- vided. The moral risk is worth some- thing. 2 ——————— There is speculation as to whether President Coolidge will consent to run again. The subject makes interesting discussion, although mind-readers are not getting brain-fog in forming their own conclusions. ——————————— A number of colleges are taking advantage of the argument on Dar- winism to inform the youth of the country where they can go to learn all about evolution. e The men who wrote the original Constitution evidently did a very substantial piece of work. Most of the arguments that take place are about the amendments. ———ra— One of the few prominent men in Europe who are now unsuspected of any save the most peaceful intentions is the former Kaiser of Germany. —————— All Vice President Dawes needed to do was to wait awhile and allow Con- gress to provide an object lesson relating to rules. —————— An agreement by Japan, England and America should be sufficiently influential to have a chance of setting a peace pace. ————— v New York has discovered an oil well in Twenty-third street. The financial center may yet move north from Wall Street. —————— Chinese soldiers might accomplish something for peace if they could insist on a five-hour fighting day and a five-day week. ————— A neglect to reduce income taxes may bring relief to many who would rather pay full charges than learn a new way of filling out the schedule. —_————— Radio should become a peace in- fluence. It is placing nations, how- ever far apart, on speaking terms. ——,———— The McNary-Haugen farm bill made one jump out of agriculture into politics. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Words and Music. I thought I heard a robin sing Out yonder in the lane. No argument it tried to bring ‘While sounding its refrain. It came just when our statesmen went. No speech it tries to make, But brings a promise of content ‘When blossoms shall awake. The flow of eloquence is fine, Although, to our surprise, Of talk it strikes a dangerous line, . When angry passions rise. And so, while eloquence may fling Its words, polite or plain, I'd rather hear friend Robin sing Out yonder in the lane. Rules, “The closing hours of the Senate showed that you need new rules.” “What would you suggest?” asked Senator Sorghum. “Marquis of Queensberry’s?” Early March. Old Boreas does not know just when He should have had enough. He’'ll still throw snowballs nowand then And play a game that's rough. Preference. “Would you advise me to take an interest in literature?” “No,” answered Uncle Bill Bottletop. “I have seen too many book agents standing in line while a bootlegger was being entertained as an honored guest.” Jud Tunkins says that hope without industry to back it is only a fairy story. Pardonable Error. “How did you come to let that bunch of bandits get away with an automobile robbery in broad daylight?” asked Cactus Joe. “My mistake!"' answered the sheriff regretfully. “I thought another ecom- pany of motion picture actors was on location in Crimson Gulch.” “A man who pretends to be wise,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “should not gamble and risk humilia. tion by revealing himself as a bad guesser.” The Last Straw. ‘When hard luck comes in your affairs, You still may be polite, But for the kind friend who declares ““My boy, it serves you right!” “You can't always judge a man’s greatness,” sald Uncle Eben, “by de way his picture is printed. George Washington's likeness is on a two- cent stamp and Abraham Lincoln's is on a one-cent piece. Whose likeness is on a hundred-dollar bill I can’t say an’ I don’t know anybody dat kin.” One Way Out. From the Indianapolis News. § If nobody wants the Midland Rail- road the owners might put a high value on it and merge it vmh’omo other line, BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The sweetest revenge, after all, comes in doing exactly nothing when the big moment arrives. To ‘“get even with him'\ is the de- sire of the uncivilized; the truly civ- ilized man refrains. The motive of revenge plays a large part in the history of all primitive peoples. The early books of the Bible are filled with the thought of ven- geance, . Such thoughts stalk throughout the world today with as much vigor as ever, everywhere setting neighboring nations at one another’s throat, caus- ing innumerable personal squabbles, making for unhappiness, misery and death. The saving grace is that in every city, in every town, there are hun- dreds who do not bow the knee to the Baal of wrath. These wiser ones, who may be truth- fully called connolsseurs of living, know that nothing so hurts the holder as thoughts of hate. They have come to that larger vision which believes, with Emerson, that he who thinks he slays is m! taken: that what he kills first of all is every fine sentiment in his own nature. : * ok ok ok “‘Oh, what's the use?” is the mental sentence such a man asks himself when his opportunity for revenge finally comes. More often he phrases &Jgpularly, “Aw, shucks, what's the 5 'trhe big moment has arrived on the ot. The precious second one prayed for has come. Now Is the appointed time, when he who has wronged one is to “get his.” Poetic justice, still a force in the land, has turned events around :)ll)t the point where the biter is to get He who fixed the pit for the victim's feet is about to fall into it himselt, and it will serve him right! All one has to do is to give him a well deserved push, and in he goes, to the applause of the multitude. Every one knows that you have been grossly treated. You have been necedlessly in- sulted. You have been defrauded, or basely slandered. A sneaking use of facts and half- facts has placed you in a bad posi- tion. Or perhaps the villain has gone out of his way to do you a mean in. Jury. Or maybe he hurt ane’s feelings, merely, It makes no difference. “Re- venge is sweet.” The opportunity kas come to serve him in his own coin, to pay back with interest what he gave out, to make him see personally just what it means to be downtrodden. The stage is set, the lights are turned on, the audience is breathless with’expectancy. The plot has placed the villain at last at the mercy of his righteous opponent. And then, suddenly, the victor turns away, and pretends he does not see the fellow! “Oh, what's the use?” he murmurs to himself, walking off stage. Is it any wonder that the audience all his friends and acquaintances, do not understand, that some even think him cowardly? The world has not yet progressed to the point where such Christian action is esteemed as it yet will be, or as it is now by those who believe in the supremacy of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. * k k% Refraining from revenge saves Wear and tear upon the human spirit. Now the spirit of man is a vqry» in- tangible but none the less real thing thw the body of man. ear and tear upon blood vessels is treated by the physician. Nourish- ing food, freedom from excitement, perhaps moderate exercise, abstinence from all substances which tend to raise the blood pressure—these are some of the measures used. Such wear upon the human system is readily understood—the wearing upon the spirit is not so easily seen. Yet some of its manlifestations, its symptoms, are noticed by every one, though they .are generally and popu- larly ascribed to the physical being. The sad look in the eyes may come about through a lesion in the soul as well as result from a hurt to the lin- ing of the stomach. There are diseases in the spiritual fabric of man no less severe than the ordinary ones which the doctors treat every day. It is only in the last few years, comparatively speaking, that clinics for the soul have been established. Only the other day a prominent minister of one great denomination was quoted as lamenting the fact that his church had no soyl clinics such as another denomination has enjoyed for centuries. The fact that the soul of man, or his spirit, may be sick, and hurt, ill and failing, is just coming to be rec- ognized by man, so material has been the life of the great majority through the centuries, It is profitless to quibble over words. There is a physical man, and there is a spirftual man, and if no two mean exactly the same thing, every one knows quickly enough that opposites are meant. * ok ok % “Vengeance is mine, Lord.” 1t 18 not for us lesser beings to spoil our soul-substance, and to give our- selves indigestion, by taking upon ourselves the business of meting out personal justice. As self-preservation is a law of life, we will strike out, and strike hard, if necessary, but if not called for we will pass it up if we have sense, “I should worry and get wrinkles,” as the actress flippantly though truthfully sang. If this attitude be scored as just another phase of the doctrine of in- differency, then it may be said that indifferency is not as black &% she has been painted. ’ If thinking of you all day long, as the song said, is forgetting! If refraining from punching another in_the jaw is indifferency, then in- differency is sometimes a good thing. ‘There is a pleasurable stimulus, al- most physical, in allowing an injuri- ous person to go scot free that ought to be tried by every one who wants to get the most out of life. Purge the soul of animosities, tell anger to “lay down, sir,” and enjoy for once the sublime feeling of being on the heights of being. Not every one can be a bank presi- dent, or be free from the worries of economic necessity, but almost any one, if he try, can become greater than these in' the spiritual world, though the material world may know him not. He knows—he knows—and, after all, personal knowledge is what counts. saith the WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Official dry forces throughout the country will be grievously disappoint- ed if Maj. Roy A. Haynes fails to inherit the commissionership of pro- hibition created by the new enforce- ment law. Secretary Mellon is ex- pected to name the head of the Treas- ury Bureau, henceforward to admin- ister enforcement, almost any day now. Haynes' friends declare that the best argument for his appointment to the Jjob 1is that the known enemies of prohibition want somebody else to have it. The former Ohio editor has held the thankless post of principal Volsteadian longer than any other man associated with the service since Uncle Sam ascended the water-wagon. No one knows the ins and outs of the tortuous enforcement game a tithe as thoroughly. Haynes has a “constituency” that believes in him wherever ardent drys do congregate. He has stuck to his work, as all the world knows, under a myriad of dis- heartening conditions, including the meddling of politicians. Two names are prominent among those in the running for the new commissioner- ship, in addition to that of Haynes— E. C. Yellowley, prohibition director at Chicago, and Comdr. J. D. Penning- ton, director at Pittsburgh, a former naval officer. * ok ok ok Representative Albert Johnson, Re- publican, of Washington, veteran chairman of the House immigration committee, is going to do a Haroun al Raschid stunt at Ellis Island later in the month. He wants to give the new inspection system, in vogue for the past year or two, the once-over at close range. Since it went into ef- fect—i.e., the scheme whereby emi- grants are examined at the point of embarkation for the United States— |- the whole character of Bllis Island has undergone a change. The heart- break and the heartache have prac- tically been taken out of it. In the old days about 10 per cent of alien arrivals was rejected on grounds of inadmissibility. Nowadays only two- tenths is turned back. The result is that harrowing disappointments with- in the shadow of the Goddess of Lib- erty are rare. Representative John- son for three or four days and nights is going to see things there for him- self—observe food and lodging condi- tions, sit in at actual conference with would-be immigrants, live among them, and generally study Ellis Island in minute detail. * K Kk The country long since has come regularly to the National Capital and pllfered the Federal service whenever private enterprise needed men train- ed by Govérnment experience. Now the colleges and universities have fol- lowed suit by invading the District of Columbia in search of executives. Dr. Willlam Mather Lewis, president of George Washington University since 1923, has been commandeered by La- fayette College in consequence of his brilliant four-year record here. The trustees of the old Pennsylvania in- stitution, which has just celebrated its centenary, felt that a man like Dr. Lewis is ideally equipped for La- fayette's purposes because qf his “na- tional” background. * ok ok ok It isn't only in the corn-belt that the Lowden boom is being planted. Its seeds have just been sown in what is apparently considered to be the fer- tile East. The ‘‘Lowden-for-President Association of New York” was incor- porated at Albany on March 4—a sug- gestive date—by James R. Garrett, an insurance man with offices adjacent to that region which Western farm- ers consider the well of all iniquity, viz., Wall Street. The New York Lo den boosters now number 250 organiz- ed souls, They will proceed forthwith to multiply themselves. Describing the movement as a wholly spontane- ous one launched by personal friends, these aver and avow they have hoisted the Lowden banner over the ram- parts of Manhattan without the for- mer governor’s knowledge. Chiet Booster Garrett says his enthusiasm for the Westerner dates from the time when the former Lowden'’s law classes at Northwestern University. * ok ok ok A sidelight on the high strategy of those Republicans who are not en- thusiastically for Calvin Coolidge's re- nomination drifts this observer's way. The President’s aspiration (if such there is to be) is not to be opposed on “third tenm” grounds. It's recognized that an unanswerable case exists for contending that Mr. Coolidge is now in the midst of only his first term. So the opposition has .decided upon a slogan more strictly in accord with mathematical truth. It will read, “No Ten-Year President in the White House.” The Democrats, in the event they have to beat Coolidge in 1928, fil;loeh.bly will fight it out on the same * ok ok % “Big Sam” Winslow of Massachu- setts, chairman of the new United States Board of Mediation, is address- Ing the American Railway Engineer- ing Association at Chicago this week. His purpose is to explain the work- ings of the railway labor act, which went into force in May, 1926. Cor- dially supported by both executives and brotherhoods, the law is the most constructive step in the realm of transportation peace ever worked out In this country. It has been called the “Locarno” of the rail industry. Authorities expect it to prevent strikes much as the Federal Reserve Board prevents panics. Statesmanship has yet to evolve anything as effective as the railway board for preserving peace in the coal trade. In less than 10 months of existence, the board has settled 2§ cases by mediation and 19 by agreefments to arbitrate. * ok kX Dr. John J. Tigert, United States commissioner of education, has been digging into the question of cabinet officers’ tenure of life. He finds that during the 60 years between 1861 and 1921 the average tenure was only 2 years and 8 months. Since 1921 at least -three members of the present cabinet have far outstripped that average—Mellon, Hoover and Davis (James J.). Dr. Hubert Work, Secre- tary of the Interior, who completed four years in that post on March 4 1927, has filled it longer than all but three predecessors—Columbus Delano of the Grant administration, Ethan Allen Hitchcock of the McKinley ad- ministration and Franklin K. Lane of the Wilson administration. * K k% Sir Austen Chamberlain’s complaint that the League of Nations isn't giv- ing women a square deal in its ad- ministrative make-up recalls that although the United States isn't in the League American women have held, and hold, a number of key positions in the organ- fzation. Untll recently Miss Flor: ence Wilson of New York was chief librarian at Geneva, having occupled the post from the beginning. Miss Grace Abbott, chief of the Children's Bureau at the Department of Labor in Washington, is a member of the advisory commission on the traffic in women and children. Miss Julia C. Lathrop, Miss Abbott's predecessor, has served as an assessor of the com- mission. Dr. Alice Hamilton of the Harvard Medical School is a member of the League's labor bureau medical staff. Mrs. Hamilton Wright of Wash- ington has been prominent in _the League's_anti-oplum activities, Miss Sarah Wambaugh of Cambridge, Mass.,, has functioned in the minori- ties section of the League. (Copyright. 1927.) —————————— Still Unscathed. From the Savannsh Press. It seems that George Washington got a ocléan bill of health in the patriotic eulogies of the press. No Objection. From the Atianta Constitution. ikl This has n to its m‘:;l nhl:‘:du nm*ht foreign el A wag & student in acce: MARCH 9, " 1927. Politics at Large By G. Gould Lincoln. Congress has adjourned, but not politics. Republicans and Democrats alike are already engaged in adding up their assets and deducting Habili- ties with a view to the campaign of 1928. The Republicans are fairly well satisfled with the results of their cal- culations, notwithstanding the fli- buster in the Senate in the last da: of the Congress which killed a num- ber of important bills. ey belleve that the country will place as much blame at the door of Reed, the Demo- crat from Missouri, as they will at the door of Reed, the Republican from Pennsylvania. The Democrats dispute this, of course. The Republicans see the country still prosperous. That they regard as their greatest asset. They have carefully educated the voters in the beliaf that Rebublican administration and prosperity are synonymous, and with no little suc- cess. The farm problem, the Republicans realize, is still to be solved, They are hoping that good crops and fair prices during the coming season will go a long way toward that solution. They freely admit that bad crops and low prices will make things difficult, to say the least, in many of the Western States. One f{mportant Republican leader from the Middle West—inci- dentally he voted for the McNary- Haugen farm relief bill, which the President vetoed—has received a whole batch of letters from his farming con- stituents and, to his surprise, only one of them has been hostile to the Re publican administration because of that veto. - * % ¥ % President Coolidge has annouaced that he will spend his Summer vaca- tion in the West. As he intends to find a place where the altitude will promise comfortable weather during the hot months, it is unlikely he will g0 to the corn belt proper. But the West will have an opportunity of seeing something of the President, and the President, the West, which will be a very excellent arrangement. ‘Western leaders and Western people will have an opportunity to discuss their problems with the Chief Execu- tive, and he will have an opportunity of learning first-hand what their prob- lems are. * ok ok % The Democrats have emerged some- what from the gloom which enveloped them a few weeks ago, when it ap- peared that the old Smith-McAdoo row was sure to crop up again in the next Democratic national conven- tion. They are doing their best to put an end to the wet and dry ques- tion as a natfonal party issue. The most hopeful sign so far from their point of view was the harmony which prevailed at the first caucus of the Democratic Senators who are to sit in the next Congress. Wets and drys alike at that conference expressed the hope that prohibition would be considered a local, a State issue, ;-nlber than a national party prob- em. Despite the failure of the resolution extending the life of the Reed slush fund committee in the closing hours of the Senate session, many of the Democrats feel that the issue of heavy campaign expenditures and corruption, which the committee raised against the Republicans in the 1926 elections, will prove of value to them in the campaign of 1928. If the Reed committee has been halted somewhat in its stride for the re- cess of Congress, the Democrats figure that when the Senate meets again it will give that committee renewed life and power. With the Democrats holding practically, one- half of the Senate and the Progres- sive Republicans ready to back them up, it is their belief that a new reso- lution can be put through, if it is desired, and a committee made ready to probe campaign expenditures in 1928. . * K X % The defection of Senator Blease of South Carolina from his Democratic colleagues in the recent fight for passage of the resolution extending the life of the Reed sjush fund com- mittee has stirred animosities on the Democratic side of the Senate cham- ber. There has been no little talk of disciplining the flery South Caro- linan, even to the extent of shutting him out of party councils, just as the Republicans a couple of years ago threw out several Progressive Republicans. But it is doubtful that they will proceed to such ex- treme measures. They have as an object lesson the futility of the action taken by the Republicans. The latter found that their efforts to oust Pro- gressive Republicans did them little good, even though the four Senators eliminated from party councils had opposed the Republican national ticket in 1924 and had thereby laid themselves open to party discipline. ‘Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota, the States affected, continued to re. turn _the same or other Progressives to the Senate. Probably Senator Blease would be strengthened politi- cally in his own State if the Demo- crats should now undertake to oust him from the party. ik 2w The re-election of Senator “Joe” Robinson of Arkansas as Democratic leader of the Senate was not only a sign of harmony in the party, but also in large measure a reward for service rendered. The Arkansas Senator. had proved himself an in- defatigable worker, an able floor leader. He has held the party lines strongly during the contests with the Republicans in the Senate. ok K K The boom for Senator Reed of Missouri for the Democratic presi- dential nomination next year con- tinues. No man in the Senate has beens more in the public eye during the session of Congress just closed. The opportunities of leadership be- fore him in the contests over the seating of Senatorselect Vare of Pennsylvania and Smith of Illinois, which are to come as soon as the next Congress_opens, are of no little importance. His rise in power in the party is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that less than seven yvears ago the Missouri Sen- ator could not break into the Demo- cratic national convention as a dele- gate from Missouri. Incidentally, the rise of Senator Reed as a Democratic possibility for 1928 bodes no good to the presidential aspirations of former Gov. Frank O. Lowden of Illinois, if he has any. Reed's principal issue, if he has his way, will be “‘slush” in the next cam- paign. And “slugh” is what killed off the nomination of Gov. Lowden by the Republicans in 1920. During the debate on the Reed resolution in the Senate last week Senator Reed took occasion to rake this up. Senator Reed at that time was serving as a member of another senatorial slush fund committee—that headed by Sen- ator (now Judge) Kenyon of Iowa. The Kenyon committee investigated charges of expenditures of money in the preconvention campaigns that year, and Senator Reed in his speech last week sald: “T recall that there was another distinguished gentleman who started upon the enterprise of securing' the delegates from the State of Missouri to the Republican national conven. tio It transpired that he had paid $38,600 to certain political bosses, who proceeded against the will of the majority of thei Republicans of the State, acco! to_admitted testi- mony, for it was admitted that the favo the Senator California, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Q. What was ‘the flag of anclent Greece?—J. K. A. Ancient Greece had no national flag since it was divided into many eparate kingdoms. The standard of Attiea bore a white war horse; that of the Corinthians, the winged horse: the Lacedemonians, the letter L; that of the Thraclans, a death head; that of the Thessalonians, the immortal sorrel horse, Xanthes: that of the Messenlans, the letter M. Q. Are slip covers ever used on drapes in the Summer?—L. T. H. A. Occasionally it is desirable to put slip covers on heavy window and door hangings instead of taking them down, because of having no place to store them. They may be made to look well by fashioning baglike slips which may be drawn up over the curtains and fastened at the un- der side of the top. The curtains should be left drawn back and hang- ing in their natural folds, after they have been thoroughly cleaned and dusted. The valance, too, may have a slip cover adjusted to hide it and keep it from the dust. Q. Are diamonds mentioned in the Bible?—R. J. H. A. They are mentioned several times. Q. How many lawyers are there in New York City?—J. A. R. . The New York City Directory lists about 12,900, Q. How much Egyptian cotton was imnorted last year?—C. D. P. A. For the year ending December, 1926, there were 181,000,393 pounds of Egyptian cotton imported into the United States. Q. Are there natural partings in the hair?—G. C. % A. Yes. A left part is commonest; next, middle; then right. The left eye- brow tends to part. Q. Can a snapping turtle bite under water?—W. A. F. . A. It can and does. This turtle is a dangerous type. Q. What minerals are used in the manufacture of automobiles?—J. T. W. A. The following minerals are list- ed as “raw materials used in manu facturing motor cars and trucks” Iron, steel, plate glass, aluminum, copper, tin, lead, zinc and nickel. There are numerous alloys of the above minerals that enter into the manufacture of this product. Q. Where were diamonds found be- fore the Brazilian ones were known? —D. K. A. Previous to the discovery of the Brazilian mines in 1727, diamonds were found chiefly in India and Borneo. They have been used as a gem from very early times. Q. When was Steubenville, Ohio, settled?—J. W. M. A. The first authorized occupation on the site of Steubenville, Ohio, took place in 1786, when a small block- house was built by Capt. Hamtramck of the Army. By February, 1787, he had built a fort called Fort Steuben- ville. This was burned down in 1780. The place was neglected until Janu- ary, 1798, when Bezabel Wells of Penn- sylvania laid out the town of Steuben- ville on the land, including the site of the old fort, and gave it its name after Baron Steuben, a Prussian officet the Revolutionary Army. " Q. What s meant by “Pittsbus plus"?—W. C, 8. v e A. “Pittsburgh plus” is a term used in the steel industry. Market prices of steel are based on the prices in Pittsburgh. Any purchaser of steel products outside of Pittsburgh must pay the price quoted in Pittsburgh plus the froight to the place of deliv- ery. For instance, a Chicago pur- chaser might get steel from Gary, Ind., but he would pay the Pittsburgh price plus freight from Pittsburgh to Chicago. Q. What is the quotation to the ef- ;fi:":h:l a‘: r;lwm ‘would sleep under a et of flowers, we good deed a blossom?—A. C. e A. Probably the quotation {s the one from Robert Ingersoll at the grave of his brother: “He add- ed to the sum of human joy, and were every one for whom he did some lov- ing service to bring a blossom to his grave he would sleep tonight beneath a wilderness of flowers. Q. Please describe shield.—I. J. L. bl A. The United States shield has 13 vertical stripes, 7 white and 6 red, with a blue chief one-third its length and without stars. Q. What is encaustic tile?>—M. N. A. The word “encaustic” means “burned in,” and encaustic tile is an earthenware tile having a pattern in different colors, made with different colored clays fnlaid in the tile and fired with it. Q. Why was Philadelphia called th “Red City”?—S8. F. 45 e A. The term is probably due to the fact that red was the predom- inating color originally, many of the houses being built of red brick. Q. Is Iceland a part of North America or of Europe>—N. C. T. A. Iceland is classed as part of Europe, and s under the sovereignty of Denmark. Q. Where can a copy of “Old Iron- sides” be purchased in order to help provide for her preservation?—L. B. A. Prints of “Old Ironsides” may be obtained from Rear Admiral Philip ;\\lndrewu. Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Mass, Q. When and how did the corn ?or;r ’emer the United States?— A. The European corn borer prob- ably galned entrance into the United States in 1909 and 1910 in broom corn imported from Hungary and Italy. Our Washington Information Bu< reau does not take a vacation. It is on the job every day during the year, answering questions for our readers. Its special service is to answer any question of fact om any swbdject for any reader at any time. It is impos- sible to make a complete em of subjects giving an adequate idea of the scope and range in which the bureau can serve you. Its activities can noly be summed up in the phrase “whatever yow want to know.” Send in your question. Address The Eve- ning Star Information Bureow, Fred- eric_J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Danger to Americans in China Conceded in Debate on U. S. Aims America reads of the turmoil in China with realization of, the immedi- ate possibilities of disaster to the thousands. of foreigners who may be caught between the contending armies at Shanghai, but with no gen- erally accepted ideas of what should be done about it or as to what may be_the outcome of the civil war. Evidence that “the danger to Americans in China is a real one, and that the commanders of the con- tending armies in the Chinese civil war could not or would not give pro- tection,” is seen by the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, which argues: “Even if we could find it possible to rate Chinese promises as sincere, events warrant abundant doubt that the makers of those promises are able to keep them. Troops of British and other European nations are in Shang- hal to protect the lives of their peo- ple, and there will naturally be co- operation of Americans with them in defense of the 40,000 foreigners in the Shanghai district. ~We have taken these sane and practical pre- cautions that our citizens shall not be killed or plundered while the rival Chinese military factions are fighting for a decision as to which shall act for China in making new treaties.” The possibility of “a union of all the Chinese armies for the purpose of driving the foreigners out of the country” is suggested by the San Bernardino Sun. ‘“‘What such a war would develop can scarcely be fore- told,”" continues this paper. “Even with the advantage of warships and airplanes, the 20,000 to 25,000 soldiers, satlors and marines of Britain, United States and Japan would be sadly in- sufficient to cope with the more than a milllon well equipped soldiers that would be opposed to them. Japan might have to be relied upon to send in a great invading army and then what The Hartford Times pdints out that “China is the only country other than Japan east of the Urals, Turkey and Arabia, which has large from the State of Missourl was de- livered to Mr. Lowden, now the spe- cial champion and friend of the farmer.” * ok % % The Vice Presidency has been re- garded in the past as the tomb of political ambitions. No Vice Presi- dent of the United States since the time of Van Buren has stepped from the office of Vice President into the ‘White House, except where the teath of the President has elevated the Vice President first to the presidency. Vice President Charles G. Dawes, however, has failed to lose color be- cause of his more or less colorless job. He began with a row with the Senate over its rules. ,(He has basted the Senate in season and out because of the rule of unlimited de- bate. He has lost rothing by it, not even the respect of the Senate, who recognize in the Vice President a good fighter if nothing else. Today the chances of Gen. Dawes for the presi- dential nomination appear as bright as those of any other Republican, if President Coolidge should not be a candidate to succeed himself. He comes from a. strategic State. He has favored the principle of the McoNary- Haugen farm relief bill, which will not hurt him in the corn belt. He is favorably known in the Kast as a successful banker and not calculated to upset business if he becomes Chief Executive. He is constructive and he has a flair for the headlines, as proved in his appearances before the con- gressional committees after the war, by his handling of the reparations muddle in Europe and more recently as President of the bliaan from all parts of the country are convinced that the. President o himself, that B wil b drad¥hd for the notasaleR: modern armies and is apparently get- ting into the habit of having and us- ing them.” *x %% nal says that the struggle at Shang- hai when it comes “will be a time of acute danger for foreigners in China, and possibly it may precipitate a clash between foreign forces and the unately, , “‘there seems little that can be done about it, unless the powers are willing to withdraw their nation- als from the danger zone until the is- sue is decided.” Estimating the foreign forces now in Shanghai at 10,000, the Philadel- phia Public Ledger says “it seems strange that a number so small should be regarded as ample for de- fense of the city,” but it quotes mili- tary attaches arriving from Peking to the effect that 10,000 foreign sol diers, properly led and equipped, could conquer all China if required to do so.” The Lansing State Journal feels that “it is conceivable that the di ciplined white troops can hold Shang- . hal for a considerable time, but how about holding the place indefinitely? ' The surest kind of defense is aggre: sion,” continues that paper, “and if Shanghal Js to be definitely held it may require a much more extended effort, eventually, than ‘is ' now! planned. The Manchester Union also believes that “the faot that the situation may at any time develop serious consequences to the lives and property of foreigners justifies the most thorough co-operation and pre- caution.” “It is a very nalve reader of the news,’’ asserts the New York World, “who does not know that a fast game of high international politics is now being played in China _between la, Japan and two rival Chinese factions. Before we know it, we may find ourselves involved in something more, ambitious than pro- tecting our own nationals.” But the Springfleld Union observes that “the - powers are doing the only thing they can d g to protect their na- tionals while letting the Chinese fight it out.” The Brookiyn Daily Eagle takes the position: “The native pop- ulation of Shanghal numbers 1,500, 000. The foreigners number 35,000. Under the circumstances any show of force is out of place.’ * kX % “The day for impressing Chinese with ‘resounding thum " avers the Baltimore Sun, “and the nation that tries that short- sighted policy is likely to find that it leaves nothing on the credit side of the ledger and a great deal more on the debit account than the $5,000,000 already taken from the British treas. :3"101- the martidl display at Shang- The Flint Daily Journal contends that, so far as the Americans are con- cerned, ‘restraint, on the whole, g admirable, both because it shows that a powerful Nation can hold its temper in a brawl and because it will even- tually make relations between this eopgu;y :n:ih Clg:: much smoother.” "Out of the chaos we may expect conciliation,” the Houston chro:lec'l:o hopes, “‘not perhaps because of the in- ability or unwillingness of the western * nations to use their superior force of arms against the crowding Chinese, but because conciliation is the only way to prosperity for the white man in Chln;"« ) The Buffalo Evening News holds, also, that * o the " is