Evening Star Newspaper, October 18, 1927, Page 8

8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY......October 18, 1927 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Businems Ofics: ve. § mew omk Siiter IO Eam ina-st. icago_Office: Tower Building. European Office: 14, nt St.. London. nglan with, the Sunday morn. vered by cacriers with 186 &1y"%% 60 centa per monih: daly. cnly. 45 cents per month: Sundays cnly. per m ele " Grders may he e Mager S000- Collection {8 m carrier at end of each month. by Mail—Payable in Advance. e Maryland and Virginia. 1 yr. $0.00: 1 mo., 78¢ vr. $6.00: 1 mo.. K0c 13535001 1 mo: 26¢ The Evening St All Other States and Canada. Raily and Sunday. 1 sr.. $12.00: 1 mo- 1,50 only $8.00: 1 mo., 7bc yr. $400:1mo. 38¢ The Associated Press is exclusively e 1o the use for republication of all news dis atches credited to it or not otherwise cred- ted In this paver and also the iocal news published herein. Al 1ights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. —— S — account o -wemng surcharged with sm- phur and other elements; to people from other places where they have heen afraid to let their children drink the water; to people from the Far West, where they are crying to the Government for irrigation, the ideal of pure, invigorating and abundant water supply 18 especially strong. Even as it was in the days of the aborigines and the pioneers when they sought the “water hole.” In every other fundamental require- ment of a residential city Washington meets the test and Invites new citi- zens. That they respond is shown by the rapid growth in population, and that without any industrial “pull” in 1900 the Capital had 278,718 resi. dents; in 1910, 331,069; in 1920, 437,671, and on July 1, 1926, 528,000. e A Dry Champion. Senator Willlam E. Borah of Idaho wishes prohibition to be made a promi- nent issue in the coming presidential campaign. If the Democrats nomi- nate Gov. Smith of New York, Sena- tor Reed of Missouri or Gov. Ritchle of Maryland, the Idaho Senator need not worry. The fssue will be joined. There is not the slightest chance of the Republicans naming a wet for their standard bearer. Cleansing Trade Practice. It organized business resents the interference of Government, as exem- plified in the operation of the Federal Trade Commission, the quickest and simplest method of avoiding it is a voluntary agreement on the part of business to outlaw wrongful or unfair competitive practices within its ranks. Such is the advice of Edwin B. Parker, chairman of the board of directors of the United States Chamber of Com- merce, as contained in an address yes- terday before the chamber's national council. The old maxim, “Let the buyer beware,” is already being dis- placed in modern business practice by application of a new principle, “Let the vender beware lest he offend the canons of fair dealing,” said Mr. Parker, and he illustrated his point by reciting a number of cases in which the Federal Trade Commission had abolished tricky methods in trade. Some classes of business have been antagonistic from the beginning as a result of the Federal Trade Commis- sion’s activity in stepping in and put- ting to rights things it considered wrong in trade practices. In some cases the commission has laid itself open to well founded criticism. But, as Mr. Parker points out, this police work by the Federal Government has resulted from failure by industry first to clean its own house. The public is entitled to all the protection to be af- forded by the agencies of its Govern- ment. The public fundamentally is not concerned about the source of this protection, but if business does not guarantee it, then the Government must. One of the best {Jlustrations of steps taken by business to protect the public, and incidentally to protect it- . self, is the rapid growth in prestige and power of the Better Business Bu- reaus. These organizations approach the ideal laid down by Mr. Parker—a co-operative endeavor on the part of business and Government to keep the ranks of husiness clean and at the same time to protect the public against clever tricksters. The Better Business Bureau does not possess the power of the Federal Trade Commis- sion to issue an order to cease and desist, but it is able to accomplish much of the same thing by warning the guilty party that his practices, if not illegal, are unethical and should be stopped. Failing there, the hand of the law stande ready to perform its function. There is a place in the scheme of things for such organizations as the Federal Trade Commission. And the business world should come to regard it in time as a friend and ally instead of a meddlesome interloper. When business performs its own detective work and calls upon the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the law, the benefits to be derived from such an arrangement will extend not only to the public and to the Government, but to business itself. ————— Conditions at present arising make an extraordinary demand on the class of citizenship that is eligible to jury duty. ————. Our Model Filtration Plant. Washington is again held up as a model for other communities, with special reference to the new water supply filtration plant, which has just been completed at a cost of approx- imately $9,000,000, in the October number of the Concrete Highway and Fublic Improvements Magazine, City boomers invariably gloat about an excellent water supply when en- deavoring to “sell” their city. In this respect Washington is advertised as a superior residential city by its ad- miring friends, for here we have one of the greatest essentials—pure water and an adequate, even, abundant sup- ply. As a matter of fact, it now has a flltration plant of sufficient capacity to meet the needs of the Capital City until the end of the present century, even though approximately onehalf of the volume goes to meet the re- quirements of the largest industrial plant in all the world, Uncle Sam's ‘workshop, and even though it is also supplying mahy residential suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. ‘The source of supply is the Potomac River, with a watershed area of 11,000 square miles and an average dis- charge of 12,000 cublc feet per second. The old water system, on which con- struction work started seventy years ago, with a brick aqueduct elgven miles long, a tunnel four miles long under the city, three large settling regervoirs and two high service res- ervolrs, has a slow sand filtration plant with a capacity of 80,000,000 gal- lons a day and a steam-operated pumping station. The new rapid sand filtration plant, co-ordinated with the ©ld one into a single efficient system, was built during the last six years, with a carrying capacity of 110,000,000 ®allons a day. It is an unusually com- pact and artistic layout, with all the buildings under one roof, making it an important architectural as well as utilitarian asset to that residential section, To people who have recently been Nin cities where the water is unpal- atable and even injurious to some on bl : Mr. Borah is to deliver an address in New York before the women's com- mittee on law enforcement, and at that time he will call upon the political par- ties to declare themselves on the wet and dry issue. He wishes an uncom- promising declaration, apparently, in support of the eighteenth amendment and the national prohibition law, and he wishes enforcement of that law. The Republican party, take it by and large, is dry. Even in wo called wet States the Republicans have ral- ganizations have relled upon the Re- publican party. This is true in New York, Tllinois, New Jersey, Massachu- setts and other spots where sentiment is “moist,” to say the least. But all this does not satisfy Mr. Borah. He sees a deliberate attempt under way to nullify the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution. And Mr. Borah is no nullifier, He sees the prohibi- tion law widely violated. He demands that the enforcement of the law be placed in the hands of men who be- lieve in prohibition. Mr. Borah’s atti- tude is the logical position of an ar- dent dry. Months ago Mr. Borah declared that prohibition was still a vital issue in this country. notwithstanding the fact that the eighteenth amendment stands in the Constitution and the Volstead law on the statute books. His present declaration is merely a reiteration of the stand he took then, when he de- bated with Dr. Nicholas Murray But- ler, president of Columbia University, in Boston. The Idaho Senator has been famous for an uncanny foresight, an ability to feel in advance popular and political movements. If prohibi. tion becomes in the next few months a real issue in the political campaign of 1928, Mr. Borah will be prominent in ‘the picture. Already he is men- tioned as a presidential possibility. There are indications that Western Progressives would line up gladly in support of his candidacy. The Pro- gressives for the most part are ardent drys. As a léader of the dry and the Progressive elements, Senator Borah would assume formidable proportions. ‘Mr. Borah's pronouncement regard- ing prohibition is particularly inter- esting in view of the efforts of other presidential possibilities to soft-pedal the issue. Even the friends of the re- doubtable Gov. Smith are spending much of their time telling the public that Smith is strong for law enforce- ment. Senator Reed of Missouri be- lieves that other issues should domi- nate the political campaign. The Re- publicans have been willing to let the Democrats fight over the wet and dry question. Now the Idaho Senator is demanding that the G. O. P. get up on its hind legs and fight the battle of the drys actively. This may pain a few of the Republican leaders in the East, certainly those who belleve in not troubling trouble. —————— It is still to the tariff that states- manship must turn when seeking a merger of international controversies. ———— An Aviation Pioneer. Last Sunday at Kew Gardens, Long Island, passed from life one who con- tributed materially to the progress of avlation, but whose name has in the course of a quarter of a century been crowded out of public recollection by the performance of others. Charles M. Manly was the chief aide of Prof. Samuel P. Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in the latter's pioneering work in heavier-than-air flying. While a senior at Cornell, where he recelved the degree of me. chanical engineer, he learned that Dr. Langley was seeking the services of a young man competent to assist him in his aviation experiments. He sought and secured the appointment and for five years, until the close of the Lang- ley experiments in 1908, he participated in all of the great scientist's work. He constructed the first test plane and in person manipulated it on its two tests. On the second occasion Manly very nearly lost his life when the plane, due to a faulty launching device, plunged into the Potomac. The ridicule which greeted Lang- ley’s fallure, as it was then deemed, caused him to suspend his experi- ments. It is now recognized that he had all but solved the problem of heavier-than-air flight, that he had in- deed solved it as far as the machine itself went, though he had failed to devise a dependable effective method of initial propulsion. Shortly afterward the Wright brothers, after experimen- tation in the -seacoast sandhills of North Carolina, worked out a catapult launching scheme which gave the ma- chine a starting impulse sufficient to enable it to take the air. Years after- ward Langley's original plane, recon- ditioned, was successfully flown. It will never be definitely known just what part in this first experi- mental and important work Charles Manly took, for he was always mod- est regarding his contributions and was loyal to the memory of his chief. This association, however, gave him a keen interest in automotive transpor- tation, and he became in after years an authority on the subject. During the World War he was a consulting ti THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY. OCTOBER 18, ]‘927. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. wakiweer of the aviation sentine af the British war office, and to the ena of his life was active in airplane con- struction and development. Had Manly lost his life in the last flight of the Langley plane he would have been the second victim of aviation development, Lilienthal having per- ished a few years earlier in the course of his important gliding experiments in Germany, from which undoubtedly much was learned by later plane makers in the matter of the construc- tion of “wings.” It was Manly's for- ture, however, to be spared to witness an astounding advance, only a few years after his own participation in actual flying tests. It was probably fortunate that he did not continue as a pllot, for he survived to contribute richly to the art with the birth of which his name will forever be identi- fled. N Ban Johnson. The founder of the American League and its only president has resigned. Ban Johnson, the storm center of base ball during the past sevensyears, but one of its greatest benefactors during his twenty-seven years' reign as czar, closed up the American League headquarters in Chicago yes- terday with a smile and announced that he was glad to be a private citi- zen again. The appointment of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as high commission- er of base ball in 1920 to clean up the game after the “Black Sox" scandal was the beginning of the end for the man who had founded the junior major league. Previously to that he had dominated the national commission and was in reality the high chief of base ball. Johnson was unable to work harmoniously with Commission- lied to the dry cause, and the dry or-ier Landis. He fought him at every turn until the club owners, who saw in Landis their hope for publio con- fidence in the gamse, turned against him. The last straw was the Ty Cobb- Tris Speaker tempest in the teapot last Winter, when Johnson publicly oriticized the commissioner for his handling of the case. The American League club owners then deserted Johnson and requested him to take a long leave of absence. His resigna- tion is the closing chapter. Johnson throughout his long career has waged a sturdy fight to put base ball on a high plane. His discipline at times has been severe, but he has worked unceasingly to furnish clean and orderly base ball entertainment for the millions of fans. So that de- spite the squabbles of the last seven years, the American League owes to its departed president a debt of grati- tude. e In a little while Charles Lindbergh may go where he likes without fear of offending a reception committee which has been lying in wait for him. His fame came unsolicited. Only the restraint of courtesy apparently pre- vents him from demanding eight hours’ sleep instead of a banquet. ——— e Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey decline -to be friendly, in spite of the financial advantages that each has been, in the course of legitimate sport, the means of bringing to the other. ————— As a patriot, Mussolini should by this time be training some one to take up the dictatorship where he must, in course of time, be compelled to leave it off. —————— The camera always shows exuberant happiness at the hop-off. There are no photographers at hand to show the molst misery of the midocean pick- up. —— Confidence in peace is encouraged when a war vessel makes a courteous trip for the purpose of leaving visiting cards. —————— A naval officer may show bravery not only in brandishing a cutlass, but in taking his pen in hand. ——— e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNBON. Thankless Prophecy. Friend Katydid! You sang in pride, Up yonder on the hill. Here comes the frost you prophesied. ‘Why couldn’t you keep still? ‘Without your song, of course, we know, The frost would come the same. But, like most prophets here below, You sing—and take the blame. No Explorer. “Do you intend to make trouble in the next Congress?” “No, sir!” answered Senator Sor- ghum. “There is always trouble in waiting. I'll be satisfied with the ready-made stuff.” Game of Millions. A million dollars gets no praise Among our fellow men. Some one draws near and says, “Let's raise The ante 9 or 10.” Jud Tunkins says he belleves in Santa Claus as one of our finest Win- ter business hooste: Lonely. “Are you In favor of prohibition?” “I am,” answered Uncle Bill Bot- tletop. “I want the law enforced.” “For what reason?” “Loneliness. I'm tired of being about the only sober man in the com- munity.” Record. “I shall, never forget the evening when I danced with the Prince of Wales!” “Neither shall 1,” answered Miss Cayenne. “I shall cherish an undying admiration for a man with the physi- cal endurance to dance with so many persons.” “As we revere our ancestors,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “let us not forget to conduct ourselves so that we, too, shall deserve reverence from posterity.” Return Trip. Our aviators hit the sky. We're asking 'em “What for?" Music is wonderfully like friend- ship. At the first meeting with & new plece of music ane may or may not like it. Acquaintance improves the tune, but too close contact with it finally leads to distaste for it. Neither music nor friendship can be “run into the ground,” as the saying is, without risking the losing of it. Nor is it always possible to tell, at the outset of an acquaintance with a new melody or person, whether one will continue to be pleased or not. Often it is difficult to decide whether one is pleased at the beginning. Some- times pleasure at first leads to non- liking in the end, at other times posi- tive distaste turns into liking. A certain amount of acquaintance with any melody or more complicated musical work usually is necessary to allow the musical judgment, if one may call it that, to be worth any- thing at all. Thus only the finest sort of musi- clan has any right, upon the first hear- ing of a song, to declare positively, “I like it,” or “I do not like it.” Yet nothing is more common than to hear some one at a concert, whose training simply does not permit him to render a correct judgment on one There is, by far, too much “good-by,” Too little “au revoir.” “Trouble,” said Uncle Eben, “Is mostly de result of a lively imagina- " R i o S s hearing, to declare with supreme posi- tiveness, “That is no good.” Luckily for the music, strong af- firmation or negation on the part of any one hearer has nothing to do with the case! * kK *x ok Two persons are listening to a radio broadeast of selections from Auber’s “Fra_Diavolo,” the light opera that once had a tremendous vog: The first man declares, “I do not Yet the other man, who had spent some hours in his youth playing that very melodic bit, greeted it with out- stretched arms, as it were, not only because he knew every note and turn in it but because it brought to him many pleasant memories, He recalled how, upon hearing the song in the opera, he, too, could “see nothing in it.” It went in one ear and out the other. To him it was just so much noise, as so much of an opera is the first time one hears it, unless one is unusually gifted in the art of grasping melodies entire, at one full swoop. The next time he volo,” however, he himself how he previous performanc a really fine melody Rock Reclining.” He went home with the tune ringing in his ears. He made a special trip to the music store to secure the music. For days thereafter he played and attempted to sing it. “On Yonder Rock Reclining,” the boastful song of the brave but un- serupulous “Brother Devil,” chivalrous bandit of the mountains, has a certain inevitableness to it that is jhe heritage of all worthwhile songs. Just as one could scarcely change a word In any really great piece of writing, without detriment to the whole, so no change can be made in a real song, once it is written, without losing something. Imagine a committee of great com- posers sitting in solemn state over Victor Herbert's “Gypsy Love Song.” Their task, let us suppose, is to ‘“‘change it for the better,” according to the instructions they have received from a meddlesome legislature, let us say. heard “Fra Dia- was amazed at failed, at the , to realize what was “On Yonder see a thing to this musi The second, had he said what he really thought, would have declared: “How could you see anything in it? You do not like it because you are not acquainted with it. I enjoy it because, in listening, I meet an old friend.” Such a statement might be regarded by the other gentleman as a bit of intellectual snobbery, yet would be nothing but the plain truth. The plain truth, wholesome as it may be, often is regarded by men as unpalatable, because the human mind is so constituted as to regard truth as criticism. And no one, it may be set down as an axiom, likes criticism. One often hears some one say, “Tell me the truth, now, about this”; but the chances are 10 to 1 that he does not want the truth, but flattery. ‘The truth has a way of stinging that has made it more honored in theory than practice. The so-called educated world packs around a huge impedi- menta of prejudices, concerning which touchiness is the universal rule. “Tell me the truth,” he pleads. But refrain, refrain! * ok kK ‘The more one.knows about music and the wider his acquaintance with various operas and lesser forms of musical composition, the greater chance he has to enjoy anything that comes to him over radlo, for instance. The man who did not like the “Fra Diavolo” selection could ‘“see” mnoth- ing at all in the melody “On Yonder Rock Reclining,” played as a part of those selections. John Doe bought a farm at the out- break of the war. There was much clearing -to be done, and a heavy mortgage to carry, so Doe occasionally got outside work to earn some cash. While working a portable sawmill, his right arm and shoulder were slashed off by the saw. In spite of this, Doe, his wife and four small children con- trived somehow to operate their farmn and make both ends meet. Then fire destroyed his buildings, his year's crops and machinery, and the mort- gage was foreclosed. The rehabilita- tion service in his part of the Statc took an interest in his case, gave him special instruction in agriculture, and obtained for him a position as fore- man in charge of a convict labor gang on the county work farm. He did so well he was given general charge of about 1,000 convicts all working on the farm. He managed them without guards, and as the county supplied him with house and food, he was able to put by most of his salary. Then the rehabilitation service persuaded the holders of the mortgage to restore his equity in his own farm upon recelpt of back payments and interest to date. This was done and John Doe is now successfully operating his own farm. E I George Doe was supporting a wife and four small children, too. He lost both legs in an accident more quickly than it has taken time to read this. Another rehabilitation service found George hobbling about the country with the aid of crutches and a badly fitting artificial limb, desperately seek- ing odd jobs. He was supplied with properly adjusted artificial limbs and enabled to throw away his crutches. Then he was given training in shoe re- pairing and now ‘runs his own shop and makes twice the income he had at the time of his accident. These are two typical examples of what rehabllitation work is doing. It is now almost national in scope, as the few States that have not taken it up represent less than 10 per cent of the population. The Federal Board for Vocational Education, which for the Federal Gov- ernment promotes this work among the States and provides financial as- sistance, gave this example of its dol- lars and cents value: Tt is striking to observe that the average weekly wage of all persons rehabilitated in the United States during the fiscal year 1924 was $26.07. An analysis of the ages of these persons at the time of rehabili- tation shows them as having on the average a life expectancy of at least 20 years. Thelr total earnings during a period of 20 years following their rehabilitation will be $147,034,000. This is an enormous return when com- pared with the total cost to the Fed- eral and to the State governments of rehabilitating these persons; that is, $1,242,657." And yet despite its value to the in-; dividual rehabilitated and to the com- munity in a producing citizen who might otherwise be a public charge, the movement has developed slowly and does not yet reach the many dis- abled persons it should help, accord- ing to the Federal board. * K K K The statement tells of the need of more work as follows: “The rehabilitation program, which looms so large in numbers, is not yet being met adequately. This is be- cause the public has not been edu- cated to provide sufficient financial support for the rehabilitation service. Some of the States have made good progress in their attempts to provide an adequate service, but in some of them progress has been slow. Even in the more progressive and wealthy States the program has not as yet reached the point of providing a serv- ice for all classes of the disabled. “Most of the States have developed their rehabilitation departments with- out knowing the total number of per- sons who annually become eligible for service in their jurisdictions. In two or three States censuses for the dis- abled have been taken, but the data secured were not satisfactory. The time has come, however, when it Is no longer belleved advisable in many of the States to postpone further a dJe- s They dissect and wrangle, they wrangle and rearrange. They vote and discuss, they discuss and vote Finally, as the ‘“unanimous of the committee, a “new ver- sion” s promulgated. The chances are a million to one that it will not be as good, in any sense, as the one Herbert wrote. We would like to see some great musiciun try it, keeping it unmis- takably the “Gypsy Love Song,” yet bettering it, if betterment there may be, which we helieve there cannot be, in this case, or any other similar in- stance, of an art work that is once done and so finished forever. LR Nothing, In music, can take the place of acquaintance. He who has studied Bizet"s from the score, note by note, for all the characters, has a precious knowledge of greatness which is as tangible a possession as a twenty- dollar note in his pocket. ‘When such a man speaks concern- ing Bizet's masterpiece, he speaks with some authority, certainly with more than that of the man who never even heard the opera before. It is surprising, however, how few persons, in the average concert audi- ence, seem willing to admit this simple proposition, or to refrain from making monkeys of themselves. Every one having ears can listen, but the wise auditor, or simply the honest one, refrains from giving judgments when he has no background for rendering one. “I know what I like” is not ‘armen” enough. Disabled Men Being Restored to Active Places in Industry termination of the extent of the reha- bilitation problem, if the Legislatures are to be expected to mak: adequate appropriations.” Massachusetts was the first State to pass legislation for rehabflitation work. This was in 1918, or two years before passage of a Federal act providing financial assistance for the States en- gaged in this work. The Federal act has now been accepted by 41 States, including Massachusetts. Most of the persons for whom reha- bilitation is or ought to be available suffer from major physical disabilities and about 75 per cent of them from in- juries which have cost the use of arms or legs. The Federal board estimated that the general average cost to the public of rehabilitating a disabled person so that he may again be a wage earner is $235. “The cost is insignificant,” observed the board, “when it is realized that in most of the States it costs from $300 to $500 a year to maintain a person who is unable to work for a living in a poorhouse or cusl.(‘)dl‘al institution.” The Federal and State rehabilitation laws provided for vocational and not physical rehabilitation, but often the latter is necessary before the former can be given. Some States have not the funds to provide the physical aids essential, and this is sometimes dore by private agencles, Other States meet this need by means of other State laws, and several have put ‘nto effect what the Federal board de- scribed as a “sound provisfon"—legis- lation providing financial maintenance for the disabled while they are being rehabllitated. “There is need in the States,” de- clared the Federal Board, “for a com- plete restoration system as a comple- milntliry service to vocational rehabili- tation.” PHILOSOPHIES BY GLENN FRANK I want today mildly to question a moss-grown belief. In the anclent Talmud I find this vivid axiom: “By the breath of the schoolchildren shall the state be saved.” Here is an anclent putting of a be- lief that has been held by us almost continuously since the founding of the American Republic—the belief that, however faulty our community in par- ticular or our civilization in general might be, our children would remold our society in the light of intelligence and right if we only sent them to school consistently while they were young. The school as a fountain of soctal salvation is one of America’s most persistently cherished beliefs. ‘We have based our hopes for the progressive improvement of Ameri- can ideas and institutions on the edu- cation of the young in our schools. It seems almost treasonable to ques- tion the touching optimism of this faith, but the brutal fact is that most of our children come out of our schools inflexibly committed to Amer- ican civilization as it is, stamped with the qualities of the unquestioning de- fender rather than' the questioning ploneer. And, although I am a schoolman, T suggest that it is futile to expect, sava in exceptional cases, that the graduates of our schools will do much more than acquiesce in prevailing ideas, ideals and institutions. ' This is, for the time being, inevi- table for two reasons, viz.: First, our schools are created, con- trolled and conducted by adults who determine the ideas and ideals that shall be set before our children. These adults are made and molded by the prevailing ideas, ideals and in- stitutions of the time; if these adults, in the main, do not go beyond an un- critical nc&\llemnce in the prevailing order of things, is it'to be supposed that they can invent or will tolerate schools that make continuously i L NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM L G M. GIANTS IN THE EARTH. Rolvaag. Harper & Bros. Seen through a good range of time and space, the ploneer looks like a hero of high adventure. Out from our own early days there stand as such Puritan and cavalier, French voyager of the North, Spanish con- quistador of the South. Sheer ro- mance at this distance, it seems, to bring to heel the untamed wilderness. Romance, to be sure, whose glamour heightens and whose enchantment deepens with the assuaging years that lie in between then and now. Padded in the securities of our own safety- first existence, we thrill to the picture of “The Covered Wagon,” wistful, maybe, toward the lost simplicities of that time, while realizing not at all the terrible toll exacted by it upon the brain and brawn and soul of the individual pioneer. * Kk * 0. E. In the opening up and settlement of the immediate Northwest—Wiscon- sin, Minnesota, the Dakotas—Swede nd Norwegian played a part so con- siderable as to have stamped that lo- cality with the indelible imprint of the Norseman. Such racial prepon- derance, :0 stable in native trait as to impress the surrounding life rather than to be Impressed by it, projects an interesting and illuminating unit of fact bound to be of value in any ul- timate appraisal of the composite character of the people of the Unite States. < L “Giants In the Earth” is a story of the opening up of the South Dakota prairies by a handful of Norweglans— few men with their wives and chil- en. In spread and depth of concep- tion this ploneer tale is a true Norse saga. Here is the familiar theme— man in conflict with the unseen, mys- terious forces of sinister intent. Fiery dragons and other flerce monsters they are in the old Norse legends. Here in the New World, however, they are instead the boundless, un- charted prairies from whose depths emerge giants of frustration to in- timidate man and to defeat his pur- pose of peaceful occupation and happy home making. These giants of defeat and retribution march in the Jong and stinging Winters, in great blankets of snow, impassable and fso- lating; in blizzards of wind and ice and cold unbearable. And each fs the piti- less agent of loneliness unspeakable. None the less active in Summertime also are these malevolent enemies of man. The short and smiling season of growth is shot with drouth and tor- nado, with whirling insect clouds, set- tiing and ravaging, then moving on from the flelds that have been so swept and garnered. The one con- stancy of evil is the brooding and consuming loneliness. Facing this outraged enemy so resourceful in ways of overtaking fs a handful of mere men and women, stanchly building their sod houses in clustering groups meant to serve a human neighborli- ness of contact as well as to meet the more obvious uses of house and home. These men and women are, in the main, of pure pioneer stuff. They have to be. Here is one, however, who—homesick to death—can get neither foothold nor hearthold upon this strange and unwelcome way of life. Such, most sketchily given, is the general effect of the story. * “Giants in the Earth” holds to the purpose, not of romance, but of the reality instead of that lies in the proc- ess of pioneering. And this actuality stands so close—not two full genera- tions away—as to permit the accuracy of direct report as against the inven- tional additions that picture of a re- moter past so naturally present. The substance of this tale of Dakota be- comes, then, an accounting of the human stuff that goes into taming and breaking the wilderness. It is the hard-won triumph of the real ploneer that sets the course of the action, a course made deeply poignant by the defeat of one not able to carry the burden imposed by the situation. The victory of the pioneer is embodied here in the slow winning of the wilderness to the uses of the settlers. The deep defeat centers in the person of Beret, wife of Per Hansa, who was himself undone finally by Beret, though a true pioneer if left to himself. The woman {s as real a part of the story as are the sturdier members of the group, so her right to a very signifi- cant place in it is undeniable. A somber tale throughout, as indeed it must be in fidelity to the content of the theme. A big story, nevertheless, one whose manner of projection is a wonder of clarity and simplicity. ‘Words fit ideas so exactly here as to enable one to look through these words to the ideas moving under them—as looking through clear air one sees the features of the land- Scape, sees men and other creatures moving from place to place. So, in- stead of reading, one has the impres- sion of being an actual part of this pioneer group, taking a hand in the winning of the Dakota prairies, shar- ing the hardships and the desolation of loneliness that these men and women endured. Drawing away a little from such immediacy of effect, one comes upon the realization that a rare and enduring and beautiful story of American life in one of its im- portant aspects has come to hand. An {lluminating way-place, this, on the great American pioneer move- ment that is even yet finding frontiers to meet and conquer. * ok Kk Going along with this story is an account of its author and a brief sum- mary of the novel itself by Mr. Rol- vaag's friend, Lincoln Colcord of Minneapolis. A most interesting close- up it is, too. Here is an American, for Mr. Rolvaag is an American, writ- ing his novel in the Norwegian lan- guage because that language is, you see, deep in the blood of the author, whereas ~American speech, lying nearer the surface, is necessarily a less adequate medium, not so rich a vehicle. Oddly enough, turning the book back into English appears not to have taken away from either its value or its charm. Read what Mr. Colcord has to say of this professor of Nor- wegian literature at St. Olaf’s College, out in Minnesota—once a fisher lad off the coast of Norway, as all of his people for generations had been, then an emigrant to the United States, making his way West and doing odd Jobs to earn his passage; then a stu- dent, then a professor. The sketch gives this author’s career, so far, as a novelist. The whole sums to a fine side light upon the personality and achievement of a writer who has now given us a novel of American source that is so interesting in content and so distinguished as a plece of Ameri- can literature as to put readers gener- ally in debt to Mr. O. E. Rolvaag, author of “Giants in the Earth,” as to add materially also to the appreciable substance of the highest and best of the literature of this country. searching criticism and re-examination of their ideas and ideals? In the main, schools will not be more adventurous than the adults who create, control and conduct them; schools do not so much reform as they reflect soclety. Second, our children are educated more by the community in which they live than by the school in which they SWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. Q. Is there a weather station in Greenland? A. W. 8. A. A station was opened in July. It'is under the auspices of the Uni. versity of Michigan and has financial aid from the Guggenheim Foundation. As many of the storms on the North Atlantic come from Greenland, it is believed that Greenland radio reports of weather conditions will be of great help to navigation. Q. What is declduous fruft?—J. . B A. Deciduous fruit is fruit that is borne on trees that shed their leaves | in the Fall. They are usually hardy or semi-hardy and belong to the rose family. Q. May a woman serve as consul or vice consul from Belgium?—E. A. A. The Belgian embassy says that there are no specifications as to the sex of consuls in the rules governing the Belgian foreign servic ‘There are no women in the diplomatic or consular service of that country at the present time. Q. What is meant by the flash point of oil’>—D. J. A. The Bureau of Standards says that the flash point is the temperature at which the vapor rising from the oil will flash when a flame is brought near the surface of the ofl. Q. What is meant by Pittsburgh plus’—R. E. K. A. Pittsburgh plus is a term used in the steel industry. Market prices of steel are based on the prices in Pittsburgh. Any purchaser of steel products outside of Pittsburgh must pay the price quoted in Pittsburgh plus freight to the place of delivery. For instance, a Chicago purchaser might get steel from Gary, Ind., but he would pay the Pittsburgh price plus freight from Pittsburgh to Chi- cago. Q. What bugle cail fs known as “Boots and Saddle”?—M. D. R. A. “Boots and Saddle” is the Cav- alry bugle call for mounted drill. Itis study. It ’;he ancient Talmudic axiom is to be true in America, two things must happen, viz.: ‘We must develop an adult educa- tion that will give us different adults who will give us different schools. ‘We must stop confusing education and schooling and realize that we must pay as much attention to the educational influence of the commu- nity as we pay to the educational in- fluence of the schools. (Copyright, McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) a corruption of the French boute selle, meaning put on the saddle. Q. Have any places been named for Nungesser and Coli?—B. C. A. A lake in Ontario has been named for each of these valiant air- men, Q. Who was the architect for the National Academy of Sclences?—S. T. A. B. G. Goodhue was the archi- tect. He died shortly before the build- ing was dedicated. Q. What part of the manufactured products of the country are purchased by farmers?—C. B. A. Those engaged In agriculture and the business of agriculture purchase about one-tenth of the country’s manu- factured products. Q. How big was the Coliseum of Rome?—W, A. E. A. The Coliseum is said to have ac- commodated 100,000 spectators, of whom about 87,000 were seated, and its arena measured 182 feet from side to side and 285 feet from end to end. Q. What change in temperature is required to make a cold wave?—G. K. A. Cold wave is a term commonly used in the United States to denote a fall of at least 20 degrees in tem- perature in 24 hours, bringing the temperature below the freezing point. Q. How long has the word “hello” been in the English languag A. It is a variation of “holl had been in use since 1605 at least. “Hello” gradually took its place and came into literary use about 1880. Q. How does an approaching tor- nado look?—H. W. B. A. The chief visible feature of a tornado is a long, whirling cloud, ex- tending to or toward the earth. As the storm travels along, at about the speed of an express train in the aver- and in a direction that in ses is approximately from t to northeast, the zone of destruction is little if any wider than the track swept by this cloud. The width of the zone may be only a few rods and is seldom as great as half a mile. Tts length averages some- thing like 25 miles, but is not always continuous, as these storms have a way of jumping over places along their paths and leaving them un- harmed. Q. In th three years how many failures of building and loan as- sociations have there been?—A. A. B. A. In 1 there were 11,844 asso- ciations, 18 failure in 1925, tion and 26 failures, and 6 associations and 12 with soc} Q. When were the first fundamental theories of grammar expounded?— G. A. M. A. The first general notions of gram- mar are generally attributed to Yaska's Vedic glossary in Sanskrit. Q. What is the percentage of water in whole milk?—A. A. Whole milk is 13 per cent solids and 87 per cent water, Q. Who were the White Breth- ren?—G. W A. A sect which caused considerable commotion in Kurope about the year 1400. They were followers of a priest who announced himself as the prophet lias and asserted he had come back rom Heaven to give notice of the coming destruction of the world. His thousands of followers dressed in white and carried large crucifixes as they marched about in southern cen- tral Europe. Thelr leader was burned as an impostor, after which the White Brethren dispersed. Q. Ts 28 too old to join the Girl Scouts?—L. W. P. A. The Girl Scouts’ organization in Washington informs us that 28 years of age is not too old for a person de- siring to join. There i3 mo other agency in the world that can answer as many legiti- mate_questions as our free Informa- tior Bureaw in Washington, D. O. This highly organized institution has been built up and is under the personal di- rection of Frederic J. Haskin. By keeping in constant touch with Fed- eral bureaus and other educational enterprises it is in a position to pass on to you authoritative information of the highest order. Submit your que- ries to the staff of experts whose serv- ices are put at your free disposal. There is mo charge ezcept 2 cents im stamps for return postage. Address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Wash- ington, D. C. New Interest Demonstrated By Brokers in Foreign Stocks Increased interest in foreign stocks on the part of American investors is predicted as a result of the New York Stock Exchange's decision to permit trading on the exchange in such shares when they represent high- grade companies. The plan is to have financiers in this country deal in the foreign stocks through deposit certifl- cates representing shares held in trust. “The fact of paramount interes according to the New York Times, “is the Stock Exchange’s recognition of the extent to which American invest- ment capital is already overflowing our own markets, not only in sub- scriptions to foreign dollar securities offered in America, but through pur- chasing shares of foreign enterprises on the foreign markets themselves. To promote a free and sure interna- tional market for sound investment shares of this description would un- questionably facilitate the task of the American market as the world’s credit center and the international reservoir of capital.” Looking forward to the time when there may be ‘“ultimately a decision to list foreign stocks in their original form,” the Indianapolls News says: “That would be a logical outcome—a continued rise in American invest- ments abroad and general recognition of the permanent status of the United States as a great creditor nation.” The Binghamton Press feels that “th only surprising thing about the de- cision of the Stock Exchange is that the decision has been so long delayed. America is financing the world,” con- tinues that paper, “to a greater ex- tent every year. Whether it is the wish of the United States to do so or not, we will find it necessary to do S0 as a matter of compulsion morally and for our industrial preservation.” ‘The need of proper protection for American investors is emphasized by the Philadelphia Public Ledger, which remarks that “it goes without saying that rigid tests will be applied to such foreign securities as are offered for listing, and all reasonable measures taken for safeguarding the American investor.” The Ledger calls the step one of importance “for American cap- ital and for foreign industry.” The existence of “billions of sur- plus and exportable capital” impresses the Louisville Courier-Journal, which finds that “the need of such a mar- ket is obvious. In fact,” continues that paper, “for several years trading has been going on in foreign bonds. ¢ * * The move is exemplifica- tion of the fact that New York and not London is the financial center, that Wall Street as well as Thead- needle street is a world market. In finance America has lost its provincial viewpoint. It cannot remain in isola- tion. It is the financial hub.” The Worcester Telegram also states that “New York has been encroaching more and more, since the World War, on London as the world’s money mar- ket. In January, 1926, the Tele- gram_records, ‘“the bond list of the New York Stock Exchange contained 112 foreign issues with a market value of more than two billlon dollars. In July, 1927, there were 255 issues with :M"!'."ket value of about $4,650,000,- “London, Parls and Berlin have been the international money markets in the past,” declares the St. Joseph News-Press; “but today the great tide of wealth has risen to the flood in America. American capital is seeking investment, and has found it the world over. American dollars have turned mill wheels, laid railroads and reared buildings in foreign lands.” The News-Press also reminds its readers that in addition to the fact that for some time foreign bonds have been dealt in on the New York Stock Exchange, “during the war. permis- slon was granted for the listing of shares of four great foreign corpor- ations, but with the provision (now made general) that these shares should be dealt in through the medium of American certificates of deposit.” “It was in should ha lon of th e e € e o American investor in foreign securi- ties has had little enough guidance in the placing of his surplus funds. * * * Since the public has for a long time been interested in exporting its surplus capital, in response to economic law, these measures consti- tute good sense and expediency.” “In_issuing its new rules,” declares the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “the ex- change makes a bid for an enormous possible increase of business. Ameri- can capital at the present time, to Jjudge from its recent bidding up of standard domestic shares, greatly ex- ceeds the placements available for it in profitable, existing enterprises at home. As holders, through a course of events not wholly within our con- trol, of an inordinate share of the world’s gold, Americans have the al- ternative of wasting the creative power of that gold in excessive spec- ulation or in unproductive enterprises at home, or of buying into the enter- prises of countries whose former gold supply has in large measure come hither. The move of the exchange tends to help bring about the latter course. To that extent it is sound and well warranted.” Old-Age Pension Plan Obtains in Denmark To the Editor of The Star: The churches, schools and armies of the Nation are just waking to the fact that old-age pensions are a requl- site necessity and should not be left to a benevolent or paupers’ charity institution to provide. Very good! Why not extend the humanity to all. Every man grows poor and old according to ability to learn and serve his fellow men in his strong young manhood. Then why not organize a system by which all will be provided for? There is a system of taxation in Denmark by which every salary is taxed 5 per cent before the salary is paid. This salary tax, paid from the business house pay roll, is the fund from which every laborer, teacher, doctor, nurse, priest or citizen of any rank will draw his old-age pension. We, the richest country in the world, pauperize our aged citizens. Would it not be better to provide for each one from the same fund, at least half as much as he earned while young and able to work? ALBERTO TICHENOR. Business-like Religion. From the Atchison Globe. An Atchison man who is very re- ligious and also very business-ike starts his prayers in this manner: “This is Jones speaking.” UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today Liberty loan total near $1,750,000, 000 according to unofficial reports. * ® * Secretary McAdoo declares foes of war loan will get law’s limit. Calls on banks for names of all those who attempt intimidation. * * # Gen. Pershing being ably assisted in purchasing supplies abroad by a civillan advisory council of five or six American business men. * * =« Matter of supplying France and needs of our armed forces may make it necessary to commandeer shipping on Pacific coast to relieve pressure in France. * ¢ American Red Cross makes million-dollar contribution to British Red Cross in connection with big one-day campaign. * ¢ * United States Shipping Board completes plans to speed up ship construction by work- ing shipyards on a 24-hcir schedule. * ¢ * TFederal agents capture 58 enemy aliens in raid on Hoboken dry docks. Reported that Government will revoke thousands of barred zone permits, * ¢ * Herbert Hoover predicts drop in food prices. Warns retailers that they are charging far too much for flour and sugar,