Evening Star Newspaper, July 11, 1927, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With_Sunday Morning Edition, WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY.........July 11, 1927 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th St and Pennavivania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Builiing. European Office: 14 Regent St.. London. England The Evening Star with the Sunday morn ng edition. s delivered by carriers within the city at 60 cents per month: daily only. 45 cents per month: Sundavs only. 20 cents Pet, month, Onders may he sent by mail o jalenhona Main 5000 Collection is made by carrier at end of each month Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. ally and Sunday....1sr. $0.00: 1 mosThe §n||v onlv " 15t #6001 1 mo’ soe unday only . 1yr. $3.00° 1 mo. 3¢ All Other States and Canada. En;xv and Sunday..1 yr. $12.00: 1 mo.. $1 a ¢ 0 aily_only 1vrl SR000 T my nday only .. ..1yr. $200: 1 mo. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclu he use for republication of ches credited 1o it or not other in this paner and also the I pubiished herein All rights of punlication of svecial dispatches herein are algp reserved The Farm Conference in St. Paul. The limelight is turned again the farm surplus problem today at St Paul, At the call of the American Council of Agriculture representatives of farm organizations in North and | South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Iowa have gathered to outline a plan of action to obtain legislative relief for the farmer. | Doubtless other States will have farm representatives in attendance. Bu: | primarily it is the farmer of the | Northwest, the grain belt, that is to | be heard. Many of the farm representatives who will attend the St. Paul meet- ing are old supporters of the McNary- | Haugen farm relief bill, with its equalization fee principle. Many of them are dyed-in-the-wool McNary Haugenites, who will not change their views. Some of them are inter- | ested in politics and presidential | candidacies in 1928—even more inter- | ested, perhaps, than in the farm | surplus question. Will the St. Paul conference turn, in the end, to politics rather than to farm relief? Every one knows that | President Coolidge is opposed to the | MeNary-Haugen as unworkable and uneconomic. Every one knows that the President vetoed the bill at the last session and doubtless would | veto it again if it were put up to him | by the next Congress. Is the St. Paul | meeting merely for the purpose of urging again the passage of this leg- islation, or is it intended to work out some plan which may bs sound economically, workable and acceptable to the administration? At the meet ing will be speakers who would violently oppose President Coolidge if there were no farm problem. Are they planning to use the present oc- casion to rap the Chiet Executive? It seems not unlikely. What ths farmer needs, and prob- ably is asking for, is a real solution of his problem, including the market- ing of his surplus crops. The solu- tion of this problem on right lines is more important to the farmer and to the country at large than the mak- ing of political capital for former Gov. Frank O. Lowden of Illinois, champion of the principles of the Mc- Nary-Haugen bill and'a candidate for the Republican nomination for Presi- dent, or the making of political capi- tal against President Coolidge. If the representatives of the farmers as- sembled in St. Paul will bear these facts in mind, the meeting may be of real value. If the meeting is turned into a political rally, its value to the farmers will be comparatively small. The administration, according to re- ports before the President left Wash- ington to spend the Summer in the Black Hills, will present a plan for farm relief legislation when the Con- gress meets again. Probably it will be embodied in the President's mes- sage to the Congress. It is clear that the opponents of the McNary-Haugen bill, unless they are to be mere ob- structionists, must present a plan of their own, designed to help the farm- er. Every one admits that the farm- er has a problem and that he needs help. —_——.—————— With the retirement of Ban John! #on, base ball loses a figure that con- stituted one of the best publicity points | of the great national game. Johnson did much to keep interest alive during | the long Winter months, when actual | play had to be suspended. —————————— | For the present Lindy is not to be| disturbed. He is engaged in writing & book, which will prove a remarkable relief in not being devoted to ancient glimpses of personalities and alleged inside gossip. The Murder of 0'Higgins. The tragic history of the movement for Irish independence has been marked by numerous assassinations, the latest being that of the Vice Pres- ident of the Free State and minister | of justice, Kevin O'Higgins, who was | shot to death by a band of murderers a short distance from his home in the suburbs of Dublin while on his| way to cburch. O'Higgins was one of the strongest men of the Irish government organization, capable and courageous and of unimpeachable hon- | esty of purpose. He had contributed greatly to the establishment and the development of the Free ate. In his service as minister of justice he| had, however, Incurred the enmity of the “die-hards” of the radical Repub- lican faction and to him were at- tributed seventy-seven executions, various offenses against the state One of the seventy-seien men sent | shoot for | bitterly hated by the minority fastion and that he had been marked for re- prisal. For a long time he went about with a bodyguard, but only reluctant- ly accepted this protection. Yesterday morning he dismissed the guard for the day and went to church alone, only to be waylaid by a band of as- sassins in a motor car, who shot him down in the road and escaped This assassination will not change the course of affairs in Ireland. It will not weaken the Free . but will rather strengthen it. iw\llnr‘;.wd many traged the establishment | irels during and | the inde- pendent organization hatreds have been engendercd differ ence of views regarding the form of | | autonomous government. Recently a | | general election left the administra- tion in possession, thoush with a nar- margin in the Dail. The De| a anization received a sur & support. but could not take| possession of the seats to which the | votes entitled it. Doubtless the sassination of O'Higgins was prompt led by the recent events. Every friend of the Irish people, | | wishing them well in their independ | ence, will grieve over this latest man- | | itestation of hatred, which has cost| the country the one of | |its most valuable workers. The cause | of the republic cannot be advanced | by such methods. piie Sl Hair Trigger Law Enforcement. upon of Bitter by the since row Vale! as- services of The responsibility which re: | the police force for preserving | copt R EVE THE er, who may be wholly innocent -of knowledge of the uses to which his property is being put. It is not per- fectly clear whether a non-resident owner could be held to account for il- legal operations, unless there were proof that he maintained inspection | over the premises. In this case the fact | of joint occupancy would seem to put the burden squarely upon the owner, and the liability for the happening. | | though of course he is the principal | bees f loser in the death of his family, rests i ; | s|upon him, as well as upon the two |at the previous meeting of the club. men who used his basement for their i bootlegging operations. i This case suggests care in the rent ng of property and in a frequent in- spection of It to determine the uses | to which it is being put. Holding | owners accountable for illegalities | committed on their premises may be a distinct aid in law enforcement. o Much News for a Dime. The case of the young lady of seven summers who refused a bright and shining dime from John D. Rockefeller is further proof of the infallibility of Dana’s definition of news. When a dog bites a man, that is not news— but when a man bites a dog, that is news. In other words, when a young lady accepts a Rockefeller dime, that is not news, but when a young lady veturns &’ dime to Rockefeller, then we have a story. Returning this dime to John D. will send the name of Miss Paddie Randall down to posteri Fifty years hence a mother will cau- tion her young daughter, “Never ac- money from strangers. Your | and order is duly appreciated by all | thoughtful citizens. That members of | the force must carry guns and come expert in their use is granted.| That they must at times shoot, ‘and | to kill, is recognized. Fut the well disciplined policeman shouid have | drilled “into him the fact t | requires more nerve and gre: -1 be- | age not to shoot than it does to pull | a revolver blaze { orders have been ignored The tragedy of vesterday morning is a case in point. A youth of twenty. scated at the wheel of wildly speeding automobile, disre; the orders of a policeman to He is shot dead. The life of a you man is forfeited for a stolen car, al though the fact that the was stolen was not known by the police- man until the man was dead. Th duty of the ‘officer was plain enough He was to stop this automobile a arrest its occupants. They were breaking the law by speeding. But are speeding and refusing to obey a| policeman’s orders crimes punishable by death? Could not the policeman have accomplished his purpose by putting a bullet through a tire or the sasoline tank instead of instantly killing the driver? Was there any reason why the policeman could not at least have fired the usual warning shots before using, as a last and final resort, his power to shoot to kill? The use of the automobile by hoot- leggers and other criminals has made | more necessal than ever a well armed and straight-shooting police force. Law-abiding citizens at once realize the fact that the only alterna- tive of the policeman at times is to fight fire with fire, to speed as fast as the criminal speeds, to shoot as straight as the criminal shoots. Oth- erwise law enforcement would be a farce. The criminal with an automo- bile and a gun would be immune from arrest. But yesterday morning’s tragedy showed the officer to Have been too quick on the trigger. It was a case where he lost his head in the heat of the chase; where he would have done more honor to the uniform he wore had he used his Intelligence instead of his gun. Such instances reflect on the discipline’ and training ' of the force. They detract from, rather than add to, the prestige of those en- forcing the law. They lose, rather than gain, friends for the police. T One of the most charming spots on carth is Geneva. Its hotel proprie- tors are always agreeable and tact. fully alert to avoid any reference to topics of international concern which might endanger the comfort of the dinner hour. There could be no more favorable spot for conference than Geneva. and away | | steering a| ds | stop. | | | | car i | 1 M.t The United States Marines never look for trouble, but trouble is fre- quently disposed to look for the United States Marines. R A naval ratio that will satisfy ever body appears to be what Lord Dun- dreary referred to as “onme of those things that nobody can find out.” PRy Owner’s Liability. interesting question ses in the case of the burning of a farmhouse at Bernville, Pa., Sunday morning, causing the death of the wife and seven children of the owner, Mark Fehr. The fire was caused by the explosion of a moonshine still, located within the house. Fehr, who was himself seriously injured by the explosion and fire, will, if he recovers, be formally charged with involuntary manslaughter. In his first statement regarding the fire Fehr declared that an oil stove in the Kitchen had ex- ploded. Later he withdrew this version and admitted that a still in the base- ment had caused the disaster. But te disclaimed responsibility for its op- eration. He had rented the basement to two foreigners, but was not aware, he averred, of their movements or | operations. It is a well established principle that the owner and occupant of a building is responsible for the actions of his tenants, If that principle is enforced in the Bernville Fehr | cannot escape liability for the exist- lence and operation of a dangerous An of law case to death through O'Higgins ‘ tions was Rory O'Connor, who had been friend until they broke over the question of the Repub- lican O'Connor leader of the “four Jdo6’ and when nd sentenced to di adamunt to the Tie prosecu- closest orgamzation. insurrec- convicted courts he ath O'Higgins was was merey affe ni all appeals for on g former contir to the pos.essions O'Hizgins' when | slern action { contrivance on his premises. A still |is in itself an illegal device, under the present law. Its presence in fhe base- | ment of the Fehr house could hardly have unknown to the owner. | But even if it was not known it was | the duty of the owner to know what his tenants were doing. Otherwis there can be no responsibility for ¢ -onduct of Countel conceal operations been premise: citers may their he guise of peace 1 bund may under A rim e | headyuarters und the manufacture of Jombs. A resident owner has a more de Ih | She grandmother, my dear, once returned a dime to John D. Rockefeller.” And what a glorlous example the young lady has set for members of her own seneration! She did what her parents d cautioned her to do time and 1gain—be sure to thank them politely but never take money from strangers. only returned a dime, buf she kept about a million dollars’ worth of self-respect. oo Murderers are no longer remark- able. The fiction writer without suffi- cient ingenuity to evolve a plot of his swn has seized upon the hapless moron and gilded him with the phraseology of romance. Revelation of the bare facts of the case mnever justifies the laborious effort to substitute the man- ner of the novelist for the mple style of the honest and direct re- porter. ] The death of John Drew calls forth expressions from every source of deep and sincere regret. He devoted him- self to the task at hand without a ce of personal ostentation, and is eemed in memory not only as an artist, but as a modest and a courteous gentleman. e If Mr. Sapiro can organize the farmers in a way that will render them independent of the commission merchants he will establish himself as a man of far-seeing enterprise worthy to rank in historic recollection even with Henry Ford. ——— Aviator enthusiasts sometimes quar- rel with their pilots. This obvious fact lends support to Lindbergh's idea that a test flight is properly a one-man job. —_— e Like every other man in control of large enterprises, Henry Ford is nat- urally surrounded by many “business doctors” who are generously willing to relieve him of all care. oo SHO0TING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, Endless Supply. Diplomac; a wondrous art, Whose joys will ne'er diminish. No one can tell us at the start Just what will be the finish. So swift the fashions go their way, New ones we daily borrow. The argument so fine today Is out of date tomorrow. Although we really miss them some, As people cease to heed them, We know new arguments will come Along, as folks may need them. Relief. “Are you going to do anything to relieve us farmers?” “Yes,” answered Senator Sorghum. “I'm going to quit making speeches on farm relief long enough to enable | you agriculturists to concentrate on the practical side of your business.” ‘Waves and Waivers. Our statesmen ask in accents grave, As old agreement cools, “Because Britannia rules the wave, Why should we waive the rules?” Jud Tunkins says a man is very seldom either as healthy or as sick as he imagines he is. Reducing. “I've got to reduce.” *“Are you too weighty “No. The chap I'm going to see is | a business doctor. 1 want to reduce expenses.” Unquestioned Indorsement. “I have a good joke.” “How do you know?" “The Prince of Wales once laughed at it.” “He who prays to a joss,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “at least reminds himself of his human insuf- ficiency.” Vacation Per An editor in leadership co-ordinates His brains with those of numerous subordinates. While he goes motoring in joyous dizziness, The printer’s devil sometimes bumps the husines: Swaying Emotion. “Let me write the songs of a na- tion! felp wour * rejoined the Tinpan | Alley plugger. “I'm after the real in- | fluence. Let me be the publishe: elf. Bound to Be Observed. “Do the eighteenth anendment? | Ot course” answered Uncle Bill| | Bottletop. “At present it is more con- spicuous than all the rest of the Con- | stitution.” observe | you “Money talks,” said Uncle Eben, | grouch, " THIS AN BY CHARLES E. Failure of the bumblebees to proper-; Iv pollenize flowers was the subject of a recent investigation by a special commiittee of the S-T Garden Club. Resolutions severely scoring bumble- or their alleged failure, result- a lack of bloom in alley gar- had been unanimously adopted ing in dens, | “It is the unanimous sense of this meeting,” declared the resolutions | presented by T. Humby Jones, chroni “that bumblebees are falling | down on their job this season. “It is hereby resolved that this club do individually and collectively score and otherwise arraign said bumble- bees for failing to carry pollen from one flower to another. “This breach of trust on the part of the said bees, as heretofore men- tioned. has caused much perturbation | of spirit among h gardenc s| looked in vain for fragrant blooms upon their lilacs and so on down the border. “Peonies developed buds, blooms resulted. Many other flowers tailed to bloom. Tt i mended that a speeial committce be pointed to look into this matter, with speeial reference to bumblebees and their habits, and that a report be | made to the club at the next regular | meeting."” but no hereby recom- | 0 SR ok Miss Yvonne Quinby, who didn't| know a bumblebee from a hop-toad, | was appointed chairman. of, cow | Did you ever see a chaifman who | knew anything about the matter in hand? | This is fartunate, of course, be- cause the ‘sommittee” then begins its work with a perfe open mind without prior prejudice. Members of special committees. it need hardly be added, never do any work, so that the chairman ends up | by doing it all himself, or herself, as the case may be. Miss Quinby entered into her vestigation with much spirit. By the | time the next meeting was called she knew next to nothing about her sub- Jject. Calling the members of her commit- tee together by intensive use of the telephone, she discovered that the closest together she could combine them would be about 6 miles each way. Realizing the faith placed in her, however, as chairman of a very spe. cial committee, Mi: Yvonne plunged into encyclopedias up to the tips of her pretty cars, and emerged th from several hours later with a ma of perfectly usele information upon bumblebees. in- | * ¥ ok ok dent and fellow members rden Club,” said Chair- | in her most formal tone. | formal after all, | and a bit high- “Mr. Pre of the ST ( man Quinby which was not very being rather clear pitched. Some of the feminine members of the organization mentally resolved that the next time there was a spe- cial committee to be appointed, it would be unwise to allow Miss Quin- by to jockey herself into position as chairman, “What does she know about bum- blebees?” inquired Mrs. T. Henry | Lampoon of Mrs. F. X. Sullivan. “Just about as much as she does about flowers d Mrs: Sullivan, in WASHINGTON | Calvin Coolidge's near “impeach- ment” by the Anti-Saloon League revives the unending con- v as to whether the President is not a Prohibitionist. On law enforcement his stand is un- compromising. But politicians who have made searching scrutiny of his record, both as Governor of Massachu- setts and in executive office at Wash- ington, contend that Mr. Coolidge has been non-committal as to pro- hibition itself. He has never in- dulged in any fanatical denunciation of Demon Rum on Wayne B. Wheeler lines. He has refrained from im- mersing himself in quarréls with mil- itant drys of the Gifford Pinchot brand, when they periodically chal- lenged the sincerity of the President’s prohibition views. His friends know, moreover, that Mr. Coolidge, at least until the time he entered the White House, was not a total abstainer. The Anti-Saloon Leaguers long have been impatient with the President's lack of so-called “evangelical zeal” in the dry cause, but signally failed to extort from him anything more than repeated advocacy of law enforce- ment. When Coolidge was a candi- date for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920, his campaign literature featured his veto of Massa- chusetts’ 5 beer bill as his prohi- bition record. * ok kK Sir Esme Howard, the British Am- bassador, has interrupted his Sum- mer vacation at Manchester-on-Se Mass., and enlisted at Washington for the duration of the war in Ge- neva. Diplomatic insiders are aware that something approaching a peril- ous state of Anglo-American tension has come about on the cruiser ques- tion. Lord Robert Cecil's anti-Amer- ican explosion on Saturday and Am bassador Gibson's spirited demand for retraction of the noble lord’s out- burst typify the temperature which has been steadily rising in Genev: Ambassador Howard has apparent had orders from London to remain in Washington and apply soothing sirup whenever the heated atmosphere of the conference chamber produces fe- verish conditions here. Sir Esme in- sists that John.Bull is ready for na- val parity with Uncle Sam, and as- serts that only technical difficulties stand in the way of bringing it about on mutually satisfactory terms. -How- ard, believing that British and Amer- ican guns will mever bark at each other anyhow, looks upon hectic events at Geneva as more or less academic. EREE Dr. Leo S. Rowe, director general of the Pan-American Union, is about to embark—in accord with the spirit of the hour—upon a flying tour of the Panama Canal Zone, the Carib- bean region and the northwestern shores of South America. His farther- most flight overland will be to Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Before Di Rowe returns to Washington in Sep- President of University of As I write, the whistles of the city are loosing a shriek of satisfaction that an American lad has completed a -non-stop airplane flight from New York to Paris. Before these words have been set in type, miles of matter will have been written about the courageous adven- ture of Col. Lindbergh. As a sheer matter of technical ad- vance in transatlantic transportation, Col. Lindbergh has a notable achiev ment to his credit. , it took Christopher Colum- Vs to cross the Atlantle. In 1620, it took the Mayflower 66 days to cross the Atlantic. In 128 ears the time of crossing had been educed only 3 days. In 1819, it took the Savannah, the first steamship to make the trip, 27 days to cross the Atlantic. In 199 more vears the time of crossing had “but de hoss I bet on in de last race nin’ whut dey calls a good listener.” - been reduced 39 more days. In 1859, it took the Dreadnaught, a {asleep in blossoms, positively coated | site—which OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. THE COLUMBUS OF THE AIR BY GLENN FRAN Visconsin and Former h g e ~ NING STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY, JULY 11, 1927. D THAT . TRACEWELL. tones that would hay blebee in full flight “Let there be order in the club,” rapped the president, who always se- lected chairmen of . committees on their looks, as they say. This failing of the president was well known to the cluh, especially to such members as had never been so honored. “And what, for that matter,” con- tinued Mrs. T. Henry, “does he—" nd there was a real accent placed on he pronoun—‘know about bumble- bees?" “But he knows a thing or two about chickens,” ruminated Mrs. Sullivan. yEE “The chairman of your special com- mittee on bumblebees,” wen{ on Miss Quinby, “realizes the necessity for being an entomologist better tonight than she did several weeks ago. “Bumblebees are rather absurd things that fly into one's face when one is trying to look at hollyhocks, and jump out at one who is trying to see into the interior of an althea blossom., “Bumblebees are supposed to help carry pollen from one flower to an- other, being a sort of Cupid of the air, as it were “At a proximity of about 3 feet, which_is pretty good for your cha man, I discovered a quantity of high- ly intelligent looking bumblebees blasted a bum- with pollen. “'Several of them were so covered hat they were ‘sleeping it off,’ in the disgusting language of olden times. It is the understanding of this com- mittee that no one sleeps any more, but simply stays up all night when indulging in pollen parties. * K K x is the unanimous opinion of mmittee”—at this the other looked very wise—‘that this | been somewhat hasty in opiing such severe language in ref- 'nee to the insects under investiga- tio 'he insects under investigation are laborious workers in field and zarden. They do the best they know how, and are not responsible agents to this club, or to any other club. “They are faced with no necessity for getting together on an airport is very lucky—since nature has provided them with mil. lions of them. “Their landing flelds are preferably pink hollyhocks, in cities, with va- rious grains and trees aiding in the country districts. ‘It is the absolutely unanimous opinion of this committee that said bumblebees are not to be held respon- sible by this club for individual failure : to get bloor is the belief of this committee that lack of work, time, money, ferti- lizer, mulching care of all sorts, and plain horse sense have more to do with good flowers than bulmblebees. Respectfully submitted.” The club was in an uproar. “What a repor aid Mrs. Lampoon. Not halt bad,” d the president, poking the secretary in the ribs. “I move that the report be ac- cepted,” said the secretary, who agreed with the president. Il in favor say ‘Aye’ " announced the presi- dent. “All not in favi say ‘No! The ayes seem to have it—the ‘ayes’ have it—bumblebees are absolved for the present season.” | tember, he will have arrived by plane in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Ven- ezuela and Colombia. He expects to travel in the machines operated com- mercially in Colombia. * X K x An amazing story is making the rounds in Washington in connection with Gen. Leonard Wood's presence in the United States. The story is to the effect that at no time during Col. Carmi A. Thompson's “‘survey” of the Philippines did President Coolidge’s special commissioner ever once men- tion the islands in his conversations with Gov. Gen. Wood! That may be why, Wood’s friends suggest, Thomp- son came home favoring transfer of the Philippines from the War Depart- ment to the Interior Department. Gen. Wood in confidential moments seldom leaves doubt of his belief that permanent—or at least indefinite— American occupation is the islands’ only salvation. In that view Wood's strongest supporter is Aguinaldo, the Filipino leader, who fought so long and bravely at the head of the native armies against American rule in the archipelago. * x *x U. 8. 8. Detroit, European flag- ship of Vice Admiral Burrage, who brought Lindbergh home aboard the Memphis, has just had a novel ex- perience off the coast of England fresh from her cruise from Boston. ‘While 200 of the Detroit’s bluejackets were on shore liberty at the seaside resort of Hastings the ship was thrown open to English visitors. Meantime such a violent storm set in that it proved impossible either to bring back the Detroit’s men or to disembark the 60 or 80 landsmen and landswomen who had come aboard. The result was that the sailors had a night out, and so did their British friends. N Ambassador Herrick, who has just left Washington after a brief offi- cial v . pending another sojourn in September before he goes back to Paris, was left in no doubt of the administration's appreciation of his “Lindbergh diplomacy.” In addition to bouquets from the State Depart- ment, Mr. Herrick has been showered with compliments from all parts of the country. Many persons singled out the Ambassador's messages to Mrs. Lindbergh—“Your incomparable son is sleeping tonight under Uncle Sam's roof’—and to the President recording French appreciation of Mr. Coolidge's Lindbergh cablegram, as Herrick’s outstanding acts. There's a myth that American diplomats are only supermessenger boys, who are supposed never to be guilty of initi- ative. Ambassador Herrick knocked that theory into a cocked hat when, wholly on his own account, he took “Lindy” under official wing at Paris and paved the way for the most strik- ing episode in recent Franco-Amer- fcan diplomatic history. (Covyright. 192 ) Yankee clipper ship, 12 days to cross the Atlantic. In 40 years the time 3( crossing had been reduced 27 more ays. In 1860, it took the Great Eastern, an early steamship, 9 days to cross the Atlantic. In one more year the time of crossing had been reduced 3 more days. In 1924, it took the Mauretania 5 days, 1 hour and 49 minutes to cross the Atlantic. In 64 more years the time of crossing had been reduced 3 days, 22 hours and 11 minutes more. In 1927, it takes Col. Lindbergh only 3315 hours, or 1 day, 9 hours and 30 minutes, to fly from New York to Paris—that is—in 3 more years the time of crossing has been reduced 3 days, 16 hours and 19 minutes more. And if the rail journey from Cher- bourg to Paris be subtracted, the re- duction is still more. 4 First to fly from the metropolitan heart of the Uniteg Stades to the | inated for the presidenc | doy THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover. The death on June 9 at her home, Norton Park, Tewksbury, England. of Mrs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull Mar- tin, at the age of 89, recalls the fact that two books published within the past vear have given considerable at- tention to her long, and in its earlier part_sensational, career. The books cade,” by Do Anthony Comstock. y Heywood Broun and Margaret Leech. Don Seitz says: “America never produced two more extraor- dinary women than Victoria Claflin and her sister Tennessce. * * * When 14, Victoria married a doctor, Can- ning Woodhull, and remained his wife 14 years; then divorce parted them. The two sisters now started on their adventures, in 1863 turning up at Ottawa, Illinois, where they took over an old hotel, the Fox House, and set up a cureall sanitarium, the treat- ment at which was based on several varieties of the plentiful ‘isms’ of the day, including spiritualism.” After adventures in _Cincinnati, they ap- peared in New York “during the spec- ulative fever engendered by Fisk and Gould and the Drew-Vanderbilt con- flicts, setting up a_brokerage shop at 44 Broad street. * * * They contrived to create the impression that Commo- dore Vanderbilt was behind them, and while it is doubtful if the brokerage business was ever large, they claimed eat profits in Brie and caused a deal of commotion.” * ok k% In 1872 Victoria Woodhull was nom- on a ticket with Frederick Dou the negro leader. The movement for woman suffrage was then in its earlier stages, to this cause the two bold sisters d themselves, _establishing ©ull and Claflin's Weekly with their Wall Street gains. It not only advocated equal rights at the polls but in everything else, including ma rimony, or love life without it. * * In the process of pr for their sex printing add Woodl s took to double _life that were plentiful h _in New York at the time. They declared for the single standard, and saw no rea son why women should be condemned ways for which men went un 1. The Weekly requiring a ing editor, the ladies engaged . J. H. Blood, late of the 6th Mis- souri Regiment, to assist. Subse- quently Victoria took him on as a iusband, Trouble ensued with her mether, who charged her with having in her home both Capt. Blood and her former husband, Woodhull, at the same time. Victoria admitted this in a letter to the New York World, with the explanation that Woodhull wa: ick, ailing and incapable of sel support,” and that she had felt it her duty to care for him, and in this had | had the co-operation of her husband, Capt. Blood. Shortly after Woodhuli and Claflin's Weekly printed an ex. | pose of the Beecher-Tilton scandal and | in the same issue rumors affecting the reputation of a well known broker. | “For this the two women were ar-| rested on a charge of sending improper | matter through the mails and locked | up in Ludlow street jail in default of $10,000 bail each. . . . The prisoners were kept in durance for six weeks, | but the case fell to the ground.” Don Seitz continues the story of the later life of the sisters: “The luck of Mrs. Woodhull and Miss Claflin did not fail them . being possessed of considerable money, it would appear, the two shrewd sisters went to Eng- land. Here, in 1878, Mrs. Woodhull married John Biddulph Martin, a wealthy London banker. ® * * They resided on a great estate in Worcester- shire, where, after the husband’s death, Mrs. Martin carried on many philan- thropic activiti with equal success in the matrimonial market, married Sir Francis Cook, who possessed the Portuguese title of Marquis of Montserrat and a mar- velous estate at Cintra, in Portugal.” Heywood Broun and Margaret Leech in their book tell how Victoria ‘Woodhull and Anthony Comstock came into conflict. When Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly printed the scandals concerning a New York broker, it was at the instance of Anthony Comstock that the two ters and Blood were arrested. “When Comstock was testifying dur- ing the examination of Col. Blood, he had occasion to refer to Miss Claflin, He spoke of her as an ‘individual.’ Counselor Howe, in a brilliant Scotch plaid waistcoat, sprang up to inform the judge that when he represented a lady in a ‘court of law, he would like to have her treated as such! It was a very trying case. But Comstock was determined to see justice done. Dour, irascible, he stalked through the disreputable scene, a Puritan at the circus.” * ok ok ¥ To retain a single-minded view of any question, it is better to remain away from the scene of actlon; this seems to be the opinion of John Dos Passos in his recent book, *Orient Express,” as regards the question of Armenian persecution. At Erivan he was told by a Persian Mussulman that the Armenians had massacred and driven out the majority of the Mo- hammedan inhabitants. = At a ruined town on the frontier of Armenia and Adjerbeidjan he was assured by the Muslims ~that the destruction was wrought by the Armenians, and by the Armenians that the Turks were responsible for it. KEach national group poured into- his ears tales of its own sufferings and of the atrocities of the other group. On a steamer on the Black Sea six Turkish army doc- tors reproached him for the hypocrisy of Furope and the United States: “When Tu h soldiers get out of hand and kill = few Armenians who are spieseand traitors, you roll your eyes and cry massacre, but when the Greeks burn defenseless villages and murder poor fishermen it naking the world safe for democrac, there can be no difference of opinion about the starving thousands; he W of them himself—"little dien, tiny wide-eyed skele- s with hideous swollen bellies. .. . There are (at one freightyard) a dozen of these little children, in all stages of starvation, erawling about under the cars, looking for scraps; they are not liks animals, because any other animal than man would have long since been dead. Some are of m parents from Erivan; some are stians from the Lake of Van; some don’t know whether their par- ents were Christians or Muslim, and seem to remember nothing in all their hungry lives Dut this freightyard and the scraps of food the soldiers throw to them. .. .In three months, Winter, and they will all die.” The “Library Table,” which regu- larly appears in The Star on Saturday, was, through unavoidable circum- , omitted from this column in ue of July 9. It will hence- forth appear, as heretofore, on Sat- urda metropolitan heart of France, Lind- bergh becomes the Columbus of the air. If now we could see the implica- tions of Lindbergh's flight from America to France as clearly as the present-day historians see the impli- cations “of Columbus’ sailing from Spain to America, 435 years ago, 1t would, perhaps, profoundly alter our international policies and practices and save us 400 years of mistakes. Here is a chance for us to effect that most desirable of combinations, to which 1 have before referred in this column—the hindsight of the historian and the foresight of the statesman. I shall not belabor the point, but simply suggest that a world in which New York and Paris are only 3313 hours apart is only a neighborhood, and that in such an intimate neigh- borhood we dare not longer tolerate narrow nationalisms that block the way to the moral and intellectual re- union of mankind. (Copyrixht. 108%.¥ ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. Q. What salutes were given the U. S. S. Memphis as it neared Washing- ton “l"h Lindbergh on board?— The Memphis, as she sailed up th Potomac River on June 11 with Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, received and gate the following salutes: At Alexan@ia an unofficial salute of 21 gurs was given from a Marine bat- tery Bronght from Quantico for the use of members of the American Legion. whose purpose it was to make s much noise as possible. The Army » College fired no guns. The navy vard fired 19 guns in honor of the Sec- H. A. Memphis returned 19 guns in honor of th: Secretary of the Navy and 17 guns in honor of the vice admiral of it h]‘lle that the eel has two >—G. D. A. A. The Smithsonian Institution says that the eel has an organ in its tail that pulsates, and fishermen consider it a second heart. This, however, is not a real heart. On the other hand, if an eel {s struck in this region it has the same fatal effect as a blow across the heart. Q. What A B P On January 14, 1926, a royal de- ree made permanent Mussolini’s con- tre! of the army, navy and air forces. He is now officially styled “head of the government.” is Mussolini's title?— Q. Is plywood-making a recent in- vention?—H. E. B. A. Plywood-making is an ancient Egyptian art dating back many cen- turies before the Christian era. House- hold furniture and coffins taken from Egyptian tombs were constructed of plywood and veneered. Q. How many languages are spoken in the Philippines?—A. F. T. A. En spoken, English being the commercial and official language. There are some- thing like 85 native dialects; a few of these are distinct languages, each spoken today by approximately 500,000 people. Q. Who was the first artist to draw from an airplane over the German lines?—D. R. A. Margaret Wynne Nevinson, in her book “Life’'s Fitful Fever,” 3 that her son had this distinction. Q. T am interested in stained and painted glass. In the twelfth century what colors were used?—W. H. 8. A. Lewis F. Day says: “These col- ors include ruby (copper oxide); blue (oxide of cobalt) from deep sapphire to grayish—duller shades resulted from impurities in the cobalt; green (iron) from apple green to deep moss green, olive and bottle green; yellow (iron), deep. strong and rather brassy: purple- brown (manganese or manganese and iron), used in its paler shades for flesh tint. Turquoise-blue (copper) and green gl of emeraldlike quality (copper) were also used, but not in great quan- tities.” Q. When was the first sawmill set up «n this country?—J. W. A. A. The earliest claim is that of Vir- ginia, It is said that in 1619 a mill was built in Virginia adjacent to the glish and Spanish are widely | Falls of Powhatan, Gov. Wyatt having secured the sawmills from Holland. Q. What occupation is most gen erally followed in Canada’—C. N. A. Agriculture leads, employing 1,100,000 persons. Manufacturing is next, employing more than 550,000. Q. Do pulmotors revive drowned persons? Where are they available” —R. L. K. A. The pulmotor has proved a success in a large number of cases on people who were apparently drowned and very near death. All of the larger cities and many of the small ones have pulmotors in con- nection with the city fire depart- ments, which administ the pul- motor In time of a drowning. Q. Who was the first Governor neral of the Union of South Africa” -7, L. A. The first Governor General of the Union of South Africa was ap pointed in 1910. This was the Right Hon. Viscount Gladstone, who served until 1915. Q. In addressing a letter to a Frenchman should one use the title “Monsieur”?—C. G. N. A. Tt is usual to use abbreviation for ‘“‘monsfeur. the Q. Please give me an Indian word for “sweetheart.”—J. B. S. A. The Bureau of American Eth- nology says that the Tewa Indian word for “sweetheart” is “han.” Q. Was the Barron-Decatur duel fought with swords or pistols® If with pistols, please name a_duel of that period that was fought with swords.—W. E. A. The duel in which Commodore Decatur and Barron participated was fought with pistols. In 1814 Capt Edward Hopkins was siain in a duel with swords. | Q. How was the banjo developed? | B \. The existence of instruments of the lute or guitar kind implies a certain grade of knowledge and cul- ture among the people who know {how to stretch strings over sound- boards and to determine the required intervals by varying the vibrating length of the strings. Such instru- ments found in use by savage or very uncivilized peoples suggest their in- troduction through political or re- ligious conquest by a superior race. The Arabs may thus, or by trade, have bestowed a guitar instrument on the negroes of Western Africa and the Senegambian “bania” may be. as Mr, Carl Engel suggests, the parent of the American negro’s banjo. Find out what you want to know. There is no room for ignorance in this busy world. The person who loses out is the one who gucsses. The person who gets on is always the one who acts upon reliable information. This paper employs Frederic J. Haskin to conduct an information bureau in Washington for the free use of the public. There is no charge except 2 cents in stamps for return postage. Write to him today for any facts you desire. Address The Evening Star Information Burcau, Frederic J. Has kin, Director, Washington, D. (. Byrd Placed Among Leaders In History of World Aviation The terrible obstacles of fog and rain, the tragic failure of the com- pass and the cool courage with which Comdr. Byrd and his comrades met the dramatic climax of their flight across the Atlantic place his achieve- ment as high in the annals of Ameri- can adventure as the data secured will stand in the realm of science. This, at least, seems to be the opinion of the press of the country. “Nowhere in the Nation will there be more rejoicing that Comdr. ‘Dick’ Byrd and his companions are safe than in Virginia, his native State; no- where more regret that his monoplane, the America, was smashed in the forced landing off the coast of France,” said the Lynchburg Daily Advance, when the news of the safety of Byrd and his crew was flashed to this coun- try. That the flight added “far more to the science of flying than if it had come to an uneventful end on the land- ing fleld at Le Bourget” is the state- ment of the Richmond News-Leader, which also says: “The risks, of course, were of a sort that make one shudder, but as the aviators escaped unhurt, there is far more reason to congratu- late them, and to be proud of their ex- ploit, than if all had gone well with them.” Referring to the records kept by Comdr. Byrd, the Birmingham ews says, “If Lindbergh is the Leif Ericson of the air, Comdr. Byrd is its Charles Darwin or its Matthew Fon- {aine Maury, making new maps for explorers.” As to the personal qualities of Rich- ard Byrd and his companions the At- lanta Journal declares, “To the hearts that endured through that wandering, to the spirits that conquered at last, to Noville and Balchen and Acosta, and to their noble captain himself, the world bows in a homage paid only to its bravest and best,” and the Seattle Daily Times In its tribute to the “in- trepid four” says of them, “They have added immeasurably to the glory of Uncle Sam's service.” The Pitts- burgh Sun exclaims, “What hearts of oak are in the breasts of these rugged men whom the blackness of storm and wind and fog at night could not ter- rify!” While the Harrisburg Tele- graph, noting that “it does not often happen that to one man falls the good fortune to be twice hailed as an in- ternational hero, records the fact that Comdr. Byrd “has won the dis- tinction, and with him to everlasting fame he has carried his three com- panions in the America.” The New York World calls attention-to the “17 citations for bravery in action” which Dick Byrd has already received, and declares that ‘“‘America is proud of Richard Evelyn Byrd—the Sir Philip Sidney. of the air.” * K K % As to the trip itself, the St. Paul Pioneer Press finds it interesting that the “crew of the America, who set out on their flight ‘strictly for science,” ” should have had “the most manti¢ trip of them all” As the Utica Observer-Dispatch says: ‘A volume filled with the most startling incidents, each one crammed with the possibilities of disaster, lies hidden in the log of the America. In the few hours intervening between the take-off | at New York and the plunge into the | sea near Ver-sur-Mer, these four men | passed through an age of adventure which even the fertile imaginatiol of Jules Verne was unable to invent.” | Under such atmospheric conditions as Byrd encountered, mariners would check speed, but this was impossible for the aviators who “had to drive on 100 miles an hour for 19 hours or drop,” the Toledo Blade explains, as it finds it “‘not surprising that Comdr. Byrd failed to take his’airplane to| Paris,” but rather “amazing that he was able to land anywhere alive.” | Although it ' acknowledges that this “may be poor comfort for Byrd,” the Worcester Evening Gazette says “he has whatever satisfaction there is in knowing that he set out to make it a Wayne Journal-Gazette this voyage “with a plane carrying four men in- creasingly and cor demon- strates possibilities in _transoceanic flight.” The Lexington Leader be- lieves that “the ultimate eonquest of the air is as certain as the rising of the tides and the procession of the seasons,” and the Indianapolis News declares that at any rate “the reliabil- ity of American-built engines and the airworthiness of American aircraft has been proved.” That the human element has also made good is the con- tention of the Miami Daily News and Metropolis, when it says “The fact that the naval flying ace and his crew battled successfully almost every con- ceivable obstacle to such a flight is proof positive that the day of man's mastery over the ordinary elementd of the air is near.” * ok ok ok Other papers see various handic to be overcome as proved by this flisht and its nearly tragic outcome. “Their bold venture makes clear the handi- caps which still threaten interconti nental aviation,” declares the Baltl- more Sun, which sees man's next task the devising of schemes *“to guaran- tee safe arrivals at the flving ficlds when they may be blanketed in dark- ness and fog.” In this connection the New York Sun sugg that ‘“‘per- haps the next great development in aviation will be the installation of audible signals that will not be affect- ed by clouds or fogs,” and the Spring- fleld Union calls attention to the fact that in the America's case “the prob- lem which developed was not one of covering the distance, but of finding their objectiv and that “Chamber- lin encountered a similar difficulty, which caused him to miss Berlin by & 100-mile margin.” The Boston Tran- script is convinced that “the element of risk still bulks large in these ocean flights,” and the Louisville Courier- Journal rates Byrd's experience as “a helpful setback toe the belief that ocean flving has already come into its own.” 1in the opinion of the Scrantor Times “air navigation has a long w yet to go before it wil be safe and instruments used in navigation are far from being perfected.” However, as the Charleston Daily Mail declares, “man will not be deterred from ad- venture on this account; he will con- tinue feeling his way, experiencing all kinds of difficulties, in the assur- ance that in time all such obstacles will be overcome." UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today First of the 300 submarine chasers ordered by Navy Department are practically ready for commission. ® » ¢ Grand Lodge of Elks con- tributes $1,000,000 for base hospitals in co-operation with the Red Cross. * ¢ * President denounces profiteers; says fair prices must prevail in war. Asks one price for all and says that public and Government must be treat- ed alike. Assails shipowners for high rates. * ® * Losses during past week by submarine warfare the low- est since weekly reports were first issued in March. * * * Draft lists ready in only 21 States and War De- partment is forced to delay drawings until all exemption boards are plete. * © Government’'s de to accredit 15 newspaper correspond- ents to the permanent headquarte: behind the French front brings flood of applications. * * ¢ Steamer Kansan, with 83,000,000 cargo of foodstuffs and steel, sent to bottom by U-boat. Part of crew missing. ¢ * * Red Cross announces it will spend about $10,000,000 to organize hospitals and ambh ce units on scientific test and that the elements conspired to make it a most rigid one,” and the Nashville Banner re- marks, “When it is recalled that Comdr. Byrd's flight was made for purely scientific purposes and for the opportunity of checking the possibil- ities of flying under adverse con- ditions, it "then |becomes reasonable enough to call it a complete S Opinions differ as to. experiencé ' _land Italian front. * * ¢ Charges that favoritism played a part in the se- lection - of sites for Army canton- ments will be aired in Congres * ¢+ Trading-with-the-enemy passed by House of Representatives gth.olr't formality of a roll call. Office n proper L o oo Neuttals.tb wes 1o Améiicun Aipplles without ple Qmu not to to n{. r and Eng- embargo 48 one of the