Evening Star Newspaper, September 20, 1927, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTONX, THIS AND THAT N. C, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20; 1927, o JTHE EVENING SPAR With Sunday Morning Edition. Secret duration flights are being mndei by planes heavily loaded with bombs. | At the moment war is declared glant | fleets or uirplanes, airships and sub | the “lean year of attendance. This year will not be a “lean year.” The increase will be above the normal annual growth. | * and the * . NEW BOOKS ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS AT RANDOM m— WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY....September 20, 1827 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: and_Pennesivania X Office’ 110" East 42 Chicars. Offce., Towe European Office: 14 Rexent England, 1 Fyening Star with wdition 1s delivered aity at 60 ¢ per ms 43 cenis per month: Sundays onl per month. Orders mav he sent hs mail or Folephone Main 3000, Collection is made by +f each month carrier at end ate by Mail—Payable Maryland and Virg| Sunday 1vr. $000:1 mo S8.00° 1 mo $300: 1 mo 750 ke 0 i v, All Other States and Canada. 1vr. $12.00: 1 mo. $1.00 1yrl SXO00I I Tver. $4.0011m Daily iay Daiiy Sunidav onis Member of the Associated Press. 'I\T'h' use for republication of all naws It e Sradired 1o 1 ar mot uther Tt i fhre waner A aico_tha Jocal e, et AT AR (0 At 3 = | Rudolph Kauffmann. Tn the death of Rudolph Kauffmann | Washington loses one of its most val- uable citizens, many Washingtonians | Jose a beloved friend, and The Star | Joses an associate worker with whose interests its own were intimately woven during many vears, and who served it | In vital executive capacities with deyo- tion to the highest ideal of journaliSm. Jis personal qualities endeared him to | an exceptionally wide circle. Tt is lit-| erally true of him that he had naught hut friends, who appreciated his un- nsual merits as a man whose friend- ship was precious and helpful, whose character and life were an inspira- tion to all who knew him. Though not a native of this city he loved it, for it had been his home for the greater part of his life. He was deepiy interested in all works for its development. He was always ready for service in its behalf. -As a news- paper man. as a reporter of news and during many years as the chief execu- tive in the administration of The Star's news department, he had a broad vision and was indefatigably industri- ous. Though during the past few years he had relinquished somewhat the more exacting duties of the serv- ice, he maintained his close con- tact and remained keenly interested in the work of keeping Washington fully informed of the happenings of the times. His judgments were tem- pered with a mellowness of disposi- tion that won and held the affection- ate fealty of all whose activitteg he directed in the exacting and expand- ing work of this newspaper. Having himselt passed through an appren- ticeship of news writing and im- portant assignments, he knew. the re- nuirements and the difficulties of the task of news service and this estib- Jished a sympathy of relationship that won the hearts of all who were priv- fleged to serve under him. His pass- ing is the cause of inexpressible sor- row to his friends and fellow workers and his associates in the conduct of The Star, His memory will remain green while those who knew him and worked with him surv: S v Public Buildings and Traffic. Consideration is being given to pro- posals for certain car track changes in conjunction with the development of the Mall-Avenue triangle for pub- lic building purposes. With the con- centration of the public business in a comparatively narrow area there will undoubtedly be a material increase in traflic congestion in the center of the e While it has been more than once suggested that the day of the street railway is waning and that ultimately all routed traffic will be borne by the more flexible unit, the bus, it has not bheen contemplated that there ‘would be any track removal in the near fu- ture. It is hardly to be believed that there will be any immediats change in the street railway system to con- form to the new conditions resulting from public building concentratign. But the question must be studied thoroughly now to insure a future de- velopment consistent with the traffic requirements. There are proposals of subways, to give unimpeded trarsit facilities into and out of the public building area. But subways in the region of the Mall-Avenue triangle are not as fea- wible as in other parts of the c ing to the fact that the soil through- out that section is alluvial to a con- siderable depth and the foundations for underground transit lines would be very difficult to secure. There is thus a geological aspect to the situa- tion that has to be taken into consid- eration. ——— Men who might be willing to throw their hats into the presidential ring are too wise 1o try to interrupt the pugzilistie forecasters by offering po- litical opinions ———— . Another School Record. Washington has witnessed another record-breaking opening day of school. When the 3.000 teachers completed their frantic work vesterday of regis. | tering new pupils and seeing that | those promoted last year were placed | properly in the grades they | sont fizures to Franklin School show- ing that pupils had been en-| rolled. There will be many more to-| day, and it will be from ten days to! two weeks before the complete figures | on new enroliments will become avail- able. But the opening day vesterday has already shown an increase of 1,405 im excess of last year's opening day figures, and last year was a record Qrly nine years ago, in the Fall of 1918, the opening day figures were 47,4 523. This year's final enrollment is ex- pected now by officials at the Franklin School to show an increase of 2,000 pu- pils over last year. The Summer just passed saw the scompletion of build jngs which provided 33 new class- rooms, capable of accommodating 1.320 additional pupils. This increased gpace has already heen fil'ed. The #achonls face another year of crowded ahove, 719 schoolrooms. School officials who ha heen watching the rise and fall of vearly «nrollment figures in the past point to . | There must More families are moving into the Dis [trict. More residential bhuilding has been going on. The city's population |is on the upgiade, and the schools’ population is growing with it. The five-year school building pro- | | 1925, and which went into effect last | vear, will not be completed until 1931. Already it is becoming apparent to| | those watching of the schools that a five-vear building pro- gram will not be enough, but that the program will have to be stretched into additional years to catch up with the | long period of non-building, when the | population of the schools jumped far beyond the faciiitics of the Junior high schools are relieving to | some extent the congestion in the ele- mentary and the senior high schools. | But the junior high schools are only a few in number. And the adoption of the junior high principle will mean an increase later in the number of pupils beyond the eighth grade. Insiead of leaving school when they have fin- ished the grades, the vast majority of pupils will continue their work through the junior high, corresponding to the | seventh and eighth grades and the first year of the senior high. 'he demands upon the schools ar increasing steadily. There must be no let-up in answering these demands. | be mno talk of delaying completion of the building program, but rather talk of continuing it until| the schools catch up with and pass the demands of education. 1t is difficult to conceive of anything more important or more pressing than an adequate | school system, g e the growth hools. | | Democratic Drys Called to Confer., Edwin T. Meredith of lowa, former | Secretary of Agriculture, and- re- | garded by some as William G. Me- Adoo’s political heir, sounds the tocsin | to summon the Democratic drys to| pick a leader to succeed the declini Californian as a candidate for the presidential nomination. Noting that | the supporters of Gov. Smith have | been active throughout the country, while those opposed to his nomina- tign have been inactive, he urges that a conference be held within thirty days to select some man upon whom the progressive dry forces of the party can concentrate to head the op- position. If this is not done, he in- dicates, the wets will carry the 192 convention by default, and while he does not admit it he allows it to be assumed that this means a Smith vie- tory for the nomination. No practical steps have thus far been taken to the end of calling this conference, though it is to be assumed that a summons will be sent out shor ly. Otherwise, Mr. Meredith's state- ment will be a mere gesture, which may be interpreted in some unfriend- Iy quarters as designed to call atten- tion to himself. Indeed, in coming for- ward as the proponent of a search for a man to represent the dry progres- sivism of the Democracy Mr. Mere- dith is taking some chances on being rated as starting his own boom. But those who know him will not hold this view. He couples his suggestion of a conference with the mention of several names, including Newton D. Baker, former Secretary of Wa Thomas J. Walsh of Montana, Sena- tor Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas, Representative Cordell Hull of Ten- nessee, and Daniel C. Roper of Texas. The Smith forces will doubtless be greatly heartened by the suggestion that “the field” emust be beaten in search for a man to head off the Gov- ernor of New York. Unquestionably the Smith organization has been active and industrious. There are evidences of delegate hunting in practically all of the States. Smith squads have been formed in every section. An active correspondence is in progress between New York and all the political cen- ters. The situation is very much like that of 1923, when McAdoo was apparently running away with the nomination more than six months in advance of the convention. A little less than four | vears ago -a conference was held | at French Lick Springs, Ind., be.| tween Thomas Taggart of that place, George Brennan of Chicago, and the late Charles Murphy of New York, ! whose purpose was to find somebody, to “head off McAdoo.” It was then that the name of Gov. Smith of New | York was first definitely mentioned. It was said that he did not take the proposal of his name as a contender for the nomination seriously. But in the two months following the French Lick Springs conference certain things developed which made the Democratic nomination of 1924 appear to possess more value than it had before. The oil scandals broke in Congress, and for a time it looked as though the Democratic nominee would have an easy campaign for election, whoever he might be. Gov. Smith began to take more interest in his boom and by the time the convention assembled he was an out-and-out candidate for the | nomination, maintaining that role so vigorously that the deadlock at Madi- son Square Garden ensued. The question mow of interest iz whether a conference of the Demo- cratic progressive drys will parallel in its results that which was held in November, 1923, at French Lick Springs. If =0, unless the two-thirds rule can be abrogated by the Smith faction of the Democracy, another Madison Square Garden tea party may develop, wherever it may be held. e Withdrawal hy Mr. McAdoo is ex- pected to avert some of the distressing stage waits that distinguished the previous Democ atic convention. Wilhelm as a Prophet. Wilhelm Hohenzollern, who failed so lamentably as a prophet a few years ago, is essaying the role again in his retirement in. Holland. Interviewed by a correspondent at Doorn. he fore- sees another great war in 1937, a war {more awful than any that has ever | been known hefore, and that will last lonly a few ds possibly only a few hours” The world, he says, is pre paring for this conflict. experimenting [ with Uhoats, torpedoes, explosives and | horvid gases. Secret discussions are icarvied on regazding the employment of poisonaus Au- on the oceans. gram agreed upon by Congress h|“\'aixer paints | marines will be informed by wireless. | | Merchantmen will be destroyed imme pared fort will be exterminated -eight hours. his is a gloomy picture the former It is remembered. how- ever, that he has always dealt in the superlative. When he was ruler of Germany everything was in the high est degree. The war which he per sonally fostered and in a measure con ducted was to be the swiftest and. most successful the world had ever known. It lasted four years, and while it was unparalieled in cost and suffering and loss and devastation, it did not work out according to the Wilhelmi schedule. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the former Kaiser's statement is that with which the interview was concluded: I could show the road to peace, but the world prefers regarding me as a scapegoat to consulting me as an adviser.” The idea of Withelm as the apostle of peace and as refused a hearing by a war-bent world is inter- esting, It is especially so in view of the regret which he expresses as being unable to return as a sovereign “to teach the worid how permanent peace might be secured.” within Is this a bid for restoration? war lord as the peace angel! remarkable change! At any rate, Herr Hohenzollern will gel attention on the score of his decl: ration that secret preparations are be- ing made for the most destructive and the shortest war in history. If he is well informed, he is being kept better advised in his retreat at Doorn than he was at Potsdam before 1914. Ger- many’s tragedy was due sreat The What a in | measure to his misinformation regard- ing what other powers were doing and would do in the emergency of conflict. o References to the fact that Charles E. Hushes is not precisely a young man call forth a great deal of com- ment on the advantage he enjoys in thoroughly knowing his way about in all phases of politi e e No bright savings by King Michael have recently heen quoted. Possibly | he is so precociously bright as to’ he intuitively aware that a truly wise king understands the art of prolong- ing oeccasional silences. B ) A man who has been out West may refuse to be a candidate and | mean io stand his zround, vet he cannot fail to realize how irresistible a genuine stampede may become. ————— Miss Syndicate, as the name of one of the smartest power boats that ever threw spray on the Potomac, shows the inclination to permit a suggestion of business even in pleasures. T T Longings for the good old days do not arise among those who witness from secure shores, where once the gunners were prowling for reed birds, brilliant Potomac boat races. g ST The high cost of footwear may be partly explained by the fact that even the scantest feminine costumes for beach or hoardwalk appear to require faney shoes. Cm e e The small boy now studies his letters and his mathematics in the hope that with good physical train- ing he may become a great aviator some da ——om— Followers of Al Smith honestly he- lieve the only peint the Democratic convention need worry about is the selection of a vice presidential can- didate. G e Supporters of Al Smith see nothing to do for the present except to permit the process of elimination naturally to assert itself. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, Grand Preliminaries. An epithet to the jaw is sent, And metaphors fiercely swing. | It takes long weeks for the argument, For an hour or two in the ring. Alas! Some day bout In the festive and formal scenes. And begin, when their tempers have given out, To throw their typing machines! they may spoil the As an epithet to the jaw is sent And the metaphors fiercely swing, We 2t Jeast had a fine long argument. Regardless of time in the ring. Too Promiscuous. “Do You approve of radio?" “Not altogether,” answered Senator Sorghum: “a speech delivered by radio s liable to be heard in terri- tory for which it was not intended.” By the Sad Sea Waves. What are the wild waves saying? They leave us much perplexed: “The board this year was rather dear And will be dearer next.” Jud Tunkins says many laws get broken by people who start out meaning only to bend them a little. “Many worship idols.” said Hi Ho, the Sage of Chinatown, “because they are in a position to hear so much,’ yet never were known to re- veal a secret.” | Which Ought to Serve as Some Excuse. “So you have forgotten our wed- ding anniversary,” she said bitterly. ¢ “How could I remember it?" he inquired. “Time has slipped away so fast and so happily that the wed- ding seems but yesterday.” Modern Instance. “Be sure you're right—then go ahead” Is what old Davy Crockett said. It should especially apply To those who travel through the sky “Happiness,” sald Uncle Eben, “is one thing you kin git " by takin' it away fum somebody else.” ] A Sad Occasion, From the Bilumore Sun. Some people speak of the erd of the watermelon season with the same solemnity as if they were spexking of the ead of a prominent citi never diately. and any nation that is unpre. | Contr: plave such a wonderful { partin life that its role often is under | estimated by hurrying human beings. Sometimes a thing is accepted as an ill when, it properly viewed. it is hut |'a contrast, to set off its opposite in a truer, more beautiful light. | ‘The value of contrasts, therefore, is =een to be camparative, rather than | vositive or nezative Every event, every |or enemy, every pleasant or unplea ant situation, must he accepted not lone for what it is, in jtself. but | for what it means in relation to some thing else. | Only by so doing will one coma tn | the enjoyment of life and the under- standing thereof. *xox ow i word of friend What an infernally hot place a tele. phone Looth is, for instance’ Even those that are supposed to be ventilated by fans nearly smother talker, as he attempts his_call as quickly as possible. While the important messaze is [being relayed over the wire the speaker mentally is cursing the ne- | cessity for telephone bLooths. | The thing is insufferahle. 1t he he surely will die. Frantically he hangs up the phone, grals for the handle of the door, and staggers out. | How wonderfully cool and a | room seems! Beforg he had gone into the booth the big place had seemed the very anteroom of Hades itself. There h not heen a breath of air stiring, and !the world had heen very hot | But now, in contrast with the hooth heyond y the place seemed cool, airy compare. His appreciation, too coolness and airiness. had incr tenfold. He sees the need for these he never understood them hefore. Just a little contrast, in a small thing. the e Sociable and kindly ehildren ave set off, as it were, by untrained and mean minded ones. The parents of the former may say “Oh they are not angels!” but really ought to he. Contrast is what makes them stand out. 0 a person who has an iota of jud ment will be able to discern, at I the difference hetween good and neighbors, between those who mani fest a true spirit of kindliness and those who are cternally sclfish. The fact that the good neighbors are human beings, and therefore have their share of faults, will not prevent him from appreciating them at their true worth. y Again it is contrast that turns the trick. * ok ok % Even in the field of brute creation the thing works out very well ‘The furry friends of home and for- st are different from each other. to those who are able to appreciate their worth as fellow beings in the world. Dogs of the me variety, for example, differ tremendously. ‘With Col. Lindbergh's brilliant feat of aviation, followed by the strenuous effort to arouse .public interest in air travel, it is hard to realize that less than a century ago there was practi- cally the same struggle to awaken public sentiment on behalf of raflroads as there is now for airplanes. If is almost incredible to find that in that earlier struggle the Federal Capital was bitterly opposed to the success of the new niode of overland travel on iron tracks, since it would rival the much hetter method—the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, then being projected out of Warshington, which, with its expensive locks, was going to make water run up hills and over mountains, clear to the Ohio River, * K % From September 24 to October § the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. will conduct, at Halethorpe, near Balti- more, one of the most interesting ex. positions showing the evolution and development of railroad transporta- tion ever conceived. It will include a magnificent pageant showing all the earlier forms of transportation in America. There will be the India mode of travel, the primitive prairi schooner, the stage coach, post chaise and other horse-drawn vehicles. Then will come the funny little Tom Thumb locomotive, looking like a teakettle set on wheels, pulling three or four stage coaches locked together, upon the tops of which sat the adventurous passengers of long ago as the train whirled along at the dizzy speed that no horses could equal. Next will be the odd-looking, camel-back engines of the 40s, with cabins on the tops of the engines, in which the engineer and fireman worked. They were as topheavy as a double-deck bus. Then in chronological order the more mod- ern engine, those with huge smoke- stacks and ‘“cow-catchers,” and the monster engine sent over from Eng- land, at that time the most powerful engine of that country, weighing 12 tons. Finally, there will be the grea est engine in the world, the “Lor Baltimore,"" recently built by the Bal: mare and Ohio Railroad Co., weighing 32915 tons. What a span of one cen- tury! From Tom Thumb in 1827 weighing 6 tons, to Lord_Baltimore in 19 of more than 55 times the weight, and with even greater pro- portional power! There will be floats representing historic scenes of the “B. & O,” such as the train bearing Lincoln to his first inaugural. The exposition occuples a tract of 1,000 acres, where a loop track is laid around a 253-acre plaza, and a grand- stand with a capacity of 12,000 has been erected. There is a hall of trans- portation, 502 feet in length, besides other exhibition and service buildings. And—novelty itself—there is no free parking places for 3,000 auto- mobiles. P Tt takes such an exposition to vis- ualize what one century means in the growth of a nation or a race. Today none can conceive of men becoming bitter in the rivalry between a rail- road and a canal, but a _century ago there was active rivalry between Bal- timore and Washington over building of the conflicting lines of transportation. The canal diggers and the railroad builders came to an im- passe when both sought to pass Mount Catoctin, where the Potomac River sweeps so close to the rocky mountain that there was room only for one right of way between rock and water. Both transportation companies ap- pealed to the Legislature of Maryland. The canal company proposed a bill absolutely forbidding any bridge to cross its way, and another authoriz- ing the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. to exercise the right of eminent domain in the purchase not merely of a right of way, but the entire farms through which the right of way would be located. That would checkmate any raflroad right of way westward, and the bridgeless provision would compel the railroad trains to stop at the side of the 60-foot canal and ferry its passengers and bagzage across the raging waters—no, it was the officials who raged. The canal company ex plained about the bridge prohibition. They were to run magnificent two- story hoats and a bridge would inter- fere. At last the canal company of- fered a compromise. The 1iilroad might pass the Catoctin Mountain narrow on econdition that it would buy 2500 shares in the canal com- pany. would limit its right of way to 20 feet and would build a tight board fence along the joint way of the canal to get through dces not get ont of here in a minute | they are as much angels as children | charge for admission and there are| the | BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The pitiless scrutiny of the bench how brings physical points into startling contrast, even as the “heauty contests’ do among human beings. The physical contrast of one dox with another is what decides the judges In their award of ribbons. In the home the merits of dog versus dog stand out even more, being mostly judged according to traits, as they “how up in the daily conduct of the | animals Thus one dog is seen {0 he more af- | tectionate in_disposition, more trac table, more kind to the children, than a somew h: surly mate. The latter is a veritable dog in the manger, perhap: in relation to the other, who. therefore, shinos all the more by —contrast. 5 To many persons domestic cats seem amazingly alike, but to those who ap preciate the creatures no two of them ave alike, either in physical or dispo itional traits. Compared with the indifferency Nipper I. the plain preference of Nipper 11 for a certain person is striking: and the contrast makes the vecipient of this feline affection all the more kindly disposed toward (1 of If it were not for the blank stare of the former, which did not seem to know that any being. human or other- wise, existed. other than himself, the solemn appeal in the eves of Nipper 11 would not be aalued at & rue worth. The expressive countenance of old Jack Spratt, with its kindly expres: | sion, needed the sly, evil face of a stray cat to make it appreciated to its fullest. L “Absence makes the heart fonder.” said the old sons, to be near your side.” Many a husband found that | during the Summer just past, as he came back to a silent, dusty home, where the milk bottles were piling up in the Kitchen sink and the refrigera- tor pan was as likely as not to be | overflowed. The contrast of the home, running it, with the way it has a real manager., is the efficiency of the average wife. Absence is a contrast [ tangible sort, that bea zovd. So a farewell is a contrast with coming home again, and vice ver: L grow “longing s he was s when it artling proof a fruit of | In the larger affairs of life. the les. son of contrasts is so plain that there is no need to go into detail. Sickness makes health the more de- sirable by mere contrast. } Suspicion and ill will, if met, as they most_assuredly will be, may throw u |all the more ‘into the arms of trust and good will. Flippancy and ‘make one appree | calm beauty of gravity and the happi ness of good nature. Living, indeed. makes one know that true sense of humor, by enabling mistaken humor te the more the a | one to get the benefit out of life's con.- | trasts, small and large, | greatest gifts given man. one of the BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. and railroad so that the canal horses | and mules would not be scared by the trains. Instead of building a fence, the railroad company unhooked its engines and pulled the cars by horses along that stretch of the way. 1834 the iron horse entered Harper: Ferry, but even then no railroad [ reached the city of Washington, as | the route to Harpers Ferry was from Baltimore. The railroad not only encountered |rivairy with the canal company, but | Tn 1832 the Maryland Legislature au thorized a State appropriation of $500,000 to aid in building a railroad from Baltimore to Washington, with | a proviso that [ 82.; of which the State treasury | should collect 50 cents tax. It was | not until 1871 that the tax was can- | celed, although years before a com- | peting railroad between Baitimore and Washington was authorized without a passenger tax. * ok ok ok In those pioneer days of railroad- | Ing there were far more appalling ac- | cidents than there are today in avia- | tion. Today statistics of accident companies show that a passenger is | safer on board a. regular passenger railroad train than he is in his own home. More people are hurt at home falling out of windows or stepping on soap on the bathroom floors than are | hurt as railroad passengers. Ocean steamship travel is still safer, and, | judging by the claims of some avia- | tors, air travel even now in Eurape | has a safer record per million miles | than any other mode from walking | to fying. LI B Quite apart from the historie de- velopment of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, there is interest in the ex hibition of far older discoveries or in- | ventions of transportation. Europe |preceded America a few years in steam ‘Im-nmnli o8 run by steam was invented b; named Hero, in Egypt, 150 ’R. €. His machine was called an “aeo- lipile.” The Standard Dictionary de- scribes it. It was a sort of steam tur- hine, with a hoiler in which the steam was generated, and equipped with two orifices, 8o arranged that as the steam under pressure ame out its reaction turned a hollow metallic ball, The Standard Dictionary describes it in detail. Centuries before the aeoli- pile there were omds operated by sails, and in the sixteenth century A, D. such sailing cars were put on iron +racks, and gained a speed of 42 miles an hour. Their trouble was that they must always fly with the wind; they could not tack like sailboats without being thrown off the tracks. (Copyrieht. 1027, by Paul V. Collins.) UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today a man vears | | { American regiment of engineers takes over important line of French strategic railways. Germans imme- diately try to homb them. * ¢ @ Several Americans get for aiding French at Verdun. Interallied council inaugurates plan to mobilize surplus resources of Amer- ica into a huge food pool to help win jthe war. ® ¢ * General order is- sued by War Department provides for |the use of gas and liquid flames by American forces when they begin oper- ations against the Germans. * * ¢ Arbitration ends ° shipping Threat to make New York a military port sends 6,500 men back to work. {* ® * Secretary McAdoo announces that the Second Liberty Bond cam- paign_ will open October 1. Amount may run as high as four billions. ¢ * * Sweeping provision added to the enemy trading bill provided for consorship of mails and cables. Meas ure aims to cut off German sources of news, ® 0§ dent takes trol of war's problems and names commission to represent him personally in composing lahor trouble Sabotage, pro-German influences an deportations to be investigated first hand. * ¢ * Alles look for new peace note from Pope, containing more specific proj Is than the re- cent one. | ! i war er out, | of a definite, | * | readers By | with the turnpike interests as well. | the fare should be but the first locomotive | strike. | con- | LG M | | | | | NEW GRUB STREET. ving. The Modern Library. They were ftalking together as | craftsmen are like! to do in respect | to their common art. Novel writing, lin this case, George Gis- i something like 3 And since the discussion took pla 3 years ago it cannot in any exact sense lay claim nowadays 1o newness either in substance or ef- fect. It offers mo original theory of the novel, no fresh formula to the novelist. Yet in certain ways the out- look and argument projected here do onz 1o the immediate present ither than to their own date. Georg Gissinz himself belongs to the presen instead of to the one in which h wrote, Consider the novels surround- inz his s of the D'Urber villes,” ntures of Sherlock Holme Little Minister,” over here the novels of Richard Harding Davis. Clearly Gissing was out of place. A rebel in his day—that dif- terent, denying, protesting thing which ever¥ formalized agency from religion and government down to fads nd fashions finds so unwelcome. sturbing, so obnoxious. So, Gi to wait—unhappily till' he . been some time dead—for any | recognition in respect to the quality Vo his art, for any considerable read [ing of his novels. Had to wait, in I fact, till the tige of realism in the novel had set in more strongly. spawn. ing its Sinclair Lewises and the ik | to force common attention to this wa of setting out, in.the name of the novel, the commonplace, the arid, the dreary, the multitudinous inc lquences of dull averag Then some one said, * it you like this sort of thing, why not read George Gissing? He is a better crafts. man_than these new voung fellows. Builds better—with foundation and | superstructure purposeful, united. baluanced, effective. ~ And _when it comes to drabness and dblor and ¢ all brought to bear upon the why sing has these 3 And critics began to weigh and appraise George Gissing—some for, some inst the man as novelist. Lut all n a measure of agreement as to the | essential genius streaking this clearly | unbappy and pathetic fizure. Then of the exclusive and dis | eriminating brand_ hegan to read | Gissing. began to find him curiously in touch with many of the inside | things of human feeling and mot | began to find him deeply satisfving a competent and finished workman, ot long ago the Modern Librar invited “New Gruh Street” to join | its excellent compan: of this act “New Grub Street” | comes a “New Book at Random.” i 2 gl They talking craftsmen are likely to do in respect to their common art, novel w At the mement Harold Biffen was saying to Edwin Reardon: “What I really aim at is an absoluts realism in the sphgre of the ignobly decent. The field, as T understand it, is a new one; T don't know any writer who has treated ordinary vulzar life with | fidelity and seriousness. Zola writes | deliberate tragedies: his vilest figures | become heroic from the place they | fill in a strongly imagined drama. 1 want to deal with the essentially un- heroic, with the day-to-day life of that | vast majority of people who are at the merey of paltry circumstances. | Dickens understood the possibility of such work, but his tendency to melo- drama, on -the one hand, and his humor, on the other. prevented him | from thinking of it. An instance, now: | As 1 came along by Regent's Park | halt an hour ago a man and a girl | were walking close in front of me, | love-making: T passed them slowly i and heard a good deal of their talk— | it was part of the situation that they should pay no heed to a stranger’s proximity. Now, such a love scene as that has absolutely never been written down: it was entirely decent, yet vuigar to the nth power. Dickens would have made it ludicrgus—a gross injustice. Other men. who deal with low-class life would perhaps have preferred idealizing it—an absurdit ‘or my own part, I am going to re. | produce it verbatim, without one | single impertinent sugszestion of any | point of view save that of honest re- porting. The result will be something unutterably tedious. Precisely. That is the stamp of the ignobly decent life. It it were anything but tedious, it would he untrue. 1 speak, of course. of its effect upon the ordinary reader. Reardon protests the feasibility of such a program for the novel, on the ground that he himself could not do that kind of thing. Not a complete reason, by the way. To this Biffen agrees with, “Certainly you couldn't. | You—well. you are a psychological | realist in the sphere of culturs. You are impatient of vulgar circum- stances.” Quite true, and here we | have not only Edwin Reardon, but the | essonce of George Gissing himself. Bu. let me go on”—Biffen still talk I want, among other things. to insist upon the fateful power of trivial incidents. No one has vet {dared to do this serious It has often been done in farce, and that's | why farcial writing so often makes one melancholy. You know my stock | instances of the kind of thing I mean. | There was poor Allen, who lost the most valuable opportunity of his life bacause he hadn't a clean shirt to put on: and Williamson, who would prob- ably have married that rich girl but for’ the grain of dust that got into his eye and made him unable to say or do anvthing at the ecritical mo- ment.” And so the talk goes on, Bif- fen expounding a theory and Reardon protesting th> most of it, even while it is clear that both of these men enter into the composition of George Gissing himself, with, Reardon greatly Preponderating in this single human complex. | | had were togeth>r as ting. * % % » New Grub Stree |is carried on by writers—novelists, reviewers, essay journalists. Rear- don, pursuing a high and remote art | that fails of any general acceptance Biffen, writing, “Mr. Bailey, Grocer, one of the “ignobly decent” that was to serve him as inspiration. Biffen dies of disappointment and starvation, | Reardon perishes of self-pity and an indifferent public. The only survivor among these writing men is Milvain, obviously the one whom Gissing despises as a_timeserver and repre. sentative of the degraded art of lit- |evature. Milvain is the shopkeeper, producing such wares as are in good demand, fitting his talent to an ob. viously vulgar and incompetent class | of readers. Among these writers fail- | ure stands as the symbol of literary ighteousness, of pearls cast before swine. And success is the stamp of the charlatan, of the undeserving. The obloquy of success carries be- ond these ‘men. The wife who re- treats before poverty is unworthy of the sacred title that she bears. Wives are made to share any depth to which a struggling spouse may fall, when his efforts are as high as they are futile. The girl who chooses a competence along with a husband is a sordid person. And, indced, the other girl, the one who reaches out for happiness, even of the modest sort, would somehow have been a finer human had she deliberately reached for a harder lot. Yet, with all this | black-and-blueness of ‘general effect. there is here a clearly vital power of a novel that « o i W1 stir of | BY FREDERIC Q. Is it true that rattlesnakes are | | blind during dog da L ER The milky appearance of the | of a snake shortly before the | h is east due 1o the af the outer laver of epidermis | cornea, resulting in im- paired vision. This gives rise to vari- | ous superstitions regarding snakes ! ing blind during the dog days of | |tate Szmmer. | 87— eves slon | Q. \hat is tin plate?—FE, L. A. The Bureau of Standards says that tin plate, as the term is used com:percially, refers to sheer stee] | or iron v hich has been coated with | a thin laycr of tin. Q. I shou!d like to know what wil! cmove licguer from the smiace of »me silver joving gups. L. A. quer may Be_removed from the ace of silver Bving cups by using warm lye, Q. Are ever worn other than ornaments?—>M H. A. The purpose of the monocle is to serve as an eveglass for one eve Its main object, therefore. is not serve as an ornament, although some persons do affect them in this way as ever known by 1. time epelled nes called Fri- first intro- Were sund:es other name? —A X Sundaes ot o ndays. were some when they wel Q. any ed. What are the various titles of | z of England?—L. D. A he title of the King of Kng- land iz “By the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith. Empero India." { wis recently stated that the ki status of the Rritish necessitated a change in the title of | the King. So far as we know, how- | ever, no official action has as yet| been taken. Q. How long does it take the varl- | ous vegetables to mature?—R. C. A. According to a publication is- | sued by the Department of Agriculture, | it requires from 60 to 80 days for heets to mature, from 70 to 100 for carrots, | 20 to 140 for radishes, 125 to 160 for | parsnips, 130 to 150 for onions grown | from seed and 60 to 120 for onions | crown from sets, 100 to 140 for pep- 1l , 80 to 125 for tomatoes, 60 to %1 for lettuce. 40 to S0 for peas, 100 | to 120 for watermelons and 120 to 150 | for celery. L | Q | the K = T nglish | | denomination epa- | Cat fucianists and Taoist dominions | I J. HAS Q. What is the largest rel n the United s ions tes? i the world? A. In the United States the Roman olic membership is the larzest ling 18.878, The largest world nhership is that of the on- 301.155.000 to " Q. What is the correct pronnncia. tion of the name Joan, and its de vivation®—L. W. F. A Joan is the feminine of ind means “Grace of the Lord.' rect pronunciation of the Joan is Jon. Q Kindly explain the hetween hotels _operating Furopean plan and those employ the American plan.—E. M. W A A hetel which operates the Furopean wlan charges morelv tarift for the room which is occupied by the guest. The charges made h a hotel operated on the American plan include three meals a dax there modern ture theaters in Malaya?—C. P. A. There are a number of movie houses. In Penang, northern Mulava, it is said that the local theaters are crowded for each performance. ‘The two theaters at Penang will seat :p proximately 1,500 people each. Ti ecnipment is primitive. The chen seats are located on the lower floor, which is__equipped with wooden benches This part of the theate patronized by native men and The side malleries are reserved native woman patrons. The highe priced seats are in the main galle where comfortable willow chairs are main gallery ively by Europe Tohn b name di on Q. Are motion pic price of admission to the theaters is as follows: Main gallery (United States), 57c; side galleries for native women, 11c; lower floor, 34c 23¢ and 1le. The answers to questions prinfed here cach day are specimens picked | from the mass of inquirics handled by the great information bureaw main tained by The Evening Star in Wash- ington. D. This valuable service is for the frée wuse of the public. Asi any question of fact you way iwant to know and wou will get an imme- diate reply. Write plainly. inclose 2 cents in stamps for return postage, and address The Evening Star | formation Bureau, Frederic J. Haski director, Washington, D. Plea Wins P A fair degree of sympathy is ex-| tended to the Brotherhood of Sleeping | Car Porters, whose petition asking | that tips be abolished is before the Interstate Commerce Commission. General comment is in agreement with | the position that tipping is an evil,| hut some newspapers maintain that | all attacks upon the system have been unsuccessful. It is felt that the por- ters should receive wages which do not require supplementary payments, but an important question which is raised is as to whether, under such circumstances, passengers would re- frain from attemoting to buy special favors. | “The porters object to being h'lrodi with a stipulation that they will’ re-| ceive a portlon of their remuneration from the passengers. They demand a| Jiving wage.” records the San Antonio | Evening News, with the “comment: | “This plea certainly is calculated to command much popular sympathy. Nevertheless, the commission may | draw the line at an attempt to regu- late tipping. Legislatures have tried to banish the ‘abuse’ by law and have succeeded in making themselves ridic- ulous. Unquestionably, the practice has its undesirable aspects. It is a little worse for the worker who feels that hesis sacrificing self-respect than | | for anybody else. The man who gi | a tip may consider that he is paving | for service rendered. The tightwad | who refus to tip as a matter of | principle commands but seant sym-| Pathe v “With “the effort confined to the Pullman porters,” states the Boston Transcript, “‘question arises as to the effect upon the public if they should win their battle. Would the man whose fare on a sleeping car included compensation for such services as the porter performed for him rebel when it came to tipping the taxi driver and handing a quarter to the boy whe car- ried his bag to the hotel room? Or/ does the public, specially on its travels, like the tippi. : custom? There are those who maintain that it adds to the joy of life away from home; that the donor feels a glow nf! pleasure when he dispenses largess;!| that the depletion of the pocketbook | in this fashion increases self-esteem. | * * * It may be, if the petition to| the Interstate Commerce Commission | hecomes subject of a hearing. that ex- | pert testimony will be introduced con- cerning the mental attitude of th aipper as well as the tippee.” * K K K A fear that-the public may be the | Pullman Porters’ Anti-Tipping ublic Sympathy careful scrutiny to the points raised by the porters and then furnish the traveling public with an exact state ment of fact, exonerating the com- pany if that concern is guilless, ex posing it if it is as unscrupulous as the charges make out.” "Phe Charleston Daily Mail feels that “there are some who, having the means, think they will get a I better service than the ordinary by tipping,” but the Daily Mail takes as an example of different practice “the famous Wayside Inn, under the con- trol of Henry Ford, which “makes a special request that there be no tips. on the ground that those who serv are sufficiently paid for their servic But, then, this is one of Henry Fot ideas,” adds that paper, with the fur- ther rema ‘Now that the vac tion season over, how many of us can sit down and count how much we paid in tips and how much that amount added to the total ot our ex- penditures?” “If any group of workers by its loy- alty and dependability has won the right to self-respect,” according to the New York World. “it is the Pullman car porters. One can only sympathize with their plea, then, whether or not they have a good technical case he- fore the commission. But to denounce such a firmly fixed custom as tipping is one thing and to break it is another. ¢ + * There will probably always bhe people who will insist on feeing personal service. * ¢ ‘We shouid like to see the porters attain their goal of independence, but they are going to have a hard time breaking the traveling public of its bad habits.” evertheless, the Detroit Free Press has a theory that “some of the dis- gruntled on unprofitable runs have grown tired of watching their fellows bring in the sheaves of bills at the end of each ‘trip, while they themselves are lucky to collect a dollar's worth of dimes a day.” PHILOSOPHIES BY GLENN FRANK A while ago 1 had the privilege of participating in a ceremony that emed to me eignificant. In a crowded hall, packed to the doors with the representative farmers of a Middle Western State, a sreat to | university conferred honorary recog- nition upon a half dozen farmers who, in one way or another, had made stopped? There is a solid conviction it " code in its employes as to frankly and | S0ldiers un_ battlefields coolly place it up to them to collect the rest of their salary from the pa- would such a condition be permitted? | Commission cannot do less than give that the day will brighten—thou heart he knows it never will. self-pitying genius of futility. Georze genuine contributions to the sanity, the efficiency, and the profitableness of the farming procedures of the State. In doing this the university was placing its seal of appreciation upon creative work in dairy barn, on stock farm, or in corn field, exactly as uni versities have always placed their seal of appreciation upon creative work in iaboratory or library. It was a gesture toward tearing down the wall between labor and learning. It was a genuine acknowledgement of the dignity of work. 1t marked a happy redemption from academic exclusiveness. It was in harmony with the action of the Legion of Honor in France. which, a year or two ago, expanded its ranks to take in the great work- ingman as well as the great states- man and the great literary genius. One of the first workingmen to he honored by the widely coveted littie ribbon of the Legion of Honor w: an old molder, 70 vears old, who has spent his life making casts in co- operation with some of the great artists of France. ultimate sufferer is expressed b; | Spokane Spokesman-Review. ‘“There a probability,” says that paper, that if the organized’ porters won their case before the commission and the Pullman company was required to pay them living_ wages it would pass the tax on to the traveling pub- lic, and then, when that new status hecame established, the porters would lapse back into their old practices, and the end would be higher charges for Pullman berths and the extrac- tion of tips as before.” On this same point the Norfolk Daily News asks: “But suppose the wages of the porters are revised up- ward. Can you visualize a Pullman porter saving, ‘No, sah,’ to a prof- fered gratuity>” And the answer of the News is, “Not on your life you can't. Tips would still be offered and accepted as they are now.” Recog- nizing the custom as one ‘“which rankles, but which persists neverthe- less, because of a human trait that will not he downed,” that “when the | tipper is ready and willing to tip one cannot expect Pullman’s ‘George’ or any other kind of servitor to decline,” the St. Joseph News-Press declares:] In a labor exhibition that was held “There is no question. that the por.| t0 dramatize and to stimulate in work- ters, waiters and others who render | er's a sense of the dignity of toil. this public service should be paid an ade-!0ld molder exhibited one of his cast quate living wage, figured on the basis ; Ings, which artists hailed as a master of service rendered and not upon the | biece. anticipated generosity of the public. | Another workman who received the Accompanying such wages there | ribbon of the Legion of Honor was a should he’ rigid instruetions that no | Jjeweler who, in his craftsmanship. had tips are to be offered or accepted. But |displayed distinguished trustworthiness how is this tipping nuisance to be!and skill. We have not explored the possibil it ‘can’t be did,’ or another that . ities of a real recognition of good work von't be did.’ by_the workers of the world. * ok ok ok We scatter knighthoods and honor- “By what right,” asks the Detroit 4r¥ degrees lavishly among men who News, “does the Pullman company,| Wear the statesman's robes, wield the if the chdrge is true, inculcate such a | 2rti8t's= pen or brush, or marshal we leave the recognition of the dignity and social significance of work to times when we need to head off social unrest by pretty preachments about the dignity Interstate Commerce | Of labor. We even give to sport a dignity and recognition we do not give te work. ! Why should the striking gesture of zh at {a prizefighter in the ring have Simply | greater o) arit and W annot change In the hands of thit | than the etk @ e ol et urlously insearching. dissppointed. | smith at his anv i Why should th th trons of the company? Where else The characterization. These people, never mere figures. book holds one throughout. To he people are | Gissing, who has the gift of holding And the | readers In absorption over a novel that is utter| sure, one reads in the constant hope, to finish. - be “champion : of a tool as ing of a golf ships™ g el o l)#gpremn( from start ::,‘c:"" o for the | the