Evening Star Newspaper, June 28, 1927, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY THEODORE'W. NOYES. ... Editor ———————————————————— The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business O St and Pennsyivania Ave. ork Office” 110 Eaat 42nd St. flice. Tower Building. t St.. London. 11 New Chicaxo European Office Enclan The Evening Star. with the Sunday morn- is delivered by carriers witkin the city 'al 60 cents’ per mionth: dajly’ only; 45 senis per month® Sundavs only. 20 cents per month. Ordars may be sent by mail o telephone Main 5000 Collection is made b carrier at and of each month Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. . $9.00: 1 mo. Daity and, Sundar -4 7t $280: 1 mo- 43¢ Sundav only 1 vrl $300° 1 mo.. 23¢ All Other States and Canada. and Sunday 1 yr. § ¢ Daily only . Sundav only . Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled 1o the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or not otherwise cred- ited in this paper and also the local news published herein Al rikhts of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserve A Ten-Cent Fare. ‘The Public Utilities Commission has granted the Washington Rapid Transit Co. a straight ten-cent bus fare in lieu of the charge of six tokens for fifty cents. This decision ends a long fight waged by the company for an increase in fare. In making the peti- tion for a higher rate transit officials claimed that an operating loss of six or seven thousand dollars was sus- tained each month. They pointed out that even with the increase no profit could be shown, but that it would de- crease materially the monthly losses. There has been a good deal of skep- ticism on the part of the public in re- gard to the necessity for a fifty per cent higher rate of fare than is charged on the street cars. The bus company has passed through difficult times in ity relations to the public. The serv- ice has not been all that it should be, its stock was acquired and held by the North American Co., which formed the basis for charges of violation of an act of Congress, and one of its em- ployes embarked on a treecutting ex- pedition which injured more than fifty of Washington's finest Norway maples. Then, too, there has been some thought that perhaps the lack of profit and the loss in operating expenses might be due to mismanagement. The Utilities Commission, however, after a painstaking investigation into the affairs of the organization, has seen fit to grant the increase, and the Washington public should support cheerfully its decision. The owners of the company are not philanthropists. They have no desire to operate busses at a loss, and they should not be ex- pectéd to do £o. Now that the increase has been granted it is distinctly up to the com- pany to improve its service to the ex- tent that the public will not hesitate to pay the differential in fare between busses and street cars. If a better article is furnished by the bus com- pany, the public will not quarrel re- garding the higher price, and with its share of patronage there appears to be no reason why the company cannot wipe out its losses, and eventualiy make a profit in its daily service to the community. A Jury Rebuke. Characterizing a jury's decision as a “rank miscarriage of justice” a judge in Criminal Court No. 2 yesterday dis- charged the jury, delivered a. rebuke and ordered the names of the panel stricken from the rolls for further service. The defendant before the bar was charged with stealing an auto- mobile. Witnesses had testified to the act and the defendant was alleged to have confessed. The attorney for the defense submitted the case without evidence or argument. Yet the jury refurned with a “not gullty” verdict. With the crime wave being studied for remedial action by experts in every part of the country and wholesale efforts being made to discourage crim- inal activities it is discouraging to con- template such affairs as that which drew the judge's condemnation yes- terday. The justice certainly would not have delivered such a stinging re- buke without due cause. His action was the result of a complete dis- agreement with the verdict of the jury. A fair trial should be given to every defendant, but every . jury should be able to digest evidence in a sensible and reasonable manner and bring in a verdict that is called for by the facts. A jury is charged with .June 28, 1927 personal relations, and indeed good sportsmanship = requires that there should be no manifestations of ill feel- ing. Now and then a pitcher gains a bad reputation for using the ‘“bean ball,” a terrifying device to enhance the effectiveness of delivery, and soon- er or later such a boxman will “get his™ if he persists in this practice. Rough playing has been fairly well eliminated from the sport, and with it has gone the cause of most of the misunderstandings and animosities that once made base ball a rival of the prize ring for the delectation of those who-enjoy the spectacle of hu- man combat. The punishment adminis- ;ltred to the Pittsburgh catcher should insure an era of good feeling on the ball fleld, in appearance if not in spirit. | | | Cutting School Budget. Every one in Washington is watch- ing with keen interest th¢ way In which $2,000,000 or $2,500,000 is being eliminated from the District school budget, because every one is anxlous that there may be no serious curtail- ment of the educational facllities af- forded to the youth of today who will be the men and women, fathers and mothers of a few years hence. The taxpayers, while zealous to guard against increases in taxes, are ex- tremely consclentious about being re- sponsible for any failure to provide properly for the education of the chil- dren of Washington, who are the city's greatest assets. No alarm need be felt that there will be any ruthless slashing of funds really necessary for the actual school- room instruction, and it is safe to say that the reduction in the budget or- dered by the Commissioners will merely delay the completion of the school-building program and delay putting into operation certain Improve- ments. urged by the District health office and the fire marshal. So the $2,000,000 to $2,500,000 cut puts the brakes on progress, but does not im- pair the school system as it has been operating. The basic facts are these: The Dis- trict budget for the flscal year 1929 as received from the department heads totals about $50,000,000. The District Commissioners, after conferences with the Bureau of the Budget, have or- dered that this must be reduced to about $42,000,000. The school budget is always the largest classification under the total District budget, rep- resenting approximately one-third of the total. As submited to the Dis- trict officials for the fiscal year 1929, the school budget is approximately $15,500,000. The Commissioners re- turned this with instructions to the school officlals to submit alternative proposals for approximately $13,000,- 000 or $13,500,000. The intention is to allow the larger amount if possible. The school officials are now working on these alternative lists, which the Commissioners expect to receive on Thursday, So it will be seen that the cuts or- dered in the school program are pro- portionate to those throughout the entire District service. The attitude of the school authori- ties is that of disappointment because they will Be unable to carry out the program of what Is estimated to.be needed for a first-class system in the National Capital, but, in view of the attitude. of business leaders and the citizens, through their organized rep- resentatives, protesting against fur- ther increases in the tax rate, the school authorities are accepting the mandate with good grace, especially as they appreciate that no great injustice to the children will immediately result. It is a foregone conclusion that the building and repair fund will be dmas- tically cut. It now stands at $1,000,000 to $1,250,000. Dr. Frank W. Ballou, the superintendent of schools, admit- ted at the hearing before the Citizens’ Advisory Council that this is an item- ization of Improvements recommended by the health officer and fire marshal, without the school authorities passing upon their imperativeness. It is prob- able that this classification will be reduced to about $575,000, which is the | original estimate that the school au- thorities believed essential. As a result of their hearings the Citizens' Advisory Council recommend- ed to the Commissioners that the school budget be reduced to about $13,197,000. The remainder of the $2,000,000 to $2,500,000 reduction must come out of the school-bullding program. This was originally a “five-year program,” but already it has become a six-year program, even if the Commissioners had allowed all that the school officlals dealing out justice, and it should be | speclally careful to see that its actions | deter crime rather than encourage It. | recommended for the fiscal year 1929. In three yvears It is not half completed. So with the reduction ordered it be- T ey R SR | comes at least a seven-year program. Fourth of July fireworks were once | an evidence of patriotism. They have become chiefly a test of nerves. o Pugilism on the Ball Field. A sentence of $500 fine and suspen- sion from participation in all ball games for thirty days has been im- posed upon a catcher of the Pitts- burgh National League Club for a bru- tal physical assault upon the manager of the Boston team of that same cir- cuit. This assault took place in the course of a game recently, being the climax of personal feelings between the | two men during several years. It was | unprovoked and savage in its character | and the injuréd player was disabled {rom service for several days. In this action President Heydler of the National League serves notice upon all ball players in his jurisdic. tion that pugilism will not be counte- nanced on the ball teams. This case is an exceptional one, for rowdylsm has not prevailed in base ball for some vears. Time was when fights between players were not uncommon and many a game has beén enlivened by fisticuffs, with players, and umpires also, as par- tictpants. To strike an umplre is re- garded as the lowest form of wit in the national pastime and is imme. Qiately and automatically penalized. Club rivalries sometimes engender bitter personal feelings, but as a rule they are held in control when the teams meet, although occasionally hostilities are practiced in clubrooms and elsewhere. The competition be- tween ball teams should not, however, lead to these personal grievances and encounters. The most contentious rivals while the game is in prggress may be the best of friends in’thelr The school authorities in preparing | their new lists for the Commissioners are working on the policy of sacrific- ing first the items of land acquisition, s0 a8 to save as many as possible of the school construction items. So it works down to a question of fiscal policy—whether the District tax- payers feel they can afford to provide now all the school sites that will be needed in a few years and bulldings that are already needed, or whether this important work must walt an- other year or two. The trouble is that our school-building program was 80| far in arrears and the city had grown so fast that we had a big school-build- ing job to do, just at the time when | Congress, which was really responsible for the work being so far in arrears, declded ruthlessly to lop off the Fed- eral contribution that we belleved we were to recelve under the old 60-40 contract. The result is the District taxpayers have had to carry the full |10ad of school building that the Fed- eral treasury was expected to share. ——rat—————— Scrapping a battleship would seem less cruel if there were any way of converting the debris into airplanes. - The Hawaiian Flight. Popular interest in the California- Hawalian flights centers in who will get there first. A sustained flight from the continent to the Hawallan Islands is yet to be accomplished. The first plane to make it will recelve the lion’s share of applause and will cut for itself a niche in the now crowded Hall of Fame that never can be com- pletely erased by subsequent feats. The flights have taken on the aspects THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON. of a race, and as usual laurels will go to the winner. But here is a race, pe- cullar in the fact that while crossing the finish line first will determine the winner in one respect, the plane which runs second best may be just as de- serving. The conditions under which the contestants are flylng differ wide- ly. No handicaps have been allotted. No method has been arrived at—and none is sought—for making any de- cision as to which ocontestant, if both reach the goal, deserves the greater credit. The Army plane, carrying Lieuts. Maitland and Hegenberger, weighs 13,500 pounds, including fits huge supply of 1,040 gallons of gaso- line. The civilian plane, carrying Ernest L. Smith and Charles Carter. weighs 4,372 pounds, including its load of 370 gallons. Both have about the same crulsing radius, which should glve them some 600 miles to spare after flying as the crow flies the 2,400 miles of water between the mainland and the islands. The civilian plane has greater speed, but the Army plane can stay up longer. The maximum time calculated by the civilian flyers to reach the journey's end is less than the minimum time the Army flyers are allowing themselves. Interest in the Hawaiian flights, therefore, should not be confined to the plane that gets there first. Get- ting there first, after all, is of small significance cémpared to getting there at all. Both planes are embarking on the longest all-water flight ever attempted. Both planes are trying something that man has never beéfore | accomplished. Both planes, if they succeed, will have added to the knowl- edge of aviation and will have won another battle in the conquest of the alr. And both carry with them the anxious hopes of their proud country- men in a courageous and death-defy- ing voyage. “Old Probabilities” used to be a jocose sobriquet for the weather forecaster whose activities are now so important in connection with aero- nautics. “Old Prob” is taken more seriously at present. He is the au- thority on when to “hop off” and when to “sit tight.” Motion picture producers have re- duced the salaries of stars, but not enough to cause a strike. The reduc- tion still leaves a wide margin between earning capacity in the studios and in any other form of useful occupation. —— e ‘Washington, D. C., the most beauti- ful of cities and the most important In world affairs, will leave an absurd touch in its history if it proves in- capable of providing one of the finest of landing flelds for aeroplanes. ] The Philippines want independence, but they need a supervising authority to assist in making preparation for an independence that will ultimately prove genuine and secure. ———e——— Edison has always boasted of the | small amount of sleep that would keep | him going. Had he been born later he might have made a great non-stop aviator. o Jewelry from the tomb of King Tut is, after all, old-fashioned decoration which would not hold its own in mod- ern fashion’s parade. —————— There 1s little question about the award to Mr. Van Lear Black of the world luxury champlonship for a long- distance flight. ———re——————— New York padlocks night clubs and | then sends a patrol around to see whether junk thieves have stolen the padlocks. e e Uncle Sam {s rich enough to buy as much of anything as he wants—ex- cept battleships. e Occasionally conditions make a non- stop filght look like a non-start flight. it e, SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Non-Progressive. 0Old world travels on its way— Just got here from yesterday. We'll be landed, pretty soon, In tomorrow afternoon. First we creep and then we crawl; Then we walk and stand up tall; Get a fiivver, by and by; Next, we're sailin’ through the sky! 01d world travels on its way, Through the stars in bright array. Giddep, mule, for what you're worth! We're still a-huggin’ this old earth!| Safe Topic. | “Why do you take so much interest | in the tomb of King Tut?" | “It is always desirable to indicate exceptional knowledge,” replied Sena- tor Sorghum, “and King Tut is a| prominent personage who can be dis- cussed without danger of starting a modern political controversy.” Security In Traffic. A lightning bug I'd like to be. No copper bold would shout to me, “Stop where you are and turn about! You're in bad, for your lights are out!” Jud Tunkins says a few people seem inclined to forget that there is a whole lot of important stuff in the United States Constitution besides the eight- | eenth amendment. | Flying. “Aviation has taken possession of the popular mind.” “Yep. Nobody in the village choir wants to sing anything except ‘I Want to Be an Angel.’” Merit Recognized. “And you had this palace bullt in & single night?” asked the princess. “Yes,” answered Aladdin proudly. “You have power which royal birth could not bestow. You are our leading realtor.” “Music,” said HiI Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “Inspires men to battle. In time of peace musicians fight among themselves.” Disproportion. An aviator won renown. This situation was revealed. We offered him a whole big town, But could not yleld a landing fleld. D. « THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. dinvineible love o — 1 M e e e Srestren: of India.—Gibbon, in Memoirs. There are two girls, one who reads incessantly, and the other who never touches books, magazines or news- papers. The reader is the prettier and health- fer of the two, as strange as it may seem to some pérsons, who have the idea that one who reads must be a “bookworm."" As a matter of fact, pretty girls almost invariably are the smartest, in the ordinary sense of that word. Class leaders in high schools and colleges more often than not are pret- ty. The same thing holds true in busi- ness establishments. The best stenog- raphers and file clerks are the pret- tiest girls in the place. What, always? Well, almost alwa Take the stage again. The “'st not only must be lovely ladies, they also must have intelligence enough to memorize their parts perfectly and to put them over in the same manner. Nature has, indeed. compensated many ugly persons by giving them superintelligence, But that does not mean that she has not often enough accorded handsome people the same I. Q. (Intelligence Quotient). The common impression, that a read- ing boy or girl must be of the Percy or Algernon type, s as absurd as most “popular” impressions are. * ok K K The greatest reader we ever knew was a jack tar on one of Uncle Sam's destroyers. At the time we had a pretty good ‘impression of our own ability as a_ reader, but. were com- pelled to yield first place to this red- blooded, ~ broad-shouldered fighting ! very trip out he made it a point to read some author ‘“clear through,” as he phrased it. One v ge it would be Victor Hugo; anothe: ens; the next, Herbert Spencer. The last time we heard of him it was Alexandre Dumas, the elder—and any one who has ever delved into the novels of this writer, even in English translations, will know that this was a task indeed. For there are scores upon scores of these tales, each one fast moving, each one colored by the master hand of the craftsman, al- though he himself may have done no more in the book than sketch out the plot or add deft touches to the inimi- table dialogue. * ok kR This sallor, of course, came from no “rough-neck” stock, but was the son of an educated man, a minister of the gospel. In other words, he had an ‘early and invincible love of reading.” bred into him in a home where books were a part of the daily fare. It is true. perhaps, that reading no longer holds the place in the house- hold that it once did, when the out- side world did not call with a thousand and one luring amusement voices. In the old days, when men read by candle light, if they read at all at night, a few good books constituted a treasure, looked up to by the entire village. There were no movies then, no “night clubs,” few theaters, no ‘Joy rides” (except occasionally on a hay pwagon or sleigh), no radio, no phono- graph. * The so-called “learned professions meant more, in some respects, than they do today, since then the educated man more often than not earned the most money in his daily calling. Some, at least, of that ancient pres- tige has been lost in a day and age when a man can make ten times as much money in a year by riding a horse or playing base ball, or a hun- dred times as much by possessing the ability to administer the knockout to another gentleman in the squared circle. * ok Kk The heritage of reading, however, has something divine in it, even to- day. It recalls, more vividly than ever, because of the very competition it is called upon to face, the glory of man’s advance on chaos and the dark. The ability to think and to express his thoughts in words, fivst spoken and then written, is man’s chief claim to glory among the animals. It is this power that has transformed him from a beast to one a little lower than the angels. If anything makes us_“in God’'s image,” it is this. Reading not only has power to amuse and to instruct, to lighten the cares of the day and the night, to put one in touch with the master minds of all the centuries—its very doing, the act of reading itself, enlists one in the march of civilization. Tt is to be regretted that the enemies of culture have made so much of the picture of the “grind,” the boy with the big head, and the weak chin, and the bespectacled eyes. He is not the only sort of boy who reads. And the base Instinct, to “make fun” of deviation from the normal, here makes many mistakes, for these very boys often as not turn into mak- ers of progress, business and art leaders. ‘The Boy Scouts, that common sense organization of sublime instincts, makes reading an integral part of the work of the boy. “What he does and what he reads are vital to your boy,” says the adver- tisement of the official Scout maga- zine. The second clause, ‘‘what he reads,” might be put first; for what a boy does often depends upon what he reads. What one reads and what one does are vital to every one of us. ° The conscious and unconscious influence of ‘x'('ndinz in the life of every reader is not to be disputed. Motivations of many deeds lie obscurely in books read long ago, their very titles and authors forgotten, but their influence remaining as part of the strange col- lection known as *‘the mind of man.” If there are evil influences at work in literature, it is no more than may be said of every walk in life, and surely the inimical phases of regding are in the minority when compared with the vast volume of clean, decent writing available. Position of Lowden Analyzed As Real Campaign Approaches What some observers call the “Barkis-is-willin’ " attitude of former Gov. Frank O. Lowden of Illinols to- ward the Republican presidential iom- ination leads to general comment on his speaking tour of this Summer and the probable part he will play in the campaign now getting under way. “Those who argue that Mr. Coolidge ought to step down in order that some other man may have a chance in the White House have a queer idea of the nature of the Presidency,” remarks the Worcester Telegram (Republican), as it notes that “the people don't fill the office in order to please a candi- date,” but ‘“choose a candidate or re- elect an occupant because they believe in his policies and purposes and char- acter.” Commenting on the restrained na- ture of the speech made by Mr. Low- den recently before the Dairymen'’s League, in Binghamton, the New York Herald Tribune (Republican) observes: “That genial perennial of the political garden, the Hon. Frank O. Lowden, opened his petals in the sunlight of Binghamton agriculture the other night and yearned once again on be- half of the American farmer. Like the cautious flower that he is, he did not do anything so rash as to commit himself to a policy. He hoped, he sug- gested, he outlined. He signed nothing that the most trusting farmer could translate into a definite promise. The most fervent well wisher of the Low- den candidacy is left with the painful fear that the only thing for which the former Governor of Illinois really yearns is the White House.” * ok ok K Of the same speech the New York World (independént Democratic) re- marks: “Altogether, it was a con- siderably toned-down picture of Mc- Nary-Haugenism which Mr. Lowden brought out of the West,” while the New York Evening Post (independent), although acknowledging the speaker’s knowledge of farm problems, says: “The evident caution of his Bingham- ton speech will only provoke inquiries from farmers who will want to know just what he means. Does he favor McNary Haugenlsm -or doesn't heg What Mr. Lowden has done by the Binghamton speech s to create the necessity of further speeches.” Declaring that counterattack often is good tactic: the Philadelphia Public Ledger (independent) thinks that “the Lowden activities, East and West, are calculated to offset the President’s arrival in the Black Hills,” and the Charlotte Observer [Demo- cratic) pictures “an ear to the ground out in the Black Hills listening for the oratorical disturbance at Binghamton.” Expressing the opinion that Mr. Lowden intends, of course, to capital- ize the agricultural unrest of the Mid- west” and that “he seeks to strength- en the impression that the Coolidge administration cares first, last and most of the time for the prosperity of the manufacturing East,” the Provi- dence Journal (independent) thinks the President made a shrewd choice of his vacation spot, locating where he could get *at first hand a report of the ate of public opinion in the Mississippi and Missouri valleys.” * ok Kok Calling attention to the fact that “the curve of insurgency in the West has heretofore always been precisely the reverse of the curve of prices” the Richmond News-Leader (independ- ent Democratic) is sure that “if prices go up this year the West is apt to be mollified and Lowden's chances will be negligible.” The Waterloo Tribune (independent) char- acterizes Mr. Lowden's position as “leader among the opposition to Cool- idge” as “a pretty comfortable posi- tion at this stage of the game,” but the Boston Transcript (independent Republican), because of the fact that President Coolidge has not come out | as a candidate for renomination, thinks the former Governor of Illinois is “suspended in midair for a time” to remain there ‘‘until something hap- pens, that ‘something’ being one or the other of two well chosen remarks by the President of thé United States. In the meanwhile, it Mr. Coolidge de- cides he does not want to run again, “there would be Mr. Lowden, toeing the mark and ready to get off with a “Read yoh Bible,” said Uncle Eben, “an look foh comfort 'sied of argu- eRt on' sggravation.” rush,” says the Charleston Evening Post (Independent Democratic). The Dayton Daily News (independ- ent Democratic) thinks *‘the emergence of Mr, Lowden as a prealdential candl- date is no minor matter. Mr. Lowden may not be the nominee,” says the Dayton paper, “but he is likely to have quite a bit to say about who the nomi® nee shall not be,” As to the qualifications of Mr. Low- den, the Columbia Record (Democratic) says the “claim {s made that Lowden is for superior to any other actual or potential Republican aspirant for the White House” and that he is credited “with giving Tllinois the most efficient and by far the least scandalous admin- istration of any of its long list of gov- ernors. Democrats, standing by. will be interested in watching his fig against a press-agented sure thing, concludes the Record. “Nobody can deny the existence of a Lowden legend. Tt is something like the Hoover and Dawes legends,” says the South Bend Tribune (indenendent Republican), which records the fact that “people have ascribed to Mr. Lowden executive genius and deep understanding of the problems of the farmer. T By-Product Diplomacy. BY GLENN FRANK. President of University of Wisconsin and Former Editor of the Century Magazine. 1 do not want to seem to be over- | doing the coining of Lindbergh into | copy, but there is one more aspect of | his colorful and compelling adventure that I want to consider before 1 pass on to other things. . Seriously and banteringly, Ambassa- dor Herrick repeatedly referred to Lindbergh as the Ambassador from America to Europe. Into the midst of the clashing dia- lects of international finance, he brought the Isperanto of hero-wor- ship. Nations can curse each other in a dozen divergent tongues, but they cheer a common hero in_ the single language of ungrudging admiration. If we are to believe the leader-writ- ers, the subtle chemistry of Lind- bergh's courage has turned hate into hero-worship, thereby giving a wholly new tone to the relations between America and Europe, excelling the diplomats at their own game of con- ciliation. We may safely acknowledge that | something real has been done in this | direction ‘without assuming that the worshipful madness of Paris and the equally sincere, if somewhat milder, madness of London over this youthful aviator will permanently overcome a bad diplomacy or a blundering foreign policy, should we practice such. Here is a new-style diplomacy; it is not a deliberate diplomacy; it has that touch of the casual that seems to me always to accompany the genu- inely great achievement; it is a by- product diplomacy. Edwin L. James quotes Lindbergh |as saying about this political aspect {of his adventure: “Gradually I have | come to see that there is a political factor involved. It has grown up as a sort of result. While it is true the minds of the crowds, a tribute to an aviator, yet I have come to see that | there is something else involved. It is rather indefinite and hard’ to fix. But I believe I would put it this way —the whole business has caused crowds over here to think of America in a pleasant way.” 1 suggest that the greatest achieve- ments in International relations al- ways come, not by deliberately staged conferences, but “as a sort of result” or by-product. The deliberate diplomacy of the conference room may change the ma- chinery of international relations, but only by-product diplomacy changes 1 the mind of international relations. ‘We devotees at the altar of organi- zations must learn that the most g precious values come not by organiza tion. We cannot organize love. We cannot organize respect. We cannot organize confidence. To the end of time the most ef- fective ambassadors will be unofficial and will be surprised when they dis- cover that they have been effective ambassadors. (Copyright. 1027.) ) lesel engine, ca- g 15,000 horse- ullt in Germany. nine-cylinder le of develo] pwer, was recen tribute paid to me has been, in the | C.. TUESDAY, JUNE 9%, 1927. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM LG M. HAWKERS AND WALKERS IN EARLY AMERICA. Richardson Wright. J. B. Lippincott Co. Many useful and important activities of the present take their common rise in puro vagabondage. Such is true of the beginning of trade and, commerce, out of which big business has grown. True, also, of road and water traffic and of the dawning sky business of man flight. The early practice of healing was by way of plain vaga- bondage. So was that of administer- ing justice and dispensing the con- solations and admonitions of religion. “Vagabond” is a word of lovely con- tent, but, like many another thing in life, it has lost its virtue through overuse and a perverted use. In its original innocence the word ‘vaga- bond” means simply a .-anderer. He is the one who leaves the familiar narrow path of safety for new roads of .possible danger. Vagabondage is the whole beautiful state of freedom that beckons out to wider experience. It is here that the explorers are found, and the adventurers, and the whole tribe of audacious experiment- ers in life. And these give account of that which is called progress. With- in this state there are others also, strolling dreamers and seers. These are the poets and artists. And others, too, those who move about idly, only their feet active in passing them on from place to place. tramps and hoboes. Unhappily, these last have pre-empted the whole of this delectable state, in so far as its mean- ing nowadays is construed. So the vagabond is an idle fellow in common acceptance where, as matter of fact, he is but a small and insignificant part of the great and useful common- wealth of vagabondage. L Going back Into the early days of America, Mr. Wright has found there and has brought back to us the sort of vagabond, the good sort, who stands for many of our useful beginnings, who is, 80 to speak, the seed of much that bulks so large today in -the in- dustrial character of this country, In easy story-telling manner the author goes back to the days when highways were country roads, rough and narrow, with nothing more excit- ing upon them than old Dobbin, half asleep, jogging to the next village and back again, with sugar and tea exchanged for butter and eggs of the farm. Not a. motor in sight, not for a hundred years and more yet. As for an airship! Why, never! You know what happened to Darius Green. Don't be silly! Now here, coming down the road, is something real. Here is the peddler, with his trunk strapped to his shoulders—a trunk so filled with wares as right then and there to lift the matter of compact storage to its full perfection. And here are many anecdotes of the traveling merchant of the early days. Here is the story of the rise of the “Yankee Peddler,” that shrewd, ingenious, per- sistent, purveyor of useful and use- less articles who stands, clear and un- challenged, as the true progenitor of the big business of the present. Here, too, healing and justice take to the road. The first doctor trudging out of a primitive settlement to an isolated hut in a forest clearing “is no more than the grandfather of the modern specialist zooming along a cement road | in a high-powered car.” The circuit judge began the itineracy of the jaw, carrying justice around the coun- try from away back in 1790, just as the circuit rider delivered religlous sustenance from settlement to settle- ment at that time, To this general picture of strolling peddlers and preachers, doctors and lawyers, players and circuses—a pic- ture reaching from our earllest days to the Civil War—the author adds cer- tain individual portraits that are most interesting. By reading and hearsay you know Bronson Alcott, the New England philosopher of transcendental pattern, famous man in his day. Be- lieve it or not, he himself was a vaga- bond once. Positively refused to go to Yale, but consented, instead, to go down South 4n_pursuit of a teaching job. And he did go to Norfolk, but the story runs that his search for a school to teach was not of the most urgent sort. Something that suited this vagabond better was a peddler’s pack with which, as an excuse, he was free to let his feet loose along the country roads dnd lanes of lovely Vir- ginia. Made money, too—"from 33 to 200 per cent profit. No Yankee could resist that, provided there had been no other lure, and it was several years before Bronson Alcott even turned his mind toward the deep and brilliant thinkings for which he was finally fa- mous and beloved. There are innu- merable others in this vagrant band of peddlers and money-makers, all of them interesting, all of them con- tributing definitely to round the pic- ture of this period. One other calls for a special word. And this is Johnnie Appleseed, of whom Mr, Wright says: “Among the strange figures known to the trails and waterways of the Middle West in the beginning of the last century was Johnnie Appleseed, a rare soul. Poets have extolled him, and the legends gather so thick about his figure that it is difficult to unravel the false from the true.” Then, we have a sketch of what is known about him—not much more than his name, Johnathan Chap- man of Massachusetts. Like every- body worth while, Johnathan had his passion and ideals and mission. His was nothing less beautiful than to plant frontier apple orchards so that settlers, ever moving West, would have a good fruit to eat, something be- side the fish they caught and the game they shot or trapped. His first orchard was in Ohfo. It was in 1801 that he appeared there with sacks of apple seeds that he had collected from cider mills in New York and Pennsyl- vania. Idealists are often said to be- gin with many good works that they never finish. Not so with this doer of good. He planted his orchards right, certain of their safety and growth, because he stayed by long enough to make sure. Why not? He had all the time there was. From Ohio, Johnnie Apnleseed floated down the Ohio River with two canoe loads of apple seeds, bound for what was then the Western frontier. Every- body loved such a man as that. The Indians were his friends and among them he, incidentally, did a little mis- slonary work, carrying Bibles along with the apple seeds, and preaching the Gospel to the Indians. An odd fellow—not very appealing in appear- nce and dress. Just a coffee for clothes, except for such cast- arments as he could get now and then in trade for the seeds. Bare- foot, Winter and Summer. On his head a tin pan that served as cooking pan when it was not playing the part of a hat. Yet, despite this odd way of life here was a man fired with a mission, a useful and beautiful one at that. In 46 years of travel by foot and boat and horseback, it is calculat- ed that the seed he planted had grown into trees bearing fruit over an area of 100,000 square miles. “Death came to him soft-footed and kind. One dusk, in 1847, having tramped 20 miles, he reached the home of a friend near Fort Wayne, Ind. He sat down wearlly on the doorstep, and the people brought him bread and milk. Having eaten, he read aloud the Beautitudes, and then stretched him- self on the floor to sleep. During the a oft g | night he died.” Here, chapter by chapter, is a de- | lightful book to whose author readers are indebted, not only for patient re- search and the verification of facts, but for a companionable way with his words—a way that gives to innu- merable pictures of the early days of this country the quality of actual lite with its movements, its human content, its color and fluld changes. Tlustrated appropriately from ol prints, the whole is an important and interesting summary of much that is directly related to important parts of the present life of this country, And here are the | S Q. What is the longest word in any language?—A. E. A. We find no definite statement concerning this, but the Sanskrit 1s said to contain a word of 152 syl- lables. Aristophanes made a word of 77 for a special purpose. Q. How many amendments were made to the Constitution during Woodrow Wilson's term?—W. G. R. A. Three amendments became ef- fective during President Wilson's terms—the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth. The seventeenth, providing. for the direct election of Senators, had been submitted to the States for ratification during Presi- dent Taft's administration, but went into effect in May, 1913. The eight- eenth, or liquor prohibition amend- ment, and the nineteenth, giving Na- tion-wide suffrage to women, were proposed, ratified and became effective in 1920. Q. Have the Chinese an alphabet?— E. P. M. A. There is no Chinese alphabet, al- though in modern days 26 or more characters have been selected and are used arbitrarily for their phonetic value only and chiefly to transliterate forelgn names. Q. What is the name of the largest passenger ship on the Great Lakes?— B. A. The sister ships, the Greater Detrolt and the Greater Buffalo, which | were built in 1924, are the largest passenger ships navigating the Great Lakes, having a passenger capacity of about 1,200 persons and a speed of 21 knots. | Q. Ts It true that ice cream was In-| vented in Italy?—M. R. A. Varying statements are found about it. It is still made and sold in Florin's Cafe, Naples, Italy, where it is claimed that a Florin ancestor invented it about 150 years ago. Q. T have u flag with 17 stars. Can you tell me when this flag was in use?—S. L. D. A. The State of Ohlo was the seven- teenth State admitted to the Union. The unvarying cordiality between Canada and the United States is the best demonstration possible that we mandments: as ourselves.” national Damons and Pythiases more truly devoted than found here where the boundary line for 3,000 miles is only an “imaginary line,” with never a gun nor fort nor even a picket, be- yond the sentinels of commerce. The only wonder is that with all this am- ity there have been no nuptials be- tween Uncle Sam and the Lady of the Snows. However, the couple are voung folks yet, and the modern tend- ency is not to marry too young. The question of age in nations dif- fers from a similar question concern- ing individuals. The Lady of the Snows is almost Oslerized—that is, she would be if she were an individual —for she is now celebrating her 60th birthday and does not care how many recognize that fact. But as a nation she is just a flapper. For a week, which began last Fri- day, Canada is celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of her cenfederation of the provinces into the. Dominion of Canada and the recognition of that Dominion as a self-governihg unit of the Commonwealth of the British Em- pire. She stands today, not as a sub- ordinate “colony” of Great Britain, but as an equal in the empire. ok It seems almost incredible that within the last quarter of a century the conception of Canada, as held in the United States, even among the “intelligentsia,” has been so gro- tesquely inadequate. We have assumed that Canada was but a narrow rim be- tween balmy United States and the frozen Arctic, and that her attempt to grow within that rim was praiseworthy but pitiable. A President of the United States, inan important communication less than a score of years ago, re- ferred to Assiniboia and Athabasca as provinces, although they had never been provinces, and at the time of his reference had long ceased to exist as any kind of a political entity, having been cut up into several prov- inces, each larger than all New Eng- land. A few years prior to that presiden- tial blunder a newspaper man pro- posed to attend the first Northwest ex- position of agriculture. It was to be held at Regina, Saskatchewan. Before departing upon that great adventure he consulted the editor of a North- western United States daily and asked it the daily would like to receive di seriptive articles about the country. “yes,” was the answer, “especially a description of the Saskatchewan Val- ley.” Editor and correspondent consulted an atlas and discovered that the Sas- katchewan River “was within half an inch of Regina,” so it was agreed that upon reaching the city of the exposi- tion the correspondent would “hire a horse and buggy and drive over to the river some afternoon.” Instead of that exploration break- ing into an aftérnoon, the correspond- ent boarded a train and rode all day from Regina to Prince Albert, located on the river, and then the most north- ern outpost of settlement. There he asked a native how much farther north agriculture was practiced, and the answer was that the finest grain | he had seen grown on the north- | ern shore of Great Slave Lake—as | much north of Prince Albert as Minne- apolis was south, but that that was far from the limit. That was late in the “Nineties.” Since then, that corre- spondent has made several trips into the marvelous country, which has re- | mained so marvelously unoccupied, in spite of the boast that her immigra- tion during the first decade of this cen- tury increased her population 84 per cent. Since the confederation of the provinces, Canada’s population has trebled. Yet even that growth in 60 vears has not equaled the increase of the United States during the first 60 vears of the nineteenth century, which was at the rate of increasing 35 per | cent every decade, or about 12 times | the population of the beginning of the | period. | ER i The area of the provinces forming the original Dominion of Canada was 750,000 square miles; now the total| area 1s 3,279,000 square miles. The in-| crease of area alone is greater !h:\ni the total area of the United States. Its wheat acreage has grown from 1,500,000 to 23,000,000 acres and the crop from 16,000,000 to 410,000,000 bushels, yet that is not 10 per cent of its available wheat acreage. The annual value of its minerals has in- creased from an annual output of $4.-, 000,000 to $243,000,000—yet only thej outer edge of such resources has been touched. Its manufactures have grown in output from $220,000,000 to $2,800,- 000,000, yet Canada is not yet devel- oped industrially in proportion to her own needs. Her railroads have grown from 2. 278 miles to more than 40,000 miles, | but her line to Hudson Bay remains | to be completed, and when that is| built the grain fields of Saskatchewan | and Alberta, following more closely the globe’'s “great circle, obey at least one of the Ten Com-| We “love our neighbors | There have never been | | that German will move |, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. It was admitted on November 29, 1802, Louisitna was the eighteenth State, admit »d April 30, 1812. The flag was used with propriety between these dates, Q. ‘7hat were the principal bat tles s the World War in France?— N. % A. ..mong the principal battles of the World War fought in France are the Battles of the Marne, of Verdun, Chateau Thierry and Belleau Wood. Q. Who was the first President of Panama’—J. R. K. A. Manuel Amador. He entered the French diplomatic service in Panama, and when that state rebelled against Colombia, he joined the rev- olutionists. When Panama gained her treedom, he became her first Presi dent, serving from 1904 to 1908, oulard street in St Please give the same concerning Charless Q. For whom i Louis named? information street.—R. T. A. Soulard street is named for An- toine Soulard, the first surveyor of St Louis. Charless street bears the name of Joseph Charless, the first printer and publisher of the city. . What is the meaning of the term “Attic _salt W. E. M. A. This is applied to the light, re. fined, classical wit peculiar to the literature of the Athenians. The more ponderous style of the Romans Is termed “Acetum Italicum™ (“Italian vinegar"). Government statistics bring out the fact that the uneducated man has only 1 chance in 800 to attain distinction There is no reason why any onc should live under such a handicap in these days of free schools and free in- formation. ~This paper supports in Washington, D. C., the largest free in- formation bureau in existence. It will procure for you the answer to any question you may ask. Avail yourself of its facilities for your self-improve- ment. Inclose @ 2-cent stamp for re- turn postage. Address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. ies, with their grand glaciers and with mountain lakes of hot and cold water and with scenery of superb grandeur and beauty. There is a moutain stream which plunges down its rocky way until its current st and splits; that is the where half the water flows north and east into the Saskatchewan River and into Hudson Bay, while the other half goes south and west, emptying into Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean So the brook creates an island of all the continent northwest. That island has a climate so balmy that it com- pares in mildness with that of the District of Columbia, rather than the frigidity of the Arctic. Thereon grow the finest and most prolific crops of wheat in America—rolling When ripen- ing over the limitless plains of Alberta | like the waves of a golden sea. Yet, with a step, the traveler on the Canadian Pacific Railway may walk from the train into the crevices of the Grea it and lose him- self within walls of clear blue ice. The glacier is hundreds af feet high and many miles in extent, starting far “back in the mountains and de- scending like a great creeping mon- ster down to the warm valleys, flow- ing only 15 to 30 feet a year. ‘While British Columbia possesses limitless resources, including her great forests, minerals and agricul- tural fields, it is Eastern Canada— Ontario and Quebec—which. today stands nearest the development of industrial greatness. The possibil- itles of water power, electrically de- veloped, are immeasurable. The St. Lawrence River navigation, which is of as much interest to American grain shippers as those of Canada. waits only on the governments and engineers of both countries to bring the Atlantic into practical connec- tion with the Great Lakes and the Northern Mississippi as well as the Saskatchewan Valley into proximity to Europe, as our ancestors never dreamed of. S ) Jjealousy in ghe United States in beholding the growth. of Canada. Its increase will bring a greater market to our own doors, and its vast unoccupied territo which settlers of the right regardless of numerical limitations but with full care as to quality of the immigrants—are Iy in will supply a needed for the high pressure of immigration which is now distressi Europe. Within the last ve: diplomatie relations, through direct minis in Canada and the United have superseded the diploma ! ! London, and put Canada on the maj as independent of her part as a unit in the British commonwealth of nations, and the president of the assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva is a Canadian. In fact. as now constituted, the league gives the same recognition to Canada with her population of 9,356,000 as it does to any other nation or as it could to the United States of America (If we joined it) with our population 13 times as numerous. £ So the Lady of the Snows has “come of age” and is as big as any other nation. No wonder she is cele- brating her greatness with decora- tions and oratory and the booming of guns in salute! At a banquet in Winnipeg. a few vears ago, tendered in honor of a visi of the National Editorial As: of the United States tured on the platform two “animals” mechanically contrived. One was a British lion and the other an Ameri- can eagle, and as they faced each other both were continually bowins That automaton group persists to Canada, America salutes ay your tail never be twisted nor your claws pull a single feather out of the appendage of the Bird of Freedom! (Cobyright. 1927. by Paul V. Colline.) UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today There is no angered by es from France announcing al of American troops, is expected to take charge of the handling of military news in the future. * * * Strong feeling of friendship for United States prompts il to revoke her decree of neu- trality and join the allies. * * Senator Thomas charges in Senate agents are responsible for big copper mines strike in West, by reason of which thir output is considerably _curtailed. * M 2 pub- lication ence with Federal offici ington. * * * Fight begins in_ Sen- ate to modify dry amendment. Fears public discontent if drastic law Is ssed. * * * American mission in Moscow more hopeful of Russia’s future helpfulness. They express faith in Kerensky and believe Russia save herself despite difficulties the _situatio nearer to Liverpool by a distance equal to the long stretch from Winnipeg to Buffalo. Grain then will go to Europe 1d | without breaking cargo from central to the “markets of the world.” Canada as centered in Liverpool. * ok *w in _single-handed combat eight German planes. * ¢ * Rail roads continue heavy cuts in train service to release trackage and loco- motives for movement of troops, Gov- pplies, foodstuffs and other traffic.