Evening Star Newspaper, September 29, 1928, Page 6

o — THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, THE EVENING STAR / day Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C SATURDAY . .September 20, 1928 THEODORE W. NOYES. The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th St and Pennsylvama Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Building. European Office 14 Regent St., London, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evenine Star : 45¢ per month The Evening and Sunday Star (when 4 Sundays) 60c per month The Evening and Sunday Star (when 5 Sundays) The Sunday Star . Collection made at tha Orders may be sent in by m: Main 5000. 65c per month Sc_per copy f each morth 1 or telephone Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunda: 00; Daily only Sunday only 1 moll ;1 mo.y All Other States and Canada. 1 mo., 85¢ | 235; Twelfth, Thirteenth and B streets and | | the last session the commission has | power to acquire all of the lands within | United States. The actual ownership | at present consists of the “five-square | site” at the western end of the triangle on which is to be located the Com- merce Department Building, with a | park setting on the north; the two- square site between Tenth and Twelfth streets, on which the Internal Revenue | Building is now being erected; the Post | Office Department square, occupied for many years, and the site on which now | stands the Center Market. In addition | there is the square occupied by the Southern Railway office, for the pur- chase of which arrangements have been made, and immediately to the west is the District Building. The land now proposed for early acquisition com- prises the four squares bounded by Pennsylvania avenue. On this site will be erected the independent office build- Daily ang Sunday .1 e, S1300: 1 mas "¢ | ings. In addition to this area the com- Siindas onty . © 1 mo 50¢ | mission will shortly proceed to secure the sita set apart for the Archives Member of the Associated Press. ssociated Press 1s exclusively entitled to se tor republication of &ll news cis- patciies credited to it or not otherwise cred- ited tn this paper and also the iocal news published herein A1l rishts of publication of | snecial dispaiches herein are also reserved. | For an American Navy. There has seldom been plainer speak- | ing in official correspondence between | friendly governments than the identic note just dispatched to Great Britain | and France by the United States on the subject of their “understanding” as | to “a basis for naval limitation.” Spades | are called spades. | The Washington Government, with- out mincing words or indulging in dip- | lomatic delicatessen. charges the Brit- | ish and the French with formulating | a scheme deliberately designed to jeop- | ardize the United States’ position at sea. | he European powers are informed that we reject proposals conceived to the | advantage of Great Britain and France 2nd which are devoid of “similar con- sideration” for the nceds of the United States. Thus, American diplomacy, at one stroke, tears the veil of secrecy from the face of an unsavory European dip- lomatic transaction and unequivocally affirms the United States’ disinclination to fall into the trap it would have laid. Stripped of technical details, this is what has happened: The British and the French, in anticipation of the next meeting of the Preparatory Commission for the League of Nations’ Disarmament Conference, agreed upon a program of four cardinal points. Two of these points refer to “capital ships” of overj 10,000 tons—already limited by the| terms of the Washington conference. Building, bounded by Ninth. Tenth and B streets and Pennsylvania avenue. This great building program is progres- sing stendily and consistently and at a rate to promise completion within a decade if appropriations are continued as rapidly as the purchase of land and progress of construction permit. The transformation of Washington, after many vears of waiting, s in process. e Smith on the Stump. Gov. Smith is winding up his first campaign tour tonight with an address in Milwaukee. He has made his appeal to the States of the West. It is per- haps entirely too early to estimate cor- rectly the effect of this trip. But there is not the slightest doubt in any one's mind that Gov. Smith received a warm welcome in the States which he visited and that great crowds came to see and hear him. It would be a foolish pol- itician who predicted that all the voters who go to see and hear a candidate for President will step into the voting booths on election day and cast their ballots for him. Certainly Gov. Smith, veteran campaigner, would make no such claim. = But whether the crowds that heard Smith, in person and over the radio, during his Western trip vote for him or mnot, they have been afforded an opportunity to judge for themselves the character and kind of man the Demo- cratic party has put forward for the presidency this year. To all that great territory lving west of the Mississippi and in the valley. Smith has been little more than a name, connected with the “Sidewalks of New York” and a re- The other two points apply to cruisers and submarines, neither of which types of vessels is comprehended under the Washington agreement. Now come the British and the French and agree that cruisers capable of car- reing 6-inch guns—i. e, below 10000 tons—and ocean-going submarines of | lower tonnage than 600 tons shall re- main unlimited. The “joker” in the | Anglo-French proposals is not apparent | on the surface. It is to be found in the | fact that 10,000-ton cruisers and sub- | marines of more than 600 tons are; those which are not essential to the | British and French navies, but which happen to be vital to the naval de- fensive needs of the United States. 1 other words, Britain and France | would place no limit upon the class of | fighting ships they require. but would | restrict the construction of the kind of | ture of himself which the voters of New ' which the ' York have had. In large measure he 1 cruisers and submarines markable success in his campaigns in | the Empire State. For Gov. Smith dur- | {ing his long tenure of office in New | York has not been a great traveler, but a stay-at-home governor, attending to his job. The New York Governor has spoken of many subjects and issues in his Western trip now ending. He has opened an aggressive drive against ‘the Republicans on the farm problem and it is probable that what he has had to say on that issue will make or fail to make him in the West. He has defended himself against the “whisper- ing campaign,” which hesays has been | directed against him on account of his | church affiliation and his known wet views. He has sought to give the peo- ple of the West the same kind of pic- the triangle not already owned by the | United States must have. Uncle Sam ‘ Under the aet of Congress needs cruisers and submarines of wider | cruising range than either Great Britain or France, because he lacks the far- flung series of fueling bases and naval stations which the British, in particu- lar, possess, all over the globe. The French, on their part, can manage with men-of-war of limited cruising capacity | because France's essential naval needs are in the Mediterranean within rela- tively short distance of home shores. The American note points to an addi- tional advantage which the Anglo- French proposition would give to a country like Britain, with an immense | merchant marine fleet, whose units could be armed with 6-inch guns with- out restriction. ‘What the United States has now said, in a nutshell, is that America intends to build and maintain an American Navy and not a Navy constructed on Anglo-French lines. At Geneva, in 1927, this Government made an earnest, honest effort to bring about a further limitation of naval armament. Our ef- forts proved abortive. The American delegation held the British responsible for the breakdown of the conference. The proposals now put forth by the British and the French are pilioried in the American note just dispatched as constituting “no limitation at all.” The proposals, indeed, are branded as “even more objectionable and unacceptable” than the ones which frustrated agree- ment at Geneva a year ago. In the opinion of the United States. they “ful- | fill none of the conditions which seem vital.” They are assailed, in the cios- ing passage of an altogether remarka- | ble communication, as destined “in- evitably to lead to a recrudescence of naval competition disastrous to na- tional economy.” It is devoutly to be hoped that the | strong American diplomatic action just taken may be followed by equally ef- fective congressional action next Win- ter. There is pending before the Sen- ate the bill passed by the House last ing, providing for fifteen 10.000-ton ‘The Senate should pass that measure. Even if those 150,000 tons were afloat today, the Amcrican Navy would still be inferior in cruiser effectives to the strength of the British and Japanese ! navies. That was not the intent of the agrecment of 1922. It is not the wish of the American people. Amer- 55— ica, as the note to the Europcan powers | is at pains to reaffirm, continues ready and anxious to promote naval disarma- ment, but not at the cost of rank in- justice to our own necessities. —aoe—s Radio time is valuable. The time of the listener-in is not always estimated es being worth much : o B Public Building Progress. Authorization by the Public Buildings Commission of steps to acquire title to four of the squares within the Mall- Avenue triangle for construction pur- poses carries this process of Govern- ment bullding provision forward in practical and satisfactory gnnnrl. ed at has succeeded. Reports of the Smith progress through | the West have indicated a real en- thusiasm among many of the people | who saw and heard the governor. He is a virle, picturesque figure, a per- sonality which cannot fail to impress. In a measure, the Democratic nominee | for President was compelled to go cam- paigning, and the judgment of his party | managers was that he must be “sold” to the bigger electorate of the country he has been sold to the electorate of | {his own State. A “front porch” cam- | | paign would not do in the case of Gov. | | Smith. Before election day he will | | make several more campaign trips, an- | |other into the Middle West, and trips {to the South and the East. Whatever | | the result in November, the country will !have seen Gov. Smith in his fighting | clothes, battling as he has so often in {the past in his New York campaigns. The. farmer may contemplate both | i elephant and donkey as friendly, both | | being naturally more or less dependent | on the hay makers. . The publicity attending Tunney's | renunciation of the prize ring will be | highly valuable should he ever be persuaded to break his vow. PR The 01d Lottery Game. Raids conducted in this city yesterday ‘]arue sum of money. In the trial of the cases developing from this action it may be expected that light will be thrown upon the latest manifestation of the disposition of a certain element in the population to gamble on uncertainties. This lottery, as described, is merely a variation—and not entirely new at that —of former methods of separating the easy-money fraternity from their ecash. { It is like the old “policy” game, in that it is worked on the basis of combina- tions of numerals. It is an evolution of the now outlawed and abandoned form of straight lottery, in which a few num- bers were taken by chance from a re- ceptacle containing thousands, these being the winners on a descending scale of reward. In the game of “Numbers." as it is styled, the winner is the one who selects three figures in the right order, corre- clearances and balances. The chances i one thousand to one, while the rate of reward for a correct guessing averages six hundred to one. Thus there is a per- centage of at least four hundred out of !a thousand in favor of the “bank.” or | operator of the lottery. Bets are taken |as low as one cent. Great mischief has been done in the past by these lotteries and number gam- bles in this city. They are insidiously promoted, with the temptation of big winnings held out to the players, who become addicted to the practice, sus- tained throughout repeated losses by the everlasting hope of recouping and win- ning big profits. They are prone to in- sponding to the daily reports of bank | against a winning are computed to be | | | | | crease their wagers as time passes, with the desperate determination of the gam- | been lost and something more. | Perhaps no prosecutions and punish- {ments can ever completely cure this evil, for the gambling instinct is strong, and while it prevails there is always |overweening temptation to set up schemes that allure the bettors and al- ways leave a margin of profit for the promoters. The gamble on the part of the managers of these schemes is with the law, not with the chances of the lottery, for they are sure to win heavily with every “drawing.” It behooves the | police, therefore, to reduce their margin jof security by persistent watchfulness and repeated raids, and thus to do whatever is possible to protect the fool- ish folks from loss through their credu- lous cupidity. e A Curious Misnomer. Members of the Iowa-Thomas Circle | Citizens’ Association are undoubtedly correct in their idea that the name of | the first-named park should be changed | paign, to be prosccuted by a special | committee appointed at their last meet- |ing, is praiseworthy and should attain | an early success Practically every other circle and square in the District, it is pointed out, which contains a statue is called by the name of the subject of that statue, or of one of several statues. Others which do not possess such pleces of sculpture are designated by the name of some out- standing American. Just why the circle at the intersection of Rhode Island ave- nue and Vermont avenue is called Iowa Circle has puzzled many a Washing- tonian, not to mention many a tourist. It is said to have been named originally for a visitor from that State. Whatever the reason may have been, 1t is no good now. provided it ever was. The circle contains the heroic likeness of a notable military and civil servant of the Republic, a native and citizen of Tllinois. Towa avenue is far away. Logan Circle and no other is the proper desig- nation of this space. The sooner such occasional inconsistencies in District nomenclature, and there remain a few, are mopped up the better, e It was shown by dear Mrs. Malaprop |that slight misuse of language does not prevent a heart from beiny in its right place. No campaign speaker be- fore the plain people is likely to suffer seriously from meticulous efforts “to cast aspersions on his parts of speech.” e The present campaign begins to look like a fine fight and it would not be bler to recover in one stroke all that has ! | to Logan Circle. Their announced cam- | i Does not reading. after all, hold up better than any pleasure in the world? One may become tired of listening to music. Golf pales with the Winter months. base ball goes into eclipse, the theater becomes boresome at tim A good book, however, is always a good book. We have never specialized in feeling sorry for other people in a condescend- ing way, but if we did no doubt we would feel terribly sorry for the man or woman who does not enjoy reading. Books are the all-season sport, the one and only enjoyment a man may “go in for” literally from the cradle to the grave. ' Nor is there any particular qualifica- tion in this most democratic of indoor sports. It is not necessary for one to even have money, for the public libraries fnake reading accessible to all. Reading 1s the most cosmopolitan amusement in the world. We know a man who sells meat for a living who specializes in French literature. We know a jollv {a* lady, the mother of sons, who is an avid reader of detec- tive stories. We ~ into a conversation with her one ered her hobby : gone two blocks. We had the pleasure. before we left, of convincing her that many good detective stories were to be found in the maga- zines devoted to such things. Hitherto ‘;he had read her novels only in bound orm., | | * K K K The literary bacon man probably knows more about French literature than any 10 other men in the District of Columbia. He has come to the point in his life where he craves the honesty which only the French novel seems to give. American writers, when they go in for that sort of thing, usually suc- ceed only in becoming nasty. The great French masters. however, put life onto paper in a way which ultimately ap- peals to the mature mind. Surely they are not stories for children. But when a man has served breakfast bacon to the consuming public for a certain number of years he has right to feel that he wants stronger reading fare than O. Henry. The flip quirk which this American master gave his short stories is all right, but it pales into in- significance in comparison with some of the immortal (and immoral. if you will) tales of the French stylists Seeing our friend behind his counter in his clean white garments, with his meats stacked up before him, hi chopping block behind him, a sophis cated lady customer would no mors suspect him with being the familiar of Zola and Maupassant and Gautier and France and the rest than she would of spending his evenings at the burlesque theater. Nor, indeed, would he do the latter. ~His specialty is the theater of the printed page. He knows that no show on earth is comparable to this. If he hankers for a taste of the tinsel he gets out his copy of Zola's “Nana” and reads there at his ease about those things which more elemental persons must taste in real life before they can surprising if Tex Rickard felt some disappointment because he was not per- mitted to figure in some way as a promoter. — e His address to the Republican con- vention in Massachusetts will reveal President Coolidge as & man no less positive in what he does choose than in what he does not. - - A revised efficiency system may be needed to enable campaign managers to be absolutely sure about what some of their speakers are going to say next. - Governments would be more confident in some cases if diplomats could be as positive in their statements as the news correspondents. e So far as final results are concerned. both parties are agreed on one point: The Fourth of March will witness a splendid inauguration. - SHOOTING STARS. ¥ BY PHILANDER JOHNSON 0ld Home Town. And still I love my old Home Town. The streets I now look up and down, And scrutinize the buildings high Which do not let me see the sky. Where once beneath a tree we met And whispered words remembered vet, A big Gas Station, night and day, Serves customers with grand display. Where hosses came with gentle grace, Big motors crowd the parking space. I feel regrets that none can blame. The old Home Town is not the same. Orator Among Friends. “Why didn't you reply to the gentle- man who heckled you?" “I didn't have time,” answered Sen- ator Sorghum. “He was gently, but firmly, led from the hall with such rapidity that he wouldn’t have been able to hear me.” Radiopolitics. A politician oft we find By serious static shook up. The diplomat, with skill refined, Knows how to hook the hook-up. Jud Tunkins says you can't judge a resulted in several arrests on a charge ;man by his clothes without suspecting | of conducting a lottery which, it is al- | that a man in a golf sweater has in- leged, has flourished here for some time | herited his tastes from a prehistoric and which has netted its promoters a | lizard. Disappointed Hope. “What's this?” asked Mr. Chuggins. “It's a puzzle,” answered the news- stand man: “what they call a maze.” “I can't use it. I thought maybe it was a new road map with all the de- tours marked in.” “He who is proud of his ancestors," said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is under obligation to assume that they are still watel “ul and expectant to be proud of him.” Managing the Mud. Mud flinging good results may show If it bids building new begin. So, it some dirt you have to throw, Secure a shovel and Dig In, - “De man wif a voice so big dat he drowns out de harmony,” said Uncle Eben, “thinks de discord makes him de leader of de choir.” o And Then— From the Hamilton Spectator. The Port Arthur cat that is mother- ing a mouse may only be saving it un- til her kittens are big enough to have some fun with it. z e Room for Argument. From the Passaic Daily Herald. These days every man is questioning his neighbor about the progress of the campaign, just so that he can disagree with him. B Still Some Do It From the Boston Evening Transcript The deadliest home brew is that of the !'1 rider who mixes ‘&mhm with his understand it. b s ‘This is one of the great merits of ks, that they allow one to vicariously lence what in real life is often dangerous as well as highly unpleasant. A good novelist can make the reader see better than the reader could see for himselt if he were actually there. The very amplitude of the book world makes it im ible for any one man to know it all." When one has listened to Beethoven's symphonies with the mind and heart he has plumbed the depth of music. As far as man can music. All musical themes are in es- sence variations. Writing, however, is a moving. growing thing, with all the THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. a bus and discov- | the véhicle had | see today. there will never be greater | D. living beauty of music in every moving story and in addition containing aspects | of life not to be found in music. Music |is a mathematical proposition, in the last_analysis, the very tones being the result of a certain precise number of vibrations. It is just the difference between notes and words. A musical note is a musical note, the same the world around. but a word is different to every one, and perpetually different to the same one. A word means one thing when we are children and_something else when we grow up. Beethoven's little “Minuet” is the same today as when written and it will never be any different, but the world has found better and bigger meanings in the Bible through the centuries. ~Readers are still finding good points in “Alice in Wonderland.” Victor Hugo's “Les Mis- erables,” held by many to be the grea | est novel in world literature. extends its provinces year after vear in all_lands. | Mark Twain is a favorite in Russia | A reader is a reader the world around. * o ko us all admit that enjoyment combine improvement and profit with his pleasure, he would not be in the position of the man who once said that he never opened a book except, for what he could get out of it. He meant mon- etary profit. If he had admitted enjoy- | ment as a past of his profit, we could have agreed with him. The plain truth is that reading is forced upon children as a necessary concomitant of growth; when they become grown they either give it up, like the man who solemnly said that “he didn't read.” or go into the sport for the pure love of new mental adventures. Every book is an adventure in some- thing or other. It makes no matter whether love tale, book on political science or something on color photog- raphy, each book presents itself to the reader as a study in the unknown. Be- tween the covers of this book there lies a m vy, only to be solved in one wa, he personal inspection, word by word, of the holder. Being read to is not the same as reading for one's self. Most newly-married couples try the loving experiment of reading to each other, but mostly they give it up. We know one very prominent bookman who insists that he enjoys having his wife read to him, but he is an excep- tion, if we admit that he is honest, as no doubt we must. For most people, however, there is only one way to read a book, and that is to read it. Truly, Amegicans are “eye-minded.” No doubt this largely accounts for the vogue of the movies. One uses the eyes with a vengeance at the movies. In a similar vein the thoughtful will question the ultimate advantages to the cinema art of the “talkies,” which unconsciously dilute the hitherto unadulterated vision of the audience, distracting it by just so much, however much that may be, from complete visual inspection and realization. The actual reading of an exciting story is an interesting process. Have you never, in the midst of a fine tale, suddenly thought, “Why, I am reading a book”? Then, for a second or two, the illusion vanishes. You are again holding a tangible printed book in your hands and turning leaves one after the other. It is a return to every- day sanity from the fine delusions of grandeur and romance into which the writer has piunged you. You resent it, as if offended at the temerity of those hands which clasp covers and indig- | nant at that brain which so suddenly “snapped out of it.” You want to go back again, and do go back again, as swiftly as possible. Usually only a few pages are required to remove the mun- dane spell. It is like going to sleep; one never recalls afterward the exact moment. | Let ‘The autogyro and the adaptation of the Diesel engine to aircraft inspire many hopeful editorial predictions as to the future of aviation. The fdrmer, it is thought, will have a tendency to make large flying fields unnecessary, while the latter is expected to add to safety and remove some difficulties in fuel handling. “As last Summer developed into & field day for the ocean flyer,” says the New York Herald Tribune, “so this seems to be turning into one for the aero inventor. And of the two seasons, it is possible that this one, notwith- standing its relative lack of spectacu- larity, may come to be considered much the more important maker of aviation history. Successful tests of two revo-i lutionary departures in airplane and motor design, respectively, have adorned the front-page news columns. _The | flight from London to Paris of De la Cierva's autogyro, constructed on the principle of the helicopter, has caused immense excitement in technical cir- cles, despite its subsequent crash. And now, before the aviation authorities have ceased to gasp from the shock of this startling innovation, they are invited to contemplate the successful demonstration of the first Diesel-type aircraft engine ever built. These two inventions are the first, since the Wrights got off the ground in their homemade machine, 25 years ago, real- ly to alter the factors of flight.” Agreeing that both developments promise to be revolutionary, the Wor- cester Gazette adds that “the new motor apparently succeeds in doing what has long been a dream of me- chanical engineers—the applying of a Diesel type of internal combustion en- gine to flying. The Diesel engine has numerous advantages,” continues that paper, “over an ordinary gasoline mo- tor. It uses cheaper fuel. It requires no complicated electric ignition system, since explosions are brought about by compression instead of a spark. Its heavy fuel oil is far less of a fire and explosion hazard than tanks of gaso- line. It would have the further ad- vantage of eliminating ignition inter- ference. through constant sparking, with radio reception and transmis- sion.” * Kk ok K “Perpetual amazement at the feats of flying produced by up-to-date mod- els need not altogether blind us to the possibility of improvement, or even of revolutionary alterations in struc- tural technique,” advises the Atlanta Journal, as it describes the perform- ance of the autogyro in its flight across the English Channel, stating that “it came down almost vertically, arriving at a full stop on the ground, only 200 feet from the perpendicular point where gas was cut off in the air. This is only about one-tenth the distance cov- ered by an ordinary plane, even after the wheels touch earth” states the Journal, with the comment: “Over- head propeller blades suggest at once new capabilities for airplanes. Nor are they alone among the novel adapta- tions now being experimented with by engineers. Just as we learn its shape, the airplane may suddenly be trans- formed into an entirely different crea- ture, safer and more versatile.” “Is the airplane to go? Is it to be succeeded by the autogyro?” asks the ‘Waterloo Tribune, with the explana- tion: “The British, Italian and Spanish governments have ordered autogyro machines for army experimentation after witnessing demonstrations. We can understand what windmill propel- lers are capable of in the way of power. In the autogyro we may have a great according to the s, “that there should be much speculation as to the avail- ability of the autogyro as a mail car- rier for use in meeting incoming ocean liners. Other employment for it may be found, and meanwhile everybody in- terested in the future of aviation will wonder whether the Spaniard’s machine s not destined some day to blaze-alto- New Devices Are Accepted As Revolutionary in Flying gether new paths In airplane design— paths already presaged by the heli- copter, not only reducing the danger of helicopter fiying. but also lessening the risks now involved in taking off and alighting with the best standard mod- els of heavier-than-air machines.” * X X X The mishap which came two days after the successful flight, in the judg- ment of the Newark Evening News, “in no wise took away from the significance of the earlier accomplishment,” and that paper draws the conclusio “As cities are hurrying to build aviation flelds, realizing the necessity of keep- ing pace with this amazing new means of communication, a development ap- pears which may render these fields, in their present sprawling form, unneces- sary. That long, running start, which is now required in order to give a plane sufficient momentum to take the air, is one of the most serious handicaps of present-day flying. Granting the auto- gyro proves its practicability in future tesfs, it may mean the realization of ision of pianes rising from and descending on the roofs of bulldings and spaces no larger than a city build- ing lot. would have been taken another wide spectacular step in aviation.” e golden age of flying is at hand!” exclaims the Providence Bulle- tin, and the Allentown Call sees “a de- velopment which promises to be epochal.” The Dayton Daily News sug- gests: “Flat rooftops, when the aerial age dawns in earnest, could readily be converted into miniature airports for craft like the autogyro. With possibil- ity of the breakage, which caused the recent accident, removed, the autogyro would be foolproof and almost acci- dentproof.” The New York Times holds that “for general use the auto- g;l;:egromues to be a rival of the air- UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today. Pershing's army, after a three-day struggle through mile after mile of seemingly insuperable barriers, consti- tuting the Germans' formidable de- fenses of masonry, steel, wire and pit- falls, is fighting on in the rain to the fourth and last line of the defenses, | known as Kriemhilde-Stellig. Our men |cut through defenses that had stood for four years. * * * It is a task for brave hearts, as our men cut through a wire zone two and a half miles deep, with its maze of trenches, concrete and traps, with German machine guns and snipers picking them off as they ad- vance. * * * London officials call this past week ‘“the most amazing week” of the war. Total number of prisoners captured by allies probably exceeds 100.000, half of them taken in Palestine. * * * The French smash on toward Laon, push on in Champagne. and against heavy resistance they gain west of the Argonne toward Vouziers |and thrust north of La Fere. * * * | Advance of King Albert’s forces in Flan- ders continues unchecked as Dixmude is taken and five other towns are over- run. * * * In a great new offen- sive morth of St. Quentin the forces under Marshal Haig. including Ameri- cans, make a notable advance. Many towns fall in a 30-mile attack, and the | British are now at the edge of Cam- brai. * * * Three hundred and seventy-seven casualties on today's list bring the grand total for American forces to 95943 since we entered the war. - And Early | From the Utica Observe: The man who ts' to meke his i\ dreams come true t wake up. C.. SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER we read for| While one may reasonably | With this new facility, there | 29. THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover Etiquette is a perennial subject of in- terest, judging from the many books published about it; and all capitals | have their especial etiquette, treated extensively in books. Some of the early books on Washington etiquette are amusing reading for a leisure day in the Summer season. There are “A Description of the Etiquette at Wash- ington City” (1829), by E. Cooley. M. D.: “Etiquette at Washington: Together With the Customs Adopted by Polite Society in the Other Cities of the United States” (1860), by a citizen of Washington: “Bohn's Manual of Eti- | quette in Washington and the Other Cities of the Union” (1860, by Casimir Bohn: and_“Etiquette of Washington™ (1866), by L. P. Tasistro. In the first, a tiny, worn and yellowed volume, we read: “The fashionable hours for mak- ing morning visits, which go under the name of morning calls, are from 12 o'clock in the morning until nearly 3 |o'clock in the afternoon.” “A Citizen of Washington" says in his book: “It would be regarded a breach of etiquette for an ex-President to return to the seat of government, unless called again {to the presidential chair.” Bohn's manual warns: “It is extremely dis- courteous for gentlemen to form groups for conversation apart from the ladies, leaving them to pass the evening, or a portion of it, in uncomfortable silence |and embarrassment.” Women were evi- dently more reticent in 1860 than to- day. Among Bohn's directions for din- ner etiquette are the following: “The lady of the house will take the head of the table, with a gentleman on either hand, who will assist her to carve.” “The first course consists of soup, which should not be brought on too hot. A small quantity is sufficient for each plate, and no person should ask to be heiped again, for the reason that while he is eating it the rest of the company are kept waiting.” L. F. Tasisiro, “late of the State Department,” thinks rather elementary cautions necessary, such as: “It is to be expected that gentlemen will studiously avoid doing here what they would be ostracised for if they at- tempted to do elsewhere. That they will neither chew tobacco in a lady's drawing room nor eat fish with their knives, nor swallow the warm water contained in the finger glasses.” To a later period belong “Etiquette of Social Life in Washington” (1881), by Mrs. Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren, and a “‘Hand-book of Official and Social Eti- quette and Public Ceremonials at Wash- ington” (1889), by De B. Randolph Keim. Mrs. Dahlgren was the daughter of a Member of Congress and the wife of Admiral Dahlgren and spent most of her life in Washington. She begins her book: “If order is Heaven's first law, we should not regard as beneath careful attention the proper recognition of rules which may tend to avoid confusion in social life. Because we are a republic we are not necessarily to be deprived of those amenities which render life agree- able and assist to cultivate good feeling.” Much attention is given to precedence, with arguments on both sides of dis- puted questions, and the opinions of her father, S. F. Vinton, are often quoted by Mrs. Dahigren. The hand- book of Keim is a more comprehensive book and is well organized under vari- ous headings. anticipating the fashion of very modern books on etiquette. Such subjects are discussed as Shaking Hands, The Glove, The Hat, The Bow, Length of Calls, How to Eat, Caudle Parties, What the Bridegroom Furnishes, Saddle Etiquette, Go: , C. | Personal - Attractions, French Phrases, and How io Enter Society. £ N % Probably the most voluminous of the recent books on etiquette is “Etiquette the Blue Book of Social Usage,” by Em. ily Post. in Washington and in State Capitals.” | The chief advice concerning precedence is “Ask the State Department,” but there is a list of 38 positions given in the order of precedence, which the au- thor says is approximately correct. An elaborate table of information on “How to Address Important Personages® is appended to the chapter, and para- graphs are devotedto Official Dinners and Forms, Details of White House Eti- quette, Official Visits and Days at Home, and What to Do and What to Say When Paying Visits in Washington. * ok ok ox “The Woman of the Eighteenth Cen- tury: Her Life From Birth to Death, | Her Love and Her Philosophy in the Worlds of Salon, Shop and Street,” by Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, has recently been translated by Jacques Le Clercq and Ralph Roeder. The French | woman is, of course, the subject of this study and it appears that only the esteemed in that artificial age. The girl child of the aristocracy was a so- ciety woman almost from her cradle. Her early babyhood was passed with a peasant nurse, then a governess took charge of her. and her education wa: “completed” at a fashionable convent, While only a child she was initiated into the use ‘of hoops, flounces, artificial curls, patches and rouge. From the con- | | essentials, she was likely to have a vo- cation end (o remain in the convent, Once in the world of fashion, the life of the woman was marked out for her by custom. Domesticity was not fashiona- | ble, nor desired by most husbands, who were gallants and wished to be free from family demands. Of course, there were exceptions. The Goncourt broth- ers outline the typical day of a so- | ciety woman: A prolonged toilet, at | which masculine admirers were usually present, offering advice about garments and continuous flattery; a ride in the Bois; a few moments devoted to the latest pamphlet of poetry, philosophy or scandal; shopping at length; a stroil in the Tuileries Gardens: soirees: visits to picture galleries; country expeditions; in the evening the opera, masked balls, often at court, and endless love in- trigues. Love-making was the supreme amusement of both men and women and liaisons were essential if a woman wished to be fashionable. The women of the bourgeoisie led a more restricted but a more useful life. Work and duty were her watchwords: she was the busi- ness associate, often partner, of her hus- band, the instructor of her daughters in household arts and religion, the maker of the home. Recreations were taken en famille, whether in the form of a visit to the theater or a country picnic. Families were large, domestic life was on a very comfortabm scale when there was money, as was often the case, and daughters were traingd to look forward to a similar life of their own when mar- ried. The woman . the lower classes led an existence from which all ease and refinements were absent. Heavy work with begearly pay when employed, domestic drudgery, many children, pau- perism and. drunkenness made of her life a sordid affair. It is not surprising that many women of the common people Who possessed beauty took a way out to ease and luxury. The Goncourts say: “It is from this rabble * * * thatthe enchanters of their day. the queens of beauty and of gallantry, emerged; a Laguerre, daughter of a wafer vendor: a Quoniam, daughter of a pastry cook: a d'Hervieux, daughter of a laundress; a Contat, daughter of a fish-wife. So- phie Arnould is almost alone in that she escaped from a more or less bour- geois family: all the others have only the fishmarket for cradle and the gutter for origin.” NL AN Literary activity is contagious in fam- ilies, perhaps hereditary also. Edna St. Vincent Millay's mother, Mrs. Cora . Millay, is about to have published a volume of verse for children called “Lit- tle Otis.” The volume is dedicated to the author’s three daughters, Edna, Norma and Kathleen. ok ox % Earnest Elmo Calkins, in his defense of modern business, “Business the Civil- izer,” declares that it is high time for literature to glorify business—the mod- ern field of adventure. He say: ‘Will men write always of the Crusades and Round Table Knights, when every day there are Argentines and Panamas and wing. Smoking, | It gives a chapter to “Eliquette | woman of the upper classes was much | vent, if she had a good dowry and a| BY FREDERI There is no other agency in the world that can answer as many legitimate questions as our free Information Bu- reau in Washington, D. C. This highly organized institution has been built up and is under the personal direction of Frederic J. Haskin. By keeping in con- stant touch with Federal bureaus and other educational enterprises it is in a position to pass on to you authoritative information of the highest order. Sub- mit your queries to the staff of experts whose services are put at vour free dis- posal. There is no charge except 2 cents in coin or stamps for return post- age. mation Bureau. Frederic J. Haskin, di- rector, Washington, D. C. Q. Did any States pass laws in 1927 against the teaching of evolution ia the schools?—L. T. A. No legislative action was taken. In the Arkansas Legislature such a measure passed the House, but was tabled without action by the Senate. A similar measure was killed in committee in the New Hampshire Legislature. In Tennescee the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the anti-evolu- tion law. | . How many students attend the University of Hamburg?—D A. 1t has about 2.000 students. Q. How was the money raised for the building of the National Academy of Sciences?--C. V. A. The Carnegie Corporation of New York made a gift of $5.000,000 for the erecting and maintaining of a building in Washington for the housing of the academy and the National Research Council. . How many counties formed the Irish Free State?>—R. W. C. A. The 26 Southern counties were erected into the Irish Free State, and the 6 Northern counties were consti- tuted the government of Northern Ireland. Q. When was the Bureau of Home Economics lished?—C. R. A. It was established in 1923. It fills a dual role. Its findings are valuable to those who are interested in intelligent consumption and to those interested in United Stal estab; How long would one Benito Mussolini hold a job on a staff of an American daily if he dealt in such unverified “facts” as he uses in his article about the race suicide of the world—with the United States as his “horrible example”? Signor Mussolini not only published in his own magazine his article appealing to all Italian families to increase and multiply and replenish Italy, but, like an enterprising free lance, he “syndi- cated” it by ordering its republication in every daily in_Italy—which scoops any effort of any Yankee free lance yet recorded. ‘That gives us struggling American journalists & new idea of how to get circulation: Just become dicta- tors—by and with the advice and con- sent of the man in the White House and Congress on the hill—so that whatever daily in column, front page of every American America. Let's Mussolinize | journalism! cent and get away with it. Or we can spoof the highest authorities on biology and statistics, and prove that the | Malthusian theory of population in- crease is absurd. because if it were re- versed and population censuses traced backward by its “geometric curve” i° would prove that there were no wolves in Rome and never had been. therefore. Rome never was founded: and if the theory should be traced ad absurdum it would convince the most skeptical that the Garden of Eden never saw Adam and Eve, for they were & minus cipher instead of 100 per cent Edenites. * ok K % The Ttalian premier writes: | “Are the yeliow and black races at | our door, then? Yes. they are at our door, not only owing fo their fecundity. but also because they are becoming race conscious, and feel they have a future in the world. stance, the whites in the United States have a pitiable birthrate, which would be even lower except for the injections of races which sull are prolific, like the Irish, Hebrews and Italians, the negroes are extremelv prolific. Already they | reach the imposing total of 14,000.000. or one-sixth of the total population of |the United Statcs, There is a great quarter populated ¢ 1sively by colored people. A grave riot_in this quarter last July was with difficulty suppressed.” Fourteen million negroes? The United | States census of 1920 showed a total in | the United States of negroes, 8802.577. There ! and of mulattoes, 1,660.554. modicum of looks, she went straight to | was an increase during the preceding | matrimony: if she were lacking in these | decade of 16 per cent of whites, and | { only 6.5 per cent of colored population. { During the decade from 1900 to 1910, | the increase was 22.3 per cent whites and 11.2 per cent colored. In actual figures, the whites increased from 1910 to 1920 by 13,088,958, while the colored increase was only 635,368. The total population in 1920 was 105.710,620, of which the colored, in- | clusive of mulattoes, constituted 9.9 per not 16 2-3 as Mussolini declared. venth of the “colored” are half- whites. All of these figures are official | census data. | "In the eight years since that 1920 census, the same ratio of increase will apply, so that at present it is esti- mated that we have a population of about 119,000,000, of which 108,000,000 are whites and 11.000.000 colored. in- clusive of mulattoes—sill only 9.9 per cent colored—not 16 2-3. e In chapter 1, volume 2, of the four- | teenth census 'report (1920), is this | comment: “The proportion of whites population. which was | | | | a in the total compared with 1800. The increase dur- ing the first 40 years was much slower, however, than that during the re- mainder of the period covered by the | table. “Accepting the estimate of 1870 as approximately correct, each decade since 1890, except the decade 1910-1920. has shown for the white population a numerical increase greser than that immediately preceding ~nd the per- centage of increase for ‘he white pop- | ulation ha exceeded io. ‘he negro pop- since 1810.” | ulation in every decad~ * ki Signor Mussolini was no more con- vineing in his seare over the alleged “vellow peril” than he was over the black increase of America. “What does it mean for the history of Western nations.”’ he asks. “that China has 400,000,000 inhabitants con- centrated in a single state?” A report recently sent back to Amer- ica by a party of New York scientific | explorers of China is to the effect that 150,000 years ago, China was far more densely populated than it is today. So, “why worry?” It is race suicide in | China, if we measure the course of 50,000 vears. Cortez with 600 men con- quered Montezuma's millions. Pizarro's handful of adventurers looted Peru of its gold. Numbers of people make no nation militarily strong. It is intelli- gence that counts, whether in the ri- Siberian Railways? Must we always send our children back into the past to learn how bad and how good men were in times not like ours? Business is here, and here to stay. And, thank { heaven, it has no such tales of woe to put into verge, drama, history and essay as one fi chronicles | war, politics and religion!™ Address The Evening Star Infor-| BACKGROUND OF EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. we write will be decreed into the first| Then we can inflate figures 40 per While. for in-| in New York, called Harlem, | on every page of the | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS C J. HASKIN. efficient production of household equip- ment, foodstuffs and other goods and services used in the home. Q. Into what classes are the world possessions of Great Britain divided?— W. E. M. A. They are divided into dominions, colonies and dependencies. Q. How much wealth do the negroes ! of the United States possess>—S, W. A. The wealth or property of negroes is estimated at about $2.000,000,000. The increase in negro wealth has been more than $50.000,000 annually for the past several years, Q. What was Queen Victoria's nick- name among_her relatives>—R. D. | _A. In the bosom of her family. Queen | Victoria was known as Ganny-Gan. Q. How was | colonial days>—A. | A. In the English colonies in America | before 1639 such postal facilities as ex- isted were supplied by private enter- prise. In 1639 the General Court of | Massachusetts took the first step to- ward the establishment of a Govern- ment postal system. In Virginia each planter was required to convey the dis- patches. as they arrived, to the next plantation. and so on. In 1672 the government of New York established a | monthly mail to Boston, and this prac- tice was followed in other colonies. Benjamin Franklin was identified with the early interests of the colonial post office. In 1737 he was appointed post- master of Philadelphia. In 1753 the | delivery of letters by penny post was begun. In 1775 the colonies combined to establish their own post office and 'to pay the necessary officials. The | Continental Congress appointed a com- | mittee to devise a postal system which | went into effect July 26, 1775. Benjamin Pranklin was unanimously appointed Postmaster General. mail transported in i T, | Q. Was San Francisco under martial law at the time of the fire in 19067— P.D. A. During the earthquake and fire in | san Francisco, April, 1906, the city was placed undes military control with Gen. | Funston in command, acting in con= Junction with the city authorities, valry of ayms or commerce. Goliath was bigger than David, yet see what hap- pened! But to that idea Mussolini retorts: “The theory that quality can re- place quantity is false, and I fought it immediately it was advanced to justify the falling birthrate of Italy. False and stupid is the theory that a smaller population means greater prosperity. Our 42,000,000 Italians of today live far better than the 27,000,000 living in 1871, and 18.000,000 in 1816.” His assertion that the present gen- eration is more comfortable than the people of a century ago, or even half a century ago, is correct, but that in- crease of comfort is by no means due to the greater numbers; it is due solely to modern improvements of civiliza- tion—to labor-saving machinery, to plumbing in the homes, to manufac- |tures in place of homemade produc- | tion of necessities and luxuries. and, above all, to improvements in trans- portation. so that today the poores: man in Italy or America is in contact with the commercial resources of the whole world. Manufacturing industry gives em- ployment and wages to nearly two- thirds of the people of every advanced nation, and all such wage earners are customers, not compciitors, of agri- | cultural producers. Why should not | both urban and rural population enjoy more comforts, therefore. than they 'could decades ago when all men were { tillers of the soil, and few had other in- comes, and the economies of mass pro= | duction were unknown? wieinie In another statement he does ex- press a truth that is not peculiar to Italy. ror even to the United Siates. | He says: “It is true, instead. that the well-to- do are the least prolific. It is an ego~ | tistical phenomenon. It is true that t! ies with the fewer chil- dren are those which have the most use for them.” There is no higher authority on such a subject in America than Dr. Hrdlicka | of the Smithsonian Institution. and he | states that everywhere the least pro- Iific class is that which uses its brains | rather than its muscles in daily occupa- on. There are some exceptions, but that is the biological rule. It explains | why the agriculturists who become | physically hardy in the open-air work have larger families than the urban people, especially such as the pro- | fessional classes. ok % x In the Outlook Magazine of Novem= | ber 16, 1927, there was published an in- | terview with Signor Mussolini by the | present writer, in which II Duce said, | in part: | “The great wealth of the nation is the vigorous florescence of the Italian family, which recognizes that in the multiplication of its sons lies the strongest instruthent for Italy's world expansion. The significance of that expression. “world expansion,” betrays more of | Mussolini’s motives behind his en- | couragement of production of “cannon | fodder” than perhaps he intended to | express so openly. I asked, “Can Italians afford large familie: “It is significant.” he answered. “that the provinces in which birth control has made any marked progress at all are those from which temporary emi- | gration to foreign nations is most in: | tense, hence those which are most ex: posed to foreign customs. * * * I h: cited in an official order of the day |all Ttalian families having more than |10 children, There are 18.350 such | about four-fifths in 1790, has increased | families—a glorious testimony to Ital- at each succeeding census, except for 'ian fecundity. Out of every 10,000 fam- an insignificant decrease in 1810, as | ilies. 21.36 are of this type. And the provinces richest in children are the ;:'fll\l‘llnn, which are the wealthiest in | Italy.” That does not exactly agree with his | later citation that “the well-to-do are | the least prolific.” In that interview of a vear ago ap- peared this paragraph of Mussolini’s | summing up: “A people may die of exhaustion, but not through richness of men; through sterility, not fecundity. The most for- | midable of all raw materials is man- power. It alone can assure to a nation the road to power and to the conquest of the future.” What “conquest of the future” does | he_mean? | Not long ago Tl Duce was quoted a< predicting another great war between 1935 and 1950. Italy is the only great power which has not signed the Kel- )IBRS'Brhnd multilateral treaty, agree- | Ing never again to recognize war as a legitimate means of settling interna- | tional differences. War is outlawed in | civilization, or will be when the treaty receives the assured confirmation by |the several governments. But Italy | looks to prolificacy as its only reliance “It alone can assure to a nation the road to power and to the conquest of the future.” Babies born in 1929 will be of military age by 1949. But he body knows how “blue” he must have felt when he wrote in his recent ar- ticle, syndicated all over the domain “The first six months of this year showed births to be 11,000 less than for the same period last year,” and he ends his article with “If we do not go_against the stream everything that the Fascist revolution has done will be perfectly uscless, be- lcause at a certain moment the fields, | the schools, the barracks, ships, fac- tories will be without men. (Copyrizht. 1928. by Paul V. Colline.)