Evening Star Newspaper, October 4, 1927, Page 8

—_— {THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY.......October 4, 1837 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Buatness Offk and St Pennaylvants A : 110 East 42ne Tower, Build ot St.. London. with the Sunday morn. red by carricrs witbin y obly 20 cents ‘mail or ] aiade Ly telephone Main carrier at end of by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland a1d Virginia. Daily Daily on! 5 Sunday onlv.. All Other States and Canada. 2d Sunday. 1 vr.. $12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 Patz g, Somdar. e SIS0 Sundav only 1vr. $400:1 - Member of the Associated Press. The Assort i ex Lueively entiod 1o the use I patches cred Press republication o d to it or not ot Nerein. All riehts of 21 disnatehes herein are also rescrved Revolt in Mexico. A military mutiny in Mexico, evi- dently of a political nature, has, it would seem from latest reports, been quickly quelled. Three companies of the federal troops left their barracks and undertook to march to strategic positions, but according to the most authentic accounts they have been halted and one report, which still lacks confirmation, is to the effect that the two leaders of the revolt, Gens. Gomez and Serraro, have beex captured and executed. resident Calles has issued a statement that ex- presses confidence that the revolus tion” has been quelied. Gen. Obregon, former President, has announced his readiness to take the field in case of need to support the government against any uprising. Both of the leaders of the revolting troops are candidates for the presi- dency. Serrano has declared himself in that capacity as the head of the anti-re-electionists or anti-Obregon forces. There would seem to be co- operation between Gomez and Ser- rano, aithough they have in a sense been rivals. The mutiny of the three companies that left their barracks may not be the total of the disaffection in the Mexican military raopks. Indeed, there are reports indicating other re- - | altogether to be hoped that these new quarters will be selected Wwith a view to per- manency and the provision of those adequate facilities which the impor- tance of this comparatively zew insti- tution demands. As for the jurisdic- tion over the-children, that is a ques- tion which should be deeided by the testimony of social experts. There is no complaint over the nature of the physical care of the childrén under the Woman's Bureau. But there is much to be said, pro and con, on the whole matter of juvenile institutional care. Congress no doubt will devote study to the problem and base its decision on what experience has taught is best for the child. The child’s welfara. and not a jurisdictional dispute, is the question at issue. —— e Pennyworth of Principle. The gentleman who called at the Dis- trict Bullding yesterday and protested against an overcharge of one cent on his tax bill may possibly have had called to his attention by now the saying, “Penny wise, pound foollsh.” and there already has been used the uncomplimentary term “tightwad” in connection with the in- cident. But instead of censure this taxpayer should recelve praise. More power to him! He should insist on the rveturn of that penny, and there are many who will wish him success in his efforts. The unnamed taxpayer went to Cor- poration Counsel Bride and com- plained, and Mr. Bride offered him a penny out of his own pocket. In other words, the taxpaver asked for bread, and the corporation counsel gave him a stone. The taxpaver was penpyworta of principic wiat Go was af"er And ke was vigatl Tae explanation of the overcaarge of one cent lies in the custom, familiar in Government circles, of adding o penny to a biil in order to divide it evenly in two installments. The tax- payer, in the first place, did not know of this custom. All he knew was that there had been a mistake in his bill. There is a saying that it one attends to the little things the big things will take care of themselves, and the tax- payer was attending to little thinge. He had a perfect right to an explana- tion of why he was asked to pay a cent more than his due. Nor is the explanation altogether satisfactory. Suppose every taxpayer was assessed one cent additional in order to make his tax bill divisible by two? The method would prove an excellent volts. But unless the government at Mexico City is concealing the full ex- tent of the mutiny there is nothing on which to base beliet that the sit- uation is at a dangerous stage. It would be deplorable if Mexico were to suffer another armed rebel- lion. It has had a bitter experience during the past two decades. Revolt has followed revolt. Civil war has raged. Countless lives have been lost and enormous values in property have been destroyed. With the accession of Gen. Obregon to the presidency eeemed to have come a period of peace and of political changes without the complex of militancy. The succession of President Calles was effected by orderly process and with another elec- tion at hand the hope was general in this country that Mexico would pro- ceed to the change of administration decreed by the constitution of the re- public without turmoll. President Calles' administration has ‘been one of difficulty. He has had trouble in internal affairs and com- plication in foreign relations. There have been some uprisings, notably among the Yaqui Indians, but they have been suppressed. This present revolt is the most serious, but- evi- dently the government at Mexico City has not been taken unawares and is prepared for the emergency. ——— et Tt is hinted that Mayor Walker of New York was sleuthed while having a joyous jaunt in Europe. Mr. Walker is a wise child of the metropolis, who may be relled on to avoid picking up acquaintances in resorts where a new visitor is greeted with “Hello, sucker!” —— rvte—- Tt is understood that Mussolini does not want his name mentioned by any- body excepting himself. Even fame i capable of being placed on a monop- olistic basis. ———ee— The saddest example of low pay and overwork is provided by a member of the grand jury in a murder district. Delaying the Decision. ‘The Commissioners’ action yester- day on the Bureau of Efficiency’s rec- ommendations concerning the care of delinquent or dependent children awaiting disposition by the courts or by the Board of Public Welfare is in the nature of a compromise between the views of the Bureau of Efficlency and of those who favor continuing the jurisdiction over these .children now ‘maintained by the Police Department through its Woman's Bureau. The Bureau of Efficlency had recommendad that children in custody of the Wom. an's Bureauat the House of Detention be placed immediately under jurisdic- stion of the Board of Public Welfare, and that remaining momeys of the House of Detention appropriation be used to rent one of the Government dormitory buildings as a receiving station for these children. An alterna- tive proposal was that the Police De- partment take over this dormitory, but that the care of children detained there shouid be under the Board of Public Welfare, The Commissioners decided yester- day to continue the present arrange- ment until Congress acts on a pro- posed recommendation for the estab- lishment of a receiving station for children, to be maintained by the Board of Public Welfare. There will be no disagrecment over the proposal to separate child de- linquents and child dependents from adults. Facilities at the present House ot Detention prevent as complete a separation as could be desired, al- though the children and adults occupy separate floors. There is, in addition the psychological effect, which is of detaining child delinquents and de- pendents in the same institution use: a3 a House of Detention for adult of- fenders. There should be CG!H&“:L’! meparation. The present House of Detention will #00n have to fi uarters. It is means of financing a home for aged auditors, fof instance, but it shoull not be adopted without the consent of the taxpayers. And suppose, fur- ther, that instead of adding this penny, the District had deducted it? The action of the protesting taxpayer who demanded his explanation and his penny yesterday justifies the belief that if the District had stood the loss of this cent, the taxpayer would have been just as quick to show up at the office of Corporation Counsel Bride and, calling attention to the apparent error, produce the penny from his pocket and leave the bullding—an honest man! “Hard Luck “I have been a hard luck kid all my life,” sald George Yarrow of Barnsboro, N. J., as he related to police the grisly details of his mur- der of sixteen-year-old Rose Sarlo the other night. Full of self-sympathy Yarrow in his confession told how he had unsuccessfully courted the young Bible teacher in the small New Jer- sey town, had been spurned on every ‘occasion and finally, driven to despera- tion, had lured her into his car for her last earthly ride. Following one of the most ghastly crimes in his- tory, Yarrow told of burning his auto- mobile early the next morning to de- stroy telltale evidence. Police are now investigating another phase of the “hard luck” history of this con- temptible youth. His wife disappeared two yvears ago and has never been heard from since. Police believe she may have suffered the fate of his latest victim. If Yarrow has had what he terms hard luck in the past it is nothing to what is coming to him in the future when New Jersey's famous ‘“quick justice” begins to operate. Criminals of his type—the type who are bestial with women—are almost certain to blubber some story of bad breaks when they are confronted with re- sponsibility for their acts. Consequent- ly, Yarrow will only have to sob about one more piece of hard luck and that very probably will be when he is led to meet his death. —— e New Jersey admits no obligation to solve one homicide mystery before agitating public attention with an- other. No More Worlds. Some twenty-three centuries ago voung Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon and afterward known as “The Great,” complained bitterly: My father will loave me nothing to do. A few days ago in Oslo, Norway, Capt. Roald Amundsen lamented, “There is nothing more for me to do.” Young Alexander gave voice to his fears as a youth, and before he was to become master of Asia or cut a bloody road into far-away, unknown Indla. Amundsen’s words were retro- spective, looking back over a rugged life which saw him achieve the North- west Passage, encompass mountains of ice on a march to the South Pole and fly in a dirigible over the North Pole. Alexander, the youth, with his lite before him, worried lest his father had already set out the stakes hound- ing the limits of any man's life. Amundsen has done what no man did before. Now there is nothing more for him to do. Could Alexander return from “be- yond the paths of the utmost sun” to gaze upon the worlds he conquered, how trivial they would appear and how puny his efforts scem! And if Capt. Amundsen is spared to spend the twilight years of i brave and active Jife in watching those who fol- low the paths he blazed, how he will wonder at the number of feet to tread them. Alexander died three hundred years before Christ was born, and 80 absurd, so clearly indicative of the narrow confines of the universe he knew. But he still expregses the doubtful attitude of the youth today. who, looking about him at all the wondrous things he sees, must feel that he was born too late; that all that was to be done has been done, and there is nothing more to do. Nothing more to do! Amundsen knew the heat of the flame that burned in Alexander's soul; that has made torches of the lives of thousands of brave men, lighting dark places that others might follow them. Today the flame burns as brightly as ever. It is carried like a torch through the skies. In the laboratories it is show- ing the way to things never dreamed of before, unfolding the mysterious wonders of what lie under the sea, under the earth and in the air we breathe. In gatherings of men it is indicating, only faintly, it is true, how humans will shire thelr lives together in the years that are to come. So long as men are horn, this spark will live, bursting {nto flame now and then in those who are destined to carry fit. When the spark dies, when the flame no longer shines, then the puzzled vouth may conjure up the shades of Alexander to mourn with him. Then, it is true, there will be nothing more to do. N John Dalzell. Nearly half a generation has passed since John Dalzell left public life, re- tiring from his post in the House of Representatives in consequence of the political overturn which resulted from the Republican divisions of 1912. He had been 2 member of the lower branch of Congress for a quarter of 2 ceatury conunuously aad raG be- come one of foremost fiourc tae Nauonal Lezislaturs. A 0ard work- or Be Woa Nea rani ia the organiza- tion of the Houge. e bocame ono of the leacers of his party in the cham- ber, ranking with Cannon, Payne and Dingley during the perfod when im- portant fiscal questions were under consideration. There were two sub. Jects upon which Mr. Dalzell speclal- ized, the tariff and the rules of the House. He was deeply versed in both. An ardent supporter of the policy of protection, he was ranked as a “stand- patter” and was constantly the target of the attack of the opposition, both Democratic and Republican. His in- timate knowledge of the rules of pro- cedure gave him a tactical advantage in his service in behalf of the econom- ic principles which he had espoused and which he stoutly defended and advanced. A man of high nervous energy, indefatigable in his service, unsparing of his forces, adept in de- bate and despite partisan differences always commanding the respect and esteem of the membership of the House, Mr. Dalzell was for more than a decade one of the most influential factors in the national legislation. Since his defeat for re-election in 1912 he has remained out of public view. Personal sorrow lessened his inter- est in political affairs. He became al- most a recluse, and now at the age of elghty-two he has passed, to many a vivid memory of a remarkably ac- tive and valuable public service, cut short by political mischance; to a greater number, owing to the lapse of years, merely the name of a once noted personage. ————————————— A national party convention has its undeveloped resources. A financial genius, like Mr. Rickard, could easily show how to clean up a few millions on acreage sales of ringside seats. ——e—s Discoveries of anclent cities have contributed not much to modern sclence. They have been chiefly im- portant in impressing the fact that all mummies look pretty much alike. J e There may be professional jealousy even In patriotism. Mussolini hgs never selected an understudy to take up the work when he passes. A East Indian princes show wealth that is dazling. Yet it conveys little more public influence than the display in a jewelry store window. ——ro——————— Admirers of Gov. Al Smith have established a reliable rute: *‘When in doubt play ‘The Sidewalks of New York.'” SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Shifted Responsibility. “Somebody Else” is a very good friend As sorrows come hastening by. Without hesitation, to him we extend The blame when events go awry. “Who was the weakling?” and “Who was the knave?” That shattered the hope which was fair. Poor “Somebody Else,” ever patient and brave, The brunt of the burden must bear. Uninterestingness. “I went to a banquet where there were no speeches,” remarked Senator Sorghum. “Was it a relief?” “No. Speeches would have lulled me to sleep. The jazz band kept me awake.” Natural History. Explorers bold a point discuss Where Nature seemed to slip. The thirsty hippopotamus Hath nothing on his hip. End of Fairy Lore. “I will grant you three wishes,” said the fairy. “If you can do anything Mke that,” sald the business man, “let's incor- | porate and hire salesmen.” Jazaification. { I cannot sing the songs of long ago; The sklil, alas! I lack it; So from the wall I take the old banjo And merely raise a racket. “We love dumb animals,” said Hi Ho, the sage of China, “because they | can never talk and betray us.” Anatomical Observation. The beauty contest I should sce With rather more contented glee |1t when my eyes the winners strike | They did not look so muoh alike. “My old mule,” sald Ul Eben, “is today the story of his youthful fears still lives because it ‘seems, in the light of all that has happened sin diff’'unt f'um dese soap: orators. When dat mule makes a kick, some- body s gwineter take noties.” WASHINGTON, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Those who have set themselves up to exalt the city man or woman at the expense of their country cousins are “biting off more than they can chew,” in the homely language of the great agricultural districts. ‘When the smart-alec boys have lam- pooned them to the limit of smart- alecdom's vocabulary, the country people will continue on their undis- turbed way, because, forsooth, they do not often read the aforementioned wisecrackers and would not be much disturbed if they did. We who also live in the cities but take no especial childish pride in it continue to harbor in our hearts a large and genuine admiration for the good folk of farm and field, of cross- roads and country town. ‘Without them, sure enough, there would be no cities, and likewise there would be no group of persons to turn our roving thoughts back to the es- sentials now and then when we lose our perspective and begin to feel that the discovery of a new eating place or the purchase of a new song by a popular composer is on a par with Columbus’ well known feat or the writing of the “Largo” by Handel. * ok kK Country people who come into our city alley bring with them more than fresh vegetables; they renew our faith in human beings. Not that they are fauitless or any different from any one else. That is the very point. They are so like us at all points that we get a new evaluation from the very contact with them. ‘There is a danger in city life which the members of the so-called intelli- gentsia have allowed to run away with them which would place the emphasis on the thing of the moment rather than upon trueness or any other of rerence. Thre impor- tzing from the standpoint of & man wesr Tao ety man, of course, may be _Gniea up tn L3S pLRUe 146 Ve Dave & Wide gragp Of roality aAd @ weea ungerstasa.ng of 2. auls wo otaers. This i & prerogative of hu- manity, not depending upon mud on the shoes or the lack of the same. Richard Harding Davis in his “Van Blbber” storles presented an engag- ing plcture of a young and wealthy man who had his heart in the right place, despite his evening dress. On the other hand, a countryman may be more selfish than the chap from the citiée, with less of a sense of | humor, utterly unmeriting any praise. So the matter ¢comes down to this: It is neither city nor country that count, but the way one thinks. * x x ¥ In the main, however, it can be stated with some truth- that country people come nearer to driving super- ficiality out of their lives than city folk. If this comes about partly be- cause of lack of opportunity, it can- not take away from them the credit. One might say that a combined bridge and gossip party in the city is no whit different from a similar gath- ering for quilting and gossiping in the | country, but our answer would be that in' the former case the residue is only debts, whereas in the latter some serviceable quilts result for daily use. A simflar _comparison carried through the life of country people versus city people perhaps would .|as co fam show a similar credit to the ledger of the former, not hecause they are es- sentlally any different sort of per- sons, but largely because circum- stances force them to live nearer to essential realities. City life is, in fact, an attempted escape from much of the hard reality of country living, with ite incessant chores, its lack of modern facilities for comfort in many cases and its deep brooding monotony. Inventions of various sorts have come to invade these dncient drawbacks of the farm, but so long as country boys come to the large cities in droves every year the invasion cannot yet be said to be entirely successful. ® ok K K A drawback in our city life is that it tends to develop smugness of mind, than which no mental state is more stultifying to the average human be- ing. Because one reads the American Mercury and is famillar with the tunes of George Gershwin does not necessarily mean that he is a progres- sive being, although it may, of course. There is in every large community a certain number of persons who have developed what might be called “city- itis,” the symptoms of which are a deep distrust in human beings, a large suspicion of their fellow men. Country persons are reasonably free from this annoying disease. In every 1,000 persons, say, in a city there are 250 such sufferers, whereas in 1,000 country people only 50 will be dis- covered. The close crowding of the citles has something to (o with it, there belng a quality in the human spirit which cannot tolerate hugger- mugger, but a larger reason is the city atmosphere tending toward lack of friendliness. There is, too, so mugh annual change m a_city that neigh- bors do not get to know each other 5 that live in the' same piaces for many vears, genesauons. % & & The grrume courisy poople WBo ~Cmo 10 0ur Lich Goor WA Lee prad ur on tae plase of human be.ngs where ono LAy 1o be met, w.li 5o feeling of distrust on elther side. The old man with the white beard talks of what he knows with no pre- tense to anything. He admires the white rose in bloom, although in the shade for the past month and a half, as the sun In its path across the heavens deserted it until next year. He asks If it is a tearose, and con- tinues with reminiscences of a small bush of his own which he was unable to make grow more than a foot high. But last year he picked all the buds off as they formed, so that during September it glorified itself with 70 full-blown blossoms at one time. This, we agree, with much enthusi- asm, is quite a feat for a bush no higher thag a foot. And to this the old man replies with other interest- ing accounts of other of his plants. All this time the natural transac- tions of several quarts of stringed beans from his measure to our dish has been in progress, with the result- ing and necessary exchange of several coins of the realm. These contacts not only are pleas- ing in themselves, but they help one to keep firmly in mind the sanity of country people and their everyday wholesomeness of character. Where- fore when we read some one who is prating about the glory of the “men of the cities” we turn over the page. BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. PARIS, France. One would not expect to discover unearthly weirdness in art by picking up a trail in the Galerie du Louvre, still less from such a starting point— a copy of the famous and sweetly human picture by Mme. Le Brun, de- picting herself and little daughter in loving embrace. Sauntering through the gallery, re- calling masterpieces enjoyed in the| long ago, I was attracted by the supe- riority of the work of an artist who was copying the Le Brun masterplece. Speaking in English, I complimented the artist. “How did youknow that I could speak English? I am a Frenchman,” he replied, with a friendly twinkle in his eyes. “I have my American wife to thank for my English without a French accent,” he explained. *“I lived in Canada several years, and then in New York, where I took out my first papers to become an Ameri- can citizen, but I am still here in France. I sece you're a Leglonnaire,” he continued. “I am entitled to the Legion badge, like you wear. I served four years as interpreter during the war—nearly two years in the Ameri- can Army.” He gave me his card—L. Theo Dube, a pupll of Gerome at the Na- tional School of Fine Arts (Beaux Arts). * % Kk X Upon invitation, I visited his home the following day, where I found not only a large collection of his own paintings but an original Paul Vero- nese, a Daublgny, a Rosa Bonheur and other masterpieces. Showing a Iist of his American patrons, M. Dube sald that he had his portraits and paintings in 105 cities of the United States. In reply to an inquiry as to art in France today, M. Dube said that the art schools were flourishing, as usual, except that the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts is in a row over the Prix de Rome. The prize was not given this year because none of the works submitted by the candidates was counted worthy of that honor. The contestants became angry and with- drew their pictures before the time required for their exhibition, and that angered the jury. “I belleve that art students of to- day,” remarked M. Dube, “have lost appreciation of the real qualities of art.” As explained by M. Dube, each year the students of the different art clagses, to the total of 300 contestants, are selected by a jury to try for the Prix de Rome. The winner has all his expenses pald by the French gov- arnment for four years' study in Rome, and afterward for four years while he is establishing himself as an artist in France. The 300 contestants are cnfined in separate studios for two hours, within which time, without models, they must produce a painting (18 by 22 inches) of a theme assigned to all alike. Out of the number 30 of the best are given an opportunity to enter a second contest, without models. Out of the 30 the best 10 are then per- mitted to use models and paint their final pictures (about 48 by 60 inches) within three months, these being en- largements of the original small com- positions. No matérial change from the original small pictures is per- mitted in the final paintings. These contests have been maintained for many years. It was a_rare privelege, secured through M. Dube’s influence, that the doors of the KEcole Nationale des Beaux Arts were opened for my in- spection of the palntings in previous contests. Rarely has a winner of a Prix de Rome falled to become justly famous. f art achievement is found un worthy today,” sald M. Dube, “it Is because the students have hecome confused by modern fads, including impressionism. ‘When asked his opinion regarding the Monet and Manet echool of im- pressionism and that of the cubists and postcubists and the works of Pissaro and Cezanne, he replied that he referred particularly to the Monet- M %lmprelfil‘onl S, - you know, 3 _dmrresal D ‘that Taluted a2 atle studies of the Rheims Cathedral to | show the different effects of light— | blue shadows, purple shadows, etc.” i pay no attention to the cublists, or to Pissaro, or Cezanne—that's just plain { insanity; it doesn't mean anything. | “There is beauty in impressionism: it vibrates,” said the artist. *Study Winterhalter's picture of Empress Eugenie and her entourage. It is very beautiful, but it lacks vibration. Win- terhalter avolded painting the Em- press as long as he could, for he was afraid that he could not satisfy her— he could not make her as beautiful as she was in life. Eugenie is certainly pretty, but so are all her ladies in walting; there is absolutely no dis- tinction in values, absolutely no vi- bration of color. The impressionists have taught how to make color vibrate and sparkle, but that is all. There is something else to be considered in | serious art.” * x @ & The visit at the of M. Dube brought the “surpri.c’—the ‘“‘weird surprise”—in two pictures by Augus- tin Lesage. Augustin Lesage was a coal miner until the psychic “‘voices” persisted in speaking to him in the blackness of the coal mines: cated and have never learned how to paint,” protested the begrimed miner. “Paint!” insisted the ‘‘voices.” He dropped his pick and went to the art store at St. Omar and bought the costliest colors. He astounded .the artists, the art schools and the psychic researchers with the amazing beauty of his paintings. M. Dube makes no effort to explain the Lesage paintings. They are all abstract designs, but their exquisite “patterns’ are as beautiful as an India shawl. * kX % ‘We visited the headquarters of the Institut Metapsychique Internationale in the palatial home of Dr. Ostry, its secretary, where M. Dube had but re- cently hung the psychic = pictures which had so interested the members of the institute. On September 26 the institute opened its third international conference on psychic research. Gru- zewski, the Polish painter *of the soul,” was in attendance. The painter claims that he does not do the actual painting; it is the work of invisible spirits. Chabas, the artist made famous by his picture *September Morn,” now hanging in the Luxembourg Gallery, posed for Gruzewskl, and was amazed to see the sudden production of his trait and of the heads of several “souls” behind him, all done in 30 minutes, with startling realism. Gruzewskl's pictures are mnot sketches, but are modeled paintings or pastels, some with wonderful color, all with devilish force, gripping weird- ness and complicated composition. (Copyright, 1027, by Paul V. Collins.) UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today Navy Department discloses that German raiders are busy in the Pa- cific. ® * ¢ War Department announces that contracts have been let for con- struction of 20,000 airplanes for use in the war. Five thousand of them will be built abroad and 15,000 in the United States. ® * * Congress finishes war fund program. Soldiers’ and sallors’ insurance bill, carrying appro- priation of $176,000,000 passes Senate. ® o s Houso passes civil rights bill, which protects members of military and naval forces of the United States from many kinds of legal action while in service. * * * Allies are now fully equipped to launch alr warfare on a big scale. Belleved it will mark turn: ing point in the war. ® ¢ ¢ Shortage of munitions now menaces Germany and labor leaders are called into con- ference with the hofge of speeding up production. * * ¢ Hecent disclosures and arrests show that a separate paco France was part s ame Ahings. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1927. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM LG M. THE GRANDMOTHERS. ‘Wescott. Harper & Bros. Two points of repulsion meet me at the doorstep of “The Grandmothers.” Both are worth a moment of atten- tion, partly because of the rare fact that in this case they are so speedily and thoroughly put to rout, partly be- cause the same two points work, as a rule, against the full, general accept- ance of any fiction. This is a prize novel—first count against it. As a second adverse odds, it deals exclu- sively with a past lying so close to the present as mot to have acquired any of the {llusive and glamorous charm of a real past. About the first of these two: Men Glenway are like pigs—they refuse to be driven. They themselves are capable of lead- ing and directing, or so they think. Even in a choice of reading they in- stinctively and secretly resent the super and elect group sitting in judg- ment upon the work of competing novelists. However, curiosity is nat- ural, just as rebellion against self- constituted authority is natural. Therefore, a prize novel is often ac- cepted in a spirit of “We'll see about this ourselves.” About the second of the two: The mind moves forward for its satisfac- tions, not backward. - It has to. Hope 18 the essence of all human existence, and that lies to the front in such promise as we are able to invent for it. Forward-looking fiction has an enormous advantage over that which deals with a past, so immediate as to seem dreary and unsticring. Half-hearted in the face of such clear rebuff, I leaf the new prize-w even many|! UCLs of thcir vogelabie patchcs moct| o, SUSZOURGIAZI—E _COMMORP! unstirring element. Then the boy telling his story catches my eye, tell- ing the stery as his grandmother told it to him. I wake up a bit right here because—well, you see, anybody’s grandmother is a priceless possession, all the dearer, too, now that the tribe has become utterly extinct. It is on the tide of this dear and lost relationship, with all it connotes, that I move into the rich domain of Glenway Wescott's big novel; that I sense its deep Importance and its prime interest as a picture of the American life that lies but a hand’s throw behind us, its realities and sig- nificances rather generally neglected for a more remote and more impressive past, or for the forecastings of a more brilliant tomorrow. | plete is the story of this corner of | Wisconsin. Taken up bodily, it might ibe set down in an exact pattern of life in many parts of America at a period corresponding to this one of winning homes out of the forest lands of this country. The story varies with the outgoings and homecomings tions. Here from such a source springs a picture of the Civil War, and another of life farther on into the West, and one of Europe brought into this untamed spot by virtue of the greater daring of one of the tribe. All, however, home back to this Wis- ccnsin center, deepening its effect, amplifying its promise, accenting the daily features of its life within the immediate past, explaining the qual- ity of much of our Americanism. Yet this boy, listening to his grand- mother, recording, making sure of every point in the daily existence and | outlook of the people to whom he is related, for whom he is speaking by | direct word of mouth—this boy is in- | finitely more than a faithful reporter. A good deal of a secr, a good deal of | a poet, he adds to a scrupulous exacti- | tudo the gift of sympathetic insight and flluminating interpretation. He is original, both in thought and ex- pression. ~‘There are beautiful mo- ments in this story—moments that have no tinge of the hackneyed or the overdone to mar their effect. With a theme that does not easily lend ftself to the requirements of drama, this writer has, nevertheless, built a cumu- lative, tense, coherent story—a stery that deserves the distinction accorded it; one that also deserves the wide reading it is bound to have. * ok kX THE GLORIOUS = ADVENTURE. Richard Halliburton. The Bobbs- Merrill Co. My first and last reaction to “The Glorious Adventure” is envy. I envy Richard Halliburton his youth, his spirit of romance, his zest of life, the royal adventure that he puts through. I envy him his father nightly cradling the boy with tales of old Greeks and the Trojan War and mightier men than time has since been able to pro- duce. I even envy him the schooling that failed to shape him to the univer- sity pattern. It is a stirring thing, this story of personal adventure. I leave it to you. Here is a youth, all schooled and fixed up and finished, ready, presumably, to step into the fleld of useful things, an instrument of service and the rest of it. And what does this youth do to fulfill the sterling hopes of his community in respect to himself? Why, he sets off upon the most original of adventures, nothing less than following the course of old Ulysses in his 10-year Odyssey of trying to get back home to Penel- ope after having fought so glorlously in the Trojan War. Ulysses is pecul- jarly modern, a fine man to follow today. He is, morcover, the classic example of getting around the old fact of not being able to eat your cake and have it too. Ulysses fought glori- ously—a wonderful mouthful of cake, that, for this fighting man. Then, with the kindly aid of tempests and tides and currents, he was for long years constrained from getting back home to Penelope, weaving by day and raveling by night to stave off the suitors banked around her. Mean- while, Ulysses was meeting Circe and the Sirens, was loafing, half aslcep, around the Lotus Land. When at last he did make shift to get home he had the delight of slaughtering Penelope’s young men, of retaking the faithful Penelope herself. A clear and rounded case, you see, of gorging on cake and then miraculously of finding it fresh and unbitten right in front—of Ulysses. A good man to follow, any way you take him. So Richard Halli burton, with Roderic Crane along, mapped the course of Ulysses and fol lowed it—the literal geographic course, not the one having to do with Sirens and such. And the amazing things that in the sheer lust of life this voung fellow dld! Like Byron and Leander, he swam the Hellespont, he ran the Marathon over the original course, he climbed the walls of the Acropolis in the moonlight, he hunted the Sirens in the caves of Capri, he definitely trailed Ulysses with old Homer a8 a guide, finding the Lotus Land. He did it all. But here is one departure from Ulysees, a beautiful departure—he made a_plligrimage to the grave of Rupert Brooke, buried on the lonely Island of Skyros. Here you weep—I think he is weeping, too —over the lost youth, the lost genius that is Rupert Brooke. Then away in the company of dryads and Pan. They look like modern Greek girls and a beautiful Greek boy to us, reading: but, of course, they are dryads and the little pagan god himself. Oh, well it is a rare adventure, really ‘“glorl; ous,” just as Halliburton says it is! And to an amazing degree has he captured it whole in body and spirit to set down in a book for your read- ing and mine. You, too, are bound to envy this boy—for his youth, and his high spirit, and for the romantic ad- venturs which he dared to pursue and love. Simple, full, com- |s of one another of this brood of rela- | ll\nd that suicide among the young has 1|among Roman €atholies. { cities than in the country. Q. How much does the American public lose in a year from embezzle- ment?—D. T. R. A. Chafrman_Willlam B. Joyce of the National Surety Co. estimates present losses of the American pub- lic from embezziement at $125,000.000 a year. Q. When did Jem Mace, the Eng- lish pugilist, figure in prize fighting? Did he fight in America?—J. W. B. A. Jem Mace was born April 8, 1831. He died at Liverpool, England, November 30, 1910. His fighting carcer was between 1855-1871. He fought a decision bout in St. Louls, Mo., November 30, 1871. Joe Coburn was his opponent. May 10, 1870, he won a 10-round bout with Tom Allen in Kennerville, La. Q. Who was the first woman who made ‘“press agenting” a profession? —W. R. G. the first A. Nellie Revell was ‘woman press agent in thig country. Q. Should a lawn be watered only gt e;rly morning and early evening?— A. The Department of Agriculture has recently found in experimental work that it does not matter what time of day a lawn is watered. Opin- ions on this subject have heretofore been divided, some believing that it injures the grass to water it while the sun is shining. 5 Q. How can a leather coat be cleaned?—M. N. A. Scrub the leather coat with pure castile soap and water, using a soft scrubbing brush. Drv thoroughly and rub on a little saddle soap, which will keep the coat in good condition. Linseed oil may be rubbed over ths leather in order to cover up any scratches whica appear. a @ A. Tae uce of copper sails for grecn- Ing vegetables fs Agningt the law. Q. What will remove the bluish fifm trom mahogany furniture?—F. D, A. The blulsh haze that s often | noticed on a polished surface is noth- ing more than the acumulation left by moisture and dust from the atmos- phere. a damp cloth or soft material wrung {out of tepid water in which a little {pure £oap may be used if neessa or a few drops of olive oil’ may be put on the cloth. soft dry cloth or clean chamols. Q. Please explain how to dtamond hitch Knot—V R A."Fe & | A. Brainard’s “Knots and Splices” : Single Diamond—commenced— Unlay the end of a rope and form three bights of the strands, holding them down. Take strand one over This may be washed off with | Wipe off with a, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. strand two and through tke bisht of strand three; take strand two u.er three and through the bight of one, and take three over one and through the bight of two. Haul taut and lay * up the strands. Q. What retail businesses have a !;I;méurung population under 2,0007— A. A recent distribution census ma in Baltimore, Md., showed that gre cery and delicatessen need the fewest per store, the average population sup« porting one being 249. Candy and confectionery was second with 816; then meat, poultry and fish, 1,088; res< taurants, 1.128; fruit and vegetables, 1,208; soft drinks and ice cream, 1,334; dry goods and notions, 1,891. ’ Q. Wa§”Ann Pennington t dance the “Black ll«‘:tf:m"?io.l.flrl:.t ‘Pfl. A. George White created the “Black E}ottom." and it was introduced in ‘The Scandals” by Ann Pennington. Q. When did the expressions “brain. stokm” and “dementia Americana” be- come popular?—H. R. A—They are connected with the Thaw cases, 1907 and 1908. Brain- storm was used to indicate sudden, impulsive fnsanity, and dementia Americana to describe a kind of right- eous frenzy. Q. I was taught that if an expres- slon was an error it was not gram- matical, thercfore, it should not he * called a grammatical error. ow about it?—B. M. P. A. Dr. Fran| Horace Vizeteiiv classifies the expression grammatical error as a. common locution, and 4« vises one's saying an error in grame origin of t us forms, is €6 1ae heaven. ¥ ang taat wh.ch adta wings shall carr/ tae matter.” Q. Who first Giculated t-o Guotance” around the earth?—M. A. H. A. Fratosthenes (. 275.195 B, C) {ot Cyrene. was the first astronomer ~ |to attempt to measure the distance |around the earth. His calculations of | the circumference come surprisingly near the truth, the degree of error , ‘l‘:xe-;z only a trifle more than 23 mine | What do you nced to know? In | there some point about wour busineass \or personal life that puzzles you? Is there something you want to know without delay? ~Submit your quese tion to Frederic J. Haskin, Director of our Washington Information Bu- reau. He is employed to help you. | Address your inquiry to The Eventng | Star Information Rureau, Frederic J, | Haskin, Dircctor, Washington, D. C., |and inclose 2 cents in stamps for | return postage. Whatever may be thought of the question of discipline invoived, the | country generally scems to expect | beneficial results from Rear Admiral Magruder's published eriticisms, in which he charged the Navy Depart- ment with overorganization and waste- ful methods. As the New Orleans Morning Tribune puts it, “Admiral Magruder may have set a bad exam- ple. but he renders a real service.” “On occasions, the critic is a useful person,” says the Utica Observer-Dis- | patch, “and on other occasions he is {just a faultfinder who would fail miserably if given opportunity to put his criticism_into effect. Magruder has opportunity to show to which of these classes he belongs.” concludes the Utica paper, referring to Secretary | Wilbur's order to the admiral to sub- mit “promptly a full and detailed plan | for the reorganization of the Navy Department.” The Waterloo Tribui remarks that “all he has to do is te how it can and should be done. Noth- ing difficult about that for the ad- | miral, we may be sure.” “He has a limitless fund of informa- tion,” according to the Toledo Blade, “concerning the organization and ac- PHILOSOPHIES BY GLENN FRANK Jast year the mind of the Nation was shocked by what seemed a viru- lent epidemic of suicide among the young. The other day a big life insurance company published the results of a statistical study of suicide in the United States over a period of 15 years. This study indicates that the death | rate from suiside at all ages has been steadily declining in the United States, been decreasing most rapidiy. Tho age group from 10 to 19 shows the greatest decrease. The age group from 20 to 29 shows the second greatest decrease. the third greatest decrease. The age group from 60 on shows the least decrease. ‘A few months ago, while preparing a magazine article on student suicides, I waded through a mass of vital stati ties and varlous studles to determin what rescarch had established to date respecting sulcide. The following things seem fairly well establishe First, the proportion of male to fe- male sulcides remained virtually the same for many years, only one out of every four suicides being a woman, but_lately suicide among women has been increasing. Second, the number of sulcides in- creases month by month from Janu- ary to June, the maximum being | reached usually in May or June. Third, suicides are more frequent in | Summer than in Winter, in fair| weather than in foul, in peace than in war, in prosperity than in poverty | Fourth, some professions consist- | ently contribute more suicides to the death list than others, apd the rela-| tive frequency of suicide among pe: sons in different professions and em- ployments remains roughly the same year after year. Fifth, suicide is commoner among Protestants than among Roman Cath- olics, but even less among Jews than | Sixth, sulcid® is commoner among | the educated than among the illiterate lasses. Seventh, suicide Is commoner 1n| Eighth, suicide bears a definite and fairly predictable relation to age. Ninth, the suicide rate has been dis- covared, in several studies, to be twice as high among unemployed as among employed men. Tenth, it is possible to establish def- inite suicide rates for different coun- tries, and while the suicide rate of any given country may charge from year to year, its relative proportion to the suicide rate of other countries will| | stay virtually the same year after year. Suicide is a baffling problem, but, like other problems, it must be first approached by careful scientific search for causes; a blind branding of any- thing we may happen to dislike In school or church or state as the root | some ‘admiral.” iBenefits for Navy Expected From Criticis ms of Magruder tivities of the navies of the United | States and other nations. He ought | to accept Secretary Wilbur's invitas | tion. " In so doing he may perform a great public service. If he fails, we may look upon his criticisms as- kance.” As to the order to submit plans at once, the Watertown Daily’ Times says that will require time and expensive earch, and “It should be - given him. “The American people are thor- oughly committed to the policy of open discussion,” avers the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, while the Indianapolis Star holds the “unless it is shown that Admiral Magruder has made decided misstatements of conditions, the coun- try will welcome his criticisms.”” The Navy Department, it is asserted by the Morgantown New Dominlon, “wiil seemingly have to face an almost unanimous loyalty of the Nation's press to Admiral Magruder.” PR The Aberdeen Daily World is sure he public will want to know whether these statements are correct.”” Pre- dictions that Congress will take up the | question are made by the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Nerfolk Ledger Dispatch, and the Roanoke World- News advises that Congress “might very profitably devote some time to finding out what is done with the ships we have, and why, with the largest peace-time naval appropriation in history, we do not get more for the $300,000,000 we are spending each year on the Navy.” The St. Louls Times suggests that Secretary Wilbur “would best keep off the admiral’s toe “Investigation of Admiral Magru- der’s statements must be made as a matter of course, but any question of discipline must depend on what the inquiry shows, cording to the Buf- falo Evening News, which finds a “sencible attituds taken by Secretary Wilbur.” The South Bend Tribuner observes . that “Secretary Wilbur emerges from the affair with most of the honors,” and the Kansas City Post concludes that “if all department heads would behave in a similar man- ner, half the objection to bureaucratia administration would become invalid.” The Indianapolis News interprets the “disposition to accept the suggestions The age group from 30 to 59 shows |in good spirit” as possibly meaning that “the Secretary will welcome an investigation.” “Admiral Magruder has expressed himself, not recklessly and loosely, but with logical argument supported by evidence,” comments the Worcester Telegram, and the Jersey City Journal states: “Nine out of ten people prob: ably agree with the admiral as a mat- ter of principle established by long * experience with official expenditures and extravagance. This, in the public mind, puts the burden of proof, not on the admiral to demonstrate he is right, but on the Secretary to demon: strate that the admiral is wrong.” * ok ok x “If the criticisms are well founded,” declares the Philadelphia Publie Ledger, “it is well to have them pub- lic and in the open. It may be that Admiral Magruder will be subjected to departmental discipline for them. That is the risk he took, and it is scarcely conceivable that he took it blindly. The Oklahoma City Okla. homan remarks that “it may be that the answer will be the ancient answer of bureaucrats—a disciplinary order stopping the mouth of the trouble: » “His good faith is unquestionable,” in the judgment of the St. Paul Pio- neer Press, and the Lexington Leader says that “if only by glving publicity to the facts as he describes them can the corrective Le supplied, he is justi. fied in writing as he has.” The Hart: ford Times fcels that “no one would doubt very much that the Navy is verofficered, and that it has as much red tape as rigging on its ships.” Recognizing that “In times of peace It is quite easy for departments relating to war to stagnate,” the Charleston Daily Mail holds that “initiative does not know whether it will be welcomed or trowned upon.” Secretary Wilbur's order is ap v praised by the Baltimore Sun as show: ing ‘“a distorted sense of humor," whild the New York World is of the opinfon that the Secretary ‘“‘thus places on the admiral a responsibility that might well have been assumed by others on duty at Washington." On the other hand, the Reno Evening (Jazette asserts that admiral, dis tinguished in t wa famous for his personal bravery, survivor of twe cause of duicide waves is irrational and ineffective. wrecks and come of a family of noted pd sallors, should mot havd