Evening Star Newspaper, November 5, 1928, Page 8

», 8 THE EVENING STAR WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY November 35, 1928 THEODORE W. NOYES. . The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office. 11th 8t and Pennsvivaria Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Cnicago Office: Tower Building. European Office; 14 Regent St.. London, Enzland Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evening Star_.. ... 45¢ per month The Evening and Sunday Star (when 4 Sundays) 3 Tre Evening and Sunday Star (when 5 Sundays) ... 65¢ per month ‘The Sunday Star .............. 5c per copy Collection made at the end of vach month Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone ain $000. 60c per month Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia, Daily and Sunday... 10.00; Daily only .. . Sunday cnly ... 1 34100: 1 mo., 40c Al Other States and Canada. Daily and Sunday..l sr., $12.0 D niy 1yr.. $8.00; 1 ‘isc $5.00: 1 50¢ aily only mo., Bunday only mo., Member of the Associated Press. The Assoclated Press 1s exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all . ews dis- patches credited to it or not stherwise cred- ited in this paper and also the .ocal news | | S published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. Now for the Verdict! Shortly before midnight the last of | the campaign voices will be heard. The | two presidential candidates will close their activities with radio statements and appeals from their own home towns, and when they have “signed off” the campaign will be formally and officially at an end. A few hours for sleeping will elapse and then early tomorrow morning the ballot boxes will be opened and the great naticnal referendum will be in progress. A record number of voters will go to the poils, perhaps forty millions. Forecasts and predictions and estimates have been made regarding the | Tesults. They are all contingent. No- body really knows how the bu'k of the new registrants will vote, and it is with them that the verdict rests. This has been the most active and in some respects the most bitterly con- tested campaign in modern political his- tory. Thirty-two years ago the country was stirred in the same manner, but the issue then was almost wholly economic, and, furthermore, the women of the country were not yet enfranchised save in a very few areas and in small num- | bers. Today the women are all enfran- chised—save those of the District of Columbia—and the issues are largely of & moral character. The result is that the campaign has taken on an aspect of intensity of feeling that is unprece- dented. The women have taken part in the canvass, in the speaking and in the practical political work of the parties to a degree never before known. It has been said that their voice will determine the result. Of the two candidates it has been the general feeling that they are the best representatives of their parties who could have been presented in the sense of campaign efficiency. Specifically the general judgment is that Gov. Smith is by far the strongest man the Democracy could have nominated, and it is also felt that perhaps with one exception Mr. Hoover is the strongest opponent the Republicans could have offered. The two candidates have differed strikingly in their characteristics. Gov. Smith has appealed for votes in a re- markable series of addresses covering a wide area of travel and a wide range of subjects. Mr. Hoover has made fewer speeches and fewer personal appear- ances in his tours of the country. Gov. Smith’s addresses have been colloquial and at times have become impassioned, while those of Mr. Hoover have been carefully prepared and comparatively restrained. Each candidate has been given tremendous receptions, evidenc- ing a high degree of personal popu- larity. Considering the nature of the issues, the inevitable interjection of the re- ligious question and the revival of the prohibition problem, it is not surprising that feeling should have run high, or that areas of previous partisan solidarity should have been shaken severely. Party lines have been broken in the East, in the South and in the West. Strange new allegiances have been formed. Those previously in political enmity have been brought together in unison of praise for favored candidates and criticism of disfavored ones. Fam- dlies have been divided. New factors of alignment have developed until it has been predicted that this campaign will be the cause of a radical revision of party lines and groups, perhaps the re- organization of the loser. ‘Twenty-four hours hence the returns will begin to appear. Shortly after din- ner tomorrow the first indications of “drift” will be discernible. The hope is that well before midnight tomorrow the verdict will have been returned. ———— In the ensuing turmoil it may become more and more difficult to determine whether some of the elated gentlemen are cheering for Herbert Smith or Al Hoover, ————— Foreign Affairs and the Election. Although tomorrow's presidential elec- tion almost coincides with the tenth anniversary of Armistice day, American citizens are marching to the polls en- tirely oblivious to world affairs. Barring sporadic and superficial references to our Latin American policy, the 1928 campaign has been waged without ref- erence to the vast and varied interna- tional questions which confront the United States. A Dare ten years ago America was enacting the role of world arbiter. To- day, judging by the suppression of for- eign questions in political discussion, the United States would almost sgem to have reached the position upon which Great Britain so long prided her- self—that of “splendid isolation.” ‘The soft-pedaling of world affairs in the presidential campaign is all the stranger in view of the fact that the Chief Executive conducts the country's oreign relations and dictates its inter- national policies. Mr, Hoover's support- ers have argued that his equipment and background for that particular branch of the presidential office are immeas- urably superior to those of Gov. Smith. Yet not even the Republican campaiga has acquainted the people with the manifold problems which Mr. Hoover, as President, would be calied upon to face. ‘The merest tabulation of Buf"cn' in- ternational affairs which impinge upon fices to indicate their importance. They ramify throughout both hemispheres. Europe is bound, ere many moons, to piczcnt a propesition for revision of German reparations and, with it, a scheme which will require America, whether we wish it or not, to readjust or reaffirm our position on the subject of the $10,000,000,000 the Old World owe us. In the Far East, nascent New China conjures up incalculable possibilities of ) international friction, Involving especial- | ly the attitude of Japan toward the rest of the world, including ourselves. In Latin America, the domain upon which the United States naturally looks as its paramount international concern, there are potential issues which during the next few years will draw heavily upon | the sagacity of American statesman- ship. What is to be our attitude toward the League of Nations and the World Court? Are they closed incidents, or will we, in one form or another, draw closer to those institutions? Into what now in- visible commitments may the Kellogg pact for renunciation of war be lead- ing the United States? What about further limitation of armaments? These are the outstanding, but not all, the grave foreign questions which, as a matter of fact, affect the whole| Amsrican people with little less direct- ness than domestic issues like the tariff, farm relief, water power and even pro- hibition. It is our fashion to consider the tariff a purely national affair. It is, on the contrary, an enduringly interna- tional affair. The United States is at this moment embroiled in more or less acrimonicus tariff controversies with two countrfes—France and Argentina. Had Uncle Sam's foreign relations contrived to displace some of tise atroci- ties of the whispering campaign not only would the campaign of 1928 have | been lifted to a higher level, but the Nation's attention would have been drawn to matters which before long wilt concentrate much of the adminis- fration’s energy and the people’s thought. et Preparing for Tomorrow. ‘Throughout the country, save in one area, there is active preparation for the registration of the popular will respect- ing the presidency and the personnel of the Congress. Ballot boxes are being set up in the appointed places, voting ma- chines are being tested and installed. Election inspectors and clerks are being instructed in their duties. Party agents | and committees are hustling around re- minding the voters of their duty on the morrow, acquainting them with the polling places and with the manner in which to mark ballots or pull levers in order correctly and surely to record their preferences. In that one exceptional area, which is the District of Columbia, the very heart of the Nation, there is no such activity. There is a bit of bustle, but it is different in character. Ballot boxes are being prepared, but they are mock- eries. A pageant float is being dressed for the Day of Humiliation, to typify the shameful impotency of the District citizenry on election day. Participants in the ceremonial of observation of this occaslon of mourning are being re- hearsed in their roles. ‘The contrast between the scenes en- acted today throughout the United States, save in this one exceptional area, and in the District of Columbia is being more sharply noted this year than here‘ofore, although this difference has prevailed from the beginning of things nationally political in America. After many decades of denial of the franchise, the District people are aroused to the point of urgent demand that they be Americanized. They are pe- titioning for the adoption of a constitutional amendment that will enable Congress to grant national rep- resentation to them. They are asking the country at large to support their plea for this enfranchisement. In order the more vividly to bring to national attenticn their plight of political im- potence they are staging a dramatic representation of the contrast between their own condition and that of the people of the States. Why do this now, after so long a lapse of time, it may be asked. Because | no injustice can be tolerated or endured | forever; because after many years the patience of the disfranchised Washing- tonlans has been exhausted; because there is now pending a specific proposal for the correction of this intolerable denial of American rights; because it has been ascertained that the country responds favorably and strongly to every disclosure that is made of the voteless condition of the Capital com- munity and, finally, because it is par- ticularly appropriate that at this time, when it is expected that the greatest number of votes will be cast in the his- tory of the country, attention should be called to the fact that here, at the po- litical center, the seat of Government, the citizens are not only not urged to vote, but are prevented from voting. ‘The Day of Humiliation will be ob- served tomorrow in the hope that it will be the last occasion on which Washington will, alone of all American communities, be shackled in disfran- chisement while the country votes for President and for Congress. B In the case of Herbert Hoover, Presi- dent Coolidge makes it clear, quite positively, that he does choose. e The Elements Win Again. Nature does not look kindly upon venturesome man when he breaks her laws. At sea the elements are ruthless in their power of destruction, and in the air, in man’s newly found art of flying, the forces of nature sometimes rise up to beat back daring souls who would invade the domain of the gkies. Last night the elements conspired to claim two more victims and proved themselves again supreme to the puny efforts of humans who seek to conquer them. In a blinding snow and sleet storm over the Arizona mountains, Capt. C. B. D. Collyer and Harry J. Tucker fought the losing battle. They had started out from Los Angeles to add another record to their long list, and they rode in the crack monoplane, the Yankee Doodle, which already had carried Tucker, its owner, to the non-stop speed mark from the Pacific to the Atlantic, both East and West., Rushing through the night at more than one hundred and fifty miles an | terested in public affairs.” THE EVE at her worst above the Broadshaw | Mountains. Even at that the Yankee | Doodle might have won through, but its motor joined with the elements to bring disaster. So there they were, the three of them—Collyer, Tucker and the Yan- kee Doodle—zigzagging helplessly above mountainous terrain, unable to pick a landing place because their flares would not show up through the blinding storm, and shut tightly inside a cabin, where their parachutes were almost useless. A crash and an explosion of full gaso- line tanks wrote finis to the careers of two gallant aviators and a gallant ship. All of which proves that man must find stronger weapons if he hopes for | victory over the forces of nature. Coll- | yer was the aviator who piloted John ! Henry Mears around the world in a little more than twenty-three days, and he had run the gamut, he thought, of all that the storm gods had to offer. Tucker, an aviation enthusiast, had ridden as passenger and helper on half a dozen cross-country trips. He was airwise and airminded. The Yan-| kee Doodle was capable of a speed of one hundred and seventy miles an hour and represented the latest ideas of air- plane construction. Its motor was of four hundred horsepower and of the radial air-cooled type—America’s great- | est contribution to the world of flying. Yet Collyer and Tucker with all their experience and the Yankee Doodle with all its power and stability could not weather the forces which rose to meet them, and today a Nation mourns the loss of an expedition which met defeat in an effort to push back the barriers to human accomplishment. L NS x following a series of emphatic predic- tions with reminders of the uncertainties of any election. Money still talks. The man who signs up for the betting odds is the one who really has the courage of his convictions. e jot The farmer must at least be a little| regarded as an economic factor and a political influence and not merely as a comical personage who sits on a fence and chews a straw. el Comedy is a delicate and sometimes dangerous element in politics as in the theater. A wise candidate prefers to provide his own laughs instead of rely- ing on professional or semi-professional talent. — st Brokers in their election enthusiasm | throw ticker tape out of the office win- dow. The interest in ticker tape will possibly be keener than ever when Wall Street settles down to business again. R S ‘The popularity of the political oration by the radio is such that, in the| course of time, a campaign committee may be able to collect for providing the attraction instead of having to pay. ——— et Mr. Hoover soon disregarded any sug- gestions of a porch campaign. Like every other statesman he soon learned to like the exhilarating influence of a cheering crowd. R After surveying the commercial situa- tion as affected by politics, the conclu- sion is inevitably reached that some one overlooked an opportunity by failing to establish a cough-drop monopoly. Sl N Such is the prosperity of the Nation that a number of persons will not feel a necessity of setting the alarm clock after the returns are all in. ———— When a Poe first edition sells for $20,000 it becomes evident that many a literary work is more valuable as an antique than as a practical product. —te——— California and New York State are now preparing to demonstrate which favorite son is in reality the big favorite. | 2L g 1t is radio, rather than the screen, that provides facilities for the “close- up” when a campaign is in progress. — e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Statistics. Statistics are sounded by night and by day. The figures I hear with a heart that is gay. I venture to say, bland, “No doubt you are right; though I don't understand. “When you're talking of business, I'm stunned by your skill. I can scarcely keep tab on a ten-dollar bill." T answer statistics, in language polite, “I don’t understand; but no doubt you are right.” _ Love of Oratory. “The American people are deeply in- with a sentiment “No doubt about that,” said Senator Sorghum. “I doubt if there is another land on earth where so many young folks would rather listen to political speeches than tune in on jazz for danc- ing purposes.” Bi-lateral Politics. I cheer each candidate in turn. Whichever way the vote may go, A pleasant chance I shall discern To grin and say, “I told you so!” Jud Tunkins says the nearest some of the large shouters ever get to suffer- ing for a cause is a headache the next morning. Restraint. “What would you call the greatest in- vention of modern times?” “If you mean the automobile,” said Mr. Chuggins, wearily, “I'm too polite to tell you.” “He who has no sorrows,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “Is mot for- !tunate. He is only insensate.” Punishment Slow But Sure, ‘The 'Legger and the Hi-jack queer, The Gunman and the Racketeer, ‘We know must all be punished yet. None of them will to Heaven get. “What you gineter do wif dem safety razor blades,” said Uncle Eben, “some- times ain’ nigh as hard a question as what you gineter do wif de chicken feathers.” —— et Immune. From the Olean Herald. Th> poor man is luckk at that. He doesn't suspect all friemdly people of the ipterests of the Uplied Stales syl~ oy the two Byers encountered nature Laving designs on his puse. . . o b Forecasters have a discreet manner of | §, cheered by the fact that he is now | so THIS AND THAT NING STAR. WASHINGTON, D. €, MONDAY, NOVEMBER BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘What is more boresome than a ban- quet? If Dante had included a festive board in the description of Hades his Hell | would have been complete. | An eternal torture is- what a banquet | seems to many a man who had rather | remain home listening to the radio. | For any one of a number of reasons, however, such a wight may attend a banquet, and, when he does, his sufl!r-‘ ing is always the same. | No glittering prospect of dancing ladies near the end of the “feed” can take away the feeling of endless tedium which oppresses him from the moment he hands his coat lm{hhul over to the irl with the gold tooth. g'flmre 15 tha% useless period standing around, to begin with. | Suppose the affair to be informal. | Miseries of tuxedo and stand-up collar are missing, but there are plenty left. Here is the gang standing around,| first on one f(;oz, thebnfim another, wait- | ing for the dinner bell. Ilf the thing is set for 7 o'clock, it never begins until 7:15, and often not until half past. so that one is forced to stand talking inanely to some in- dividual one does not like particularly. It is uncanny, the way one is invaria- bly thrown next to some good chav who wishes h? had been thrown next some one else. wlt is with vast relief that both of you hear the chairman of the committee an- nounce, in tones which strike you as bored, too, that the dinner is served. Another device to make a banquet as unpleasant as possible is to allow guests to choose their own seats. One is forced to steer rapidly between the Scylla of the man who never savs fellow who talks too much, and to plunge at last thankfully into a seat between two plain human beings with whom one can feel at home. % % A hundred bowls of soup must be passed out first. The mere thought of those hundred bowls of soup weighs heavily upon the spirit. A hundred bow!s of soup is a lot of up. Now a hundred men must consume all that soup. then the hundred empty vessels must be removed. ‘Then one must wait until 100 plates of beefsteak and potatoes are rapidly shuttled into place. ‘Then comes the business of 100 men eating 100 slices of beefsteak with po- tatoes to go with same. Now the 100 plates are to be taken away. All this time some one or something is making a loud noise with a musical in- strument, so that it is difficult to talk even to one's intimates. An active imagination suddenly longs to throw the hard roll at the toast- master’s head. The toastmaster has said nothing as yet, but— Ideas of decorum, however, suddenly sit on the high-flying imagination, knocking in flatter than a pancake. “It will never do,” whispers Deco- rum, “to throw that roll at the toast- master. Give him a chance.” “That’s the trouble,” leers Imagina- tion. “And, besides, if T don't throw nything and the Charybdis of the | this hard roll at him what can I do with it? I can't eat ft—-" * ok ok K One hundred plates have been re-| moved, then come 100 servings of salad. Salad is rabbit food, after all, and is difficult to handle. A rabbit can grab his salad as he pleases, but a man at a banquet must do the thing according to the rules. About the only thing the bored ban- queter really wanted was & cup of coffee, which is, of course, the very last thing the management will serve. One hundred salad plates must be taken away before there is a chance for coffee. Usually the ice cream—on 100 plates—is borne around before the invisible person presiding over this feast consents to allow the coffee to make its appearance. Instead of a big cup, as one secretly hoped, the coffee comes in the demi~ tasse form, without cream. What is more tiresome than coffee without cream? Of course, the stuff can be drunk black—many prefer it that way—but | if one does not like black coffee the | | mere fact that he is sitting a‘ the board | will not make it palatable. } Anything is a diversion, of course, in | the monotonous flow of food, sound | |and waiters. Impatient sitting human- | ity is faced with the alternative of | being bored by food or bored by the human tongue. | Which is the worst? | * ok ok | | The Jolly toastmdster settles this | | question by rising in his seat. | We wish there might ke a solemn toastmaster, solemn all the way | through, solemn from start to finish. Orthodox toastmasters are grave of visage but hovdenish of tongue. | Without so much as a smile, they |give vent to witticisms which might | have gone over big on the Ark. Instead of 12 speeches, based on the numb;r of the honor guests, there |are 24. The toastmaster makes an even dozen |all by himself. Somehow the tuxedo he wears and | the fact that all present keep silent as he pushes back his plate makes the garden varlety of toastmaster grow very fond of himself. Like a radio announcer, he loves the sound of his own voice. Consider how neatly the station an- nouncer makes 10 words flow where only 3 grew before. In the old days he simply said “Please stand by.” Now he chortles “There will now be a brief pause for station announce- ments.” A banquet toastmaster, who no doubt | was advised by his wife to make his introductions brief, gives in to the glamour of the occasion. He must tell a neat story or inform his ignorant audience of facts in the |lives of his speakers 'which every one knew already. One looks around for that hard roll, longing to hurl it at some one, but luckily a thoughtful waiter had re- moved it. One thinks hopefully of the motto carved on the old ring: “Even this shall pass away.” Well, let’s hope so! Ho, hum! WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC Calvin Coolidge walted until the eleventh hour to clear up the mystery of his real attitude toward Herbert Hoover's presidential candidacy. Will he seize some dramatic moment prior to March 4, 1929, to 1ift the curtain on a mystery even more profound—namely, the deep, underlying reason why he | chose not to run in 19282 It would be like the inscrutable Vermonter to keep that secret locked in his bosom until| the hour of his departure from the ‘White House and then tell it to a wait- ing world. Undoubtedly no other ma —or woman—Ilives who knows the pre- cise impulses which moved Mr. Cool- idge to his historic 10-word pronuncia- mento of August 2, 1927. Guesses have been as numerous as the falling leaves of this political Autumn, but none of them bears the hallmark of authority. Perhaps the President is keeping the story up his autobiographical sleeve. Till he reveals it, it remains the single greatest unpublished piece of news in the United States. The scribe who gets it will have a scoop which’ll thunder down the journalistic ages. ok xe Now that the late unpleasantness is over, one of the 1928 campaign's many strange aspects was the country’s in- difference to the congressional elec- tions. Hardly anybody gave a second (or even a first) thought to the make- up of the Seventy-first Congress, though the full House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate were up_ for election. Even Mr. Hoover and Gov. Smith soft-pedaled that issue. What radio listener can remember either presidential candidate stressing at any length the importance of a House and Senate majority in sympathy with his respective’ political views? In various places both Hoover and Smith pleaded for the victory of certain congressional nominees, but references to them were merely casual. Never anywhere by either national candidate was there a vigorous fighting demand for a Congress of admlnlstrnuon,‘ u;m;ilexicn. * Congress was a fifth wheel in the campaign for the simple reason that the Nation, by and large, was fascinated by the clash of personalities which Hoover and Smith presented. There was in addition the clash of major issues with which the popular mind identified them—mainly, religion and prohibition. Locally, candidates for the House and Senate contrived to get their constituents to think about the congressional ticket. Nationally, Rep- resentatives and Senators this time almost cut the figure of nonentities. They were hopelessly out of the picture even when they appeared on the same 'platform with the presidential nomi- nees. Some critical day in the near future, when the country indulges in its favorite sport of abusing Congress, it may conclude that a little of the energy wasted on the whispering cam- palgn might have been better spent on electing the right kind of a House and Senate. * ok Kk One by one, the sphinxes of 1928 have spoken—Dawes, Coolidge and McAdoo, to name them in the order of their respective, unexpected outgiv- ings. It looks as if Frank O. Lowden might go down in the campaign’s his- tory as The Man Who Wouldn't Say, Anything. Hoover managers hoped to the bitter end for a word from the former Illinois governor, which would strengthen the Republican ticket in the corn belt. It was with a long-distance view to that much-desired consumma- tion that Herbert Hoover kept out of the Tilinois presidential primary race | last Spring. His position was that Lowden was a contender of genuinely national stature, entitled to favorite- son rights without interference by an outsider. Hoover evidently did not consider the Watson, Willis and Goff candidacies in that light. e Many distinguished Americans have sent greetings to Japan this week apropos the enthronement of the Emperor Hirohito. Among Nippon's well-wishers are Messrs. Hoover and Smith, Senator Borah (chairman of the Senate forelgn relations committee), Representative Porter (chairman of the House forelgn affairs committee), Dr. Rowe, director-general of the Pan- American Union, President Butter- worth of the United States Chamber of Commerce, and Messrs, Thomas J. O'Brien, Roland S. Morris, Charles Begeher Warren and Cyrus E. Woods, WILLIAM WILE. all former American Ambassadors to Japan. America’s official greetings will be sent to Toklo by President Coolidge and Secretary Kellogg through the usual diplomatic channels. The newly accredited envoy of Nippon and Mme. Debuchi are entertaining Wash- ington society on Enthronement day, November 10. * K K ok Washingtonians are hopeful that the movie audiences of the country will take to heart the lesson of the District of Columbia “Day of Humiliation” pic- tures shortly to be screened by the news-reels. Recurring national election days mournfully remind the Capital's half-million residents of their un-Amer- ican and de-Americanized political plight. The “pictures” were seized upon this year to bring it home vividly to the people who live far from the Potomac. The story is not universally known. This observer speaks from ex- perfence on that score. He has had op- Jortunity, times without number, to pre- sent it to uninformed and astonished audiences in all parts of the country. Practically without exception they in- dicate their willingness to help in constitutionalizing the Washingtonian's right to national representation. * kX K ‘Two of the bright young men in the Department of Commerce’s own foreign service hold executive posts in the In- ternational Civil Aeronautics Confer- ence to be held in Washington in De- cember, to commemorate the silver an- niversary of the first power-driven flight by the Wright brothers, and discuss world air commerce. Leighton W. Rogers, commercial attache, is executive officer in charge of the big confab of all air-minded nations. He has held various European trade posts, was a stranded American in St. Petersburg when the Russian revolution broke out, and has written a novel based on his experiences there. The assistant exec- utive officer is Osborn S. Watson, trade commissioner, back only recently from China, where he was among the be- leaguered foreigners, during the slege of Peking. (Copyright, 1928.) b iva Tigers Hold Own In Fight With Man BY E. E. FREE, PH. D. Tigers in India are almost as good at killing human beings as men are at killing tigers. _Statistics released recently by the Indlan government show that during 1927 1,033 persons were killed by tigers, while only 1,368 tigers succumbed to human rifles and traps, making very nearly one man killed for each tiger similarly dis- posed of. Against other wild animals India's record of self-protection s better. ‘Wolves, for example, killed 465 humans, and humans killed 2,439 wolves, a ratio of about 5 wolves to one man. Leop. ards killed 218 humans, and 4,390 of the leopards died by human hands, making over 20 leopards to one hu- man being. Bears killed 78 human beings, and man’s efforts disposed of 2,739 bears, making 35 bears for every human sacrifice. The relative peacefulness of India's largest animal, the elephant, is indi- caled by the report of only 56 human deaths for which those animals were responsible, in spite of the large num- ber of elephants in captivity and used as work animals or for riding. were killed in India in 1927 by eroco- diles, and 85 by wild boars, the latter animals once deadly almost all over the world but now virtually exterminated in nearly every other country. The most dangerous animals in India are still the snakes, although man is prov- ing dangerous to them also. During 1927, 10,060 people died by snake bite and 57,116 snakes died at the hand of man, a ratio of about three snakes disposed of for every human death. o Better Not Be From the Omaha World-Herald. When a fellow “jumps” an airship, n;lere‘fl no rude brakeman to kick him off, v Nightcap Variety. From the PhiladelphiffEvening Bulletin. For a cold in the head some folks rescribe b7 a 2D, both in apd ous, ] Quick Staccato Sound | what is heard every moment in the, One hundred and thirty-six people |u 5. 1928. Advised for Fire Car! To the Editor of The Star: Permit me to suggest that a siren is not the most efficient instrument for warning people of the approach of a fire apparatus. It takes a while for the brain to react to the noise of a siren for the reason that the ear is accus- tomed to hearing precisely the same kind of noise in almost any bus starting in first and second gear, and in private automobiles, also in street cars round- ing a curve, electric elevators. etc. What is needed for fire apparatus or | any other emergency vehicle going at great speed is not so much a tremen- dous volume of noise hard to differen- | tiate at a distance, but some quick staccato call entirely different from streets. In Paris they use two horns of dif- ferent pitch tuned to one tone of dif- ference like the two notes C and D, | and blown sharply for half a second one after the other. It is such a dis- tinct call that no matter how far and how dim one hears it, one cannot mis- take it. I am sure the sad accident which | happened recently was the result of the noise of the siren being deflected | by the mass of the body of the street car in a way so that the girls could not hear it loud enough to differentiate it from so many of those continuous whistling noises one hears everywhere | around; not because the fire captain's | car was going fast, which it should do anyway. T happen to be a musician, and per- | haps this gives me a slight knowledge of the reaction of the ear to sounds. | FELIAN GARZIA. | e Convict, 76, Jubilant As He Regains Liberty | From the Sioux City Tribune. ‘The doors of the Eastern Pennsyl- vania penitentiary at Philadelphia swung open the other day and a 76- | year-old man, James Salerno, walked | out. He wore a cheap suit of clothes | and had $10 in his pocket, and he knew not a soul in the city. He was about | to “start life anew,” as a press dispatch | i put it, after serving 22 years of a life | sentence for murder. 1 Starting life anew, at the age of 76, with no other resources than a $10 bill, can't be such a snap. In fact, after the three-score and ten limitation has | been passed, one might say that a job would be pretty difficult even with much more money than $10. However, human nature being the hopeful thing it is, James Salerno was quite jubilant when he regained his freedom. When you have spent 22 years in prison—this old chap occupied the | | | change is for the better. Freedom, even if it brings starvation, is worth having. Indeed, you might even say that in some respects the aged convict is to be envied. Only a few years remain to him, and they doubtless will be filled | with trouble.” Yet, fresh from two | decades of imprisonment, he may be | able to see things that most of us | ordinarily fail to see. Perhaps he can see the dignity and courage of human life better than we do. He has seen only guards and con- victs for 22 years; now he can see men working their lives out in order that their children may have it a bit easier. He can see people fighting down grief and discouragement to carry on in tasks that have lost their savor. He can see the endless sacrifice and devotion that ordinary men and women'put into daily routine. Those things are before our eyes every day, but we are too used to them. We miss them because they are too obvious. We take them for granted. e British Elections Compared With U. S. From the Kansas City Journal-Post. A former Kansas City who now makes his home in England finds that American elections are determined by emotionalism, and that we do not have clear-cut contests on issues, as they do in his adopted land. That is not always true, but even when it is an obvious difference between electing legislative and administrative officers at fixed times might account for the difference. We do not continue a Congress and an Administration in power indefinitely until a crowd gets mad about some- thing and refuses to vote confidence in the government. We choose a House and one-third of the Senate every two years and a President every four years to carry on, no matter what new prob- lems may arise. It often happens that at the expira- tion of any period we do not have on hand a particular subject for debate on which the Nation can divide. But we do our best to get up a series of disputes to make it interesting. Only the persons who are tremen- dously agitated over the temporary is- sues pay much attention to the discus- sion. The mass of voters vote their general preferences as to candidates and parties, those preferences being based on a multitude of things, recent and remote. is about as good luck as any. When new and unforeseen issues arise the persons elected to office are free to follow their own notions after consult- ing each other, their constituents and reading the papers. If we have a capa- ble, well balanced, experienced man for President, he usually assumes leader- ahl_P when there is a real crisis. 'his is the situation as to voters generally. People who make their liv- ing out of politics or public employment, or have hopes they will, do many things in & campaign which must seem strange to visitors. UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR- Ten Years Ago Today. Accepting the challenge of the Ger- mans, who threw in heavy reserves yesterday in an attempt to hold the line on the Meuse from Sivry to the north, the Americans swept along the ‘west bank of the Meuse and, using pon- toons, effected a crossing at three places and threw the Germans back on their defense lines. * * * The Germans are retreating on a 90-mile front from the River Scheldt to the River Aisne. The situation is changing so rapidly that \It is impossible to give a definite idea of the allled advance. * * * Roughly speaking, the allies have crossed the ‘ranco-Belglan frontler 8 miles west of the fortress of Maubeuge, and have captured practically all of Mormal For- est. * * * Marshal Foch has the terms of the armistice for Germany and awaits application for them by the German military command in the fleld. * * * The German newspapers are preparing the people for a dis- agreeable surprise in the matter of the armistice terms and, while the pan- German papers are still truculent, the majority are believed ready to give . * * * One thousand, two hundred and fifteen names on casualty lists given out today, bringing grand total of American casualties to 68,306. ——— No George Abroad. From the Elmira Star-Gazette. hn \a{ understood lhatmthlz !3.010‘3 charge for passage across in a Zeppe! includes board and tips, which doesn't make it so high, after all. o s Of the Earth Eart From the Toledo Blade. Famous husbands are just mere mortals when they throw cigarette ashes on the floor. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKI nor ever could be, since there is & This newspaper puts at your dis- constitutional clause forbidding all bills posal a corps of trained researchers in Washington who il answer questions | of attainder. for you. e ve access Abd —_— eohment departments. the libaries, mu- | @ What is the difference in the dis- seums, gallerfes and public buildings | tance around the earth at the equator and to the numerous associations which |and the distance going around through maintain headquarters in the Nation's | the poles>—H. L. S. Capital. If they can be of assistance to |, A. There is a difference of 42 miles. you, write your guestion plainly and | The equatorial circumference of -the send with 2 cents in coin or stamps to | €Arth is 24,896 miles, the meridional The Evening Star Information Bureau, | circumference 24,854 miles. Frederle J. Haskin, director, Washing-| q ¢ a parachute falls to open when 00, o man )umpls‘irx?‘m an llrplar:ie. dc{lasl:\e ), Has e e before striking the ground?—V. S psaiml reoently, banblied | A The idese (At & *sand it A. Premier Mussolini has not ban- | through the air from a great height ished all Masons from Italy. He has, loses consciousness before he lands has however, forbidden the holding of pub- | been proved to be a fallacy. It has lic meetings. | been found that persons falling main- T | tain full control of their faculties until Q. In registering to vote, would a nun | they come into contact with some solid give her family name or the name | obfect. taken in religion>—J. F. J. - A. Nuns, or Catholic sisters, give both | Q. Please describe the native flag of their religious names and the nlmeallh' Philippine Islands.—W. O. H. I same cell all that time—any possible | A which they formerly bore, when regis-| A. The native flag of the Philippine tering to vote. " |Islands is divided horizontally into |blue and red stripes. Near the staff, | extending toward the middle, appears & white diamond, in which a gold sun | Is represented. One gold star appears | In each corner of the diamond. Q. Where is the original of the fa- \Eovfi picture of Whistler's mother?— A. This picture i3 one of the treas- | ures of the Louvre, Paris. It was first | hung in the Royal Academy in 1872. | It was exhibited in America in 1881 and 1882, at which time it could have been bought for $1,000. It was pur- chased by the French government in 1891 for the small sum of 4.000 francs. [!t was a great satisfaction to Whistler | to know that it was finally appreciated. | It was bought upon the initiative of M. | Clemenceau. Q. Are sugars and starches more fat- tening than fats?>—B. C. A. They are more readily assimilated and digested than are fats. and, in pro- portion to the amount eaten, increase the weight more rapidly. Q. How hard must the wind blow to be called a hurricane?—W. W. A. Generally speaking, a wind with a velocity of more than 75 miles an hour is classed as a hurricane. Q. What stops a hurricane?—S. S. A. The hurricane is started by the upward convection over an area many miles in dlameter of warm, humid air, probably in a rather calm region be- tween oppositely directed currents of air. It comes to rest over land, or n?undant supply of warm, saturated alr, Q. Which is considered to be the noisiest city in the world?>—R. L. . Roman newspapers give Rome that distinction. The reason for the noisiness is attributed to the narrow central streets, the unnecessary use of auto horns, klaxons and open exhausts. Q. What is the land value of the District of Columbia?—A. B. T. A. A recent report of the tax asses- sor placed the value of real estate in the District of Columbia during 1927 at $1,138,057,905, the highest in history. Q. What is considered to be the lon%;.sb thermometer in the world?— A. A thermometer which has been recently placed in the tower of the German Museum in Munich. It is 72 feet 6 inches long. The instrument not | only shows the temperature at the mo- ment, but also the maximum and mini- mum temperature on the preceding day. Q. When did the duel occur in which Alexander Hamilton was killed?—E. L. A. The duel in which Aaron Burr fired the shot which killed Alexander Hamilton occurred July 11, 1804. Q. What percentage of juvenile de- linquents are males?—M. C. institutions in 1923, 80.7 per cent were males. Gary give to his widow in his N.G. T A. It was as follows: to sign kind as surety for any other person or persons; that they refrain from antici- pating their income in any respect, and refuse to make any loans except on the basis of first-class, well known securi- ties, and that they ifivariably decline to Invest in any untried or doubtful se- curities, or property, or enterprise, or business. They should reject any rep- resentations or opinions of others if in- volved in any doubt. They will be ap- hed frequently with suggestions for {nvestments that are not entitled to be u::lled upon from a business stand- point.” Q. When was the Cosmos Club founded?—F. 8. A. It was orrn November 16, 1878. Its membership numbered 60—56 resident and 4 non- resident. It now has more than 1,700 members. Q. What is meant by pnlAm and penalties”?—W. G. in Enfl tion of punishment without trial upon any one clearly guilty of treason or similar serious crimes. No capital pun- ishment, however, can be_ imj such legislation never has been enacted, wherever else it no longer is fed by an | A. Of the delinquents admitted to Q. What warning did Judge E. H. will?- I earnestly request my wife and my children and their descendants to steadfastly decline any bonds or obligations of any ized in Weshington the “act of This i8 an act of leglslation passed and providing for the imposi- iposed un- der this statute. In the United States | Q. How many men and women in the United States smoke?—C. L. C. | A. The editor of the Tobacco Leaf | says: “Nobody can closely approxi- | mete how many women in the United | States use tobacco. We used to figure | that 1 out of 10 adult males was a non- ‘,srrm.;l;er. My guess now would be 1 out | of 15.” Q. How much gold must be kept in the United States Treasury for the re- demption of United States notes>—G.D. A. The amount of gold to be held for the redemntion of United States notes is fixed at $150,000,000. Should this reserve fall below $100,000,000, the Secretary of the Treasury may sell Government bonds to replenish it. Q. Who popularized the expression “dirt farmer"?—F. C. C. . A. James Wilson of Iowa, who was Secretary of Agriculture from 1897 to }913. spoke of the farmer as the “dirt armer.” Q. When was the first Community Christmas Tree lighted?>—W. W. H. A. The various accounts of the Com- munity Christmas Tree seem to agree that the first tree of light was erected in New York City on Christmas, 1912. The practice was immediately taken up by a number of other cities in the United States. Q. Can World War veterans obtain Government insurance now?—M. L. A. A recent amendment to the World War veterans’ act provides that on application the bureau shall grant to any veteran of the World War Govern- ment insurance, provided such veteran is in good health and furnishes evi- dence to the director to that effect. . If a house cost $5,000 in 1914, what would a similar one have cost 10 years later?—T. W. D. A. A house which cost $5,000 in 1914 ‘would have cost $10,350 in 1924. Q. What kind of data does Comdr. Byrd expect to gather at the South Pole?—F. O. G. A. Comdr. Byrd has stated: “There is much meteorological data to be ob- tained which alone would justify the hazards encountered by such an expe- dition, for the weather of a large part of the world is affected by the Antarctic. ‘The polar regions of the South affect weather even more than those of the North. It is also possible that a great deal can be learned as to the condi- tions which once existed in the Antarc- tic, for it is possible that land life once cxisted there and that the ice cap which now covers it has exterminated it all. ‘We may be able to prove that, and if so, it will teach us much about the geologi- cal past of this extraordinary continent. The Antarctic really reproduces the condition which once existed in Amer- ica and Europe during the ice age. It is certain that at one time the ice cap did not exist, for the world was much hot. Coal is found in the arctic and where there is coal there was once a tropical climate.” "Virginia’s great place in American history is emphasized in_comments on the dedication of the Fredericksburg :'r‘x‘; Btgotqggmh B;;meméd‘ Memorial e address there Presiden Coolidge. i e “The President contributed one of the most graceful and scholarly of his state papers,” says the Newark Evening News, which adds that “his tribute to the men of Virginian birth, from Wash- ington to Wilson, and to their deeds and works stints nothing in fair treat- ment. Mr. Coolidge accords her full merit,” continues the News, “to the Mother of Presidents and all for which she stands, nor leaves out even the concession that those who fought in gray upon the fields he was dedicat as a national park were as right, as it was given them to see the right, as those who opposed them in biue.” “Congress last year was awakened,” recalls the Buffalo Evening News, “to a very proper appreciation of the fact that an extraordinary amount of na- tional history is concentrated in Spot- sylvania County, Va. Here were the scenes of both Revolutionary and Civil ‘War activities of the most important character, An appropriation was granted to create a. national park in which these historic sites might be greurved and duly marked, and to ulld a memorial at the Fredericks- burg gateway. The fact that the dedi- cation date came at the height of a presidential campaign was incidental. Mr. Coolidge made the same kind of speech which he would have delivered if there had not been an election in sight within four years.” * K K “The President's speech was a timely reminder,” suggests the Indianapolis News, “that the country has not for- gotten its great debt to the men who fought in the Civil War, and that it can, without boasting, stand in the presence of their graves with a feeling of having done its best to live up to their hopes.” ments: “The United States now stands foremost for peace, not by sacrifice of position, but with due regard for the men who fell on the four battlefields which the park will include, by main- taining the defense system on a firm basis, while at the same time cultivat- ing the principle that war is a wasteful thod of settling international differ- ences. Though the President “touched but lightly on the Civil War struggle in that historic section of Northern Vir- ginia,” according to Herald Tribune, that paper is reminded that “there Lee fought four great de- RIS Method Differs, From the Canton Da!ly News. ‘The motor car has mads littl> prog- ress in China, the people over there being content to kill each other in old- {ashloned 3 e i fensive battles, in which his military genius was most strikingly displayed.” The Herald Tribune continues: “The Civil War belongs to the past. Presi- dent Coolidge chose to speak of the later triurfRhs of peace, in which both North ang South have shared. The South has Tecoyered from its losses and. The News also com- | Dedication at Fredericksburg Called Inspiration to Nation has entered upon a brilliant era of prosperity and progress. * * * In the President's view we are a united, tran- quil, prosperous and progressive people, with a future which no one can meas- ure. We are also & people welded and natlonalized in a sense practically be- yond the conception of the hundreds of thousands who fought on these North- em4 yirgmll battlefields in 1863 &nd 186+ EEEE “Where 700,000 Americans on both sides stained the earth with their blood,” says the Portland Oregon Jour- nal, “the area has been consecrated as hallowed ground. Memorials will be ting | erected by Congress. Virginia will raise monuments to the heroic dead. Where the bitter battles were, the children of America will find recreation. There is 1 something so fitting and just about this i Civil War memorial park that it wakes | an echo in every heart. It is something that should have been done, for it con- serves for peace the deeply learned lessons of stife.” Referring to a group of Americans, each of which had contributed a share to the growth of the country and was eulogized by the President, the Cleve- land Plain Dealer adds: “Here are nine Virginians responsible for practically the entire area of the continental United States. By war, by statecraft and by exploration they were the great- est territory builders. And this means a great deal. Without her immense area the American Republic could not be today the greatest and most power- ful Nation of the world. * * * It was highly appropriate that on such an oc- casion attention was called to Virginia's tremendous contribution to American expansion. North and South, uniting {to commemprate the terrible battles | which brought the Civil War to a close, { were appropriately reminded of Vir- ginia’s greatness.” * oo % | “Mr. Coolidge chose a dramatic set- | ting and an arresting hour.” in the | judgment of the New York Sun, “to | remind us that this land is not the creation of the zeal and labor of one i man, one coterie of men, one party; that to men of many differing philos- iophies in the past and in the present we owe our great and numerous bless- ings. He set forth this truth of and contemporaneous reeord vividly and convincingly; the impressiveness of the background against which his words the New York | echoed suitably framed the wholesome- ness and dignity of his utterance.” 8o also the Reno Evening Gagzette emphasizes the point that “this dedi- cation is a national occasion, fer the questions which were at issue on the battleflelds were national and out of their decision grew the ability of the Unitea States ‘to serve the cause of humanity in 1898' and to perform her Dast In the Wozrld, War,” . i