Evening Star Newspaper, November 28, 1927, Page 8

8. {THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY. November 28, 1927 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor ii)e irenin‘ Sl:r‘ Newspaper (‘nmplni Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Building. European Office: 14 Rezent St., London, England. The Evening Star with the Sunday s sdision is) delivered by carri e city at 60 cents per month: dally vols. 45 cents per month: Sundays only. 20 cents r month_ Orders may he sent by mail or lephone Main 5000, Collection is' made by carrier at end of each month. morn- with Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. ilv and_Sunday . aily only. junday onl: 1yr. $8.00: 1vr. $300: 1 mo.. All Other States and Canada. d_Sunday.] vr.. $12 00: 1 mo.. $1.00 junday oniy 1. $400:1mo. 85c Member of the Associated Press. The Ansocinted Press ts exclusieely entitled 0 the uge for renuhlic: die- Patches credited o it or not otherwisa cred- Tted in this paver and also the local rews puhlished Kerein. Al richts f nublication of sprcial dianatches hecein are also resery d = = The Flood Control Program. Three items constitute the major business before Congress at the ses. sion which is to start mext Monday, tax reduction, farm velief and flood control. It is expected that action will be had on all three. Tax reduc- tion is in fact assured. The only is- sue is as to the extent to which the burden will bo reduced and the de- tails. Farm relief is less certain, be- cause of the wide range of proposals and the insistence upon specific fea- tures by one and another group of advocates. Flood control is a matter of technique and cost. That it will command the earnest disposition of Congress to effect some program of works that will lessen the danger to & wide area of the country from ex- cessive rainfall and inundated lands {s certain. Just what form this project will take is a question. A board of Army engineers is now preparing a report which will consti- tute the basis of consideration”and sction. Meanwhile, the House flood control committee is in session, giv- ing hearings to representatives of the States In which floods have lately oc: cvrred. Their proposition will be taken under advisement in the light of the recommendations of the official engineers. There are widely variant suggesti They range from the es- tablishment of giant reservolrs -to hold the surplus waters of the upper reglon to the paving of the river banks in the stretch of the greatest flood volume and consequently the most serfous erosion. They include a program of dredging on a vast scale, with the deposit of the detritus taken from the river beds upon the low- lands alongside; the cutting of shorter channels for the tributary streams to aliow a freer flow of the swollen cur- rents in time of freshet; the straight- ening of the Mississippl itself, which hos been diverted and bent and choked out of its normal courses, 80 much of this question is tech- Rical that it is necessary to await the yeport and recommendations of the engineers before a proper perspective can be had upon it. There are wide divergencies of view regarding it. The problem is certain to cost enormously in its solution. Appropriations mount- ing into the hundreds of millions must be made, in the course of a period-of years, as the work is carried out systematically, in accordance with a definite plan. The economic espect of the case, however, is not at this stage so important as the ma- terial one, involving the question of what is best to be done to render the area of possible flood safer, if not wholly safe, from inundation. The Interests of the flood-menaced section of the country are not alone involved in this matter. Last Sum- mer's flood affected the entire coun- try, through the destruction of prop- erty there and the consequent effect upon the national economic balance. In these preliminary representations now being made to the House commit- tee the specific concerns of the States are being set forth. It is for Congress to bring together all these detailed and detached viewpoints and, in the light of the expert advice of those who have been charged with the duty ot prescribing the course to.be fol- lowed, to legislate to the end that America’s greatest menace from the forces of Nature will be allayed, if not permanently averted. ——— Having gained the reputation of great wealth, Uncle Sam is naturally looked to with hope by those who be- leve there are no troubles that money gannot solve. Isolating the Jury. A notable murder trial is about to begin in New Jersey, a man and a woman being accused of the killing of the latter’s husband. The case has attracted wide attention and has been the subject of brisk discussion in the region near the scene of the crime. It s expected that the trial will be protracted, as both prosecution and defense have prepared for the ex- amination of numerous witnesses, and inasmuch as the evidence in accusa- tion is largely circumstantial there is & prospect of another long-drawn ses- sion. The State prosecutor has warned the panel of men and women drawn for examination for jury service that 1¢ they are chosen for service they nust “prepare themselves for absolute isolation from the rest of the world for several weeks.' Whether this warning has the effect of diminishing the willingness of talesmen to serve and affect their answers to the queries ot the court and counsel remains to be seen. The isolation of juries is in keeping with & long established practice. Of late years there has been some reris- sion of the requirement that the jury must be held incommunicado during the period of the trial, and in many cases, in various jurisdictions, the panel has been permitted, even in capital cases, to go free until the time comes for the consideration of the wverdict. This has greatly lessened the out of contact with home and business, throughout the proceedings, in accord- ance with the old-time practice. In England the jurles In capital cases are always kept isolated. Trials in that country are seldom protracted. Few of them last a week. Service on a jury in a case of this character is, in consequence of the condition pre- scribed by the law, not a popular one, and many are the efforts to evade duty. The British law is more strict than the American in the matter of Jury selection, and fewer talesmen escape service. In one respect the British practice is severe. Under an ancient statute, the jury, upon retiring to conslder its verdict, is kept not only secluded, but may have “no food, drink or candle” until a decision has been reached, or absolute disagree- ment is proved. . Jury service is a duty to the com- munity. It should be rendered when- ever call is made. Upon the caliber of intelligence of the jurors depends the soundness and justice of the verdict. It those who are mentally, qualified to pass judgment upon the questions at issue evade service, because of the sacrifice of time and perhaps of busi- ness interests involved, the duty passes on to others who are less competent to discharge this important function. It was to encourage competent persons to accept jury service that the practice of giving the panel its freedom Yuring the recesses of court, in the course of the trial, was adopted. The return to the isolatlon practice is in some measure induced by the fear of jury tampering, which has been suspected, with reason, in certain important cases in recent years. e b A Reiterated Stand. Possessed of first-hand, unbiased data on results of compulsory auto- mobile insurance in Massachusetts, the only State operating under a law of this nature, The Star emphatically reiterates its stand that compulsory liabllity insurance represents one of the greatest and most significant for- ward-looking steps in the history of the motor car's career of public useful ness and that no element should allow selfish motives to stand in. the way of its widespread adoption for the g00d of the greatest number.: - Determined to end for all time ru; mors, unfounded reports, illogical con- clusions and even instances in »which there has been an apparent effort de- liberately to distort facts dnd distract attention from the main issue in- volved, The Star sent its representa- study of the entire situation. The results of the survey have been published and a careful perusal of the information contained leads inev- itably to the conclusion that in many instances those who have vigorously protested against the establishment of compulsory Insurance in the District have done so either on wrongly predi- cated grounds or without accurate data to guide them. The point “wherein local opponents of the compuisory insurance measure have erred is in the matter of accident reduction. Compulsory liability insur- ance was not instituted as a safety ‘measure; it was not Intended to cut the number of street and highway mishaps. All that it was designed to do was to impose financial responsibil- ity, for his own acts, upon every driver on the road and to keep off the highways the motorist who is either unable to guarantee such responsibil- ity or refuses to do so. This end has been achieved. Every driver in the State of Massachusetts carries the badge of - responsibility when he appears behind the wheel of his automobile. But, in addition to this desirable condition, a happy by-product seemingly will be a dimi- nution of the number of accidents. But whether this occurs or not, it will not detract from or add to the merits of a statute which makes every driver responsible in a' financial way for his own acts as an automobile op- erator. g The law, in its eleven months’ op- eration, has already exceeded in value the expectations of those who spon- sored it in the Bay State. What more could be asked? —————————— Banquets are always in readiness for a hero. As a supplementary plece in the musical program, “Hail to the Chief” might be included. i The Police and the “Cat.” Police plans for catching the so- called “Cat” burglar are, of course, not being broadcast to give informa- tion to the marauder as well as com- fort to the residents of the beleaguer- ed sectlon that this agile nocturnal worker has chosen a# his particular field of operations. It would be in the last degree absurd to proclaim par- ticular processes of observation and projects for surprising the slippery fellow to whom are attributed most if not all of the robberies that have lately been committed. And it must be agreed by the community that the police are not altogether bereft of reason and common sense and that they realize that the thief himself, who appears to be a person of at least average Intelligence, is keeping in close touch with the official move- ments. . . Criticism of the police is the usual reaction to any series of crimes. It is to be expected whenever a “wave"” of lawbreaking develops, which merely means whenever there is a series of similar outrages, whether committed by a single person or by independently working operatives. It must always be remembered that the District police force is not as large as it should be. Ma). Hesse has urged that the next appropriation bill provide for.at least one hundréd more men, preferably to be mounted in a manner to give them wider range and more effective scope of operation. ‘Washington's growth into the sub- urbs has created difficulties in the matter of police protection. It is one thing to patrol the streets lined by solld blocks of houses, many of which can be watched at night from a single viewpoint. It is quite another thing to patrol and guard the areas of de- tached and landscaped dwellings, with their shrubberies and trees and large lots and facilities for sheltering prowl- Bhardship incident to jury service. But @0 numerous have been the mistrials, to “hung jurles,” that there is a ) gpuluon to hold the juries together, population in the suburbs. To give identifying them. » “ ers. A district of one thousand resi- dents in the compactly bullt city is much smaller than the area of similar tive to Boston to make a thorough | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, V. U, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1927. the latter the same degres of police protection that is afforded the former would call for a very heavy addition to the force, far beyond the scale of increases which have been allotted to that department of the District gov- ernment during the period of extensive and rapld suburban growth. The “Cat” will be caught, sooner or later. His chances of escape diminish with every success. There is an almost mathematical percentage in such matters, and while the present experience s trying, it is comforting to reflect that this elusive freebooter is shortening his own career every time he engages in an expedition. A Happy Thought. The highest price ever pald for a book by & living author was given in New York recently when a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Smith Ad- ministration,” published at Allahabad, India, in 1891, brought $14,000 at auction. Fourteen thousand dollars for one of the remaining six coples of a book probably unread even by the most ardent lovers of this great British writer! The sum will stagger the hon- est booklover, who thinks twice before investing $5 {n some new book from the press. A happy thought will come to most: That it is not at all necessary or de- sirable to pay such a sum of money to enjoy Kipling. His greatest works may be purchased for a couple of dol- lars each; every child may revel in them. The “Barrack Room Ballads” hold their lure for any person able to pro- duce 50 little as a dollar at almost any bookstore. “The Light That Failed” shines for every one for nothing at the Public Library. The soldier stories, the children’s classics, the score more fine works by this great English author, are at the command of every one who loves to read. So, also, are the books, serlous and gay, of the other authors whom the world has agreed to call worth while, in an array which takes in the best work written so far throughout the world, with suspended judgment in some cases. ‘The payment of large sums for rare books is a specialized branch, one in which the average booklover is not particularly interested. Perhaps the best lesson that such a man may de- rive from such incidents, in addition to the one pointed out, is in regard to the accent which the huge price puts upon the author's work. If some man or firm is willing to pay $14,000 for one ook of Kipling's, it would appear that Kipling is well worth being read by every man. —.—e It is his task to tell future historians King Solémon and cause it to be re- meémbered as the wisest. ——————— In diplomacy the original ten com- mandments ought to suffice without introduction of another to the effect that “thou shalt not statk the cards.” ———te. It does not require a psychoanalyst to suspect that if trouble will drive a man crazy George Remus had lost his mental grip. - ———rae—. ‘When President Coolidge said, “I do not choose,” he did the world a favor in reducing the customary controver- slal elaborations to four simple words. v Turkish women no longer wear vells. They have long been regarded as repressed. Nobody hears of their winning any beauty prizds. ————r—r— SHOOTING STARS. B} PHILANDER JOHNSON Distinction, A most ambitious man was he. He hoped to cut some caper That would compel the world to see His picture In the paper. Pictorial fame he' has allured. His spouse in irritation A bullet aimed, which has secured His right to illustration, ‘Why? “You are held in the greatest esteem by your constituents.” 3 S “That,” answered Senator Sorghum, “is why I declined my latest invita- tlon to make a speech. - Why disturb an f{llusion?” Back from the Races. Bill Bivvins had a bundle. He bet it on a hoss. Bill hired a hack to trundle A ticket, showing loss. Jud Tunkins says a man who thinks In the past has more use than the Jazbo who doesn’t think at all. Late Hours, “You aldn’t get home till after 1 am."” “We started much earlier, but had trouble in remembering where home Study in Prosperity. “Any bootleggers out your way?" “Not one,” answered Uncle Bill Bottletop. ‘Al the folks is tryin® to pay rent instead of collectin’ it.” F Rellef All 'Round. “You say you need relief?" 5 “Emphatically,” answered Farmer Corntossel. “What kind of reliet?"” “Any kind that will prevent the city buyer from thinking that fifty cents is too much to pay for a little bunch of garden sass.” “We might be happier in our af- talrs,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of China- town, “it we could revive the wisdom of our ancestors simply by burning a foss stick. Need of Celebrities. ‘When good old Shakespeare comes to town, We hear of many names so great, To earth and choose a candidate. “Is mos’ always some kind of a sales. man.” ) Plays it Safe. From the Pittsburch Post-Gazette. The man who says there are 80 cities in the United States with popu- lations of more than 100,000 is on safe ground so long as he refrains from A | by those who simply read. that he can follow the example of | - THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. One reference book is not enough. It you go in for such works, bellev- Ing that they can help any one who writes, even i it Is only writing a letter, you know that the more of them you have, the better. The plain truth is that no one book contains everything, any more than one man knows everything or one musical show holds all the good songs of the season. It takes many men to make a busi- ness, many books to make a refer- ence shelf, many *“song hits” to sup. ply the popular demand during a yvear. A reference book is like life in some respects: You ask too much from it, do not find everything that you think you should, but in the end probably get more than you deserve. These thoughts came to mind the other day as we contemplated a work new to the shelf given over to books of reference—"A Dictionary of Mod- ern English Usage,” by H. W. Fowler, first published in 1926 by the Oxford University Press. Here is a meaty volume of some 740 pages, packed with dynamite for the timid soul who believes that he must scrupulously follow every rule he sees in print, especially in a book of authority. Andrew Lang, in speaking of one| of this author's previous works, play- fully stated, “I am afrald to set pen to paper.” This is the natural feeling that many readers will have after carefully inspecting “Modern English Usage.” Yet, at the same time they will realize as the result of their perusal that the author is a most human sort of fellow, who, although he knows a great deal more than most of us about the English language as such, also is not above pounding the purists and those who misuse our common tongue through “leaning over backwards” in its use, * K K % “Modern English Usage” is a book to be used upon demand, as any good reference book is, but it has the fur- ther good point of being an interest- ing_work for occasional reading. Very few persons can read a dic- tionary with any particular pleasure, although most can profit from such work. The book under consideration, however, is filled with short articles. mnany of which are packed with pungent references to grammatical errors com- mon to most readers and writers ed alike by those who write and The great English language, its tremendous vocabulary containing the best words (and therefore the best thoughts) of all races and ages, is an elastic medium which very few men are given to know perfectly. The best that most of us can do Is to do our best! It is some satisfac tion to know that the author of “Mod- ern English Usage,” if one may judge from several of his dissertations, is not above a certain jerky phraseology. Thought s the gist of writing. In- dividual words are the material of | thought. To know words is simply the ! beginning of writing. Uncle Sam has the richest country. ' One has to know something, at least, of what to do_with them. There are not, perhaps, a dozen men in the world who know as much about the English language as Dr. Fowler, or our own Dr. Frank Vizetel- Iy, but there are several hundred nov- elists, essayists and general writers who can write rings around them, as the saying is. So let the world take heart, and be not too much ashamed | of itself, after reading “Modern Eng- lish Usage.” WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC Has President Coolidge broken with Big Business? That's the question many will ask in light of his terrific “‘roast” of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States in connection with the impending tax cut. Never since he entered the White House four years ago have the President’s callers | been ear-witne such a_sce as he gave the chamber on November 25. Mr. Coolidge made no attempt to conceal his impatience with that body's “‘absurd” theory that increased Government expenditure is compatible with decreased tax reduction. The presidential charge that the great na- tional business organization has “run- ners” all over Washington, fomenting Federal expenditure in all directions, delivered with a flerceness not commonly associated with the calm and cautious Vermonter. The Presi- dent was red hot, and apparently didn’t care who knew it. It was his second thrust at the chamber within a fortnight. The other was a disap- proval of its tariff reduction proposal for farm relief. * k x ® Although the Chamber of Commerce of the United States has 1,500 “or- ganization members,” with an under- lying membership of 850,000 corpora- tions, firms and individuals scattered throughout the 48 States, it doesn’t popularly stand for Big Business in the same sense that ‘‘Wall Street does. Out in the sticks, the proletariat looks upon the lower end of Manhat- tan Island as the abode of “the In- terest: A9 long-as Andrew W. Mel- ton, Secretary of the Treasury, re- mains intrenched in the Coolidge graces, the “home folks” will continue to believe—as they have been educated by Mr. Mellon's detractors to believe— that all’s well on the Potomac as far as high finance is concerned. Politi- cally minded Washington, which is al- ways looking for'straws to show how the wind is blowing, is gossiping that the White House, with its crack at the Chamber of Commerce, means that the President sides with Mellon as against Hoover. The thought be- hind this rather far-fetched argument is that the Secretary of Commerce is closely identified with chamber inter- ests and chamber leaders. Nobody suggests that Hoover sympathizes with the tax policy which Coolidge has just bludgeoned. * ok kK ‘When President Green of the Amer- jcan Federation of Labor and Presi- And wonder why they can't get down | “A good talker,” said Uncle Eben. | dent Lewis of the United Mine Work- ers_called at the White House the other day to intercede for Federal in- tervention in the bituminous strike they were referred to the Department of Labor. There's more than meets the eye in that circumstance. Mr. Coolidge has_systematically detoured delegations of either capital or labor to the office of James J. Davis when- ever they'd sought administration aid in composing industrial disputes. The President believes in a minimum of interference with a Government de- partment_charged with clearly defined duties. During the great anthracite strike of 1925, it's related that Secre- tary Davis sent to the Summer White House in Swampscott a detailed re- port of the Labor Department’s me- diatory steps to date. The report was returned with the following memoran- dum: “Good. * ok ok % ‘The Anti-Saloon League of America 13 come to the conclusion that it kes two men to fill the late Wayne B. Wheeler's shoes. During his long reign on the dry throne Wheeler oc- cupled both the positions of league attorney and legislative agent. It's intended at the next month’s biennial convention in Washington to put indi- vidual officials in those two jobs. * ok K Kk Dispatches from Cambridge, Mass., state that Vice Presldent Dawes is billed to speak at the Republican Club of Harvard some time next month. There's an implied suggestion that the Dawes presidential boom will be slid with | 8 | present duty as an inspector, has just As a sample of our author's style and correctness, we quote the follow- ing: “Illiteracles.—There is a kind of of- fense against the literary idiom that is not easily named. The usual dic: lonary label for some specimens of it at least {8 vulg.; but the word!| ‘vulgar’ is now 8o imbued on the one | | hand with social prejudices and on ! | the other with moral condemnation | as to be unsuitable; the property com- | mon to these lapses seems to be that | | people accustomed to reading good | | literature do not commit them and are repelled by them, while those not so accustomed neither refrain from nor | | condemn them; they may perhaps be | | more accurately as well as politely |called {lliteracles than vulgarisms their chief habitat is in the corre. spondence columns of the press. A | few familiar types may be here col- lected for comparison, with Jufu‘ | enough in the way of fllustration to Iennhle each usage to be recognized; | actual quotations will be found under | | many of the words mentioned in their | | dictionary place: “Like as conjunction (If I could | think like you do). | “However, whatever, whoever, et | interrogative (However did you fine out?; Whatever can this mean?). | Same, such and various, as pro- | nouns (Will submit same, or the with such; Various have stated). equent use of split infinitives ready to categorically affirm). te in unsuitable confexts (The au- | thor \ents re predestination). ks with personal object only (Though she had promised to write | him soon). “Thlpk to equal remember to (I did not think to tell them when I was there). “Negative after should not wonder (I shouldn’t wonder If it didn't come true yet). esent, etc., after as if and as though (It looks as it we are winning or shall win). “Me, etc., for my, etc., in gerund construction (Instead of me being dis- missed). “Between—or for between—and (The choice is between glorious death or shameful life). ““Almost quite, rather unique, more preferable, i ggravating for annoying. ndividual for person. | very bad hyphening (the rul- wooden-leg). the Hon. Smith.” * k% ¥ | my | Tones; | In the word “jugular” he presents us | | with the following bit of homely coi Imon sense: * large dictionark | ‘Oxford English Dictions | Standara) all want us to say “joog: | {for ordinary mortals, familiar from | | childhood with the jugular vein, it is | as much out of the question as to make KO-kain out of cocaine.” Which s _correct: Catsup, ketchup {or catchup? Our author tells us: | | “Ketchup Is the established spelling; | | formerly also catehup and catsup, of | which the second at least is due to popular etymology. A Chinese or Malay word is said to be the source.” These are but three quotations from hundreds of similar examples, all of which will prove interesting to those interested in words and their proper use. There was one ‘article, in particular, which we hoped to present here, but which we were unable to find in time! It is in the book somewhere, however, |and we intend to go through it page by page until we do find it. We have vet to see a reference book sufficiently cross-indexed. WILLIAM WILE. down the ways on that occasion, as |the meeting is described as “the launching of Harvard's plans for the | 1928 campaign.” o Thomas Murray Wilson of Tennes- |see, who holds the rank of a consul | |general in the foreign service, with | reached Washington after a remark- | able tour of two and a half years’ du- | ration. It began early in 1925 at Ran- zoon, in Burma, and then took in practically all of Central Asia and Af- rica, In turn, Wilson visited Uncle Sam'’s consular offices and agencies in remote and romantic places like In- dia, Ceylon, Persia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Senegal, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Nal- robi, Natal, Rhodesla, Liberia, British South Africa, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Malta and the Canary, Madeira and | Azores Islands. He wound up at Con- stantinople. Though the American crossed lands of many tongues, he |found it possible to navigate every- where with English and French. Wil- ison entered the foreign service after serving with the Army in France. * ok ok X When the Vare and Smith cases are up in the Senate, supporters of representation” in that body. Senator elect are going to harp strongly on | the theme that the United States Senate has no right to deprive “sov- ereign states” of their_“constitutional | the Pennsylvania and Illinols Senator- “Jim” Reed of Missouri, is loaded for | bear on that score. He contends that | Senators aren't “representatives” of ates at all. Reed asserts th ators of the United States, merely “picked” by their States to function as Federal officials, The Demoeratic slush fund sleuth claints, for"instance, thut he represents Pennsylvania and 1llinois in the Sen. ate just as much as he represents Missouri. Senators legislate for - all the States, not merely their own, ac- cording to the Reed theory; are pald by all of the States, and act for the country as a wholé, not individual commonwealths. * ok k ok . Calvin Coolidge has just coined an aphorism far less ambiguous than his “choose” cryptogram. He says “there’s no short cut to peace.” The state- ment was evoked by Senmator Cap- per’'s proposal to outlaw war by treaties with foreign powers and by Representative Burton's scheme to boycott aggressor nations. The Pres dent thinks a “short cut to peac is as unattainable as a magic path to “any other form of salvation.” (Copyright. 1027.) UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Vea Ago Today Thanksgiving dinner to be served Pershing’s men today expected to be the best ever served an army fighting on foreign soll. * * * American flight lieutenant, who had been flying with the British for a year and who was captured by the Germans two months ago, arrives in London after escaping from German prison camp. Tramped 72 days. * * * Berlin press, carrying stories of American captives, tell their readers our soldlers hadn't any idea why they were fighting. * * * val operation of all American mer- chant ships engaged In_transatlantic service s planned by United States Government to safeguard vessels tra ersing the submarine zone. ¢ Submarine takes increased toll during past week. British losses are 14 ves- sels of over 1,600 tons and 7 of smaller size. * ¢ * President issues proclamation placing under license the import of many articles. thereby putting into the hands of the War Trade Board a powerful weapon to be used against firms controlled by Ger- man capital. same, for approval; Have no dealings ! Ip Retired Federal Employes 1 And Annuity Legislation To the Editor of The Star: Now that the Seventieth Congress is about to convene, the retired Fed- eral employes who got but the merest trifle from the law of July 3, 192 will be looking forward with ex- pectancy to this Congress to correct the errors that have developed in the recent retirement law. Most of the annuitants did not un- derstand how they were to be affected by the new law, and as a rule gave it a far more liberal interpretation than it deserved; but the public in gen- eral were of opinion, after the Presi- dent had signed the bill raising the annuities to $1,000, that there should no longer be any cause for complaint among the retired Government work- ers. It is certain that there would have been very few complaints if the maximum annuity of $1,000 had been based on a maximum salary of $1,2 as was the original law of May 1920. Retaining the present of calculating the annuities, would call for a 36 divisor, as 30, the maximum number of years for which allowance {8 provided, multiplied by 1,200, the maximum salary, equals 36,000, divided by 36, which gives $1,000, the amount sanctioned by the Presi- dent; then every retired Government | worker who had served 30 years, and whose average basic salary for the last 10 years of service amounted to $1,200 or more, would be entitled to an annuity of $1,000, and this would Include about half of all the retired people. Thoss whose salaries fell below ved 30 years, ary multiplied by 30 and_divided by 36, or five-sixths of the avprage basic salary they were arawing from the Government during the last 10 vears of ser Such a bill would have given com- e satisfaction to all classes of an- nuitants, and it would have cost scarcely $1,500,000 over the amount required to function the present law, which has satisfied only a handful ot high-salaried retired Government workers. 1t is hard to conceive how men ac-|* tuated by a sense of justice could have recommended such a bill as that of July 3, 1926. It is true that some men were receiving salarles ranging from $2,400 to $3,000 or more, and|" as a rule they were worth every cent of it, for they were men who had received a superior education and training, which enabled them to cope with problems of a difficult nature that low-salaried clerks were incapa- ble of doing. But once placed on the “retired list” the chie’ of a divi sion was not rendering one whit more service to the Government than the fellow who was sweepinz the office tloor. They are all on the same foot- ing now and their wunts are precisely the same. They all need food, clothe and shelter, and it seems a monstrous injustice to give seven or eight times as much increase in their annuities to one set of retired worker: to an- other set, who may have served the Government as long and as faithfully as the other fellow. Numbers of a nuitants are trying to exist on $33 a month, most of them incumbered with dependents. I do not know how rent and clothes are provided; there no money for medicine, they claim, and scarcely enougii to purchase the com- mon necessaries of life; yet when the law of July 3, 1926, passed, this cl of annuitants got $3-a-month crease. If they were facing starva- tion on $33 a month, they are not lying upon a bed of roses now because their annuity has been raised to $36 a month. Will this Congtess do something to correct the glaring defects of the law of July 3, 1926? The President ap- proved of $§1,000 maximum, which would have been a splendid relief measure if, as stated above, it had been based upon the original maxi- mum salary of $1,200, but when Con- gress agreed to raise the annuity $280, it raised the maximum salary from $1,200 to $1,500, thus almo: completely shutting out the low-sal aried Government workers from any rellef under the bill, while all classes acknowledged that these were the people who needed it most. Should the much-mooted question of raising the maximum annuity to $1,200 receive favorable consideration from this or some future Congress, if the maximum salary on which this | annuity might be based should raised $300. as in the last instance— that is, to $1.800—not a single annui- tant whose average basic salary for the last 10 years did not exceed $1,500 would receive one penny more than he or she is getting now. Not even should they raise the annuity $2,000, based on a maximum salary of 3,000, would the same class of an- nuitants get a cent of increase from such a law. Let the low-salaried people remem- ber that they were not drawing high salaries; consequently, any retirement hill based on a high ary is not in- tended to give them any relief. EDMUND MURPHY. ——oe—s. Derides Weather Man’s Criticism of Giles To the Editor of The Star: * Your delightfully humorous edito- rial in Thursday's Star, “Was Giles a Quitter?” added one more to the many blessings for which we had spent the day in Thanksgiving. The idea of the Weather Bureau undertaking to say what weather con- ditions were 480 miles out in the Pacific_at the time Capt. Giles as- serts that foul weather turned him back from his attempted Pacitic flight Is the crowning joy of the day. This is the same Weather Bureau whose forecast of weather for Thanks- giving day, published late on Wednes- day, read “Cloudy and colder tonight omorrow, probably occasional This for the bureau's own back . yard, wherein the householder sat digesting his turkey dinner, in his shirt sleeves on his porch, anq dream- ing gratefully of the coal he was saving by letting his furnace go out. The same Weather Bureau that, one week ago, gave no warning of the. tornado that hit Washington so severely and knew nothing of its passing the bureau's windows until the papers brought them the news. Not 480 miles out on the ocean, but that many yards outside their door. HENRY MOSTYN. > A Timid Jury. From the Albany Evening News. In the trial of one man, charged with murder in Chicago, 11 jurors stood for. acquittal. One juror is said to have declared that if he found a verdict of not guilty he would be ashamed to go home and face his family. It is also reported that the others on the jury told him that he would be a mark for a bomb or a bullet if the defendant should be con- victed. That is a significant commentary on jurors if it is true. If jurors are to be intimidated by criminals then what will become of the country? Any juror whose verdict is influenced by fear of revenge by criminals would best give up his American citizen- ship. Have criminals become so powerful that the honest man is afraid to be honest? ——on—s Tall Timbers. From the Canton Daily News. They might try reforestation of the Mississippi with surplus presidential timber. e Confidence. From the Toledo Blade. Why become pessimistic? Beyond all doubt there are honmest men on every jury. be ——oe—e Anathema. From the San Bernardino Sun, An issue is something that never gets into a party platform, to Q. Has the wife of Lars Hanson aver appeared in moving pictures?— 8. D. A. When Mr. and Mrs. Lars Han son worked for Swedish compani Mrs. Hanson was popular on the E pean screen as Karin Nolander. Since coming to this country she has retired from the screen. Q. Please describe the Confederate flag.—A. G. N. A. It was a red flag with a blue stripe extending from the upper left- hand corner to the lower right-hand corner and from the upper right to iower left corner. On the crossed bars were white stars, Q. Can the moon be seen at the North Pole?—T. J. E. A. During each lunar month the moon is continuously above the hori zon for about two we and then con- tinuously below the horizon for about two weeks, as seen from the North Pole. Q. Where is Lake Bonneville?— F. K. A. Lake Bonneville was a glacial lake which once occupied the hasin of northwestern Utah. The shore li still o along the inclosing how that it attaimed an area of nearly 20,000 square mi and a depth of 1,000 feet. During its second period of expansion the lake waters overflowed to the north, drain ing into the Shoshone River, and thus reaching the Pacific. Evaporation lowered the lake until only shallow podies of salt water remain. of which Great Salt Lake is the largest. Q. What Is the meaning of the fol- lowing terms used in cooking u zratin,” “bouillon,” “a I jardiniere and “a la poulette” i ToT A. All baked or roasted dishes that are prepared with crumbs grated and sprinkled over are called “au Gratin”; “bouillon” is a clear soup. much stronger than broth and s consomme; “a la jardi “cooked with man 2 12 poulette for instance, a “sauce a Iz always has eggs added, the eggs ziving the distinctive name “a la poulette.” Q. Please give me some information on the importance of peanuts as a farm crop.— . A. Peanut portant mon {of the those | boll weevil. the tropic | the United [days of cc come of comm about 1870. ¥ 1ts importance relatively small, and uses of peanuts h enormously during the p: The average annual acreage for the years 1919 to 1923 was 1,083,000. The ge yield for the same period was 744,720,000 pounds. e at croy present an im- in no less than 12 especially in the cotton native of ites during the edrlier tion, but did not be- al importance until om that time until 1897 as a farm crop was but the J ve inc st 20 sed et not quite pduction | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. Q. In speaking <hould one sa sides?”’—O. A. A. The style of whiskers to which you refer were worn by Gen. Am. trose E. Burnside, and his name has heen given to them. The correct name is therefore “burnsides.” of side whiskers, ¢ “sideburns” or “burn- Q. How many pontoons were used i of the submarine S.31, d what was their lifting power?— A. Four pontoons were sunk on each side of the . wh when blown empty by compressed air, had a total lifting power of 640 tons. Q. What s m ‘O’Connell’s Tai A. This is a nickname given to the mentary following of Dantel O'Connell about the years 1830 to 1847, nt by the expression . W. E. Q. What does the sticks” mean?—M. V. A, A. This pidgin-English name for the pair of small tapering sticks used by Chinese and J i i fles the “quic English for name “chop- Q. To whom does a bar in a nav- igable river belo: which has been re. claimed?—J. % A. Tt belongs to the Federal Gov- ernment unless the Government has disposed of it. Q. When wa into the United States?—A., F. A. It is said that when Christopher | Columbus discovered Ame {he found the cot { wild, but the earlie: | tivate it 1n what is | States was in 162 | the State of Vi Q. Tow V.B. M The generally accepted theory the origin of petroleum is that petroleum comes from the decompo: tion of the remains of myri inute forms of animal lif | isted ages ago. The oil wh | tained “in these microscopic bodies forms petroleum. Q. How many safes and vau in use in the United States?—D. ¥ | _A. An estimate only is possible. | There are probably about 800,000 com- safes, 100,000 commercial 30.000 bank vaults and 50,000 afes. introduced P ¢ the United in what is now is petroleum formed?— Its are . D. | bank | The keynote of the times is eficient | s€ In supplying ils readers with a free Information Burcaw in Wash- ington. The Evening Star is living up to this principle in deed and fact. We are paying for this service in order that it may be free to the public. Sub- it your queries to the stafl of experts whose, servi are pul at your dis- | posal.” Inclose 2 cents in stamps to | cover the return postage. Address The | Evening Star Information Bureau, | Frederic_J. Haskin, Director, Wash- Lington, D. C. Coolidge A platform for the Republican party is seen by friend in Presi- dent_Coolidge's recent speech before the Union League at Philadlephia. The Philadelphia_Evening Bulletin (independent Republican) feels that he speech was accepted that “in all Republican quarters there was agreement that there could be no better. And there has been a marked revival of the de- mand for the President's continued service.” cording to the Fort Wayne Journal- Gazette (Democratic) “that minds once convinced of Mr. Coolidge's irrevocable decision to renounce have hecome plastic to newer impressions and that great expectations once blighted are hudding afresh. That Mr. Coolidge has ‘“progressed from his previous stand, when economy was the watch- word at the White House,” is the inter- pretation of the Norfolk Ledger patch (independent Democratic), which records that “the Nation has awakened to the fact that its Navy is inadequate; that its merchant marine is lacking in balance and proper support for han- dling our commerce and as an auxiliary in time of war.” The Ledger-Dispatch suggests that “‘the administration evi- dently has taken cognizance of the feeling of the country on these as well as on the subject of airplane develop- ment.” * Kk ox % “Speaking _generally,” ‘advises the Des Moines Tribune-Capital (independ ent Republican), “what President Cool- idge said at Philadelphia may Dbe taken at 100 per cent by us all. Judg- ments will differ as to partic . but by and large we must all recognize | that America has gone farther than any other group in all history.” The Toledo Blade (independent Republican) draws the conclusion that “the facts presented by the President illuminate the high we have traveled,” and adds, “We shall not be led into bogs of doubt and experiment and com munism and free trade by the of any smoky torch.” The Los Angele: Times (Republican) refers to “his ring ing words, well spoken.” “Like other Americans who have given careful thought to the matter.’ says the Chicago Daily News (inde- pendent), “President Coolidge is aware of the moral perils inherent in great mater and that paver. indorsing the ecutive's statement that “nothing is more likely to reveal he soul of a nation” than accumulated wealth, expr the conviction that the United States “has too many diffi- cult and intricate problems vet to solve to be seriously tempted to seek the ease which marks the heginning of decav and retrogression.” Of the President's vision of “a period of achievement in public works far overshadowing that immediately following _the Civil War” the San Antonio Express (independent Demo- cratic) “All this sounds rather strange, coming from the fore- most champion of public economy; vet the two programs are consistent with each other. Here is ‘manifest destiny’ taking the proper tack—economic, not political—and _its spokesman is a President who has earned a world- wide reputation for conservatism? * k X% X The Providence Journal (independ- ent), also observes: “Mr. Coolidge re- verts to a favorite theme when he says that the true object of economy is not the making of money for its own sake. He' conceives thrift as having its jus. tification in the betterment of the in- dividual lot. Economy is not an end in itself. It is a means of making people happier and more contented.” “There was much food for thought,” suggests the St. Louis Times (Repub tican), “in his declaration that the country has now completed, so that the end is in sight, its task of post- war reconstructica ead that the time when it may contemplate internal im- nrovements is here.” The Rochester Times-Union (independent), points out that “most of the expenditure of na- tional governments, including our own, has gone toward paying the cost of wars,” and expresses the hope “for that lasting peace which will make such constructive projects, and not war or preparation for war, the rule ther than the exception in all lands.” ith the statement that ‘“hereto fore Atlantic and Pacific coasts have been the special centet of attention in internal improvements,” the Lincoln Star (independent) finds that “Mr. Coolidge recognizes the sweeping change” which is entailed and express- es the judgment that “unless govern- A “There is no want of evidence,” ac- | S- | dollar. er | Speech Called Basis For Next Republican Platform mental expenditures mount beyondall | reason, it will be necessary to spend | the great bulk of funds in the Missis- i during _the next few oved conditions in the in- | terior, however, will make for a_more stable and lasting prosperity in the | Nation at large.” | * Xk Xk X | The Chicago Tribune (Republican) |says that if the program is realized, |the President “might be remembered as the President who re-established the Navy and gave impetus to internal improvements of vast benefit to the Nation.’ But the Charleston Evening Post (independent Democratic), observing that “Mr. Coolidze certainly suggests loosening up with a vengeance,” and estimating the cost of the various | projects, avers that “if Mr. Coolidge is prepared to pack a great pork harrel, the boys will be with him to the last That paper, however, sees the possibility of “a strategic move in the interest of his program of restricted reduction of the Fed:.ul #axes.” The New York Times undependent) concludes that “if his specific recom- | mendations to Congress are in accord | with the general outline of his thought as stated at Philadelphia, there will be |at Washinzton next Winter a fierce competition for precedence among bills carrying large appropriations, |and lowered taxation will look more | remote than at present.” PHILOSOPHIES BY GLENN FRANK The tired business man has been a national institution. The tired farmer begins to appear on the scene. The tired bustiess man is tired from working. The tired farmer is tired of being worked ¢ His tiredness expresses it h long If in an rreasing self-ap- | vointed savio | During the last two years my pro- | fessional duties have brought me into |intimate touch with thousands of | farmers. I have sat in their confer- | ences. I have eaten at their tables. 1 (have met their minds when they were | unsullied by the heat and posturing of mass meetings. And unless I mis- read the mind of the farmer, he is tired of being deluged with oratory and deluded by quack remedies. He is tired of schemes of farm re- lief that relieve nothing save the ten- sion of eriticism during a political campaign. He is tired of crodit schemes that |are little more than devices that help {him get into debt more easily when what he wants is a development that will get him out of debt. He is tired of hastily trumped-up co-operative schemes that take his time and money for a season and then €0 on the rocks from poor business management or petty internal bicker- ings. The farmer has grown vromises. He is hungry for performance. In one of 'his daily paragraphs, wired from California, Will Rogers foshed h friend Longworth in this fashion: * ¢ my old friend, Nick Longworth, is out here settin’ traps. He's looki or what can be promised the farmers that will relieve '‘em. Whatever it is, Nick'll promise it.” The comedy of “Promising the Farmer” has had a long run. It is about time to ring down the curtain on it. But if the farmer is to escape from this sickening cycle of insincere prom- es and ineffective programs, he must himself undergo the intolerable fa- tigue of thinking realistically about the issues of agriculture. He must free himself of his some- times childish faith in some political pink pill that will “solve the agr cultural problem” in one treatment. He must realize the complexity of the agricultural situation: he must stop oversimplifying: he must realize that agriculture is the whole social, economic cial order, d that it treated wholly apart from and banking and labor He must demand that statesman- ship function as it should in the field of agriculture, but in the main he must pin his faith to research, co- operative organization and education. (Copsright. McClure Newspaer Syndicate.d spicion of lean on business