Evening Star Newspaper, October 13, 1928, Page 6

ATHE EVENING STAR —_ With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY.....October 13, 1928 THEODORE W. NOYES.,..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company 11th s Blsiness Ofce: . and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Tower Bullding. Buropean Office; 14 Regent St., London, Englan Rate by Carrier Within the City. $he Frevioe star, 45¢ per month e W 60c per month By 85¢ per month Tatan The Sunday Star . .5¢ per ccpy Collection made ai nd of each my.:eh Orders may be sent in by mail or ;alephone Main 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Datly and Sunday....1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., Daily only . P § $6.00; 1 m Sunday only 85¢ 50 Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled %o the use for rapublication of all 1ews als- atches credited to it or not otnerwise cred- ted in this paper and also the .ocal rews published herein, Al rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. e TUntidiness a National Bane. Lady Nancy Astor, American-born British peeress, is back home on a visit 1o her native State of Virginia and is shocked at the untidiness that prevails there. She is so grieved at the un- sightly conditions that she finds after an absence of several years that she has inaugurated a campaign to clean up and beautify the State. Speaking to a group of friends at Richmond, assem- bled at her invitation, she said that she had been horrifled in her travels to find the landscape cluttered with gaso- line cans and other rubbish, adding: I have talked in England so about the beauty of Virginia—for you know it is the most beautiful place in the world— but after seeing its unkempt appear- ance, I feel as if I would be afraid to let some of my English friends come here, They wouldn't be able to realize it is beautiful. People who stay here always seem to forget that it isn’t tidy. quented stretches of the eastern Atlan: tic. The submarine doubtless carried running lights, but high seas prevailed and her lights were probably obscured. For a craft which lies as low in the water as a submarine there is always a heavy risk after dark in frequented sea- ways. Some mystery is attached to the tragedy in respect to the silence of the Greek ship which, after a single wireless report that she had struck some un- known craft off Finisterre, made no further statement until reathing Rotter- dam nine days later. There will be in- quiries, and perhaps out of this case will come some regulation or international agreement respecting the routing of sutymarines on trial trips and the be- havicr of commercial craft when enter- ing areas knows. to be occupied by sub- mersibles. Certainly ¢here should be notice by wireless to all craft at sea whenever a flotilla of submariucs or a single_craft leaves harbor for a cruise. ———— Back in the Fold. No more popular move could have been made by the Washington base ball club than the signing of Walter John- son to succeed Stanley Harris as man- ager of the team. For the past year there has been something missing at the Georgia avenue park, something that has become a part of the game in the National Capital for twenty-one years and something that the fans have not been prepared to forget. It has been the presence of good old “Barney,” who, for many years—lean years and hungry years for those who wanted to see Wash- ington a winner—was practically the en- tire team. Walter came here as a boy of nineteen. He left here a mature man, and he now returns to manage the team ‘THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1928 THIS AND THAT All communities that have used the vot- ing machines and have learned the dif- ference in cost as well as the other ad- vantages 2re now wedded to that method. It every voting precinct in the United States were equipped with a machine the result of the election next month would be known to an absolute cer- tainty within a few hours after the closing of the polls. There would be no changing of figures through recounts and contests, There would be no pro- tracted aftermath of dispute and dis- sension over the reports of returning boards and election officials. That much-disputed factor, the intent of the voter, would be made plain beyond ques- tion. And all with an economy of many millions of dollars, a saving that would in a very short time pay for the me- chanical equipment necessary. The clumsy, easily mismarked, con- fusing and time-consuming paper ballot is probably doomed in this country, and with it will pass a danger of election complications and uncertainties and dis- putes. . “Oh, Captain, Stop the Ship!” Reports from the great dirigible Graf Zeppelin now speeding toward these shores across the Atlantic state that thé passengers on the airship have been made extremely unhappy by the motions of the “boat.” Those who have been in the air know precisely what this means, Indeed, all who have ever been at sea can sympathize with the Graf Zep- pelin’s passengers. Alrsickness and sea- sickness are identical in their symptoms and their cause. Mal de mer, as the French call it, is the bane of humanity when it leaves solid ground. Some there ere who are never affected by the mo- tions of a boat, but most folks suffer after a year's apprenticeship in the task of dictating play on the field. It is not sentiment alone that causes the feeling of exultation on the part of thousands who are prepared to welcome Walter back and to support him in his efforts to restore the team to the high estate that it attained in 1924 and 1925. Through his long years of experience Barney has absorbed the book of base Even after two or tl weeks it doesn't seem so dirty to me, There is no question whatever that Lady Astor is right in her indictment of conditions along the highways and in many of the towns and cities, not only of Virginia, but of other States in this country. Untidiness prevails in prac- tically all American communities. There 1s, for a specific instance, nothing more distressing in human view than the two' avenues of approach to the State of Virginia from the National Capital— and to this city from Virginia. And other entrances to Washington are simi- Jarly untidy and unbecoming to the im- portance and the fame of the Nation's city. From time to time in a spasmodic manner clean-up campaigns are started by villages, towns, cities and States in this country. Trash is hauled away and burned or hidden, streets are cleaned, Toadsides are swept of movable dis- figurements and houseyards are put in trim. But this condition lasts only a little while, and in a few weeks the landscape is again littered with odds end ends, the streets are strewn with brash, discarded materials are thrown to gne side in plain view, and thus the pffensive outlook is renewed. ‘The fact of the matter is that Amer- Scans are not as a whole naturally tidy. Neatness Is a habit and it is hard to Inculcate it among millions of people. [Rut persistent effort, stimulated per- bps by criticism, will do much toward ridding the scene of needless incum- Prances, Much can be done, indeed, through rules and regulations, pertain- ing not merely to the slovenly disposal of Tefuse, but to the character of buildings #hit are permitted to be erected on the main roads and principal avenues of entrance and outlet, Old shacks that should have been torn down long be- gore and new constructions out of odds #nd ends of materials strike a note of iscord at present on all these lines f travel. Hideous signboards, trash- littered premises, unkempt houseyards, ul gutters—all contribute to a picture indifference and ugliness. Lady Astor’s criticism of her native te should arouse Virginians to a de- termined effort to clean up that grand pld Commonwealth to the point at which it can confidently welcome all wisitors without the fear that they will write it down in their notebooks as a place where “every prospect pleases and pnly man is vile.” —— . Antarctic regions come into attention Wwith welcome relief to the anxietles paused by the Arctic enterprises. ] The Loss of the Ondine. ‘The latest submarine tragedy, just re- ported from France, adds shockingly to the record of losses in this type of haval craft. The submersible Ondine, in the course of her trial trip prior to coeptance by the French Navy, was at % in heavy weather when near mid- | Xght on the night of October 3, off the orthwestern coast of Spain near Cape inisterre, she was hit by a Greek - freighter. - The latter craft checked progress and remained at the scene for two hours, but was unable to find a trace. The next day a message from her was picked up by a Prench freighter to the effect that the preceding night the Greek ship had struck a fishing vessel or a wreck. Not until yesterday, when the Greek boat reached Rotterdam, was fhe. report of the collision received both from her and by coincidence from the French freighter. The naval authorities et Paris, who had been anxiously wait- fug for nmews from the missing sud- parine, concluded that the mystery of Its disappearance was then solted, and the Ondine is now given up for lost wvith her crew of three officers and forty n. There is little likelihood that she can ever be located, as the sea is deep at phe point where the collision occurred. ‘This submarine had a displacement of B00 tons, and was one of three recently built for the French Navy. It was re- garded as the most highly developed pnit of that branch of the French naval fghting force. But, like all other sub- mersibie craft. she was highly vulner- pble, incapable of withstanding a col- Jision at sea and practically certain to pink if struck by another vessel under peadway. There will doubtless be criticism of the policy of sending undersea craft on grial trips in heavy weather in the course of ocean trafiic. The coast of Spain at this point is a veritable lane for ships ball from cover to cover, and no one can gainsay the fact that as a keen student of the game he has few superiors. Dur~ ing the latter years of his playing career the incomparable Johnson had to rely more on his heart and head €han on his naturally great ability, becagse age was taking the inevitable toll ot vigor and freshness. It was really then . that he began to demonstrate a greatness far above that which comes purely through mechanical capabilities. In the world series of 1924, in that seventh game that no Washingtonian will ever forget, Johnson proved to those who idolize him, and to all others be- sides, that, bereft to a large extent of the blinding speed of his youth, he possessed she heart of the lion and the craft of the fox. It is a rare person who can re- place the vigor of his younger days with the knowledge that age inevitably brings in competition so keen as that of base ball. It was then that Johnson showed that he was not a mechanical performer, but & ‘man of courage, skill, experience and brains.” These are the qualities that are ex- pected to stand Walter in.good stead when he assumes the managership of the major league team which he has served so long and so, well. Clark’ Grif- fith, president of the club, is confident that Walter's base ball sense, his ex- perience and his apprenticeship with the Newark team are the ingredients for a successful field leader, and Washington fans believe as Griffith does. With John- son at the head there should be no dis- sension on the Washington -team. Barney is popular with the players, and it is likely that the spirit of harmony, somewhat missing for the past two years, will again become.the keynote of the club. Welcome back, Barney! ———e—————— Washington, D.: C, has no vote. Realtors rush to the rescue and supply suburbanites with votes, in addition to other modern improvements. Strictly speaking, there can be no “religlous issue.” Every man settles his religion to his own mind. e Voting by Machinery. ‘With the city of Greater New York voting this year for the first time wholly by machinery, although the voting ma- chine has been in use in that State for more than thirty years, attention is na- tionally called to this method of record- ing the wishes of the electorate in a manner to promise the further extension of this system of registration. According to the latest obtainable figures the voters of eighteen hundred cities, towns and villages are now pulling levers in- stead of marking ballots for the purpose of denoting their preferences for office. At the last preceding presidential elec- tion more than. four million of the slightly less than thirty million votes thus registered their will. This num- ber will be greatly exceeded next month. The advantages of the voting ma- chine are various. It affords greater more or less from results of the dis- turbance of equilibrium. Many children, indeed, are seriously affected by the motion of a swing and never overcome the inhibition. Even veteran mariners are often incapacitated by violent ship motions. It has been said that submarines and aircraft put their occupants to the severest test of all on this score. They are both subject to the movements of the elements through which they pass. It is easy to conceive the gyrations of the cabin suspended from the Graf Zep- pelin. | If, as some maintain, sickness due to motion is chiefly a matter of disturbed nerves, the situation of an air traveler is likely to be particularly diffi- cult. Riding high above the land or the sea there is nothing to “feel” as a means of support. The floors, the walls, the immediate universe swings and wabbles without any guarantee of sta- Dbility. At sea one has at least the sense of something comparatively solid outside of the ‘craft as a supporting element. Two or three thousand feet up, how- ever, the traveler has a sensation of being-deprived of all sustenance. Yet these reports of airsickness on the part of the Zeppelin's passengers will probably not cause any lack of ap- plications for passage on her return voyage. Unpleasant as the experience may be, there will be plenty of people eager to ride on her as she makes her way back to Germany. o Betting odds in Massachusetts are reported to be even as between the two candidates. The emblematic codfish may become an object of especial atten- tion in piscatorial politics. e r—e—————— Gossip creeps into a campaign. It carries no argument and serves only to interrupt what might have been a per- fectly good bridge game. et A heckler invariably asserts himself as the representative, so far as the pres- ent audience is concerned, of an in- finitesimal minority. —————————— Air experts insist that the clouds are safer than the eéarth. There would be no doubt about the matter if a cloud could be provided with a landing field. B The “master mind” in politics must meet,_ the challenge of the aggressive feminine intellect. Lenin sleeps. He awakened Russia, but Russia in her confusion cannot awaken him. ——————— Theatrical “padlocking” usually re- sults in throwing the box-office wide open. —— e Hindenburg grows older. In German estimation he also grows wiser. ) SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Some of Everything. With intellectual mince pie My nights are soothed, as days go by. And so I sit and wait to know The menu of my radio. A song—a speech—a dirge—a shout— A sax attached to lung so stout— My sense artistic learns to sigh For intellectual mince pie. certainty of effectiveness, in the avoid- ance of mistakes and the elimination of “spoiled ballots.” It insures absolute secrecy. It is speedier in execution and the results of the voting are known im- mediately after the closing of the polls. It reduces the chances of dispute to a minimum. And, finally, it is a much cheaper method of registration than the paper-ballot means. On this final score of economy the voting machine has already made a rec- ord that presents some astonishing fig- ures, calculated to concern the tax- payers. For example, in the State of Towa, twenty-one of the ninety-nine counties use the machines. In the presi- dential election of 1924 the total cost of taking the 973,965 ballots of the peo- ple of that commonwealth cost $258,- 426.48, according to' official reports. The registering of the wishes of the 689,238 voters who used paper ballots cost $215,862, or a little less than thir- ty-two cents apiece, whereas the casting of 284,727 votes by machinery cost $42,- 56448, or a little over sixteen cents each. If the Iowa rate of voting cost were to prevail throughout the United States on a paper-ballot basis, with thirty mil- lions voting, the cost would be $9,600,- 000. If these 30,000,000 ballots were all taken by machinery the cost would, at the Towa rate, be $4,800,000, a saving of an equal amount to the people of the States. These election costs are borne by the taxpayers of the villages, towns, heading for and from the Straits of cities, counfies and States. In some Pulled Out. “You did not have time to conclude your speech from the rear platform.” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “Some hecklers were inclined to fili- buster. But the locomotive engineer favored cloture.” Carfare. The carfare is a fearsome bump. It fills us all with fright. By day it keeps us on the jump And worries us all night. Jud Tunkins says many a great man has abandoned farming to go into poli- tics, and in most cases he showed good judgment. Endurance Prophecy. “A katydid says it will be six weeks till frost.’ “Like other prophets, the katydid is sure to prove correct if it can keep prophesyin’ long enough.” “He who speaks without thinking,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “may be happy, as he is held to no serious responsibility.” The Abandoned Ape. “Hall to the Chief” is the refrain. We join it as it sounds again. True politics looms up today And “Evolution” fades away. “When you forgits a friend,” said Uncle Eben, “you is liable to lose some- thin' & heap mo' valuable dan yob The pageant of the city streets is al- ways interesting. A complex thing it is, a combination of human nature and the works of man, the one a setting for the other. Especially on a sunny October day does a thoroughfare such as Pennsyl- vania avenue, parade ground of the National Capital, take on aspects of importance to the observer of men and manners. It is not necessary to journey to for- eign lands to see humanity as it is. All the glamour of Bagdad is here for one who is willing to accept familiar people in the commonplace settings wltRout refusing them the quality of interest simply because their clothes are not of a strange cut and their language other than ours. Mostly we see the old streets with eyes used to the familiar. It is only when one makes a deliberate attempt i to look at men and things with strange eyes that he catches the sense of the unusual in the usual. 1t is amazing how interesting plain human beings become if one will calm- ly say to himself, “Now I am going to see you as you really are, not as you seem to be because there are so many of you!” * K ok K Here goes a chubby girl in a bright blue silk dress. A yellow scarf is cast over her shoulders. ~ Surely there is no other woman in sight at all like her, t the hurrying man or woman notices mr not at all. She is simply one of the crowd. No one would call her ex- actly pretty. Her stockings bag at the knees, a lamentable thing, truly, since a little more care would have kept them taut. Here are a man and a woman of & type perhaps seen more often in New York City than in these parts, They are of a light brown complexion, dressed in clothes of exactly the same shade but of a much lighter tone. ‘We have next a score of staid males, all exactly alike, dressed in blue, gray and black, the normal trio for men engaged in the varlous occupations of city life. Even the observer with the best will in the world finds it impossible to dis- criminate between them. They look alike, dress allke, walk alike. Some- thing would have to happen for him to be able to pick the leader. An automobile smash-up, for in- stance, would send 19 of them scurry- ing to the scene. The twentieth, bored, might flash a smile—and in that smile could be read a whimsical nature not at_the mercy of chance events. Here comes a proud papa with two boys in striped jerseys. They look for all the world like small two-legged zebras suspended from the right and left arms, respectively, of the parental tree. The old man looks around to see if the world is gazing with rapt atten- tion at his little ones, but, finding that the world of the moment is occupied with gazing at the nifty blond over there, turns away about his proper business. * ok kK An officer of the law, neatly dressed in blue, with a shining cap, walks and talks familiarly with a young man in tweeds. We never knew a cop person- ally. We knew a fireman and a rail- road engineer and a taxicab driver, but never a policeman. ‘This one must be off duty. He steps to one side to allow a typical middle- aged woman to pass. The street is full of middle-aged ladies. Some of them have baskets filled with good things to eat. Others carry containers of heavy per held by strings, and we are afraid hat they will break. If they should BY CHARLES E, TRACEWELL. tear loose, no telling what articles might spill to the sidewalk. Then some gallant young man would be under the necessity of springing to the rescue. Two nuns in their somber garments Then appear two men, an old man with a gray face and a young man with a red face, closely followed by two more, & young one with a gray counte- nance and an old one with a red com- plexion. Coincidence? It is one of the amusements of such sidewalk looking, to note the flow of contrasts. Why, a whole city is contributing to this show! This is not a one-man affair, or a bit of simple pageantry, put on by any one faction. It is the “run of the mtll,” the ceaseless ebb and flow of the human tide along the streets of a great city. The high tide comes at regular times, notably when office work takes up and when it lets out. Luncheon is another tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at its turn, may or may not lead on to greater things. 4 * ko ok And here comes a short girl in a pink dress, and a tall one in a.red dress. Now a fat one in a red dress and a slender one in a blue garment much too short for her. Here is an old seedy man, one who has seen better days, as the song had it. He pokes along with head down, as if the bright sun meant nothing at all in his life. A family group approaches. Here is mother, roseate, fat and smiling, leading a child with each hand. Here is a “little mother,” the oldest daughter, carrying a fat baby in her arms. The daughter has on a queer hat of alter- nate stripes of green and white, some- thing on the order of those atrocitics forced upon freshmen in high schools and colleges. A sporty old gentleman appears, dressed to the minute, with a bright and enterprising eye. He is followed by a man of about the same age sporting a neat goatee. We never see such an adornment without recalling the ancient burlesque stage joke, “Where did the man with goatee go to?"” A colored woman of the “mammy” type slowly wends her way along. Now a solid young lady in black, with a pink silk waist, moves swiftly by. She gives us an inquiring look. Maybe she thinks we own the building! An office boy in bright blue sweatcr catches the eye. What tastes office boys have, to be sure! ‘They prefer sweaters of the brightest blue, and if the garments can be caught in neat checkered effects, they wear them the more happily. Here is a girl in tan and light blue, with a long string of crystals to match the blue. One notes that no two women are dressed alike, even remotely, where- as many of the men are as alike as two peas in a pod. Does this prove women to be more original, more daring, or more individualistic? How do you like yonder slender blond in the expensive transparent velvct dress? Maybe you are not conversant enough with the latest in women’s dresses to appreciate the garment, but no one should have any difficulty in appreciating the lady. Now comes a very black man carry- ing an assortment of greasy iron rods, and one wonders what he is going to do with them. He is followed in this ceaseless parade by a bright young fellow striding along with a toothpick in his mouth. We might stay here all day, noting the different types, but these are enouglh to prove our contention, that here is a real show, a spectacle free for the see- ing, to be found any day on almost any downtown street. New York’s Ban on Filthy Play Wins Applause from the Press Prompt suppression by the New York mflce of a play said to be far beyond bounds of decency and good taste, even in a day of approved realism on the stage, is applauded by the press, with reiterated warnings to the theater that it is risking rigid censorship unless some self-restraint is exercised. “For the sake of public decency and for the sake of the theater as a valued institution, such messes should have the lid of the law clamped down tightly upon them,” in the opinion of the Co- lumbus Evening Dispatch, which refers to a production the actors in which have been arrested. The Dispatch ad- mits that “political censorship of art is highly undesirable,” but maintains that “there is a wide divergence between art and common obscenity and flith.” The editor condemns mental processes which function “almost entirely along the lines of sex depravity” and “blatant bids for the support of those among the public who are llmflm;(ly*oomu‘mmd." * “If playwrights and &;:dueers will not be decent,” declares: Buffalo Eve- ning News, “they assuredly will fasten upon the theater a censorship that will hold it under constant, close scrutiny. The idea of censorship is distasteful, but public opinion will yield to it rather than permit the stage to nder to pruriency. If the people of the theater do not keep their house in order, the State will undertake the task.” Drastic measures are proposed by the ersey City Journal, which feels that “it 1s too bad the police can't arrest an audience that patronizes such plays,” and that “people wha will sit through such performances are certainly no bet- ter than those who play in them.” The Journal advises, “Prevention is always better than cure, .but, in dealing with such offenders, prevention which leaves the pocketbook empty is the only cure.” The Journal derives satisfaction from the fact that, in ‘the recent instance, “action was taken without any delay and without waiting for the alleged purveyors of indecency to make a nice profit.” “Unquestionably the best censorship of the theater,” according to the De- troit News, “is that of public opinion. If decent people will refuse to buy off-color entertainment, play writers and promoters will produce drama of high order. But when a sufficient pub- lic exists to cemand the thrill of the audacious, the community must find means of protecting its morals by law and police authority. * * * Where public opinion backs authority, decency can be insisted upon.” - * ok kK The idea of a “play jury composed of intellectual men and women who would pass upon the morality and seem- liness of dramatic offerings " Is recalled by the Memphis Commercial Appeal as a remedy proposed in similar circum- stances a_year or {wo ago, and that paper adds, “We do not know what has_become of the play jury, but we do know (hat if the writers and pro- ducers of plays do not show some regard for the normal moral sense of the average person, they will have their hands tied by a rigid consorship.” The Memphis paper avers that “for a couple of years now many examples of dra- matic art have been filled with language that would have brought a blush to a tenderloin saloon of pre-Volstead days.” ‘Who'll labor to uplift the theater audiences?” asks the Philadelphia Eve- ning Ledger, while the Trenton Times- Advertiser feels that “unquestionably to the prurlent taste of a considerable sec- tion of the public is attributable, in the last analysis, the low atandard of morals in the playhouse.” That paper continues: “It 18 only fair to add that the charge of indecency does not lle wholly at the doors of the ocitisens of New York, It is chargeable in large measure to the hundreds of thousands of visitors from Wayback, who wear a mask of virtue in their home towns, only to ‘cut loose' when ‘business’ calls them to the 1s." ‘The conditions, as viewed by the Sag- inaw News, reflect upon “all those per- sons who to them because of the police raid that had taken pl at a previously given performance. * Police action is nec- essary in such cases, but it can be be- lieved that the more efficacious treat- ment would be repudiation by the pub- lic of any and all productions which merit the raid treatment,” concludes the News. * ok ok ok ‘The uncertainties in the matter are emghulud by the Minneapolis Tribune ith the statement: “The so-called im- moral play will represent a problem for society as long as society survives. It is relatively easy to determine what is or is not grossly indecent; but trouble is promptly cncountered the moment individual taste becomes the final ar- biter. * * * The word ‘immorality’ covers a large amount of territory. Some of the zones included are undisputed, while others are sharply disputed. Sparks are bound to fly whenever we enter the disputed zones. * * * The refine- ments of immorality bring us into a world of contradictions.” The occasional use of the police power is favored by the New York Eve- ning Post, which, however, warns that “just because the police have done well in suppressing one evil production, they have no reason to range up and down Broadway, throwing a mantle of fear over every playhouse.” The Passaic Dally Herald declares that “the cause for complaint is very substantial” in that “realism has gone far.” It suggests that “if American audiences had formed the European habit of in- dicating displeasure as well as their delight, the playwrights and producers would take another tack.” oot With a Magnet at the Other End. From the Fort Worth Record-Telegram. One of the greatest mysteries of nature is the narrow, crooked, rough and tortuous path a dollar has to traverse to get to you and the wide, well paved and inviting way that is there awaiting its departure. e S Where Is This Modern Boldness? From the Savannah Morning News. ‘They may have to abolish leap year. In New York marriage licenses have decreased in number in 1928. —.— Should Be Barnum Munchausen. From the San Antonlo Evening News. A fossil expert says that Indians lived in North America 20,000 years ago— but the expert’s name is Barnum Brown. o More Spoils! From the Sioux City Tribune. { About all that will come out of the Philadelphia upheaval is a great pres- sure for jobs in the police department. UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR Ten Years Ago Today. Laon, the last of the group of natural obstacles forming the keystone of the German defenses in France, is taken without a fight. The Champagne vic- tory grows as Gen. Gouraud continues his deep advance to the Aisne near Rethel. * * * The German stronghold of La Fere, together with a great part of the 8t. Gobain massif, is captured by the French, * * * American gunners on the Meuse ignore peace talk and lay down a barrage that smashes the German counterattacks on both sides of the river, * * * The attitude adopted by the German newspapers is one of determination to avold having it said that the Germans were really beaten. One says “We bow our undefeated heads for righteousness’ sake.” * * * Six hundred and seventy-six on casu- alty lists ’lv;:\_' out today—186 “killed Gibraltar, 1t 15 oge of the m‘,’m- communities the burdep 18 & heavy gue Poshetigele” W R4 e mwww.c$ Wfll"l"i,h %’Z‘ .'11 THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover The poet laureate of Great Britain, Robert Bridges, was so little known before his appointment to the laurcate- ship, in 1913, soon after the death of Alfred Austin, that nearly every one, at least in the United States, asked, “Who is he? What has he written?” If American lovers of poetry had been asked to make the award, probably Kipling or Alfred Noyes would have received the title and the honors per- taining thereto. Yet the poetry of| Robert Bridges, slight in volume, is not without distinetion. Born in 1844, Bridges was educated at Eton and | Corpus Christi_College, Oxford. Like | many another literary man, he studied | and practiced medicine before turning to letters. His published works include several essays and the following volumes of poetry: “The Growth of Love.” “Prometheus the Firegiver,” “Eros and Psyche,” " “Palicio,” “Ulysses,” “Christian Captives,” “Achilles in Scy- ros,” “Humors of the Court,” “Feast of Bacchus,” “Demeter” and “October and Other Poems.” He has also prepared several anthologies of English verse. From the list of his published works it appears that he is a writer of dramas as well as lyric poetry. In his dramatic writing his scholarship is evident. Knowledge of history and of the classics shows in all of them. They are not, however, mere pedantic exercises. Uni- versal human experience and emotion animate the historical framework. In the two plays on Nero, the degenerate emperor, whom . tradition has repre- sented to us as an unequaled monster, appears as an understandable human being, torn by ambition, caprice and cruel impulses, but tragically aware of his own evil nature and his isolation from normal life. The Greek-inspired plays, “Achilles in Scyros,” ‘“Prome- theus the Firegiver” and “The Return of Ulysses,” are not entirely conven- tional. Ulysses experiences ail the nat- ural feelings of an ordinary man on returning to his beloved Ithaca and his family and taking up, after so many years of absence, the pleasant routine among the familiar home sun'oundin%s. Even Prometheus, personification of the arrogance which assumes divine at- tributes and pays the penalty, becomes almost human when he sympathizes with the nightmare sufferings of Io. 4 o e ‘The lyrical poems of Robert Bridges are, however, probably his best work. Sometimes very simple, sometimes so artificial as to be almost affected, his poetry is of no one style. In some of his blank verse there is an approxima- tion to the most prosaic of ordinagy conversation; in some of his lyrics there is a musical quality equal to that of Tennyson. Bridges is not, like Burns, an instinctive poet. His knowledge of prosody and of music is extensive, and his rhythm and meter are studied. His metrical variety is almost as great as Tennyson's. More than 80 metrical forms appear in his lyrics. ‘The deep- est emotion is not to be found in Bridges’ poetry. Passion, whether of love or grief, is always measured. Noth- ing is in excess. Neither is there the highest intellectual quality, as in Browning and Matthew Arnold. His philosophy offers no revelation, no rea- soned faith, like Browning’s; no stern stoicism, like Matthew Arnold’s. It is a quietist philosophy—serene accept- ance of the joy and sorrow of life, with the belief that on the whole the joy will outweigh the sorrow. Bridges' de- votion to England is reflected in all his poetry. Sometimes it is patriotic en- thusiasm for the idea of empire; some- times it is pure love for the English countryside, its winding roads and flowering hedges, its green hills and lacid lakes, its black headlands lashed y foaming breakers. Like most British poets, Bridges has experimented with the sonnet. His sonnets in the se- quence “The Growth of Love” are among his earlier works, and show con- siderable irregularity of form and no high level of thought or feeling. * Kk ok Struthers Burt is tired' of “being Jjudged by men—fellow countrymen or Europeans—who do not like America, who do not understand it, and who take no pains to find out what it is.” Many who feel as he does will enjoy his book, “The Other Side.” He does not know which he dislikes worse—the patronizing attitude of some foreigners toward America or the apologetic man- ner of some Americans when speaking of their own country to foreigners or even among themselves. He finds with- out any logical warrant and extremely obtuse in its psychology the idea that “whatever the American, or Canadian, or Australian thinks or does is ipso facto immature; whatever the European does is ipso facto adult.” People are very much the same, thinks Mr. Burt, whether their domicile be the United States, or England, or Continental countries. There are in all countries the educated and the uneducated, the refined and the vulgar, the modest and the ters, the cultured and the crude, the wise and the foolish, the law-abid- ing and the criminal. The thesis of the book is expressed in the quotation, “I will admit without hesitation or reservation that we are a young, crude, barbaric, folly-ridden, uncomfortable people. I will admit that we are of mongrel breed; that we have a mania for speed, size, mass and money, and that the thoughtful, gentle and intelli- gent are in the proportion of about 10 to every 1,000. I will admit that we are grasping, imperialistic, selfish, bombas- tic and ‘swept by passion and senti- mentality. I will admit anything derog- atory that any one has to say, and having admitted all this, what have I done? Why, I have described America and every other country in the world.” ok Probably because of their sad, lonely lives and early deaths, more than on account of their literary work, the three Bronte sisters have always been favor- ite subjects of the blographers. A re- cent biography is “The Life and Pri- vate History of Emily Jane Bronte," by Romer Wilson. The title sounds suggestive of much adventure, but poor | Emily’s adventures were all those of the imagination, except the great adven- ture of her heroic struggle with death. This is a spiritual biography by an au- thor who is a natiye of the same York- shire moors which Emily Bronte walked upon with her sisters when they were living in the gloomy Haworth par- sonage. ~Emily's novel, “Wuthering Heights,” is the expression of all the inner conflicts of her life, her longings, her loneliness, her frustration. The character of Heathcliff in the novel has sometimes been identified with Emily's brother, Branwell, but Miss Wilson re- pudiates this idea. He is, she considers, a symbol for Emily herself. He ‘“cries at the same time ‘I am free’ and ‘I am damned!" and has nothing but the Pr!de of his own loneliness to congratu- ate himself upon.™ * ok ok Kk A Rumanian aristocrat is the hero- | ine of “Catherine-Paris.” by Princess Marthe Bibesco. Though born in Bucharest, Catherine-Paris, because of the death of her father, spends her youth in Paris, and not the Paris of the wealthy, Her guardians, her grandmother and her uncle, are im- poverished and find the obscure sections of Paris their only possible retreat. Then a Polish count falls in love with the girl without intending to marry her. He does marry her, nevertheless, through the intrigue of his mother, and & life of making the best of a dissolute husband and the insults he subjects her to begins for Catherine-Paris. Her en- vironment shifts from Parls to Aus- trian Poland, Vienna, Berlin, St. Peters- burg and back to Paris. Here she leads an existence of such complete freedom that her unhappy marriage seems hardly to have hampered her. The novel is one of a degenerate society in Elrope before and during the World a * * ok K The Oxford Bible is the most accu- rately printed book in the world. Al- though the Bible contains 773,746 words (about the same number as in boysls of-opdioary Jepetd), & . NSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERI Stop a minute and think about this fact: You can ask our Information Burcau any question of fact and get the answer back in a personal letter. It is a great educational idea introduced into the lives of the most intelligent people in the world—American news- paper readers. It is a part of that best purpose of a newspaper—service. There is no charge except 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Get the habit of asking questions. Address your letter to The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Q. How large is the largest fireboat in use at the present time?—D. J. A. The largest in this country and probably in the world is the fireboat Deluge, owned and operated by the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, an agency of the State of Louisiana. The Deluge cost $264.474 equipped, pumps 14,000 gallons of water a minute at 150 pounds pressure and can throw 36 streams simultaneously, and has developed a speed of 1612 miles an hour at 136 r. p. m. Q. How large is a foot ball field?— E. L. "A. Foot ball Is played on a rectangu- Iar field 360 feet by 160 feet. Q. In the list of supplies taken by Comdr. Byrd on his Antarctic Expedi- tion appear items of grain alcohol and intoxicating beverages. How is this ex- plained?—J. M. J. A. Comdr. Byrd secured & permit which gave him permission to take al- cohol on his expedition to the South Pole. Grain alcohol was needed for equipment and the rum, wine, ete., were for purely ®.edicinal purposes. Q. How long has Secret Service pro- tection been given to the family of the President?—M. V. H. A. Before 1919 protection was extend- ed only to the person of the President. Since that time the family has been included. Q. What atmnz:ys are connected with the Ucnl{ed States Supreme Court?— E. L C. A. The members of the Supreme Court of the United States are appoint- ed for life by the Pregident and con- firmed by .the Senate. he court has no attorneys connected it, though attorneys plead before it. Q. Please describe the bridge across the St. Lawrence to Quebec.—T. B. A. Tt is 324,000 feet long. 88 feet wide and 150 feet above the extreme high C J. HASKIN. water., It accommodates two railroad trains, has two street walks for pedes- | trians and a driveway for vehicles per- mitting them to pass each other, Q. How many airplanes are being | built? ~Are most of them for the Gov- ernment?—E. E. C. A. Between 400 and 450 airplanes are ‘?elng producedfnurfumh.l A v:;y small percentage of these planes-are manufactured for the United Statés Government, certainly not over 5 per cent, Q. Does a Greek who is a naturaliz4 ed American citizen have to serve in | the Greek army if he should go to hig | former country on a visit?>—M. J. K. A. The Greek government does nof recognize a change of natfonality on the part of a former Greek which was made after January 15, 1914, without | the Greek government's consent. Con- | sequently a former Greek, naturalized after January 15, 1914, is liable to ar- rest and forced service in the Greek army or navy upon his return to Greec The Greek government recognizes change of nationality on the part of & former Greek which was made before January 15, 1914. It is understood that | former Greeks naturalized as Americans before January 15, 1914, are not mos lested while visiting Greece. Q. What can be done when soap and gater will not take out grease stains?— G. "A. Grease stains which do not re- spond to soap and water should be oline or some other grease soivent and then washed. ¢ . Who originated the chambermald or parlormaid comedy F. N. A. Kitty Clive, who flourished in the earlv part of the eighteentih century, was famed for depicting such a char- acter. Q. Does second Summer mean the same Indian Summer?—O. F. A. “Indian Summer” was first used during the last part of the eighteenth century. In the next decade the term was supplanted by “second Summer.” Indian Summer became established about 20 years after its first appearance, which was in_western Pennsylvania, and spread to New England by 1798, to New York by 1799, Canada by 1821 and England by 1830. Horace Walpole used the term in 1778, not in reference to | America, but in relation to weather in the tropics. BACKGROUND OF . EVENTS BY PAUL V. COLLINS. “Long live the Chinese republic!” Strength to the arm of the Kuomin- tang, the party which has gained con- trol over all armed opposition, and now, after being instrumental, 17 or 18 years ago, in overthrowing the throne and the power of the Manchu dynasty, thmu(lh more than a decade of civil war following, has conquered the aristo- cratic, reactionary regime which had been the leftover from the old imperial administration. The Kuomintang is a party of the people, for the people and by the ple, hoping for law and order in development. * ok ok % Last Thursday President Chiang Kai- shek and the 15 members of the State Council bowed three times before the portrait of Sun Yat Sen, the father of the Kuomintang; stood in silence three minutes before it, and swore to uphold his teachings and ideals. That was the . climax of the ceremony of inaugura- tion of the new government. Like Fascist Italy, China now recog- nizes and its only one political party—the Kuomintang. But, unlike the land of Mussolini, China has ne dictator, no one-man suthority. Its ideal is not autocracy but_ democracy. Mussolini holds that the Italians are tired of democracy and desire dicta- torial luthvrlm%. e Chinese, with their 400,000, population, ultimate republic in which all the ple will be sufficiently educated and telligent to hold a universal fran- chise. They know that that ideal will require years of preparation, through universal schooling, and in the mean- time the country must be governed, and the Kuomintang assumes the respon- sibility and obligation so to develop the people which they have set free from the former regime. * ok ok ok ‘Twenty years ago, Sun Yat Sen was in secret rebellion against the ruling powers. He held secret meetings and developed a following which in time grew into a party and set up a govern- ment in Southern China, with Nanking as its capital. That, of course, led to fighting with the Peking government, which was the recognized government at the time. Sun Yat Sen died in 1925, before see- ing the realization of his hopes, but the ideals he had held up to his party had crystallized so that the party lived after his departure. He left a book entitled “San Min Chu 1.” in which he set forth the principles of his party, the Kuo- mintang. On October 4, 1928, an of- ficial document was promulgated by the Kuomintang, known as the organic law of the National Government of the Republic of China. It says: “The Kuomintang of China, in pur- suance of the three peoples’ principles and the five-power constitution, hereby establishes the Republic of China. “The party, having swept away and removed all obstacles by. military force and having passed from the period of military conquest to that of political tutelage, now must establish a model government based upon the five-power constitution to train the people so that they will be able to exercise their po- litical powers and facilitate the party in hastening the handing over of such | power to the people.” * K K ¥ ‘The language is as plain as Bret Harte might have wished, but still it requires a bit of explanation: The “three peoples' principles” does not mean three peoples at all, but it means the three principles enunciated by Sun Yat Sen as the fundamentals of the revolution—the principles of the people. ‘The father of the revolution said in his book that the revolution would ha to pass through three distinct periods First. The period ‘of military force, until the opponents were conquered in battle. That period has just closed triumphantly. Second. The period of tutelage and education of the masses. That period is now beginning: it may take a century, but optimists hope for more rapid prog ress. While in the United States, ac- cording to the Army test, 75 per cent of the people can read and write, in China at least 90 per cent are utterly unedu- cated. They have few teachers, few books and few schools. All these must be created, which will require many years. Also, the resources of the country must be developed—transportation and communication especially—and the eco- nomic conditions Improved through modern industries and agriculture. That is the task of this “second period,” after which will come the third period, in which the franchise will be given to all qualified by education to exercise it in- telligently. * K k% The other expression in the organic law requiring explanation is “the five- power constitution.” That refers to the typographical error is one of rare oc- currence. The Oxford University Press exercises particular care in setting the type for the Bible issued over its im- print. A proofresder who discovers an error is rewarded, and $5 is paid to any one who finds a typographical error after the volume is published. So free from error is the text, however, that on an average not more than one VTGl B JERT 13 DGOy 0 R e s = five departments of the “balanced checks of the government.” The United States Government is “three Ko - 1ative, executive and judicial—Congress, the President, with the departments, and the Supreme Court, with the subordi- nate courts. The Chinese have these three branches (each called a “yu:'r‘\ ) plus two others. The fourth “yuan” is the “examining yuan,” whose function is to examine all applicants for govern- ment offices, from the lowest to the highest, to determine their qualifica- tions. It corresponds to our Civil Serv- ice Commission, except that in China it is broader and holds rank equal to that of the Supreme Court and is a part of the government itself. The fifth yuan, also a part of the constitutional government, is called the “Control Yuan,” consisting of about 60 members, and it ts the work of all officials, from the president down to a clerk; it audits all accounts of the government and has power to impeach all officials, but cannot itself be held to account by any authority as to its control over all officials. * ok ok K The new government rests in the executive council, whose chief is called president—Gen. Chiang Kai-shek—but he is not autocratic in power. council is elected by a congress, com- prising delegates from Chinese klans, whether located in China or any other part of the world. Chinese communi- ties in the United States send delegates to the congress, and that congress, in addition to choosing the council, con- siders policies of supreme importance. It 4 not a “rubber stamp” for the coun- cil, much less for the president; it ex- ercises power. So China is actually governed, in part, by residents in the United States. * K K K Since Great Britain conquered China in the opium war of 1842, that coun- try of the greatest population in the world has not been free in its sov~ ereignty; it has been limited to 5 per cent in its customs tariffs. To eke out its revenues it has had to supple- ment its customs with taxes upon all goods crossing provincial . a tax called “liken” The United States has by treaty agreed to release China in the matter of tariff restric- tion, after January 1, 1929, but that release is ineffective until other coun- tries make a similar concession, for we still hold the “most favored nation” rights, stipulating that rates charged us must never be higher than what is charged any others. The increase of f‘llx‘swm tariffs requires abolition of en. g R ‘We have also offered to release China from the limitation of “extraterritorial- ity rights,” whereby our citizens in China are not to be governed or tried under Chinese laws, but under our own laws, in our own courts in China. Even now, there are more foreigners in China who are not protected by “extra- territoriality” than there are so pro- tected. Germany and Austria lost that privilege through their defeat in the World War (China was one of the allies); the Russian Communists vol- untarily surrendered it as a mark of generosity while they were scheming to control China, under Communism, a few | years ago. The Kuomintang drove out the Communists and did not return the right of extraterritoriality to them. * K K K In the Episcopal General Convention now in session in Washington some- bidding missionaries in. their country. A high official in the new government Informs the writer that there has not been any such an edict-against Chris- tian missionaries. The whole matter, he says, refers only to the present right of missionaries to own land in the in- iterfor of the country. No foreigner, [except Christian missionaries, is per- mitted to reside in the interior, or to hold property there. China lost the whole . province of Shantung to Germany as a penalty for the murder of two German mission- arfes. Certain sects of missionaries have taken advantage of the privilege to acquire property in the interior. They not only preach Christianity—to which there is no objection—but they speculate in real estate, which is not permitted to any foreigner. They are rmitted to own property for re- lous uses, but they buy city property as an investment, even in interior cities. They shield themselves under extrater- ritoriality rights of foreigners and ignore Chinese laws. If the ve up ex- traterritoriality and obey same laws that apply to native Chinese, they will m: “I;'e molested in teaching Chris- Objection is raised also against the making of religion a compulsory study for all students in m! colleges and schools. There is no objection to teaching the Bible, provided it is op- tional to the students, who pay high tuition fees. However, missionaries and their supporting churches hold that as Christianity is t| taining the institutions, it should be ublhlfelwry on all students to study- the , it study anything in mis- - ACousrieht, 2938, bx Paul PR " treated with carbon tetrachloride, gas- character?—" thing has been sald about China’s for-